Delishytown
Cooking is fun. Eating is funner. I cook, photograph and write these recipes.
Everything I post on this blog I make from scratch using fresh wholesome ingredients.. I've been cooking since I was a little kid.
My recipes are based on trial and error, along with studying cookbooks, family recipes, blogs and cooking shows.
Some of the veggies and herbs I use are grown in my garden. Yay sustainability!
I'm working on making my yard into an edible landscape. It's really fun to go out in the garden and pick your veggies for dinner!
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Posts I like
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Baby arugula aftermath. Mountain Sweet Berry Farm @unsqgreenmarket
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Rosemary Porterhouse Steaks with Olive Mayo:Fresh rosemary gives these steaks serious flavor!
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Orange Shrimp Over Risotto
1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
8 cups chicken stock
1 shallot, minced
7 tbsp butter, divided
2 cups arborio rice
1/2... -
Long Island City through a glass of Brooklyn Greenmarket Wheat. (at Riverpark)
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beautifulpicturesofhealthyfood:
Asparagus Mint Slaw…RECIPE
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10 uses for Parmesan cheese rinds
Wait! Don’t throw the rinds away. There are many uses for this often-tossed cheese segment. -
those of you who know my garden sob story this year will understand how happy this makes me. #farmerbeckyvstheelements
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even more sunflower babies!
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Please join us in standing up for the protection of the Great Lakes, 21% of the world’s fresh surface...
Tag Results
16 posts tagged italian food
Lemony Stozapretti
This pasta dish is delicious and easy. You can use any kind of pasta you like for this. I used this beautiful Stozapretti from the Italian deli in my neighborhood. This is one of my favorite ways to eat broccoli. I usually don’t love steamed broccoli, but the parmesan cheese, chopped herbs and olive oil give it a really delicious flavor.
Boil salted water for pasta. Cook pasta according to package directions. Add pieces of broccoli to the cooking pot in the last few minutes of cooking. Drain the broccoli and pasta.
Rub a serving dish with a cut garlic clove. Add the pasta and broccoli to the dish, season with freshly ground pepper, chopped basil or parsley, a drizzle of olive oil and lots of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice and serve. Yum!
Vegetable Penne with Baked Eggplant and Oven Roasted Tomatoes
This was our lunch yesterday. Yum! The vegetables in this dish were all grown in our back yard garden. If you’re growing mini eggplants, tomatoes and basil, this dish takes about 5 minutes to throw together, roasts in the oven, and tastes amazing.
I love fresh simple ingredients roasted in the oven, the flavors are so pure that they speak for themselves. The best part of this method of cooking is that you have to do very little work or prep for delicious results.
If you haven’t gotten frost yet, hopefully you still have some summer vegetables to harvest this weekend. This would be good with other garden vegetables too, like peppers or squash.
Heat oven to 375. In a small casserole dish place stemmed eggplants, pierce with a knife to avoid oven explosions. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
In a separate dish, chopped garden tomatoes, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper, & slivered garlic, one or two cloves. Toss to coat.
Bake the eggplants and tomatoes until the tomatoes are bubbly and the eggplants start to collapse and become soft and fragrant, about 25 minutes.
Boil water for pasta and cook according to package directions. I used this pretty red vegetable penne, which has tomato and red pepper in it, and a “full serving of vegetables in every serving”, according to the box.
Serve the penne and cooked vegetables with chopped fresh basil. Add a grating of fresh parmesan cheese or any favorite cheese. Delicious!
Insalata Caprese
This is sooo delicious! I love this salad because it is so easy. It’s also very inexpensive if you’re already growing tomatoes and basil.
Rub a serving plate all over with a cut garlic clove. Wash and slice any fresh tomatoes you have on hand. Slice fresh mozzarella cheese. Season tomatoes and cheese with kosher salt and black pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Top with fresh chopped basil leaves. Yum!
Eat More Greens Spaghetti Dinner
My husband grew up in an Italian / Polish / Irish neighborhood in Chicago where there was a big tradition of Family Dinners on Sundays. He told me that on Sunday mornings you could smell amazing Italian food cooking, starting as early as 9 a.m., all over the neighborhood.
We made fresh tomato sauce and wilted greens last night in honor of Sunday dinner. I used chard and fresh basil from the front yard garden. This is a delicious and healthy way to use up garden greens. Here’s how:
Cut a garlic clove in half, smash it and rub the garlic inside any dishes and serving bowls you’ll be using. Mince the remaining garlic for the sauce. Grate parmesan cheese.
In a skillet, saute 1 chopped shallot and 3 garlic cloves in olive oil. Season with salt & pepper. Once fragrant, add 1 can of whole peeled tomatoes, blended or chopped. Add pinch of dried basil, 1 tsp sugar and fresh chopped basil. Let simmer, thin with 1/4 c water if needed.
Meanwhile boil a big pot of salted water. Cook spaghetti. Remove with a pasta spoon to the garlic coated bowl, season with fresh ground pepper, a drizzle of olive oil and a little of the cheese. Set aside.
Add stemmed chard leaves to the boiling water and cook for a minute until bright green and wilted. Remove with a sotted spoon to drain. Serve the noodles twirled into a nest, red sauce on one side, greens on the other and lots of Parmesano Reggiano on top. Yummy!
Cheesy Bruschetta
This photo is of cheesy bruschetta bread about to be popped back in the oven for toasting. I love tomato bread! This is easy, delicious and serves a lot of people for very little money.
Slice French bread and toast in a 325 oven for 7 to 10 minutes until crisped. Mix 2 or 3 chopped tomatoes (or chopped cherry tomatoes), with salt and pepper, chopped fresh basil leaves, (or 1 tblsp dry basil), 1 smashed and chopped garlic clove and a drizzle of olive oil. Place a bit of the tomato mixture on top of each slice of toasted bread and then top with some grated cheddar, provolone and parmesan cheese. Increase the oven to 375 and bake until the cheese melts. This is delicious hot out of the oven or cooled to room temperature, so it’s good party food. Yum!
Baked Spaghetti Bolognese
We made spaghetti bolognese last night for dinner. Today we baked the leftovers with cheese on top. It was a delicious leftovers day!
In a heavy bottomed stew pot, saute chopped onions seasoned with salt and pepper.. Push to the side and add fresh grass fed organic ground beef, a little more salt and pepper. I always use grass fed ground beef, but it’s especially important in a dish like this where the meat is the main flavor of the sauce.
Let the meat sear and get color on the bottom, (also important for flavor). Add chopped celery, chopped carrots and chopped garlic. Mix with a wooden spoon and break up the meat as it cooks. Let these ingredients cook together until the meat is no longer pink. Drain off any fat. Add 7 or 8 chopped mushrooms.
Add 1 can whole peeled tomatoes, blended, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 cup red wine ( or 1 cup water and 1 tsp chicken base), 1 tblsp tomato paste, ( I like the kind that comes in a tube, keep it in the fridge, and use it for stuff like this as needed), salt and pepper, and one bay leaf. Bring to a boil then reduce to low simmer, cover and slow cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking or burning on the bottom.
Boil salted water for pasta. Heat oven to 400. Cook any pasta according to directions. Butter a small casserole dish, add noodles, top with sauce, add your favorite cheese on top, we used cheddar and parmesan, bake for 15 minutes until hot and bubbly. Yum!
Betty Spaghetti Sauce
This is what I make when I don’t have the time or inclination to go grocery shopping for dinner. We always try to have some sort of pasta and a can of whole peeled tomatoes in the pantry cabinet. The caramelization of the tomato juice is key for building flavor in this dish.
Peel and mince 1 shallot. Saute in a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Add some crushed garlic, 2 - 5 cloves depending on their size.
Once the aromatics have sautéed for a minute, open a large can of whole peeled tomatoes and pour a little of the juice into the pan, about 1/4 cup. (This also helps so you don’t have too much liquid in the can for the stick blender to get in there.) Let the tomato juice bubble and caramelize with the shallots and garlic for a minute. This builds the flavor quite a lot! Blend the can of tomatoes with a stick blender or food processor. You can also just chop them if you like chunky sauce. Add the rest of the tomatoes to the pan and stir. Season with a big pinch of dried basil and a little more salt and pepper.
Serve with any cooked pasta, (we used whole wheat spaghettini) garnish with grated cheese, (we used parmesan and cheddar) a salad, and maybe some garlic bread.
Yum!
Portabella Mushrooms and Sun Dried Tomato Spaghetti
This was so delicious and easy. Boil water for pasta, I used whole wheat spaghetti. In a skillet sauté 1 small chopped onion, 2 minced garlic cloves and 8-10 mushrooms in a little olive oil. I had small portabellas, but any mushrooms would be delicious in this dish. Add chopped kale or chard if you have it, chopped fresh parsley or fresh or dried basil. I also added some chopped sun dried tomatoes. Once your pasta is done, toss it with the sautéed veggies, a drizzle of olive oil,fresh ground black pepper and a generous amount of parmesan cheese. Yummy!
Carm’s Sunday Ricotta Lasagna
My husband grew up in an Irish/ Italian neighborhood. His neighbor Carm used to make this lasagna. This is a very basic, old timey recipe. It has a layer of ricotta in the center, sandwiched by noodles. It’s a good thing to make on a lazy day. If you make it for lunch, you can have leftovers for dinner.
In a large skillet or heavy bottomed soup pot, brown 1 lb sweet Italian sausage. Season lightly with salt and pepper since the sausage is already seasoned. Once browned, remove to a colander & drain.
Chop 1 large onion, 2-4 garlic cloves, 1 stalk celery, 1 small carrot, 10 or so mushrooms. Add the onions & veggies to the pot and cook until translucent. Add the reserved meat along with 1 can whole peeled tomatoes, blended, and 1 large can tomato sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tblsp basil and 1 bay leaf. Simmer to bring all the flavors together.
Meanwhile: Boil water and cook the lasagna noodles. Grate some cheeses, mozzarella, parmesan, and cheddar if you like.
In a bowl, combine 1 container ricotta, 2 eggs, fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and a little garlic powder. Reserve a little of this for the top if you like.
Layer the lasagna starting with some sauce on the bottom of the lasagna pan, then noodles, sauce, cheese, noodles, the ricotta layer, noodles, sauce and cheese including any extra ricotta on top. Bake at 350 until bubbly and melted about 35 minutes. Wait a few minutes before you cut it or the middle cheese layer will collapse.
Yum!
Eggplant Sandwich
This is a great recipe for a party. It takes a bit of time to grill & prep all the veggies. But if you use a whole eggplant, one or two red peppers, a few tomatoes, a bunch of mushrooms & some herbs and cheese, you’ll have enough filling for two French bread loaves and be able to feed a lot of your friends. Yay party food!!
Slice eggplant into rounds and brush with olive oil, season with salt and pepper then cook in grill pan or a regular frying pan. Turn the eggplant slices a few times being careful not to let them burn. They cook in about 5-7 minutes.
Slice your favorite mushrooms, toss them in olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and cook them in the grill pan.
Meanwhile, heat the broiler to high and char the skin of a sweet bell pepper, which you’ve cut in half and de-seeded . Once the skin is charred, put it in a dish and cover it to steam. This makes it easier to peel.
For the garlic bread: Mix 2 tblsp olive oil with 2 tblsp butter using a fork. Add 4 or more crushed garlic cloves and a big pinch of Italian seasoning. Spread it on both sides of a French bread loaf. Place it on a lower rack in the oven to cook for a few minutes. Then raise it up to the broiler and watch closely as the garlic side toasts. Don’t walk away! I’ve wrecked so many garlic breads by walking away & multi tasking.
Peel the charred skin off the red pepper and slice it into thin strips.
On a cookie sheet, place the open halves of the garlic bread and layer them both with the slices of eggplant, sliced fresh tomatoes, chopped cooked mushrooms, red bell pepper slices, sun dried tomato, fresh chopped basil or dry basil, and top with your favorite cheese. Broil for a minute or two, again being careful to watch it. Since most of these veggies are hot it only takes a minute to melt the cheese.
When you take it out, you can drizzle with a teeny bit of balsamic vinegar if you like. Put the two halves together, press it down gently so it doesn’t come flying apart, and slice into 3 inch long or so servings.
Yum!
Pesto Lasagna This is so yummy! It takes a while to chop and cook all the ingredients, but it’s fun. Chop 1 medium onion and add it to a large skillet with 1 lb grass fed ground beef. Cook the onion and meat together till the meat is cooked through and no longer pink. Drain off any excess fat. Add 1/2 package chopped brown mushrooms to the pan. The little brown bits that are stuck to the pan will add flavor to the sauce. When the mushrooms hit the pan, they release their liquid and start to de-glaze the pan. Add 3 chopped cloves of garlic and 2 large cans organic whole peeled tomatoes, (blended) or the same amount of tomato sauce. Add the drained meat back to the pan. Add 1/2 cup red wine, a sprinkle of dry basil, 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning, and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika. Season with salt and pepper. If you don’t have any wine, you can leave it out. Let simmer for about 10 minutes. Now taste the sauce, if it’s bland add more salt. Meanwhile boil a large pot of salted water for the lasagna noodles. Grate 1 package Mozzarella cheese. Cook the noodles till al dente & drain. For the cheese layer: Combine 1 small container of ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup parmesan and 1/2 cup grated mozzarella, 2 tsp fresh chopped fresh parsley (or a big pinch of dried parsley), and salt and pepper. Scramble 1 egg and mix that in as well. For the pesto: In a food processor, combine 1/2 cup pistachio nuts, 2 crushed garlic cloves, salt and pepper, 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 cup fresh basil and pulse till crumbly. Now process in 1/4 cup olive oil. This is about enough sauce, noodles, pesto and cheese to make 1 large and 1 smaller lasagna, depending on how you layer it. If you like it really saucy add another can of whole peeled or crushed tomatoes to the pot. To layer the dish, put about 1/2 cup sauce on the bottom of a lasagna pan, top with an even layer of noodles, then sauce, then the cheese layer spread on thick and topped with dollops of the pesto, cover with an even layer of noodles, then a layer of sauce, more grated mozzerella cheese to top. I usually add some cheddar and parmesan to the very top layer of cheese for extra pizzazz.
Bake at 350 till bubbly and delicious!
