Timmer's Mushroom and Tomato Pasta

This, I have to admit, is Timmer's creation. But it's easy and very tasty. 

Ingredients:

1 jar sun dried tomatoes in oil & spices

1 package baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

1 pat butter

olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic

salt

dry spaghetti

crushed red pepper (optional)

1. Dump jar of sundried tomatoes, oil and all, into large skillet. 

2. Add 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed and diced

3. Simmer for a few minutes on medium-low or low. You don't want to burn the garlic, which is easy to do. This should just be at a low simmer. 

4. Add package mushrooms (I say at least one pack. I can go close to 2, but I love mushrooms)

5. Add another Tbsp or 2 of olive oil. The mushrooms will absorb quite a bit of oil, although they'll release some of this later in the simmering. But you want to make sure there's some oil in the pan, cuz this is your sauce. 

6. Add a tsp. or so of salt or sea salt, whatever you like.

7. You can add a pinch of crushed red pepper if you like.

8. Cook spaghetti al dente.

9. Drain pasta. 

10. Add pat of butter to sauce. Stir until butter melts.

11. Remove from heat. Add more salt if necessary. 

12. Top pasta with sauce, or add pasta TO sauce and toss. Whatever turns your crank.

Enjoy!

Prosciutto and Crispy Goat Cheese Stacks

I made this for lunch today. Blammo.

Ingredients:

2-3 slices Prosciutto

1 English Muffin

4-5 ounces of Goat Cheese

Panko, or other large-flake Bread crumbs

Olive Tapenade

Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Coat the bottom of a saute pan with some olive oil, and set it over medium-high heat for a few minutes.

2. While that heats up, portion the goat cheese into halves and make two patties out of it. It's a good idea to get your english muffin toasting at this point, too.

3. Turn your microwave to 30% power and microwave the goat cheese for 30-45 seconds, just until the surfaces get a bit soft. Even better, you could just leave the goat cheese out for a couple hours to come to room temperature. 

4. Spread a bunch of bread crumbs on the bottom of a bowl and drop the goat cheese patties into it, covering top and bottom, and all sides. Press the bread crumbs in a little bit so they don't come off when you fry them.

5. When both patties are well coated with bread crumbs, place them gently into the hot pan. Let them sit for just enough time to crisp up the bread crumbs. Flip, and remove from heat before they start to melt and ooze all over.  About 1 - 1 1/2 minutes on each side will do the trick. 

6. Take your toasted english muffin, drizzle it with olive oil, put a slice of prosciutto on top, put a goat cheese patty on top of that, and top it with a little bit of the olive tapenade. You don't want too much tapenade because the goat cheese is already pretty tangy. 

7. Crack some black pepper on top, and sprinkle with crushed red pepper (if that's what you're into). If you want to make it look fancy, sprinkle some chopped fresh basil on top. 

PS - I have these great cajun panko bread crumbs that are the freakin' bomb. If you've got something like that, use 'em. I like to throw the leftover crumbs into the hot pan for a minute, and then sprinkle them on a salad to have with this. Wowza. 

Moscow Mule

So since we had those ingredients, I've also whipped up another favorite drink of mine. Much simpler, no shaking involved. If I remember from my days as a bartender, this is called a Moscow Mule.

Ingredients:

Ginger Ale

Citrus Vodka

Cointreau (again, sub Triple Sec, Gran Gala or Grand Marnier)

A Lemon

Directions:

Pour 2 parts ginger ale, 1 part citrus vodka, and 1/2 part Cointreau over ice. Squeeze the juice of 1/4 lemon into the drink and give a little stir (I use my finger). Drop the lemon wedge in there if you wanna. Drink. Repeat as needed. 

Lemon Drop Martini

Melissa had a brilliant idea last week to hang out and watch the Grammy's with a few drinks. I grabbed a few ingredients and we whipped these up. Then we whipped up a couple more last night for Valentines day. I considered whipping up one for myself today (you know, to celebrate lunch) but thought maybe that would be too much.

(You'll need a cocktail shaker for this)

Ingredients:

Citrus Vodka (I like Absolut or Skyy)

Limoncello

Cointreau (Triple sec would also work, as would Gran Gala or Grand Marnier for those of you who are a bit more 'fancy-pants')

Lemons

Sugar

Directions:

1. Cut the lemon into circles and slice one of the circles down the middle, almost cutting it in half. 

2. Pour some of the sugar onto a small plate. Take the sliced lemon circle, rub the inside around the edge of a martini glass, and then press the glass rim into the sugar on the plate. Hang the lemon circle on the edge of the glass for garnish

3. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice, add 1 part citrus vodka, 1 part limoncello, and 1/2 part cointreau. Take the rest of the lemon and squeeze it into the shaker.

4. Pop the lid on your shaker and shake vigorously. If you've got a metal shaker, shake until it becomes too cold to hold comfortably. If you have a plastic shaker, shake until the mixture is cloudy. 

5. Strain into your martini glasses and drink 'em. 

Side note - I grabbed some black grapes to serve with this, and it was delicious. I made a garnish out of them, too. I took a toothpick, ran it through one edge of the lemon circle, jabbed it through the grape, and then put it through the other edge of the lemon circle. (it's hard to explain with words). An easy way would be to just drop a grape or two into the bottom of the glass so it gets cold and lemony and boozy. 

lo mein substitute

This is hardly a lo mein recipe, but it's a decent substitute. It's a recipe I adapted from Menus in Minutes

Ingredients

1/2 tsp corn starch

8 oz dried fettuccine

3 Tbsp soy sauce (low sodium or regular)

3 Tbsp sherry (pref. not cooking sherry)

1/16 tsp ginger OR 1/2 Tbsp grated ginger

1/2 lb raw shrimp

3 garlic cloves

For variation

1 C. fresh sugar snap peas, trimmed

4 green onions, bias-sliced into 1-inch pieces

1 C. packaged, peeled baby carrots

1/2-1 Tbsp olive oil

1. In a small bowl, combine approximately 1/4 C. warm water and 1/2 tsp. corn starch.

2. In a large saucepan, cook 8 oz dried fettuccine

3. In a bowl, stir together 3 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or regular soy sauce, whatever makes you happy), 3 Tbsp dry sherry (you can use cooking sherry, but I'd recommend, you know, drinking sherry), 1/16 tsp ginger (could use 1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger instead), 3 garlic coves, diced; and 1/2 lb raw shrimp.

4. Add above soy sauce mixture to large skillet or saucier pan and sautee until shrimp is almost done (2-4 min, approx).

5. Add corn starch mix; cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly.

6. Drain pasta and add to skillet.  Cook and stir about 1 minute, or until heated through.

Variations: 

Step 4. Preheat 1/2 Tbsp olive oil to large skillet or saucier on medium-high heat. Add sugar snap peas and peeled baby carrots. Cook and stir for 3-4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add 4 green onions, bias-sliced into 1-inch pieces. 

5. Remove veggies. 

Continue with original step 4 above. 

Obvious garlic butter

Okay, so this is REALLY obvious, but I just got done eating this and it was so good I thought I'd post it here. 

Yesterday I roasted some garlic (one clove of elephant garlic, to be exact, but you can go with 4 cloves of regular garlic) [cut the tip off garlic clove(s), place in tin foil, sprinkle with olive or sesame oil, wrap in foil, and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes] and mashed it into about 3/4 a stick of butter. Added just a pinch of salt. I made that to put on some fresh bread. Good stuff.

But TODAY, I boiled up a little rotini, "topped it" with the leftover garlic butter and added a pinch of salt. I chunked up some fresh mozz, threw that in there, and freaking LOVED it. If my fresh basil hadn't been getting gross in the rotter, I would have added a bit of that. I thought about throwing in a bit of crushed red pepper, too, but it was just so GOOD as is (was). 

Obvious, I know, but so good. So so good.