Oh good grief, talk about a BIG FAT steaming pot of luscious lycopene LOVE. This undeniably delicious, slow cooked masterpiece of a “sauce” has gently bubbled its way into every muscle fiber of my marinara lovin’ heart. This is NOT your average tomato sauce. Oh no no no no no.
This is sooooo good! I know I always seem to say that and I really DO mean it each and every time…………
but I gotta tell you…….. this stuff. Oh man.
Take a favorite cooler-weather culinary pleasure (in this case, a satisfyingly steamy bowl of something yummy), take out the copious amounts of carbs (think potatoes, pasta, bread, beans), add in a plentiful pack of superabundant sustenance (like, ya know, just some major vitamin, mineral, antioxidant action), and you will end up with this amazing bowl of body and soul satisfaction.
I may be going out on a limb here but I think it’s safe to say that you are a fan of lasagna (because really, who isn’t?). Tomato saucy, stretchy-cheesy creamy goodness, you can count on pleasing the masses when you whip out a bubbling pan of this classic comfort casserole.
But what if your particular peeps are of the persnickety persuasion?
Maybe there’s a gluten issue in the crowd?
Oh yeah, then there are the vegetarians to consider.
Die hard carnivores are people too, you know.
So.
I am here to tell you that you can make everybody happy, including yourself, with this beauty…
Crispy-fied (not fried) roasted broccolini tossed with a garlicky, nutty rich, almond “pesto”, crowned with a perfectly runny over-medium egg. Go ahead and cut into it and that oozy, silky yolk is the foolproof foil for the sharpness of the pesto and the delicate green charred crunch of the broccolini. A perfect portion of creamy baked sweet potato serves as the delicious foundation, quietly but assuredly holding everybody together.
This sure works as dinner for ME…..but it didn’t start out that way.
If there is a restaurant within a 50 mile radius of my residence that serves chicken piccata, I have ordered it. Probably more than once. And no doubt I have enjoyed it, because to me, there is no such thing as a bad chicken piccata. Tender sand dollars of perfectly sautéd chicken in a supremely light and lemony sauce dotted with puckery pops of briny capers, dusted up with a flurry of freshly chopped parsley over an ethereal cloud of perfectly al dente’ angel hair pasta? Sounds sooooo good. Don’t ya think?
But could you take this into your kitchen and make it even bETTER?
Don’t be silly. Of COURSE you can. Piccata is so easy and delicious, and when you swap out the pasta for some beautifully sautéd kale, even more amazing.
This is some good stuff going on right here.
If you like pesto sauce, (and really, please, who does not?) and you are all about getting as much cruciferous kale good-ness into you, yourself and everyone else around your dinner table because that shniz is just some nutrient packed amazingness-ness, then read on. Twenty minutes. Boom.
Dinner.
This is a recipe update from 10-17-2013
Soooooo…… do you know any vegetarians? Are they nice to you? Want to make ’em happy? Want to make anybody happy for that matter? Then take the twenty minutes you will spend in prep time out of your day and make these sunny jewels. Unlike the dense, rice and ground beef Campbell’s tomato soup inspired stuffed green bell peppers of your wonder years, (which I happen to love as well) these peppers are gorgeous, fresh, and actually healthy. Nestle these pretty babies over a bed of quinoa laced with peppery arugula and crunchy sunflower seeds, and you just may look forward to more “meat-free Mondays“.
I’m totally fakin it with this one because I’ve never actually been to Louisiana…so I can’t say that I’ve actually ever had authentic cuisine cadienne – (but I sure know how to make it sound fancy, eh?) I know that the “holy trinity” of Cajun cooking relies on onion, celery and green bell pepper (hmmmm, no bell pepper OR celery in this) and andouille sausage (nope, no “an-duey” sausage here, either) and lots of rice (negative)…so what’s in this, anyway? And why am I calling it Cajun? I seemed to have missed the riverboat here.
Forgive me, Paul Prudhomme (R.I.P.), but this is some good shiz and I can call it anything I want to………..because it’s my blog.
You will just call it really easy and super delicious. Seriously. This is JUST. SO. GOOOD.
Gnudi…as in nudie…rhymes with cutie…it’s your duty…(? ha) Yeah, these guys may not be so pretty to look at naked but they sure are good. Creamy, cheesy sorta dumpling-like, yet not quite dumplings, these little meatless-balls are like ravioli without the pasta wrapper. Hence, they are in the nude. (bada boom!)