Fettuccine with Red Wine Sauce

Sorry for the delay! December was busy and we went down to Florida for a week between Christmas and New Year's. Now winter has descended on New York and it's freezing. Nice, cozy pasta dishes sound so appealing, which could also partially be because... I'm pregnant! Jamie and I are expecting a little girl at the end of May. SO so excited! Probably fewer cocktail recipes on here for a few months...

My missing red wine may have played a role in this recipe's invention. Over the summer, my friend Kara and I had dinner at Ciccio and had this great red wine pasta. I'd been wanting to try to recreate it and tried tonight. Yum! It's really simple and goes perfectly with good, fresh pasta. It's a somewhat subtle sauce, but again, with fresh pasta you don't need too much. I served it with lots of grated pecorino and cracked black pepper. 

Classic Carbonara

On a cold or dreary day, there's nothing like a creamy plate of spaghetti carbonara. I know I've made the leek carbonara before, but I wanted to go for a really basic, classic carbonara. Usually you're supposed to use dried pasta, but after watching Master of None all weekend, I was inspired to make it with fresh spaghetti. Yum! It's so good and creamy and salty and delicious, and the little bites of crispy pancetta are just the best. This is easy and cheap, too, so a great weeknight dinner. 

Cacio e Pepe

This is almost as simple as you can go for pasta, and you can probably make it with ingredients you already have in your kitchen. The freshly crushed pepper gives it a real kick. You can go as heavy or light on the pepper as you want.

Black Garlic-Roasted Cornish Game Hen

This is a simple and tasty weeknight dinner. I used black garlic, but you can swap in regular garlic - just halve it and mash it to a paste. The black garlic is a sweeter more subtle garlic flavor. 

Mustard and Creme Fraiche-Roasted Fish

This is a quick, easy, and tasty Ina Garten recipe. The whole thing takes about 20 minutes. The sauce is so flavorful.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 filets of fish (I used striped bass - wonder why?)

1/2 cup creme fraiche 

1.5 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tbsp grainy mustard

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 tsp capers, drained

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425. Mix the creme fraiche, mustards, shallot, and capers and season with salt and pepper. 

Chopped Salad

I love a good chopped salad. I spent last week eating pretty poorly, so I was craving a lot of good, raw veggies and this is the perfect way to get a ton of them at once. It's very easy. Just pick out your favorite veggies, chop the bigger ones into slices or chunks, add some nuts or dried fruit, add some lettuce, and pulse it in a food processor until it's finely chopped. Then add some dressing. That's it.

I used cucumbers, radishes, craisins, snap peas, grape tomatoes, cannelini beans, broccoli, shallots, cashews, and carrots (and lettuce). You can use whatever veggies you like, but I recommend a mix of textures and flavors. Carrots and snap peas add a good crunch, and usually I like putting in avocado because it kind of binds it all together but there were no ripe ones at the grocery.

Ramp Spaghetti

This is a Maria Batali recipe - very simple and just highlighting the ramp flavor. This is a perfect for a quick weeknight dinner.

Spicy Tomato Soup

This is a nice and cheap soup, and really easy. Great novice soup recipe (I'm looking at you, Alice!) I love Barbara Lynch and saw the recipe on Food52 and had to try it. Yum! It's very simple but really nice, especially with a gooey grilled cheese.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 big tsp red pepper flakes (or more or less, depending how spicy you want it)

1 1/2 cups water

2 28oz cans whole tomatoes with their juices

salt and pepper

big handfull of basil

Easy Oven Tomato Sauce

Oh wow. This is a game changing pasta sauce. It was so tangy and bright and rich, and the best part, EASY. So easy. You just throw it all in a baking dish and put it in the oven. I was inspired by this recipe, but tweaked it a little to give it a little of a puttanesca feel. We finished dinner in record time. Yum! It would also be great for a big group. Lasagna has that great smell and flavor of slightly burnt tomato sauce from the bits that stick to the pan and brown up - this has it too and it's delicious. Your kitchen/house/apartment will smell like heaven.

Fast Mashed Canned Black Beans

This is a delicious side for Mexican food, and would be perfect as a layer for a 7-layer dip. It's incredibly easy, and very cheap, and I just love black beans. I probably don't even have to say it, but it's from Truly Mexican. (There's a theme this week...)

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, including liquid, plus 1/4 cup water
1 tbsp mild olive oil or vegetable oil
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp  chipotle chili powder (or more if you like more spice)
1/4 tsp dried oregano, crumbled

Pesto Pasta

One of my favorite summer recipes is fresh pesto pasta. Basil from the store is totally acceptable, but nothing beats fresh picked basil. It's so pungent and flavorful. This is my mother's recipe and will always remind me of summer. I tried Garofalo fusilli and it was really nice - fluffier than most. This easy pasta is a great, fast dinner.

Ingredients:
About 2-3 cups fresh basil (several big bunches)
3 garlic gloves, roughly chopped (less if you're not that into garlic)

Garden Dinner

I picked my first veggies from my garden last weekend, but I didn't have too many so I had to supplement at a farm stand. I picked up local Long Island scallions and sugar snap peas at the stand. Then at my place, I picked some small Swiss Chard and some basil. I wanted to make a fresh, easy, summery pasta for Sunday night. I sauteed it all together and tossed it with pasta and it was delicious - a real fresh, simple, garden dinner. Feel free to substitute whatever fresh veggies you have!

Ingredients:
a handful of Swiss chard, chopped
4 scallions, halved lengthwise then cut into 1 inch strips
a bunch of sugar snap peas, bigger peas halved
olive oil
red pepper flakes
small bunch of basil, thinly sliced
grated pecorino romano (or parm)

Directions:
Heat about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a big skillet. Add the stems of the chard, the scallions, and the snap peas. Saute until they start to soften, then add Swiss Chard leaves, half of the basil, and pepper flakes to taste. Also add salt and pepper to taste and saute a little bit longer until leaves are wilted.

Meanwhile, cook some sort of bite sized pasta (I had elbows, so I used those). When the pasta is al dente, use a spider strainer (or just strain it and add part of the pasta water) and put into the skillet. Grate some cheese on top and mix it all together and serve!

Easy Pasta with Fresh Tomato, Mozzarella, and Garlic Sauce

This is one of the easiest dinners - and one of the tastiest. It's best in summer when the tomatoes are fresh and ripe, but can be done in the winter with good looking grape tomatoes. I had the supplies already (tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, mozzarella) so I threw it together this morning before leaving for work. The longer it sits the better it tastes. It's so fresh and delicious and tastes like summer with its bright flavor. Mmm.

Ingredients:
Tomatoes, torn into bite size pieces (this makes it juicier) or chopped, about a cup
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
good pour of extra virgin olive oil, about 1/4-1/3 cup
about 1/2 cup of diced fresh mozzarella
teaspoon kosher salt
pinch hot pepper flakes
basil or parsley, chopped

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and let sit. If it's more than a couple of hours before dinner, put it in the fridge. If not, just leave it out. Salt/add more spice to taste. Toss with hot pasta (fusilli or bow ties or other bite sized pasta is best) and top with freshly chopped parsley or basil.