Inspiration

It's been a crazy week. Between traveling last weekend to visit family for the Easter holiday, the terrible weather earlier this week, and a sinus infection that has zapped my energy, I've spent zero time in the kitchen. As a case in point - Wednesday night we had cereal for dinner.

I did manage to do a little online shopping for some cooking inspiration, and I can't wait to get my hands on Kelly Geary and Jessie Knadler's Tart and Sweet: 101 Canning and Picking Recipes for the Modern Kitchen.

I experimented with water-bath canning at the end of last summer and it was a lot of fun (especially since it involved spending time with friends). It's also incredibly satisfying to open a jar of homemade salsa or jam in the middle of January and have a tangible reminder of summer's bounty.

Here's to a quiet weekend with cookbooks, sunshine, and lots of tea.

Pasta with Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce

You know what's better than tomato sauce? Tomato sauce with vodka. Because of their high concentration of alcohol-soluble flavors, tomatoes love vodka like peanut butter loves jelly. Throw in a little heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and basil, and you might decide to skip the pasta altogether.

Pasta with Tomato Vodka Cream Sauce
serves 4
1 pound dried pasta
2 T olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 cups prepared tomato sauce (canned or jarred is fine; extra points for homemade)
¼ cup vodka
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
handful of fresh basil, chiffonade*
Heat the oil in a 10-12 inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion along with a pinch of salt and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.

Reduce the heat to low and add the tomato sauce and vodka.  Continue cooking the sauce for 15-20 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it darkens in color and is slightly reduced.

While the sauce is reducing, cook the pasta in salted water, drain, and reserve a cup or so of the pasta water.

Turn off the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese and heavy cream. Taste the sauce for seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary. If the sauce is too thick, stir in a little bit of the pasta water to thin it out.  Combine the pasta with the sauce (I do this by adding the pasta directly to the pan; no need to dirty another bowl). Plate and top with fresh basil.

*chiffonade = mad culinary skillz. Actually, it's French for "made of rags", but it does make for a pretty presentation and it’s easy. After you’ve washed your basil, separate the individual leaves from the stem and stack them on top of each other with the largest leaves on the bottom. Starting at the long edge, roll the leaves up. You’ll end up with a little basil snake. Now you chop - place your roll of basil seam side down on a cutting board. Starting at one end, slice through the roll in ¼ inch increments. Congratulations, you've just made beautiful little ribbons of basil!

P.S. This technique also works well for sage, spinach, and mint.

Egg and Chorizo Burritos

I've been feelin' the love for burritos lately. Besides the fact that I can fill them full of things I love they're also excellent refrigerator velcro - perfect for using up those little bits of things that accumulate in my fridge throughout the week. For lunch today I made just such a burrito stuffed with eggs, chorizo, and veggies. Here's a breakdown of the burrito-y goodness:

Egg and Chorizo Burritos

serves 2

4 oz. fresh chorizo sausage

1/2 red onion, diced

1/2 jalapeño, seeded and minced

1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

1 small russet potato, diced

1/2 tsp ground cumin

Pinch of salt/pepper

3 eggs

1/2 tsp butter

1/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 tomato, diced

Large handful of cilantro, chopped

2 T sour cream

2 large flour tortillas

Remove the chorizo from the casing and crumble the sausage in a pan over medium heat.

Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it from the pan and set aside. At this point there should still be a good amount of fat in the pan (if there's more than a couple of tablespoons drain off the excess).

Saute the onions, peppers, and potato in the remaining fat; season with a pinch of salt and pepper and the 1/2 tsp of cumin.

Cook until the potatoes are tender (about 7-10 minutes). When the veggie mixture is softened, in a separate pan, melt the butter and scramble the eggs. Now that all of your components are ready you can start layering on your tortilla - eggs, chorizo, veggies, cheese, cilantro, tomatoes, and sour cream.

The best thing about this kind of meal is the flexibility and creativity it allows. I stood in front of my fridge and starting pulling out random things. If I didn't have a fresh jalapeño I could have thrown in a canned chipotle pepper (and if I did that I could have added some of the adobo sauce to my sour cream). No eggs? Substitute beans or chicken or tofu. Want more veggies? Chop up an avocado or double the peppers or....well, you get the picture.

Happy Cooking!