RECIPE: Pasta Sauce

Sure, you can open the jar, add it on the pasta and call it dinner, but why do that when you can make an amazingly simple and perfect dinner to make everyone happy!

Just to make it even easier, its pasta sauce from a jar, but we are just enhancing the flavors and making it a thousand times more delicious! (and dont forget that awesome feeling of accomplishment)

STEPS:

1. Boil the pasta till al dente, set aside

2. Add Trader Joes 3 cheese pasta sauce into a pot. Add: garlic powder, sriracha, parmesan cheese, italian seasoning, fresh cracked pepper, more parmesan cheese, and a touch of truffle oil, (one trick is to add a cup of the pasta water to the sauce as well and let it evaporate, leaving the flavor and not the liquid) keep on a med heat

3. Chop up mushrooms and cook on high heat, after a couple minutes add in a couple splashes of Cognac (wine will do fine too) and wait till most has evaporated and the mushrooms are almost fully cooked, add chopped cilantro

3. Add in cherry tomatos! (dont cook them all the way, just enough so that they look like they have been semi-roasted)

4. Add it in! Cook on Med heat for another 15 ish minutes until the sauce thickens

5. Mix with the pasta, serve with an extra sprig of cilantro or basil, a couple pieces of fresh mozzarella, and a LIGHT touch of truffle oil! 

Enjoy!

INGREDIENT: Sriracha

SRIRACHA (pronounced: SEH-RA-CHA). If you've never heard of it... well you have bigger problems:

This, is life in a bottle.

Sriracha is basically a Thai hot sauce made of chili peppers, vinegar, garlic, and deliciousness.

This spicy hot sauce is the perfect condiment to spice up any dish. But I must warn you, Tabasco sauce is nothing compared to this, use it sparingly!  

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/slideshows/2011/06/sriracha-recipes-slideshow#slide=1

Here are 25 ways to use it... but don't let that slow you down because we put it on EVERYTHING (except maybe desserts...)

And of course a shout out to my Advanced Culinary Classmates who use sriracha like its salt

RECIPE: Pizza

Ok, I'm a cheater.
I use Trader Joes ready pizza dough, and Trader Joes pasta sauce for my "homemade pizza's"... but you know... who has to know?
It's delicious, its all that really matters!
So just enjoy this blog post of awesome pizza that me and my friends made and try it yourself, easy, delicious, simple, and again, delicious.

STEPS:

1. Leave out the dough for 20 minutes (oh a floured surface!) 

We made the mistake of not letting it sit long enough and our dough kept snapping back into place when we tried stretching it out.

2. ROLL IT OUT (we made individual sizes, get creative)

3. Spray a pan with oil and place your pizzas on BEFORE you add the toppings... this minimizes the risk of all the goods falling off the pizza while on the way to the pan. ADD pizza sauce 

I use: Trader Joes 3 Cheese Pasta Sauce (which I use for absolutely EVERYTHING)

4. Toppings, toppings, and more toppings! Some of ours included: tomato, basil, fresh mozzarella, goat cheese, mushroom, arugula, truffle oil, cilantro, sriracha... 

GET CREATIVE! "It's your world.. it's your world"-Chef Spears

5. Oven at 400 degrees. Bake it for 15 minutes or so.. KEEP AN EYE ON IT! 

Take it out, let your mouth water as it cools off.. and devour!

Enjoy!

COOL FACT: Pizza

Each person in America eats about 46 pizza slices a year.

RECIPE: Chicken Fajitas

Feeling like Mexican Food tonight? Well heres a delicious recipe for some amazing chicken fajitas!

Recipe

1 package chicken breast cubed (or bought precut)

1/2 of Red, Green, and Yellow Peppers, sliced

1/4 Onion sliced

 DRY SPICES (in order of amount):

cumin, paprika, garlic, oregano, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper

GUACAMOLE:

Avocado, tomato diced, onion diced, fresh cilantro salt, lime, pepper, oregano, garlic, cayenne pepper

SALSA:

tomato diced, onion diced, fresh cilantro salt, lime, pepper, oregano, garlic, cayenne pepper (to make life easier, add a little but of the salsa to a big amount of avocado and theres your guacamole)

STEP 1.

Add all the spices to the chicken, rubbing it in so they are all covered evenly. Cook on high heat until it looks this delicious (about 7 minutes):

STEP 2. 

After prepping the vegetables, cook them on high heat until seared, and half cooked so they still have a crunch to them (add a bit of salt and pepper).

This isn't fully ready yet, keep cooking until they look charred and delicious

STEP 3. 

Prepare your Guacamole! 

STEP 4. 

Prepare your Salsa!

STEP 5. 

Assemble! 

You can also add additional toppings like sour cream, hot sauce, cheese, corn, beans, etc etc :)

STEP 6.

DEVOUR! 

Enjoy!

INGREDIENT: Cheese

Never know which cheese to use for your quesadillas, paninis, mac n cheese, grilled cheese, etc etc? I found this great list of types of melting cheeses to help you with that exact problem. (and with the previous post)

 Stretchy and stringy melters —

These are the cheeses we love on pizza, in panini, and stuffed into croquettes. They stay pretty much where we put them, without running all over the place, and they can form extremely long strings when pulled.

• Mozzarella(aged and fresh)
• Queso Oaxaca
• Scamorza
• Provolone
• String cheese
• Fresh cheddar cheese curds

Smooth and flowing melters —
This category claims the largest number of cheeses. Some are viscous when melted, while others have little body. These cheeses are great for making toasted sandwiches; topping soups or vegetable tarts; stuffing into vegetables; adding richness to baked pasta dishes; and folding into biscuit, scone, and bread dough. They also blend smoothly into other dishes, such as polenta, mashed potatoes, risotto, and soufflés

• Asiago 
• Cheddar 
• Emmentaler
• Fontina 
• Gruyère 
• Havarti
• Monterey Jack 
• Muenster
• Gouda 
• Blue cheeses(they melt around the mold)
• Soft-ripened cheeses like Brie and Camembert (the rind will not melt)
• Parmigiano-Reggiano

Nonmelters —
These cheeses can actually be grilled, fried, or baked; though they may soften when heated, they won’t lose their shape and flow. There are a few possible reasons that some cheeses don’t melt: The cheese might be extremely high in salt. Or it might be low or high in acid, or it might contain high levels of whey proteins (during the cheese-making process, whey is removed from most cheese).

• Halloumi 
• Fresh Mexican cheeses such as queso blanco, queso fresco, ranchero, cotija
• Indian paneer 
• Cottage cheese 
• Ricotta 
• Fresh goat cheese 
• Feta 

RECIPE: Grilled Cheese

If you're thinking, "HAH! grilled cheese!? That's the easiest thing ever... you put cheese on bread and put it in the toaster," you probably never had a decent grilled cheese in your life. Seriously. 

My mom used to do this for school because it was the easiest thing the could make for my lunch, and I was ok with this... until I made REAL grilled cheese (my dog was especially happy about this because he was the only one who ate them after I refused to)

Now grilled cheese is one of the most basic types of food, which translates in the culinary world to the biggest opportunity for creativity. There is no exact recipe, perfect type of cheese, bread, or ingredient. Allow this to get your creativity flowing and adding whatever random ingredient that pops into your head, or even what you have lying around the kitchen. Yet, there IS a definite technique that you definitely should use when making a grilled cheese:

MY USUAL RECIPE:

-Sliced Wheat Bread

-2+ types of cheeses of whatever I have in the fridge, usually: mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, gouda, cheddar, jack, or brie

-avocado, grilled onions and eggplant

METHOD:

1. Butter one side of your bread using room temperature butter. This allows the butter to spread more easily and make sure your bread gets golden and delicious. 

2. Add: ________, ___________, _____________, __________  on the NON-buttered side.

3. Add room-temperature SHREDDED cheese. By using shredded rather than sliced, your cheese melts easier which means your sandwich will be all gooey and delicious before your bread burns

4. Place the sandwich on the non-stick pan on medium heat. Make sure your pan is large enough for your grilled cheese, if not, it will be heated unevenly. 

5. After every flip, press down on your sandwich with a spatula to spread around all the cheese and make your bread toastier

6. OPTIONAL: To make sure the cheese is fully melted, I cut my sandwich in half on the pan and allow it to heat/melt for a little while longer.

SUGGESTIONS:

Here are some other additions to your grilled cheese: avocado, tomato, sliced meats, fresh herbs, fig, bacon, onions (fresh or grilled), jalapeño, arugula, eggplant, apples, mushrooms, ETC.


Enjoy!