Grilled Sausages with Peppers in Sweet Chili Sauce

My husband is British as you probably already know especially if you are a regular follower of this blog. That means, like most, Brits, he loves Sausages. So when summer comes, you can be sure we'll be grilling aplenty. Oftentimes, there are left-overs and we love it when that happens! The reason why? This recipe!

Spinach and Cream Cheese Crostini

Crostinis consist of small pieces of toasted or grilled bread served with toppings. They are essentially Italian appetizers which are great for entertaining. I thought since the holidays would soon be with us, it would be great to share a recipe that's easy to make, elegant  enough to serve with company and most of all - delightfully delicious! This recipe for Spinach and Cream Cheese Crostini is all that! Make it this holiday season for your family and friends or as a quick and delectable lunch option! We love these these yummy toasted bread for lunch with our favorite salad! Enjoy! 

Penne with Beef and Roasted Pepper Sauce

I had some ground beef, red wine and roasted peppers at hand. What should I do? The obvious answer was to make a delicious pasta sauce. I wanted a quick recipe that doesn't require many hours of simmering yet still deliver robust flavor. So, inspired by my Bolognese recipe, I used the red wine to add flavor to the Beef. I boiled it and let it evaporate so that the beef retains that subtle wine taste that truly adds depth of flavor but without too much alcohol. I then stirred in  the roasted sweet peppers and fresh chopped/diced tomatoes plus some dried herbs and, wow, the result is a very delicious sauce that tastes like it was slow-cooked for hours but actually is not. Enjoy this easy and yummy pasta sauce over your favorite pasta!

Penne with Peppers, Fresh Tomatoes and Basil

This pasta dish is full of deliciously fresh flavors and  so perfect for using your summer produce!! So seriously yummy you won't miss the meat!

I love going to the farmer’s market to buy fresh produce which I can immediately use for easy stir-fries or pasta dishes. Usually, I would buy some fresh ripe tomatoes, colorful peppers and fresh herbs which I love to use in making fresh pasta sauce. While browsing the internet, I chanced upon this recipe - Penne Pasta with Peppers, Tomatoes and Basil from Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta. Since I had the ingredients needed for the dish, I began to work on it and simply adapted it to what has now become a favorite summer pasta dish.

According to Hazan, it makes a difference if you peel the peppers before you use it as it removes the bitterness coming from its skin and brings out its sweetness. I followed his advice and it was spot on. I also peeled the tomatoes as recommended by him and the result is a really juicy yummy tomato sauce.

This is such a simple dish but really big on flavor. Unbelievably delicious!

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Ingredients

  

1 Tablespoon Olive oil

3 Tablespoon  Butter

4-5 garlic cloves, minced

1 medium onion, chopped
2 bell peppers (red & yellow), peeled, seeded, cut lengthwise into thin strips, then diced

1 1/2 lbs ripe tomatoes (about 2 large beefsteak tomatoes or your fave one), peeled and diced

10 fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Penne or any pasta of your choice

Parmesan cheese to pass around

Procedure

Cook the pasta according to package directions while making the sauce.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the butter and let it melt, don’t let it burn. Once the butter has sizzled and melted, add the garlic and cook for about a minute. Add the onion and sauté until it’s soft about 4-5 mins. 
When the onion has softened, add the peppers and season with a little salt. Cook for about 8-10 mins or until fully tender. Stir in the tomatoes and continue to sauté for another 10 mins until the tomatoes have reduced and the liquid released has dried up a bit. Halfway through, stir in the chopped basil.

When almost done, season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Add the freshly cooked pasta of your choice to the sauce and mix until the pasta is fully coated. Serve immediately with parmesan cheese on top. Oh, yum!

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Stuffed Bell Peppers (Pinoy Style)

I love bell peppers! When they abound in summer time, I think of all the recipes that I can use them for. You see, red and other colored (except for the green) bell peppers are quite expensive so I take advantage of buying them during summer when they are in season. I love getting the freshest most beautiful peppers in the Farmers' market.

One of the recipes I have been wanting to do for the longest time is stuffed bell peppers. The question is, what kind of stuffing should I make? I didn't want to use just the usual browned ground beef. I thought why not try to use my recipe for arroz a la cubana and do a Pinoy version of stuffed bell peppers? After all it's a recipe that calls for ground meat but with the addition of carrots, raisins and peppers/potatoes, hmmm....why not?

So I tried it and it worked! From now on, this will be my stuffing for bell peppers.

Most stuffed bell pepper recipes would call for the use of the oven to cook this dish. But it's summer time and I don't want to turn the house into a furnace in the middle of an already hot summer so I decided to experiment and use my cast iron instead. Instead of using the oven, I cooked it on the stove top. It worked too! Not only is it possible to cook stuffed bell peppers outside the oven, I also managed to cut the cooking time in half the time. Most of all, the peppers retained their lovely shape. Easy, quick and delicious cooking! Enjoy this recipe while the peppers abound!

For this dish, the arroz a la cubana recipe is indispensable. Click here to get the recipe. When using the recipe as a stuffing, I replace the peppers with red potatoes since we are already using them as the receptacle for the dish.

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Ingredients

Ground meat cooked based on arroz a la cubana recipe (click here).
6 large bell peppers of various colors (if using the entire arroz recipe)
1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce plus half a can of water 
1 teaspoon gluten-free Soy sauce, or to taste
1 teaspoon gluten-free Oyster sauce, or to taste 
1 Tablespoon brown Sugar, or to taste 
Salt and pepper, to taste

Procedure

In a cast iron or any deep and large cooking pan, heat the tomato sauce and the water. Season with soy and oyster sauce, sugar and a little salt and pepper. Adjust the seasoning to your taste. Try to achieve a balance between sweetness, saltiness and tartness. Simmer the sauce while you prepare the bell peppers.

Rinse and dry the bell peppers. Cut the tops off and remove the seeds. You may need to taper the bottom of the peppers to ensure that they stand.

Fill the bell peppers with the ground meat mixture up to the top and more if you wish.

Place the peppers inside the cast iron casserole and cook on gentle simmer for about 30 minutes or until the peppers are fully cooked through and tender.

Spoon the sauce on the peppers and serve them with steamed rice on the side. Yum! Truly Pinoy!

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Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses. Proverbs 10:12

Spaghetti with Roasted Peppers and Bacon

It's summer time! That means bell peppers are aplenty. That also means they are cheaper than usual. When this time comes, I load my fridge with bell peppers 'cause they are one of my favorite veggies. Not only are they pretty to look at - love the variety of colors -they are packed with Vitamins A, C, B6 and folate. Very nutritious, indeed. In fact, I read somewhere that those who are trying to lose weight need to include bell peppers in their diet because the vitamins in them provide tremendous health benefits for both fat burning and overall good health. Ok, I am sold!

I especially love to use roasted peppers in pasta. The taste is so subtle and yet quite wonderful.

Here is the recipe, originally from Giada De Laurentiis' book Everyday Pasta, which I have adapted. Her version is meat-free because it was used as a side dish. I wanted to make it more of an entree or a stand-alone meal, hence, I added some bacon to give it a more robust flavor.

Enjoy!


Ingredients

6 large bell peppers, choose your fave color
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
6 strips of bacon (chopped or you may crumble it later after you've cooked it)
1 large onion
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup white wine
1 14 oz can chicken broth
1 lb spaghetti
1/2 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped (optional)
Grated parmesan cheese, to taste

Procedure

Roast the peppers under the broiler or, better yet grill them above the flame, until their skins turn brownish-black and start to pull away. Turn the peppers occasionally and roast/grill for roughly 20-25 mins (broiler method).

Set aside the peppers until they are cool enough to handle. Others place them inside a plastic or paper bag as it helps make the peeling of the skin easier. Remove the skins and seeds and cut them into strips.
Heat a little oil in a large deep pan. Add the bacon. Cook the bacon until brown and crisp. Transfer to another plate and set aside. You will use bacon as topping later. I remove half of the accumulated fat on the pan too but you can use all of it if you wish.

Stir in the chopped onion and saute for about 3 mins. Deglaze the pan with a little wine to remove the brown bits on it.

Add in the pepper strips. Season with salt and pepper and continue to saute for another 2-3 minutes. Pour in the wine and chicken broth and simmer on low heat for about 15-20 mins.

While you are simmering the peppers, begin to cook the pasta.

When all's done, check the seasoning on the pepper sauce and mix in the pasta, parsley and some parmesan cheese. It will be a little watery but once you put some cheese, it will thicken. The cheese can sometimes stick to the spatula so I only put a small amount and just add more on my plate.

Don't forget to sprinkle the crumbled bacon on top! Have a fun Italian dinner!