American Style Spicy Italian Sausage

One of the things I miss the most from the states is American style Italian sausage. It might seem like such a oxymoron “American/Italian” sausage...but it's legit trust me. Thet hing is, this sausage is pretty much stricty an American thing, and I'm guessing it's adapted from the huge Italian culture in the north eastern United States. Either way, it's darn good and it's everywhere. It's fantastic because they put it in casings and you can grill it, or squeeze it out in your marinara, or lasagne. Really nice stuff. The point is they have nothing like it here in the UK and I've been missing out on it.

I decided to look through many recipes. Back home they have a sweet and a spicy kind and I opted to make mine the spicy kind. If you want to make it sweeter just add 1 tsp. Of brown sugar to the spice blend and get to mixin'. I used 500g of lean minced pork meat, which is about 1lb. You can double this easily too. I decided to make some meatballs for mine to go in a calzone (recipe to come), and then I froze the rest for later. The recipe makes about 10 meatballs, or would make a perfect bolognese for 4. Enjoy.

Ingredients:
½ tbsp. Dried basil
1 tsp. Dried oregano
1 tsp. Paprika
½ tbsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Salt
½ tbsp. Ground pepper
1 tsp. Fennel seeds
¼ tsp. Caraway seeds
½ tbsp. Dried parsley
1 ½ tsp. Dried red chilli flakes
1 ½ tbsp. red wine vinegar

To Make:
Mix all the spices and red wine vinegar with the pork mince and mix thoroughly with your clean hands for about 10 minutes until thoroughly combined.
Split into two packages and freeze immediately, or use now. I don't care! :)

Roasted Duck Leg Ragu with Raisins

Serve with lots of Parmesan!

Who doesn't love ragu? I love it, and I'm usually partial to a long stewed beef ragu. I decided to see what I could do with some duck. I had an idea for a long time that duck would be good stewed as a ragu. When I got hold of some duck. it was duck legs on the bone and instead of boiling or deboning the legs I decided to roast them. After I roasted the legs I took the meat off the bone and then started the sauce. The result was amazing, in my opinion of course. I admit the idea for using the raisins wasn't just from a recipe that I previously read from Jamie Oliver, but I think the similarities are spot on and he knows what he's talking about here. Mostly when you cook something for a long time, it tends to get bitter. When cooking different types of cuisines that play on that sweet and sour note, you tend to have an instinct to throw in a dried fruit of some kind to counteract the bitterness that sometimes tinned tomatoes can cause. My mom and most recipes when cooking a bolognese call to add a bit of brown sugar or something. The raisins seemed to be a perfect hit and really fell apart and dissipated in the sauce and you'd never know they were there. Everything about this recipe is great especially the fact that you can do it ahead. You can roast the legs well in advance and take the meat off the bone and let it sit for a few days if you want. The sauce itself only takes a bit of boiling for about 45 minutes, and the results are really amazing.

I think this is a fantastic dish for anyone to try if they want minimal amount of work to impress someone. If you make the duck ahead of time then there's little to nothing to do for the sauce. I served this with store made fresh pasta and the second time I made it I tried to make my own pasta. I don't recommend ruining such a nice dish with your own experimentals, but definitely get hold of some good tagliatelle or pappardelle, something nice and thick to soak up the sauce. Serve with some nice garlic bread and a rocket salad. This recipe serves 2-3, but you can easily double the ingredients for a larger amount.

Ingredients:
2 duck legs
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 medium carrot
1 rib celery
2 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
250ml red wine
¼ c. raisins or sultanas
1 sprig rosemary (leaves removed and chopped)
½ tbsp. Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Parmesan

To Start:
Place the duck legs in a small pan and roast for a couple of hours on 180C.
When done set aside and cool to room temperature, then remove the meat from the bone.

For the Ragu:
Dice the onion, celery and carrot and crush the garlic.
In a medium saucepan heat the oil, when hot add in the celery, carrot and onion saute for about 5 minutes.
Next add the wine and boil for another 2-3 minutes or until the alcohol evaporates.
When it's at least reduced by half, add in the tinned tomatoes and the can of water.
Bring to a boil and then add in the garlic raisins and duck meat.
When the sauce is back up to a boil, turn down to a low-medium heat and boil for about 30-45 minutes. You want a thick consistency, and check for salt and pepper at the end.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

What can I say? Who doesn't love tiramisu AND cupcakes?! Combine the two and I have a total winner! Seriously, I don’t know where my sweet tooth came from. I think it came from moving to the UK because I never had such a taste for sweets. I had some lady fingers in the cupboard that I as going to make a killer tiramisu recipe out of, but when I was looking at the ingredients, I just was thinking, “Why don’t I try to make cupcakes out of it?” Lately I’ve been on a cupcake kick. Any type of cupcake I want it. Since I’m still improving my baking skills it’s a bit of a hit or miss, but this certainly was a hit! I nearly ate all of the cupcakes I made, luckily I gave some away! There is some alcohol and coffee in this recipe so you can use it as a great excuse not to share any with the kids! This recipe makes 10. Enjoy!

Delicious, and for more authentic look, dust with cocoa powder :)

Ingredients:
150g butter soft room temperature
150g self-rising flour
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
½ tsp. baking powder
Pinch salt
½ tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. strong espresso - cold
1 tbsp. marsala wine

Icing:
125g mascarpone cheese room temperature
50g butter soft
1 tbsp. marsala wine
1 tsp. cocoa powder
300-500g icing sugar

To Start:
Heat oven to 180C
Cream together butter sugar and eggs until light and fluffy.
Next add in the vanilla, espresso and marsala wine.
In another bowl sift together salt, baking powder and flour.
Mix in with the wet ingredients a little at a time until everything is incorporated.

To cook:
Bake the oven for about 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted clean. Oven times vary so watch them closely.

For the icing:
Make sure that everything is room temperature.
First cream together the butter mascarpone cheese.
Sift in the cocoa and mix to combine.
Next add in the espresso and the marsala wine mix until creamy.
Add icing sugar a little at a time until it becomes a thick consistency that you would like to ice the cakes.
Ice and enjoy!

Easy Fresh Panzanella with Mint and Marjoram

What is it? It’s an Italian bread salad, made with hot croutons freshly made, then sauced up with a delicious vinaigrette and fresh veggies and herbs. It’s absolutely delicious on a hot day or easily taken on a picnic. I bet it would even go nicely with a grilled piece of chicken or fish. I got the herbs from my garden but you traditionally use basil, but since I didn’t have any I just improvised and it was fantastic. It’s best when the croutons are fresh hot out of the oven, but just as delicious after resting at room temperature. This recipe makes about 4 servings but you can easily double it for 4 large portions. Enjoy!

Fresh and healthy!

Ingredients:
200g baguette (rustic baguette preferred and slightly stale)
2-3 medium tomatoes
1 small red onion sliced finely
½ yellow pepper sliced
½ red pepper sliced
½ long cucumber
4 tbsp. olive oil (1 for toasting, 3 for dressing)
½ tsp. Dijon mustard
3 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic
Few sprigs mint and marjoram
Salt and pepper

To start:
Cut the baguette into 1x1inch cubes. Make sure your bread is crusty and stale if it isn’t cut into cubes and leave to rest for 1hr before toasting.
Drizzle 1 tbsp. of olive oil around and salt and pepper tossing it with your fingers to combine.
Put in a 200F oven for about 10 minutes, watch them so they don’t burn!

For the Salad:
Dice the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in nice big chunks.
Make sure the onions are sliced finely.
Finely chop the herbs
Salt and leave aside.

For the Dressing:
Whisk 3 tbsp. oil, vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic until well combined.
Add the herbs and stir.

To Combine the Salad:
When the croutons are hot out of the oven mix them with the vegetables.
Next dress the salad with the dressing and stir to combine.
Stir well so that the dressing gets absorbed by all of the croutons.
Enjoy!

Smoked Turkey Carbonara with Mushrooms

I love carbonara, but I don’t particularly enjoy the saltiness of the dish. The salt usually comes from the bacon or so I’ve found…I wanted to try my hand at a turkey bacon one with a few simple ingredients. This is so easy to make, and it’s actually not too bad for you if you make it exactly this way. This serves 2, but can easily be doubled Enjoy!

Ingredients:
250g spaghetti
3 turkey bacon rashers (I used aMattesons)
1 small red onion
3 cloves garlic
250g white mushrooms sliced
1 egg yolk
¼ c. freshly grated parmesan
1-2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil

To start:
Slice the bacon into very thin strips.
Slice the mushrooms, onion and garlic.
Get the pasta water up to a boil – put the pasta in when it’s boiling
Grate your cheese, and separate the egg yolk.

To cook:
In a skillet, heat the olive oil.
Add when the pan is hot and get a good crisp on them.
Add the onions and mushrooms and garlic and sauté until the mushrooms are soft.

To Finish:
Drain the pasta but very quickly, so that you keep a lot of the juice (Ideally dump the pasta in the colander and then quickly put the pan underneath to catch the draining liquid).
Add the drained pasta to the mushroom bacon mixture and stir thoroughly.
Add the egg yolk, pepper and grated cheese.
Add ¼ c. – ½ c. of the reserved pasta liquid to make it a creamy texture.
Serve immediately!

Spicy Pork and Apple Meatballs

I had some pork mince and I wasn't sure what to do with it, so I decided to make some meatballs! I've made meatballs before but I wanted to try something new, a new way to keep the flavor and to keep it moist. I decided to grate an apple in for some added texture and it worked out great, the meatballs came out really lovely and juicy. These would be great with a sauce, or simply eaten on their own or in a sandwich! Really good. This is a small portion for two people and it makes 8 meatballs, you can double it for a family portion quite easily.Enjoy!

Ingredients:
250g pork mince
1 small apple
½ small onion
½ green pepper
1 slice of bread
1 egg
½ tsp. dried basil
½ tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried chillies
½ tsp. salt
1-2 tbsp. oil

To start:
Chop the onion and the pepper as finely as you can.
Grate as much of the apple as you can skin and all.
Tear the bread into small pieces.
In a bowl combine all of the ingredients.
Clean your hands and mix it up with your fingers, it’s the only way to get it all mixed thoroughly.

To cook:
Form the meatballs by rolling into a ball in your hands, I made 8 with this recipe so about golf ball size.
In a non-stick skillet, heat some oil, when hot add the meatballs and turn continuously. Cook about 5 minutes on each side.
When the meatballs are done they’ll feel very firm when you press into them they will resist.
Enjoy hot with some sauce, or on their own in a sandwich!

Whole Wheat Turkey Lasagna

This can be a bit of a long recipe, but the benefits will definitely make up for it! You can certainly buy a store bought tomato sauce for Spaghetti if you don’t have time but I went a few extra steps and incorporated a store bought sauce with an extra bit of extra veggies. Adapt it any way you’d like and the point is you learn how to make lasagne the American way, or at least how I learned to make it growing up. This was made in an 8x8 baking dish, so my ingredients will reflect that size.

Ingredients:
5-8 sheets whole wheat lasagne pasta
500g ricotta cheese
300g mozzarella cheese (half fat)
2 whole eggs
1 c grated parmesan cheese divided in half
400g turkey mince (you can use any mince)
2-3 small carrots
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
1 glass of wine
½ tsp. each dried basil, oregano, rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 jar of light tomato pasta sauce 500g
2 tbsp. oil

For the sauce:
Dice carrot, onion, pepper, garlic, and peppers.
Heat oil in a large stock pot, when hot, add the mince and brown for 5 minutes, then add diced veggies and sauté until they begin to soften and become fragrant.
Add 1 glass of wine and reduce down at a high boil.
After the wine has reduced into the vegetables, add your jar of pasta sauce, dried seasonings, bay leaf, and bring to a small boil, stirring frequently. Cook about 20 minutes.

Next:
While the sauce is cooking prepare your filling by mixing the ricotta cheese, eggs and half the parmesan cheese.
Add salt and pepper.

To finish:
When the vegetables in your sauce are finished ladle a scoop in the bottom of your baking dish and spread it around. (enough to just prevent the pasta from sticking)
Take pieces of lasagne noodles and arrange to fit as many on the bottom that will cover a layer almost completely (break into several pieces if you have to)
Next ladle another scoop of sauce on top of the pasta.
Next put a few spoonfuls of the ricotta on top of the pasta sauce, carefully spreading it out over the sauce and to cover it as a layer.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and mozzarella.
Next repeat these steps, pasta sauce, pasta, ricotta cheese, parmesan and mozzarella.
Make sure you save enough to put a good topping of mozzarella on the top, that’s what you always want on the top so try to eye your layers to make sure it won’t over flow in your casserole dish.

This can be a tedious dish or it could be very simple, depending on how you want to work with it, but it will definitely not stay in your fridge for long! Freeze any leftovers after 3 days, and they will keep for up to a month.

Eggplant Parmesan (Aubergine Parmesan)

This is a delicious lower calorie alternative to high fat lasagne or moussaka. I make my own marinara sauce (recipe follows), but you can definitely use a store bought sauce. The only tedious part is breading the eggplant (aubergine), but the end result is definitely worth it! This recipe serves 2, with 2 portions of leftovers. Enjoy!

What you’ll need:
1 large eggplant (aubergine)
2-3 eggs
1c bread crumbs
Seasoning for bread crumbs (salt pepper garlic powder)
2 c. low fat mozzarella
½ c. shredded parmesan
½ c milk
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp. tomato puree
1 medium onion
½ red pepper
3 garlic cloves
3 fresh basil leaves
½ tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sugar (if really tart)
1 tbsp. olive oil

First Start the Marinara:
Dice onion, red pepper and garlic.
Then sauté in olive oil, when soft add all the remaining ingredients except the basil and sugar, stew down for about 20-30 minutes.

Next While the Marinara is simmering start the eggplant:
Slice lengthwise in long thin slices. Salt and lay in a colander to drain. Leave about 15 minutes, then rinse and pat dry.
In a shallow dish, mix bread crumbs with seasonings.
In another shallow dish whip eggs and milk.
Alternate dipping the eggplant slices in the breadcrumbs then the egg, and then the bread crumbs again. Repeat with every slice until finished.

At this point tear in the basil and stir in some sugar to cut the bitter taste of the tomatoes, and season to taste.

Assembly:

To assemble place a small amount of sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.
Next place two slices of the breaded eggplant on top of the sauce.
Top the eggplant with another couple spoonful’s of sauce, enough to cover the eggplant.
Sprinkle a small amount of mozzarella and parmesan on top.
Next more eggplant, sauce and cheese, and repeat until ingredients are finished.
Make sure to save some mozzarella for the top.

Bake at 190C or 350F for about 40-50 minutes until golden. Serve with whole wheat pasta and salad. Bon appetite!

Baked Meatballs

I just threw together this recipe because I had some pork mince in the freezer as well as some leftover marinara sauce. It’s a very simple meal to cook with very easy clean-up, low in calories when prepared with the right mince. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
500g lean pork mince (1lb – you could use any other type of mince as long as it’s lean)
½ onion
¼ green pepper
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. ketchup (eye ball it)
1/3 c bread crumbs
1 egg
Salt + Pepper
Garlic Powder (garlic paste works great too)

To start:
Dice green pepper, and onion and put into a medium bowl.
Add the mince, bread crumbs, egg, and seasonings; mix well.

To cook:
Preheat the oven to ~170C (350F).
Spray with oil a muffin tin with at least 12 cups in it.
Roll the meat mixture in to balls and drop one in each cup.
Continue until mixture is finished.
Place in the oven and cook for 30-45minutes.
Serve over pasta with your favourite sauce, or add into a sandwich, the possibilities are endless.

Simple Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce

This came to me as I got some delicious tomatoes and basil in the veg box so I decided to make a light meal that turned out to be extra delicious and very simple with few ingredients. You can make this and store in the fridge for a few days. It would also be a great appetizer on top of toasted bread, or you can add shellfish. Get crazy. This serves 2.

Ingredients:
6 whole tomatoes (more or less depending on how big they are)
5 cloves of garlic (yes this has to be)
1 small onion
2 tbsp. olive oil
6-10 fresh basil leaves
Water for thinning out the sauce
Salt and lots of freshly ground pepper
Handful of parmesan cheese
~150g of fresh egg tagliatelle

To start:
Dice the tomatoes, onions, garlic.
Shred the basil.

To cook:
Heat the olive oil in the pan; when hot add the tomatoes, onion and garlic.
Turn down the heat to a simmer. Cook the tomatoes stirring constantly for 5-10 minutes.
Smash down the tomatoes as much as you can to release the juice.
If it cooks too fast and the juices run out you can add a little water to thin it out.
When it’s cooked down, add the basil, salt and pepper.

Serve over al dente pasta and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and more pepper.

Might be Better than Mom’s - Turkey Bolognase

As a child, one of my favourite things to eat was spaghetti, sitting in the kitchen handing my mom ingredients or cutting things up for the sauce, the garlic bread, salad… the whole meal was an experience I remember with clarity. As I got older and I would come home to visit, I’d watch the beef fry in the pan and the grease float around the pot...it became a less than appetizing experience for me. So as an adult I had to adapt the recipe for my personal lifestyle, by making vegetable spaghetti, or substituting the beef with ground turkey or even soy mince. But, sometimes it just doesn’t taste like mom’s. Fortunately I feel like I’ve made a good balance between the two, my mom’s and mine, to find something that gives me the homey comfort of mom’s, but done my way.

When I first moved to England the dish they made that was very similar almost exactly the same is “Spaghetti Bolognese”. For testing recipe’s sake I looked through books and made the recipe from traditional ingredients such as beef. After I got it once, it was time to make it mine and take ingredients from its traditional recipe to enhance my own personal recipe. When this happened it became another favourite in my house, and especially for leftovers. It freezes remarkably and is versatile in that you can cook it for multiple guests or cook it to freeze for fast meals during the week. Although I’m in no way stating this recipe is “fast”, if you follow my steps you can cut down on your time so that you can get back to your glass of wine or guests faster. Another change I do to bump up fibre is I use whole wheat pasta, anything you like will work but if I can add some extra nutrition in there I always squeeze it in, as long as it doesn’t sacrifice too much of the flavour, but I find that I quite like it and I’d even go as far as to say that I like it better. Again, this recipe has a lot of ingredients, and can be changed any way you like, it’s the technique and steps for preparation that make it important, and if you wanted to make it vegetarian with soy mince, or just vegetables, I would omit the wine from the recipe and just drink it instead :) So without further ado.

Turkey Bolognese:

500g (1lb) Ground turkey mince
1 large carrot (or 1-2 small)
2 stalks celery
1 medium green pepper
1 medium onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1tsp dried oregano
1tsp dried basil
2 400g (15oz) cans diced tomatoes
2 cups beef stock (Low Sodium)
1 large glass of red wine (always use a wine you want to drink during the meal)
200g mushrooms (any type)
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
1tbsp sugar
1 tbsp light oil
Pasta 50-75g per person (weighing food really helps keep your proportions realistic)

To Start Dice Veggies and group individually:

1. Celery
   Carrot
   Onion
   Green pepper
2. Garlic (I always put it in the middle so it doesn’t burn out the flavour)
3. Mushrooms (Slice)

Other Prep:

Prepare beef stock (or you can use pre made stock, I usually just use the cubes and hot water)

Pour a large glass of wine

Measure the pasta and get the water on the back burner to get warm

To Cook:

1. In a large sauce pot heat the oil, then add mince turkey, carrot, celery, onion, and pepper, oregano, basil, and stir until the meat is all browned and the veggies have begun to break down. 
2. Add the mushrooms, and cook until the mushrooms have softened. Then add garlic, stir for about 2 minutes
3. Turn up the heat and add wine, stock, tomatoes, bay leaves and stir. Bring to a hard boil and boil for about 5 minutes then reduce to a simmer and stir occasionally until most of the liquid is evaporated (this is important) and all the vegetables are soft and cooked through.
4. Taste and add as much sugar as you need to balance the acidity.
5. Salt and Pepper as needed.

This could take anywhere from 1hr to 2hrs depending on how quickly you want to get done with it. At this stage it can just rest and simmer while you entertain guests, make the salad, garlic bread or do other things, sit back enjoy some wine and let it develop itself with delicious deep earthy wine flavour combined with herbs it’ll make it worth the wait. Cooking shouldn’t be a race, but however I do know that with feeding families it’s important to get the food on the table. As long as you follow the steps or use the same ingredients you should be able to adapt it to your cooking style after you get the groove of it. I hope you enjoy eating this as much as I enjoy making it. To adapt it to a vegetarian, use any diced vegetables you want, I like to add frozen spinach, courgettes (zucchini), eggplant (aubergine) anything you could possibly want. If you really wanted to add wine, I would just add less. But other than that it should be very adaptable. Enjoy!