Cheese Ravioli's with Chicken Italian Sausage and Green Pea Garlic Sauce

Here's a combination I've been working with on a few pasta dishes. In this dish, the cheese ravioli's are mild and offer a great base for the spicy ground sausage and green pea sauce. 

Ingredients:

Cheese ravioli's

1 pound ground Italian chicken sausage

1 cup frozen pea's

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon butter

2-1/2 tablespoon's Wondra flour

2 crushed garlic cloves

Parmesan cheese

Red pepper flakes

Preparation:

Prepare the sauce by taking a 12" saute pan and heating to medium. Add the ground Italian sausage and cook for 5 - 7 minutes or until browned and fully cooked. Let cool and drain in a colander and place back into the saute pan. Set a side for final preparation. 

Take a 4 cup glass measuring cup and add the milk, butter, flour and crushed garlic cloves. Mix well so the flour is dissolved. Heat in the microwave stirring every 30 seconds. After 2-1/2 minutes you should have a thick garlic white sauce.

Add the white sauce and peas to the ground chicken sausage. Heat to medium and add salt and pepper to taste and you're done.

Cook the ravioli's according to directions, which is usually to boil in plenty of water with 1 tablespoon salt added for 10 minutes. When done, add the ravioli's to the sausage and green pea garlic sauce. 

 

To serve, place 5 or 6 ravioli's on a serving plate or shallow bowl. Top the ravioli's with the chicken Italian sausage and green pea garlic sauce. Garnish the dish with parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and chopped Italian parsley. 

Shredded Chicken with Red Guajillo Chile Sauce on Basmati Rice

I saw my local grocery store started carrying this red guajillo cooking sauce form Herdez and thought I'd add a little precooked shredded chicken breast and it turned out really good. I think I'll always have a jar in the pantry. 

 

But what are the flavor characteristics of a Guajillo Chili:

The Guajillo chile has the best flavor of any Chile, typically used for red Enchilada sauce. The chile has 4" to 6" inch pods and are medium to hot with super sweet flavor.

 

Ingredients:

1 large poached and shredded chicken breast

1 jar Herdez Red Guajillo Chile sauce

Basmati rice

Diced green onion

Chopped cilantro

Sour cream

 

Preparation:

Cook the rice by adding 1 cup of rice to 1-1/2 cups water and a teaspoon of salt to you rice cooker. Press start and the rice will be done in 15 minutes.

 

Take a medium sauce pan and add the red Guajillo sauce and shredded chicken and heat to simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes and you're done.

 

To serve, place a portion of rice on a serving plate or bowl. Add the shredded chicken and garnish with diced green onions, chopped cilantro and sour cream.

 

Barbecue Tri Tip Sandwich

I love a char grilled medium rare Tri Tip now and again, but now I have a second reason, barbecue Tri Tip sandwich. So, I had this huge Tri Tip that I grilled one night and we only ate about half . The next night, I sliced up the rest and cooked in a sauce pan with barbecue sauce. The meat was soft and melt in your mouth, toss it on a soft roll with some coleslaw, awesome. 

Ingredients:
Cooked and sliced Tri Tip roast
Barbecue sauce of choice
Cole slaw; shredded cabbage, mayonnaise, rice wine vinegar
Brioche roll / soft bun of choice

Preparation:

This preparation is for a cooked Tri Tip. For my grilled Tri Tip recipe, click here: Grilled Tri Tip 

Slice the Tri Tip roast into 1/8" thin slices and add to a medium sauce pan. Add 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce and simmer for about 10 minutes.

 

Make the coleslaw by taking a green cabbage and cutting into quarters. Take your sharp chef's knife and slice one of the cabbage quarters very thin slices and you've got shredded cabbage. Place the cabbage into a mixing bowl and add 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. Mix very well and let set for 10 minutes mixing occasionally and you've got coleslaw. 

 

To serve, place you bun on a plate and add some barbecued Tri Tip, then add some coleslaw and the top of your bun and you're ready to get messy.

Pasta with Roasted Garlic Sauce, Arugula and Walnuts

I found this recipe called Pasta with 50 Garlic Clove Sauce and thought I would give it a shot. I was a little skeptical about so much garlic, but it turned out amazingly good. For a little color and texture I added some arugula and chopped walnuts.

Ingredients:
1 pound pasta, spaghetti or other
40 medium or 50 small garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
Large handful arugula
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation:

Prepare the garlic sauce by taking a 10" sauté pan and adding the olive oil and garlic cloves. Bring the temp up so the garlic cloves slowly brown. If you burn the garlic then you'll need to start over, so take it slow. After about 10 minutes the garlic cloves will be a nice brownish color and you're done. Let the garlic and oil cool before the next step.

 

Take a small food processor and add the garlic and oil. Mix until you have a smooth and creamy sauce.

 

Fill a large stock pot with water and add 1 tablespoon salt and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and stir occasionally so the pasta is cooking evenly. Cook the pasta according to directions which is 7 - 10 minutes, but I find 10 minutes is where I usually end up. Drain the pasta, reserving 2 cups pasta water.

 

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium high and add the pasta. Add the garlic sauce and a 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Mix well until the sauce is nicely coating the noodles. Add more pasta water if necessary. Add the arugula and chopped walnuts and cook until the arugula has wilted and you're done.

 

To serve, place a portion of pasta on a serving plate or shallow bowl. Drizzle on some olive oil and garnish with chopped Italian parsley, fresh ground pepper and grated parmesan cheese 

Corn on the Cob with Cilantro Lime Butter

I don't know if it's quite corn season yet, but the weathers getting warmer and grocery stores are starting to stock up. Here I'm using white and yellow corn with cilantro lime butter. Give this a try, you'll be a fan. 

 

Ingredients:

2 ears of corn 

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

 

Preparation:

Place the corn in a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Once at a boil reduce to simmer and cook about 10 minutes.

 

Place the butter on a medium size microwave proof plate and melt. Mix in the lime juice and the chopped cilantro.

 

To serve, place your corn cob holders into the ears of corn. Roll the corn cob through the cilantro lime butter, grind on some fresh ground salt and pepper and enjoy.  

Grilled Rib Eye Steak Taco's

You know when you've got that 1 killer rib eye steak in the freezer, but you need to serve 3 people, soft taco's are the ticket. In this taco, the grilled steak and smashed avocado are the stars. Add a little shredded cheese, cilantro and a squeeze of lime...Ya!

Ingredients:
1 - 10oz rib eye steak
Tortilla Land uncooked flour tortillas
Shredded iceberg lettuce
Shredded cheese
2 ripe avocados
Chopped cilantro
Limes

Preparation:

Take the avocados and remove from the peel and add to a medium bowl. Take a fork and roughly smash the avocados. Add a little salt and pepper to taste. Prepare the shredded lettuce, cheese and limes and set a side.

 

Heat your grill to high heat. Coat the steak with olive oil and generous salt and pepper. If your steak is 1" thick, follow these instructions. Place the steak on the grill 45 degrees to the grate. Cook for 3 minutes 30 seconds. Flip the steak and cook for another 3 minutes 30 seconds. After a total of 7 minutes the steak should be on the rare side of medium rare. Cook 1 extra minute if you like medium. Place the steaks on a plate and tent cover with aluminum foil for 3 - 4 minutes. After the steak has rested, dice into bite size pieces and place in a bowl and set a side.

 

Take you stove top griddle and heat to medium. Place 2 flour tortillas on the griddle and cook for about 1 minute per side. When done place the tortillas in your taco holder.

 

Next add some shredded lettuce, rib eye steak, shredded cheese, avocado and garnish with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime. 

Creamed Spinach with Bacon

I make creamed spinach every couple months or so because it's one of my favorite side dishes to a steak dinner. This time I added some crumbled bacon to the cream sauce and man was it ever good. The key to creamed spinach is to make sure you squeeze as much moisture out of the cooked spinach as possible before adding to the cream sauce.



Available at Costco



Ingredients:

3 lbs. fresh spinach

2 to 3 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons Wondra brand flour

1 cup 1% milk

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons crumbled bacon

2 crushed garlic cloves

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Preparation:

In a 12" sauté pan cook down all the spinach a handful at a time. When all the spinach is cooked let cool in a colander. When cool take some paper towels and squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible, set a side

 

Mix the milk, butter and flour in a glass measuring cup and heat in the microwave to make a cream sauce. Every 30 seconds take the cream sauce out and stir. After about 2-1/2 minutes the cream sauce will thicken up like thick pancake batter. 

Add the cream sauce to a 12" sauté pan and bring up to simmer. Add the bacon and garlic and cook 1 minute. 

 

Add the cooked spinach, parmesan cheese to the pan, salt and pepper to taste. Mix and heat until cheese is melted and you're done.

 

To serve, place the creamed spinach into a serving bowl and garnish with a little crumbled bacon.

Chinese Chopped Chicken Salad

Here's an easy to prepare salad that is so good because of all the different greens. I use shredded cabbage, shredded romaine lettuce, baby spinach and arugula, plus a few other ingredients listed below. To give the salad a little more substance, I add some cold angle hair pasta and use one of my favorite salad dressings, Boathouse Miso Ginger.

Ingredients:
It's hard to measure shredded cabbage, lettuce and baby spinach, so I'm just going to describe how I portion out the salad for 2.

1 large handful shredded cabbage
1 large handful shredded romaine lettuce
1 large handful baby spinach
1 small handful arugula
1 poached chicken breast diced
1/2 shredded carrot
1 bunch green onions
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Preparation:
Combine the shredded cabbage, shredded romaine lettuce, baby spinach and arugula in a large salad bowl. Add the diced chicken breast, shredded, green onions, cilantro and chopped walnuts. Add 2 tablespoons dressing, half the amount we'll use in total, and toss well.

To serve, place a serving portion of the Chinese Chopped Chicken Salad on a plate or large bowl. Drizzle on a little more dressing and garnish with a few more diced green onions and chopped walnuts.