Baked Rigatoni with Sautéed Fennel

You’ve invested a lot of time into making homemade Red Sauce, at least you should have! (See: Essential Red Sauce with Meat) Now it’s time to reap the rewards of your efforts with a pasta dish that takes only minutes to prepare.

Carnitas with Sweet & Peppery Slaw

When you make a dish to bring to a party or picnic, you have several basic options. You can make something that requires no more interaction by the people grazing off the buffet table than picking it up and popping it in the mouth. You can make a tasty dip and provide something crunchy to be dipped, (let’s face it, the veggies or crackers or whatever are merely transport mechanisms for the real star – the dip!) Or you can produce something that the grazers get to put together on their own – this is always the winner in my book. You make something good to eat (win raves for you), the party goers have fun assembling (win more raves), and they feel good about themselves (yet more raves!).

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter!

Sort of Mom’s Sunday Pot Roast

“Stringy Meat” - what a non-appetizing sounding dish! But that’s the name by which we knew Pot Roast at our house and it did mean delicious to us. But then we grew up eating things like “Trees” (Broccoli); “Pop Corn Soup” (Corn Chowder); and “Monkey” (Welsh Rarebit).

Lasagne Imbottite

Confused with spelling and the overall recipe name? Well, Lasagne is the dish and lasagna are the noodles. Imbottite means “stuffed” or more literally “padded” and is the perfect description for my over the top version.

Having clarified that, I want to tell you a story...

Broasted Corned Beef Brisket

Nice and easy. Low and slow. This is how I always suggest cooking less tender cuts of meat. We do this because time is the only ingredient that will break down the connective tissue and let the meat realize its delicious destiny.

Sautéed Savoy Cabbage

Cabbage. We like to stuff it, make salads with it and add it to soups and all sorts of other foods. While it works perfectly well as an added ingredient, cabbage is seriously overlooked as a side dish by itself. When it does appear by itself, it is usually still in a supporting role consigned to be boiled along with the rest of the “starring role” vegetables.