Bowties in Roasted Red Bell Sauce

I'm in a roasted veggie phase... and it's been over 2 weeks. I'm STILL craving roasted veggies!!! So when I decided to blend my roasted bells to make a pretty red sauce to toss my bowties in, I was completely thrilled with myself... and so was Eric!!
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 500g package bowtie pasta (or other pasta you might like)
4 roasted red bell peppers (roast and peel yourself, or buy in a jar)
1 zucchini, sliced thinly
1 eggplant, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup EVOO
1/4 cup reserved pasta water
1 tbsp basil or handful fresh
some heavy cream (sorry, I didn't really measure)
Salt/Fresh ground pepper
Directions:
1. Grill the veggies: Salt the eggplant and zucchini slices to let the water sweat out, about 20 minutes. Then rinse, dry, and toss with enough EVOO to coat. Place on a baking sheet and sprinkle a little salt, some fresh ground pepper, and grate 2 of the garlic cloves over them. Pop in the broiler for about 15 minutes, checking and turning at least once, until desired grill-ness.
2. While waiting for the veggies to grill, blend the roasted bell peppers with the 2 remaining garlic and a drizzle of EVOO. If you are using jarred bell peppers, throw in the liquid, too.
3. During this time, you should have already started to boil your salted water to cook the bowties al dente.
4. In a heavy based pan, heat the blended mixture with a little more EVOO. The color should be fantastically beautiful. At this time, you can drizzle some heavy cream to add more liquid to the sauce.
5. Add the grilled veggies and heat through before adding the cooked bowties. Toss and heat until desired tenderness of the pasta. It should be well coated. If not, add some of the reserved pasta water and/or heavy cream. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and add the basil.

Serve with some freshly grated parmesan..mmmm
Ok, where's the meat? Well, serve as a side to a slab of meat or add some crumbled Italian sausage and some roasted tomatoes which is what I'm planning to do next time since I just made a fresh batch!

Breakfast Burritos!!

What the heezy? Talk about a great big breakfast aka hangover food aka college food! Man does it make me miss those days..
So as far as rules go with breakfast burritos.. well at long as it has eggs, it counts! The rest is up to you. Here's what went into mine:
2 eggs, scrambled
home made guacamole
mexirice
cheddar cheese
sour cream
green onions
hot hot salsa
squeeze of lemon

you could also add things I wish I had:
black beans
sautéed veggies
cilantro
chopped jalapeños

I love burritos!

Bagos com Choco e Frutos do Mar

This makes me want to go to Portugal! In the world section of my grocery store, I can sometimes find little treasures, like this pack of Bagos (Orzo) for 50 cents! Bagos are actually pasta, but shaped like rice and used frequently in Portugese cuisine. This intrigued me, as did the recipe on the back of the package... which called for Choco (Calamari) and Bacon, but I switched out the bacon for various seafood.
Serves 3-4
Ingredients:
1 package Bagos (250g)
2 lbs frozen Calamari and mixed Seafood (or just Calamari and half a package chopped bacon)
3 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 cups fish stock
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 bay leaf
1 tsp Chili powder
EVOO
Salt/Fresh ground pepper
Directions:
1. Heat the EVOO and color the onion, garlic and bacon (if you're using). Add the bay leaf, chili powder, tomatoes and bell pepper. Deglaze with the white wine.
2. Add half of the fish stock. Bring to a boil and add the Bagos. Once that starts boiling again, add the frozen seafood and calamari. Bring to a boil once again, then lower the heat, cover and let simmer 5-10 minutes, checking and stirring.
3. The cooking time is by taste testing because I didn't really time it, but Bagos seem to take longer to cook than regular pasta. Keep tasting and adding fish stock if necessary. The end result should not be dry and sticky, but not a soup either. 1 quart was a little much for me, so I didn't use it all. Adjust the seasoning with salt and fresh ground pepper.

Serve hot with some fresh parmesan on top... and pat yourself on the back! Delicious!
I suppose you could make it Italian with Arborio rice if you can't find Bagos, but then you would need to add it at the beginning with the onions.

Even my meat eating husband loved it and told his Portugese friend about it.. so that MUST mean it was good!