Oh my goodness, Eggs Benedict with Prosciutto.

Foodies beware, this dish will knock your socks off, and is easy enough to create.

Ingredients  you will need are:

• Eggs
• English muffin
• Fresh asparagus
• Thinly sliced prosciutto
• White vinegar
• McCormick Hollandaise sauce

To start, get the water boiling in a saute pan (so the egg doesn't touch the bottom), add one capful of vinegar* once water is rolling,  break egg in teacup and slowly put into water. Let the egg stay in there for about 4 minutes. In the interim, toast english muffin, add butter to muffin, steam asparagus (I cut mine up pretty small before so it takes about 3 minutes), start hollandaise. Once all the ingredients are done, compile like I have and give a sprinkle of cayenne on top and WA LA! 

*Vinegar helps keep the egg intact, a little trick I learned from my father in law. 

New Years Resolutions and Blue garlic?!?!

So normally on a Sunday (today being my Sunday) I try and do some cooking for the week; packing your lunch in NYC can save you about $65 a week.
Today, I cut up some garlic and onion to start on my fresh homemade tomato sauce. I decided to cut open a lime and put some fresh lime juice in while that was simmering, came back 2 mins later, garlic is BLUE! Turns out, after a little googling, this is a chemical reaction which scared me into thinking my garlic starter had gone bad. Here was the blue garlic answer. Turns out it is perfectly ok!

My homemade tomato sauce, 10 mins prep 20 min cook time, extra can be frozen!

Heat pan on low-med heat with 1 teaspoon olive oil,
add 3 cloves of minced garlic,
add chopped onion,
fresh lime juice (watch for the blue reaction), isn't a necessary component,
add sliced grape tomatoes (1 pint container)
add 1 sliced vine ripe tomato
add 1 can of tomato paste
add sea salt, to extract the tomatoes natural flavors and liquids.

Let that simmer for about 15-20 minutes, let cool for 30 mins, pour in blender and blend on sauce setting, pour into glass storage (I use the Pyrex containers).

Freeze half, and keep the rest in the fridge for an easy delicious base to your dishes throughout the week. (The sauce just gets better as it gets happy in the fridge)

Foodies...Fast New Yorker dinner!

Being a New Yorker can be tough on the stomach sometimes. Most of the time it is so easy to pick food up on the way to and from work, but that doesn't always work on our budget, so we come up with easy quick meals that are oh so very tasty.
What you will need (for 2 servings):

• 1 pepper (I prefer red or orange, green don't have enough punch for me)
• 1/2 yellow squash, chopped
• 1 bag of cous cous (we use the kind you boil up water, pour and top with lid till it is solid, about 5-7 minutes) 
• 2 Thin n' Trim sausages, we use the Buffalo Chicken (we like it hot)
• 2 garlic cloves
• Mrs. Dash's extra spicy seasoning

Get the cous cous out of the way, boil some water, place the desired amount of cous cous in tupperware, boil water and follow instructions on bag. Cooking the other ingredients; turn stove top on low in medium sized pan, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon olive oil, wait for heat to kick in, mince up garlic, let simmer for a second, letting the delicious aroma fill your house. Add in chopped pepper and squash. Chop up the sausage, place in pan and let everything simmer together for about 3-4 mins on medium heat. Plate; one scoop of cous cous, and a heaping serving of everything that is in the pan. Sometimes we add a dash of Frank's Red Hot Sauce cause "I put that shit on everything." 

Rustico Kitchen!

We went to Rustico Kitchen for a Spicy Italian meal for our 3rd wedding anniversary. We had such a blast and really good food and wine. I have been meaning to blog about it so here it is.
The menu consisted of:

1. Homemade Cavatelli pasta with a spicy tomato sauce
2. Lamb chops with the chef's Daddy's sauce, which consisted of a mixture of delicious ingredients I can't remember off the top of my head (tomato based) 
3. Milan-born and vivacious Micol Negrin made it a very enjoyable and educational class with cleaniness being top priority. (note: she was not on the menu)
4. A multen lava chocolate cake with a fresh whip cream topping. 
5. 2 classes of wine, one white for the pasta dish and one red for the lambs. 

My explanation is not doing it justice and I would say you should try it out to get the hands on approach to cooking. We definitely make a better homemade tomato sauce that will knock your socks off. 

Check out Rustico Kitchen here. 

What to make?

This little recipe is a great "oh my God, what am I going to bring to the party that is in 25 mins."

Grab:

1. bag of peanut butter M&M's
2. bag of Hershey kisses
3. bag of square pretzels (salted)

Create:

Place pretzel squares on a tray lined with wax paper. Place unwrapped Hershey kisses on top of squares, place in oven set at 300 degrees for about 4 mins (until the kisses start to wilt), take out of oven, using oven mitts of course, then with haste place the peanut butter M&M's on top of each kiss. Stick in fridge to set for about 10 mins, take out, throw in tupperware, put heels and fancy dress on and head on over to that party!

Everyone will thank you!