Garlic Bread and Bruscetta Bread

Garlic Bread with Pepperoni and Melted Cheese

                    

Slice Italian bread open.

Main ingredients:

Add butter THINLY sliced.

a dash of blk pepper, garlic powder and oregano.

1 Tbs of finely chopped fresh Basil
Add  grated Cheese to top of Bread. Your Preference.
Add ons: Mozzerella Cheese, pepperoni or mushroom, Bake on 350 until crispy.

Slice with pizza cutter.

Bruschetta bread with melted Mozzarella.

In a bowl - Whisk together

1/4 cup Balsmic Vinegar,

2 Tbs Olive Oil

Dash of Salt, Blk Pepper, Garlic Powder, Oregano, freshly and Sugar (yes sugar)

1 Tbs finely chopped Basil

1 Tbs grated Cheese

After Blending together than add:

3 Plum Tomatoes chopped into tiny pieces

1 Tbs  finely chopped Red Onion and Celery

Optional can add:  Tbs of Finely chopped Red or Yellow Pepper

Mix together and let stand for 5 Minutes.

Slice Open Italian bread

with Fork add Bruschetta Mix

then with Spoon add the juice mixture to coat the bread.

(You might not use all the juice.)

Add shredded Mozzarella

Bake in oven at 350 until crispy.

Slice with Pizza Cutter.

Broccoli Rabe with Sausage or Shrimp

                                                                                 

For Bariatric Friendly - Do not Add Pasta.  

    

Serves 4

  Broccoli Rabe 2 Bunches

Sausage cooked and chopped 4 links
Tomatoes chopped or sundried tomatoes

Garlic Sliced-  3 cloves

Red bell peppers chopped 1/2

Mushrooms Chopped 4 pcs

Chicken Broth college inn  1 or 2 cans
White Wine 1 tbs

Penne Pasta cooked  1 lb

Grated Cheese

The time consuming part of this dish is cleaning the Broccoli Rabe.

I cook about 4+ bunches of Broccoli Rabe at a time. Need a commerical  14 qt size pot to do this.   Lay them straight in a roasting pan to cool off, cut them into pieces and then freeze portions in a ziploc bag. So, when I want to use a recipe with Broccoli Rabe I can prepare it in a few minutes.

Or of course, you can cook 1 bunch at a time.

 Fill large pot with water little bit of salt and boil water. While you are waiting for the water to boil.   

Broccoli Rabe: Cut off ends of stalk and peel off outer layer. As you can see in picture once you cut off end and peel back it comes off easily. 

Place in large bowl and rinse in cold water.

STEPS BELOW IMPORTANT so that you don't over cook the Broccoli Rabe.     Put all the Broccoli Rabe into the boiling water.

COVER.

When water boils over again.  Take off  Cover. Cook for 3 minutes.

Then strain out into a collander into another pot. to save water to cook pasta in.  Pasta will have better flavor cooked with the broccoli Rabe water.   or you can put another pot of water with  alittle salt for your pasta.                                                                           

  Cook Pasta aldente and strain into collander and rinse with cold water so they won't stick together.   Leave Pasta on side for later use.

  Cooking the Broccoli Rabe this way won't make it soooo bitter .   If you like it very bitter than steam them.

Sautee sausage and chop. leave on side.

                                                                         


Fry chopped garlic in a little bit of olive oil to lightly golden brown. (can use oil left from frying sausage for nice flavor and just add more oil if needed as you cook.)

Add in chopped red bell peppers and chopped tomatoes or sundried tomatoes. Stir and Cook for 3 minutes.

Add in sliced mushroom.  Stir and Cook for 1 minute.

Add cooked and chopped sausage. Stir and cook another minute.

 Add Broccoli Rabe 3- 4 inch lengths  and  White Wine

Then add Chicken Broth.  Once that comes to a boil --

Add in cooked pasta, grated cheese and stir for 1 minute.

Done!!  Enjoy!!!

Instead of Sausage you can use:

cooked sliced Chicken Cutlet, or

cooked shrimp (cook the shrimp with olive oil, salt and garlic powder. Add to mixture right before pasta)
Instead of Tomatoes add sundried tomato (sliced)

Chicken Cacciatore

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

1 family package of Skinless boneless Chicken Thighs cut in 1/2. 

 (Serving size: approx. 2 pcs per person.) 
1 large can of Chopped Tomatoes in puree

1 large onion. Sliced (not chopped)
1 container of Portobello mushrooms or 2 x-large ones

1 Red, yellow and/or green bell pepper

1/2 bag of red potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes
Olive Oil - enough to cover onions 

1 Large Onion: 

Sliced (not chopped) Leave in long strips.  Place in a Deep Large Frying Pan with Olive oil enough to cover bottom of pan and Saute until golden brown. 

 Place Chopped tomatoes in puree in frying pan.

Add: 1/2 teaspoon salt, black pepper, garlic powder.

1 tsp of sugar, 2 leaves basil chopped and a pinch of oregano.

 Cook on Med. High approx. 7 minutes. Stirring frequently.

   
While sauce is cooking.  Sear Chicken and Potatoes. 

Chicken Thighs:
Place Chicken in skillet with little bit of olive oil. Sear both sides until golden brown. (chicken will still be raw) Chicken will cook fully once in baking pan in oven. 

Place seared chicken in 2"-3" roasting pan. 

Pour 3/4 of Sauce on top of chicken.

 

Potatoes: 

Peel and cut into chunks.  Lay potatoes flat in large frying pan and Sear potatoes on both sides to make them crispy They will not be completely cooked.  Add a pinch of Salt and Pepper. 

Then spread them out on top of the chicken in the baking pan

Red Potatoes or Yellow Golden Potatoes

Mushrooms: Thickly Sliced.
Red Bell Pepper: Sliced into strips.

Place on top of potatoes. 

Add the rest of the sauce to baking pan. 
Cover with Aluminum foil

         

Bake Covered on 450 degrees for 30 - 45 minutes / until chicken is done.

Can be served with rice or wide Egg noodles.

EGG NOODLES: 

Place Egg Noodles in boiling salted water.  Noodles cook faster than Pasta.  Cook Aldente. 

Strain out and place noodles back in pot.  Add 4 Tbs salted butter, black pepper and 

cook until butter is melted about 1 min.  Then add grated cheese approx. 1/4 cup. it's ready to serve.

Serve with side on Egg Noodles 

White or Red Clam Sauce, Baked Clams, Mussels, Seafood Marinara

                      White Clam Sauce 

White Clam Sauce w/ Shrimp 

White Clam Sauce 

   

         Clams - Use Top Necks

Don’t forget to look below. I will have other variations or added ingredients to enhance the taste to the basic recipe.

To easily open clams. Buy Clams in advance. Put them in a bowl/pot and wash the shell. (Rub the clam shells with your hands to make sure all sand is off of them.) Once outside shell is cleaned put them into the freezer for at least 1 day. Once frozen, fill the pot with very hot water and leave the clams in there for a few minutes. This forces them to open up a little and then it is much easier to slide the clam knife in and spread them open. (Clams can also stay frozen for many months.)

Very important!!

When you open the clams and it smells bad, throw that one out! Clams should not have a bad stinky smell to them.

• Use 2 bowls. read below. 

·  While opening them place your hand over an empty bowl so any juice from the clams can drop into their first. You don’t want any bad clam or clam juice to mix with the good ones. It will ruin the whole meal.

·  If clam is good then place that juice into another bowl. I use a small sauce pot with a small pasta strainer on top. This way when I open the clam and it smells good, I then place it in the strainer. The clam stays on top and the juice of the clam drips to the into the sauce pan.

Basic Recipe: 4 people

6 clams per person. Best size is Top necks. Using the clam knife to scrape clams out of shell into a bowl. As suggested above. If defrosted you can squeeze the yucky part out. (The black part) Or if frozen cut it out with a knife. Or you can leave it because that has flavor too. But, some people like to clean it out. (If clams are still frozen, keep the juice. It looks like a chunk of crushed ice) that will become the clam broth.

1/4 cup Olive Oil

 4 gloves of Garlic, sliced thin 
Large Pinch of: Basil, Oregano, Parsley (fresh whenever possible)
1 tsp Garlic powder, 1/2 tsp Black Pepper

 2 TBS salted butter and 3 Tbs of White Wine Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio 

Optional: Shrimp 

Do NOT add SALT. Clams are already salty.

1. Chop Clams in chunks. Not too small. The scallop piece (the clams piece that is stuck to the shell) must be sliced opposite the grain and small. It is a tougher piece. Set aside.

2. In sauce pan [Med/ High heat] Sautee olive Oil and sliced Garlic to lightly golden brown.

3. Add Clams juice and spices. [Med high heat] Stir.

4.  Bring juice to a full boil. (You can count to 10 but BE CAREFUL the juice in the pot will overflow so watch it closely.)
Optional: You can also add whole shelled baby clams in step 4. If Clams don't open by end of cooking this dish, don't use them.  Clams must open up so, that they are not raw. 

5. Pour Clams, 2 TBS butter and 3 Tbs white wine in the pot with the boiled juice.

Turn onto Medium heat - bring again to a boil, count about 10 seconds and remove pot from heat. (You don’t want them to boil/cook to long otherwise the clams will become tough.

Optional:  Add Shrimp to Clam Sauces. in Step 5.

Shrimps (peeled, cleaned and cut in 1/2)

          

That’s it. Now, Place over cooked Linquine or Banza/Chickpea Pasta for no gluten pasta

For the whole clams in shells: Once clams shell opens it is cooked.   
  Don’t eat unopened clams.

 

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RED CLAM SAUCE:  

Even easier. Look under my recipes for Marinara or Whole plum tomato.

1. Cook sauce.

2. Add just Cleaned chopped clams, ½ amount of the juice and cover. No spices, since they are already in the sauce. (If you like it spicy add a spec of hot pepper flakes.)

3. Bring Covered Clams to first boil, remove lid, count about 10 seconds and remove pot from heat. (You don’t want them to boil/cook to long otherwise they will become hard.}

Done. Put over pasta.

 Baked Clams  2 dozen. 


Ingredients:
Same recipe as for White Clams Sauce. Plus below:
2 dozen Clams
Breadcrumbs with seasonings (grated cheese, black pepper, granulated Garlic powder, chopped parsley, chopped Basil, onion powder.
Paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped celery.
1/4 cup finely Chopped Red Pepper (vegetable)
1/2 cup sour Cream
5 Bacon strips. Cooked, crispy and chopped.

• Make clams as stated above for white Clams Steps 1 - 5.                                       but don't chop clams to small.   
• Once cooked then next step is to:  Separate Clams from Clam juice:

• With Bowl underneath to collect clam juice: Place cooked pot of Clams  through strainer.                                                                                                                 
• Need In 3 separate bowls :

• 1 for Clams, 1 for clam juice and 1 for breadcrumb mix

• In the Clam bowl: Add in ¼ cup Sour cream. Stir. 

• In breadcrumb bowl:  Pour in little bit of clam juice. Enough just to moisten bread crumb, fluffy up, Don't pat down, otherwise it will be a hard mess.

IN CLAM SHELLS:

• Add 1 - 2 TBS of chopped clams mix,(filling clam 1/2 way.) 
• 1 tsp of clam juice, 

Add a few pieces of :   Finely Chopped Red Pepper (vegetable) and                       finely chopped Celery 

•  Add the moisten bread crumbs
• Add chopped bacon bits. 
• Add: Sprinkle paprika on top of each stuffed clams. 
• Place in preheated oven on 425 for 10 minutes (until breadcrumb is lightly golden).
•  Then broil 1-2 minutes (until crispy) 

NOTE: You don't have to worry about clams being raw because they are already cooked. 

                    

Steamed Clams or Mussels.
Clams – shell washed

 

Place baby shelled clams in pot with butter, garlic powder, black pepper, and a little bit of water. (1/4 cup water enough so the butter doesn’t fry the clams. Cover and cook. When all the shells are opened it is done. The juice is from the butter, water and juices inside the clams.

For Mussels use Green kiwi mussels (farmed raised) they are large and clean. No bad ones. Most fish markets sell them in boxes. They come opened. Just rinse and clean outside of shell before you cook them. Can be Steamed or cooked with Marinara Sauce/ Whole Chopped Tomato Sauce. Same as above instructions.

Seafood Marinara:

Marinara Sauce Recipe. Cook sauce for 5 minutes then add ingredients below and cook for 10 more minutes or until cooked. A pinch of dry red pepper flakes. Cook over Medium heat. Sauce has a small boil to it.

Clams – shell washed (COOKED WHEN SHELL OPENS UP)
Also if you don’t want clams in shell then just put some whole clams in there.  I like to cut them up into 4 pcs.

Shrimp –peeled and cleaned (COOKED WHEN SHRIMP TURN PINK)

Kiwi mussels – rinse shell ( COOKS IN MINUTES )

Calamari – cleaned and sliced (COOKED WHEN WHITE AND FIRM)

Baked Ziti w/ Ricotta & Meatballs

Recipe for cooking sauce & meatballs are on this blog.

2 lbs of Ziti per large catering tray.
In deep pan.
Put sauce on bottom of trays. About an inch.
Put 1/2 the cooked Ziti in the tin. Cooled off Ziti if you will be baking it tomorrow.

On top of the Ziti over the whole pan: In this order>
1. Sprinkle grated cheese.
2. Tsp of Ricotta (make like a checker board)
3. Sliced Meatballs or mashed Meatballs
4. Mozzarella (shouldn't be able to see ziti)
5. Drizzle cooking sauce. (not to much: you should still be able to see the cheese)
6. Add the rest of the Ziti. Make sure you leave enough room to add ingredients again.
7. Again add: Grated Cheese, Ricotta, sliced Meatballs,
But, now add the Cooking Sauce (more than you did on # 5) then add the mozzarella cheese.

8. Cover with Aluminium foil or better yet with aluminium lid.
Don't Push Down on Top or Double Stack in fridge if baking it the next day.

When ready to bake:
Oven on 450- 500 degrees. with cover on.
(if you put in fridge for the next day. take off cover and reapply. making sure cover is not touching cheese otherwise all the cheese will be stuck to the lid/foil.

Bake for approx. 30 minutes.
When cheese is melted the Baked Ziti should be done.
If you like it crispy (as my family does) then take off the cover and cook for another few minutes but watch it closely. at 500 degrees the cheese will crispy quickly.
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Even Bunny Fu Fu likes pasta and sauce!