Scalloped Potatoes {Patate alla Besciamella}

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Sauces, Sides, Vegetarian | 189 comments

What is it about white foods that I just HAVE to have them.  Pasta, rice, bread, POTATOES. You name it, they’re my kryptonite. Perhaps it’s their delicious carby starchy goodness that sucks me in. At one point I foolishly tried to cut out white foods from my diet and guess what, it was UGLY. For the sake of everyone else, of course, I immediately went back to consuming them again.

Back to Basics: How to Make Bechamel Sauce {Besciamella}

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Sauces, Vegetarian | 19 comments

We’ve been making a lot of macaroni and cheese lately. All kinds of versions. The one constant for my macaroni and cheese is the base.  Besciamella {or bechamel sauce}. It’s rich, creamy and dreamy and is my secret for making dishes sing.

Lemon Marinade {Marinata al Limone}

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Gluten Free, Sauces, Sponsored, Vegetarian | 8 comments

This post brought to you by Carapelli. All opinions are 100% mine.

Something I ALWAYS have in my pantry is a good quality olive oil. I don’t think there is a day that goes by that I don’t cook/use my olive oil. Do you know that there is actually a right way to taste olive oils? Well there is and I learned all about it recently.

Roasted Tomato Pesto

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Sauces, Vegetarian | 29 comments

Pestos can be pulled together so quickly and add so much flavor to a dish. I’ve been experimenting  with different variations of pesto and came up with this oven roasted tomato pesto that besides oven roasted tomatoes also incorporates sun dried tomatoes. More tomato flavor than you can shake a stick at ; )

Salsa di Pomodoro {Tomato Sauce}

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Gluten Free, Sauces, Vegetarian | 22 comments

There is something so beautiful about a simple plate of pasta. One of the simplest is when it’s dressed with a basic tomato sauce. This 5 ingredient sauce easily comes together in less than 30 minutes and can be used for a variety of dishes. The key to a simple dish is always using the freshest quality ingredients possible.

Maccheroni alla Vodka {Macaroni w/Vodka}

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Main Course, Pasta, Sauces, Vegetarian | 24 comments

So you like things a little Piccante? Well then this dish is perfect for you! It’s just the right amount of spiciness without being so overwhelming that it sets your mouth completely on fire. It definitely has a kick to it.

Ragu’ alla Bolognese {Bolognese Sauce}

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Beef, Main Course, Pasta, Sauces | 36 comments

Some things in life are worth waiting for, and a good sauce is one of them (at least for me anyway). And no surprise then, this is one of those sauces! Ragu alla Bolognese. Pronounced bowl-own-ez-ay, it’s an amazing, rich, beautiful, robust sauce.

Peperonata

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Appetizer, Sauces | 11 comments

This, to me, is such a simple dish. I’m all about easy peasy. As I’ve mentioned before simple isn’t a bad thing. It truly is a WOW dish. Everyone will think you slaved away when you simply added the ingredients & left them to mingle with each other. The longer they mingle & get to know each other, the better they’ll be. LOL!

Ultimate Spaghetti Sauce

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Sauces | 40 comments

There’s a whole lotta love in this sauce! This is my go-to tomato sauce – - my signature sauce if you will. It really is ah-mazing & oh so multi purpose!

The longer you have to simmer this recipe the better it will be. It’s all about building flavors. Take your time with this one. It makes a ton of sauce but you can freeze the unused portion.

This is a heavy sauce and goes best with pastas such as spaghetti, linguini, or penne (it would overwhelm angel hair or the like). If you don’t want to add the sausages, just leave them out. I like the flavor that they give to the sauce. Be sure you mince your carrots super fine. You don’t want to bite into a big chunk of carrot. You can do this in a food processor if you don’t think you can get it fine enough with a knife. I think I would use my food processor a lot more if it didn’t have so many parts & wasn’t in the back of a cabinet. LOL! Plus, it’s just another thing I have to wash.

Tagliatelle con Porcini Ragu – Mushroom Ragu

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Main Course, Pasta, Sauces | 22 comments

Well, you probably know me well enough by know to know that a sauce recipe would be coming right after a homemade pasta recipe didn’t you?

As I’m sure you’ve heard, I recently got an Imperial Pasta Maker & I couldn’t be happier. It’s an amazing machine & I’m going to be whipping up lots of  fresh pastas over the next  few months. If you’d like, here’s the basic recipe for Homemade Pasta.

This sauce goes perfect with any type of pastas you might be using (homemade or boxed – really I won’t tell, I use them too. If you look in my pantry right now you’d see a load of Barilla boxes) If there’s one thing that I always have on hand it’s pasta! Really! But I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you!  We might be out of everything else but we’ll have pasta LOL.

Mezzetta Napa Valley Bistro Sauce Review

Posted by Paula in All Recipes, Reviews, Sauces | 10 comments

This month I was fortunate enough to receive a complimentary sample of pasta sauces from GL Mezzetta . Mezzetta is a Napa Valley specialty food producer, best known for domestic and imported peppers & olives, and now for their foray into the sauce world.

I must admit, when I started my blog earlier this year, I couldn’t have imagined that people would seek me out, send me samples & ask for my opinions! How great is that? I mean who doesn’t like something gratis? And, I’m always especially tickled when they’re FULL size samples.