italian food

Pesto Risotto + Seared Shrimp + Roasted Tomatoes

March 7, 2014 by Lindsay 2 Comments

It's Friday! I'm having a great workday at home that involves a lot of cooking, and I JUST finished making a batch of this dish for a client. I made it for the first time last week for our dinner, and DAYUM flavortown is upon us with this one.

So, I added it to my catering weekly menu and sold a couple of batches.

I'm a little risotto'd out, but BEFORE I kick the habit for awhile felt like you needed to know about this recipe.

We're making a plain risotto. Then we infuse it with a quick homemade pesto. Then we top it with seared shrimp in white wine butter and roasted tomato sauce.

I mean, please. PLEASE. Don't stop the beat. And all that jazz.

Let's make it!

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Weekend Make-ahead Plan

October 24, 2013 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

I'm going to the mountains tomorrow! Serving of ravioli

I'm spending the day getting ready and cooking and packing and I CAN'T WAIT. We're going with some of Jay's comedy bffs and one of them has a baby who is half ASIAN which is my favorite kind of baby tied with..every other kind of baby...and he's going to wear a halloween costume and ALSO we are having Friendsgiving on Saturday and IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME.

I'm slightly excited. If that was apparent.

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Antipasto Salad with Parm-Garlic Croutons

September 30, 2013 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Monday, you're here again.

How was your weekend? I ran an event for a nonprofit food and wine festival, catered a birthday party, had happy hour with my mama, and watched a lot of football.

That last part wasn't exactly my preference. YAY MARRIAGE.

To be fair, my marriage usually consists of watching a crap ton of Food Network, so in the fall I gotta give some, right?

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Roasted Berry Risotto with Mozzarella and Raw Lemon Kale

July 2, 2013 by Lindsay 1 Comment

So, in my quest to 1. use up random ingredients before I go to the beach and 2. give you ONLY red/white/blue food this week, I'm presenting to you a risotto with fruit.

Don't be afraid. It's DELICIOUS.

Also, it's red white and blue so....what more do you need on this festive week where everyone is constantly posting on Facebook that THIS IS MY FRIDAY and then you wish it was YOUR Friday but really your Friday is TOMORROW, which is really Wednesday, and then you get annoyed?

You need nothing more, is my point.

This is REALLY excellent, and I hope you'll try it soon. There are a few variations from regular risotto besides adding fruit. This is decidedly NOT a dessert, it's totes a meal. So, if you're one of those that hates fruit ever in main courses then....sorry? This might not be for you?

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Asparagus Pasta with Tomato Mascarpone Sauce

June 27, 2013 by Lindsay 3 Comments

Summery pasta alert!

Sometimes when Jay and I are feeling VERY COOL, he pulls out or buys random ingredients, and then we play Chopped.

I'm not joking.

I wish I was, but not really, because it's FUN.

I'm telling you this because the other night we played this VERY COOL game, and asparagus was one of my ingredients.

Also cod. It was awesome. I didn't make this pasta for Chopped night. I made this pasta a few nights later with the extra asparagus. SEE? I have a point.

I made this pasta a few days ago and we ate it last night. Due to the aforementioned getting home at 9pm every night, I find that I need to cook dinners wayyyyy in advance to avoid the temptation of going out to eat every night. It was great Light, fresh, and simple, and kept really well in the fridge for 2 days.

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Zucchini Pomodoro Sauce

May 14, 2013 by Lindsay 1 Comment

I need to tell you something.

I'm not sure what zucchini pomodoro is.

The interwebz has a few theories, and my naming of this sauce comes from exactly one thing. This place in Greenville that we like, Adam's, has a side dish that is called zucchini pomodoro and it's squash in what tastes like creamy tomato sauce so....

I made zucchini with creamy tomato sauce.

Makes sense, right? My bff Heather and I get it as a side with our meal every time we go there even though we always say we're going to try something new.

Women, amirite?

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Vegan Asparagus Pistachio Pesto

May 10, 2013 by Lindsay 1 Comment

It's Friday!

It's also 3 months before I get married.

It's also the day Jay comes back from a week away for work. We're meeting in the mountains with our BFFs and are going to galavant all weekend.

I'm making lamb.

Before that, though, we need to indulge in our most recent vegan recipe, dontcha think?

This one was GOOD, guys. Incredibly easy because it's raw (duh, it's pesto), and FULL of flavor. I love the flavor of raw asparagus, and find it widely underused.

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Vegan Dish of the Week - Tahini Pasta

May 2, 2013 by Lindsay 2 Comments

GUYS I MADE PASTA AND IT TASTED LIKE HUMMUS ON NOODLES.

And Jay has eaten leftovers gleefully almost every day for lunch this week.

This is SO good. I thought of it last week when we did our whole vegan shenanigan, and I really like the idea of giving you guys and my gut a vegan recipe every once in awhile.

Hummus is one of those things that's always touted as naturally vegan without any modifications so I thought....why not make the flavors of hummus coat a pasta? And why not stir some mint into that?

I did it, and it was REALLY good. It was raining on this particular day, so the photo gods weren't exactly on my side. We watched Argo while we ate it, too, and I'd HIGHLY recommend that flick to anyone who lives under a rock like we do and hasn't seen it yet.

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Italian-Style Stuffed Peppers with Turkey

April 16, 2013 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

So, a week or so I told you on Facebook that I had some freezer-burned turkey that needed to be eaten ASAP.

A lot of you helpfully told me to toss it out, which was hilarious. You clearly don't know me very well.

Freezer burned or death!

Or something like that. I don't like to throw away food, is what I'm trying to say. So, I started pondering on what one could do with sub-par meat. Jay suggested stuffed peppers, which cracked me up because I feel like we make them all the time - evidenced here, here, and here.

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Tagliatelle with Sliced Steak, Ricotta, and Roasted Tomatoes

March 27, 2013 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

Can pasta be light if it has steak and ricotta on it?

I think yes.

This is REALLY cool and different.

It's pasta, but without a sauce....more like...stuff tossed with pasta and white wine. It sounds weird but TRUST ME. Eggy pasta with seared steak and roasted tomatoes is a really really really good combination.

Also, naturally, it's easy. Because I'm lazy. You're welcome for that! I also used some of the homemade ricotta that I made last week and then threw on this appetizer, but any store bought ricotta you like would work perfectly too!

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Pasta with Zucchini and Tomato Cream Sauce

February 18, 2013 by Lindsay 5 Comments

It's a pasta for your Monday!

And my Monday, really.

I hope you had a great weekend. I didn't sleep nearly enough, but I saw lots of people that I love so it was kind of worth it. I saw my uncles and grandfather, too, and that was super fun.

What'd you do?

This pasta, guys. I can't even tell you. It takes 20 minutes to make, is great with ANY veggies, and has this FLAVOR that you just won't believe.

Trust me. Try it.

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Quick V-day Dinner

February 14, 2013 by Lindsay Leave a Comment

OMG.

Why can't Valentine's day be floating? Like...always the second Saturday of February? Thursday is a super bummer day for a holiday. It's SO CLOSE to the weekend. But....not quite.

Even so, you might want to make something super delicious yet fast and affordable for the people you love tonight, right?

Enter.....pasta.

It's just so easy. And delicious. And everyone likes it.

Unless they're dumb, and then you don't need to be hanging out with them.

Anyway.

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10 Minute Bruschetta

December 6, 2012 by Lindsay 4 Comments

In keeping with yesterday's theme, I really think that we need another super duper easy and delicious appetizer to have on hand for nights when people randomly come over and ruin your life but it's kind of fun because you like them and want to hang out with your friends even though you didn't have time to prepare and you secretly want to be in your pjs watching Grey's Anatomy.

I'm a very complex person.

This appetizer, though, is not very complex. It's easy as pie, and super delicious. It's vegetarian, too!

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Pesto Pasta with Spinach

September 25, 2012 by Lindsay 3 Comments

It's Tuesday!

This isn't anything mindblowing, but it's GOOD.

Also, if you don't make pesto with lots of things all the time, you really need to start.

Seriously. Different nuts, herbs, even LETTUCE....go crazy! And tell me what you come up with so I can copy it and make it my own.

Amen.

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Classic Pesto

September 24, 2012 by Lindsay 4 Comments

Hello from the Land Where Basil Dies!

For real.

My herbs are sad, folks.

Luckily, though, my grandparents and mother are fantabulous gardeners, and gave me a massive quantity of basil a few weeks ago.

So, naturally, I made pesto.

It's easy, it's delicious, and there are SO many things you can do with it.

Let's make pesto!

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Restaurant Review - Da Andrea

July 31, 2012 by Lindsay 4 Comments

In the spring, we went to NYC to do some a cappella work.

It was wonderful.

We love New York, and wish super duper hard that we could live there and eat at fabulous restaurants all the time.

In the meantime, though, we enjoy our yearly trips.

While we were there, we met some Greenville friends who live in New Jersey. Jay and Dan went to high school together, and once we had happy hour that involved many tales of drunken nudity (don't ask), we went to this gem for dinner - Da Andrea Ristorante in Greenwich village.

This place. Glory. We loved it. The atmosphere is casual, but the food is AMAZING. We all tried different things, and everything was really wonderful! And, don't mistake "casual" for "not nice." The restaurant was beautifully decorated, but with a feeling of comfort - the food was the star of the show, not any pretentious extras.

Jay claims that he had the best food - pesto risotto with seafood. I'm obsessed with anything risotto related, as you can see here, here, and here, and I'll give him this one - the risotto was INCREDIBLE.

In addition to that, we had sweetbreads, pasta with homemade sausage in marinara, and ravioli. I had the sausage pasta, and it was incredible. There is such a difference with homemade pasta and sausage, isn't there?

The best thing about this place (after the perfect food, duh) was the affordability. All the entrees were under $20, and the house wine served in carafes was delicious minus a hefty bottle price! In big cities, it's easy to pay $50/person for a great meal, and we came nowhere close to that and felt like we'd gotten a huge bargain. For the quality of the food, I'd have paid more any day!

The service was great, but this place filled up quickly! We were headed to a comedy show, so we arrived a little before 7 and our reservation was ready for us. 30 minutes later would have been a different story, so definitely plan to come off-peak hours!

Try this place out, guys. Off the beaten path, affordable, and in a great part of the city. You'll adore it as much as we did.

We can't wait to go back!

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Broccoli Cheddar Risotto

July 24, 2012 by Lindsay 3 Comments

YES.

I made this.

I loved it.

I want to make it again.

This is rice, mixed with cheese and broccoli and a few other flavors that make the whole mess taste like broccoli-cheddar soup, preferably from Panera, with the addition of crunchy almonds to seal the deal.

I'm not joking.

You are going to LOVE this.

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Saffron Risotto

June 1, 2012 by Lindsay 7 Comments

I just love ooey gooey rice-like concoctions, don't you?

I thought you did.

This is what I do when I make "plain" risotto.

There are lots of "flavors" that I use when I want risotto to have a certain personality, but this is the go-to when I'm using it as a side dish.

The saffron adds a lovely flavor in the background that you can't quiiiiite place, but just a pinch adds a great depth of flavor that I just love.

Weird story: Saffron is expensive, right? Well, check discount stores such as TJMaxx for it - I found nearly half an ounce (that's a lot) for $5 one time! Those places always have fancy foods like dried pasta, pickles, and out of date chocolates - look for cool spices too!

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Weekend Comfort Food: Sausage Kale Risotto

January 27, 2012 by Lindsay 4 Comments

If that didn't make you want to stay in tomorrow night, cook dinner, and watch a movie while drinking wine and wearing Uggs, I don't know what will.

That's my reaction to yummy gooey spicy rice, anyway.

I made this a few weeks ago when my grandfather generously gifted me about 837 servings of kale from his garden. I made braised kale like I did at thanksgiving one night, and then made this risotto with the rest.

It was delicious!

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Weeknight Dinner - Pasta and Veggies

January 26, 2012 by Lindsay 1 Comment

One of my favorite pasta dishes is SO simple and perfect for this time of year. If you're having a hard time figuring out what to make tonight, why not make this delicious sage-prosciutto pasta?

The picture above has the pasta with fish, but I'd make it even healthier by omitting a big protein (we all eat too much anyway in this country) and adding a salad or roasted broccoli. Easy, delicious, and healthy. Perfect for a Thursday!

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