Cajun Shrimp Carbonara gets piled high with a fried green tomato and bacon wrapped shrimp with bits of corn, sugar peas and cherry tomatoes. I’ve been waiting all year for fried green tomatoes. I love the cornmeal crunch and that beautiful juicy green tomato fresh from the garden. It’s good served alone, but it’s even better served with mesquite smoked bacon wrapped shrimp and creamy Cajun carbonara. Carbonara is such a simple way to create a sauce for pasta and it’s so easy to transform with various herbs and spices. This time we went Southern, mostly because it pairs so perfectly with fried green tomatoes. How many people get a…
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Rich and creamy carbonara gets lightened up with fresh lemon and chives for a dinner that’s ready in just 15 minutes. Serve with a watercress salad dressed in balsamic and grilled flank steak. I’ve been on an Italian kick for the past week or so. Saturday we hosted an Italian Garden Party with some close friends of ours and let me tell you ..it was DELISH! It’s always so fun to get everyone together in the kitchen and create dishes to share. One of the dishes @salinasholcomb prepared was classic carbonara. Rich and creamy with pancetta and English peas. It inspired me to create Lemon Chive Carbonara because it came…
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Quick & Easy Grilled Chicken Pesto Kabobs pair perfectly with summery blistered tomato spaghetti for a lovely evening on the patio. This is one of those brilliant summer dishes that comes together in very little time. What’s the BEST thing about summer? Fresh vine ripened tomatoes! My favorite taste that is totally summer are vine ripened tomatoes. Plucked straight from the vine, they are warm and juicy and unbelievably sweet. I tend to go a little overboard and plant way too many tomato plants. By the end of the season I have GOBS OF TOMATOES..which is fine with me. The easiest way to summerfy (I may have made up that…
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Beef Short Rib Ragu is slow cooked for a rich, flavorful sauce of tender beef, tomatoes and mushrooms served over pappardelle pasta. My grandfather would always make THE BEST beef short rib ragu, which was weird because he was Polish. For years I could never figure out why this Polish guy was so great at making Italian food. One day, when speaking with my mother, a memory came to mind. She began to tell me how the family would drive out to a cabin on the lake in upstate New York and while passing time, the adults would spend the day cooking. She said there were several Italian friends cooking…
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Who doesn’t love a good mac-n-cheese? My favorite is Stouffer’s Macaroni and Cheese, yes, found in the frozen section at the grocery. Maybe it’s because I grew up eating it, OR maybe because it’s rich, tangy, creamy and addictively good. The top gets all golden brown and crusted over and when you scoop your spoon in, it’s pure creaminess. Many recipes have come close, but this is the best yet. It all came together when I got a promotional box of cheese from our PNW local Tillamook Cheese. It’s my favorite cheese and that says a lot because I LOVE CHEESE! I wanted a simple recipe with the fewest ingredients…
