Roasted Tomato Sauce

I live in New Jersey, aka The Garden State, and we have some of the most delicious summer produce.  Despite all the jokes about my home state, we have the best tomatoes in the country.  So I frequent our local farmers' markets here, where the produce is so fresh and the price is right!  I got two beautiful pints of red grape tomatoes for $3, and combined them with a pint of yellow tomatoes I did purchase at the grocery store to make this delicious sauce.  Roasting the tomatoes gives a complexity you would not otherwise get.  This sauce freezes very well.

2 pints red grape tomatoes, washed and pat dry
1 pint yellow grape tomatoes, washed and pat dry
1/4 EVOO
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp basil pesto (I had fresh made, but you can use store bought)
1/2 tsp sugar
few shakes red pepper flakes (optional)
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed (or 2 tsp garlic paste)
6 large fresh basil leaves (or about 8 if they are smaller)
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss tomatoes, EVOO, pesto, salt and pepper, sugar, red pepper flakes and garlic.  Place in non stick foil lined 9x13 baking dish.  Roast in oven about 20 minutes or until tomatoes start to "burst," releasing juices.  Pour all contents of dish into medium sized pot, add fresh basil leaves and puree with immersion blender.  Adjust seasonings to taste, add fat free half and half and parm and cook over low until hot.  Serve over pasta.
**I highly recommend the purchase of an immersion blender if you do not have one, at $30 they are one of the most useful cooking instruments and not very costly.  If not, you can puree this sauce in blender or food processor, just stop processor and open lid a few times to let steam escape.

cilantro cashew pesto

I made this to go over the mexican meatballs. I thinned it with a little fat free half and half before mixing it with the pasta.

Cilantro Cashew Pesto

3 heaping cups of fresh cilantro
2 garlic cloves
3/4 C cashews
1/4 c fresh parmesan
1 jalepeno
juice of half a lime
1/4-1/2 c extra virgin olive oil (I just drizzle it in until it is the consistency I want)

Put cilantro, garlic, cashews, cheese, jalepeno in food processor and blend until it looks like crumbs. Add lime juice. With machine on, slowly drizzle olive oil in until it is the consistency you like. I like thicker pesto.

Fra Diavolo Sauce

I got this recipe from my co-worker Mike, who obtained it from the owner of a very good Italian restaurant in the area (which will remain nameless). This is a spicy tomato sauce. It is amazing and so easy, you just really need the time to let it slow simmer for two hours. It makes a difference. This makes a whole bunch of sauce....great for freezing and you will have sauce all winter long!

Fra Diavolo Sauce

1 bulb of garlic, crushed or sliced
1/4 C EVOO
3 large cans peeled plum tomatoes (I think the size is 35 oz), crush them with your hands, do not drain them.
1 large (28 oz?) can and 1 small (16 oz?) cans of tomato sauce
1 bunch of basil, chiffonade
sugar, cayenne and red pepper flakes to taste
(I used about two tsp of sugar, a few dashes of cayenne and almost 2 Tbsp of red pepper flakes)

Saute garlic over med. in EVOO for 1-2 min. Add basil and wilt. Add plum tomatoes and juice, tomato sauce, sugar, cayenne red pepper flakes (I added a Tbsp at a time and simmered for 30 min and tasted and added more) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low or med, cover, and slow simmer for two hours.

Filet Mignon with Chimichurri Sauce

Not sure if this is authentic, there were so many different recipes. I put one together using what ingredients I thought were in it and that I liked. Adjust the amount of jalepeno if you do not like it spicy...I used 1 whole one, and it was pretty spicy.

Filet Mignon with Chimichurri Sauce

2 (3-4 oz) Filet Mignon Steaks

Cook until desired doneness and top with Chimichurri sauce.

Chimichurri Sauce:
2 C fresh flat leaf Parsley
1 and 1/4 C fresh Cilantro
1 Jalepeno, roughly chopped (if you do not like it too spicy, use 1/2)
1 tsp sea salt
Juice and zest from 1 lime
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 T red wine vinegar

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend until the consistency of pesto. Usually there are onions in this, I forgot to buy them, so I left them out...if you want to use them, I would use 2 small or 1 large shallot.

Fresh Summer Salsa

I love fresh salsa, but I always thought it was so much work, it's not and it is soooo worth any little bit of effort it takes: *(warning....spicy, if you dont like it spicy, decrease Jalepeno to a half or remove the seeds)

Karen's Fresh Summer Salsa

4 med vine ripened tomatoes,
1 large or 1 and 1/2 small jalepenos, roughly chopped
2 shallots, cut up
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T Lime Juice (juice of 2 limes)
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 c fresh cilantro
1 tsp Balsamic Glaze (Blaze makes a good one and now Wegman's has one too)
salt to taste

Peel and seed tomatoes (bring salted water to a boil and make an x in the top of the tomato...just barely piercing the skin...drop the tomatoes into the water and boil for about 30 sec until skin starts coming off...immediately drain and put into a bowl of ice cubes and water to cool for a few seconds....peel off skin, it should come off like a jacket...cut in half and squeeze seeds out with fingers, discard seeds).

In food processor, add garlic, cilantro, shallots, and jalepeno, pulse until chopped into fine pieces. Scrape down bowl and add remaining ingredients except salt and process until desired consistency. Season with salt to taste

low fat buttermilk blue cheese dressing

This was really great. I had leftover buttermilk from the irish soda bread that I made, and I hate to waste food....so I found a recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com/ for "The Best Blue Cheese Recipe" found here:
so I used low fat ingredients, a little bit more blue cheese and also used apple cider vinegar instead of white wine vin. It was so great---best if chilled for a couple of hours. You will never know it is healthy!!!!! Ill post a picture soon.

Low Fat Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

2 and 1/2 Tbsp crumbled blue cheese (heaping tablespoons)
3 T low fat buttermilk
3 T low fat sour cream
2 T light mayo (only Helmann's)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp garlic powder (I will use more next time)
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together in food processor or blender until blended. I used my magic bullet and it worked great! I put lots of fresh ground pepper. mmmmmmmmm!

Guinness Mustard

Does not taste like guinness at all, just tastes really good. Made it to put over our St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef. Original recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine, March 2008 issue.

1/2 cup coarse ground Dijon mustard

2 T regular Dijon mustard

2 T Guinness Stout (make your hubby drink the rest, or you drink it if you likey!)

1 tsp golden brown sugar

Whisk all ingredients in small bowl to blend. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Can be made up to 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.

London Broil with Mushroom Sherry Cream Sauce

I cannot really take credit for the London Broil, because I bought it at Costco---I highly recommend it, it is all marinated and already fully cooked you just need to put it in the oven for 21 min. per lb and it is so tender and yummy! It comes with this au jus sauce, and I incorporate that into my Mushroom Sherry Cream Sauce--it is yum-o on top of the London Broil (or any steak)
Mushroom Sherry Cream Sauce (these are approximations I never measure)

1 T EVOO
2 cloves garlic, minced (or more if you like)
pkg sliced baby bella mushrooms (can use sliced white too)
lots of fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 C or so of Dry Sherry
au jus sauce drained from london broil pkg (you can omit this, just use a little salt and increase amt of sherry just a tad)
just a bit of Heavy Cream (to taste--I think maybe about a 1/3 cup (dont want it too liquidy)

Saute garlic in evoo for about a minute over med and add mushrooms, and stir well, add sherry and au jus and Pepper, cook until most of the liquid is cooked off and mushrooms are thouroughly cooked (increase heat if it is not boiling)
take off heat and add cream and let sit a little bit so it can thicken. Pour over steak.

Pesto (my recipe)

2 C loosely packed fresh basil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C walnuts and pine nuts mixed
3/4 C Parmesan cheese, fresh, finely grated
EVOO (I drizzle in until it is the consistency I want) approx 1/2 C

Place basil, garlic, nuts and cheese in food processor and pulse until it is coarse crumbs. While machine is running, drizzle in EVOO until the pesto is the consistency you want---I prefer it not too liquidy because I use it on panini's. This is excellent mixed with some fat free half and half and over pasta with fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzerella