Scallops in Brown Butter and Pasta w/Arrabbiata Sauce

Feb 14 2016

This was our 50th valentines day together. I never have made a big to do about valentines day; when I was growing up it was a holiday mostly for kids. She knows she is my sweetheart! I usually buy her some candy and try to fix her a good meal. I was at the grocery today and meant to buy her some candy but forgot. I told her my supper was her valemtines gift!

I had some nice sea scallops thawed out and would have some spaghetti with some sauce she got me for a Christmas present. She got me 4 jars of different Ilventos sauce; it is a restaurant in N.J. The sauce is made in small batches, hand canned and labled. I wanted to use their Arrabbiata sauce, said it was their spiciest. I had her taste it; if it was too spicy I had a jar of their marinara sauce I could use. She said it was good. Their sauce is pretty darn good of the three I have had.

I had made brown butter I wanted to fry the scallops in and spaghetti for the pasta. I baked a take home and bake baguette for some bread and butter.

When my pasta was about done I had a skillet heated to med. high with 3 Tbs. of brown butter. I did 4 scallops for the wife about 3 minutes per side and served her. I kept the pasta warm In the oven and did 4 scallops for our daughter and added some capers at the end. After I served her I made mine up with some capers too. I think next time I would just add the capers to the plate to get more of their sour flavor. The scallops were served with some of the butter spooned over.

That was a pretty tasty meal and we all loved it. The Ilventos sauce was good. Their arrabbiata was the favorite I have had and I would love to eat at their restaurant too.

My supper

Skillet Lasagna and Garlic Bread

Jan 29 2016

If it's too cold to cook or grill out this is an easy meal to do if you like lasagna. It's all done in one pan so not much clean up. I found the recipe on a pinch of yum and it was pretty yummy! I thought a little different than most lasagna recipes in that it had carrots and bacon in it. With bacon it had to be good.

It's pretty easy too, with prep it only took me about 1 ½ hours to fix. I made some garlic bread and a

side of sauteed Brussles sprouts. For the garlic bread I used about 3 Tbs. of Ghee, 4 garlic cloves smashed then chopped fine and about a teaspoon of dried parsley flakes that I nuked in the microwave.

I sliced a baguette part way through and smeared the Ghee mix over and in between the bread. I wrapped it in foil and in the 350 deg. oven at the last for 10 minutes and unwrapped it then back in for 5 minutes.

My sauce for the lasagna was some Ilventos mushroom Bascaiolo my wife had bought me for Christmas, It's from a restaurant in Jersey City N.J. The lasagna went together pretty well but I got ahead and had the first layer of lasagne noodles in before I added the cream cheese so I just stirred it all together. You can see from the photo some of the top layer of lasagna noodles didn't get done. You need  to make sure the noodles are under liquid. The only other thing I changed was I removed the bacon from the skillet when it was browned and added back later.

For a veggie side I sauteed some shredded Brussles sprouts in Ghee and added salt and pepper.

This was a great meal, the wife and daughter both liked it. I will do this one again!

Click Here for link to recipe

Ingredients except ground beef

Browning the bacon

Bacon removed, shallots and carrots added

Ground chuck browning

Bacon added back in

Sauce added

Cream cheese added and some noodles added

A layer of mozzarella 

More noodles and a final layer of mozzarella

Garlic bread ready for the oven

Sauteing the Brussels sprouts

Bread is done

Lasagna is ready

My supper

Me and Louie's Italian Beef

Oct 09 2015

My supper tonight started on Tuesday when I took a 2.5 pound sirloin roast out of the freezer. Chicago style Italian beef sandwiches are one of my favorites.  Louie’s Italian beef au jus seasoning makes the best Chicago beef I have done. Some good beef smoked and sliced thin, add the Louie’s seasoning and water, a half a beer, onions, garlic sliced green peppers some pepperoncini peppers and some fresh ground black pepper to a Crockpot and simmer 4 to 5 hours and you have a great Chicago Italian beef with au jus.

Thursday I seasoned the beef roast with some Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle and fresh ground pepper. I did it on my Traeger at 180 deg. smoke for an hour and then went to 300 deg. grill level to finish. In about 2 hours it was at 130 deg. IT I wanted. After it cooled I double wrapped in foil and in the fridge overnight.

This morning I put it in the freezer for 45 minutes and then sliced it thin. It went into my Crockpot about noon; I added the Louie’s seasoning pack mixed with 4 cups of water, a half a lager beer, a couple slices of diced onions, 3 large cloves of garlic diced, six or seven pepperoncini’s and some of the juice. I set the Crockpot on high for an hour and then went to low.

After two hours I sliced up 1 ½ med. onions, 1 ½ green bell peppers and added to the pot with some fresh ground pepper. We ate supper about 6:00 PM.

For a side I had some broccoli and cauliflower I sprinkled on some lemon juice and Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle. I steamed it in my rice cooker. I had some French steak rolls for the sandwiches and dipped each half cut side in the au jus and served with plenty of the beef.

That hit the spot!!! Me and Louie make some pretty good Chicago style Italian Beef!

Roast thawed and seasoned

After an hour on smoke

Done at two hours and 130deg. IT

Cooling then in the fridge overnight

Slicing thin

Ingredients

Louie's seasoning mix and water

In the Crockpot

After 2 hours, peppers and onions added

And mixed in

Ready to serve

My supper