Easy Pasta Carbonara

I’m not sure which is my favorite, Mexican or Italian food, but the two are definitely neck and neck.  And with Italian food, I can’t help but indulge in those rich, creamy and oh so fattening sauces.  When I was looking for a quick and easy recipe that satisfied my need for sauce, I came across our favorite TV Italian cook, Giada De Laurentiis.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Mario Batali as well but his dishes are entirely too involved and complex.

Crap in My Kitchen: Fried Caprese Salad

So when I’m left with the dilemma of wanting to consistently post delicious recipes on BS but have not A) planned ahead and shopped for the ingredients and B) am broke until the next day, what is a girl to do?  Well, she goes shopping in her refrigerator.  I’m the type of person that has all intentions of going to the grocery store and shopping for the entire week’s meals but just end up going everyday for an ingredient for a new recipe idea.  Because of that, I’ve acquired quite a bit of different ingredients.  So yesterday when I was thinking of something to make for today’s post I came up with a new series I like to call “Crap in my Kitchen.”  Basically, I have to make a wonderful meal out of whatever I find in my kitchen.  I pretty much think I excelled in my first CIMK mission with this lovely Fried Caprese Salad.  

Who doesn’t love fried cheese?  If you find that person, slap them for me because that’s just insane.  Anywho, I took some leftover mozzarella from the stuffed pepper post and created this masterpiece of fried deliciousness.

Ingredients

1 ball of fresh mozzarella
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ panko bread crumbs
1-2 tsp italian seasoning
1 egg
1 tbs water
1 tomato sliced
3 leaves of basil
leftover roasted red pepper sauce
oil for shallow frying

Quick Balsamic Vinaigrette

3 tbs balsamic vinegar
3 tbs EVOO
1 tbs honey
1 tbs dijon mustard
(put all of these ingredients together, whisk well and refrigerate)

1.  Slice a medium ball of mozzarella into medium thick slices.  They should look like small frisbees.
2.  Prepare your dipping station.  Prepare three separate bowls, one with flour, one with whisked egg and water, and the last with the breadcrumbs.
3.  Season the flour and breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.
4. First dip your mozzarella in the flour, then the egg, and then breadcrumbs.
5. Place all of your mozzarella disks (all of which have been dipped) into the freezer for about 20 minutes.
6.  After 20 minutes, take the disks out and repeat steps 4 and 5.
7.  Heat a large frying pan with an inch of oil.  You want about medium, high heat.  Once oil is heated stick the disks of mozzarella into the oil and fry each side for about 30 seconds.
8.  Let oil drain off of disks before preparing your plate.  Heat up your leftover red pepper sauce and place a little on a plate.  Arrange mozzarella disks with the tomato and basil (i.e. Cheese, then basil, then tomato)
9.  Drizzle your dressing on top and enjoy.

Stuffed Roasted Red Peppers

As I’ve let the word out to my friends and family that I have a blog, slowly the comments have been rolling in.  One is, “There’s nothing in your topics section.”  Well if you take that lovely cursor over to Recipe Index, Supper Time or Appetizing you’ll find a few archived posts.  BS is still a fairly new blog so it’s going to take a while to populate all of my topics.  Two was that there weren’t any really simple enough recipes for preparing during the week.  Well...I really like making elaborate, fun foods. It just takes me to another place and I love being creative.  But, a girl does have to eat during the week.  My answer to "simpler" recipes is this stuffed roasted red pepper with roasted red pepper sauce.  Yes it sounds a little complicated but with a little pre-planning on the weekend, this will make a great meal during the week.

Ingredients

3-4 bell peppers, tri color
½ cup ricotta
½ cup cooked spinach
4 baby portabellas sliced
2 garlic cloves
½ onion chopped
EVOO
1-2 tsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cups shredded mozzarella

½ small can tomato sauce
1 cup tomato puree
3 fresh basil leaves chopped
⅓ cup half and half
⅓ cup parmesan cheese

***Looking at these ingredients it doesn’t look simple, but it really is. I promise.

1.  Cut all of the peppers in half (lengthwise), drizzle with EVOO, and place under broiler for about 20-30 minutes.
2.  While the peppers roast, heat some EVOO in a saucepan and saute the chopped onions and garlic.  Once onions are translucent add the mushrooms and cook until soft and set aside.
3.  Wilt spinach in heated pan, set aside and roughly chop.  You can use frozen spinach if you’re not up for cooking your own.  Just make sure that you ring out all of the water from your thawed spinach.
4.  Add mushrooms and spinach to ricotta and mix well.
5.  At this time take out your peppers.  Wrap peppers in plastic wrap or a ziplock bag.  What you’re doing is trapping the heat of the pepper making it easy for the skin to loosen from the pepper.  After about five minutes remove plastic wrap and peel off skin.  Set aside 1 and a half peppers for the sauce.  
6.  Stuff your peppers with the ricotta mixture and top with mozzarella.  Place peppers in a 350 degree preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes.

The Sauce

1.  Saute garlic and onions in pan heated with EVOO.  Add salt and pepper.
2.  Once translucent add your reserved bell pepper, chopped, to the mixture.  Cook for about 3 minutes.
3.  Next, add tomato puree and sauce and cook for about 10 minutes on low heat.
4.  Turn heat off and blend ingredients in a blender or hand immersion blender.
5.  Lastly, add parmesan and half and half.  Cook on low for about 5 minutes and you’re done.