After spending a week in NY, I have been craving a good marsala dish, which is another popular choice in my good old stomping grounds of Queens. That’s the one thing I miss the most about NY….the FOOD! So, I am forced to recreate my favorites when I am craving a certain flavor! Rex has [...]
The Marinara Sauce from the other day is not Bill’s only specialty. My Father-in-Law also makes a mean Shrimp Marinara. This is a simple dish that utilizes his Sunday gravy. Sauteed shrimp and garlic mixed with awesome marinara sauce makes for a great meal. Bill’s Shrimp Marinara Peel and de-vein the shrimp. Make sure [...]
My wife took over the blog for the day. Here is Dana! I am from Queens, NY and one of the main Italian cuisine staples is vodka sauce! I wanted to make a delicious vodka sauce to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. We both loved this meal. I hope you enjoy it! Dana’s Rigatoni a La [...]
My Father-In-Law Bill came down to visit a while back and he made some awesome Marinara. It was so delicious, I had to get the recipe to share. The Sauce had great color, texture and best of all – taste. It is a simple recipe that uses the best ingredients. The best types of recipes [...]
I know that when the average foodie hears the like of Rachel Ray they cringe, but I just tried a take on one of her recipes and it was pretty darn good. As a man that likes to eat I will try just about anything once. Granted I have tried a couple of her recipes [...]
Posted in All, Italian, Recipes, Sauces 
Tags: christmas pasta, delicious, ground beef, pancetta, Pasta, penne, Pork, quick ragu, rachel ray, Sausage, Veal 
1 Comment »
I had a block of mozzarella cheese sitting around, so I decided to stuff some meatballs. A lot of people ask how I come up with recipes. To be honest, most come out of necessity or based on what is left in the fridge. Mix and match and usually something good will come out. Mozzarella [...]
Posted in All, Italian, Recipes Tags: cheese stuffed, Italian, meatballs, mozzarella, mozzarella stuffed, sauce 2 Comments »
I know it is hard to believe but sometimes I get cook’s block. It is like writer’s block except I can not think of a single thing to make for dinner. So earlier this week Dana requested something from chicken and something from ground beef. I went to the store and picked up the basic [...]
This week Dana got a year older. For her sake, we will not divulge the exact age. However, her only request was to have lasagna made with beef and not Italian sausage. So I whipped up some homemade noodles and put together her Birthday Lasagna. It was a great little lasagna. I may not be Italian, but I [...]
I like to keep fresh produce lying around, but it spoils so quickly. So I have determined a few ways to keep fresh produce on hand but have it last as long as possible. First tip, cherry tomatoes. They keep for a long time and you can use them for everything from sandwiches to pasta. [...]
Posted in All, Chicken, Garlic, Grilling, Italian, Recipes Tags: basil, Chicken, Garlic, Italian dressing, parmesan cheese, Pasta, spinach, tomato 1 Comment »
Dana’s favorite meal of all time is baked ziti. I have never made it, so I decided to tackle it. I used a basic marinara sauce and then went from there. My first problem was that the local grocery stores did not carry ziti. They carried penne and rigatoni. I opted for the bigger rigatoni [...]
Posted in All, Italian, Recipes Tags: baked ziti, Italian, mozzarella, parmesan, Pasta, ricotta, ziti 2 Comments »
When I was a kid we used to get Strombolis’ from a little pizza place near our house. They were not rolled like typical a Stromboli but were folded in a half-moon shape like a Calzone. However, the biggest difference was that the stromboli had sauce inside of it and the Calzone had sauce on the side. [...]
Every once in a while Dana and I go out for dinner. When we do, I always see Dana ordering Penne alla Vodka. So I figured I should tackle this recipe. I wanted to make the sauce from scratch and have that great vodka flavor. Although the alcohol burns off, not all of the flavor [...]
Posted in All, Italian, Recipes Tags: Italian, penne, penne ala vodka, penne alla vodka, sauce, vodka 2 Comments »
The other night I asked Dana what she would like for dinner and she immediately said, “Spaghetti and Meatballs”. Easy, however, Dana is Italian and I did not want to offend her. So I asked if she had a recipe. She said, “meat, egg, bread crumbs and spices”. That left just a little bit to [...]
