#35 - Fettuccine with Peas, Asparagus, and Pancetta

When her children get married, Mrs. Limarzi thinks a good present for the newlyweds is a subscription to Bon Appetit magazine. Johnny is one of her children, we got married, and so we earned ourselves a subscription. This recipe was on the cover of one of those issues, and we decided to try it out today.

Fettuccine with Peas, Asparagus, and Pancetta

From Bon Appetit
If you want to make this recipe, you're going to have to go to the store first. Unless you live on a farm. A farm that has frozen peas.So, yeah, this recipe calls for a lot of vegetables, and therefore, a lot of prep time. You need asparagus.
And peas.
And parsley and green onions.
All in all, this was an okay dish. It was a surprising meal, as every bite brought forth a different flavor. Sometimes you could really taste the pancetta, and then your next taste you'd notice the lemon or the asparagus or something else.

But since it wasn't knock-your-socks-off wonderful, it probably wasn't worth all of the shopping, chopping, and plopping.If you're a pea-freezing farmer, try this:

Ingredients

• 12 oz fettuccine
• 3 oz pancetta, chopped
• 1 1/4 lbs asparagus, trimmed and cut on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced with white and pale green parts separated from dark green parts
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 3 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbs finely grated lemon peel
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
  
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

Preparation

1. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water, drain, and reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot, off of the heat.
2. At the same time, cook the pancetta in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp.
3. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the pancetta to paper towels to drain.
4. Pour off all but one teaspoon of the drippings from the pan.
5. Add the asparagus, and sauté for about 3 minutes.
6. Add the peas, white and pale green parts of green onions, and garlic. Sauté until the vegetables are just tender for about 2 minutes, and remove from heat.
7. Add the vegetable mixture, dark green parts of green onions, Parmigiano, cream, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon peel, 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking liquid, half of the parsley, and half of the basil to the pasta.
8. Toss together, adding more pasta water if needed, a tablespoon at a time.
9. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
10. Transfer the pasta to a large bowl, and sprinkle the pancetta and remaining parsley and basil on top.

#34 - Cajeta Filled Cupcakes

For Mother's Day, we invited Mamu over for dinner, where we made her a Mexican inspired meal. We served some Hungry Hundred classics - rice, beans, and enchiladas - and what we hoped would become an instant classic - Mexican cupcakes.

Cajeta Filled Cupcakes

From Mexican Made Easy with help from Rick Bayless
Marcela Valladolid had a recipe for these cupcakes, and one of the ingredients was cajeta, a Mexican caramel. Well, we decided to go all out and make our cajeta from scratch, using a Rick Bayless recipe. If you're going the store-bought route, you won't need the goat's milk, cinnamon stick, baking soda, or as much sugar. But you'd need a store-bought cajeta.
Making the cajeta was the most time-intensive part of this recipe. You put goat milk, sugar, and a cinnamon stick in a big pot, and with a little love, it magically becomes caramel.
After making the batter and cooking the cupcakes, it's time for the two recipes to become one.
You cut a little wedge out of the cupcake, pour the cajeta inside, replace the top, and cover with the Mexican frosting.
These cupcakes were a lot of work, but they were definitely worth it. They came out so good, and after tasting the yummy cake and icing, getting a bite of the cajeta was a great surprise. Even Mamu, who claims she doesn't really like cupcakes (whoops), thought these were delicious.
If you have a Mexican mother, you should make this for her next Mother's Day.

Rick Bayless' Cajeta

Ingredients

• 1 qt goat's milk
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1-inch piece cinnamon stick
• 1/4 tsp baking soda, dissolved in 1/2 Tbs water

Preparation

1. In a Dutch oven, combine the milk, sugar, and cinnamon stick and set over medium heat.
2. Stir regularly until the milk comes to a simmer and all the sugar has dissolved.
3. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the dissolved baking soda. If bubbles form, wait for the bubbles to subside.
4. Return the pot to the heat, and adjust the temperature to maintain the mixture at a brisk simmer. If it's too high, the mixture will boil over, and if it's too low, it will take forever to cook.
5. Stir regularly until the mixture turns pale golden, about one hour.
6. Once the mixture has changed colors, begin stirring frequently as it changes to a caramel-brown and thickens to the consistency of maple syrup. The bubbles will become much larger and glassier.
7. Test a couple of drops of the cajeta on a cold plate. When it cools, it should be the consistency of a medium-thick caramel sauce. If the cooled cajeta is thicker, stir in a tablespoon of water and remove from the heat.
8. Pour the cajeta through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl.

Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup cajeta
• Mexican vanilla buttercream frosting
  

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tray with 12 baking cups.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then beat in the vanilla extract.
5. With the mixer on low, beat in the flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the milk.
6. Scoop the batter into the baking cups.
7. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
8. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, and then remove the cupcakes from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Using a paring knife, cut a 1-inch-deep piece from the top of each cupcake, and set aside.
10. Fill each hole with 1 teaspoon of cajeta, and replace the cut out pieces.
11. Frost the cupcakes with the Mexican vanilla buttercream frosting.

Mexican Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• Pinch of salt
• 1 Tbs Mexican crema or sour cream
  

Preparation

1. Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter and sugar until smooth.
2. Add the salt, vanilla extract and crema.
3. Increase the speed to high and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

#33 - Sauteed Spinach and Onions

We had some more steaks from our shipment from Omaha Steaks, and we wanted to have a new side. Sauteed spinach is always tasty, and after looking a bit online, we found a recipe from Paula Deen, y'all.

Sauteed Spinach and Onions

From Paula Deen
It's a pretty straightforward recipe, and since it's from Paula Deen, you can bet you'll need some butter, y'all.
This really is a simple recipe. You start out chopping onions and cooking them in butter.
Then you make a small batch of The Lady's House Seasoning. Paula's recipe told you how to make a huge amount of the seasoning that you could store for months, but we just did some arithmetic and only made as much as we needed for the spinach.
The most difficult part of this whole recipe is keeping the spinach in the pan. When you first put it in, it will be overflowing, but after tossing it in the butter and onions for a few minutes, it will become a lot more manageable.
All in all, this was a really simple side to make. But boy was it delicious, y'all! It was silky and savory, but it wasn't too heavy, as Paula Deen's meals can be.

Basically, we'll be making this again soon.
If you want to make it soon yourselves, do this:

Ingredients

• 4 Tbs unsalted butter
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 9-oz bag baby spinach
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Preparation

1. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onions, and cook until softened, about 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Add the spinach, and toss to wilt for about 1 minute.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
5. Sprinkle the spinach and onions with the salt, pepper, and garlic powder mixture and the lemon juice, and remove from heat.

#32 - Pasta alla Norma

We wanted to cook a new pasta, and we were over at Mamu and Nonno's house so we decided to look into a cookbook that we didn't have at home. We've used Giuliano Hazan's recipes before, but this was the first time we could use one of his mom's recipes.

Pasta alla Norma

From Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
When we copied down the recipe, we didn't remember to write down what Marcella called it, but googling the ingredients, we found that it's a variation of a dish called Pasta alla Norma. Traditionally, that would use ricotta salata, but this version used a good old-fashioned wet ricotta.
After chopping the eggplant, the first step is to salt it, and let it sit for an hour. Then, you rinse them and squeeze out the liquid in a dish towel. If you plan on making this pasta, you might want to designate an eggplant wringing towel because the one we used got pretty dirty.
After draining the eggplant, you fry it (delicious), and then add it to a sauce (delicious), and toss it with the pasta and cheeses (delicious).
So how did it come out? You guessed it - delicious. Fried eggplant, tomatoes, and cheese can't be bad, but this did come together really well, and it went perfectly with spaghetti. Next time we want a classic Italian meal, we'll be borrowing that Marcella Hazan cookbook again.Here's you can make it yourself:

Ingredients

• 1 eggplant
• Salt
• Vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup onion, sliced very thin
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic, chopped
• 2 cups canned plum tomatoes, drained and cut into strips without their juices
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 lb spaghetti
• 3 Tbs freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
• 3 Tbs ricotta cheese
• 8 to 10 basil leaves

Preparation

1. Peel the eggplant and cut into 1 1/2 inch thick cubes.
2. Place the cubes in a colander, sprinkle them liberally with salt, and let them sit in the sink for at least 1 hour.
3. After the hour, scoop up a handful of the cubes, rinse them in cold water, and then squeeze out all the moisture using a dish towel.
4. Lay the eggplant cubes on a clean dry towel or paper towels.
5. Pour enough vegetable oil into a large frying pan to come up 1/2 inch up the sides, and heat on medium-high.
6. When the oil is hot, slip in as many of the eggplant cubes as can fit loosely in the pan, fry them until tender, and then remove to paper towels. Repeat as necessary until all the eggplant has cooked.
7. Pour off the vegetable oil, and then add the olive oil and sliced onions.
8. Cook over medium-high heat until the onions have become light gold.
9. Add the garlic, and cook for a few seconds.
10. Add the tomatoes, turn the heat to high, and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently.
11. Add the eggplant, turn the heat down to medium, and cook for a minute or two.
12. Taste the sauce, correct for salt, and add some freshly ground black pepper.
13. Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water, strain, and toss with the eggplant sauce, the pecorino, the ricotta, and the basil.

#31 - Steak Fajitas

The only time we ever eat fajitas in when we go out, but we decided to change things up this time, and bring the flavors of Cactus Cantina home.

Steak Fajitas

From Simply Recipes
There were a lot of ingredients needed for this recipe, but it's a little misleading because most of them were for the marinade for the steak. Once you've got that made, it's pretty simple to get the rest of this meal going.
So once you have your marinade made, you cover the steaks with it, and you let it sit for a while. Before you cook them, though, you rub most of the marinade off, making you wonder what the point of it all was.
The recipe called for grilling the steaks and vegetables on a cast-iron skillet, but we didn't have one, so we used our grill instead. We think it came out just fine, but if you do this indoors at home, we suggest you open all your windows and doors or risk being smoked out.
These came out really good. The steaks had a nice flavor to them thanks to the marinade (despite it being unceremoniously removed). And the fajitas were extra tasty when we added some homemade salsita and guacamole. In short, we'll definitely make these again when we're craving Mexican food.
Here's how you can make them yourselves, so next time you're on Macomb, you can swing by 2 Amys instead.

Ingredients

• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 Tbs of olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 fresh Jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1 lb of flat iron steak
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced
• 2-3 bell peppers, sliced
• Salt
• Flour tortillas
• Additional fix-ins, such as cheese, sour cream, salsa, and guacamole

Preparation

1. Mix the lime juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, Jalapeño pepper, and cilantro in a medium bowl to make the marinade for the steak.
2. Coat the steaks with the marinade and let sit at room temperature for an hour, or longer in the refrigerator.
3. After the steaks have been marinated, wipe off most of the liquid and sprinkle the steaks with salt.
4. Set a large pan or griddle over high heat and let it heat up for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the vegetable oil and continue to heat for about a minute.
6. Add the steaks, frying on each side for a little over 3 minutes.
7. Remove the steaks from the pan and let sit, tented with foil.
8. While the meat is resting, add the onions and bell peppers to the pan and let sear for one minute without stirring.
9. Continue to stir every 90 seconds for 5-6 minutes total.
10. Slice the meat at an angle against the grain into thin slices.
11. Serve immediately on tortillas with fix-ins.

#30 - Spaghetti with Bacon and Arugula

After lunch, we still had some arugula left over, had no plans for dinner, and found this recipe online for a pasta with ingredients we had around the house.

Spaghetti with Bacon and Arugula

From TasteFood
Since it's Sunday and we had everything else around the house, we thought today would be a good day for making homemade pasta. That's what that little nest is in the middle of the picture.
After cooking the bacon, you toast the breadcrumbs in a tablespoon of the bacon fat. Don't worry if it seems like there's not enough grease in the pan; that's how it's supposed to be.
After getting the breadcrumbs ready, you make a simple cream sauce, mix everything together, and you're done.
Oooh. This was a delicious pasta. The arugula and the bacon went well together, the cream sauce was not too heavy, and our homemade pasta was a solid touch.

For being such a simple and tasty meal, we think we're going to make this again next time we have leftover arugula.
Here's how to make recipe #30:

Ingredients

• 12 oz bacon, cut into 1-inch strips
• 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp salt, plus salt for pasta water
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 lb spaghetti
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup Parmigiano cheese, grated
• 3 cups arugula

Preparation

1. Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown, and then transfer to paper towels.
2. Remove all but one tablespoon of fat from the skillet, and add the breadcrumbs, red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
3. Saute until the breadcrumbs are golden, and then transfer to a small bowl.
4. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, and throw the pasta.
5. Meanwhile, in a clean saucepan, heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium heat.
6. Add the garlic and saute for about 1 minute.
7. Add the cream and simmer until slightly reduced and thickened for about 3-4 minutes.
8. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper to the cream.
9. When the pasta is al dente, strain and toss with the cream sauce.
10. Add the bacon, arugula, and half of the Parmigiano, and toss to combine.
11. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and the remaining Parmigiano over the pasta, and briefly toss.

#29 - Pesto Chicken Panino

You know about our KitchenAid, the pasta maker attachment, the ice cream maker attachment, the potato chip maker attachment, the hot chocolate machine, and the crock pot. Another piece of cookware that we love is our panino press. It takes grilled cheese sandwiches to the next level, and it helped us make these delicious panini.

Pesto Chicken Panino

A Hungry Hundred Original Recipe, Inspired by Harry's Tap Room
Harry's Tap Room is a great restaurant that has this crazy sandwich - it's a pesto chicken panino with mozzarella cheese. We decided to try something similar with our panino press, but we wanted to add arugula since we got some from our farmer yesterday morning.
You remember how to make the Villa pesto, right? Well, you can make some for this recipe and save the rest, or you can make some pasta and save a bit for this sandwich. But either way, you can store the extras in the freezer, and just heat it up before mixing it with the chicken.
So we just brush a little olive oil on the bread, layer it up, and then put the heavy press on top of the panini. It doesn't seem to matter how high the sandwiches pile up, once you add the big piece of metal, it transforms into a manageable size.
These panini came out really tasty. Dare we say, better than the original? The pesto went really well with the tomatoes and the arugula, and the ciabbata (which we may have cut a little bit thick) tasted great with the olive oil.
Wanna try your own? Do this.

Ingredients

• 1 boneless chicken breast
• 2 Tbs pesto sauce
• 2 slices Ciabatta
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tomato, sliced
• 1/4 cup arugula
• 3 slices mozzarella cheese

Preparation

1. Grill the chicken breast and cut into small cubes.
2. Toss the cubed chicken with the pesto to coat.
3. Heat a panino press over medium heat.
4. Brush one side of one slice of ciabbata with olive oil and place face down on the grill.
5. Layer on top of the bread the pesto chicken, tomatoes, arugula, and mozzarella.
6. Place the other slice of ciabbata on top of the sandwich and place press on top.
7. When the bottom side is golden, brush the top piece with olive oil, and flip the panino.
8. Replace the press on top, and cook until the second side is golden and the cheese has melted.