Homemade pasta sauce

It's been a while!

Here is an easy way to make your own pasta sauce. This is a base, so try your own variations on this and post them in the comments!

Ingredients:

• 8 tomatoes, chopped (or 4 cans crushed tomatoes)
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves (or 3 table spoons dried)
• Meat (optional)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• Parmesan for garnish

Directions:

• Put onion, garlic, and basil into a food processor, run until almost liquid
• Sauté onion mix for 5 minutes in olive oil in large pan or sauce pan
• Add tomatoes, crush a bit if fresh, stir well
• Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
• Add 2 cups water
• Add sugar
• Add meat (optional)
• Boil until sauce reduces to your liking, slower and longer the better
• Serve, mailman, repeat!

This sauce is delicious as it is, and so any additions you make will only make it better. Be careful on the red pepper flakes, they are quite strong with the garlic. Otherwise, this is super easy and can be used for chicken, ground beef, meatballs, sausage, etc. Here's Natalie dominating some angel hair with this sauce :)

Happy cooking mailmanning!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Did everyone decide to stop cooking or something? Let's keep it rolling.

Ok so for today, I made a delicious concoction using one of those pre-made sauce packages. You can buy these in any grocery store in the ethnic food aisle (or if you're a baller, you can make your own). However, these sauces can be improved tremendously with a few little additions to make them really delicious. As such, they are highly customizable. I'll list the ingredients that I used, but using your favorite ingredients is what will really make this dish come together. Also this can be easily made vegetarian and still is delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tikka Masala sauce package
• 1-1.5 lbs chicken
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1/2 jalapeño, diced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 cup baby spinach leaves
• 1 can (14.5 oz) garbanzo beans/chick peas
• 1 bay leaf
• Curry powder (cumin with a little paprika is a good substitute for curry powder, or garam masala if you have it), salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste

Directions

1. In a cast iron skillet (aka best invention ever), sauté onions until tender in a liberal amount of olive oil
2. Once onions are tender, sear chicken on both sides for ~3-5 minutes per side, depending on the temperature of your skillet
3. While chicken is cooking, add diced jalapeños to the skillet
4. After both sides have been seared, add sauce, 1/2 cup water, tomatoes, chick peas, spinach, bay leaf, simmer for 20 minutes
5. While simmering, use tongs (or utensil of choice) to shred chicken
6. Add curry powder, salt, pepper to taste
7. Serve over Basmati rice
8. Enjoy, gorge, repeat as necessary

The key to this dish is having lots of different textures. The spinach, chick peas, and chicken totally make this an adventure in your mouth.

Even with a cold, the Chicken Tikka Masala was flavorful enough to taste, and cleared up my sinuses nicely. A really great meal.

Happy cooking mailmanning!

Chicken and broccoli

Hi Drunks!

Continuing on Shakour's asian theme, I wanted to post a recipe for Chinese-style Chicken and Broccoli (or you can easily substitute beef -- I've used Trader Joe's beef tips and it was great).  It's really good, fairly easy, and you can sub pretty much any meats / veggies you want.

Note -- some of these ingredients are probably not staples that you can just grab out of your cabinet, but all can be found (fairly cheaply) at TJs.  And if you don't have something you can just leave it out or substitute.

3 tips before I make you a delicious Asian surprise (does that sound dirty?): A) for easy clean-up and marination (word?) use one of those plastic vegetable bags that you get at the grocery store to mix the marinade and marinate the meat in; 2) use low-sodium soy sauce like it says, or dilute normal soy sauce with water because if you don't it will be salty!; and D) get yourself some cornstarch (seriously, it's like a dollar) if you want the sauce to work right

Chicken and Broccoli
Ingredients:
   Meat and marinade

•  2 large chicken breasts (or ~1.5 lbs beef tips), cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsbp corn starch
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp ground garlic
• 2 tbsp oil (canola, olive, or vegetable)
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce

   Veggies and sauce

• Veggies: 2 heads broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces (or one pre-cut bag), 1/2 small white or yellow onion, chopped into thin slices, 1 cup carrots, grated or chopped into matchsticks
• 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce, + 2 tbsp water (no water if you omit cornstarch..but don't)
• 1 tsp sesame oil (can be left out)
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 4 cloves chopped garlic
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• Splash orange juice (~1 tbsp)
• 2 tsp red pepper flakes (can adjust to taste or leave out -- this will make it pretty hot!)
• Few shakes of black pepper
• 2 tbsp oil (for the stir-frying)

Instructions:
1. Mix the marinade ingredients in a bowl (or plastic bag), add meat and marinate ~hour
2. Chop your veggies! Set aside
3. Whisk together all other sauce ingredients (soy sauce through red pepper flakes) until smooth
 

Kat's ingredients -- veggies, chicken, sauce

4. Add 1 tbsp oil to a large pan or wok and heat over medium-high heat
5. Add marinated meat, marinade, and ~1/3 of the sauce to skillet, cook for ~5 minutes until cooked through, stirring often
6. Remove chicken from pan, set aside
7. Add 1 tbsp more oil (carefully! pan will still be hot), ~2 tbsp sauce, and the veggies (broccoli, onion, carrots) and cook over medium until tender, ~6 minutes
8. Add back in chicken and remaining sauce, stir until incorporated and then remove from heat
9. Mailman, Asian style.  Soo much better than mystery meat Chinese food (which is also delish when I'm tired / hungover on Sundays)

Yummmmm

PS -- If you put most of these ingredients together and cook them in some way, they will probably still be delicious :)

Selfie!  I look scary in this photo...