Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Mostly, I make brownies. But after a recent conversation about peanut butter (and having found that several of my students hadn't tried it) I thought about making a peanut butter version of blondies, and I'm glad I did. It adds just a touch of something special to dress up blondies and make them worthy competition of their all-chocolate cousins. 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Blondies

from Two Tiny Kitchens

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup (75g) butter, softened
• 2/3 cup white sugar (I used a bit less)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed (I did not pack it)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (I used a pinch more because my peanut butter wasn't salted)
• 1 cup (170 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I used a bit less)

The original recipe calls for a 9x9 inch baking pan, but I used an 8x12 pan and wouldn't go any smaller. 

Cream together peanut butter and butter, gradually blend in brown sugar, white sugar, eggs and vanilla; mix until fluffy. Combine flour, baking powder and salt and stir into the butter mixture until well blended (I went ahead and used the hand mixer for this since it's somewhat heavy). Fold in chocolate chunks. 

Bake at 375F/175C in a greased pan for 30-35 minutes, or until the top springs back when touched. (I actually cooked it for about 35-40 minutes, but the edges were not as gooey - still, I wanted to be sure the center was fully baked.) Cool and cut into small squares.

To comment on my changes: I used less sugar and it was still perfectly sweet enough. I added an extra pinch of salt (after tasting the batter) because the most common brand here (Sytari) is not salty like American peanut butter. And, yes, I cooked it longer than most recipes require.

I don't know why these are served in small squares, but my great-grandmother cut them the same way. I guess the idea is to make people happy but not fat. :) Portion control. Unless you eat them all. With ice cream. Whoops.

Macaroni & Cauliflower & Cheese

I had every intention of making a healthy mac and cheese, and I do think this is a pretty acceptable version, but I wouldn't insult you by saying it's good for you. It started, innocently enough, with this Eat Yourself Skinny recipe. But here's where I went wrong: there was no wheat pasta to be found (only the vegetable kind, which I'm not sure is any better and it didn't come in the right shape anyway) and we certainly don't have Smart Taste or whatever, and I didn't use reduced-fat cheese or fat-free half-and-half - because what the crap is that?? We may have a few reduced-fat cheese options but they're the shredded, processed kind that include additives. Fat-free half-and-half does not exist here and it's silly to think that it's an actual thing - it's full of corn syrup and artificial ingredients. So, I thought it best to use real cheese and milk. What this recipe does have going for it is cauliflower to replace some of the volume of pasta - so it is healthier compared to most versions. But let's be honest, the only way this is healthy is if you eat a small portion - like, smaller than the salad you'll serve next to it:

Mac & Cauliflower & Cheese

• 325 grams elbow macaroni (about 12 oz?)
• 1/2 large head cauliflower, chopped into florets
• 1/3 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
• ~ handful of parsley, chopped
• 4 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely shredded
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 115 grams/4 oz. Finlandia Light (reduced-fat cream cheese)
• 1 1/2 cups cheddar, gouda, or similar cheese, shredded (I used half gouda, half Tynbo)
• 1/2 cup 2% milk
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus a bit more
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• Few leaves of fresh basil, chopped
• Butter to coat pan

Butter a casserole dish and preheat oven to 375F/190C. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente - adding cauliflower for the last 5 minutes of cooking. Reserve ~1 cup pasta water and drain. In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs, parsley, 1 Tablespoon Parmesan cheese and a shake of salt and pepper, set aside. Sauté onion in oil and 1/2 teaspoon of salt until soft, about 3-5 minutes. Mix in Finlandia, cheeses, the remaining 3 Tablespoons of Parmesan, milk, mustard, pepper, basil, macaroni and cauliflower, stirring until creamy and combined (about 1 minute), adding reserved pasta water as necessary - I added about 3/4 cup. Pour into prepared casserole dish and sprinkle with the bread crumb mixture. Bake for about 20 minutes. Note that the crumbs won't brown because there's no oil or butter in the topping. If desired, mist the crumbs with olive oil.

Vegetarian Biscuits & Gravy

This dish should not be confused with all of the healthy recipes I've been posting lately. There's a time and place for healthy food and a time and place for the stuff that makes life worth living. This was for a special occasion: Valentine's brunch. That said, it isn't so bad as this recipe uses veggie patties instead of sausage and I swapped out some white flour for wheat flour in the biscuits - although, I did add cheese. ;)

Biscuits & Veggie Gravy

Parmesan Biscuits (adapted from Alton Brown):

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup wheat flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons (28 grams) butter, cold
• 2 Tablespoons (28 grams) vegetable shortening, cold
• 1 cup buttermilk, cold
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese (I used parmesan)

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Using cool fingertips or a pastry blender, blend butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. Make a well in the center and pour in buttermilk. Stir just until dough comes together - it will be sticky. Turn out onto floured surface, dust top with flour and fold dough over on itself 5 to 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round and cut out biscuits with a biscuit cutter or a glass. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible, and cut out the rest of the biscuits. You should have about 12 biscuits. You can lay them out on a baking sheet so that they just touch or you can space them out a little. I pressed my dough out a bit thinner and stacked 2 biscuits tall so that they would split easily. Bake at 450F/230C for 15-20 minutes.

Vegetarian Gravy:

• 2 veggie burgers (or veggie sausage)
• Olive oil, as needed
• 1 Tablespoon (14 grams) butter
• 1/4 cup (or 2 heaping soup spoons) flour
• 2 cups buttermilk (or 2% milk will work) plus extra for thinning, at room temperature
• Veggie powder, salt and pepper to taste
• 1 sprig fresh thyme, stripped
• Handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Cook burgers in a drizzle of oil over medium heat, squishing and flattening them a bit until they start to break up and get crispy on the bottom. Flip them over and repeat - start breaking them down into crumbles. Once thoroughly cooked, remove the crumbles from the pan with a spatula - it's okay to leave some in the pan, and try to leave all of the oil. (Since I didn't use a non-stick pan, I went ahead and added enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, let it warm up and started scrapping out the bits that were stuck - you should probably do this with oil or butter but it seemed excessive.) Add butter and melt, swirling around the pan. Whisk in flour for about one minute. (Alternatively, you could whisk milk and flour together before adding it to the pan.) Add buttermilk, veggie powder, a pinch of salt, thyme, and crack in some pepper. Whisk constantly for a few minutes, making sure there are no lumps of flour. Stir in a handful of fresh parsley. Either let it simmer until it's at a thick enough consistency or whisk in more milk, depending on the consistency you'd like. Add more salt and pepper, if necessary (I think heaps of pepper are necessary). Stir the crumbles into the gravy. After I'd removed the crumbles, it took me about 10 minutes to make the gravy.

Parmesan Heart: 
Now, if it's Valentine's Day (or if you're just really nice) you could make a heart-shaped Parmesan crisp by using a Tablespoon of shredded cheese for each heart and shaping it on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake at about 350F/180C for 7-10 minutes, checking frequently. Then, you can just turn off the oven and let them set in there, getting all crispy for another 10 minutes while you're finishing the gravy. While they're still warm, but not gooey, carefully remove them from the pan.

Serve alone or with other brunch dishes, like scrambled eggs with basil. 

Green Bean Casserole Do-Over

A few Thanksgivings ago I made a simple (basically prefabricated) green bean casserole. This year, I took a little extra time to make one from scratch using fresh ingredients, and it paid off. I followed this Alton Brown recipe, replacing the chicken broth with veggie broth. To save a little time on the big day, I went ahead and cooked the beans a day ahead - then put them in the refrigerator in the dish I planned to use. 

Green Bean Casserole
Adapted from food network
Beans

• 1 lb / 500 grams fresh green beans, trimmed and rinsed
• 1 gallon water
• 2 Tablespoons kosher salt

Bring water and salt to a boil. If you're using table salt, you'll want to use less than this! (oops.) Cook beans to your preference (Alton blanches for 5 minutes, I boil for 8-10), drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking. 

Onion Topping

• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 Tablespoons bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or about 1/2 t. table salt)
• Nonstick spray

Preheat oven to 475F / 245C. Combine onions, flour, breadcrumbs and salt (may want to use seasoning salt) and toss to combine. Coat a sheet pan with nonstick spray and evenly spread onions on pan. I sprayed a light layer of oil on top of the onions also. Bake until golden brown, tossing every 10 minutes, for about 30 minutes. 

Mushroom Sauce

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 12 ounces / 350 grams mushrooms, trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or less table salt!)
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 cup half and half (or combination of half milk, half cream)

Saute mushrooms in butter with salt and pepper until they begin to lose some liquid, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and nutmeg and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add broth and simmer for 1 minute. Add half and half and cook until mixture thickens - 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 of the onions and all of the beans. Pour into casserole dish (I used a deep round one - I thought 9x13 would be too big), top with remaining onions and bake at 400F / 200C until bubbly, about 15 minutes. 

Many commenters had issues with the onions burning, but I didn't have any problems. Just keep an eye on them in that hot oven and flip them whenever they're looking browned on bottom. I think this version is better than the one I grew up with and I'll never have to open a can of congealed cream of mushroom soup again...woohoo!

Last year I made a cherry chutney that a lot of people liked, but I hated it after pitting all those cherries and cooking them in vinegar for an hour. Ugh, the smell of warm vinegar! For those of you who enjoyed it, here's the recipe.

No-Chicken Noodle Soup

As we shake off the last chill of winter, I'm finally getting around to cooking up some comfort food. Here's a vegetarian version of chicken noodle soup to see you through these last days of cold and flu season. Of course you could throw in some tofu in place of chicken, but I thought the simplicity of this recipe was its greatest strength. Well, that and the homemade noodles. 

No-Chicken Noodle Soup

adapted from Food Network with inspiration from The Pioneer Woman

(Double this recipe if you prefer more soup than noodles)

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 ribs celery (I used 2), diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 clove garlic, smashed (and diced)
• 1 small onion (or 1/4 medium onion - 1/2 cup), diced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• pinch of dried thyme
• 6-8 cups vegetable stock (or water and vegetable powder)
• pinch of turmeric
• pepper to taste
• handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat, toss in all the veggies and season with salt and cook until tender (6-10 minutes, depending on the size of recipe you're making). Toss in thyme and cook for 30 seconds. Add stock or water+veggie powder, turmeric and pepper. Simmer for a little while (maybe 10 minutes) then bring to a boil before adding noodles.

Pasta Noodles

from The Pioneer Woman

(Serves 2)

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup flour

In a medium bowl, make a well in the center of the flour and crack in eggs. Slowly mix together with your hands. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until dough becomes smooth, adding flour as necessary (see Ree's photos for the perfect consistency). Let dough rest for a bit before rolling out. Roll onto a floured surface as thin as you can get it - the thinner the better. Cut thin noodles with a sharp knife or pizza wheel.

Add noodles to your boiling soup and cook for 2-5 minutes (depending on thickness) until noodles are cooked. Toss in some pepper and parsley. Add a squirt of lemon if you like. Of course, this is even better as leftovers.

Overnight (or not) Cinnamon Rolls

There is a secret family recipe for my great-grandfather's famous cinnamon rolls but I am not privy to that information so I tried this recipe and was simply amazed. Amazed, I tell you!

Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

from Alton Brown

Dough:

• 4 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 large whole egg, room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 Tablespoons (85 grams) butter, melted
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 4 cups AP flour, plus additional for dusting
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant dry yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• oil or cooking spray

Filling:

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
• pinch salt
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons (21 grams) butter, melted

Icing:

• 2 1/2 ounces (1/4 cup) cream cheese, softened
• 3 Tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

See Alton's recipe if you are so fortunate as to have a stand mixer (not that I'm bitter or anything). Otherwise, using a hand mixer, combine egg yolks, egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk. Add about 2 cups of flour along with the yeast and salt. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface and knead by hand for 15-20 minutes kneading in all but 3/4 c. flour and adding more as necessary - dough should be soft and moist but not too sticky. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, lightly oil the top of the dough, cover and let double in volume 2 to 2.5 hours.

Combine brown sugar, cinnamon and salt; mix until well incorporated. Set aside.

Butter 9x13-inch baking dish. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface.

Gently shape dough into a rectangle with the long side nearest you. Roll into an 18 by 12-inch rectangle. Brush dough with melted butter, leaving 1/2 inch border along the top edge.

Sprinkle the filling mixture over the dough, leaving 3/4 border along top edge (I left one all around but will remember not to next time); gently press filling into dough.

Beginning with the long side nearest you, roll dough into a tight cylinder. Firmly pinch the seam to seal and roll the cylinder seam side down. Very gently squeeze the cylinder to create even thickness.

Using a serrated knife, slice into 1.5-inch rolls; yielding 12 rolls. Arrange cut side down in the baking dish. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator *overnight or up to 16 hours.

*I didn't have all night, so I covered with plastic wrap and left out at room temperature for 30 minutes. Remove rolls from refrigerator (or not) and place in an oven that is turned off. I ended up flipping over the end pieces so that the cut side faced up (opposite of the way they are shown in the picture below) and the gooey goodness would be less likely to ooze out of the roll).

Fill a shallow pan 2/3 full of boiling water and set on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven door and let the rolls rise until they look slightly puffy; about 30 minutes (see pic below). Remove rolls and shallow pan of water from the oven. Cover rolls lightly with plastic wrap or damp towel. Preheat oven to 180C (350F).

When oven is ready, place the rolls on the middle rack and bake until golden brown. 25 minutes was enough for me. Keep an eye on them - some commenters that baked for 30 minutes said they were too dry. I misted the rolls with water while still in the oven at about 15 minutes into the cooking time.

While the rolls are cooling slightly, make the icing by mixing cream cheese (with hand mixer, if that's what you've got) until creamy. Add milk and combine. Sift in powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Spread over the rolls and serve immediately.

Veggie Corn Chowder (and a national holiday)

Today's a big day for Argentina - not only are we celebrating the yearly revolution day but today is the country's bicentennial. To me, this equates to even more food and fireworks. Weeee! It's traditional to eat stew today, locro in particular. But Guille's mom is out of town and I'm not going to attempt a family dish (but Katie does a good job here). So I spent all day in the kitchen yesterday working on my soup repertoire.

Corn Chowder

• 2 T. butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 T. flour
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 carrot, shredded
• 1/2 t. thyme
• 1 can creamed corn
• 2 c. corn (I used frozen)
• 1-2 c. vegetable stock
• 1 c. milk
• 1/3 c. cream
• 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
• black pepper and salt to taste

Saute onion and garlic in butter, when they start to soften whisk in flour, stirring constantly for a minute. Add in pepper and carrot (Add 1 T. EVOO if it's too stiff). It will be pasty but allow to cook for a few minutes. Season with thyme and a shake of salt. Add one cup veggie stock and simmer until veggies are soft. Add creamed corn, milk, and cream. Bring to a boil and add potato and corn - drop heat to a simmer, add salt and a good amount of black pepper to your taste and cook until potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes), adding stock if necessary to thin stew to your preference. You can re-heat this on the stove top with 1/4 c. milk or stock.

Throw in some empanadas! These are from Safyta (Dorrego, entre Mendoza y San Juan) and, yes, that's a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top of humita empanadas. Super delicious.

Here's the chowder and chili on a plate - yep, these are pretty thick. Happy 200!

When Words Fail

Sometimes in life, unavoidable situations occur which make people sad. I don't usually know what to say in such situations. A sympathetic 'I'm so sorry' is about all I can muster.

And sad people don't really think about food or even remember that they are hungry. But they do have to eat something. This is where you can help them.

Casserole-giving isn't a tradition in such situations in Argentina, but if you get the chance, leaving some slices of banana bread or a few brownies on the table might help some sad nibblers. Without being too specific, Guille also decided to invite over our saddened loved ones for a casual lunch (and an opportunity for them to leave the house).

Although we live above a gourmet pasta shop, we thought it would be worth it to make homemade pasta, along with tomato sauce, in order to squeeze every bit of love and care into lunch. Nothing fancy, just food.


Guille brought home a retro pasta maker last week and I had no idea how simple it would be to actually make it work (I'm always underestimating him). But he made me delicious spaghetti last week in the time it took me to whip up a simple pesto.


And so, Guille got it out again to make fettuccine and zini shaped pasta for our lunch. This recipe makes enough for 2 conservative servings but it is easy to double, triple, quadruple...

Egg Pasta

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 T. water
• 1 T. oil

Whisk together flour and salt in large bowl. Add egg, water, and oil and stir until it comes together to form dough (adding additional flour as necessary). Turn out onto a floured surface and knead a few minutes to bring it together.


At this point we push it into the pasta maker while turning the hand crank (but you can roll it out and cut into strips). It took us a while with this thing but our guests even jumped in to help, momentarily distracted. It only takes a few minutes to cook fresh pasta - drop it into boiling water with a drop of oil. In the end, shared effort and a shared meal resulted in full bellies. And when a sad person says 'I'm full,' and you know that it's true, those words mean more than anything in the world.

Guille's Tomato Sauce

• 2 T. evoo
• 1 large onion, chopped
  
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 1 med bell pepper, chopped
• 1 can peeled, diced tomatoes
• 1 Knorr veggie cube
  
• 2-3 cups water
• s & p to taste
• 1/2 T. freshly chopped basil
• 1/2 T. freshly chopped oregano

Saute onion and garlic in evoo over med high heat for 4 minutes. Stir in pepper and carrot, cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, 1 cup water, and veggie cube (or you could use 1 cups of veg stock). Season with s&p, drop heat to low, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, adding water (can use pasta water) every 5 minutes or so. Finally, stir in herbs and toss with cooked pasta.

There were leftovers, which Guille mixed with a couple dollops of Casancrem (not-so-sour cream), topped with shredded parm cheese, and baked for 10 minutes in a moderately hot oven.


To make brownies from scratch, follow Joy the Baker's recipe (I cut it in half and baked in a 7" round pan). You will never want to use a box again. Be sure to use quality cocoa powder - if you live in Argentina, that means you'll need to ask for it at a specialty cake store. I also left out the nuts and coffee, to create a simple chocolate brownie.

Creamy Black Beans

Argentina is very far from Mexico and though these countries share a language, they certainly don't share comida. The other day, I passed one of the few Mexican restaurants in town and the lunch special was gnocchi. Needless to say, I'm missing take-out beans and rice. I do have to say that I had a very tasty mushroom quesadilla at Davis UP last week, but no beans on the menu. So here's what I came up with:

• 3/4 c. dried black beans
• 2 T. olive oil
  
• 1 small to medium onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 c. vegetable stock
• 1- 2 c. water
• 1 t. cumin
• 1/2 t. dried oregano
• 1 t. rock salt (optional)
  
• 1/2 c. Casan crem light

Soak beans in water overnight, drain and rinse. Saute onion and garlic with olive oil in a large pot, after 5 minutes add pepper, continue to saute on medium heat until tender (about 10 minutes total). Add beans, stock, cumin, oregano, and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and drop heat to low. Cover and simmer, adding water as necessary (every 20-30 minutes) to keep beans from getting dry. Simmer until beans are tender, mine usually take about 2 hours. Add Casan crem (or sour cream for those in the US) and serve. You could also cook the beans ahead and, when ready to serve, heat them back up and add cream.


I sometimes serve with rice and other times use the beans for burritos. For an Argentine twist, I stuff them, along with cheese, into empanadas. I also have left out the bell pepper and used a big pinch of red pepper flakes, and that's tasty too. But my favorite way to eat these is rolled-up in a big tortilla.

Black Bean Burritos with Zucchini and Red Pepper



The last time that Guille and I attempted burrito night, we didn't end up eating until midnight. So, instead of attempting salsa and guacamole again, I added the veggies in the fridge to dress up our beans. It made for a very flavorful, yet lighter and faster homemade burrito.


For assembly, in addition to creamy black beans you'll need:

• Flour tortillas (I only made 4 big ones with this recipe)
  
• 1 T. veg oil (I was going for a lighter flavor but you could use evoo)
  
• 2 zucchini, chopped
  
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• Juice of half a lemon (a lime would be delish here too)
  
• Salt & pepper to taste
  
• cheese of your liking

Saute red pepper in oil for about 5 minutes before adding the zucchini. Add juice and season with s&p. Continue to cook on medium low, stirring often, until the zucchini starts to soften and brown. I like to melt the cheese right onto my tortilla while its cooking, but only if it will be immediately eaten! Then add all of the stuffings, fold and bite!

Vegetarian Penne alla Vodka

Oh yes, friends. The mother of all pasta dishes. I feel like I can check this off of life's to-do list. I'd been eyeing the bottle of vodka for a while, waiting for my opportunity to cook up this specialty and a small dinner party gave me the chance to create my own version. This dish is unknown here so I felt free to play with the ingredients. Argentineans often add cream to pasta as a sauce but I need a little more than that. I had trouble finding a vegetarian (not vegan) recipe so I tweaked a few to come up with the following:

• 2 T butter
• 1 1/2 T olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 2/3 c. vodka
• 1 c. tomato puree
• A couple of tomatoes (canned, whole, peeled) chopped up a little
  
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 2 T milk (2% or less, as you prefer)
  
• 1/2 t. salt + more for the pasta water
• ground pepper or crushed pepper flakes to taste
• a handful of basil
• 1/2 c. cheese + extra for table (of the parmigiano-reggiano variety - reggiantio would be great and cheaper, we used sardo)
• 400-450 g penne (1 lb)
  

Melt the butter and olive oil together over medium heat, add the garlic and cook for about 2 minutes before adding the onion. Saute for 5 minutes (add red pepper flakes here and cook for at least 30 seconds) and add vodka (you probably want to take the pan off of the flame to avoid burning down the kitchen while you pour in the vodka), simmer on low for approximately 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. The mixture will get a little foamy and reduce by nearly half. Roughly chop and add a couple of canned, whole tomatoes and the puree, along with salt and pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. It will look something like this:

You could stop here, cover the tomato mixture and continue when you're about 15 minutes away from serving time. Or just keep going... Add cream and milk (believe me, this is a smaller amount of cream than any recipe lists and it was just perfect. Simmer for 10 minutes while your penne cooks to al dente in salted water. Drain pasta and mix with sauce, cooking together another 5 minutes until the pasta is cooked to your taste. You may need to add a touch or water or a little puree. (You could also just fully cook the penne and then stir together with the sauce but it's really great if the flavor gets into the noodles.) Finally, mix in the cheese and serve, topped with shredded fresh basil.


Of course, this isn't figure friendly but I'm sure it's lighter than what I typically ate in restaurants AND it has all the flavor. This served 4 of us and was lunch for 2 today.