Is It Sauce, Gravy or Marinara?

Every single Sunday morning when I was growing up, aromas of Italian sauce (marinara for non-Brooklynites and gravy for the 'real Eye-Talians') would waft right into my bedroom. Then of course, the smells of meatballs frying would also follow, but right now, let's stick to the "gravy". If you're making a marinara without meat, you don't have to cook it eight hours like us gumbas do, but if you do have a few hours so spare, 2 - 3 hours of leaving it on the burner on low is a wonderful idea. Grandma used to lug her canned tomatoes from Brooklyn all the way upstate to where we grew up. She also would lug those puppies back. Don't ask. She made a helluva' sauce though. Her tomatoes in the can were whole tomatoes, so she would throw them in the blender. Mom would use crushed tomatoes. Voila - easy peasy marinara. Later on when I was a teenager, Dad used to make his own sauce using real tomatoes - I mean, peeling and chopping REAL vine tomatoes. Was he crazy or wha? Anyway, I took a little of everyone's recipe and made it my own. For instance, Grandma used a little sugar for her sauce. Mom never did. Mom also was against onions in her sauce. Dad chopped his tomatoes and used a little wine. He also made his garlic chunky, which I prefer. So here is my recipe, taken down from the three best cooks I know.

Get a big pot. No, seriously. BIG.

Chop your goodies: fresh parsley, fresh basil, fresh garlic, fresh chopped onions...did I say fresh? I will admit, I have cheated when it came to running out of parsley and used the dried stuff, but never, ever, ever garlic. If you don't have fresh garlic - don't make your sauce. Period. 

Pour a little olive oil in the bottom of your pot. Sprinkle some salt, pepper, oregano (yes dried and sparingly), garlic powder and chopped red pepper. Throw all your FRESH ingredients into the oil and stir on high. If it gets TOO bubbly and hot, just turn it down a tad so it cooks evenly to a slightly golden color -- not even. I don't even let it turn gold before adding the next step...

Get dem' chopped and diced tomatoes in there. I use vine tomatoes and chop them on a cutting board until it becomes like the picture above. Let that cook and simmer for about 15 minutes or so. Then, I add crushed tomatoes --- I use Luigi Vitelli.  Add a tablespoon or two of sugar depending on how much gravy you're cooking. Stir.

As you're sipping your vino, might as well add a bit of it into your sauce. Two birds.

Don't forget to add a bit of parmesan cheese. This enhances the salt factor and gives it a richer flavor. It also thickens it up just a tad. You can add a little extra salt and pepper or any other herb into your mix to your liking. It all depends on your taste buds. Alter it. The reason why I use sugar and wine in my sauce is because it helps reduce the acidity in your gravy. I get heartburn more often than not, and this is the best way to ensure I'll have a GERD-free night.  If you want to add meat to your gravy, do so. It makes that much better, but remember, the cooking process should be much longer than just two hours.

Thanks, Grandma, Mom & Dad! I couldn't have done it without them. Cheers & bon appetit!

For Deb's main blog, visit: www.debrapasquella.com or join her on Facebook and Twitter.

Bok-Bok-Bok-Bokkkk!

Yep. I'm tawkin' chicken today. My favorite chicken is dark meat, however, you can also throw in some white meat to suit your taste. As a kid, I never really liked dark meat, nor roasted chicken at all. It had to be cutlets, McNuggets and all that greasy fried crap. My taste had eventually evolved when I was in my twenties trying to maintain a healthy weight, yet somehow, make the chicken taste as sinfully as can be. I'm surprised with all of these chicken recipes online - they seem so incredibly bland. Their ingredients: salt and pepper. And while less may be more, it certainly will not satisfy your inner fat kid. So let me show you some ways to make your chicken dishes (even roasted) taste spec-tackkkk-yule-larrrrr!

Clean. Clean. Clean.

First, (and I know this is debatable) -- CLEAN your chicken. I know many people feel that the cooking process alone will kill all the bacteria and leave your sink with less salmonella, but in my experience, washing it carefully, and very thoroughly makes your chicken taste so. much. better. There is a huge difference. I don't let the chicken or water splat in my sink and afterwards, I wash everything down, as long as it takes --- make sure every inch of your sink and even your soap bottle is washed off. Clean off all counters and any time you place the packages of chicken onto your counter, make sure it has a paper towel under it. That's just how I roll.

First start stabbing your chicken. I know, totally going all "Jodi Arias" on you --- but stab all your pieces until you have enough entries for the marinade to reside in.

Then, rub your chick. I mean rub that bitch till she is clucking like a crazy loca. We call this "adobo'ing" your bird. And it's not the generic salty shit you get at the ethnic aisle of the grocery store - this is your own... Salt, pepper, brown sugar, garlic powder and basil flakes. RUB till it pays you a tip.

My ~love potion~ consists of olive oil, white wine, chicken broth, orange zest, garlic, fresh parsley, salt, pepper and lemon juice. I even pour a teaspoon of honey in there so all the ingredients 'stick'.  I mix it into a small glass, enough to slather it onto the chickadees. After rubbing them all down and getting them prepared for the oven, I sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. This gives it a 'fried chicken' kinda' feel. I let them marinate in the fridge for about 5+ hours or, even overnight.

When it's time to throw these birds into the oven, make sure you give it a double whammy with the lemon. Cook it for approximately 1 1/2 hours on 350 and for the last 15 minutes, broil them on high to give it that extra crisp. I always make sure that all pieces are 180 degrees. You can serve this with anything. I usually make a big organic salad with avocados and onions or you can make a rice pilaf or whatever side dish you prefer. This happens to be also delicious on top of linguini. So bon appetit! Hope you like it.

For Deb's main blog, visit: www.debrapasquella.com or join her on Facebook and Twitter.

Pimped Out Burgers

As a kid, I grew up having burgers on the grill because we lived up in the sticks and well, it was convenient and much more fun. Our family would sit outside for dinner and enjoy a good barbecue. I never once thought what it would be like to live in an apartment or condo complex that didn't allow BBQ grills. I had a five year dose of what it was like when Madelene and I started living in a condo. During the summer months, I was always itching to BBQ...but how?  I wanted BBQ food, but but but... I even tried the George Foreman grill. Ugh, not only did it burn everything you plopped on there because it ran off a generalized heating mechanism, but that bitch was hard to clean! I would always cook so I wouldn't have to clean. Then my creative juices started flowing. "Screw it", I said, grabbing the frying pan and hoping to manipulate the burger into a diner-like cuisine.

Madelene and I don't eat burgers with buns. It's not that we're watching our carbs, it's just too much. We usually make a ton of veggies with a salad and sometimes even a potato, but still - even that's too much. I usually sauté onions and mushrooms in a little olive oil. I add my spices like, salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper, parsley, a tiny bit of sugar in the raw, some white wine and at the end, a touch of bread crumbs to give it a nice 'crunch' to the candied onions. Lately, I've been incorporating squash to my dish - adding new flavor and colors to the 'gourmet burger'.  Let me just say that having squash either on your burger or just on a bed of squash is. just. amazing. The squash takes on the taste of whatever you're cooking.

While your veggie mix is still brewing in one pan, plop your burgers in another, with only adding a shot glass of water, a pinch of salt and a few raw slices of onions if you want. You don't need any olive oil or butter --- the burgers cook better this way in my opinion. I usually get the 80% chop meat because  anything more than that is going to taste like a hockey puck. We like our burgers well done but not dry, so we keep frying the burgers on a low/medium heat for 20 minutes. Ten minute on one side, ten minutes on the other. They come out perfect.

Make it fancy - create a colorful salad on the side or you can always opt for the baked potato, but believe me, that's why most people over overstuffed after eating a meat & potato type of meal. This gives you that perfect "I'm full but not bloated" feeling.

So whether you have your burger on a bed of veggies, or you topple your burger with the goodness, it's all good. You can add cheese or not...it's up to you.

Bon appetit ~

For Deb's main blog, please visit: www.debrapasquella.com

Good Ol' SPO (Sausage, Peppers & Onions)

Growing up in an Italian household, sausage & peppers was a common thing. My mom used to make it and then used it in her scrambled eggs or she would make this incredibly huge omelet and tuck it away inside. It looks like this huge overstuffed pie. I was never a fan of sausage or peppers. I hated both. I developed a taste for it later on in life when I tried it again at a Renaissance Festival. Not sure why I ordered it, but wow it smelled good.

It seemed as though every party, every BBQ or a dish made to bring to somebody's party included sausage and peppers when my mom would prepare for an event. I watched both my dad and mom do a teamwork project on it. Dad would chop everything, even slice the garlic with a razor (a clean one), and mom would could the onions and peppers while either frying or BBQing the sausages. I have taken mom's recipe to almost the exact science, except I like to add a bit of color to mine. The only difference between mine and my mothers is that she only uses green peppers, while I get a little more fancy and doll the dish up with yellow, orange and green. Just more appealing to me. Not sure if there's a major difference, but it's all about the 'culla' and if it looks 'purdy'.

First you want to chop up two medium size onions into ringlets, fresh parsley and finely slice 4 cloves of garlic. I use organic peppers, using all the cutesy colors you see in the photo and I clean them thoroughly. Take out all the pulp and just slice them elongated. Add some fresh mushrooms into the mix and drizzle olive oil on the lovelies.  Spice it up with salt, pepper, red pepper, oregano and then throw some white wine into the mix, giving it a beautiful flavor. Mix it up and put it in the oven at 375. My mother says 350 - but I like to fully cook the garlic so it's not so "PA-DOW" with each bite. Just keep turning and checking it to see if it softens up a bit.

While you're veggies are roasting, start pan searing your sausage. I use sweet Italian sausages like my mom does. I constantly turn them on a medium heat for quite a bit. I don't like undercooked sausages - not feeling that, however, I don't like them burnt to a crisp either.  Slow cooking is much better with this dish because it absorbs all the juices.

I then slice them in half. It not only makes more for the dish, but most people prefer having them sliced up so that they're easier to eat and put into sandwiches if they want to. I leave them on the side for a bit before throwing them into the mix.

After your veggies are not too hard and not too soft, throw the sausages into the mix and then put it in the oven for approximately another 20-30 minutes or so and voila - you'll have a great and easy dish to cook for your friends and family. In fact, this dish is going to my mom's BBQ tomorrow for Mother's Day. Bon appetit!

For Deb's main blog, please visit: www.debrapasquella.com

'Bolo-neeze', 'Bolo-nayze' - Let's Call the Whole Thing Off!

Mom would sometimes make a pasta with a bolognese sauce, usually with shells or rigatonis. She never called it bolognese, she'd call it her meat sauce - and that was that. She'd add a bit of mushrooms to hers and cook it almost all day long. But bolognese wasn't her thing. She believes a true Italian sauce (or gravy) should definitely have some type of pork in it to make it taste delicious. And it always does. When I went out to restaurants, I never knew what the word bolognese was. When I found out and ordered it - it was my favorite dish. I'd ask the waiter, "I'll have the rigatoni bolog-neeze (with the 'g' sound in it) please. And oh, I'll have a glass of merlot (with the 't' sound in it)."  The waiter would cringe as he wrote my order down, grab all the menus and run. Hey, I was only 21 back then and not too polished on my food &  beverage knowledge. Sadly, I stopped pronouncing it "bolog-neeze" not too long ago, until someone (kindly) pointed out that I was botching up that beautiful word. So now I know, even after having cooked it a billion and one times.

I hear people making it much differently than I do - some using vegetables, carrots and other miscellaneous things that I would never throw in there, but every recipe is unique, even if it's the same ingredients. Different tastes, different pots, different ingredients/brands, etc., etc., and etc.  I have almost the same ingredients as mom, but a bit different. Of course, she would throw in 6-7 cans of tomato sauce, where I use only 1 can and it's a lot thinner (and less quantity) since I'm not cooking for an army. The one thing I love about a sauce is my garlic chopped nice and thin, yet big enough so you can actually see the chunks on your fork full of pasta. In my marinara sauce, before the meat dives in, I sauté about five cloves of chopped garlic, a half of a small onion, a handful of fresh parsley, fresh basil leaves, salt, pepper, garlic powder in olive oil, and while it's sizzling in it's little puddle of loveliness, I add two tablespoons of sugar in the raw. It cuts down on the acidity. And God knows how much Prilosec & Zantac I pop after eating a rich marinara. Oof. As that's sautéing - make sure you don't burn your garlic and start dicing up fresh tomatoes. I use 3-4 depending on the size of the pot. With this one, I'm using a medium size sauce pan. That'll take the sizzling away for a moment...let it heat up and then add 1 cup of low sodium chicken broth. This helps the sauce become lighter and not so thick and clumpy. I add one can of crushed tomatoes (to whatever brand you prefer) and a half a cup of parmesan cheese. Stir.

The next step is important. Use whatever leftover red wine you have, or better yet, if you have that cheap Carlo Rossi delight, (any red table wine will do), pour that stuff in.

While you're heating up your sauce, go ahead and put a little olive oil into a frying pan (just to get it greased up a tad) and throw some chopped meat in there. I can't tell you how much to use, but for us, we usually make a bolognese sauce the day after having burgers, so about a half a pound should be good.

Now get the two hot hot hot...Work those burners!

Make sure the meat is nice & brown before you throw it into the lake of fire.

And also make sure your sauce is bubbling over with joy.

Let the two unite in holy matrimony... 

Let that simmer for a coupla' hours and you got yourself a dish ya' can't refuse. Put it on top of your favorite pasta and dine with someone special. Just remember to pronounce it "bola-nayze" and when you're drinking a merlot -- mer-low. Cabernet? Cabber-nay. ...Capisce??

For Deb's main blog, please visit: www.debrapasquella.com

How to Make Eggplant Parmesan

Thanks to my mother, she has given me her step by step process (not recipe) of making eggplant parmesan. My mom is old school. She uses things that would send you to the ER for an angioplasty, but from my recipe, you'll probably at worst, get heartburn, (but it'll be so worth it!). It's important for the day before the actual peeling/chopping/frying & stacking the eggplant that you cook your marinara sauce the day before. However you cook marinara sauce is fine, or you can look at this post to see how I cook mine. Cook the sauce for at least 4 or more hours. It's all in the timing.  When you go shopping for eggplant, look for longer (more even) and firm. If you find any soft spots, fuggedaboudit'! Chuck it. Go to another farm market or grocery store.

Redundant as hell, but peel that bitch until she is bare naked. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY likes eggplant with that black skin still dangling off of it. It's not only chewy, but it tastes bitter. Take the time and peel it. Trust me.

Chop it (the best you could) in round little medallions. The shape may vary, but that doesn't really matter. It's all about thin slices, if you can manage. And believe me, I have a hard time trying to get them at their thinnest, including myself.

Bring out the good ol' egg & batter. Mom always told me to use Italian spiced breadcrumbs - various brands can be used. If you're making a large pan, make sure you have enough eggs to back it up or you're screwed.

After egging & breading, places those puppies into a large pan so you can pluck them out for frying.

This is when I develop a bad case of acne, but my favorite part of the process ----frying. Although Crisco and all those artery clogging oils may be 'better' to cook with, olive oil is not only healthier, but it even tastes better. There is a trick to frying with it. Since olive oil tends to burn faster, make sure that you don't have your fryer on the highest setting. Even keel ~ keep it real. Just watch your medallions and flip em' every so often. You want a golden brown, not dark, crispy-break-yo-teef' brown.

Even though olive oil is super duper healthy fer' ya, you're gonna still want to sop all that grease off. My mom always told me to place them on a paper towel and layer them up. It really does do the trick and keeps them separated so they don't stick.

 Make your "gravy" as we Italian Brooklynites say. If you do it the day of -- you're crazy. Make it the day before you make the eggplant. The eggplant itself takes approximately **5** hours to prepare and cook. By the time you're done cooking, you won't wanna eat for another week or so. Great weight loss plan.

Stacking them is key. My mother said you can overlap and stack about four in a row, then add your gravy, then the mozzarella (mootza-dell) and then do it again. Start stacking. Great for developing muscular forearms so you can look like Popeye.

The finished product should look somewhat like this. Remember, add some nice chunky squared-off mozzarella on top with some fresh parsley flakes for garnish. Bake this at 350 degrees for one hour and voila - you got yourself some good eats!  This is a great dish to make for when you're having a lot of guests over, for BBQs (so you can throw some Italian into the mix) or just parties in general. People who don't even like eggplant will love it. It's the best crowd pleaser. Now get in the galley!

For Deb's main blog, please visit: www.debrapasquella.com

Easy Peasy Broccoli Rabe

My mother used to try to make me eat broccoli rabe. I never took a liking to it because it tasted too bitter. She made it with olive oil and tons of garlic. Back then growing up, I had a very bad acne problem. She used that against me and said, "You know Deb, this will clear up your acne if you eat it." And from that point on, I acquired a taste (forcefully mind you) for broccoli rabe. I remember the leaves being very soggy, and when I was offered an appetizer of broccoli rabe at an Italian restaurant nearby, I thought they had undercooked it. It was actually cooked the right way. So between my mom's way and the restaurant's way, I took on a new spin on how to cook my own broccoli rabe. I also throw some special treats in there like mushrooms or sausage and flip it in a pound of linguini. To. die. for. I also add a bit of white wine and lemon.

Here are some of Broccoli Rabe’s nutritional benefits:

*Calcium- Rabe is a great source of calcium, which in addition to helping prevent osteoporosis, may assist in weight loss.

*Vitamin K- Rabe is rich in this vitamin, which helps the body use calcium and assists in processes like blood clotting.

*Folate- Broccoli rabe contains this B vitamin which is helpful in preventing heart disease.

*Antioxidants- While all “Brassicas” (Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage) contain antioxidants, rabe is a particularly great source of compounds called “glucoinolates” shown to be effective against lung, stomach and colon cancer. A 3.5 oz serving of rabe contains more than half your daily requirement of the antioxidants Vitamin A and C.


First, cut a small bulb of garlic into decent sized slices. Don't chop. This will let the garlic chunks travel throughout your dish. It's important that they're cut this way so they can marinade moderately, and not suffocate the dish with an intense flavor of the garlic. You want to be able to taste the beautiful bitterness of the flower itself.

The most important advice I can tell you is to wash your leaves thoroughly. If not, you'll get grit with every bite. Take your time and wash the broccoli well enough so that every single piece of dirt that was left on the leaves is gone. Then, take your bundle and place them onto a cutting bored. I personally cut the stems off till it's right near the leaves. Some people prefer some stem. Depending on your batch, it may be tough, which is why I don't risk it. But clean clean clean your leaves!
I use a medium size pot and drizzle a bit of olive oil on the bottom. I had a pinch of salt, pepper and garlic powder and add the slices of fresh garlic in. Let it get hot and put my first batch of broccoli rabe into it. (I use three batches.) Your first batch will appear to be flowing out of the top like the above picture. While it sautés, drizzle a little bit of white wine to the mix and you'll see the batch slowly getting smaller and smaller. They reduce big time. Lemon is a big part of this dish. Squeeze half a lemon onto the first batch, another half onto the second and so on...
Depending on your dietary needs or likings, I sometimes add sweet Italian sausage to the mix. I fry them up just like this, take them on a cutting board and slice them into round medallions so they fall nicely into the batch of broccoli. You don't need a lot of sausage - for three batches, three sausages is plenty enough.

Keep flipping the broccoli around so every leaf and flower gets sautéed and then put a lid over the pot for approximately ten minutes. Turn the heat on low and start boiling your linguini or spaghetti, whichever you prefer and then add it all together and you have a mouth watering delicious dish to serve to your family and friends. While mixing the pasta and broccoli rabe together, I sprinkle parmesan throughout the entire bowl.

Bon appetit!

For Deb's main blog, please visit: www.debrapasquella.com