If you’re looking for a light, healthy, low-carb, low-fat dish then you’ve arrived at the wrong recipe today. This baked macaroni and cheese with cherry peppers and bacon screams not healthy but is a soul-warming, hearty, cheesy, wonderful delight that will have everyone at your kitchen table begging for more. Never again will you eat boxed macaroni with fake cheese powder!

The great thing about this recipe is that it is fairly easy and straightforward to make, except it does require a bit of prep time. It’s a great dish to make with your spouse or kids so that you can divide up the tasks such as the shredding and chopping.

Baked Mac N Cheese with Cherry Peppers and Bacon Recipe

Ingredients

Mac N Cheese

• 1/4 lb shredded Fontina cheese
• 1/4 lb shredded Asiago cheese
• 1/4 lb shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 lb chopped bacon
• 1 lb Cavatelli pasta – you could substitute elbow macaroni or any spiral pasta that you prefer which will hold up to a heavy cheese sauce
• 1/3 c Hot cherry peppers (or to taste) – seeded and sliced into rings
• 2 c milk
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 4-5 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Breadcrumbs

• 1/2 French bread – chopped into squares
• 4-5 cloves of garlic – finely chopped
• Small handful of finely chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp butter
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Topping

• 1 large tomato sliced thin

Preparation

Mac N Cheese

Bring water to a boil, add pasta and cook for 6-8 minutes until just before reaching al dente. Since the pasta is going to continue cooking once added to the cheese mixture and then will be baked, it shouldn’t be cooked fully at this stage.

In a small pot, add the milk and bring to a simmer but avoid burning.

In a larger pot, preferably a heavy-bottomed pot such as a dutch oven, cook the chopped bacon over medium to medium-high heat until crispy. Remove the bacon and set aside for later. Add the onions to the bacon grease and cook 2-3 minutes until the onions become translucent. Add the butter and stir with a wooden spoon until melted. Whisk in flour for 1-2 minutes and then whisk in warmed milk and let come to a simmer until it begins thickening. Slowly add the cheese and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until it is fully incorporated. Add the pasta, cherry peppers, bacon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Fold in all of the ingredients and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Spoon the macaroni and cheese mixture into either a large glass baking dish or, even better, gratin dishes.

Breadcrumbs

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and place chopped French bread onto a baking tray for approximately 8-10 minutes or until the bread is crunchy. Remove the bread from the oven and place into a food processor and pulse the processor until finely crumbled. If you don’t have a food processor, you can always finely chop the bread but it is definitely easier with a food processor.

Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat and add the chopped garlic. Allow the garlic to cook for 1-2 minutes, add the breadcrumbs, parsley, salt and pepper. Incorporate together and cook for another 1-2 minutes then add the Parmesan cheese. Remove from the heat and sprinkle evenly over the macaroni and cheese.

Add 2-3 tomato slices across the top, depending on the size of your baking vessels, and bake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are golden brown and the cheese bubbly.

Remove from the oven and serve either as is or transfer to a serving dish.

Enjoy!

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Griddled Smashed Red Potatoes Recipe

Ingredients

1 pint small round red potatoes
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Vegetable oil for cooking
Shaved sea salt (or the fanciest salt you can find, preferably slightly coarser than kosher salt)
Fresh ground black pepper
Extra Virgin olive oil for serving

Special Equipment

Cast iron griddle or pan

Preparation

Put the cleaned red potatoes in a large saucepan and add the red wine vinegar, a pinch of table salt, a dash of vegetable oil, and enough cold water to cover.  Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium and cook at a low boil until fork tender.  Just before you remove your potatoes from the water you should begin heating your griddle to low/medium for this application – you will want to have your pan heated for a solid 10 minutes before you begin cooking on it.

Once your potatoes are fork tender, drain them in a colander, do not rinse and do not allow them to cool.  For this step in the recipe you must work somewhat quickly while the potatoes are still warm, if allowed to cool they will crumble and separate instead of smashing and maintaining their structural integrity.  Place a clean paper towel on your work surface, place a potato on top and with another paper towel and the palm of your hand with steady, slow, firmness press down and gently smash the potato to an even thickness roughly ¼” to ½”.  Place all your smashed potatoes on a separate tray.

To crisp the potatoes, oil them with vegetable oil and add them to the cast iron pan being careful not to crowd, working in batches. Cook for approximately 5 minutes on the first side or until slightly charred and crisped. Then carefully flip using a spatula or putty knife and cook for 2-3 minutes on the second side (since the potatoes have been heated the second side won’t take as long).  Remove to a separate tray and keep warm until all potatoes have been griddle crisped.

To finish I drizzle with a good extra virgin olive oil and lightly season with shaved sea salt and just a hint of freshly ground black pepper. Carefully flip the griddled potatoes and drizzle and season the second side as well. As one of my mentors told me a long time ago: “Good food is seasoned, great food is seasoned thoroughly.”

In my opinion these potatoes do not need any garnish, sauce, or additional seasoning.  They go perfectly with grilled or roasted meats and are well worth the extra trouble and attention to detail it takes to produce the “just right” amount of char.

Enjoy!

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My brother and I decided to give it a shot. How hard could it be right? Well, with the wrong recipe and a new pasta rolling machine, it can be quite the hilarious task. We first started with differing recipes, my brother wanted to try a KitchenAid recipe while I wanted to attempt a Martha Stewart recipe.  I know that the recipe for pasta dough is stupid simple but as I looked across all of my cookbooks, they all differed and varied in the amounts of the flour and egg and the amount they yielded.

At first I made a nice flour mound shaping it into a bowl, then I cracked the eggs into the middle, I started bringing in the flour and then like a fool I broke the wall and egg went everywhere. I started throwing flour down like it was a chemical spill. I managed to save the dough or so I thought. We kneaded it and the dough just never came together so we sat it aside. My brother then turned his attention to his KitchenAid recipe using his mixer to do the handy work, the recipe and the mixer didn’t offer much help. The dough was almost dried before we finished rolling it out.  Almost completely defeated for failing to complete a stupid simple recipe I decided to open up the Ratio app on my iPhone by Michael Ruhlman. This book and app by the same name has intrigued me for a while, thinking how could this guy get something right that so many people have missed. In fact, I was thinking that Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio was the book for me, very formulaic in it’s ratios, giving you a base to start from.

I found the pasta dough recipe in Ratio and weighed the ingredients out and began mixing, then kneading, and finally resting. After resting, my brother and I rolled out the dough and started to use our pasta roller and cutter, it worked perfectly. We dried some for later and the rest threw into a pot of boiling water to go alongside a rough version of Scott Conant‘s tomato sauce I remember seeing on No Reservations. I remember the sauce being basic and simple to make but Scott always insisting it was fresh and light which is exactly what I was looking for to pair with my fresh pasta. Once the pasta was about 90% there I pulled it into a pan and finished it in the pan with the sauce to help the noodles soak up and bind well with the sauce. The end result was fantastic, light, airy and filling.

After this journey of making my own fresh pasta I wondered why anyone would buy fresh pasta instead of making it themselves.  I understand if you don’t know how to make all the fancy noodles but for the basic strand or ribbon pasta like fettuccine, linguine, lasagne, or spaghetti; it’s incredibly simple to do it yourself.

To be honest, I wasn’t a believer in the ratio thing until I started seeing so many differing recipes for the same dish for the same serving size. This was when I started looking for something more standardize and when I found Ratio. If you haven’t read it yet you should, whether you’re new or experienced it is good to have these ratios by your side rather than ten recipe cards or books. Michael Ruhlman walks you through how to add almost any variation you can imagine which is the real power behind Ratio, enabling you to make recipes rather than super-powerful, celebrity chefs telling you what to make this month. I love this and think it is kind of cool to enable yourself to make your own recipes for basic stuff because now you know how not to mess up what you’re making. You can now add your own personal or cultural touch to anything without worrying about botching the whole thing.

Fresh Pasta Ratio Recipe

3 Parts Flour
2 Parts Eggs (Figure about 1 egg per serving)

Example: Roughly 2 Servings

6 Ounces Flour (weighed)
4 Ounces Egg (weighed)

Combine flour and egg and knead until smooth like any other pasta dough, nothing new or different but the ratio is dead on. After the ratio you treat the dough like any other pasta dough, rolling it out and cutting.

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No matter your feelings about Winter, though, it’s likely you’ll need to warm up at some point before it’s through.

For me, the best way to do that, my favorite way to thwart Old Man Winter’s attempts to turn me into a human snow cone, is to make a bubbling kettle of soup.

Soup. The greatest defense against Winter’s arsenal.

Whether it’s something creamy — smooth, sweet butternut squash laced with traces of cinnamon — or something more traditional like old-fashioned Chicken Noodle, there’s nothing like soup to warm you, to make you feel comforted, to give you the power to look Winter dead in the face and say, “Bring. It. On.”

My personal favorite is a hearty beef soup, brimming with vegetables and bolstered by the nutritional power of lentils. For me, there’s nothing that makes me feel better. It’s the food that comforts me. The one that is like snuggling under a warm blanket or slipping on a comfy pair of PJs. It’s the thing that warms me from the inside out.

Wonderfully Warm Winter Beef Soup with Lentils

Ingredients

A couple “glugs” of olive oil (regular is fine, save the Extra Virgin for something else)
2 pounds of your favorite boneless beef roast (a good pot roast is a solid choice), cut into bite-sized cubes
Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper (to taste)
1 large yellow onion, chopped (Maui or some other sweet onion is great here)
1 head celery hearts, diced
2 or 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning (this mix usually contains oregano, thyme & basil, among other things)
3 1/2 (32 oz.) cartons of low-sodium beef broth
2 (14 oz.) cans diced tomatoes WITH the juice
2 cups (usually one bag) of lentils, rinsed
**Melissa’s super-secret “magic” ingredient

Preparation

In a large stockpot over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Season the cubes of beef with salt and pepper (I’ve found it best to be liberal with the pepper, but sparing with salt, but that’s just my personal preference). Add the beef to the pot and cook until nicely browned. Remove the meat and place in a bowl, leaving the juices behind in the pot. Add the onions, celery and carrots and cook until softened, about 8-10 minutes. Put the beef (and any juices in the bowl) back into the pot. Add the broth and canned tomatoes. Bring the soup just to a boil, then reduce the head and let it bubble away at a low simmer for about an hour. Add the lentils, and continue to cook for another hour or so.

**Up in the list of ingredients, I mentioned my “super-secret” ingredient. And it’s this: if you use wedges of Parmesan or Romano cheeses, what do you do once you’ve grated it all and gotten down to the rind? Throw it out? Well, stop that! Save those pieces of goodness in a Ziploc bag in your freezer. When you make this soup, toss one of the rinds into the pot as it bubbles away. The result will be an indefinable nutty goodness that your dinner guests won’t quite be able to put their fingers on. It’ll give the soup that certain “je ne çest quoi”.

When you’re ready to eat, ladle the hot soup into bowls and serve with thick slices of warm, crusty bread.

You’ll be sated. You’ll be happy. You’ll be warmed from the inside out.

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Photo by: stevendepolo

From her spinach and bow-tie pasta bake to her hash brown casserole, everything my mother makes is packed full of love and tastes like absolute perfection.

Being the only vegetarian in the family, there are a few dishes she’s made over the years specifically for me. And one of those dishes that I beg for, is her Eggplant Parmesan (which she greeted me with as soon as I walked in the door).

Warning: This dish is NOT healthy and takes awhile to pull together, but is one of the most delicious meals you may ever have the pleasure to partake in. With that said, please, enjoy!

Eggplant Parmigiana Recipes

Ingredients

2 medium eggplants, cut into 1/2-inch-thick round slices
Tablespoon of salt, plus as needed
5 or so cups fresh breadcrumbs
Tablespoon dried thyme
Tablespoon dried oregano
Freshly ground black pepper
Enough all-purpose flour for dredging
6 eggs, beaten (if I make it for myself I’d throw in egg beaters, but that’s because eggs freak me out)
A LOT (I’m guessing 8 cups) of Randazza Family Marinara
2 tablespoons milk
2/3 cup grated Parmesan
AT LEAST 1lb mozzarella (cheese is always a good thing to splurge on and get the fresh kind, totally enhances the flavor/quality of your meal, so get fresh if you can!); sliced thin

Preparation

Put the eggplant slices onto several baking sheets or plates and sprinkle a fair amount of salt on both sides to let the bitter juice seep out. It will probably take 45 minutes to an hour.

Toss the eggplant into a strainer and rinse well with cool water, then pat the eggplant until dry with paper towels.

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix together the 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, breadcrumbs, oregano, thyme, and season with pepper.

Put flour in a medium bowl, place breadcrumbs in another medium bowl, and in a third bowl whisk the egg and milk together. Dip each eggplant slice in the flour, then dip it in the egg, and finally in the breadcrumb mixture.

Transfer the eggplant to a coated (with olive oil) baking sheet into a single layer. Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes on each side, or until brown. Set aside.

Up the oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Coat a 15 x 10 glass baking dish with olive oil. Cover the bottom of the baking dish with 1/3 of the sauce and arrange 1/2 of the eggplant over the sauce. Cover the eggplant with another 1/3 of the sauce. Scatter 1/2 of the Parmesan and mozzarella over the sauced eggplant. Repeat with the remaining eggplant, sauce, Parmesan, and mozzarella. Bake until hot and just beginning to brown, about 30 minutes.

Serve with garlic bread, or sauteed spinach (if you feel a need for something healthier), and enjoy the BEST meal EVER.

Enjoy!

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Photo by: mhaithaca

Every season that the glistening Libby’s pumpkin cans* appear on shelves throughout stores, I get giddy and I’m inspired by the endless possibilities. I’ve had the good fortune of having pumpkin for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and even in cocktails.

When I heard reports of this year’s pumpkin shortage, I immediately stopped by my local grocer to pick up a flat of canned pumpkin, so I’d be well stocked throughout the season.

Versatile and nutritious, it is one of the few ingredients that to me feels both like a comfort food and healthy choice.

So if you haven’t made your trek to the store to stock up, get going! You don’t want to miss your chance to make incredibly delicious (and I mean DE-lish!) recipes like this one I pulled from VegSource.com:

Gnocchi in Pumpkin Sauce

Ingredients

4 cups whole wheat gnocchi
1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin
1 1/2 cups almond milk
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Basil Cream:
1/4 cup raw cashews, presoaked in water for 12 hours
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon fresh pepper

Preparation

1. To make the basil cream, drain the soaked cashews. In a blender or food processor, blend cashews with 1/4 cup water, basil and pepper until the mixture has the consistency of a thick cream, meaning it should slowly drip off a spoon.
2. Boil the gnocchi until they float, then drain in a colander. Shock them with a quick spritz of cold water from your faucet.
3. To prepare the sauce, mix the pureed pumpkin with the almond milk, nutmeg and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add the gnocchi. Simmer for another minute.
4. Assemble the dish by placing the gnocchi and sauce on the plates. Add dots or swirls of basil cream.

While the recipe takes awhile prepartion-wise, the resulting flavor is worth every second! Enjoy!

*Full disclosure, Libby’s Pumpkin is a Publicis Consultants | PR client, and is my agency of record.

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Photo by: eekim

For many people I’ve met, the only pumpkin they’ve ever eaten has been in pie. There’s nothing wrong with this, to be sure; good pumpkin pie is one of the best things in the world. But if you’ve only ever had pumpkin this way, you are really missing out. Pumpkin bread & muffins, warmed with butter, are among my favorite comfort foods. Pumpkin doughnuts (ohhh, yes) are scrumididdlyumptious. A favorite of my kids is homemade pumpkin pancakes (I promise to get to that very soon!). I’ve even had a wonderful pumpkin risotto served with toasted pecans. Incredibly versatile, pumpkin can be incorporated into a host of foods, whether they’re for breakfast, lunch or dinner. One of my favorite ways to serve it is in pasta.

My family are big-time pasta eaters, so I’m always trying out new ways of fixing it (tomato sauces start to get boring after a while). Trying to capture the flavors of Fall, I started to stir. To tweak, to spice. A little salt here, a little cinnamon there. Maybe a little cream? Sure! Why not? What I came up with was this, and it’s become a must-have staple in my house:

Rigatoni with Pumpkin & Italian Turkey Sausage

Ingredients

1 pound Rigatoni
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage
1 medium-sized yellow onion, chopped fine (Vidalia or Maui onions are great for this!)
3 cloves chopped garlic
1 bay leaf
1/2 tablespoon sage
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup pumpkin puree (you know you have at least three cans in your pantry)
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
Kosher salt
Freshly-ground black pepper
Freshly-grated/shaved Romano or Parmesan cheese

Preparation

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Once boiling**, add a healthy dose of salt to the water and cook rigatoni until just before “al dente” (the pasta will cook a bit more once it’s added to the sauce), about 6 minutes.

**Did you know that adding salt to your pot before the water boils can damage your cookware? It can.

In a separate, deep saucepan, heat olive oil over a medium-high flame. Add chopped onion and saute until it’s translucent & a little bit caramelized. Add chopped garlic & saute until golden, being careful not to let it burn (burned garlic does not taste good … not even a little). Remove sausages from their casings and add meat to the onion & garlic mixture. Brown thoroughly. Add bay leaf, sage and wine and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the wine is reduced by about half. Add chicken broth, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and nutmeg; stir until mixed well. Add heavy cream, Kosher salt & freshly-ground pepper (to taste) and stir to combine.

Add cooked pasta to the sauce, then toss to coat evenly. Serve piping hot with lots of freshly-grated Romano (just my preference — Parmesan is certainly a fine choice!) cheese and a glass of nice, dry white wine (this is complemented nicely by Riesling, but you choose your favorite!) and ENJOY!

Explore the wonderfully wide culinary world of pumpkin. It’s big, it’s bright, it’s orange … but most importantly, it’s DELICIOUS.

When she’s not minding her pumpkin patch (which is among the most sincere out there), Melissa DelGaudio is the principal at Honeybee Consulting, a full-service copywriting, marketing & public relations firm based in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. She can often be found Twitter, where she tries to carve out illuminating conversations. Be sure to pay her a visit!

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While I didn’t grow up close to my grandparents, I’ve been fortunate enough to log a number of hours in their house observing the production, and as I’ve gotten older it’s become increasingly more important to me to learn each recipe’s process so that I can share them with the friends and family I care about. Their dishes are less about learning to cook, and more about learning how to show love. To me (and my family), food is love.

This week I made the trip from Seattle to their kitchen in Gloucester, Mass with one mission, learn how to make the Randazza sauce.  To an untrained eye it might look like any ordinary marinara sauce, but the nose and mouth tell an entirely different story: UN-freaking-BELIEVABLE.

I have to preface this recipe by saying that it’s different every time. There is no measuring involved. Just a large pot that my nonna (grandmother) adds a little of this, and then my nonno (grandfather) complains about the flavor and throws in more a lot more of that. And admittedly after the four hours of it simmering and my grandparents back and forth, I lost track of quantity.

With that said, use this recipe as guidelines to create your own incredible family sauce and pass along to friends and share your love.

The Randazza Marinara Sauce

Ingredients

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Fresh garlic cloves (sixish?), chopped
Medium Yellow Onion, chopped
A potato, peeled and chopped into cubes

Here’s where it gets a bit tricky, so I’m fudging some of the recommended amounts:
1 – 2 cans of tomato paste (really depends on how thick you want the sauce)
LARGE can of tomato puree (depending on the volume you might want to throw in two)
Sugar
Fresh basil
water

Preparation

Start by coating a medium pan with olive oil (I strongly suggest splurging on a quality EVOO — worth it!). Saute several garlic cloves,  with a medium yellow onion.  Add potatoes (they cut the tartness of the sauce) and continue to saute until potatoes are ever-so-slightly softened.

In a large pot over a medium heat pour in tomato paste and puree, as well as your saute mixture. Add as much water as you’d like to make the sauce as thick or thin as you desire.

When the sauce begins to bubble, add in sugar to sweeten (this is totally a preference thing). Typically I like my sauce sweeter, so I dump in about 3/4 of a cup-ish.  Turn down to a low simmer and add in several pieces of basil (basil holds its flavor best when you wait to add it in at the end).

Cook the sauce for as long as you want, the flavor profile will change the longer it’s on the stove. Totally up to you, so experiment and ENJOY!

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Photo by: fritish

Really, chili, Jessica? Well. I’ve been to enough chili cook-offs to know that everyone has their preferences, but I will happily boast that my soon-to-be-not-so-secret chili has never received a negative comment from vegetarians or carnivores alike (many of them were surprised it doesn’t have real meat).

Here’s REALLY great news: it only takes 15 minutes and you can keep all of the ingredients on hand (I strongly believe you should always have your go-to meal in your pantry for surprise guests). It cooks up a hearty batch which is more than enough to feed eight people, and if you’re a calorie counter this will be sure to please.

Ingredients

* Morning Star Soy Crumbles – I always keep a few packs in my freezer, they serve as a great ground beef substitute
* Small/Medium white or yellow onion, chopped
* 14 oz can kidney beans, drained – if you have black beans on hand those will work
* Two 14 oz cans diced tomatoes – typically I pick one flavored one like Italian herbs or garlic and onion
* 28 oz can diced tomatoes
* Chili packet –  taco seasoning can work, too. NOT fajita seasoning, I made that mistake once. Ew.
* 14 oz can unsalted yellow corn, drained
* Salsa – Pace will work fine, just something to add a kick
* ½ cup Splenda or sugar

You could add:
* Shredded cheese
* Sour Cream
* Rice (sometimes put my chili on top of rice to bulk it up)
* Fresh Spinach (it will wilt with the warm chili, but it’s a great way to add in some greens)

Preparation

You only need one pot to make this recipe, so pull out whatever large-ish pot you prefer. Spray cooking spray or a splash of olive oil on the bottom of the pot over a medium heat. When heated, add in onions and soy crumbles. Cook until soy crumbles are completely warm throughout, stirring frequently (otherwise they’ll stick to the bottom of the pot).

Add in chili packet and reduce heat to medium-low. Throw in tomatoes and beans and mix well let simmer until warm, stirring occasionally. Add in sugar and corn and add salsa to taste. Should only take 15 – 20 minutes to heat up this incredible dish!

Feel free to add over rice and/or spinach, add sour cream and cheese. Feel really cool for scoring a hot chili recipe? Hope you enjoy and go ahead, I give you permission to share with your friends!

Near the top of the list of these homey comforts are the foods that, no matter how tired, beleaguered or stressed I become, always put a smile on my face, always make me feel good. For me, there are lots of yummy things that fall into this category: grilled cheese sandwiches with steaming hot tomato soup, freshly-baked bread, the stew that bubbled atop my mom’s stove in Winter.

For my money, though, there’s one meal that beats out everything else on this list of warm, satisfying delights, the one that really says “Home” to me: classic Italian sausage, peppers and onions. Just the thought of it is enough to get my mouth watering. Steaming hot, rich, and just a little spicy & sweet, this is one meal that never fails to warm me through and through. Served with warm, crusty bread and an ice-cold beer, this one’s sure to become a comfort to you, as well.

Ingredients

1 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage (the “real” stuff works great, too)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 red bell peppers, sliced
2 Vidalia onions, sliced (Maui onions, if you can get them, are great for this, too)
Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Fresh garlic (3-4 cloves, chopped)
1 cup Marsala wine (this is sometimes hard to locate and can, in a pinch, be substituted with Madeira)
1 can (15 oz.) diced or crushed tomatoes
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Fresh basil, roughly chopped
A warm loaf of fresh, crusty Italian bread

Preparation

In a large, deep saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over a medium-high flame. Working in batches, cook the turkey sausages until they are golden brown. Once cooked, remove them from the pan and allow to cool.

Add the onions, peppers, salt and pepper to the hot pan, making sure to scrape up the good, browned bits left behind by the sausages. Cook until the peppers are softened and the onions are golden. Add the basil, oregano & garlic and cook about 5 minutes more. Add the tomato paste & Marsala, stir well. Follow with the tomatoes & red pepper flakes, stirring to combine. Cut each sausage into chunks; about 4 pieces per sausage. Add to the pepper & onion mixture and cook until the sauce is nice and thick, about 30 minutes. *Something worth noting here is that the longer this happy melange cooks, the better it’ll get.

My favorite way to serve this is in deep bowls, alongside thick slices of fresh Italian bread (gotta have something for sopping up the good stuff). If you prefer, get some good-quality sub rolls, making sure to hollow them out just a little; this really does make a sensational sandwich. All you need after that is to pop the top off a frosty, cold beer, and you’re ready to be transported someplace otherworldly.

The comforts of home. They’re different for everyone, but their effects are the same. No matter where we go, no matter how far we travel, these are the things that restore us, that reassure us. Take comfort in that.

Melissa DelGaudio is the principal of Honeybee Consulting, a social media consulting firm based just outside of Washington, DC. She can be found on Twitter @startabuzz. She enjoys her comfort foods while wrapped in one of her 12 monogrammed Snuggies.

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Photo by: helios jinn