Thursday, April 10, 2008

That's a spicy..

No, there are no meatballs in this post just a spicy pasta sauce. I used to hate spicy food...I would avoid it as much as possible. But as I've gotten older, I have begun to let go of my childhood food prejudices...I make lemon cake, eat cheesecake, love peanut butter and explore spicy recipes. One of my favorite new things is to add some crushed red pepper to the olive oil when sautéing pretty much everything (unless I am cooking for my roommates because they are still not into the spicy). It adds such a great kick to a dish.

This pasta sauce was created tonight by throwing things from the pantry together, as I am trying my best to stay within my food budget. Recently, there was an article in the New York Times entitled "5 Cooks, $40, 5 Dishes, 3 Desserts" in which the famous Chef Eric Ripert and his crew of chefs were asked to make a meal with a limited budget and items from a dollar store. I would be very interested to see what yall think about what they made. I was not blown away with their ideas although the nougat intrigued me. Many of us often find ourselves limited by a budget and I think we could come up with some great ideas to rival Chef Ripet. I have been playing with the idea of turning this into a blogging event, even though I am such an infant blogger, because I think it would be fun to challenge oneself in this way. I have been trying to think of the parameters so any advice would be welcome.

I'm sending this Spicy Quick Pasta Sauce over to Ruth's Presto Pasta Night. Check it out for some great new ideas!.

Ginny's Spicy Quick Pasta Sauce


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat in a frying pan.
2. Cooking red pepper until sizzling.
3. Sauté onion and garlic until onions are translucent. If garlic starts to burn, turn down the heat.
4. Add the tomatoes and Italian seasoning.
5. Cook for about 10 minutes until liquid has evaporated.

P.S. Want to jazz up the sauce? You may notice many of my meals have no meat. When you cook for yourself, it is often easier to go the vegetarian route. Some chicken or shrimp would go very well with this recipe so feel free to add to it. Also, add other vegetables if you would like...mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant...just sauté them with the onions. Yummy quick sauce!


13 comments:

Manggy said...

Gosh, if this doesn't convert your mates there's no hope for them. Chili pepper makes everything better! More, more!

Anonymous said...

I really hope you follow your idea for an event! Brilliant idea! I will enter....

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

great idea, indeed!!

I LOVE spicy foods - especially spicy pasta sauces!! thank you for sharing the recipe :0)

LyB said...

You are so right about cooking on a budget, we have to be really creative sometimes! But that's good, right, we get to challenge ourselves! I agree with this being a fun idea for an event, no idea how you'd go about it though, I'm just an infant blogger too! :) Your spicy pasta sounds delicious, I love spicy!

Sylvie said...

Budget meals always get a thumbs up from me, especially if theu look as good as that.

test it comm said...

I have been enjoying heat in my meals more and more. Sauteing crushed red pepper in oil is a nice way to add some heat to a dish.

Gattina Cheung said...

cooking on budget, on for it, great idea! ... I'm battling with it in most meals indeed :) And your sauce is so lovely!

Ruth Daniels said...

Great dish - one of the really great things about pasta is how quick, how cheap and how filling a meal it can make. Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.

Ginny said...

manggy- i've been trying but its a hard battle! :)

vegeyum- thanks! I'm going to get planning soon!

veggiegirl- thanks! I'm glad you like it...hopefully, you'll find some vegan stuff here...although I did pour on the parm after taking pictures- seems to photograph better without! :)

lyb- thank you! I love the challenge of it! Now, I really must plan this event!

sylvie- I try! sometimes, they can be a disaster but this one pulled through!

kevin- it kind of becomes addictive, doesn't it? I just love making things spicier.

gattina- thank you!

ruth- thanks for hosting! I'm glad I could enter something again!

Lore said...

Love your event idea!
As for spicy food I followed that exact path and am learning to appreciate more spiciness than before.
Will include this in the menu ASAP!

Oh for the love of food! said...

Hi there Ginny! Yes it's incredible how our tastes in Food change as we grow older - and I also realized that some food that I used to love became intolerable when I was pregnant and stayed that way after I gave birth! Strange, isn't it?
But I LOVE chilli and spice - it's the ultimate Ooomph!

Mama Mia said...

I love spicy

Ginny said...

lore- thanks! my event is up and running...thanks for the encouragement!

carol- It is very interesting how your tastes change...thank you!

lina- me too! :)