I use a lot of vermouth actually. Obviously it's a fortified wine and so therefore it has a lot of flavor. When I'm doing pastas, for example, I'm using white vermouth sometimes. If I'm doing a seafood pasta with clams, it's amazing. People are like, 'What's that flavor in there?'
Historically speaking, an osteria was a spartan, no-frills establishment where people would go to have a drink. The original osterias date all the way back to the Roman Empire. If you go to Ostia Antica or Pompeii, you find the osterias of the era. They were like bed-and-breakfasts, with rooms for rent above the dining room where people could listen to music.
Few low-prep dishes satisfy and delight on busy weeknights like one-pot pastas, and one of the best ingredients to take your pasta dishes to the next level is vegetable broth. Boiling dry pasta directly in vegetable broth instead of water imparts bolder flavor as the pasta soaks it up. Plus, you'll end up with a pot full of starchy cooking liquid from the boiled pasta, which can provide a solid base for building a pan sauce.
Buttered noodles are one of the best comfort food dishes out there. There is something very homey about eating the slippery-slidey and carby pasta noodles topped with a copious amount of rich, salty butter. While much of the beauty of this dish is in its simplicity, there are numerous ways to doctor up your buttered pasta to give it a more sophisticated and adult flavor, and you can make yours extra savory by adding anchovies.
There's something about those heads of butter lettuce at the store or spring farmer's market: the bright green always looks so enticing! I'm one of those people who can't resist buying them, even if I don't have a plan yet. So here's a simple recipe I created to make it taste amazing: my butter lettuce salad!
Classic carbonara receives a coastal makeover in an entree that combines noodles and a sauce of egg yolk, hard cheese, and black pepper with seafood such as shrimp, scallops, mussels, or clams. It may draw you in with its creaminess and maritime promises, but you'll want to resist the urge. It's a dish that's blacklisted even by top seafood chefs themselves.
With a bit of slow cooking, those impossibly pert, shiny tomatoes relax and soften, releasing their juices to mingle in a deeply satisfying dish. A supporting cast of bold ingredients rounds out the mix. In this skillet dinner, spiced sausage, tender broccolini spears and piquant cheese join forces with the tomatoes. For a midwinter pasta dish, it doesn't get brighter - or more satisfying - than this.
Golden, crackling skin. Meat so tender it falls right off the bone. Your classic fried chicken is perfect - until it's the same perfect thing for the fifteenth time in a row. That's when the magic starts to fade. You're not tired of fried chicken, you're tired of too-familiar fried chicken. The good news? One ingredient can change everything: smoked paprika.
Looking for an easy healthy dinner recipe? About once a week, Alex and I spring for some seafood: and this salmon with capers is where it's at. The baked salmon is infused with lemon and herbs and cooked until it's perfectly moist. Then drizzle over a silky lemon caper sauce. Just a small drizzle packs a huge punch, and the modest quantity keeps it healthy. Here's how to make my of my favorite tasty salmon recipes that comes together in 30 minutes!
This creamy mushroom pasta is weeknight dinner gold: deeply browned mushrooms, a silky Parmesan-laced sauce, and just enough lemon to keep everything bright. The key isn't drowning the mushrooms in cream-it's giving them a proper sear first. A mix of shiitake, maitake, oyster, or crimini mushrooms brings layered texture and flavor, though even a single variety works if you give it enough time and space in the pan.