Baked Ziti

Nana's Baked Ziti

When I first moved to Magnolia, Texas, I worked at a credit union in Houston, where they celebrated Diversity Day each year.

Diversity day is a day when we recognize and celebrate our cultural differences. 

Well, what makes me unique to "these people"? These Texans? 

I am from NJ, of Sicilian, Irish and German descent, and my family, both sides,  emigrated through New York.

That might not seem like a big deal, but to ME, it is everything.

Moving to Texas was the single most eye-opening event of my life.

I never realized how different I was until I plopped myself down in the middle of people that were nothing like me. Not to say there isn't cultural diversity in New jersey, there Is! By far, New Jersey is MUCH more diverse than Magnolia TX, or even the "Big City" of Houston. Sure there are several different cultures represented here, but not nearly as many variety as there are  in the New York-Metro area.  At the same time, there are not nearly as many Italian-Americans. So while I was used to Cultural Diversity, I was Not so used to Cultural Singularity. I admit, I had feelings of loneliness. When I heard about this Cultural Diversity day I was over-joyed to share a little piece of me in the form of a Baked Ziti.

Baked Ziti is a dish of pasta, cheese, and sauce that is baked.

 For MY family, Ziti is something that is traditionally served on holidays, as its cooking process from start to finish is time consuming, but it can be prepared in advance. This is the secret to those giant dinner spreads Italian families are Known for- Make Ahead Dishes. Yup.

So, when I talk about ziti I want you to know that I AM the self-proclaimed expert. But only as far as my very own family and experiences.

I have to be honest, I don't even know if Baked Ziti is actually something made in Italy.

 What I DO know is that MY Italian-American family, that came through Ellis island and settled in New York, then the next generation in New Jersey, I know WE consider Baked Ziti to be a very special dish. So, for cultural diversity day I made it with great excitement and brought it in and shared it. It was well-received, and my coworkers made me feel accepted by asking a lot of questions about my dish and my culture.  I'd like to share it with you all too, and I'm glad to put it up on the Internet for y'all, but also as a permanent place for my own people, my daughters any my future grand children to be able to retrieve it long after I'm gone.  Its THAT special to me. 

I have planned to share it for well over a year, and have only been waiting for my mother to visit so we could do this project together.

Jersey Girl and Jersey Nana

 Of course, like all families, I have  learned to cook all of the traditional dishes of importance from my mom. My girls have learned from me. This is the way of the world and a chain that I hold dear and pray is never broken until the end of time.
 So Mom/Nana came to visit last month, we shopped together and cooked together with my 3 girls, I took a few (hundred)  pictures, and I wrote down our family recipe as we went along. Yeah. This recipe wasn't written down. We just do it. How precarious is that??? Kinda scary to think there could have been an apocalypse that wiped  us out and the ziti would be gone forever. 

Well, not really, as ALL Italian New Yorkers make almost this exact same recipe.. But I will sleep better knowing its up on the blog and printed in triplicate in the fire safe. So, here it is:

Baked Ziti

1. Meatballs

2.Sauce

3.Cheese mixture

4.Pasta

Start with meatballs

1 lb (80/20) ground beef or sirloin.

1/2 ground pork

2 to 2 1/2 cups coarse breadcrumbs

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 Tablespoons parsley

2 tsps Italian seasoning*

       *see my blend*

2 eggs

Mix it up. Make small meatballs, about the size of a gum ball. Line on greased foil-covered cookie sheet and bake on 325 for about 12 to 15 min. Lift foil from pan and pour into sauce, then bake next tray.. And follow until done.

After I roll out all of the meatballs, this is about 3 cookie sheets full, I pop the first batch in and have just enough time to get the sauce going while the meatballs cook. 

Ziti sauce

*I'm calling it "Ziti Sauce" because its different from spaghetti sauce or Sunday Gravy. This is such a complicated concept that I have to write another entire blog article to explain it so for now, just trust that it IS different. To me.*

3 to 4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. (The good stuff, don't skimp here!)

2 onions, chopped

8 to 10 garlic cloves, chopped

1  1/2 lb Italian sausage, removed from casings.

3 Tablespoons Italian seasoning*

1/2 tsp salt

3 Tablespoons parsley (yes, Italian!)

1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes

1 (12 oz) can tomato paste

2 to 3 cups red wine 

3 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes

1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes

In thick-bottomed pot on medium-high heat, saute onions for a few minutes until they begin to soften, add garlic, saute another 2 to 3 minutes, add sausage, cook another 5 minutes while occasionally stirring to break up the chunks. 

As the meat browns add the spices and then the paste.

Now when the meat is pretty uniformly cooked you have to stop stirring and let it stick. Almost burn. I am serious. Just leave it alone! Key here is this bit of crust that's forming on the bottom of the pan has an incredible amount of flavor. You want for it to become dark brown, almost black. Almost. It's hard to keep from touching it. I took me years really, to find the exact moment when it's perfect but I can help you get there much faster by simply telling you, just when you can't stand it anymore and you think it's going to burn DON'T touch it. Give it one more minute. Or two. Then de-glaze with the wine and bring it to a boil. Use a wooden spoon to scrape that stuck-on flavor up and add the canned tomatoes. Bring that to a boil, then reduce and simmer while adding the batches of meatballs.

Next is the cheese

3 (30 oz) tubs of ricotta cheese

2 1/2 to 3 lbs shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

6 eggs

1/4 cup dried italian parsley

1/4 cup shredded or grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp Italian seasoning*

Mix this up in a large bowl, cover, and set aside. This bowl should be twice as big as you think because you're going to add the pasta to it. 

Next, boil your ziti al dente MINUS 2 MINUTES.

Means follow the package directions but subtract 2 minutes from the suggested al dente.

 Drain and plunge into ice water to stop cooking process then drain and mix with cheese mixture. Mix it with your hands to prevent the noodles from cracking and splitting. Mix it well, but gently, so the cheese coats the insides and outsides of the pasta.

Next, layer your pans. This will make 2 or more large deep trays. I use disposable aluminum trays because I freeze these and don't want to tie up my pans in the freezer. This also makes it easy to gift a tray to a neighbor or friend when they're sick or have a death in the family. (Another tradition. Someone died? Send ziti)

The layering is sauce on the bottom, a layer of cheese noodles, a layer of meatballs and sauce, another later of noodles, another layer of sauce, then cover with foil and bake for 50 min on 325 then remove foil and top with more shredded mozzarella then 10 more min in the oven till the cheese is golden and the sides are bubbling. Serve with another ladle of sauce over top and some fresh parm on top.

I love this dish so much. My whole heart and soul are in this dish from the moment I begin making it till it gets served and eaten. I hope you will make it and feel loved too!

Manga! 

*Italian Seasoning*

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons oregano

1 tablespoon sage

1 tablespoon marjoram

1 tablespoon rosemary

1 tablespoon dried minced onion

1 tablespoon dried minced garlic

Grind for 5 to 10 seconds in blender

Grilling for Fun, and for Good Health

Here in Texas we do a lot of grilling. Don't get me wrong, we always liked grilling and made the most of the grill when we lived in New Jersey too, even grilling in the snow, but here in Texas the weather is almost always perfect for grilling, and if it isn't, just wait a few minutes!

Grilling make sense for so many reasons. First of all, its too hot to cook in the house right now. I can bake, boil, flame grill, smoke, deep fry, or steam almost anything outside, and save us money on cooling the house.

Grilling is healthy. cooking meat on an open flame allows some of the fat to drip out, without flavor being lost. 

Grilling keeps the kitchen clean. Especially if you also eat outside!

We grill for all of these reasons, but today, mostly because we had a scare a few weeks ago...

 My husband had a heart attack.

 The heart attack has left me feeling helpless. My husband feels better, and is back to work and feels invincible again, but I am worried for his health. We agree that there are some things in life that are out of our control, so we have decided to address the things that ARE in our control. Number one being our diet.

We like to grocery shop together, so this week we kept our eye out for things that would not be bad for our health. We are not ready to be health gurus, but we are both eager to take some baby steps, so instead of buying steaks we picked up some sea scallops. Instead of frozen veggies in a "sauce" we opted for fresh.  

I have to say, I enjoyed this meal so much more than I would have liked the bagged veggies! There was absolutely NO suffering associated with this meal! 

For the mixed veggies we washed and trimmed whatever was in the fridge, a half of a leftover red onion, a handful of fresh green beans, some grape tomatoes and 2 par-boiled potatoes. We tossed them with some fresh herbs from the garden, some black pepper and some salt substitute, then grilled them in a veggie pan.

For the asparagus we washed and trimmed them, seasoned with a little lemon juice, a pinch of garlic powder, and black pepper, topped with some lemon zest and set that in the grill in a foil packet. 

For the scallops, we were stumped. I knew we'd grill them in the fish basket, but I have always used the traditional salt, pepper, paprika, garlic mixture for the seasoning and that salt was just Not gonna work anymore. Then hubby remembered a small bit of powdered gold in the back of the cabinet!

 Feiney's Everything Rub!

 This was a gift from a friend of mine, Adam Feinberg. Chef and entrepreneur, as well as a member of an award winning BBQ Team called Crazy Coyote, Adam lives in Denver, Colorado, where he is a chef for The Kitchen Next Door, Union Station.  

Adam gave me a packet of rub when I met him at The World Food Championship last November, and I used it almost right away when I got home. We made some butterfly chicken on the grill with them, and they were "Feintastic"! We used it 3 more times for butterflied chickens over December and January, and then there wasn't enough left in the bag to do another whole chicken so we were saving it for a smaller dish.

Feiney's Rubs are low salt, so they're perfect for someone on a low-salt diet. 

If you're interested in trying some Fein Rubs, check out Adams page ----Fein Tasting Foods, or if you're in the Denver area, treat yourself to something tasty at The Kitchen Next Door, Union Station,  and say hello to Adam for me!

The meal was outstanding, very tasty, and a wonderful way to begin our journey of healthy eating!  I am really looking forward to the day when I am not flat-out scared shit about my husbands health. He is my best friend, and I need him to be around for a very long time! For now, he is taking it easy, being careful with his food choices and taking ALL of these meds twice a day. I am hopeful that good eating habits and lifestyle changes will allow him to wean off of some of these, but for now they're helping to keep him alive. 

Oh, one more thing... a common theory that we have always appreciated but haven't embraced as much as we should... we are taking the time to recognize the blessings all around us! Look at these adorable white-tailed deer we saw on our way to the grocery store! 

Life is Good!!

Aglio e Olio, with a Mexican twist!

Aglio e Olio (or just Olio in my house) is an Italian dish of pasta made with a sauce of olive oil and garlic and tossed, or topped with Parmesan cheese. This is a Staple in our house, and it's one if those dishes that can be a main course, a side, or a light lunch by adding different meats, vegetables, herbs and spices.

Today I set about to make some olio for lunch because my friend Sonia sent me some Pappardelle pasta from New York that I was dying to try.

Sonia and I met in a cooking group on Facebook. She previously lived in Texas, but now lives in New York State. I, of course, am a Jersey girl living in Texas. She expressed a difficulty in finding ingredients for her Mexican dishes and I commiserated that I found it difficult to locate good quality ingredients for my Italian dishes. We became instant friends and began to share ideas and cooking tips. She has a great wealth of knowledge in Hispanic and Mexican cuisine. I picked her brain a LOT! 

During our chats we found that some of the things I had a hard time finding were in abundance in her supermarket and some of the things she found scarce were plentiful here in Texas, so we decided to send each other care packages! OMG! What fun!!

Here is the delightful assortment of pasta that Sonia sent to me! I can't even tell you how hard it was to save the ziti for cooking with my mom on her visit! It was hard but I had to do it because she is the Ziti Queen. So I set those aside and focused on the pappardelle. Very difficult to find here, although I don't know why. This is a wonderful pasta to eat!

So, I was thinking of the pappardelle from Sonia and I wanted to give it a creative sauce worthy of its cross country journey. This pasta wasn't to be wasted! I had to make it worth every bite! At that point I was stirring tomato sauce, and my jar of mojo was on the counter, having just added a blob to my sauce and the idea of using it in the olio began to form.

Mojo is something new in my house, I learned about it from my friend and fellow food enthusiast, Laura Lopez. Laura had mentioned she was making mojo (pronounced Mo Ho), a monthly event at her house. I was intrigued! Her explanation was simple; slow roasted garlic cloves in olive oil and lime juice. 

The day I made the mojo I couldn't find the original recipe. It was pretty basic, from what I remembered, half a dozen or more full heads of garlic, peeled and smashed with olive oil in the oven for a while then a few splashes of lime juice and another short while. We winged it and it came out great even if it was completely wrong! We ate it on freshly made artisan bread, spread it on sandwiches and added it to savory dishes every day for 2 weeks! We have since made it several times and find there is no need for a conventional recipe, if we're doing it wrong we don't want to know! So, I added some to the Olio as a substitute for the raw garlic and it came out delicious! 

Here is a quick recipe for Olio that you can adjust with additions as you like:

Oglio e olio

1 lb pasta 

4 Tablespoons butter

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

6 to 8 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 cup cooked, or 2 large handfuls fresh spinach

1 cup pasta water

1/2 to 1 cup shredded parm

1. In a large fry pan, melt butter in olive oil and add garlic. Add the spinach and bring to a gentle simmer.

2. Cook the pasta a minute or 2 LESS than al dente. (pasta will finish cooking in sauce), reserve 1 cup pasta water and drain the rest

3. Add the pasta water to the sauce and bring to a boil.

4. Add the pasta to the sauce mixture, reduce and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes while sauce reduces. 

5. Remove from heat and toss with cheese.

*Sometimes I sautee some mushrooms, then deglaze with white wine before adding the butter and olive oil. I add pre-cooked things like chicken, shrimp, or artichokes at the end.

Summer Fresh Peach-Pineapple Slaw

Easy and Fresh, this make-ahead Summer Salad is Perfect for any seafood taco, or BBQ side dish.

Peach-Pineapple Slaw

1 pkg chopped cole slaw mix

1 cup diced fresh, grilled or canned, pineapple

1/2 cup diced peach frozen, thawed

1/4 cup diced red onion

1/2 cup #SaucyMama Honey Dijon Dressing 

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 tsp celery seed

1 Tablespoon finely slivered jalapeño

Salt & pepper

Mix and refrigerate for 1 hour to overnight. 

Saucy Mama - Simply Delicious!

Getting Saucy with Saucy Mama!
Sauced-Up Pretzel Burger & Candied Bacon Spinach Salad

Last Month I was honored to be selected by Barhyte Specialty Foods to compete in their 2014 Saucy Mama Blogger Contest. The object of the contest is to use their products in a recipe, and share it with your blogging audience. They sent me a case of their sauces, and an offer to do a product give away! I'm super excited about the give-away! It means that one of YOU will receive a prize pack with 3 bottles of Saucy Mama Sauces! More on that later, but for now, lets get on with being saucy!

What a fun time I've had in the kitchen for the past few days! These sauces are awesome! They're so awesome, that I couldn't stop with one recipe. I made candied bacon with the Honey Barbecue, I made Saucy Vidalia Onions, I made Grilled Chicken Marinated with Four Leaf Balsamic Dressing, I made some fantastic Sauced-Up Pretzel Burgers, and I made Candied Bacon Spinach Salad. This is the best spinach salad I've ever had, so I have to share it with you. Its simple, and delicious! 

First, start with this~~~

Saucy Candied bacon

Saucy Candied Bacon

Sauce for candied bacon-

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon honey

1/3 cup Saucy Mama Honey Barbecue Wing Sauce

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

Mix into thick sauce to baste the bacon

Directions:

Slice block of bacon in Half down the middle

Spread slices on foil covered pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

Flip, then baste with Barbecue sauce mixture then return to oven for another 15 minutes basting every 5 minutes until sauce is used up. Transfer to wire rack to drain.

Be careful with this stuff! Guard it well! I made a pound but when I turned my back it disappeared, so I had to make another pound. I was literally fighting off the grabby fingers with a set of tongs! My suggestion is make 4 pounds when nobody else is home. That way you can eat 6 or 20 slices without a witness, but still have enough for spinach salad and.... BURGERS. yes. I must do it. 

Next, make this~~

Candied Bacon Spinach Salad

5 to 6 oz  fresh baby spinach, washed and patted dry
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 package (12 to 16 oz) bacon, candied and crumbled
1/2 cup Saucy Mama Honey Dijon Dressing
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1/2 tsp celery seed

In a large bowl, toss spinach, tomatoes, onion, blue cheese and candied bacon with Saucy Mama Honey Dijon Dressing.
Top with Sliced eggs, and sprinkle with celery seed.

So simple. So delicious. So beautiful. Get YOUR sauce on, and give this recipe a try!

This was a great way to get my Pickies to eat fresh baby spinach without camouflaging it in a dish. They all ate the salad and they all loved it.

My Saucy Mama Blogger Contest Recipe Entry-

The Sauced-Up Pretzel Burger

So, what else can I do with Candied Bacon, besides eat it over the sink, or add it to a salad? well, you know... Burgers. So, we sauced up some ground beef and we sauced up some grilled onions and we made these fantastic Sauced Up Pretzel Burgers!

Sauced-Up Pretzel Burger

Sauced Up Pretzel Burgers

Start with this-

Getting MORE Saucy!

Dijon Grilled Onions

1 tablespoon light olive oil
2 yellow onions or 1 Vidalia onion, sliced
1 tsp celery seeds
1/3 cup Saucy Mama Honey Dijon Sauce
Add onions, celery seeds,  and oil into hot pan, toss to coat. Grill on high without stirring for 2-3 minutes to achieve sear. Stir once and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat, toss in Saucy Mama Honey Dijon Sauce and cover and rest for 5 to 7 minutes.

Serious Sauce!

Honey Mustard Drizzle (Serious Sauce!)
1/2 cup Saucy Mama Honey Dijon sauce
3 Tablespoons Saucy Mama Smoky Garlic Mustard
2 Tablespoons Honey

Seasoned beef patties

Burgers & Sliders

2 lbs ground beef
4 tablespoons Saucy Mama honey BBQ Wing Sauce

1 Tablespoon Saucy Mama Smoky Garlic Mustard
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
Mix and form into 6 oz patties for burgers or 4 oz for sliders
Season with burger blend (Bam Burger or Montreal Steak Seasoning) and refridgerate until ready to grill. 

Saucy Mama Hat!

To Grill, pre-season grill with non-stick spray. Heat grill to 450 degrees. Set patties on grill and baste with Saucy Mama Honey Barbecue Wing Sauce. Close lid and grill for 3 to 4 minutes. Flip and baste again. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes, flip and baste again, and grill for another 3 to 4 minutes. Now, baste again, flip, top with Cheddar Cheese. Close lid and turn off grill. Leave for 3 to 4 minutes, to allow cheese to melt.

To assemble Saucy Burgers:

Split 6 pretzel rolls ( recipe to follow, or substitute any bun of your liking)

lay a few pieced of baby spinach on bottom bun slice.

top with Saucy Cheese Burger patty

top with Saucy Candied Bacon

sprinkle with crumbled blue cheese

top with Dijon Grilled Onions

Drizzle with Honey Mustard Drizzle

Top with top bun

Ok, let me just tell you in advance to have some napkins handy. OK, some handi-wipes.Maybe the garden hose. These burgers are Fantastic, but they're a little Sloppy- Fantastic! My suggestion is you just accept you're going to get a Saucy face and Saucy hands and just eat the whole thing and then clean yourself up because.. #1 you aren't going to want to put it down. and #2 you are NOT going to want to put it down!

Just go with it and get yourself Saucy!

Free Product Giveaway

ARE YOU SAUCY?
Enter to #WIN a Saucy Mama 
Prize Pack including Saucy Mama Wing Sauces - Honey Barbecue, Jamaican Jerk and Orange Habanero

Saucy Sauce!

HOW TO WIN:

1. LIKE A Jersey Girl in Texas on Facebook.
2. LIKE & SHARE this Facebook post.
3. LIKE Saucy Mama on Facebook.
4. TELL us how you're SAUCY in the comments of this post
(Keep it CLEAN or be Deleted!)
One random winner will be selected by May 14, 2014. If you are the winner I will announce your name in a new posting, and also send you a private message on Facebook. You will need to provide your name, shipping address, and phone number. You will have 24 hours to respond or your prize will be forfeited.
Contest open to U.S. Residents Only
Disclosure: This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or associated with Facebook. This contest is sponsored by Saucy Mama and A Jersey Girl in Texas. By entering this Giveaway you understand that it is in no way affiliated with Facebook and release them from any liability.

So, how about those pretzel rolls? 

I like pretzels. I like them so much, they're my favorite snack! I even make them at home. Big, soft, hot pretzels with honey butter. Or pizza flavored pretzels with a marinara dipping sauce. Or cinnamon sugared with a cream cheese dip. I even make homemade pretzel rolls, and pretzel Kolaches!
 my passion is baking savory breads, bagels and pretzels. I'm at my happiest when I have flour in my hair, and mixer parts are spinning. I live to bake! 

But.. Maybe you don't. 

Frozen

Maybe YOU want a hot pretzel too, but you're scared to try your hand at baking from scratch. It's ok!!
I'm here to help you get around that pesky business of activating yeast, or kneading bread. I'm going to teach you how to make my favorite burger,
 The Sauced-Up Pretzel Burger, with semi-homemade pretzel rolls that will make you a star at your next backyard barbecue. Here's a secret that I theorized for months as I was agonizing over how to bring my fresh made rolls to the WFC. There isnt enough time to mix and raise and shape and boil and bake! What can I do? Well (secret coming) I adapted my recipe to use frozen raw bread dough that is easily found at any grocery store in the freezer section. I found some at Kroger's.

The pre-mixed dough is frozen before it rises, so all you have to do is take one out of the bag and place it in a greased dish. Cover with a sheet of greased plastic wrap and allow it to rise in its own. 

Defrosted

This takes about 5 or 6 hours, so I get mine out before bed so it's ready to bake in the morning. Once it's defrosted and soft to the touch you should punch it down, then cut it into 8 pieces for burgers and 12 for sliders. 

You can take each piece and turn the corners in until you form a ball. Pinch the seams tight and lay them seam side down on a greased cookie sheet. 

Next, set the oven to 425, and fill a medium sized pot with about 2 quarts if water and 1/2 cup baking soda. Bring the water to a soft boil. 

Drop the rolls seam side down, about 5 at a time, into the water and cook for 30 seconds, then flip and cook another 30 seconds. Remove and put back on greased cookie sheet and repeat until they're done. 

Score Tops, brush with egg wash, and grind salt on top

Next, score the tops of each roll, brush with egg wash and grind fresh sea salt over each. Bake for 17 minutes.

I was so shocked to learn that this shortcut to baking tasted as good as my homemade dough, and exactly like a pretzel! That cuts so much time from the traditional method of making pretzel rolls, not to mention less dirty dishes, less mess, and less stress! 
After the rolls cool you can slice them and give them a little brushing on the inside with some honey butter, then get them ready to bring outside.

Honey Butter

4 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons honey

So now I've given you some ideas of what can be done when you start with some Saucy Mama Sauce as the base of your dish. You can win some Saucy Mama Sauce too, check out my Facebook Page and enter my contest, and Get Saucy!