Anne Burrell- Bucatini All'Amatriciana

Have you ever received a gift card, you get to the store and are so overwhelmed with all the possible ways to spend free money that you end up picking things that you normally wouldn't buy? This was me in Williams and Sonoma a couple days after Christmas. This was why I ended up coming home with super expensive cans of San Marzano tomatoes as well as other pantry items that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with. Lebanese Couscous anyone? For $14 dollars a bag? Geez! Thankfully, I came across a recipe in Anne Burrell's Cook Like A Rock Star that called for exactly 2 cans of the very tomatoes that were sitting so snobbily in my cupboard. Seriously, who spends that much money on tomatoes and couscous?

Bucatini All'Amatriciana uses guanciale.....um ok I could not find this at the store. I used pancetta instead. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly.

 My snobby (but so so delicious and might actually be worth the price) tomatoes and lots of diced onion.

Onions and pancetta....if only you could smell the wonderfulness of it.

My fancy new toy, a food mill. Do you have one? I can't wait to try making my own gnocchi.

Grinding up those pretty tomatoes and adding them to the pork and onion to make the sauce.

Finish it off with a little olive oil and enjoy.

Anne Burrell's Braised Chicken Thighs

Happy Friday! What do you have planned for the weekend?
Maybe you'll get a chance to try a new recipe like this one, Braised Chicken Thighs with Mushrooms and Almonds. I'll be trying a couple new pie recipes for an early Thanksgiving I'm having with some family.

The sauce is the star of this dish. To keep it honest, I added a little flour butter mixture to thicken it a little bit. I don't love chicken thighs but in this dish I enjoyed them. I was able to make it for dinner on a weeknight and it didn't take too long. I started it before my run and then fnished it up when I got back so it takes some planning to fit it in if you have evening workout plans but it's quick enough that you won't be eating at 10pm.

I served it over orechiette. Which means little ears in Italian.... too cute.

I hope you have a great weekend.

Anne Burrell's Sweet Potato and Apple Hash

Clearly I did something wrong. It started out well, but......

 Onions and bacon....smelling and looking delicious

 Sweet Potatoes and Rosemary ready to be

covered and simmered.

 And now we have chunky apples and mushy sweet potatoes. Clearly I did something wrong.

I know I cooked the sweet potatoes too long.

There seems to be way too much liquid left as well which I don't understand since I followed the directions.

The dish was still good but it could have been a lot better. One major change I would make, remove the bacon before the simmer process and then top the dish at the end. My bacon ended up soggy instead of crispy, yuck.  

You can find the recipe in her new cookbook, on Foodnetwork.com or below.

Sweet Potato & Apple Hash
by Anne Burrell

ingredients

garnet yams, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice


Extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

4 to 6 slices thick cut bacon, cut into lardons

1 large onion, cut in 1/2-inch dice

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch dice

4 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced

1/2 cup green pumpkin seeds (pepitas), toasted

directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, add the sweet potatoes, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, to taste. Toss to coat and arrange them on a baking sheet. Roast the sweet potatoes until they are soft but not mushy, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve.

Coat a large saute pan with olive oil. Add the bacon and put the pan over medium heat. When the bacon has started to get crispy and brown, add the onions, season with salt and saute until the onions are very soft and aromatic. Add the apples and the scallion whites and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the sweet potatoes, and saute until the sweet potatoes are cooked through and starting to become crispy, about 7 to 8 minutes.

Transfer to a serving platter and garnish with the scallion greens and pumpkin seeds.

Have you ever had a recipe fail? Did you try to make it again?

Anne Burrell's Sausage Ragu

I love a nice big bowl of hearty pasta, especially on nights like last night when it's cold outside. Since we didn't have any plans yesterday other than watching football and carving pumpkins, it was the perfect time to try a new Anne Burrell recipe. Be warned, you need at least 4 hours to complete this dish. I set aside 5 just in case. It was so worth it. The sauce has so much flavor that I was tempted to eat it right out of the pot with a spoon.

 Sausage Ragu is in her new cookbook Cook Like a Rock Star.

I was lucky enough to win a copy from my local radio station when she was in the area for a signing.

 Hours of cooking with lots of TLC.

Topped with delicious cheese and ready to eat.

I normally share recipes online but since this one isn't listed on Foodnetwork.com there are probably some copyright issues. You can get a copy of her cookbook on Amazon or I've seen it at Costco and Target.