Chicken with Red 'Rosso' Pesto

From the Alto Adige come yellow flowers in the spring and fresh stems of grass to free range potential bounty. Living in any small village, one can witness the preparation for dinner which often begins with a quick swoop of the hand and flip of the wrist. Nothing could be more fresh than that. Many people have no idea what it takes to raise free ranged 'organic' food and the time it takes to prepare it for cooking,

Being a witness to that, people often ask, can you actually sit to the table after such an event? Yes, one can in reverence and thankfulness. After such a meal, there is a feeling of being blessed by a goodness that no corporate grocer could ever offer to mankind.

Hiking or walking in the Alto Adige, makes a person hungry. And, even hungrier when you come into the kitchen of a wood burning stove where Nonna is just putting the chicken into the skillet. Like her, I really appreciate a tasty 'rosso' or 'red' pesto made with olive oil, sun dried tomatoes and herbs. If you can find and afford, use pine nuts instead of the olive oil.

Chop one whole onion and saute in olive oil, toss in a few diced cloves of garlic, after a few minutes lay in your chicken breasts cut in strips. Next, scoop out 2 tablespoons of homemade 'rosso' pesto and stir that into the chicken. Let this sizzle for 6 min on high heat and then cover to slow cook for 6-8 min. on low heat. For a side, prepare sliced young zucchini and mushrooms.

~ Tutti a Tavola!

Herb Rubbed Pork Sirloin Roast with Carrots and Baby Peas

I dream of life on the farm. Its fresh, its simple... its a frugal way to live.

This dish is simple and frugal. It requires only that you can either start cooking one hour before dinner time or set up the crockpot to do that for you. I personally have a fear of using a crockpot when I am not at home; and since I love cooking, as in being over the stove, watching skillets sizzle or pots boil, I do prefer and advocate to use a deep enamel stock pot.

You will need to buy a small pork sirloin roast, every grocer has and if you don't see one, then just ask. Pick up a bag of small baby carrots and young peas in the frozen section unless you know that you already have some in the freezer at home. And, hopefully you are not out of onions one of the most important items a brainy gourmet can have in the pantry.

Begin by rubbing down your pork roast with fresh dried rosemary, mint, oregano and parsley mixed in with some red pepper flakes, salt and garlic powder. Set aside for 15-20 min. During that time, chop one whole onion, and using your covered stock pot, saute on med heat in olive oil until the onion is golden brown. Next, lay in your pork roast, having moved the onion over to one side. Brown the meat on all sides, add a bit more olive oil if it begins to stick, cover for 5 min and then add 1/2 cup of vegetable stock along with 2 tbs of dry white wine. Cover and let it bubble for 5 min. Uncover and pour out as many carrots as you like. Cover again and simmer on low heat for one hour.

As for additional sides, baby peas are lovely to serve with this and or asparagus... my sweetie's favorite.

it's artistic ;-)

~ Tutti a Tavola!


*the frugal aspect?? Today, my sweetie gets a pork roast sandwich in his lunch

Does the Brainy Gourmet Ever Eat Out?

Someone asked, "Does the Brainy Gourmet ever eat out or buy anything already made? Of course, is the answer. However, eating out is not frugal, its fast but it can be expensive especially on a daily basis. The Brainy Gourmet is about being fast but especially about being frugal as well as being as conscious about food quality as it is possible these days.

When you are busy with whatever you have to do concerning family, friends and work either at home or outside of home, then you don't always have time to cook from scratch or maybe you just forgot to put the chicken out to thaw or simply do not have time to shop for dinner. What can you do in a pinch if eating out as is out of the question.

Thankfully, there are more and more grocers offering fresh cooked food. They offer what they deem to be organic, or farm fresh, garden fresh, free ranged, home cooked or something like it. From time to time, we find ourselves having to believe in the label or logo and going for it just because of the lack of time to cook and the number one factor being that everybody is hungry.

I find that in such a situation, a deli bought rotisserie chicken (labeled free range/or farm fresh) is a fast and reasonable frugal solution. You can put together a green salad, or quick soup or any veggie side and dinner is served. Yes, we want to and even have to believe that the label is what it says it is whether bought at the deli, taken from the meat or frozen section or even off the shelf. We have to trust because we don't all have the means to produce our own food from start to finish. Not everyone lives on a farm or has the opportunity to raise their own food mostly due to work constraints and local ordinances. Rotisserie chicken has been a blessing at our house on many occasions.

Serve the Brainy Gourmet way "Say a blessing and eat up! "A man/woman is not defiled by what enters his/her mouth, but by what comes out of it" ~ Matthew 15:11.

Homemade Minestrone Tortellini Soup for a Cold Snowy ~ April ???

A Cold Snowy April??? Yep! Up here in the northern Midwest, we can get snow in April. That is why a pot of homemade tortellini soup is so necessary... it can put the sunshine back into life. My family comes from northern Italy very near the Trento Alto Adige where it can snow in April.

For this delicious homemade soup, you will need to buy: 1 lb. beef stew meat, tortellini pasta, and fresh green zucchini. If you don't have in the pantry these items, then head to the grocer: small can of diced tomatoes, onion, beef stock, one small can of pinto beans and grated parmesan cheese. Its simple and that is why it is fast, frugal and hearty. Soup is the best meal to have after an afternoon of spring yard cleaning ... even in the snow.

This soup can be done right on the stove top, though some recipes use a crockpot. First, begin by sauteing one whole chopped onion in olive oil in a covered stock pot on med. heat. Add your chunked beef stew meat stirring among the chopped onion letting the meat brown on all sides. Pour in 2 cups of beef stock, one small can of diced tomatoes, 1 cup or one small can of drained pinto beans, and washed diced fresh green zucchini. Toss in a dash of salt, black pepper, garlic powder and dried herbs: rosemary, mint,oregano and parsley.

Give the soup a good stir, reduce the heat to low, cover and let it simmer for 1 hour. When you are ready to eat, boil salted water for the tortellini pasta. I don't ever mix my pasta into a soup. Get some garlic bread going in the oven or toaster oven, set the table with some green olives, grated and even a chunk of parmesan cheese and you're good to go.

 with parmesan

without parmesan

~ Tutti a Tavola!

Mom's Pepper Steak ~ Everybody's Mom Makes the Best

Just get online and you will see that just about everybody has a pepper steak recipe that was mom's.  In fact, even moms use their mom's recipe. Its just a simple hearty dish that families enjoy any day of the week or even weekend.

My mom's recipe uses beef stew meat but I know some mom's and or recipes prefer to use or call for flank steak cut into strips. You can use the best choice of steak or beef you want as long as it is cut into either chunks or strips. Since this is pepper steak, you can bet there will be plenty of green and red peppers. I happen to use only the green peppers as did my mom. Like me, she liked onion and thus, I am using one whole 'large' onion chopped.

To begin, on med. heat, saute in olive oil and a bit of coconut oil, one large chopped onion and one large green pepper and one small clove of garlic. When those have started to brown on the edges, add your beef and seasonings: a pinch of black pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, and a pinch of salt along with as much rosemary, mint and oregano as you like but really no more than a few dashes. Push aside the onion and green pepper letting the beef chunks brown on all sides. Then add 1/4 cup of beef stock, cover and simmer on med. heat for 15 min.

Next, add 1 small can of tomato paste, stir and cover again, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30-40 min.
While the pepper steak simmers, cook either rice or wide egg noodles. I prefer rice with this dish...as my mom's side was always rice. However, I have made noodles and my sweetie enjoyed that very much. When using noodles, I did make a less dense pepper steak version omitting the tomato paste and going with canned diced tomatoes. When using my mom's recipe, which is very dense, I use rice... it was her 'pepper steak'.

~ Tutti a Tavola!

2 Things Going at Once!

When you have one that wants this and one that wants that or you just can't decide or you have some left overs that better get used up... you can find yourself  'cooking two things at once'. I had left over ground breakfast sausage to use up and I also wanted to use up some farm style bacon still in the fridge. Hence, I will be making Farfalle pasta with a roasted tomato and onion sauce along with linguine carbonara.

To begin, I saute chopped onion in olive oil in two different skillets. To one, I add broken up 'crumbled' ground breakfast sausage (which is a blend of ground pork and seasoned breakfast sausage) and to the other skillet diced bacon.  I also start water boiling in two different pots, one for the Farfalle and the other for the linguine (or could be fettuccine).

When the ground breakfast sausage is browned, onion as well, I add one small can of roasted tomatoes and dried herb seasoning: rosemary, mint and oregano. Let that simmer and finish up with the carbonara. Add small petite fresh peas to the onion and bacon, let them sizzle together to get a little blacken going on the edges.

About now, the pasta should be near tender and ready to drain. The Farfalle pasta is just to be drained off, set to a large platter with the sauce poured out over the top of the pasta, sprinkle with grated cheese and garnish. You can also put green olives on the table. Some like and some don't like olives in so leave em out.

As for the carbonara, as soon as the pasta is drained, add two whole eggs, stir into the hot pasta, Add a dollop of butter and then the bacon, onion and peas. Ladle out onto a low lipped serving dish or bowl, top with grated cheese and garnish.

~ Tutti a Tavola!

Who is the Brainy Gourmet?

Lately, people want to know who I am. I thought it was obvious. Maybe, its because they think I am hired as a corporate representative for the Brainy Gourmet Corporation to blog about food. Nope. The Brainy Gourmet is just me! I love to cook and share what I cook.

Where do I cook? I cook in my own home kitchen. You can see my kitchen on the blog; its even smaller than it looks. I live in the town where I grew up. I cook, I clean, and I blog all from home. Does anyone else work for or with me? Nope. Who is my sweetie? He is my husband whom I have mentioned him in past blogs. Does he have a corporate job? Nope. Does he make a lot of money? Nope, ...just enough for us to eat frugally good!

The idea for this blog was my husband's who said that my cooking is so good that I am being selfish for not sharing. I don't use recipes, I use what I call hands on know how gained from a lot of experience cooking over the years. I did spend time abroad (university studies) where I learned how to be a frugal and at the same time a delicious and tasty home gourmet. I also learned one important tip and that is to keep on hand and use simple ingredients - the list of basics are available on the webpage www.brainygourmet.com

What you see is what you get. I cook dinner, I take a picture of it, we eat it, I wash the dishes (by hand- its so much faster) and I blog it. Its the real thing, I am really the Brainy Gourmet... in case you had any doubts.

*Brainy Motto - If I can be brainy,You can be brainy too!