Mushroom Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe

I feel like this might be the busiest week of my life. I am working on completing my next big project, and the deadline is at the end of the week. I didn't have a lot of time to cook for my husband Lulu, so I made a quick and easy mushroom tomato pasta sauce to go with pan-fried store-bought ravioli. Finished with a dash of cream, it’s just homemade enough to be proud of!

Garlic and Basil Tomato Sauce Recipe

My husband Lulu planted 19 types of tomato plants and we're picking more tomatoes than we can possibly eat. It took Lulu and his youngest sister almost 2 hours to pick 11 pounds of Sungold, Sweet Million and San Marzano tomatoes. They also brought in 4 very flavorful red onions. If you know me, you know I hate when food goes to waste, so I made tomato sauce out of necessity. 

I got the girls involved and asked them to stem and cut the tomatoes and onions. It didn't take much effort, especially with the help of my strong, toned and muscular (since they've become my morning workout buddies) sisters-in-law. It doesn't take many ingredients to make a delicious thick tomato sauce. I used exactly 7; tomatoes of course, garlic, red onions, fresh thyme, basil, salt and Bhut Jolokia Ghost Pepper Sauce that I received from my friend JD Cowles (check out my product review) at All Spice Cafe. I deep-fried large morsels of fresh garlic, caramelized the onions and stewed the tomatoes for 1½ hours. I haven't tried canning tomato sauce yet because of a fear of botulism, but this time it wasn't even necessary since all the tomato sauce was so good it was gone after two meals!

Portobello Mushroom Israeli Couscous with Truffle Goat Cheese

Potatoes, rice or pasta typically serve as the starch in our daily meals, but when it's time for a change I turn to Israeli couscous. Like all starches, it's a versatile foundation upon which you can build any combination of flavors.

In this recipe, I cooked Israeli couscous with Portobello mushrooms, basil tomato sauce, arugula and truffle-flavored goat cheese. It can be served as a side dish, or as a main course for vegetarians. Either way, its looks will catch your eye and the taste won't disappoint. 

Makhani Fish Curry Recipe

I only cook fish when I can find extremely fresh product at the market. I discovered some wonderful looking king mackerel at the Asian market that I just had to bring home. Mackerel is a tasty fish packed with essential, healthy, fatty acids.

Instead of a drizzle of nước mắm (fermented fish sauce), I pan-fried the fish steaks and then simmered them in an Indian spiced, buttery sauce called makhani curry. I love this sauce; it's creamy and very flavorful due to the use of garam masala. If mackerel isn't your thing, you could replace it with other fish or go the more traditional way with chicken. It's just as delicious.

Ravioli with Cheese Tomato Sauce

Keeping in mind that Valentine's Day is only a few days away, this recipe captures the romantic spirit, while requiring minimal effort to produce lots of flavor. To make the dish I used store-bought, heart-shaped four-cheese ravioli pasta. All you need to do is boil the ravioli, pan-fry them so the texture isn't soggy and accompany it with a tasty sauce. I made the sauce fairly simple so the ravioli are still the shining element in the dish. The base of the sauce is a blend of oven-roasted onion wedges and Parmesan cheese. I also topped the pasta with sautéed oyster mushrooms and fried green onions.

It's a quick and easy dish, so you still have time to give your hair and makeup some TLC. Not only food needs to look good!