Easy Dinners

[soflagator]

This is Seedy’s go-to lunch or dinner if I’m not cooking. He’s started adding chicken, carrots, broccoli and extra noodles. a dollop of chicken better than bullion and some water and it’s a meal for two.

 

[CDGator]

Shaved ribeye marinated in Dale’s seasoning, Lowry salt and some Lowry California garlic seasoning. Our Kroger sells a pound prepackaged. It absorbs it quickly so don’t over-season. Cook briefly in a cast iron skillet. Only takes a few minutes. Optional sautéed onions and peppers. I like to butter the buns with a little garlic seasoning and toast. Add provolone for a terrific Philly cheesesteak.

Slice a sweet potato thinly, coat with olive oil and cook in an air fryer. Drizzle with warm butter and brown sugar. Enjoy!

 

[AlexDaGator]

Correct on all points. I’ll also add that a basic tomato sauce can be made from scratch in about 20 min. I do it almost every Sunday. As you said, boiling dried pasta is approximately 10 min, so with 5 minutes of prep and the total cook time,
it’s maybe 25 minutes total. So the difference of 15 minutes gets you homemade sauce. Easy decision.

There's some legendary Italian cookbook author with a 45 minute ultra-basic sauce. A can of whole peeled tomatoes, 5 tablespoons of butter, some salt, and an onion. Peel and cut the onion in half. Dump everything in a pot. Break up the whole tomatoes. Simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Fish out the onion halves. Done.

I know.

No herbs? No herbs.
No red pepper flakes? No black pepper? Nope.
No olive oil? No oil.
Pinch of sugar? No.
Garlic? Nope.

I've heard about this recipe for years, but I've never made it or even tried it. It is intriguing. Just google "tomato butter sauce". Folks swear by it.

My mom used to make sauce from fresh tomatoes (she'd get the bruised and broken ones at the farmer's market for cheap). Her recipe was ultra-basic like this one but she grated onion on the old box grater and used olive oil. She'd then freeze the sauce in small containers. You could put it on pasta as-is, or add other ingredients like parsley and garlic for other recipes.

Alex.

 

[CDGator]

There's some legendary Italian cookbook author with a 45 minute ultra-basic sauce. A can of whole peeled tomatoes, 5 tablespoons of butter, some salt, and an onion. Peel and cut the onion in half. Dump everything in a pot. Break up the whole tomatoes. Simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Fish out the onion halves. Done.

I know.

No herbs? No herbs.
No red pepper flakes? No black pepper? Nope.
No olive oil? No oil.
Pinch of sugar? No.
Garlic? Nope.

I've heard about this recipe for years, but I've never made it or even tried it. It is intriguing. Just google "tomato butter sauce". Folks swear by it.

My mom used to make sauce from fresh tomatoes (she'd get the bruised and broken ones at the farmer's market for cheap). Her recipe was ultra-basic like this one but she grated onion on the old box grater and used olive oil. She'd then freeze the sauce in small containers. You could put it on pasta as-is, or add other ingredients like parsley and garlic for other recipes.

Alex.

I’ll give this a try this summer with the excess San Marzano tomatoes from the garden this summer. Maybe can some it instead of freeze though.

 

[G8trwood]

We make it all the time with just garlic, butter, small amount onion, whole tomatoes and an anchovy. Takes about 15 minutes. Sometimes an herb or two or pepper flake. I swear it comes out better than if I spend all day on it.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

There's some legendary Italian cookbook author with a 45 minute ultra-basic sauce. A can of whole peeled tomatoes, 5 tablespoons of butter, some salt, and an onion. Peel and cut the onion in half. Dump everything in a pot. Break up the whole tomatoes. Simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Fish out the onion halves. Done.

I know.

No herbs? No herbs.
No red pepper flakes? No black pepper? Nope.
No olive oil? No oil.
Pinch of sugar? No.
Garlic? Nope.

I've heard about this recipe for years, but I've never made it or even tried it. It is intriguing. Just google "tomato butter sauce". Folks swear by it.

My mom used to make sauce from fresh tomatoes (she'd get the bruised and broken ones at the farmer's market for cheap). Her recipe was ultra-basic like this one but she grated onion on the old box grater and used olive oil. She'd then freeze the sauce in small containers. You could put it on pasta as-is, or add other ingredients like parsley and garlic for other recipes.

Alex.

Her name was Marcella Hazan. She is the Tom Brady of Italian cooking. She was born in Italy but later lived and died in Florida.

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

That's basically a marinara with butter replacing the evoo and no herbs or pepper.

You could always use the san marzanos that are canned with basil. And since you aren't using much more than tomatoes make sure to buy the d.o.p. ones.

 

[soflagator]

There's some legendary Italian cookbook author with a 45 minute ultra-basic sauce. A can of whole peeled tomatoes, 5 tablespoons of butter, some salt, and an onion. Peel and cut the onion in half. Dump everything in a pot. Break up the whole tomatoes. Simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally. Fish out the onion halves. Done.

I know.

No herbs? No herbs.
No red pepper flakes? No black pepper? Nope.
No olive oil? No oil.
Pinch of sugar? No.
Garlic? Nope.

I've heard about this recipe for years, but I've never made it or even tried it. It is intriguing. Just google "tomato butter sauce". Folks swear by it.

My mom used to make sauce from fresh tomatoes (she'd get the bruised and broken ones at the farmer's market for cheap). Her recipe was ultra-basic like this one but she grated onion on the old box grater and used olive oil. She'd then freeze the sauce in small containers. You could put it on pasta as-is, or add other ingredients like parsley and garlic for other recipes.

Alex.

I almost always use fresh tomatoes. Part of that 5 min prep time is slicing the San Marzano’s. I should make bigger batches to freeze, but enjoy doing it each week.

Also, think we’ve discussed this before, but as a kid, my mom would make my sister and I go out into these fields early on summer mornings to pick tomatoes. She said they were free and I didn’t ask, partly because her no nonsense demeanor and partly because it was too risky to talk with the onset of heat exhaustion. But then we’d have to cook them and can them for sauce later on. Somehow she’d gotten the local elementary school to agree to letting us use their kitchen due to its size, and they had this machine for shelling these beans and peas we always had, also harvested through child labor. I’m running all over the place watching ten things at once. I’ll never forget the look from the kids in summer school like “man sucks to be him”. These kids had to spend their summers trying to catch up and were probably staring at the 4th grade again, and had genuine empathy for me. So the idea of canning and freezing makes me slightly uncomfortable.

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

Shaved ribeye marinated in Dale’s seasoning, Lowry salt and some Lowry California garlic seasoning. Our Kroger sells a pound prepackaged. It absorbs it quickly so don’t over-season

Dale's is delicious. The reason it absorbs so quickly though is that it contains MSG. I knew a guy that claimed MSG gave him migraines so if I use Dales and feed people at a barbecue or something I warn them first.

 

[Gator By Marriage]

Dale's is delicious. The reason it absorbs so quickly though is that it contains MSG. I knew a guy that claimed MSG gave him migraines so if I use Dales and feed people at a barbecue or something I warn them first.

I’ve heard several people complain about MSG too. I usually dismiss them because they are usually the same people who see “contains tannins” on a wine label and say it gives them a headache too. I particularly like the folks who say this while sipping a big ol glass of iced tea.

 

[CDGator]

Couldn’t resist using my Gator dish for the spinach artichoke dip.




Buffalo chicken dip (L) made with blue cheese dressing, rotisserie chicken and cheddar cheese. Spinach artichoke (R) from Sam’s and topped with garlic seasoning and mozzarella and parmesan.