By now you know that trying new recipes for us is as natural as the air you breath.  It's the norm.  Sometimes I get inspiration from restaurants, most of the time from friends and sometimes just walking through the grocery store.  Last week I was shopping at the commissary when I happened upon the "DeLallo" brand pastas & sauces.  I'm always looking for a good pasta sauce since they don't carry my FAVORITE pasta sauce of all times here in Korea.  Rao's.  If you see Rao's Pasta Sauce BUY IT.  I promise you will LOVE IT!!  You might not love the price tag, but you will LOVE the sauce.  It ROCKS.    Sorry...I'm off track.  Back to DeLallo - anyway, as I was checking out the sauce I noticed pasta - or vice versa - whichever way it happened I ended up buying a package of Rigatoni and saw this recipe on the package and thought "what the heck....we love pasta, sausage and peppers, let's give it a whirl!"    I'm so glad we did.  Everyone LOVED this recipe and ask that it be put into our regular rotation (which means they might get it two or three times a year - possibly more since it was SO SIMPLE!).  So here it is, going into our regular rotation & hopefully yours.  Here is a link to the original recipe.  I adapted just a tad.

1 package sweet Italian sausage - casings removed and cut into bite size pieces
2-3 TBL olive oil
1 small yellow onion - diced
2-3 cloves garlic - minced
1 red pepper - seeded and sliced lengthwise
1 yellow pepper - seeded and sliced lengthwise
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes (use San Marzano tomatoes if you can find them - they are totally worth it!)
1 pound of rigatoni pasta
Freshly grated Pecorino-Romano cheese, or parmesan
Red pepper flakes

Cook pasta according to package.

Drizzle 2  tablespoons olive oil in large Dutch oven- sauté onions, garlic for 2-3 minutes, add sausage.     

After cooking sausage onion combo for 5 minutes add peppers.   Continue to stir and cook until sausage and
peppers beging to brown.   Add red pepper flakes - a few if you don't like it very spicy, a lot if you like the spice!  

Pour a glass of wine for you and your love, and then add a 1/2 of cup of the same wine to you sausage/pepper combo.
Let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Add whole tomatoes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon.   Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer - covered for 15 to 20 minutes.

Add the hot pasta to your pan - toss some Pecorino Romano in- drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil.....

Serve with a salad and some (homemade) crusty bread.

Simple goodness.

I don't know why I don't have Caesar dressing made and ready to go at all times.  This salad is a favorite of all 4 children.  Yes, I said ALL FOUR CHILDREN.  From ages 7-16.  They all love it and they all had more than one serving last night.  Boy 2 had at least 3 servings - I'm thinking possibly 4.  True story.   If that isn't enough to sell you on this salad, then there is no help for you.

What you will need to make this happen:

First of all you need a food processor.  If you don't have one you could try a blender.  It won't be as good as a food processor, but it will probably work.  Let me know if you try it this way. 

For the Caesar Dressing you will need:
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese - it is so totally worth it to grate your own.
1/2 cup of fresh grated pecorino romano cheese - it is so totally worth it to grate your own.
1 2 oz package of anchovy filets (in oil)
3 TBL FRESH lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
4 garlic cloves
2 TBL Dijon mustard
3/4  cup + 2 TBL of good olive oil
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Put all ingredients EXCEPT olive oil and salt and pepper in food processor.

Once all ingredients are in the food processor put the lid on and turn on - slowly add the olive oil while the food processor is running.

Add salt and LOTS of fresh ground pepper to taste.

Homemade Croutons:

Of course you buy croutons as there are some really good ones on the market, but if you want an over the top Caesar Salad you really need to bite the bullet and make your own.  Plus they are super easy and don't take much time at all.

Preheat oven to 325 F

3 cups of sourdough bread cut into crouton size bites  (really you can use almost any bread you like, I like a sourdough for my croutons)
4 TBL olive oil
4 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

Heat olive oil in a 12 inch skillet - add garlic, thyme, oregano and rosemary till fragrant.

Add bread cubes to the mixture - toss around to coat.
Put bread crumbs on cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until bread cubes are nice and golden.

Bringing it all together:
Put 1 or 2 heads of Romaine lettuce cut into bite size pieces (my family goes through 3!) in a large bowl. 
Toss with dressing, start with 3 or 4 tablespoons (you can always add more, but you can't take away!)  When you have salad properly dressed, toss in croutons.  Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.  Grate fresh parmesan over the top.  And you will have this: 

Options:
To make it a meal add grilled chicken or shrimp!
YUM-O!

No one tells you that once you hit 40 your once more than perfect eye sight starts to go.  So when I pulled this recipe card out of my recipe box (yes, I still have one of those) and it looked like this:

I knew it was time to update it. 
I'll save this card and pass it on to my children.  They can throw it away when they choose to, but I think it is important to pass on handwritten recipes  AND when they get to this card they will remember how well loved this recipe was....so much so they might just frame it, stains and all.  :o)

When Hubby took a bite of lasagna last night you could see him melt in his chair a little and said "This is the best lasagna EVER.  Kids, you don't know how good you have it with your mom's cooking.  When you move out and you have lasagna someplace other than home you are going to compare it to your moms lasagna and there will be no comparison.  This is the best lasagna ever."

I love it when Hubby raves about my cooking.  It just makes me feel all warm and tingly all over. 

I'm hoping that when our children are grown and married that my cooking is one of the things that will bring our kids home every Sunday afternoon for linner - yes, linner.  (A girl can dream....)  

Sausage & Prosciutto Lasagna

9 lasagna noodles cooked al dente

Cheese filling:
15 oz ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cup fresh mozzarella diced (divided 1 cup - 1/2 cup) 
1 1/4 cup smoked gouda cheese (divided 1 cup - 1/4 cup) 
1 egg

The Sauce:
A drizzle or two of olive oil
1 16 oz package of Italian sausage (sweet, mild or hot...you choose, it is good with all, I used mild)
4 oz sliced and diced prosciutto
1 medium onion
1 cup mushrooms, sliced and diced
3 garlic cloves minced
2 tsp dried oregano
a few sprinkles of crushed red pepper
2 TBL tomato paste
1 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes (San Marzano are the best)
16 fresh basil leaves chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste

The beautiful thing about this recipe is that you can make the sauce a day or two in advance.  AND the sauce is good even if you are not making lasagna.

For the sauce: 
Drizzle olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add sausage and sauté until browned - add chopped prosciutto.

Transfer sausage mixture to a bowl.  Using the same pan add another drizzle of olive oil to pan, toss in chopped onions, mushrooms, garlic, oregano & crushed red pepper.  Sauté for about 5 minutes or until tender.  Add tomato paste, tomatoes & basil.  Simmer for about 10 minutes.  

Add sausage mixture to the sauce.  Season with salt & pepper.

For cheese filling:
Mix together ricotta, egg 1 cup of diced mozzarella, 1 cup smoked gouda.
Season with salt & pepper.

For the lasagna:
Preheat oven to 350
Using a 9x13 glass dish
Layer:
1 cup of tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking dish.
3 lasagna noodles
1/2 cheese mixture
1/2 the remaining tomato sauce
3 lasagna noodles
remainder of cheese mixture
remainder of tomato sauce mixture
3 lasagna noodle
top with 1/2 cup of mozzarella & 1/4 cup of gouda.

Bake covered for about 30 minutes, uncover and bake for another 10-15 minutes.  
Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. 

Devour.

Everyone is talking about 'The Pizza Peel'. I can't tell you how many times I have been ask "have you tried Pizza Peel?" So the other night when we were walking down Itaewon Street on our way to Antonios we stumbled upon The Pizza Peel and we decided to ditch the Antonios plan and head into The Pizza Peel for a couple of reason,
#1, We were STARVING
#2 The Pizza Peel is SUPER CLOSE to the Itaewon gate
#3 To be able to answer the question with a 'yes'  and
#4 It was REDICIOUSLY HOT outside.  I almost feel like I am back in Texas! 

The Pizza Peel just a little hole in the wall off the little alley right before you get to Starbucks - on the right side of the street - see the mannequins?  One is in a blue shirt one is in a plaid shirt?  The Pizza Peel sign is right above their necks (they have no heads), just tuck right into that little Alley and The Pizza Peel is on your right.

The owner is Canadian and cooks all his pizzas in this brick oven.

And let me tell you, they are YUMMY!! This is the margarita pizza, we ordered this one for Hubby and I...

However the boys LOVED it and ate half of it!

We also ordered a Hawaiian Pizza, another family favorite.

We really enjoyed the pizza at The Pizza Peel.  The ingredients were fresh and generous.  However the pizzas were pretty small and a bit pricy for this family of 6.  There were only 4 of us at dinner, Hubby, myself and the little boys and we devoured 2 pizzas (we thought we would have left overs to take back) and the total cost for 2 beers and 2 pizzas was right at 40,000 won.  We will go back, but this will not be a weekly eating spot...

I can't wait to try their calzones....