no, just an american guy in his late 20's trying to make something good in new jersey. i usually fry the peppers and onions seperatly also but i dont seem to get as much depth of flavor even in a well seasoned cast iron skillet as i do roasting in the oven, also figured that the sausage dripping would help flavor the veg and i wasnt disappointed at all! jacked the oven up to 400 about halfway through and that seemed to help with the browning of both the sausage and the veg. honestly it came out as good as i could of hoped, just need better bread next time also wanted to maybe add some peperoncini and maybe a slice of some nice aged provalone next time but i dont want to over complicate things as it seems the basis of good italian cooking is the simpler the better.

I still use my mom's cast iron skillet. Nothing beats it!

Getting ready for my daughter's graduation party tomorrow. Making six pounds of penne vodka, six london broils that will be marinated in soy sauce/red wine/black pepper, and a salad. I already baked a turkey breast which we'll slice and serve cold with some American cheese and fresh-baked rolls from the local bakery.

Beforehand, we'll just do cheeses with fruit, a warm spinach and artichoke dip, Chex Mix, Veggie Straws and good old chips and onion dip. Bought a case of Corona, two cases of wine, and we're ready to go.

corona is great in the summer, although i strangely prefer modelo in the can a tip for coronas in the summer is substitute the lime for a real sweet wedge of orange, sounds strange but its GOOOD! also if you have some picky women at the party that arent big fans of beer, same thing, corona with an orange but add a splash of grenadine. turns the beer a dark pink and even as a guy it tastes pretty damn good!

Well, let me tell you something, my kraut-mick friend . You you've got yourself a nice little recipe there .

On a personal note, I like the long Italian frying peppers for sausage and peppers much more than the bell peppers. I find them to be sweeter, and they pair perfectly with the sausage drippings. The orange-reddish colored peppers are the sweetest of the sweet.

Me too TB, I like those peppers too. Bell peppers justtaste different and not as good. And it's sauce ... not gravy!! Ugh.

thanks pb, i love those peppers, great raw as a healthy snack, im using them nezt time for sure. tonight i made a salami salad sandwich. i rolled up several slices of some good salami and sliced them real thin, sliced up some marinated bocconcini and some peperoncini and mixed it all together in a bowl and dressed it simply with some good extra virgin and red wine vinegar. served it on a nice soft kaiser roll. it hit the spot in a big way.

It's GRAVY!

Tonight's "dinner" was just sampling what I was cooking for Fathers Day tomorrow -- meatballs, sausage, and sauce (mom's gonna handle the vermacelli).

I keep playing with different recipes, at least until I find a real favorite. I LOVE America's Test Kitchen, on TV and the magazine. They redo classic recipes all the time (often scientifically) to make them "better", but it's often a bit bizarre.

Following (halving) their recipe for Classic Spaghetti and Meatballs for a Crowd I thought would be fine -- well, it was fine -- it's just bizarre. I did NOT add gelatin to the meatballs (infamita!), I used the beef/pork/veal "Meatloaf Mix" instead. But I did follow the Panko/buttermilk part! o.O

But with just some minor adjustments, everything came out pretty damn good -- especially the sauce (tho I did add meat to it).

The meatballs, next time, I'll up the beef (don't know the ratio Pathmark uses for their Mix). ATK is the best -- but certainly not traditional all the time. But by adding some common sense, their recipes are a great starting point.

This again??

I didn't read all the previous posts, but...

Marinara is a sauce... so is pretty much everything else you can make in less than 2 hours. Tomatoes, onions, aromatics (garlic and herbs), whatever else (wine, seasoning), etc. Sauce.

"Gravy" is a low-and-slow sauce, with lots of different meats and heavier veggies added, cooked for hours and hours, and is thick and beautiful.

Both are beautiful, and both have their place.

i know lots of black people and when they would ask me what did you have for dinner? i would say gravy and they would look at me strange and say brown gravy? lol

Well, gravy is gravy -- brown gravy, turkey gravy. "Sunday gravy" is something else.

Well in my family i eat gravy 3 times a week sunday tuesday and thursday! Sorry i should say sauce LOL

Well they might tell you they had pancakes and syrup? Pancakes and syrup for dinner?

Panckaes = Xanax
Syrup= Promethazine with Codeine (Has to Be the Thick Grape Kind)

Mrs. Mark's faves tonight... Grilled T-Bone Steaks, Baked Potatoes, Steamed Corn & Mixed Veggies and Garlic Toast. Hey, it's Father's Day NOT Mother's Day?!? Darn - she's very good!

made semi-homemade pizza last night. used dough from on of those tubular cans,polly-o riccota, pre-shredded mutz as my mediterranean friends call it, and grated cheese in a can, not kraft but still in a damn can:( before i get torn apart here let me explain: one of the vocal points of good italian cooking is making do with what you have available, correct? well imo that hold true if your a poor peasant scraping together a living in the hills of sicily or a loud mouth punk from new jersey trying to do your best with pre-packeged and preseved crap! now that ive got that outta the way i made a white pie. i pre baked the dough as per instructions and set it aside. i sliced about 3 large garlic cloves "goodfellas" style and lightly cokked them in about 3 tlbs of good evoo with a little salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. it seems these days that it isnt so much as which dishes to add the crushed pepper to, but which ones not to as i love it! a tip that ive been using whenever i make any kind of dish involving any sort of garlic and oil combo is to add the garlic to the oil in the pan when the oil is cold and bring the temp up gradually. this seems to infuse the oil a little better while giving you more control which helps prevent burning as im sure most people on here agree is a sure fire way to ruin a dish quick. after the garlic just started to brown slightly it was shut off, cooled and brushed liberally on the dough, reserving a small amount to sautee the brocoli in. while the brocoli was working i plopped down a few random dabs of the ricotta and added some of the mozz and parm cheeses. added the semi cooked brocoli, a touch of dried oregano and a few grinds of fresh black pepper and sent that pizza to hell in a hot oven for 10 minutes on a sheet pan. when it was done i was shocked at how good it was! perfectly balanced and seasoned:) seeing as how good it was got me a little pissed as it could have been great with the proper ingredients and a pizza stone but i was damn pround of myself regardless.

FF- If you make something yourself and you can tell others that it came out good, you did good.

I tried using the same dough a few times and had mixed results. I even tried using the dough to make calzones .... didn't come out too good.

In today's world of "can't be bothered", I'm impressed with anyone who puts as much thought and effort into cooking, FF. Sounds delicious.

I started using boboli to make pizza. I haven't bothered with pizza dough in a while.

thanks babe, but it takes the same amount of effort to buy a can of dough as it does to get a fresh dough from one of the many decent local shops. i wasnt the one who bought the canned, but i feel guilty by assoiciation

Has anyone eaten one of those Ghost Chillies? Me and my house mates bought a couple as a joke last night, and ate one ( I say ate, it touched my tongue and I couldn't keep it in) I have never experienced anything so hot and deadly before, ridiculously hot!!!!

ive never had them by themselves, although i had a sauce that was said to contain them but it was so damn hot that who knows. they are no joke, all bullshit aside if you eat too much it can effect your breathing and cause swelling in the throat, not the best pepper for a prank they rate up to over 1,000,0000 on the scoville scale(a unit for measuring heat) to put that into perspective a jalapeno on the high end can reach around 10,000 max, usally closer to 5,000. the ghost chillies usally come dried and used to be the hottest pepper, not anymore...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/worlds-hottest-pepper_n_1281449.html

I know five, I can't put into words how bad the heat was! It took hours for it to leave my mouth, I didn't swallow it, I couldn't so I think it was worse for my friend!

Ha ha ha ha!!!

They is damn hot

I'm growing ghost peppers this year. I have a feeling a little will go a long way...

They'll come up like crazy in October, Geoffy. You'll probably end up giving a lot away, but just remember that they freeze perfectly. Or you can just go Italian style and dry them above the stove. Then use them to cook all winter long .

The talk of these hot chillies reminds me of that Simpsons Episode where Homer coats his mouth with Candle wax so he can swallow Chief Wiggams Chilli LOL, thats how it felt with the ghost pepper, like when it just touches Homer's tongue he lets out that scream lol.

Yeah, I've been freezing my hot peppers for years, and they last forever. I don't even defrost them, I slice them while frozen as needed.

I'm guessing by September. The hotter the pepper, the slower it grows.

Exactly, that's why I said October. That's always been the best hot pepper yielding month for me, anyway. Last year we had so many Habaneros and Scotch Bonnets, we're still using them.

sushi from wegmans. only ahi tuna and rice. im not really a picky eater but i hate anything with mayo in it so most of those fancy rolls are out of the question for me. homemade dipping sauce made of sesame oil, soy sauce, fresh garlic, crushed red pepper, brown sugar and a little water to thin it out.

We tried a new place named No. 1 Sushi last night. It was delicious. You could order off the menu or there was an all you could eat option for $22. Knowing my appetite, I'm sure it will surprise no-one that we opted for all you could eat.

They didn't have a buffet, but brought menu pages to the table, and you checked off what you wanted. They offered unlimited soup, appetizers, udon, sushi, sashimi, rolls, teriyaki and tempura. The food was fantastic, fresh and beautifully presented. When you finished eating, they would clear the table and bring your fresh menu pages so you could order more. They even had several different flavors of ice cream, including green tea, and fried bananas included. Everything was so freshly prepared that my daughter almost burned her mouth on the fried bananas.

The place only opened three weeks ago, so I hope they keep up this level of quality. We will definitely go back.

I got home after 8 pm last night. My wife and kids were out at various places, so I was left to my own devices for dinner. I found a head of cabbage, which I sauteed in a little butter. Then I cooked a bagof Kluski noodles, which I added to the cabbage with a little more butter and salt and pepper.

It wasn't exactly the haluski that my grandmother makes, but it was pretty darn good.