Friday, August 31, 2012

"We got engaged 2 years ago" dinner

He put a ring on it at Disneyland

To celebrate, I surprised him with a semi-fancy dinner. Remember those beautiful heirloom tomatoes we got at the Farmer's Market?



Well, I got some mozzarella and some fresh homegrown basil and made this:



I followed The Pioneer Woman's reduce-the-balsamic-method (basically, carefully reduce the balsamic until it's a syrup) and drizzled that, and some olive oil, salt, and pepper, over it all. It was refreshing and divine. 

Served it with stuffed bell peppers + gravy (marinara sauce). 



I started with Giada De Laurentiis and Emeril's recipes, but then customized it by: 

* using ground turkey 
* using spicy Italian pork sausage 
* excluding the egg, rice, and bread crumbs 
* using jarred marinara sauce (added extra seasoning, a little bit of sugar, and wine) 
* pre-cooking the meat before stuffing 
* par-boiling the peppers 
* using extra seasoning (i.e. Italian seasoning, Mexican oregano, garlic) 
* adding chopped mushrooms and onions, fresh basil 
* covering the tops with pecorino romano and mozzarella (last 7 minutes or so) 

Turned out pretty tasty. We seemed to eat peppers for days! Next time, I want to try them "meatloaf" style: topped with ketchup, with the meat baked in the oven. 

It was a really colorful dinner

P.S. Being married rules. 


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