Baked potato for dinner? Sounds perfect to me! Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t always agree. My latest solution: add blue cheese and beer. Instant success!

If you like bold, knock-you-in-the-mouth flavors, start making this dish immediately! It’s bound to become a dinner staple. From cutting board to oven, you’re done in 10 minutes; from oven to mouth another 5 minutes. Even Rachel Ray longs for such speed.

What to expect when eating this dish: Your mouth will be knocked from the right with the caramelized, full-bodied roasted garlic (both in minced and whole clove form to add double-power). Then, your mouth will get socked from the left with bitey blue gorgonzola. Next, experience the crisp, sweet of apple, dancing merrily along. Everything is coated in a silky salty marinade perfect for bringing in the earthy, comforting potato. Flavor upon flavor upon happy, enticing flavor!

Double bonus: Since this recipe requires less than a full bottle of brew for the marinade, you’ll have to suffer through and finish off that beer while you’re cooking. This recipe is torture!

Did I mention? You’re also getting a hearty helping of fiber and vitamins. Don’t you love it when indulgence is healthy?

Purple Potato Wedges with Apple, Gorgonzola & an Amber Ale Marinade

Ingredients:
2 lbs. purple potatoes, quartered lengthwise into wedges (you can use other potatoes, but the purple ones are so delicious!—and they’re only $3 at the farmers’ market)
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
10 additional garlic cloves (whole, skins removed)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup amber ale (such as Hoppy Face Amber or Boont Amber)
2 crisp apples, such as Fuji, diced
¼ heaping cup gorgonzola cheese crumbled

Farmers' Market fare: potatoes, garlic, olive oil, apples
Locally sourced from California: amber ale
Grocery store (non-local) products: soy sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss potato wedges into a large mixing bowl. Toss both minced garlic and whole garlic cloves into the same bowl.

Pour ¼ cup each olive oil, soy sauce, and amber ale over the potatoes and garlic. Toss until potatoes are coated with the marinade. Dump the contents of the bowl onto a large baking sheet and place in the oven for 25 minutes, or until potatoes are soft when punctured with a fork.

Remove potatoes from oven. Dump the contents of the baking sheet (including any marinade) back into the large bowl. Dice the apples and toss them into the bowl with the potatoes. Add the gorgonzola cheese. Toss until apples are coated with marinade and the cheese is just slightly melted. Serve with more amber ale.

As you can see from the photo, the potatoes will soak up the dark soy sauce and caramelize in the marinade as they cook. Yum!

This makes more than enough for two large helpings, plus leftovers for lunch the next day. You could also serve this as a side at your next BBQ. If you don’t LOVE this dish… well, I just don’t know if there’s help for you.

Labels: aebleskiver recipe, amber ale marinade, apple, apples, farmers' market meal, garlic, gorgonzola, purple potato wedges

Don’t you just love restaurant spaghetti?—the way the thick, rich sauce clings tightly to each noodle, covering it in a moist, flavor-packed sauce. And even though the dish appears to be just red, as you eat, you notice the deep yellow hues.

I used to eat restaurant spaghetti and wonder at the mystery of it all. My own sauces would be thick and rich, but I could never get that noodle-cling I longed for. And even if I added olive oil to the sauce, it never had that same golden color.

Until now…

I have finally acquired the knack for fancy spaghetti worthy of company. Best of all? It’s easy! Even better? It tastes great!—rich, lively, warming, and satisfying.

Fast & Fancy Spaghetti

Ingredients:
1 bulb of garlic, each clove minced
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided—use the best quality you can find; the taste makes a huge difference
3 6-oz cans organic tomato paste
1 teaspoon Italian herbs
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (more or less, depending on how spicy you like it)
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
1 16-oz package organic whole wheat spaghetti noodles
1 15-oz can organic tomato sauce
1 Tablespoon fresh basil leaves chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh oregano leaves chopped
Parmesan cheese freshly grated for garnish

Place a large sauté pan over medium heat while you chop the garlic. Add ¼ cup olive oil and all the garlic to the hot pan and allow it to sauté for about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, open the cans of tomato paste and add them to the pan with the garlic and oil. Stir.

Add spices and remaining olive oil and stir to combine. Turn heat down to medium-low.

Allow these to cook in the pan while you prepare the spaghetti noodles according to the directions on the package. When you add the noodles to the boiling water, add the tomato sauce to your sauté pan with the paste, spices, and oil. Stir to combine and allow it to continue to simmer.

When the noodles are drained, add them to the sauté pan with the spaghetti sauce. Stir until the noodles are completely coated with the sauce. Add more olive oil if desired. Heap mounds of the fresh, hot pasta onto serving plates and top with a sprinkle of the fresh basil, oregano, and parmesan.

Tips: And whatever you do, do NOT be afraid of the garlic in this recipe. I promise that the flavor will mellow as it’s cooking, and once you add a whole package of noodles, the flavor blends into the background like you don’t know it’s there. Also, you will note that I do not add any salt to the sauce. The canned tomato products typically contain enough salt by themselves, so you don’t need any more.

Serving Size: This is enough spaghetti to feed me and my husband for several nights—and he eats gigantic portions! It will definitely serve a crowd of 6-8.

Leftover Suggestion: If you’re reheating the leftovers, the noodles will surely have absorbed much of the moisture from the sauce. You’ll want to add a little more moisture by adding a few large spoonfuls of canned tomato sauce and a drizzle of olive oil to the pan. I sometimes add a spoonful of liquid from a jar of olives, and then garnish the pasta with chopped olives for a new twist on the leftovers.

Labels: basil, garlic, oregano, spaghetti, spaghetti sauce recipe

Labels: corn, garden, garlic, Mexican pizza, onion, recipe, refried beans, squash, whole wheat crust, zucchini