With an incredible Sausage Ragu, you'll take your meat sauce to the next level by using sausages. My favourite way to prepare this sausage pasta sauce is long and slow — just as we would do Shredded Beef Ragu. Finish off with Garlic Bread and a garden salad with Italian Dressing.

Sausage Ragu Sauce

Every butcher works really hard to put flavour and juiciness in sausages. Plus, I almost consider it my super responsibility to prove to you how much magic you can pull out of sausages beyond simple barbie* purposes or the usual Bangers and Mash!

Enter – Sausage Ragu. Starting with the classic soffritto helps, which might sound fancy but what you are really doing is sautéing onions, garlic, celery and carrots over low heat to make them beautifully sweet. It's a secret tip to make your dish flavour base amazing.

* Just don't take this as an insult to sausage sandwiches, please. I am a regular at the weekend Bunning's sausage sizzle fundraising. 🙂

Ingredients in Sausage Ragu

And what you'll need for this Sausage Ragu. No fancy ingredients!

THE SAUSAGES

2 x Beef + pork – I like a mixture of beef and pork sausages for the perfect soft texture combined with flavour. The beef sausages give the flavour and the pork the tenderness.

You can either use just beef or pork. With only beef, your sauce will not have the squishy meat in it that you would want. If using only pork the meat flavour is less stark. However, to be clear, if I only had one of these sausages, I would not hesitate to make this recipe! :)

Longevity

Whichever you choose, choose good sausages with more meat and less filler. Or check out the ingredients list (ideally the first 85%+ meat) or have a look at the sausage – fat specks there indicate good meat, a uniform pink colour means lots of fillers such as the sausage sold at "BBQ sausage sizzles" ("BBQ sausages"). So they can get as low as 55% meat (the rest is flour, maize, and non meat products) and usually a mix of beef and chicken.

But generally speaking, it is your friendly (local) butcher who is probably the best source. He can tell you what's really going on in his sausages and he can tell you precisely! 🙂

Casings of sausages

Not inside the casings of sausages. It is common in the US that sausage meat comes in mince or ground beef form, not in the casings you might see. Lucky you! For the rest of us, just squeeze the meat out. It is not hard.

OTHER INGREDIENTS

Here are the other ingredients for the ragu sauce:

For the soffrito, these things - onion, garlic, carrot, celery - are cooked slowly over low, so that they soften and sweeten and then give the flavour base for the sauce. This is a classic cooking technique employed all over the world in Italian, Mediterranean, Cajun, or South American cuisines.

Secret ingredient!

Fennel seeds! It's sautéed in the soffrito and helps with that little je ne sais quoi in the sauce. It's in there only if you have the kind of palette that's very, very refined.

This is the method of using a liquid to dissolve bits stuck on the base of a cooking vessel (sausage meat) into a sauce, and wine – red wine adds flavour to the sauce, and we use it to deglaze the pot. It's free flavour and it's called 'fond' those "gold bits". This is a standard cooking technique I use all the time for sauces and stews.

Substitute with 0% alcohol wine or more chicken stock.

• Chicken stock, low sodium – This with canned tomato makes up the bulk of the liquid for the sauce. I use chicken rather than beef stock because it's a milder flavour so you can taste the meat flavour better. I always used low sodium stock so I don't have to worry about sauces being too salty.
• Tomato paste – Just a smidge to boost the tomato flavour and help thicken the sauce.
• Thyme and bay leaves – The herbs for this pasta sauce. Fresh is best but dried is fine too.
• Chilli flakes (red pepper flakes) – Optional, for a touch of warmth.

PAPPARDELLE PASTA

I like to serve this sausage ragu with pappardelle pasta, the wide thick pasta that is sold coiled up, like pictured. The surface is slightly rough so it's ideal for tossing with thick hearty sauces like this sausage ragu, shredded beef ragu and chicken ragu which clings to the pasta well.

Having said that though, I'd happily serve sausage ragu with any pasta – short or long!

How to make Sausage Ragu

As you would for your favourite Bolognese, just take a little extra time for slow cooking!

Step 1

Cook the onion, celery and carrot then the garlic in a large heavy based pot over medium heat for around 8 minutes, or until the carrot is soft and sweet. Never allow the vegetables to go golden. But this is key because if you want a really beautiful flavour base for your sauce, don't rush it.

Step 2

Remove sausage meat from casings, and by squeezing it out – literally, from the casings, you just squeeze it out – and cook like mince. On this step, break it up as you go, but don't get caught up in it, sausage meat is 'stickier' so it won't crumble as well. Later partway through cooking we'll break it up finer.

Step 3

Next cook the tomato sauce for 1 minute to remove the raw sour flavour from the tomato paste. Next reduce the wine down by half before cooking out the winey flavour which only takes a couple of minutes. And finally, add the remaining ingredients: I always do canned tomato, chicken stock, bay leaves, thyme, salt, pepper and chilli flakes.

Step 4

Pop the lid on and put it in the oven at 180°C/350°F (160°C) for 1 hour (slow cook #1). The funny thing about that is I feel like this sounds so high for somebody cooking this slow for the oven but in reality this is the equivalent oven temperature of a very small stove burner on low.

Why oven instead of stove? It's just easier because it's purely hands off – you can just put it in the oven and forget about it. No need to worry about the base catching. This sauce is quite thick so, if you decided to use the stove instead, you will need to constantly be stirring it.

Step 5

Remove pot from oven and use a potato masher to crush meat into better pieces. (Sausage meat does not fall apart as well as minced ground beef – see step 2 notes). At this point the meat is tender so it doesn't require much effort. Unless I do this mostly around the pot, I usually do 8 to 10 mashing motions around the pot.

Step 6

Slow cook #2 (45 minutes) – Then return the pot into the oven for a further 45 minutes to finish slow cooking. Once done, the sauce It should be very thick like the above, very flavourful. That's what we want, because a) the thickness loosens up when you get it tossed with pasta, and b) the sauce gets dispersed through the pasta and diluted so the flavour is diffused. On that note, the sauces flavour should be strong in the pot because it should be strong enough to make the sauce awesome when its been tossed in to the pasta!

NOTHING IN LIFE IS FREE – ESPECIALLY TOSSING PASTA WITH SAUCE!

Step 1

Canned seafood – Open cans of bellisima and olives and drain. Scoop out a big jug of the pasta cooking water just before draining–we're going to use this in the next step. Wrapping the starch in the water around the pasta is what helps the sauce cling to the pasta.

Step 2

Save this for when you make a full batch of pasta – If you are using this for full batch pasta then go ahead and put the pasta into the ragu pot set over medium heat on the stove. If you are like me and making a smaller batch (making enough for 2 servings) return the drained pasta back into the same pot you used to cook pasta.

Step 3

Pasta sauce – Mix your pasta sauce into pasta (as obvious if you put the pasta in pasta sauce pot).

Step 4

Add 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water. Squirt it on the thick pasta sauce, it loosens it up enough so it coats the pasta strands. But it has starch in the pasta cooking water from the pasta itself. The fat in the pasta sauce reacts with this starch and turns it into a thicker sauce so it sticks to the pasta strands rather than sitting pooled at the bottom of your pasta bowl.

Step 5

Toss, toss, toss! In the event that step failed, then use two spatulas and toss the pasta for about a minute, or until the pasta strands are stained red and the pasta sauce gets tangled throughout and clinging right on the pasta. If it is too hard to loosen things up, use an extra slosh of pasta cooking water to reach the bottom of the sauce and incorporate it.

Step 6

Pasta – Warm bowl – Divide the pasta between bowls. If you want to keep the pasta slippery and warm longer, I like to warm the pasta bowls beforehand (just 30 seconds in the microwave!). Cold pasta = dry pasta!

Beef pasta cooked in a sugary garlic tomato creamy sauce with Italian seasoning. An easy homemade comfort food that's also single pot cooking!

Creamy Tomato Beef Pasta One Pot

One-pot pasta recipes are quite selective. Today's my only use case for it is saucy pastas. With less saucy pastas such as Puttanesca or pesto pasta, it just doesn't work properly, because there is not enough liquid to really cook the pasta thoroughly.

So any one pot pasta recipe you'll find on my blog is oozing with sauce, because there ya have it, therefore.

Never has anyone complained, I've never heard of it. Everybody loves sauce! 🙂

Today I am sharing a creamy tomato sauce beef pasta. That's basically a Bolognese with Italian seasonings and a cupboard stainless steel full of cream. Total crowd pleaser!

This One Pot Beef Pasta Ingredients

This all came after my one pot pasta sauciness post (nothing will surprise you when you see the name) the cardinal rule of cooking one pot pasta recipes is to ensure the pasta requires liquid to absorb it and so much of it! Liquid picked up by cooked dried pasta is two and a half times that amount. Today we use 4 cups of stock and 1 can of tomato for 360g/12ozs of pasta.

• Beef mince: I used 90% lean beef mince (ground beef), but any fat % will be just fine. Most people use 80/20. The fattier the beef, the beefier the flavor.
• Chicken stock/broth: The cooking liquid of choice. Tastier than water!
• Pasta: I used spirals (fusilli) but other similar sized short pasta will also do just fine.
• Cream: 3/4 cup, stirred in at the very end turns a regular tomato sauce into a creamy tomato sauce.
• Garlic and onion: Essential flavor base.
• Canned tomato: Adds extra tomato flavor and slightly thickens the sauce.
• Italian herbs: For seasoning! Use a store-bought mix or a combination of oregano, basil, and parsley.
• Red pepper flakes: Optional, for a tiny bit of warmth.

1 Pot Creamy Tomato Beef Pasta Recipe

1. Sauté the garlic and onion, then cook the beef until it's no longer red.
2. Add Italian herbs and cook for 30 seconds to toast the seasoning.
3. Add tomato paste and stir for a minute.
4. Pour in stock, canned tomato, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Stir well, then add the pasta.
5. Bring liquid to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes until pasta is just cooked. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.
6. Stir in cream and simmer for another minute.
7. Remove from stove, give a good stir, and ladle into bowls.
8. Sprinkle with parmesan and parsley if desired, and enjoy!

As you pull that sucker off the stove, don't worry how saucy it is... that's what you want. Pasta absorbs liquid quickly, so by the time you serve it, it will have gone from just a little too soupy to the perfect level of ooziness.

If you look above, you know pasta is pretty good at absorbing liquid, which means it'll go from just too soupy to a beautiful oozy perfection you won't be able to resist in the time between pulling it off the stove and eating it. But in either case, saucier is to dry as wet is to dry. No one wants a mound of gluey, stodgy pasta!!!

YUM. That is 100% me in that food. It's not fancy. It's fuss-free to make. It's hearty and cozy and easy, and rustic, and full of flavor.

Although I love Jalapeño poppers — I'm going to refer to them as poppers in this post — it takes such a ridiculous amount of time to make them, that I rarely get the chance to eat them at home. One night, when I'd been going by myself and spending dynamic cooking time in my kitchen—sometimes it's a chore to cook for one—I happened to find a jar of pickled jalapeños and boom took some inspiration.

In the midst of comfort food, I somehow transformed my classic grilled cheese into this beauty. My friends and family instantly took to it.

That's a self indulgent Friday worthy meal I like to have with a cold drink, a blanket and couple of chick flicks, but this jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwich is the one. And it's also a fun kid friendly lunch (just adjust the spice levels as you like) and an easy party appetizer.

It's cheesy, gooey, and fragrant. It's crispy and buttery on the outside and exactly like a deep fried popper, only hassle free.

GIY (Grate it Yourself) vs Pre Shredded

The thing, however, is that chefs love to talk about how they never use pre shredded cheese for recipes where you want your cheese to melt nice. Unfortunately, however, there's actually a good reason for that. Anti caking agents mean a pre shredded cheese unless you find one that doesn't have them. The superior way to go is grating your own cheese.

A Clever Shortcut

I will not be the one telling you not to use pre-shredded cheese, it'll taste delicious, regardless — do what you want. I do, however, have a counter for alternative.

If you couldn't be bothered to grater cheese for your casserole or lasagne this technique will appeal to you if you find it easier to toss the food processor bowl in the dishwasher than deal with a grater. Place all of the filling ingredients into your food processor and pulse until all of it breaks down into a smooth, easy to spread paste. That's really helpful if you're itching to scale up this recipe.

Use the Oven to Scale It Up

Small grilled cheese sandwiches are my thing to make when I have friends over. It feels like fancy finger food, but it's comforting enough to satisfy the masses. Served with shots of warm tomato soup for that nostalgic kick a la Anton Ego in Disney's epic, Ratatouille film, if you want to kick things up a notch.

If I can, I'll bake these big batches in the oven — I can put 6 of them at a time on a sheet pan to come out, about 24 bite sized sandwiches. Preheat the oven to 425 (F) and put up rack in upper third of the oven. Take a knob of butter and place it on rimmed baking sheet and into preheat oven until melted, about 5 minutes. Coat the pan and sprinkle the Parmesan (if using) over the tray and tilt it. Put the hot sheet pan with bread slices. Fill the cheese filling evenly and bake for 5 minutes until gooey.

Remove from the oven carefully and add the remaining layer of buttered bread (buttered side up), pressing it down with a spatula, sprinkle with the second time with Parmesan then return to the oven until golden brown. After cutting each sandwich in half once for a half sandwich gap, then each half of the sandwich into four mini triangles (the superior grilled cheese shape), serve.

Savvy Swaps

For making grilled cheese, one can instead use mayo that lends a slight tang and a perfectly crisp exterior without burning as fast as butter. I, however, am a purist. As far as I'm concerned, butter does make things better. Fresh rinejalapeños can be used instead of pickled and the same or more or less, the flavour will be a little sweeter, but we can be more spicy depending on your jalapeños.

But if you want a little bit of sweetness, then use candied bacon. Good things do cost extra — it is what it is.

Grilled Cheesy Goodness

• Sheet Pan Grilled Cheese Sandwich.
• Mozzarella, Red Peppers with Arugula on Grilled Cheese Sandwich
• Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
• Grilled Cheese Sandwich Instructions
• Grilled Cheese BLT
• Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Jalapeño Popper filling.

If using garlic and herb cream cheese, replace the garlic and herbs with regular cream cheese mixed with the remaining crushed garlic clove, a pinch of freshly ground pepper, and a few teaspoons of your favorite chopped herbs, I highly recommend cilantro and chives.

Ingredients

• 6 strips bacon
• Softened garlic and herb cream cheese (6 tablespoons)
• Freshly grated: 2 ounces Cheddar cheese
• 2 ounces of freshly grated Monterey Jack
• about 2 to 4 tablespoons finely chopped, pickled jalapeños, to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin, optional
• 4 slices sourdough bread
• 1 to 2 tablespoons butter
• Finely grated Parmesan, 2 tablespoons optional

Method

Step 1: Cook the bacon

Lay a layer of bacon in a non stick skillet and over medium heat. Turn the bacon, and cook until crispy. Set aside in the pan and drain on a plate lined with paper towel.

Step 2: Make the filling

Mix together the cream cheese, Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, chopped jalapeños and cumin (if using), all in a small bowl. After we let the bacon cool a bit chop it up with the cheese mixture.

Step 3: Assemble the sandwiches

Put the butter on one side of each slice of bread, butter side down, on a plate. In 2 sandwiches arrange 2 slices of bread that you've slathered the filling on and top with remaining slices buttered out sides up.

Step 4: Toast the sandwiches

Pour out the bacon fat from the skillet, then give the inside of the skillet a good wipe out with a dry paper towel. Place skillet on medium heat.

If using, sprinkle the tops of the sandwiches with Parmesan cheese. Once the skillet is hot, add Parmesan side down to the sandwiches. Finished in the oven by sprinkling it with more Parmesan.

Golden brown in 10 to 12 minutes, uncovered. Cook these people on each side until golden for a total of 4-5 minutes.

Step 5: Serve

Pull off the heat and let cool a few minutes. Serve right away, slice with a serrated knife.

The filling in this recipe makes ahead friendly but best served from pan as a grilled cheese sandwich. Put the mix in a covered bowl and refrigerate it for up to 3 days, then bring it back to room temperature before using.

My mom keeps newspaper clippings and index cards in her recipe box, and rifling through it resembles watching an old photo album. There are lots of 'Do you remember that?' and 'I have not met X for ages!'

I had even noticed generic boxes of Velveeta at the grocery store the other day which made me ask her to get it down for me. I can't honestly say that I thought about Velveeta recently but adding it was what made one of my family's favorite meals – cooked ground beef, canned beans, Ro-Tel tomatoes. The Velveeta went in at the end and it all melted into sort of a brownish mess called creamed tacos.

We ate it in bowls accompanied by tortilla chips and shredded lettuce; it was nowhere close to deconstructed tacos as it was more of cheesy chili. Years I used to think it was called "cream tacos." But the name doesn't matter at all. It's just good.

A True Texas Recipe, Kind Of

It is a mother's recipe that I related to creamed tacos but actually, it was inspired by Janey Hays my parents knew her in the late 1960s. One day, as newlyweds, mom and dad journeyed from Ohio to the Air Force base in Laredo, TX For dad and a host of other arrogant young men, it was pilot training. People married in this country and others lived on the base in simple concrete structures; many of the residents became good friends. They organised very noisy sessions where they served lots of food, beer among other beverages.

They were one of many couples stationed there and while the Hayses thought they knew everything they needed to about each other's relationship, they never really knew what was going on at the base between couples. Janey (or, as I later came to discover was her name, Mrs. Hays) was from Texas. All of the wives shared recipes with each other, and this turned out to be a most exciting period of cookery experience for many of the wives. I think mom had resided in Ohio her entire life and dishes such as Tex-Mex enchiladas and a Southern tomato pie were unfamiliar to her. Instead, she presented her friends to their first cabbage rolls ever.

Some of those people never ever talked to me again after I completed pilot training but my parents by some twist of fate got to know the whereabouts of those couple of families. His company transferred him to Marietta in the 1980s but he and his company were obviously unaware that we lived there. They were looking at homes in my family's street as we kids and I were playing television tag in our lawn one summer evening. One day, a strange man came over, and literally, I saw him staring at our mailbox with stick-on letters = BIR. "Sorry miss can I ask if your father IS Jim Bir?" Who can blame him? I think I would have probably blanked on him, because it is not a very popular name, but I am almost certain I have heard it before. He took a piece of paper and scribbled something, and said I should give it to my parents and take any calls for him.

The Hayses had a daughter my age and our families would spend some time together Socializing my mom and Mrs. Hays resumed swapping recipe. It was with this thought in mind that creamed tacos came into our lives. When years elapsed, Hayses relocated and as always, people lost touch with the family. Mrs. I remember you often Hays, whenever I am passing by the house you used to live in.

A Filling, Super Easy Meal

What was this Mrs. Hays doing preparing creamed tacos in the first place I do not know, but growing up me and my two brothers creamed tacos on a school night meant that there is party at home later. For my working mom probably too because creamed tacos are ready from zero to table surface within about 15minutes.

Mom hasn't made creamed tacos in years, in part because they are presumably dreadful for you. One day after mom found the recipe I prepared it for my daughter and her dad and recalled what the fuss was all about. It's like your own small bowls of chili con queso for dinner. Who can say no to that?

Jose's Creamed Tacos: Telling the Story of How My Mom Modernized Creamed Tacos

Mom altered the ingredients to prepare according to Mrs. Hays' recipe slightly. First of all, it calls for either a can or a brick of chili. Anyways, mom excluded the chili since she doesn't think that we need it in the recipe since it's already quite starchy. I say you could even leave out the ground beef altogether and use extra beans for vegetarian dinner or even substitute the plant-based grounds.

Mrs. Hays also requires one pint of half and half. Creamed tacos are quite rich and still a dietitian's disaster before you pour half and half over it. But really what mom did was that instead of taking an easiest recipe she make it even easier than that by removing it from the refrigerator.

As for this, it is indeed a perfect meal that young children and growing chefs could do on their own. That must have been the case when I was about 10 or 12 years old making the first one, although I do not remember ensuring I cleared the mess.

How To Make Creamed Tacos

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 cans chili beans (15.5 ounce size each; do not drain)
• 1 (10-14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chili
• 1 pound processed cheese, for instance, Velveeta
• 1 to 2 tsp chili powder, optional
• Tortilla chips, for serving
• Shredded lettuce, for serving
• Diced tomatoes, for serving

Instructions:

1. Place the ground beef in a large pot for example a 4 to 5-quart Dutch oven as shown. Place this over medium heat; then fry the ground beef until pink is no longer present and it is crumbled up. This'll take 5 to 8 minutes. Skim most, but not all, of the fat and then pour it down the sink.
2. While the meat is being cooked, it browns and you can set this time aside to do the lettuce and fresh tomato preparation.
3. Put in the beans, canned tomatoes and any other ingredient required. Stir and let it boil gently and achieve a hot and thin consistency at the same time.
4. On the other hand, the cheese should be cubed in large pieces. When the pot starts to simmer add the cheese. Lower the heat and keep stirring until the cheese has melted completely—it doesn't take long.
5. Take a sip and if you believe it needs more of that fire, you can add 1 or 2 teaspoon of chili powder. (Beware of these one- because they are very salty, and, yes, the chili powder contains salt too.)
6. It's typically the case with creamed tacos as we always serve them very thick and you can tell that it really lays heavily on your stomach. But if yours is thicker than you would like it to be, you can dilute it by adding a little amount of water or milk.
7. Spoon the creamed tacos onto bowls and garnish with the tortilla chips, shredded lettuce and fresh diced tomatoes.

If you have any remaining food on the dish then store it in a refrigerator for 4 days at most. As for freezing, I have never done it with creamed tacos but am sure it should be quite all right.

In the Italian family, soup is always appreciated. From the soup that you make to get back your health overnight pastina soup to the Italian wedding soup and my grandma's soup which has escarole and is consumed during the Xmas, all the soups give a sense of comforting and has bliss of yester years. Simply and to the point, to our mind, soup does indeed comfort the spirit.

Creamy vegetable dumpling soup was formatted by such mere thought as instead of pasta can we use dumplings for the soup? A great shortcut was included in the recipe too. It takes time to prepare the potato gnocchi but it becomes a substitute for homemade dumplings, and placing it directly in the broth helps enhance taste.

The end result is so easy, tasty, and so yummy that it has become one of our 'go to' dishes. For extra Italian flavor, a dollop of coconut milk, the zest from half a lemon, and a sprinkle of fresh parsley, this soup is an easy way to warm the soul.

What Kind of Gnocchi To Use

I am not very keen on gnocchi and so far, after trying several types, I prefer the classic potato gnocchi that we get from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's. You should find it packed shelf-stable packages in the aisle where pastas are located.

I also like Trader Joe's Cauliflower Gnocchi that is gluten-free. Besides, we also use jar sauce that has a longer list of ingredients and is set at 3pm. However, as one must cook the product from the frozen state, the soup takes longer to come to boil and the gnocchi to cook compared to other shelf stable products. Surprisingly, the cauliflower gnocchi are denser than normal and bigger in the soup which is not a bad thing at all.

It's the easiest soup you can ever imagine and any gnocchi works greatness in this soup—just cook the gnocchi according to the heating instructions in the back of the package. The only thing that is going to change about the method is the title.

Easy Recipe Variations

There is another point why I always serve it – it is very versatile: It's also very flexible depending on which type of flavor you fancy as well as which ingredients you might have at any given time. Often we add spinach or kale, soy curls and more about fresh herbs you can imagine.

Some other welcome additions:

• Spinach, kale, or escarole
• Shredded rotisserie chicken
• Cooked, crumbed sausage
• Discarded chickpeas or canned white beans
• Norms such as broccoli or peas receive the very best of treatment and are put in the freezer as vegetables.

This also now means you can change the dried spices and include dried rosemary, sage and Italian seasonings with the dried thyme and oregano used in the formula list.

If you're using Better than Bouillon paste, mix 1 tsp./cup water and then 1 more tsp for a total of 7 teaspoons.

With frozen gnocchi, simply heed the same direction as mentioned above. They will only take a few minutes longer to boil and the cook time for the gnocchi could be slightly more.

If you're using Trader Joe's Cauliflower gnocchi, use 1 1/2 of a 12-ounce bag.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small white onion
• 3 stalks celery
• 3 medium carrots
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3/4 teaspoon, freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 250ml reduced sodium vegetable stock half the amount of one standard cup. 6 cups of meat free reduced-sodium vegetable broth or stock, for example Knorr Cube.
• 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
• 16 ounces potato gnocchi
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• ¼ fresh parsley, chopped
• Salt, to taste

Optional for serving

• Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top or a cheesy flavoring called nutritional yeast.
• Crushed red chili flakes

Method

Chop the vegetables and heat the oil:

Finely dice one onion, one celery stalk and one large carrot. And while you're at it, you should also chop up 1 cup of onion, 1 cup of carrots, and 1 1/2 cups of celery. Finely chop the garlic and put it aside.

Turn the stove to medium high heat and place a 4-quart pot or a Dutch oven and then followed by putting the olive oil.

Sauté the vegetables:

Once they are sparkling, add the onions, celery, and carrots and sauté till the onions are only slightly browned, approximately 4 minutes. Reduce the warmth and stir into the sauce the garlic, pepper, thyme and oregano. Stir the mixture and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes until the vegetables start developing a somewhat discretionary aroma.

Add the liquid and bring to a boil:

Also incorporate the vegetable broth coconut milk. Add more heat to medium high and allow the soup to boil, the boiling should take about five to six minutes.

Cook the gnocchi:

Mix the gnocchi with the mixture and return to a boil. Prepare according to the package ambience, which is 2 to 3 min for shelf-stable potato gnocchi, or until the gnocchis float to the top.

Season and serve:

After that, pull the soup off the heat and then stir in the lemon juice and chopped parsley. Taste, adding salt to taste. Consume it freshly cooked with your red chili flakes and Parmesan cheese, or nutritional yeast if preferred.

Any remaining portions should be put in a sealable container and refrigerated for up to 4 days. Heating it up in a pot over medium low heat until the soup is warm.

Did you ever get a Frito pie or walk around with a taco in a bag? A few summers back, this Texan friend of mine asked me if I would like to go for a pop up in Brooklyn, since we both resided in the area. I had never even heard of Frito pie – or Fritos, for that matter – before I moved to the South from the Northeast as a child.

Honestly, I did not expect to get a bag of Fritos filled with chili, sour cream, corn chips, and cheese, but I was amazed. One sunny and oppressive afternoon we lay on the fresh green of one of the parks, talking and tasting the good combination of meat and potatoes.

Today, whenever I want to get that taste from back in the day, I grab my favorite skillet for a homemade dish called walking taco casserole. What you get from the convenience of the bag is all the components of a walking taco casserole, served in a casserole dish. It is versatile and very delicious so you can take it with any toppings of your choice.

Walking Tacos and Frito Pie: A Brief History

Writing for Eater and Heavy Table, it has been determined that there is no definitive source for the invention of Frito pie. But it was perhaps first observed in the region now known as Texas and then migrated across the continental United States to the Midwest.

The Frito pie is typically a popular food item purchased at schools, occasions that include sports games or community field days. My friend Joseph who used to have this at school lunches describes it as being made with Hormel canned chili, topped with a spoonful of sour cream, shredded cheese and chives.

Swaps and Substitutions

• If you do not like pinto beans you can replace them with black beans if you like!
• For a less spicy type use plain canned diced tomatoes instead of Rotel brand which has chilis.
• Of course, you can use a ground beef substitute; however, you should know that you may need more oil because of fat.

Make-Ahead Instructions

It also makes this casserole very easy to prepare in advance using some handy tips. Yes, prepare the filling up to the final stage of adding the toppings but don't add the toppings, you can prepare the meat and bean filling 2 days before and store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Just before serving prepare the oven, preheat it to 350°F. Carefully, pour the filing to another casserole dish and sprinkle the cheese and Fritos on top. Bake as directed, then increase by 5-10 minutes to heat the entire casserole.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. neutral oil (usable Canola oil)
• 1 white onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, fine chop
• 1 pound 80/20 ground beef
• 3 tablespoons taco seasoning mix (either homemade or bought ready-made from the grocery store)
• 1 scallion, finely diced
• 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans
• 1 (10-ounce) can RO*TEL Original Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
• 1 cup thick and chunky salsa
• Salt and black pepper according to taste
• 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese (300g), plus more if necessary
• 1 (9-ounce) bag Fritos Corn Chips

For serving (optional)

• Sour cream
• Pickled jalapenos
• Diced scallions
• Shredded lettuce

Method

Saute the aromatics:

Pour the oil into a big 12 inch skillet with heat level set to medium. Stir in garlic and onion and cook for 6-8 minutes until the garlic and onions are softened and have turned translucent.

Cook the meat:

Add the beef and start breaking it down with a wooden spoon to desired pieces. Stir in for 6-8 minutes to make the vegetables appear golden brown.

Note: If your taco seasoning does not contain salt incorporated in it then season the meat with salt liberally.

Preheat the oven:

While the meat is grilling, turn on the oven to 350°F.

Simmer the casserole:

Lower the heat down and put the taco seasoning, the scallions and the pinto beans in the pot. Stir for additional 1-2 minutes until it is well combined with the rest of the ingredients.

Finally, add the Rotel and salsa and again stir in well, required 8-10 minutes depending on the time required to blend in the salsa, meat and other seasonings. If necessary you can add more salt and pepper to bring the best flavor you want to achieve.

Add the toppings:

Right after that spread the mixture on a 9x13-inch casserole, make sure it forms an even layer. Cover with cheddar cheese and 2 cups Corn Fritos chips and additional 2 cups chips, if using more chips.

Bake for 10 minutes, depending on the level of cheese meltage.

Serve

Place the hot mixture on the top casserole dish with decisions to add a swirl of sour cream, pickled jalapenos, scallions, shredded lettuce. And tada!...separate and serve it on plates and you're ready to indulge!

We love macaroni and cheese in all forms at our house: made completely on the stovetop, baked perfectly in the oven with crumbs of browned butter and most of all made out of a boxed mix. Orange or blue boxes have been my companions since my childhood. These stories symbolised basic, reassuring dishes which I could cook for myself. Same to all the years I had as a dumb grown up trying to survive in society. Rarely a week before the birth of our daughter her father and I would completely relish indulging ourselves in Trader Joe's mac and cheese with hot dog and frozen peas addition.

Now my daughter's the one who eats boxed macaroni and cheese like it's some kind of separate food group. I wanted to feel that I had a little more say in what gets inputted into it, so I came up with my own. We are happy with the outcome and I am sure you will be the same. For the "box" version, you only need three ingredients, and for actual preparation, you just add milk and/or butter, just like in the real thing.

It Starts With Dry Cheese Powder

This is essentially the neon orange paste that people who use boxed macaroni and cheese probably already know as the cheese component. Online purchases of good-quality brands will have real cheese as the first item on the ingredients' list. As it turned out, buying in bulk tends to be cheaper so I ended up ordering a 1-pound tub of Hoosier Hill Farms cheddar cheese powder at $23.69 with shipping included. If you wish an original colored brand of Cheddar Cheese Powder, try this Anthony's Cheddar Cheese Powder. I liked its taste, however, some starches in the product prepared for me had formed lumps that did not disintegrate well.

Tapioca flour, therefore, is the secret weapon.

What I learned of other brands that included in their cheese sauce mix helped me to deduce a creamy sauce. The only experiment my daughter did was sampling boxed macaroni and cheese so I kept all the used boxes and scanned through the list of ingredients. Out of all the mac and cheeses that were tested none of the Trader Joe's Shells and White Cheddar and Annie's Shells & Real Aged Cheddar had any ingredients that didn't pass the 'no-no' list except for a modified starch as a thickener, which could be either cornstarch or tapioca flour.

Such kinds of starches set almost instantly – on reaching the boiling point and produce a sauce that is generally thicker with more body. The interesting thing about tapioca flour is that it sort of becomes somewhat stringy, and thus approximates cheese pull.

Tapioca flour is easy enough to locate in the gluten-free aisle of the grocery store when you are browsing the baking section. I get Bob's Red Mill brand. Perhaps it is seldom used in households' daily cooking, however the good news is that saffron can be stored for a long time in a cool and dark place. Miraculously, tapioca flour is the main component in our simple Brazilian cheese bread recipe which means buying a bag is totally justified.

It is optional to add the tapioca flour for your homemade mac and cheese mix if you or your people prefer a runnier macaroni and cheese.

The Best Pasta for the Job

Loose crinkling packing peanuts, or plain old cheapo macaroni, overwhelmingly seems the most appropriate here. And that indeed will work, but your result won't be quite like the mix because the pasta in those boxes is generally much more delicate and cooks faster. Al dente – even the most basic elbow macaroni is much more robust than the pasta found in the mac and cheese boxes – so take note of that with expectations.

I found that the best pasta options were shelved with the small pastas meant for soups: that is where you'll see tiny shells. I did mini-penne for them, and that meals were well received. The above pastas are usually retailing at a price of a dollar or two more per box than economy brands but we found the additional enjoyment sustainable.

Instead of semolina pasta as it is usually preferred in recipes, whole-wheat macaroni was not quite as good. So, it became a very thirsty sponge for the liquid, that, to make the sauce, we had to add additional milk, which watered down the cheese. There was also a sensation imbalance that wilted from the slimmer pasta and to the heartier, wheaty texture. Despite this we opted to remain using the traditional enriched wheat pasta and make up for the whole grain during the remainder of the day.

More butter is used in order to create Creamier Mac and Cheese.

Similar to most mac and cheese mixes, my homemade mac and cheese mix requires incorporation of a range of butter. So after years of mac and cheese immersion I have realized that those box brands that profess to be richest and creamiest only require the person to add more butter- even up to 4 tablespoons. That's half a stick, which is a lot for 2 1/2 servings of a fruit that is high in fat. It also less often enhances the natural taste of cheese as most people anticipate it would. While 1 tablespoon is enough for us, we do use whole milk most often .

Out of Milk or Butter? Try These Subs

Sometimes we're out of milk. It happens. I tried to make this recipe with a milieu of dairy and even non-dairy options to see what worked, and a diverse array of stuff lurking in the fridge made for really pleasing macaroni and cheese.

• Replace the butter with sub cream cheese contained with milk (but heat the butter gently before adding the milk to whipped up in order to avoid forming lumps).
• Replace the milk with any plain non-dairy milk
• Replace the milk and butter with sour cream (but do not use it when boiling)
• Replace milk and butter with yogurt – plain yogurt, but avoid boiling it
• Trade milk for a light pilsner beer in a college kid staple

For ease, try copying the following recipe on a card and put in some place where everyone in the house knows where to look when they need to prepare it, without asking you the process.

On the same note, I it is quite conversational to combine one batch of powder with salt and the optional tapioca at one time as I wait for the water come to boil. However, if you'd like to do a large, bulk mix, that is quite doable – I would suggest that you whisk the components. You will be using 3 tablespoons of the dry cheese mix per one batch.

The amounts given are for 1 serving which equal 1 box of macaroni (6 to 7.25 ounces) and cheese.

Ingredients

• Dry macaroni shells or other small pasta; about 1 1/2 cups or 6oz./ 170g when cooked.
• 3 tablespoons (20 grams) cheddar cheese powder, orange/white
• 30 ml plain water, For the filling 80g ginkgo nuts, 1 tablespoon butter, 1/2 teaspoon tapioca starch, optionally
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons milk, any kind
• 1 – 2 tablespoons butter (if you use salted butter, you should reduce the indicated salt)

Method

Boil the water:

Boil on high heat. Place a medium saucepan 6 cups water and put it on the stove. Add the lid and let the liquids boil.

Make the cheese sauce mix:

At the same time in another small bowl, physically combine the cheese powder, tapioca starch (if used) and salt with a help of the fork or a small whisk. Set aside.

Cook the pasta:

When the water is at full rolling boil add the pasta. Stir once. After it boils remove the cooker and let the water return to a robust boil that foams at the sides but not spilling over. Cook it until the pasta is as soft as preferred, usually takes about 8 minutes.

Pour rinse the pasta over a colander. Do not rinse out the cloth or knock out the excess water from it.

Cook the sauce, then combine with the pasta and serve:

Lower the heat to moderate then place the hot, empty pot on the heat source, back on the stove. Add the butter and melt. Finally fold in the milk and all the cheese powder mixture. Blend until the majority of the lumps dissolved, leaving the sauce pasty and thickening a little. Pour the hot drained pasta into the sautéd vegetables, mix until well coated. Serve immediately.

Macaroni and cheese should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. If you find the soup too thick or thickness of your cream causes this same effect for you, then when reheating it in the microwave add a little more water. I prefer to take it straight from the fridge.