The (Not Barefoot) Contessa's Fish Pasta

The saltiness of the capers and olives along with the fish really made this dish for me. It will definitely be my new go to pasta dish for the week. I used red snapper for the fish.

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 12 or so oil cured olives, depitted and chopped
• 1 pound white fish, like striped bass or snapper
• 1 tablespoon salted capers
• half a glass of white wine
• 4 big and fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 packet linguine or spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped roughly
• salt and pepper

1. Chop tomatoes roughly.
2. Dice garlic.
3. Deskin fish and cut into bite sized chunks.
4. Saute three tablespoons of oil with garlic for two minutes or so over medium heat.
5. Add fish, stirring carefully until browned, try not to break it up.
6. Once browned, add salt and pepper, then half glass of white wine and turn up heat. stir carefully till wine is nearly evaporated.
7. In the meantime, heat pot of hot water for pasta, generously salted.
8. When wine is nearly evaporated, reduce heat, add tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes or so.
9. Add capers (i prefer just to shake the salt off them rather than wash them), parsley and olives. again stir carefully: you don't want to turn this into fish puree. When the tomato juice is released and the sauce is just thickening, turn off heat. You want the tomatoes a little raw.
10. Cook pasta al dente.
11. Carefully add the sauce to the pasta over a little heat. Stir gently for a minute or two and serve. 

Source: http://food52.com/recipes/264-the-not-barefoot-contessa-s-fish-pasta

Summer Corn Chowder

This soup is creamy, smoky, sweet, and completely satisfying all at the same time. I love the taste of the bacon with the corn and tomatoes. Besides some chopping, it was also a pretty easy recipe to prepare. I couldn't find light cream so I just used whipping cream, about 1 3/4 c instead of the suggested 2 cups of light cream.

• 6 medium ears of corn
• 6 strips of bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 small onion
• 1 medium poblano, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 small celery rib, finely chopped
• 3 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 medium boiling potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and cubed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• Pinch of sugar
• 1 small bay leaf
• 2 cups light cream, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Chopped parsley, for garnish

1. Working over a bowl, cut the corn kernels from the cobs at about half their depth. Then, using the back of the knife, scrape the cobs over the bowl to release all the "milk"; set aside.
2. In a large saucepan, fry the bacon over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain. Crumble and reserve.
3. Discard all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon drippings from the pan. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat until golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the poblano pepper, jalapeño and celery and cook until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, potatoes, salt, allspice, sugar, bay leaf and the reserved corn kernels and their "milk" and stir well. Cook over moderate heat until mixture begins to sizzle.
4. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender, 35 to 45 minutes. Stir in the cream and milk and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat and season with black pepper to taste. Ladle the chowder into bowls and garnish with the crumbled bacon and parsley.

Source: http://food52.com/recipes/142-summer-corn-chowder

Salsa Della Nonna

This is the first time I made fresh tomato sauce, and it was definitely worth the extra effort and time.We ate the chicken for one meal and used the sauce on homemade gnocchi the next night.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• One 4-pound chicken, quartered
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup peeled and finely diced carrot
• 1/4 cup finely diced celery
• 1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• Two 28-ounce cans San Marzano tomatoes, put through a food mill, with juice reserved or if you don't have a food mill, pulse tomatoes 3 to 4 times in a food processor
• 1/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves 

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the pot and lightly brown on all sides, about 4 minutes per side. Using tongs, transfer the chicken to a plate.
2. Place the Dutch oven over medium-high heat and saute the carrot, celery, onion, and garlic until tender, about 8 minutes. Add the rosemary, bay leaf, and red wine. Stir to scrape up the browned bits, then return the chicken to the pot. Cook to reduce the wine until the pot is almost dry. Pour in the milled tomatoes and season the sauce with salt and pepper.
3. Make a sweating lid to fit the pot (see Note). When the sweating lid is in place resting on top the chicken, slide the pot into the oven and cook for about 1 hour, or until chicken is cooked through. (You can use a regular pan lid if you don't want to cut a sweating lid from parchment, but allow a little more cooking time.)
4. Using tongs, transfer the chicken pieces to a plate. You can keep the chicken warm and serve it as a second course, or let cool, wrap, and refrigerate for another use. Add the torn basil leaves to the sauce and use this in place of any marinara sauce.

NOTE: To make a sweating lid, Trace the lid for the pot you'll be using on parchment paper and then cut the paper a little smaller, so the parchment fits inside the pot.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500188_162-57335855/chiarello-italian-fare-built-on-tasty-sauce/?pageNum=2