Category Archives: Recipes

Classic Meatloaf

“Pass the Southern Comfort, baby.  It’s been a long day.”

And by that I mean spend some time getting a little déclassé and whip up some potatoes and veg for this super light and moist meatloaf.  I know, I know.  You want elegance and style.  You want strings and harps, and saucers of champagne.  But occasionally, you have to trailer-park-trash it up a bit and enjoy some straight up comfort food.  I know what you are thinking – Angela, aren’t you the self-proclaimed ingredient snob?  Truthfully, my deal is that everything be as tasty as possible, which is absolutely not elitist.  There’s room for truffles and tater tots alike in my mind.  Though maybe not in the same dish.  Anyways, the whole point is to put aside your preconceived TV dinner notions and tuck into Mama Angelina’s Bomb Meatloaf…yes, that’s literally what it’s called. And it’s “bomb” for “it’s the bomb”. Continue reading Classic Meatloaf

French Lemon Tarragon Vinaigrette

An Ode to Waking Your Ass Up

If ever you feel like it’s a “boo-hoo eat salad at home like a dieting loser” kind of night, I strongly advise you to make this dressing.  The recipe originally came from my mom – a bold mixture of lemon, garlic and olive oil packing a serious punch on whatever greens she dressed them with.  It woke your ass up. Continue reading French Lemon Tarragon Vinaigrette

Pasta Carbonara

Love is Bacon and Eggs for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

I come from a long line of women who cook with such confidence, it borders on defiance in following a recipe.  I can’t say that I don’t follow recipes, as I most certainly do.  But I have to admit that my favorite times in the kitchen are those when I am cooking the dishes that I know so intrinsically, using the recipe would only cause me to second guess myself.  This dish, a comforting amalgamation of fatty bacon and oozy eggs and cheese, is one I always love the best when made without a recipe.  I just know it’s going to be good by the feel of working with the ingredients that are in front of me.

Carbonara, for me, isn’t determined by the standard laundry list of ingredients (pasta, eggs, pancetta, parmasean, and a healthy dose of black pepper) so much as the proportions.  I like mine as gloriously lux as possible – comfort food at its finest – which means that I’ll be a bit of an ingredient snob in order to get it just right.  Ironically enough, this dish still manages to be one that I seem to be able to make at any time – I always have the ingredients lying around the fridge.  Maybe that’s the appeal – so easy to make, but insanely full of panache and class.  All cooking should have results such as these. Continue reading Pasta Carbonara