Insalata Caprese aka Caprese Salad

It's been a while since I shared any recipes with all of you, so I figured I'll just share something really quick and easy to make. This is the perfect summer time salad, when fresh tomatoes are in season. Insalata Caprese (or better known as Caprese Salad here in the States) originated from the region of Campania in Italy. An interesting fact that I found from Wikipedia is that this salad is sometimes called Insalata Tricolore, referring to the three colors of the Italian flag. Interesting. Anyways, I simply love this salad because it's really yummy to eat and really simple to make. It takes less than 10 minutes to put everything together. Here's how you make it.

Start off by washing a few large tomatoes. It's always good to choose the juicy ripe ones. Slice up the tomatoes and set them aside.

Next, you would need some fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese. Remove the cheese from it's packaging (it's usually sold, soaked in water) and slice it into pieces.

Then, it's time to put it all together. Arrange the tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and fresh basil leaves on a plate. Just alternate the tomatoes and cheese, with random basil leaves all over. Now, traditionally, one would just drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top and you are set to go. I changed it up a little and combined 1 part extra virgin olive oil to 1 part balsamic vinaigrette. Drizzle that over the salad and top it up with some freshly cracked black pepper and some salt. All done! Now, wasn't that easy? =)

Italian Sausage with Peppers & Onions

Yessss, I know I haven't been blogging for a while. Yesss, I know. In my past few posts, I said that I will be blogging more but I have yet to do that. Sooo, here's what I am going to do. I am going to pretend that there wasn't any break in my blogging and just carry on blogging like usual :P How's that? LOL! Anyways, it's been a while since I shared any recipes with all of you. So, here's a quick one that's really simple to make but super yummy to eat. I would make this on days when I am really lazy but still want something home made and hearty. Try it, this recipe is definitely a keeper.

Start off by browning 6 links (about 4 oz) of sweet Italian sausages in a large pan. If you like it spicy, you could use hot Italian sausages too. Make sure you brown all sides of the sausages. Once it's done, remove it from the pan and then set them aside.
Using the same pan, add in some green peppers and onions. You could also add in some yellow and red peppers too if you like.
After sauteing for a bit, season with some basil, oregano, black pepper and garlic powder. Then, add in a can of diced tomatoes. I used diced tomatoes that has been seasoned with Italian herbs but you can pretty much use just any regular diced tomatoes.
Mix the tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients then add in about half a cup of red wine. If you like, you could also use Marsala wine. Remember to try and get as much of the burnt bits off the bottom of the pan. You'll be surprised how much flavor that adds to the dish.
Give everything a good mix and return the sausages into the pan. Allow it to simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, until all the sauce is reduced and it's good to go! How easy was that? I served that up with some penne pasta but you can pretty much serve it with anything. Pasta, rice, potatoes, Italian bread....anything that you like! Try it and let me know how it turns out! :D

Uno Chicago Grill - Clifton, NJ

It was another lazy Sunday afternoon for us and we spent the entire afternoon lazing on the couch, watching TV. We were watching some program on the Food Network about various types of pizzas around America and I realized that I've never tried the Chicago style deep dish pizza before. Yeah, I've been to Chicago before don't ask me why, I just never got around to trying the deep dish pizza. Now, I totally love our NY style pizza and I really think that it's the best pizza ever. Hands down. However, how can I make such a statement without even trying the Chicago style pizza, right? So, I told Kevin that we should go have some Chicago style deep dish pizza for dinner that evening. Now, the big question. Where can we find Chicago style deep dish pizza in the middle of Northern Jersey?
Uno Chicago Grill, of course! After all, they were the ones who invented the Chicago deep dish pizza! We have always driven past this place whenever we go grocery shopping in Clifton, but we never got around to checking it out. I guess today is the day! Since it's located in a shopping/commercial area of Clifton, parking was no problem at all. There were ample free parking spaces available all around the restaurant. I guess we were a little bit early for dinner, so we lucked out and didn't have to wait for a table. I can tell that Uno Chicago Grill is a pretty popular spot, cos all the tables were filled and there was a line when we left.
Before we left for dinner, I went online to see if there were any in store coupons and/or promotions for Uno Chicago Grill. I found out that if we sign up for their Insider's Club, we will get a coupon for a free appetizer. So, I did just that! We ordered the 1lbs of the Honey BBQ Wings ($9.79) to share as our appetizer. Of course, we got that free...so...YAY! The wings were really huge and juicy, just the way I like them! The honey BBQ sauce was also really yummy. Who would have known, that you can find such awesome wings in a pizza place.
For our mains, we of course ordered the deep dish pizza. Since we couldn't agree on a what pie to try, we decided to go with two personal pans. When they brought out the pies, the waiter told us that the pans are super hot. They then helped us remove the pies from the pans and placed them on regular plates. It smelled so good and yummy, we couldn't wait to dig in. Kevin ordered the Chicago Classic ($10.79) and I had the Numero Uno ($10.99) . Kevin's Chicago Classic is crumbled sausage, chunky tomato sauce, Mozzarella and grated Romano cheese. It looked yummy and Kevin said it tasted great too.
My Numero Uno pizza is their all time favorite and one of the most popular pizzas on the menu. It's basically a 'the works' pizza. It had sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms and their signature chunky tomato sauce, all topped with Mozzarella and grated Romano cheese. Look at how deep it is. It's so thick, you can't just pick it up to eat, like the NY style pizza. You have to use a fork! It was just packed with all kinds of toppings and it was soo flavorful too. Another thing that stood out was the crust. It was so buttery and flaky, mmmm mmmm mmmm.
Our total bill came to $28.85 for 2 drinks, 1 appetizers (which was free) and two pizzas. We had plenty of pizza left over, so I would say that it was enough to feed 3-4 people. Not too bad at all. So, the answer to the question we have all been waiting for. Which is better? NY style of Chicago style pizza? I really love the Chicago deep dish pizza from Uno Chicago Grill. In fact, I am already making plans to return real soon. However, I must say that nothing can beat our greasy and huge sliced NY style pizza! Pick up a huge slice of pepperoni pizza with cheese and grease dripping from the sides, fold it in half and stuff it in your mouth. Ahhhh heaven! Now, that's what I call good pizza! :D

Uno Chicago Grill - Clifton, NJ
426 Rt. 3 West
Clifton, NJ 07014
Tel: (973)574 1303
Web: http://unos.com/

Mario's Pizza - Newark, NJ

There is a fairly new pizza place (well, not THAT new but new enough) that opened up a couple of doors away from Jersey BBQ Pit that we have been meaning to check out. Every time we drive down McCarter Highway, we would say that we wanna swing by one day to try it but we just never got around to doing so. It was another lazy weekend for us and as usual, we were just too lazy to cook dinner or even head out to grab a bite. We just didn't feel like going anywhere, let alone leave our couch! I did manage to make it down to the lobby to collect our mail though and I saw a stack of delivery menus nearby. I picked one up and realized that it was for Mario's Pizza....how perfect! We could try the food from this new place and we didn't even have to leave our apartment for that. Life is good! :P
The menu itself was rather extensive. Not only do they have pizzas but they also offer all kinds of soups, salads, appetizers, pasta, wraps, sandwiches, hamburgers, wings as well as Italian chicken, veal and seafood dishes. Oh, they also have selection of dessert and drinks too. Unlike some other places that deliver, Mario's accepts credit/debit cards transactions. Delivery is also free, with a minimum purchase of $10. The only thing thing that we didn't really like was the delivery time. We had to wait for an hour or so, just to get our food. The acceptable delivery time around these parts is usually half an hour.
To start off our meal, Kevin and I shared a small cold antipasto salad ($7.50). The large goes for $12. Boy, we were glad that we ordered a small cos the portion was really huge! A whole bunch of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, toasted red peppers, black olives topped with rolls of ham, genoa, salami and provolone cheese. Look at the amount of meat that came along with it! Definitely worth the $7.50. Not only were the portions huge, it tasted yummy too.
After such a yummy salad, this was a little bit of a letdown. Sausage Calzone with Marinara Sauce ($6.25). By the time the calzone got here, it was cold. Really cold. Also, it was super greasy. Look at all the grease on the paper plate. Terrible. The crust wasn't all that great and I felt as though they are skimping on the stuffing. There was only stuffing in the middle, which leaves us with very hard (almost stone like) crust at the end. The marinara sauce was also really watery. I wouldn't order this from them again.
The calzone was really bad but I must say that they redeemed themselves with their wings. We ordered 10 pcs of BBQ chicken wings ($7.25) and it came with complimentary celery and blue cheese. As you can see from the picture, they were huge wings. If there is one thing that I can't stand, it would be tiny, hard, over fried wings. This wasn't the case. They were really huge and juicy. The BBQ sauce was awesome too. Yes, they arrived cold but after reheating it for a bit, it tasted great. Sooooo, the big question now. Would we order from Mario's again? Well, this is a tough one. The delivery was super slow (thus resulting in us getting cold food) and the calzone was horrible. However, we really liked the antipasto and the wings were yummy too. I guess we would give them another chance to see if the long delivery time was just a one off thing and maybe we will try something else from the menu. Will keep all of you posted!

Mario's Pizza - Newark, NJ
1413 McCarter Highway,
Newark, NJ 07104
Tel: (973)497 2031
Fax: (973)497 2130
Web: http://themariospizza.com/

Pizza Village Cafe II - Belleville, NJ

This is a really backdated post. I have been meaning to blog about this place for the longest time (I believe we first tried the food here back in Dec) but never really got around to it. Since the first visit, we have returned many times. Therefore, the food featured in this review is not merely from one visit, but over a space of time (I think we have been back like 4 times since the first?).
Pizza Village Cafe II is located in a strip mall, just next to the huge State Fair Superstore. We found out about this place when we were visiting the Christmas decorations outlet at the State Fair. From the moment we walked in, we knew that this pizza place is different from the rest. Not only was it super clean, but the staff working there were really polite and helpful. Definitely not your typical hole in the wall pizza place. We noticed lots of families dining in and it's really kid friendly too. We have always ordered out whenever we go there but I wouldn't mind dining in, in the future. Another good thing about this place is the availability parking spots. There are ample free parking lots located right in front of the restaurant. No need to drive around just for a parking spot.
So, what's good there? Well, the menu is quite extensive. Apart from pizza, they also have pasta, sandwiches, calzones, stromboli, wraps, wings, salads, Italian style dinners as well as a host of appetizers. During our first visit, we tried their Garlic Knots (6 pieces for $1.50). It was really good! Warm dough knots with lots of garlic butter, herbs and huge chunks of garlic. Mmmm mmm good! It is so good that we would make it a point to order that every time we get food from Pizza Village. It's like our 'must order' item on the menu.
Their wings ($7.75 for 10 pieces) are rather good too. You have a choice of two flavors, BBQ or Buffalo. We tried the Buffalo wings and it was not too bad. I am not a big fan of coated wings (I'd rather have them naked) but this is really not too bad at all. The wings also comes with free celery and bleu cheese.
I hate to admit this but although this is a pizza place, we have never really tried their pizzas. The nearest we got was when I ordered their Sausage Calzone ($6.25). From the taste of the calzone, I can tell that their pizzas should be really good too. The calzone dough was really good and it was stuffed with a whole lot of sausage, ricotta and mozzarella cheese. Really really good. The marinara sauce wasn't the greatest but it wasn't bad either. I'm not really bothered about that though, since I would usually eat my calzones without sauce anyways.
Now, what we really really like from Pizza Village are their sandwiches. Seriously, they make awesome sandwiches. I don't know if they bake their Italian breads in house or they buy it from somewhere else but either ways, it's yummy! Kevin tried their Ham & Cheese Sub ($6.50) and he said that it was really good. All cold subs are served with lettuce, onions tomatoes, oil, vinegar, mayo and spices, in a huge Italian roll. Yummy stuff!
Their Hot Italian Sandwiches are really good too. Kevin (and myself) is in love with their Italian Meatball Sandwich ($5.50). The meatballs are really really good and it's served with just the right amount of home made sauce and topped with loads of cheese. Delicious meatballs, home made sauce and melted cheese, all stuffed into a huge Italian roll = SUPER AWESOME MEATBALL SANDWICH!
Since we loved the Meatball Sandwich so much, I decided to try another of their Hot Italian Sandwiches. The Home Made Eggplant Parmigiana Sandwich ($5.50). Don't get me wrong, it was good but not quite as great as the Meatball Sandwich. If we were to compare the eggplant parm sandwich with other eggplant parm sandwiches that we have tried, I must say that it ranks pretty much up there. However, if we were to compare the meatball sandwich to the eggplant parm, then the meatball sandwich reigns supreme! :P
Another one of their sandwiches that I totally love is their Philly Cheese Steak. They have regular Cheesesteak ($6.00), Cheesesteak with Mushrooms or Peppers ($6.50), Pizza Cheesesteak ($6.50), Cheesesteak with Pepperoni ($6.50) or Cheesesteak Hoagie ($6.50). I tried the Special Steak ($6.75), which is pretty much Cheesesteak with everything :P The Special Steak comes with Mushrooms, Sweet Peppers, Fried Onions and their delicious Cheese Sauce (remember to ask for it, it's by request only). This is really an awesome sandwich, you should totally try it. Overall, I must say that Pizza Village Cafe II is a great place to go to if you are looking for some quick, affordable and uber delicious food. Two thumbs up. Oh btw, they deliver too!

Pizza Village Cafe II - Belleville, NJ
229 Main St
Belleville, NJ 07109
Tel: (973) 450 1818
Fax: (973) 450 3000
Web: http://pizzavillagecafe2nj.webs.com/

Involtini di Melanzane (Rolled Eggplant Bundles)

I had some eggplant left over from making Eggplant Parmesan the other day, so I went online to look for some new eggplant recipes to try out. I found a rather interesting recipe called Involtini di Melanzane. It's basically rolled eggplant with pasta stuffing. I've never heard of this dish before, let alone tried it. So, I was pretty psyched to try it out. It turned out to be really good and I'll definitely make this for dinner again in the very near future. I'm not sure if it's authentic or not, but here's my take on how to make Involtini di Melanzane.

Start off by slicing the eggplants lengthwise into thin slices. Sprinkle salt on both sides of the eggplant slices and place them into a colander. Allow the eggplant slices to sit for about an hour or so. This is done so that we can get as much water out of the eggplants as possible. After about an hour, rinse off the excess salt and pat it dry with a paper towel.
Heat up some oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, place a couple of eggplant slices into the pan. Be really careful when you do this, cos it will splatter! Also remember not to overcrowd the pan. Fry until the eggplant slices becomes soft and golden brown on both sides.
Remove the eggplant slices from the pan and place them onto some paper towels. This is done so that we can get as much oil out of the eggplant slices as possible. You can put more paper towels on top of the eggplant slices and lightly pat it down too. That will help in removing as much oil as possible. Once you have done that, set the fried eggplant slices aside.
Next, cook up your favorite long pasta. It can be spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine or even angel hair pasta. I used spaghetti and it worked out pretty well. Once your pasta is al dente, drain it and set it aside.
Now it's time to make some pasta sauce. You can just reheat some from a jar or make from scratch using your grandma's favorite pasta sauce recipe. It doesn't really matter. I just reheated some tomato and basil pasta sauce that came in a jar. Once you are done with the pasta sauce, split it into three portions.
Pour the first portion of your pasta sauce into a deep baking dish.
Toss your pasta in the second portion of that pasta sauce and set the third portion of sauce aside. We will use it later on.
Here's when we assemble everything together. Place a slice of eggplant on a flat surface. Scoop up some pasta and place it in the middle of the eggplant slice (just like the photo).
Then, sprinkle on some feta cheese (you could also use mozzarella cheese if you like) onto the pasta. Top if off with a slice of cooked bacon. I used turkey bacon but you can pretty much use any type of bacon that you like. Just make sure that it's not greasy.
Roll up the eggplant and place it on top of the pasta sauce that we placed earlier in the deep baking dish. Make sure that you place the eggplant rolls seam side down, so that it doesn't unravel during cooking.
Once you have finish rolling up all your eggplants, scoop on some pasta sauce (the 3rd portion that we saved earlier) on top of the eggplant rolls. Sprinkle on some Italian herbs, black pepper and it's ready to go into the oven.
Place the baking dish into a 375F preheated oven, uncovered, for about 40 minutes. After 40 minutes or so, remove the baking dish from the oven and sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese before serving. I'm glad I found this recipe cos it was totally delicious. Go ahead, try it and tell me what you think!

Easy Eggplant Parmesan

I was watching a rerun of The Sopranos the other day and as usual, they were eating dinner! Carmela Soprano was dishing out some eggplant parmesan and it looked sooo good! I've never tried making eggplant parmesan before, but after watching that, I knew I just had to try it. So, I went online to search for an easy eggplant parmesan recipe. I found one that was pretty simple to make and it turned out to be really yummy. Here's how you make it.

Start off my slicing one large eggplant into 3/4 inch slices. If your eggplant is really huge (like the one I bought), you can half the slices too. Place them in a colander and sprinkle salt on both sides of the eggplant slices. Place the colander in the kitchen sink (or you can place a big bowl under it). Allow the eggplant to sit for about an hour. This is done so that the eggplant can sweat out as much liquid as possible.
After about an hour, wash away all the excess salt with cold water. Then, dip the eggplant slices into some egg.
Once you have dipped the eggplant slices, coat it with some breadcrumb mixture. To make the mixture, all you need to do is mix some Italian breadcrumbs with some corn meal, black pepper and parmesan cheese.
Now it's time to fry your eggplant slices. Heat up some olive oil in a pan. Once it's nicely heated, place a few slices of eggplant into the hot oil. Remember not to over crowd the pan. Once you have browned one side, flip it over and allow the other side to brown.
After frying the eggplant slices, allow all the oil to drain. You can also place them on kitchen towels, if you like. I did both, so that all the excess oil is removed. Then, set it aside.
Alright, time to put everything together. First, spread some of your favorite marinara sauce at the bottom of a deep baking dish. I just used those ready made marinara sauce from a bottle. Then, place a layer of eggplant on top of the sauce.
Scoop on more sauce on top of the eggplant slices and sprinkle a generous amount of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce. Then, place another layer of eggplant on top of the cheese followed by more sauce. Continue layering until the top. Remember not to go all the way to the top. Leave a tiny bit of space at the top, so that is doesn't bubble over while cooking.
Pop it into a preheated 350F oven for about 45 minutes.
There you go. A hot, bubbly, cheesy dish of eggplant mozzarella! Doesn't it look yummy? It definitely tasted really good! Both Kevin and I love this so much, I must say that this recipe is a keeper! You must try it. It's so easy to make and so so so good to eat. You can even make it in advance and just pop the casserole into the oven when you are ready to eat! :D