Sausagefest: Part II

Sluts rejoice. This is another sausage post.

I borrowed (just kidding, I stole) this recipe from Cooking Light magazine. Yes, Cooking Light. Not "Cooking With 10 lbs of Heavy Cream and Butter."

Don't judge me! It's delicious.

So here's the skinny--this recipe will keep you skinny. Just like the incredibly healthy Lara Flynn Boyle:


Hey Guys, does my clavicle look fat in this?
Unless you keep the Unemployed Chef tradition alive and triple the portions. This ensures you keep your FUPA (Fat Upper Pussy Area) prevelent. Like these hotties:


You know they're jealous of babygirl Ginge on the right because she's the hot one.
Of course, I had to tweak it a little. A little more garlic, little more onion. So, worse breath, but the calories are still about the same. Ewww, I said calories. Here's a little something-something to counteract that statement.


Courtesy of ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com

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Cellentani with Tomatoes, Sausage, & Fresh Pecorino-Romano

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients
-1/2 lb Cellentani (curly, tube-shaped) pasta (or penne, as Cooking Light suggests. Or any other ridged, tube-shaped pasta)
-1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage (about 2 short, choad-like links)
-2 tsp olive oil (a drizzle, swirled to coat pan)
-1 small yellow onion (or half a medium onion), chopped
-4 garlic cloves
-3-4 ripe Roma or vine-ripened tomatoes, roughly chopped (no need to peel or seed)
-Chunk of fresh Pecorino-Romano cheese (Hell yeah.)
-A handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish (Fancypants)
-Salt & pepper, to taste


Steps
-In a frying pan or skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink (about 5 minutes). Add onion to the pan with the sausage, and cook until sausage is browned and onions are translucent, stirring occasionally (about 5 minutes).


-Add garlic to the sausage-&-onion mixture, and cook for about 2 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes, and cook until heated through. Remove from heat.


-Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, and add to pan mixture. Grate cheese (to taste) over pasta; add salt, pepper, and chopped basil, and mix to combine.


-Plate pasta, add a little extra cheese, and garnish with remaining basil leaves.

Fettucine. Linguine. Martini. Bikini.

If this post's title doesn't ring a bell, check out the video below:




You're gonna love my nuts.

(If you can't stand all 3 minutes and 16 seconds, begin the video at 3:09. You'll get the reference.)

For those of you who actually have to get up for work in the morning and don't watch infomercials at 4 AM, you may wonder why this exquisite piece of man (better known as Vince Offer) looks familiar to you. Perhaps that's because his true claim to fame was getting punched in the face by a hooker. Silly Vince. If only he had brought along a Shamwow to clean up his mess...

I apologize for this post's dated jokes and references. This is actually a 6-month-old draft that I never published because I decided to give up on this blog for awhile and attempt finding ACTUAL employment.

Yes, I know. I am a failure. My last post was in March. The same month Vince's lady-of-the-evening decided to slap-chop his sexy face. And all my last post said was that I would blog more. Which makes me even more of a failure.

STOP JUDGING ME!!! I am deeply hurt by your nagging, threats, and guilt. I will continue to exploit my sick sense of humor (along with a little bit of cooking) for your twisted pleasure. The Unemployed Chef is back, folks.

To prove how much I care, here is a photo of Bud Bundy passed out naked with a dog eating his asshole.


What, that's not the dinner you were expecting? Well, I think David Faustino's ass is a 5-course meal, but I can't think of anyway to connect it to my post's title. So here's a little something I whipped up almost 2 years ago, in the early stages of my unemployment. Awww, sentimental tears.

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Shrimp Linguine (or Fettucine...hence the Slap-Chop reference) Caprese

Makes 4-6 normal servings, 2 Fat-Bastard servings

Ingredients
-1 lb linguine or fettucine (I used fresh spinach linguine)
-5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
-2 "big handfuls" of baby shrimp, deveined and tails removed (In fact, if you can purchase a bag of frozen, precooked/precleaned baby shrimp at say--Costco--it might save you a whole lotta time)
-2 "big handfuls" of grape or cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise
-2 "big handfuls" of baby spinach leaves
-1 handful of torn basil leaves
-Mozzarella cheese, thickly shredded or cut into cubes
-Red pepper flakes
-Olive oil
-Salt & pepper

Steps
-Start boiling water for pasta, and set a pan coated with olive oil over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add your garlic and cook until just starting to brown (about 3 minutes), stirring occasionally.
-Add your tomatoes to the pan, stirring occasionally. Cook until tomatoes start to collapse, about 5-7 minutes. Season the tomatoes with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper, to taste.

-Cook pasta according to package directions.
-If you purchased frozen shrimp, the easiest way to defrost them is to place them in a deep bowl, and pour cold running water over them. Allow them to sit in the cold water for several minutes, and then drain.

-If your shrimp are NOT precooked, add them to the pan now, cooking and turning the shrimp until they are pink and cooked through. Since these are baby shrimp, 30 seconds on each side is probably enough, since they will continue to cook for a few minutes even after removed from heat.
-Shut off the burner and continue stirring. Add the spinach to your pan and mix with the tomatoes, garlic, shrimp, and oil until wilted.
-Mix the cooked pasta with the pan mixture until linguine (or fettucine) strands are well-coated. Add basil leaves and mozzarella, and stir until melted.

And yes, once again this photo is from a year and a half ago, before I upgraded to my classy 99¢ placemats. Observe my stunning 49¢ granny mats in their glory days! HATERS FALL BACK.

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Here's another idea--

You know my broke ass HATES to waste food. So what to do with leftover baby shrimp? Here's what I did:

1 14.5 can Hunt's Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes + Spaghetti + Onions + Garlic + Olive Oil + Salt&Pepper

Baby Spinach + Grape Tomatoes + Red Onions + Lemon Juice (fresh) + Olive Oil + Salt&Pepper

You get the idea.

I'M BACK, BITCHES!

PESTOvus for the Rest of Us

Seeing as I'm still being washed over by waves of esctasy from last night's game (Jets vs Chargers, 17-14. Holy shit.), it might seem like a strange time to deviate from my recent mass of tailgating recipes. But it's Monday. I mean, you can't eat chicken strips and beer-battered mac'n'cheese 7 days a week, right?

(This is hard for me to type, seeing as I'm eating this for breakfast. Yeah, haha. But what makes you so sure I'm kidding?)

Ok, obviously, you can eat chicken strips and beer-battered mac'n'cheese 7 days a week, so just ignore the rest of this blog. Check back in 2 days, when I promise to supply you with something greasy and fatty. Mmmmmm...

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Why are you still reading? Oh, your job sucks that much. They are making you work through MLK Day. Bastards! Clearly, your "dream" means nothing, or you'd be allowed to continue it, passed out in bed. Way to stick it to THE MAN! Keep reading!

If you're sitting on your computer, reading this on your day off, you're more of a loser than me. Just saying.

So anyway, Red Pesto. I'm sure most of you have tried (at least at some point in your life), the traditional green pesto sauce. Basil, pine nuts, and other crap. I usually make pesto and then mix it with cream cheese (Fat) before stirring it over ravioli (Fatter). But a "pesto" is anything that contains herbs and nuts (haha...nuts). For instance, I was forced to buy a giant bunch of mint leaves last Friday. I seriously needed like 3 mint leaves for this pea soup recipe (stay tuned), and all they had was this massive bunch for $2.99. WTF. You know I'd normally just rip off a few leaves and put them in my pocket, or mix them in with another green product in my cart (arugula, perhaps). But this Western Beef worker kept following me and trying to make conversation. Ugh. And he was really nice. He seriously followed me around the entire store. Which isn't saying much, because the store is in Manhattan, which means it's about 3 feet long (you wish!).

To make a long story short (or at least shorter), I bought the damned mint leaves, and raged all 10 blocks and 3 avenues back to my apartment. I decided to attempt a "Mint Pesto," because if I let the mint leaves rot, and spent $2.99 for just 3 leaves, I might kill myself. I would deserve it.

So basically, in a food processor, I puréed the entire batch of mint leaves with almonds, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. Not bad. And I poured the pesto into an (empty) ice cube tray, to freeze (in perfect portions) until later use.

Um, this post has nothing to do with Mint Pesto. But basically, I just wanted to share this story so you could be affirmed that I am awesome.

What this post does have to do with is Red Pesto. Here's a little idea I stole from Women's Health magazine (January 2008).

These photos were obviously taken before receiving the best Christmas gift ever--an 11 cup Cuisinart. (Thank you, Aunt Lorraine!) So bear with me while I take it back to the Stone Age with this historic blender.

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Red Pesto

Makes about 1 large Chinese-takeout soup container full of pesto

Ingredients
-4 to 6 Plum tomatoes
-Fresh bunch of basil (about 10 leaves)
-A handful of unsalted almonds
-2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
-Red pepper flakes
-Olive oil
-Salt & pepper
-Grated cheese (Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano)

Steps
-Preheat oven to 350°. Spread almonds out on a baking sheet, and roast for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure they are browned on all sides.
-Cut tomatoes into quarters. Place in a food processor or blender. Add basil leaves, almonds, garlic, and red pepper flakes, and purée.

You'll notice how red this looks. That's because my almonds were still in the oven, so I hadn't yet added them to the blender. If your purée looks more like baby diarreah at this point, don't worry. You're on the right track.

-Keep the food processor/blender running, and slowly add about 1/4 cup olive oil to your purée.

-Taste, and season with salt and pepper, if needed. This is a no-cook sauce, so you can use this pesto on pasta/chicken/vegetables immediately, or you can store and refrigerate it, like this:

The pesto will only stay fresh for a few days in the refridgerator, so if you plan to store it for longer than that, I'd suggest freezing it. Like you read skipped over above, freezing pesto into ice cube trays works great.

-Before serving, mix with grated cheese. Here's a little Red Pesto over Penne, served to Shar-dé and Amanda when they came to check out the new crib. Since I made the pesto earlier that day, all I had to do was boil water. Less time in the kitchen = More time reminiscing about/mocking the losers who went to our high school.

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And since I had about half a container left over, I became really creative over the next week (I don't waste. Not because I feel bad about wasting food, but because I'm poor, and I insist on using every last scrap of leftovers).

My lunch: Mini-Pita Pesto Pizza

(The BF said my Red Pesto reminded him of pizza sauce. Done.)

Makes 1 Mini-Pita Pesto Pizza

Ingredients
-1 pita
-Red Pesto
-A handfull of spinach leaves (or arugula, or romaine, or whatever you have on hand)
-Thinly sliced or shredded cheese (I used swiss. It totally doesn't go with pizza, but that's what I had. It still tasted like heaven. I'd suggest mozzarella, though.)

Steps
-Preheat oven to 400°. Place pita on a baking sheet, and cover with a thin layer of Red Pesto. Bake for 2-3 minutes, until pita and pesto are warm.


-Top pita with a handful of spinach leaves, and several slices of cheese.


-Pop back in the oven for 5 minutes, or until pita is crisp, and cheese is melted and bubbly.

:::Bows:::

Mac, Cheese, & Beer: A Harmonious Threesome

New Year’s Resolution #1: Blog more.

Seriously, why have I been such a d-bag? Last post--December 10, 2009? W.T.F.

No excuses. I won’t even try. But here’s a little recap info, since you missed me so much. (Seriously, how did you even get through the holiday season without me? It must have been really lame. You are so STRONG! SO BRAVE!)

As you might have already read about 3 weeks ago in my Buffalo Sports Daily post, the Unemployed Chef had found yet another way to live off the system. Focus Groups. (For those of you who live outside a major city and never had the pleasure to attend a focus group/have no idea what I'm talking about, check this out. But, put simply, focus groups are when marketing companies pay you lots of money to rape you of your ideas for an hour.)

So now I’m taking advantage of marketing agencies, along with the government. Anyway, a few weeks back I was sitting in an hour-long focus group (for $125) in which the topic was Science, so I had been feeling a little experimental.

Case in point: I’ve made mac’n'cheese with wine before. I’d like to believe it adds a touch of class.

If I add this classy Coors Light to an otherwise ordinary batch of mac’n'cheese, what will I end up with?

The results of my scientific testing? An explosion in my mouth. (Ugh, too easy. You know what I want to say here, but I’m not worthy. Not yet. Need more blog posts).

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Mac’n'Cheese’n'Beer

Fills a 9x12 baking dish...you figure out how many servings that is. For normal people.

Ingredients
-3 tbsp butter (about a half stick)
-3 tbsp white flour
-1 1/2 cups heavy cream
-1 1/2 cups beer (I used Coors Light.. obviously, the darker the beer, the more ‘beer-y’ your mac will be)
-2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
-2 cups mozzerella cheese, shredded
-1 cup *other* (I used a mixture of parmigiano-reggiano, pecorino romano, and provolone. Use what you want, but you want at least one strong cheese in there. You know…feet-scented cheese.)

-1lb tube-shaped pasta, like Ziti (I prefer Ziti to Penne because it doesn’t have ridges. Perfect for baking.)

Steps
-In a large pot or dutch oven (ha), cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, return to pot, and set aside.
-Meanwhile, in a frying pan or skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add flour, stirring constantly, and cook for a minute or two. If the flour burns, start over–unless you don’t mind your mac’ tasting like burnt ass.
-Add heavy cream slowly, stirring constantly. Whisk away any lumps. Cook until mixture begins to *just* boil.
-Pour in beer, and cook until mixture boils. Cover pan and continue cooking for 10 minutes.

-Stir well, and turn heat down to low. Mix in cheese, and stir mixture until cheese is melted and heated through.


-Preheat the oven to 375°. Combine pasta with cheese mixture, and transfer to a greased baked dish.



Bake for 30-40 minutes. Let sit for at least 15 minutes–the beer will cook out and form a nice batter on top.

Note: Unlike regular mac'n'cheese, or baked ziti, this does NOT taste better the next day. The beer and cheese separates. If you decide to make this, come starving or don't come at all (what does that even mean?).

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BUFFALO SPORTS DAILY features The Unemployed Chef as the official BSD Tailgate Blogger!!!

Click here to read the original "Mac'n'Cheese'n'Beer" post.

Victory is mine!

It's important to always have a meal you can whip up in 10 minutes or less, just in case guests show up unexpectedly.

Lately, for me, that's been Mediterranean-Style Orzo. Also, I'm lying. I live in Staten Island. No one visits me.

A month ago, however, my boyfriend's little brother called and said he was driving up from Ocean City, Maryland, and would be over for dinner. I asked him what he would like, and he said, "I like everything. I'm not picky. I like food." I specifically asked him if there are any foods he disliked and refused to eat, to which he repeated, "I like everything. I'm not picky. I like food." Jackpot. I don't need to go shopping.

However, when our guest of "honor" arrived four hours late, he informed me that he "doesn't eat feta cheese or olives."

So I guess this is a horrible example of how Mediterranean-Style Orzo is an quick, easy meal befitting for all guests. Oh.

The real reason I wanted to share this story is because it gives me a chance for revenge. If you tell me you eat everything, and then inform me later you do not eat specific foods (which just so happen to be 2 major ingredients in my dinner), I will photoshop cutouts of your head on random bodies. And post them on my blog. And if (in my opinion) you have a resemblence to Michael Phelps (with a sweet Hitler mustache), those random bodies belong to Michael Phelps.
Go for the gold, baby!

This is probably unwarranted, because he ate 3 dishes anyway.

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Mediterranean-Style Orzo

Makes 4-8 servings (depending on whether it's a side or a main dish...or if you're a pig)

Ingredients

-1 lb Orzo

-1 or 2 handfuls Calamata Olives, sliced in half lenthwise (This is a family recipe...we don't do measurements)
-3-4 handfuls baby spinach leaves

-Feta cheese, crumbled

-4 cloves garlic, minced
-Olive oil

-1 lemon

-Salt & pepper

Steps

-In a deep pasta pot, boil salted water for orzo, and cook until al dente. Meanwhile, lightly brown garlic in olive oil (enough to coat a frying pan or skillet) over low heat.

This cooks quickly, so have everything portioned, sliced, and ready to go. Mad props for using toaster as counter space.

-Drain orzo. Before adding orzo back to its pot, transfer browned garlic and oil from its pan to the bottom of the pot. Add spinach to the garlic and oil, and mix to coat.
-Pour hot orzo on top of spinach, garlic, and oil. Cover and let sit for 1 minute. The steam from the orzo will instantly cook the spinach.

-Stir orzo, spinach, garlic and oil until well blended. Add olives, a squeeze of lemon juice, and stir again. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Add feta cheese crumbles (however much you like), mix again, and serve.

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BUFFALO SPORTS DAILY features The Unemployed Chef as the official BSD Tailgate Blogger!!! Click here to see my latest tailgating recipe, along with pictures of me shoving a beer can up a chicken's ass.

Another meaningless post of my sarcastic & bitchy ramblings...with a few recipes thrown in

I believe two posts ago I told you "I'll be gracing you this week with a bunch of recipes." And then I gave you, what, one recipe? 8 days ago? COLD.

I feel like lying on the couch (pantless, of course) and watching Top Chef Masters' repeats right now, but I feel guilted into leaving you at least *one* recipe before I go away AGAIN for the weekend. Precious? You know the Unemployed Chef got mad love for ya.

To be honest, I really did plan on gracing you bitches with a bunch of recipes, but I made a lot of repeated dishes. Or dishes so simple, I didn't think they required a recipe. (Or maybe they do... Because if you're trusting me with your dinner plans, you probably can't cook for shit.) I basically used everything I had in my house, mixed with pasta or rice. You know, gotta avoid Pathmark at all costs. Unemployed Chef = broke.

Here's what went directly to my thighs this week. I'm too lazy to list the recipes, but I'll tell you the ingredients and assume you can figure it out for yourself. Please don't prove me wrong with your high levels of stupidity. Work with me here.

PS: I also made a giant batch of Pasta Fagioli (Pasta Fa-zool!) for the BF, but you aren't worthy of witnessing it's sexiness. Not yet, at least. These things take time. I guess you'll just have to keep following my blog...


Penne Aglio e Olio (Garlic, oil, & red pepper flakes) + tomatoes + mushrooms


Coconut-Curry Battered Chicken over Rice
(I wasn't crazy about this, so I won't elaborate. It wasn't bad, it was just.... I guess I'm tired of chicken. OK, I'll keep it real... It sucked.)

Sautéed Flounder + Tomatoes + Mushrooms with Toasted Pinenut Couscous

Farfalle Pasta simmered in Chicken Stock + Garlic + Red Pepper Flakes + Cannellini Beans + Onions + Shredded Asiago Cheese

Spinach Salad + Strawberries + Battered Baked Chicken + Hard Boiled Egg Whites + Gorgonzola Cheese + Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette

Awww, fine, keep whining. Now I feel guilty. And I'm no stranger to classic Italian/Catholic guilt. I'll give you one actual recipe before I leave.

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Chili-rubbed Cod with Seasoned Acini di Pepe

Makes 2 servings... with lots of Acini di Pepe leftover

Ingredients

Chili-rubbed Cod:

-2 Cod filets

-Chili powder, to taste

-A dash of paprika

-Olive oil

Seasoned Acini de Pepe:

-1 lb acini de pepe pasta (the original recipe called for Israeli Couscous... but I can't find them anywhere. Same shit. I also made this with orzo and it kicked ass.)

-Olive oil (2-3 tbsp)

-A *big squeeze* of lemon juice (3-4 tbsp)

-1 tsp sugar

-1 tsp soy sauce

-1/2 cup chopped scallions

-A *sprinkle* of chopped parsley (1 tbsp)

-Salt & pepper, to taste

Steps

-In a frying pan or skillet, heat olive oil over high heat. (A grill would be even better. Unfortunately, our BBQ got disgusting after being left out in the yard during the winter. Would you like some grilled rust perhaps?)

-Season cod filets with a generous rub of chili powder. Sprinkle on some paprika for color, and rub into the filets.

-Add the filets to the searing oil, and step back (unless you enjoy being scalded by flying hot oil...kinky). Fry for 2 minutes per side, to make a nice crust. Lower the heat to medium, and continue cooking the filets for about 5 minutes per side, or until they're cooked through.

-Meanwhile, prepare acini de pepe as described on box. Drain, and transfer to a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine olive oil, soy sauce, sugar, and lemon juice. Slowly pour into the acini de pepe, mixing and checking for taste. Adjust seasonings if necessary. Add scallions and parsley into the acini de pepe, and mix. Season with salt and pepper. Almost too easy.

Word.

DEATH to RAGU & PREGO!

I'm not even sure I should be blogging about this, because it's such a PASSIONATE and HEATED topic for me. Italian's are hot tempered as it is, but we boil over the topic of food. While I live in Staten Island now (properly dubbed as "Staten Italy"), I didn't grow up with many other Italians, and I am the furthest thing from a "guidette." But if I hear one more person exclaim, "I made spaghetti and meatballs last night!", and then make a reference to some middle-American, disgusting jar sauce, I might cry. Like seriously, tears. It breaks my heart.

I want to reply, "You made NOTHING! You boiled water for spaghetti, and poured store-bought garbage on top of it! SHAME!" I actually get flashblacks of watching Sandra Lee "make" her Kwanzaa Cake (please check out the video to get a sense of my heartbreak).

I think the height of my rage was at my former job. A fellow coworker, let's call him D (actually, that's what we all called him), would come in for lunch with dinner leftovers. One day, he was eating leftover spaghetti, and I overheard (my cubicle was located close to the cafeteria) him rave about the Ragu 'sauce' covering the poor, forsaken pasta. I immediately dashed over to the cafeteria (it was literally a foot away), and scolded him. He gave me a simple explanation. "I'm not Italian. I don't know the difference. Tastes good to me." Suddenly, it all made sense.

I immediately went home that night and whipped up 2 containers of sauce for him, and told him to "see if he tastes a difference." Actually, I think he purposely infuriated me to get free cooking. And it totally worked. Dammit.

Maybe if people realized how easy real, authentic Italian marinara sauce is to make, they would cut the shameful jar brands out of their lives for good. Maybe if they realized you can make a week's worth at a time, they would stop ripping my heart out and stomping on it.

Here is my recipe. I honestly don't think it should even count as a recipe, because growing up in my house, it's simply common sense. But here goes...

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Traditional Marinara Sauce

Makes 2 medium containers

Ingredients
16-oz tomato sauce (I used 2 8-oz cans)
28-oz crushed tomatoes (I used 1 large can)
16-oz diced tomatoes (Optional...depends if you like big tomato pieces in your sauce. If not, skip it)
Note: I used 1 medium can of Hunt's Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes. This is my favorite brand. I've tried the Del Monte diced tomatoes (big up to Costco!) and they sucked major ass. You can actually make your own fire-roasted tomatoes by brushing small (grape, cherry, or plum) tomatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and roasting them in the oven until they explode (yea baby). I was lazy. I went with the can.
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium white onions, diced
Sugar, to taste
Red pepper flakes (optional)
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Fresh basil (optional)
Note: For a meatsauce, simmer sauce with meatballs, panchetta, Italian sausage, etc. You can also create a fish sauce, simmering the sauce with shrimp, lobster tails, crab claws, etc. This is a base recipe, and very versatile. I used turkey meatballs in my most recent batch.

My arsenal

Steps
-Fill a deep pot or dutch oven (ha) with cans of tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, and diced tomatoes. Simmer on low heat.
-In a frying pan or skillet, heat olive oil, and begin frying diced onions over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. (You might have to fry the onions in 2 separate batches. I did.) Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, if desired.

-When the onions are almost caramelized, add the minced garlic to your pan, and cook for about 3 minutes. The garlic will cook much quicker than the onions.
-Transfer onions and garlic to the sauce pot and continue to simmer for at least an hour.
-Taste your sauce constantly! This is the most important step in making an authentic marinara sauce. If the sauce tastes too acidic, add sugar. This counterbalances the tomatoes. Too bland? Add salt & pepper. Too mild? Add more red pepper flakes.
-At this point, if you are adding any meat, fish, vegetables, or herbs (such as fresh basil or parsley), do so now. Continue simmering until the meat/fish/veggies are cooked through, and until your sauce tastes delicious.
Note: I prefer making sauce the day before, because it always tastes better after all the flavors have time to meld together in the fridge.

You'll thank me later.

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The best part is, you can do so much with your leftovers. Baked ziti, chicken parm, polenta...the possibilities are endless. When I make marinara, I left to reserve a little extra to make Vodka Sauce. Penne alla Vodka is one of my favorite meals to order out, so it only makes sense to recreate it at home as often as possible.

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Vodka Sauce

Makes 1 container

Ingredients
-1 container Marinara Sauce
-1/2 cup vodka

-1/2-1 cup heavy cream

-Grated cheese (Asiago, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and Pecorino Romano all work well)

Steps

-Pour sauce into a blender, and "purée" until smooth.

-Pour puréed sauce into a frying pan or skillet. Simmer on low heat (it will start bubbling and splattering almost immediately).
-Add 1/2 cup vodka to your sauce, and simmer for approximately 20 minutes. Taste your sauce. If it tastes too vodka-y, it probably needs to simmer even more. You want both your sauce and your vodka to reduce in your pan.

-Before serving, began pouring in your heavy cream, and simmer until heated through. The more heavy cream you add, the lighter and creamier your sauce will be. I added about 3/4 of a cup.

-Add a handful or 2 of grated cheese, and stir until melted. Take sauce off of heat.

Can I get an "Amen?"