Earl Cooks Smoked Chicken Salad Sandwich with Garden Tomatoes

Sometimes a tasty ingredient just SCREAMS to be used in a new and different way, and I had a great smoked chicken quarter from Capt. Len's BBQ that knew I could use in a different way. 

The quarter chicken is a leg and thigh, and my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") does not care for dark meat, so this is ALL for me! It is fully cooked and lovingly smoked. I remove the meat from the bone and roughly chopped it because I want the experience to be more like eating chicken than tuna salad.

 Using a hand crank food chopper that I just bought, I chopped several green onions, tops, and whites, rather finely. I also wanted a bit of a crunch, and I have had a chicken salad with cashews, but I was out. I did have some great extra large Virginia Peanuts, which I also chopped fine. My variation on chicken salad was I substituted Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, Cilantro Lime flavored, for mayonnaise. Mix the chicken, onions, peanuts, and ranch dressing thoroughly, seasoning with salt and pepper as you mix well.

My final addition is fresh-picked cherry and pear tomatoes from our little garden, halved and mixed in gently. With a silicone spatula or large spoon, spread it over a slice of bread, and top with the other slice.

I had no idea at the outset what a great flavor this would have. Smoky, creamy, and crunchy with a great freshness from the tomatoes. The tangy cilantro/lime ranch rounded it all out. Whether you use my exact ingredients, do try this with a smoked chicken quarter.

...I know, making a salad isn't exactly cooking, especially when the the smoked chicken came from Capt. Len's BBQ, but I did come up with it and assemble it, even if no heat was applied!

Smoked Brisket With Chive & Bacon Mashed Potatoes

Few things say "comfort food" like Barbecue, but another thing that does is Mashed Potatoes. For dinner tonight, I thought I would combine them into one quick and easy dinner for the two of us.

I had on hand some of Capt. Len's smoked brisket, some of the best you'll find. I prepared a batch of mashed potatoes with applewood smoked bacon chunks, then added homegrown chives, from my wife's (a.k.a.: "Turkey's") garden, to the potatoes. I then added thickly sliced brisket on top and drizzled a bit of my own Au Jus over the top of everything. I grew up eating and loving Sunday dinners with roast beef cooked low and slow, and this added the smoky deliciousness I never had growing up.

If this post sounds familiar, I did something similar a few months back, and loved it then and love it now. Comfort foods like these never get old, so go buy yourself some smoked brisket and bring back memories...or make some new ones!


My Quick Au Jus Recipe
Ingredients:
2 tsp. Beef Broth base (or bouillon).
1 cup water
¼ tsp. garlic powder (granulated garlic)
¼ tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce (soy sauce an be substituted here)
Salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste

Steps:

• Boil water.
• Add beef base to boiling water and stir until dissolved. Reduce heat to low.
• Add remaining ingredients dissolving completely.
• If a thicker Au Jus is desired, increase heat to medium and reduce until you get what you want.

Uses: 
Drizzle over any beef. Great for French Dip sandwiches. You can make extra and freeze for later!

—This would also be great made with beef bone broth or canned beef broth, substituting the water and beef base with the broth!

Earl Cooks Pork Butt Burnt Ends

One of the big buzz phrases in the barbecue world these days is "Burnt Ends" Like many restaurant favorites, these started as the parts of the smoked brisket that were once considered to be unsellable, so the restaurant employees got to eat them. They came from the fattier "point" cut of the brisket.

I have never had brisket burnt ends. Now they are popular, thay are also expensive. I don't cook whole briskets, so I never have the trimmings left over. I found several recipes called "poor man's burnt ends" that used other meats and sounded just as good. Some used pork belly, some used roast beef, but the one that struck me was pork roast. That is what I decided to go with. I had a beautiful half of a pork shoulder smoked by Capt. Len's BBQ, a nearly perfect place to start.

I cut the pork into about 3/4-1" cubes and placed them in and disposable aluminum roasting pan and coated them with 2 kinds of sauce. Normally, I wouldn't need sauce for this tasty pork, but burnt ends NEED sugar to caramelize and, well, burn. I added a store brand hickory BBQ sauce and a locally produced Smoky Bacon sauce.
Now for the roasting. Since the pork was fully cooked and smoke I had only to heat it through and caramelize the sugars in th sauces giving them the burnt look and crunch. I started wit the oven at 350℉ for about 20 minutes. Then I changed it to cook from above (broil setting) at the same temperature for another 20 minutes.

They turned out great! This was my first attempt and some chunks were a bit overly crunchy, almost truly burnt. But they were still very tasty.

Results & Conclusions and Notes:

This was very much woth it and helped by the excellent smoked pork from Capt. Len's BBQ
Capt. Len's BBQ - Just Follow the Smoke!

Earl Cooks Grilled Ham & Cheese nn a "George Foreman"

The ads called it the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine. Daughter #1 simply called it the George Foreman. It ended up as mine!

This model is one that really is only good for a single sandwich, or a piece of boneless chicken or a burger. In addition, it is VERY difficult to clean, with no removable parts for washing. It is all by hand with no ability to immerse it in water, and by the time it reached me there was no grease drip tray. But I had never owned one and I wanted to see how well it would work.

A grilled cheese seemed like the best way to test it, but only after I cleaned it. That took awhile...then awhile longer...then awhile longer still!


Finally, I decided on my sandwich. It would be a grilled ham and Swiss.

• I started with 2 slices of "Turkey's" (a.k.a. my wife's) homemade bread.
• Next comes baby Swiss. The cheese must be all around the ham. I use black forest deli sliced ham—3 or 4 slices. So the order is, bread, cheese, ham, cheese, and bread again.
• Now I apply butter to the OUTSIDE of the sandwich. This makes the sandwich crispy and TASTY! It will also help release the sandwich from George. If you are using a grill or frying pan it will help there too.
• After grilling a few minutes, rotate to make it pretty. I had to add weight to press the sandwich enough for me.
• It was delicious and just what I wanted. It worked much like a panini press, but I had to do the pressing.

Result & Conclusions:
I am certain that subsequent models improved a bunch. The George Foreman Grills are made by a company called Salton. My biggest complaints are the poor design for cleaning and the inability to apply pressure to whatever is cooked.

I am glad I didn't buy it and don't want to clean it much, but for a quick burger or grilled sandwich, it is nice to have around.

Earl Cooks Gnocchi alla Sorrentina with Sausage

We love gnocchi. We have tried it in many forms, including my wife's homemade gnocchi made with her homemade ricotta. This is another version that took a bit of adjusting to get the seasoning right, but eventually "Turkey" (a.k.a. my wife), said it was a keeper. The genesis of this dish came while shopping, where I found some bulk mild Italian sausage at a terrific price (99￠/lb.). It was 2 lbs but I needed to use it rather quickly because it was nearing the sell-by date. Two lbs. is too much for the two of us for one meal, especially when added to pasta or something else, so my plan was simple. It would become two meals! Not two different meals but two of the same with tweaking taking it from okay to very good! I went to my pantry and my freezer to collect ideas.

What I found was 2 items I had never used from Trader Joe's. Frozen Gnocchi alla Sorrentina & their Traditional Marinara Sauce. I will admit that the differences between tomato sauce, marinara sauce, and other tomato based sauces is somewhat lost on me, so I buy what I think I will like. Gnocchi alla Sorentia literally means Gnocchi in the style of Sorrento.That is, gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Since I would be adding A LOT of Italian sausage, to the frozen product I would add MORE tomato sauce in the form of marinara, and more mozzarella cheese, which I grated from block mozzarella. [*HINT: America's Test Kitchen recommends block mozzarella when you want stringy, stretchy cheese, not the fresh stuff !]

I shredded the cheese ahead of time, and I think it takes quite a lot of cheese. My wife likes the cheese to take the spicy edge off of the sausage spices.

With the bulk sausage, start by breaking it up by hand into a LARGE skillet pre-heated on medium to medium high heat. We want to both lightly brown and render a bunch of the fat from the sausage. As it cooks, continue to break it up into smaller and smaller chunks. Take time with this, you don't want it to be crispy, just firm and cooked through. Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it to a colander in a bowl to allow the fat to drain away. Remove any excess fat from the pan with a paper towel, and return to the heat, lowered to medium.

The frozen gnocchi mix is a bit strange. The sauce is in frozen disks, and looks odd at first in the pan. Just continue to heat it in the pan until it becomes sauce and gnocchi. Because I was adding the sausage, I needed extra sauce. When I added the sauce, it looked much better.

I added half a jar (8 or 9 oz.) of Trader Joe's Traditional Marinara Sauce to the cooked gnocchi & sauce. Now I had a base to which I would add the sausage and cheese.

Take the cooked and drained sausage and and add it back to the pan with the sauce & gnocchi. This gives the sausage a chance to flavor the sauce, and for the sauce to flavor the sausage. The gnocchi will pick up flavors from both.

Now top with the shredded mozzarella and cover the pan to melt the cheese

It is now covered with yummy white gooey-ness and was super stringy as you can see from the bowl sides which are covered in cheese strings.

This was delicious, but the sausage was a bit spicy for my wife's delicate palate. But I have a fix for that! As I said, this would be enough for 2 meals. Here is the adjustments I made to accommodate "Turkey's" palate.

ADJUSTMENTS:
To make the flavor more mild I simply made adjustments to the quantities of 2 ingredients: Cheese and tomato sauce. I added 4 oz. of cheese and another cup of marinara sauce to the second batch. The cheese I added to the sauce and let the dairy moderate the spice of the sausage, again topping the whole dish with another 4 oz. of cheese and allowing it to melt. My wife liked it and said it is a keeper with the added dairy and sauce! So my sausage bargain made 2 dinners and a lunch!
 

Waffle Iron Grilled Ham & Swiss

This week I have been reviving our old Belgian Waffle Iron to use in new and unique ways, motivated by the fact that I am trying not to heat-up the house to much. It has been around 20℉ HOTTER than the seasonal average. Today, I decided to try making waffle iron grilled ham & cheese. The picture to the left shows the result after cutting in half diagonally. It looks a little rough around the edges because my wife's delicious homemade bread didn't quite fit on the smallish waffle iron.

We can't remember where or why we have a Betty Crocker Belgian Waffle maker, but I am sure there was some kind of deal. It is more than 20 years old and probably one of the reasons I don't like to make waffles. It is simple to use. Plug it in and wait for the ready light and go! No moving parts except the hinge and that's one of the problems...no removable parts either.Very tough to clean. But to keep the kitchen cool, I was willing to give it a go.

I started with 4 slices of my wife's homemade bread, sliced rather thin. In addition, I had some deli sliced Black Forest Ham (3 thin slices per sandwich); Sliced Swiss cheese (2 per sandwich); and shredded cheddar or cheddar jack cheese.

On the bread, start with the Swiss Cheese Slices, Then the 3 slices of ham, two of which will be folded in half and the third flat on top of the 2 folded slices, to this with the shredded cheese. Swiss isn't as good as the cheddar for that melty goodness one expects from a grilled cheese, but Swiss is a natural ham.

Next, butter both sides of your sandwich liberally. The butter helps keep the sandwich from sticking, enhances the browning and crunch, and of course, adds so much flavor.

As I mentioned, my bread was a bit too big and my sandwich a little thick for this ancient appliance which doesn't expand, so when I pressed the lid down, it crushed the sandwich but it made a great crisp sandwich that, when trimmed and cut in half, looked and tasted very good.

Results & Conclusions:
I was very impressed with the crispy meltiness of this sandwich. My wife took hers to work the next day and said it retained the buttery crisp crust. I will make this again, but with a tool that better adjusts to my needs. We have a more modern waffle iron that may be called into service next time.

Earl Cooks Artichoke Hearts With Zucchini & Yellow Squash

This is a dish where the preparation takes longer than actual cooking time, which is  a nice change. For this dish you will need:

 —Artichoke Hearts

 —Zucchini

 —Yellow Squash

 —Butter

 —Salt & Pepper

 —A Veggetti Pro or other other spiralizer. What is a SPIRALIZER you ask? 

It is a kitchen tool that turns firm vegetables into spirals, like the zoodles you find in the grocery stores. There are several versions including professional versions, or attachments to your stand mixer. But for under $15 you can have one and save yourself the cost of buying the store made zoodles for 3 to 4 times the price of the ones you make. 

Don't buy the Veggetti, buy the
Veggetti Pro

A note here. The "Veggetti", a cheaper version is too much work and often doesn't work. Buy the pro version. You get more blades and less wrist work. You will thank me later.


On with the dish...
...as my picture shows, I turned a zucchini and a yellow squash into ribbons. This was just for fun. If you don't have a spiralizer, chop them or slice them to your liking. 

Now for the artichoke hearts. We have found Trader Joe's frozen artichoke hearts a winner. They do not have the bad texture and preservative taste of canned or bottled. I recommend keeping several bags on hand for quick and easy side dishes. 

Place the artichokes in a good sized sauce pan with a stick of butter. Our favorite way to eat artichokes is by dipping them in melted butter, so I was trying to mimic that experience with this dish. (My wife also like hers with lemon, but I don't like to interfere with the buttery goodness). Once the artichokes are heated to temperature, add the 2 kinds of squash. This will certainly need some fresh cracked pepper, and maybe salt. The squash is a blank canvas in a way, and can be seasoned as you like, but I did not want to coverup the artichoke in mine. Alfredo would go well, as would Parmesan, so make it your own!

Earl Cooks Egg Quesadilla & Ham with Homemade Guacamole

Scrambled Egg Quesadilla with Homemade Guacamole &
Heritage Ham Slice

I saw a TV chef make scrambled egg tacos recently and I thought "those scrambled eggs would make a great quesadilla too!" So I made some.

 



Start by heating your tortillas to what I call the bubble & blister stage in a large fry pan, with butter or simply use pan spray, and set them aside, wrapped a towel or foil, in a warm oven.

Then make your eggs. Add finely diced jalapeños & onions diced the same, to your eggs. I also added red and green mini peppers. Season the eggs well with salt and pepper. When your eggs are almost done, fill your tortilla, top with LOTS of cheese, using your favorite (for this I used cheddar/jack), fold and add back to pan. I like to cover for just a moment to make the cheese extra melty. It will also gently finish cooking your eggs. 

My last step was to make a quick homemade guacamole with just a few ingredients: avocado, tomato, onion & jalepeño. Dice the onion and jalepeño finely but I like to have bigger chunks of avocado and tomato. Gently mix together with salt & pepper, maintaining the rustic feel of great ingredients. Top your quesadilla with this lovely mix and you have a great meal.

I did add a slice of Heritage Dinner Ham from Falls Brand, which I heated through in a pan. My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey"), said it was too much and unneeded, but of course I loved it. It didn't really match the idea of a quesadilla, but hey, ham & eggs...a natural!

Earl Cooks is Makin' Bacon By Bakin' Bacon into BITS

I always liked the good quality REAL bacon bits you could buy at the supermarket. It always seemed easier and faster than making my own. But they are not CHEAP! They definitely charge you for the effort. So I started making my own with the microwavable, precooked bacon...half the work was DONE, just crisp them up and chop them and you have freshly cooked (almost) bacon bits that are cut to meet your likes. The problem with that is there isn't a bunch of flavor in the microwave bacon.

Big Buy Bacon In and Out of the package

My brilliant idea was to bake my own from CHEAP bacon! The cheap bacon has been a really good price recently.The great thing about cheap bacon is the reason it is cheap...it has a high fat content. The smoke flavor permeates the fat and is released when it cooks and renders down. I am continuously looking for a better way to cook bacon. I have tried the oven, the microwave, the stovetop, griddles, as-seen-on-tv devices. My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") is the best because she has the key...patience.

Baking Sheet with Corrugated Foil

For under $2 I can have bacon chunks that taste like bacon! I start by taking a baking sheet and line it with  foil I had corrugated at the suggestion of a chef to allow the fat to drip away and make cleanup a breeze.

Pieces of Cheap Bacon Raw and Baked

I cut one pound of bacon into small pieces, keeping in mind that they will shrink...a lot. I baked them at 350℉, which was the temperature recommended on the package for cooking their bacon.

Only half of the bacon fit on the first sheet, so for the second batch I decide to change it up a bit. I like my bacon on the less-than-crispy side, so I think I will bake the second batch with my oven's broiler mode rather than from beneath. It turned out great. Can you tell which is which?

Baked on the left and Broiled on the right

Make your own bits. Just take the time when you aren't doing anything else. Your house will smell great and they can be refrigerated or frozen, so next time you want bacon for your salad or scrambled eggs, you'll be set!

Earl Cooks Eggplant & Rice Casserole With 2 Cheeses

Eggplant seems to be the darling of the vegetarian /vegan community. I see it used in dishes that look SO good, and I have wanted to use them more. My first try was a failure, but I found an idea that seemed a bit better. It would include an eggplant, mozzarella & Parmesan cheeses, tomato sauce and rice.

First I covered the eggplant, sliced thin, with salt to draw out the moisture and bitterness. I rinsed the slices to remove the salt and began layering the eggplant and other ingredients almost like a lasagna, tomato sauce, rice, eggplant, cheese until I had filled my casserole dish and used all of the ingredients, topping it all with cheese. I baked it at 350℉ until hot throughout and the cheese all melted.

Results & Conclusions
I liked it okay, but I won't make it again. It ended up with far too much liquid in the bottom. My wife was unimpressed and hardly ate any of her bowl. I finished mine, but didn't bother to keep the leftovers, which is VERY rare for me.

It seems I just haven't come upon a recipe that makes eggplant worth cooking. It may be that we love meat so much that we are not tasting what others taste. I will try ONE more time, and hope that is isn't 3 strikes and out!

Earl Cooks Chef John's Fried Cheese Egg Toast - Sort Of

One of the most entertaining and instructional chefs I have found and follow regularly is Chef John (John Mitzewich). I don't often copy his recipes, because he is, well, a chef. My training is loving to cook and eat.
...but today I wanted to copy this one because it is something even I can handle, I think. I varied it a bit because of my on-hand ingredients. It is three of the best foods ever (cheese, eggs, and toast). I learned at a very young age to LOVE eggs, runny and dippable. I liked them with the top barely white and I would peel it back and open the golden goodness to my hot, buttered toast. I always had a hard time getting eggs at restaurants cooked so the white was set and the yolk was runny. Often the yolk and white were both hard, which was exactly how one of my best friends would order them "Over hard & smashed flat" was his preference and I could never understand that. I don't think my daughters followed in my footsteps, but my grandboys did. I made and continue to make breakfasts for them as often as possible and their favorite is DIPPING EGGS.

Back to the recipe. The original post by Chef John can be found here  

I had to redo my first attempt because I used a pan just a bit too large to accommodate my toast. I am posting both because they tasted terrific!

The pan should be non-stick. My first pan was my 9" Perfect Grip® Pan. To the heated pan I added cheddar/jack enough to cover (but the pan was too big). Simply allow the cheese to melt. 

When your cheese gets golden brown flip it to make sure both sides are crispy. Now it's time to add your egg. The tough part is keeping the yolk centered on the cheese. I just tilted the pan until it was set enough to stay. 

Like Chef John, I tried to allow the white to spread so it would cook, with some success. My wife (a.k.a "Turkey") did not think it was done enough, so I knew it was perfect!

 As you can see, or can't see, the cheese and egg are too large for my toast. If we eat with our eyes, your eyes are saying "Where's the toast?" It's there, I assure you.

I tried to fold mine in on itself as the Chef did, but mine became more of a cheese-Taco shell...what a great idea...but the extra cheese just wouldn't fold like the video showed. As you can see, it looked good and I was determined to  give it another go.

 Second Try
This time I started with a smaller pan, an 8" anodized aluminum pan which is one of my favorites for frying eggs. I followed the same basic steps, using the same ingredients. Since the pan was smaller, I used less cheese, which was my first goal. It melted and crisped up just fine. The egg was still uncooperative and I was less successful keeping it in the center. I also covered it for just long enough to make the white set and the yolk got a slight cover of white from the steam generated.

Here is an animation showing how it turned out. I zoomed in to show better detail.

This is a marvelous breakfast! Chef John said he did it to get out of a breakfast rut. I don't seem to have those. If I have eggs, bread, and cheese (and I always have eggs, bread, and cheese), I never feel I am in a rut, but this is a new take on an old favorite. My wife and friend are probably saying "eew!", and my grandboys are probably saying "why didn't we get an invite!" Thanks to Chef John at Foodwishes.com for the inspiration and the 2 great breakfasts!

Earl Cooks Chicken Cordon Bleu on Bleu & Baby Broccoli

"Cordon Bleu" is French for "Blue Ribbon". The dish, originating in Switzerland, is a cheese stuffed schnitzel or veal. The dish I made started with a frozen entree. using chicken rather than Schnitzel or veal. Everything is ready, but I thought I could raise it to another level...we'll see.

The frozen chicken breast stuffed with Swiss cheese and ham. I thought I could elevate it a bit and that  is why I am calling it Bleu ON Bleu. I added a slice of ham and a slice of Swiss on top of the prepared entree.

As a side dish, I simply steamed some baby broccoli which I topped with a generous amount of butter (to make sure it wasn't too healthy😄)

Results and Conclusions:
I like having something frozen that isn't cooked or microwavable but will save me time when I need it. My wife (a.k.a. "Turkey), thinks I didn't need to add the ham and cheese on top. Maybe not, but one can never have too much ham or Swiss Cheese!

Earl Cooks Radiatore & Sauce With 2 Cheeses

Radiatore & Meat Sauce with 2 cheeses

For some time now my wife (a.k.a. "Turkey") and I have been paying attention to TV chefs and how they do things differently than we do. Some do it differently just to be different, it seems, but most often the respected chefs have a method to their madness. Sometime we can't take advantage of their advice because it is too pricey or unavailable near us, but for this recipe, it seemed like a no-brainer...that is, buying pasta that will HOLD ONTO THE SAUCE! It seems like everyone would want that, right? Well, last time I bought pasta I bought 3 kinds we usually don't keep on hand. Elbows with ridges, small shells and radiatore. For the elbows I had to buy a brand name but for the shells and radiatore, the store brand was fine.

I should point out here that I like jarred pasta sauce and usually keep it on hand, but not this time. This time I wanted to use pantry items I had on hand, in particular some no salt added items I bought to prepare meals for my mom before her passing in 2017. So a homemade pasta sauce seemed like a great choice.

Now I am certain many won't consider canned tomatoes or tomato sauce as truly "homemade", and yet the TV chefs use them all the time! My ingredients are as follows:
Herbs & Spices:

• Gourmet Garden Stir in Basil (1tsp.) - great for when you don't have access to fresh
• Dorot or Pop&Cook Frozen Basil & Garlic. I find these a great way to add a bit of herbs. They are usually found in the frozen vegetable section. I have purchased them at Trader Joe's & Wal-Mart.
• Lawry's Seasoned Salt. For my sauce, I am using the Mediterranean version.
• Fresh Cracked Black Pepper. Nothing else will do.

Tomato Products:

• Hunt's Tomato Sauce (I used the no salt added but normally I just have the regular on hand), 1 can (15 oz.)
• Hunt's Fire Roasted  Diced Tomatoes (I prefer the flavor of these to other canned varieties. They are not hot as the name might indicate, just roasted over a fire. 1 can (14.5 oz.)
• Hunt's Tomato paste (again this is the no salt added version) 1 can

Cheese & Meat:

• Store brand mozzarella from Smith's which I grated (8 oz.)
• Parmesan which I also grated fresh (half a cup)
• 85/15 ground beef I bought on sale today (about a pound)

The Vegetables:

• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1½ yellow onion (medium) or one LARGE
• 5 (or so) multi colored peppers
• 3 sweet cherry peppers (Mezzetta Brand - jarred) 

The Pasta:

• half a box of Great Value Radiatore, cooked (4 servings) 

The Process:
Using a large frying pan (11") I got started on the layers of flavors. My process was to start by dicing the onion to use as a base for browning the beef. I wanted a good browning but no crunchiness in this stage. I added one whole onion here, retaining the other half to add brightness later. Once that was done I added the first tomato product, tomato SAUCE. I want to infuse that rich taste as well as add some moisture to keep the beef from over cooking.

Once that was cooked into the beef & onion, I added the tomato paste to give a bolder tomato flavor. I should say here that "Turkey" isn't a fan of most tomato based pasta sauces, so I made an effort to make this one special for her. I thought that could be achieved by adding chunky vegetables. I started by chopping celery into a small yet rustic dice. I didn't want it to dissolve, I wanted some crunch. Next I added diced mini-peppers, seeded, and the diced, sweet cherry peppers.

Now that this had all cooked together I needed to season it. I added the seasoned salt (Mediterranean), the basil paste & basil cubes (2), as well as the garlic cubes. Season to taste. We love garlic!

We are coming into the home stretch here, so get your pasta started! Cook it to al dente or a bit less. It will finish in the sauce, absorbing it into the nooks & crannies. Now take half of the shredded mozzarella and stir into the sauce, cover the pan, allowing it to melt. Once melted, stir in half of the Parmesan. Now stir in the diced tomatoes, including the juice they are packed in. Add the other half onion in now too..

Now drain the pasta, reserving a cup or two of the pasta water and add the drained pasta to the sauce. If needed add back some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce, and top with the other half of the mozzarella. Cover and simmer long enough to melt the cheese. Serve in a big bowl and top with the remaining Parmesan.

Results & Conclusion
I may never need to keep jarred sauce on hand anymore! This was much better, although more work. I probably made too much for the two of us, but we ate it the next night and it was delicious again. I will probably keep jarred sauce for convenience, but for flavor, this beats it, hands down. Now I will keep more of these components on hand! Next time I may make about half of what I did though, even after 2 dinners, we had enough for lunch!