MinestroneI made this soup last night. It was the best I ever made, if I may say so myself.A couple things…Italians don’t use a lot of corn. I put some in this recipe. Why? Because it tastes real good. I like the texture, too. And the color it adds.Pancetta is Italian bacon. If you are a vegetarian, you can skip the pancetta. But I love the flavor that it adds. When you cook pancetta, treat it like bacon. You don’t put oil in the bottom of a pan when you’re cooking bacon, so don’t add any when you’re cooking pancetta.Let the pancetta brown on one side. Then give it a stir, and try and get the unbrowned pieces to brown on the other side. If you ain’t got pancetta, use bacon.I use fresh oregano. It tastes better than dried in this recipe, but you can use dried.The chick peas and the corn are already cooked. All you need to do is heat them up. So add them last.You can serve the minestrone as is. Or you can put it over rice or pasta.If you put it over rice or pasta, I suggest you cook them separately from the soup.When you let them cook in the minestrone, they absorb too much broth.I like this soup with pasta; I cook the pasta separate and add it to each bowl before serving.This recipe yields about 20 cups of soup. INGREDIENTS6 ounces of pancetta cut into small pieces¼ cup olive oil plus 2 tablespoonsCrushed red pepper1 cup each--chopped celery, onion, carrots5 cloves mined garlic (about 2 tablespoons)2 cups each--Savoy cabbage, green zucchini, yellow squash cut in small pieces1 twenty-eight ounce can Italian plum tomatoes, smooshed up (about 3 ½ cups)Fresh chopped oregano, about 1 tablespoon, leaves stripped from the stemsFresh Italian flat leaf parsley, about 2 tablespoons, chopped, not too fine1 cup yellow corn (fresh, canned or frozen)1 sixteen-ounce can garbanzo beans (chick peas)3/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano1/4 pound small pasta (ditalini, elbow macaroni, mini farfalle) about 3 or 4 cups cooked Here goes…Put a large pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta, cook for 4 or 5 minutes without stirring. Give it a stir, let it brown for 4 or 5 minutes more without stirring.Turn the heat to medium-low. Add the olive oil, and the crushed red peppers. Let it heat up for a minute.Add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic and cook for 10 minutes. Stir, baby, stir.Add the green zucchini and the yellow squash. Add a drizzle (1 tablespoon) of olive oil. Cook for 5 minutes.Add the Savoy cabbage, add a drizzle (1 tablespoon) of olive oil. Cook for 5 minutes.Add the tomatoes, and the broth. Turn the heat to high. Let it come to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 10 minutes or so, until the zucchini and squash are semi-soft.Add the parsley and oregano. Add the garbanzo beans (chick peas/ceci) and the corn. Add the grated Romano cheese.Taste for salt and pepper and adjustRemove from heat. For the pasta…Get a medium-sized pot, fill it with water, put it on the highest heat you got.When the water comes to a boil, add a couple tablespoons of salt (I use Kosher).Add your pasta. Cook until firm to the bite.When the pasta is done, drain, and put in a bowl.Drizzle with a little olive oil, and stir.Plate it up! Get a soup bowl, fill it about ¾ of the way with soup.Add some pasta to the soup.Top with grated/shaved Romano cheese, if you like, and…MANGIAMO!!!
Slim Man Cooks Broccoli and Peppers
[et_pb_section admin_label="section"][et_pb_row admin_label="row"][et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text" background_layout="light" text_orientation="left" use_border_color="off" border_color="#ffffff" border_style="solid"]Broccoli and PeppersMy Dad didn’t like vegetables. I’d try to get him to eat a salad and he’d say, “I’m 86-years-old! I’ve made it this far without eating that shit, and I ain’t startin’ now!”He wasn’t a warm and fuzzy guy. He’d give it to you straight, right between the eyes. But when I put this sauce over pasta, he liked it, even though it’s vegan. If I had told him it was vegan, he would have dope-slapped me on the back of the head.This sauce is easy, quick, and delizioso. You can serve it as an appetizer with crusty bread, put it over rice or pizza, or make it with pasta, like I did for my grumpy pops.INGREDIENTS4 tablespoons olive oil6 cloves of garlic, sliced thin, about 2 tablespoonsCrushed red pepper (I start with a ¼ teaspoon)¼ dry white wine (be generous, Slim People!)1 orange bell pepper, seeds and stems removed, chopped1 red bell pepper the same way1 yellow bell pepper the same way4 cups broccoli florets¾ cup vegetable broth (or chicken broth)HERE WE GO!Get a large sauté pan, put it over medium heat.Add the olive oil, garlic, and crushed red pepper, and cook for a few minutes until the garlic is pale gold.Add the white wine, turn up the heat, cook for a minute or two.Reduce the heat to medium.Add the bell peppers, cook for 5 minutes, or until semi-soft. Stir a couple times.Add the broccoli.Add the vegetable broth, turn the heat to high until it starts to bubble.Turn the heat back down to medium.Cook for 5 or 6 minutes, or until the broccoli is done to your liking.Taste for salt and pepper and adjust. MANGIAMO!!![/et_pb_text][et_pb_video admin_label="Video" src="https://youtu.be/oeqprO0zpzw" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
Slim Man Cooks Baked Salmon with Pesto
Most women I know love salmon.I once went out with a woman who ate so much salmon, she started developing small gills behind her ears. Most women I know prefer to have things baked or broiled, rather than fried or sautéed.That’s OK. I’m a big admirer of women folk. I like to keep them happy. The world seems to work best that way.So if there are Lady People involved when I’m cooking, baked salmon is always a good bet.The thing about baked salmon is, it can get a little dry if you cook it too long. Don't overcook!Wild Alaskan King salmon is best, a nice thick piece. I found a nice piece of sockeye salmon at the local grocery (Ralph’s) for $7 a pound, and yes, it was wild.I baked it in the oven for about 8 minutes, took it out, put a little pesto and some toasted pine nuts (pignoli) on top and put it under the broiler for a minute or two, and it was…Delizioso.Keep in mind...Thicker fish take longer to cook.You don't need to toast your nuts for too long, they'll get another roasting when you stick them under the broiler.My pesto sauce has Parmigiano and romano cheese in it, and a lot of cooks frown upon putting cheese on fish.But what about the fish sandwich at McDonald’s? What about tuna casserole?Ingredients1 pound wild sockeye salmon filet, (the piece I used was about ¾ “ thick)1 tablespoon olive oilGlass baking dish Salt and freshly cracked black pepper.1 tablespoon Slim’s pesto (the video link to my recipe is down below)1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts (toast and shake in a dry pan over medium-high heat, don't burn your nuts!)Here we go…Heat oven to 425 degrees.Rinse the fish, and pat dry with paper towels.Put a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of the baking dish.Put the fish in the dish, turn it over so each side gets a little olive oil.Put the skin side down, add salt and pepper to the top.
When the oven comes to temperature, place the fish on second lowest rack.Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until almost done (pink inside).Remove from oven.Turn the oven to broil.Spread the pesto evenly over fish.Top with the toasted pine nuts.Put the salmon under the broiler for a minute or two.Remove from oven.Dish it up! Make it look good. She’s a-so nice!MANGIAMO!Click on the pic to see the YouTube pesto video:
Slim Man Cooks Croutons
Slim Man Cooks Croutons
I know what you’re saying, Slim People. “I start making my own croutons, and pretty soon I’m making my own refrigerator. Where does it end?”Right here. These croutons take 5 minutes to make. That’s it. And they’re so good, you can eat them as is. Forget the salad. Eat the croutons!I don’t like store-bought croutons. They taste like chalk, and they’re so tough on the teeth it’s like eating a box of rocks.You could easily bust a bicuspid. Injure an incisor.So usually, when I make a salad, if I need some crunch, I’ll toast nuts instead.“Here’s to you, you nuts!”But when I was creating my incredibly incredible Hail Caesar salad, I needed croutons. My nuts were not cutting it. Caesar salad needs croutons, plain and simple.So I started my quest to make the best croutons in the world. I started with recipes that suggested using old, stale bread. I tried that. I wasn’t digging it. Old stale bread tastes…old and stale.So I said to myself…”Slim Poppa, Show Stoppa, why don’t you use fresh bread?”So I tried fresh bread. I used a half of a fresh sourdough baguette, and the croutons were…good.The next day I tried the day-old baguette, and they were even better.Slim CroutonsA couple days ago, I made croutons using half dark rye bread and half Italian bread. They were delicious and made a good-looking couple! Ebony and ivory!Whatever combination of bread you use, make sure you end up with 3 cups. Which should yield about…3 cups of croutons, if my math is correct.When I’m making croutons, I usually keep the spices to a minimum. Why? Because your salad dressing usually has a lot of stuff going on. For instance, in my Hail Caesar salad dressing, which has been hailed as the greatest in the world, I use garlic in the dressing.So I don’t want to use garlic when I’m making my croutons. It’s-a too much!A final note…you don’t need to add salt. Most bread already has salt in it. 
INGREDIENTS½ baguette (I used a day-old sourdough baguette) cut into cubes (about 3 cups)3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces¼ teaspoon dried oreganoFresh-cracked black pepper Here we go…Put a large sauté pan on medium-high heat.Add the butter.When the butter melts and starts to bubble, add the cubed bread.Sprinkle the oregano on the bread.Grind some fresh-cracked black pepper on the bread.Toss!Let them brown for about 2 minutes. Don’t be shaking 'em all around, let ‘em brown.Toss!Let them brown on the other side or another 2 minutes. Make sure each cube is getting toasted on each side. Show some love to both sides, Slim Folks!Remove from heat. 
That’s it!Sprinkle on top of your salad, and…MANGIAMO!