In a jar, combine all ingredients; shake to mix thoroughly. Use it at once or refrigerate for 1 week. Shake again before adding to salad. This recipe makes 3/4 cup dressing.
In a large bowl, combine the ground meat with salt, pepper, and egg.
Divide the mixture into 6 portions.
Combine the remaining ingredients and divide them into 6 equal portions as well.
Wrap each portion of meat around a portion of the basil mixture and flatten slightly to form a patty. Seal edges to keep cheese from oozing out while cooking burgers.
Preheat the grill, broiler, or skillet. Cook each burger to the desired level of doneness — approximately 5 minutes per side for rare, 7 minutes for medium, and 8 minutes for well-done.
Cook frozen French-fried potatoes according to package instructions.
While the potatoes are cooking, melt olive oil and butter in a small saucepan. Once melted, add chopped garlic and stir until the mixture bubbles. Set the saucepan aside until the potatoes are finished.
Once the potatoes are golden brown, transfer them to a large bowl. Add the olive oil, butter, and garlic mixture and briefly toss together. Add cheese and chopped parsley and toss again. Season with
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Serve with Basil Cheeseburgers if desired.
Use your favorite French-fried, crinkle-cut or steak potatoes for this recipe. Heck, Tator Tots would be great too!
Combine garlic and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small bowl. Heat a 1 1/2 to 2 quart heavy pot over medium heat; add 1 tablespoon of butter until melted. Pour in garlic and oil. Add 1/2 teaspoon of Red Pepper Flakes. (Note: Start with 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes, the more you use, the more firecrackers there is in the final dish.) Gently cook it all until the garlic is fragrant, but not browned, for about 2-3 minutes. Add one 750ml bottle of Samuele’s Quarry Red Blend and increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until reduced by two-thirds, 20-25 minutes, season with salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm. You should have a little more than 1 cup of sauce.
Cook spaghetti according to package directions until very al dente.
Drain spaghetti and return to the cooking pot. Add the reduced wine sauce, along with the remaining 7 tablespoons of butter. Set pot over medium-high heat and bring sauce and spaghetti to a simmer. Cook, tossing often, until pasta is tender, well-coated and the sauce is thickened; about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and toss with 1/2 cup of the grated Parmesan and 1/2 of the basil. (Reserve 1/2 of the basil for garnish.) Taste and season with more salt and pepper if necessary.
Divide spaghetti among four bowls: drizzle with additional Olive Oil. Top with more Parmesan cheese and crumbled Prosciutto or bacon. Garnish with the remaining basil.
Note 1: If Sam is joining you for this dish, have additional red pepper flakes available to sprinkle on top.
Note 2: If you are serving our Firecracker Red Spaghetti with a salad using our Zinfandel Vinaigrette, you can reserve two tablespoons of the wine before starting the sauce. This sauce is rich enough that you won’t notice the missing two tablespoons.
Enjoy!
Place ham hocks and 1/2 of chopped onions in a large pot with 2 boxes of chicken broth. Simmer until meat easily peels off bone. Remove and cool. Take meat from bone and cut into sugar cube size pieces. Place bones back into broth to cook out marrow.
In separate pot, place olive oil, leeks, carrots, Napa cabbage, remaining onions and two boxes of chicken broth. Simmer until vegetables are broken down and transparent. After soft, add garlic, red pepper flakes and 1 bag of rinsed split peas. Simmer for 30 minutes or until very soft.
Add meat and broth from marrow bone pot and one more bag of rinsed split peas. Cook for 1/2 hour. Add wine and continue to cook slowly. When near the desired consistency add cheese and Kosher salt to taste. Stir in chopped parsley just before serving.
Add butter and/or cream, if desired, prior to serving.
Garnish with more cheese and torn fresh basil. (I also add additional red pepper flakes to my bowl!)
*A note about carrots. My Dad hated carrots. Therefore, carrots were not a part of my childhood. If you don’t like carrots, don’t add them to the soup. You can replace the carrots with celery, zucchini, more cabbage or more leeks. Use whatever vegetables you prefer, that’s what I do.