Elizabeth’s Cafe

Penne alla vodka con gamberetti or in english translation penne in vodka sauce with shrimp is a dish I first had in Urbino, Italy where I studied for a summer and a semester back in college. This became my very favorite pasta dish to eat there. I am a huge fan of sauces and you really can’t beat all the big flavors of a thick red sauce, cream and vodka (I also add in white wine or extra dry vermouth in my recipe) that all come together to create this wonderful creation called vodka sauce which is exactly how it’s made here in Madison, CT at Elizabeth’s Cafe. Adding in the shrimp just makes makes it that much more amazing and Elizabeth’s Cafe hits it right on the nose really bringing back those memories from Italy!

Every time I have eaten at Elizabeth’s Cafe they out do themselves in executing fine sauces and flavors in their dishes. When my friend Wendy and I met there for our celebratory birthday  lunch just recently they originally stated that they were making the vodka sauce and shrimp dish with rigatoni which wasn’t a problem for us, but since we had ordered saying “penne alla vodka sauce” when the plates arrived to our surprise they had specially made it with penne pasta for us. What a lovely thing to do, so simple yet going the extra mile for the customer! I highly recommend going to Elizabeth’s Cafe for the finer things in culinary cuisine. You can access their web site at perfectparties.com.

If you would like to make vodka sauce yourself I have two versions, one with cream and one with coconut cream for gluten-free:

The Engine Room

The Engine Room in Mystic, CT should definitely be on your to do list for fine breweries and gourmet dry aged beef burgers. My friends and I went there over the weekend and when we arrived we opted to wait at the bar for the circular booth to have  our dinner which was by far the best seat in the house. How fun was it to sit at their very fun bar sampling the specialty beers on tap. Our favorite was the Corendonk Abbey Blonde ale that was amazing with hints of citrus so delicious and smooth bringing beer to a new standard.

The restaurant itself has that very cool industrial look which I adore having a vast, yet warm, inviting feeling as though you are at some chalet. Our dinners were delicious from the turkey burgers to the homemade in house pastrami that was juicy and tender and their fries are to die for…may have been my favorite, The Caesar salad made with spinach was a refreshing change from the usual romaine and a citrusy dressing that was addictive and of course their gourmet dry aged beef burger goes with out saying …tender and melted in your mouth . I would highly recommend a visit here and you may want to make a reservation because they do attract a crowd.

If you like Caesar salads you may want to try my Caesar salad and Italian garlic croutons:

Italian Garlic Croutons

Italian garlic croutons are super easy and such a hardy and tasty addition to any salad! I keep the crust with these garlic croutons because it gives them more texture. My favorite salad with these Italian garlic croutons is a Caesar salad which I’ll be posting tomorrow so keep an eye out. These don’t last very long in our kitchen but if you do have a few left over after several days just put them in a Ziploc baggie and pop them into the freezer.

Above you can watch the Cooking Show on how to make my gourmet garlic croutons!

INGREDIENTS: Makes 12 -13 cups of Croutons – 1 Ex-Lg Ziploc Freezer Baggie of Croutons:

• 1- 1 1/2  large loafs of good Italian bead (14-15 cups croutons-use 1/2 stick butter and 3 tbsp olive oil if you have 10 cup of bread cubes)
• 4 large garlic cloves put thru garlic press
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 stick butter (salted) melted
• 4 tsp garlic granules (not powder) – Sprinkle 2 tsp per cookie tray
• 1 tsp salt
• A couple dashes of your favorite hot sauce Siracha -you can find this with the other hot sauces at the super market
• 2 cookie trays

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400º
2. Slice bread into 3/4″ slices length wise
3. Then slice into 3/4″ squares, you don’t want them to be perfect – that’s what’s lovely about hand made croutons they don’t look like they came from a box
4. Melt 3/4 stick of butter
5. In a large mixing bowl add 1/4 cup olive oil, 3/4 stick melted butter, 4 garlic cloves thru garlic press, 1 Tsp salt, and whisk  to mix
6. Divide this mixture into two and pour onto the 2 cookie trays spreading them evenly all over the tray
7. Divide up Italian bread cubes into 2 and put onto the 2 cookie trays right on the olive oil mixture
8. Stir the cut up bread cubes all around the cookie tray to evenly coat and soak up all of the olive oil mixture. I use a pastry scraper (see photo) to do this…a tool which I use a lot!
9. NOW sprinkle 2 Tsp of garlic granules on each of the cookie trays filled with Italian garlic croutons
10. Put into the oven for 12 minutes
11. IMPORTANT – they go quickly at the end so you really need to watch them so they don’t burn
12. Let the Italian garlic croutons cool before putting them into a Freezer Ziploc baggie
13. I usually keep them on the counter for a few days then throw them into the freezer to store and keep fresh

You may also like to try these recipes with your croutons:

Lavender Honey & Fresh Ricotta on Crostinis

This lavender honey and fresh homemade ricotta is a different and really delicious appetizer to make or even bring to a party. If you were to bring this to a friends house you’ll want to keep everything separate and let the guests put the dollop of ricotta onto the crostini and drizzle on the lavender honey because it is to hard to travel with plus it presents well when you have them all separate. There are some lovely flavors going on here between the taste of the sweet lavender flowers in the honey, the creaminess of the ricotta and the crunch of the crostini…what an amazing trio! It’s such an easy appetizer to make your friends will think you slaved over making the ricotta. This dish would be really nice paired with a citrusy or fruity white wine like a Alain Paret 2011 Cotes Du Rhone Blanc at around $15.99 has big ripe peaches on the palate that’s great with apps or poultry.

Ingredients:

• Fresh homemade ricotta recipe
• 1 jar really good lavender honey from your local specialty cheese shop or market
• 1 crostini recipe

Directions:

1. Make the homemade ricotta and the crostinis
2. Put the ricotta in a bowl and place onto a wood cutting board stacking the crostinis in a pile and serve with a drizzle stick or small spoon in the honey jar

You might also like to serve up some other appetizers like: