I grew up eating this rice dish and completely forgot about it until my mom randomly decided to make it as a side dish for Christmas last year!! I started posting about recipe testing it a few weeks back and got a huge number of responses from people saying their moms used to make this dish too and that it goes by several diff names. "Stick of butter rice" was my personal fave, lol.

The fact that there's an entire stick of butter in it means you know it's going to be amazing and super comforting. That said, there are ways to make it a bit healthier. You can use plant-based butter, I've made it with both dairy and plant-based butter and both turned out to taste very similar. When my mom made it on Christmas, she made her own french onion soup base with caramelized onions and beef broth!! So that would be another way to maybe eliminate some sodium and give it a more natural feel if you don't want to use the canned soup.

I also love how EASY this recipe is - 5 ingredients total and only three steps. It's probably the easiest side dish you will ever make and it's always a huge hit at dinner. Makes enough for 4-6 sides, can be doubled in the same size pan.

I love a good basket of fried calamari with peppers and marinara dipping sauce but I also love stewed or sautéed calamari too! It pairs so well with crushed tomatoes and garlic and basil!! 

It is VERY easy to overcook the calamari. If overcooked, the texture will be very rubbery and ruin the dish. I know cooking seafood is scary and you want to make sure it's completely done but calamari cooks very fast. If you're a newb, test out cooking a single ring in the sauce for one minute and see what you think before cooking all the others.

OKAY, SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS. One of my favorite Italian restaurants in Cleveland, Luca, has this insane pasta dish on their menu that has absolutely changed my life since the first time I tried it several years ago.

The sacchetti is a bucket purse shaped pasta that is usually filled with cheese. At Luca, they use ricotta and truffle and serve it in a truffle cream sauce with an aged fig balsamic glaze and microgreens.

What you need
For the sacchetti:

• Fresh pasta, rolled out in to thin sheets and cut into 2x2 inch squares (I used a recipe from Pasta Grannies Cookbook, it was 3 1/4 cups flour and 5 eggs - @pastasocialclub also has great fresh pasta recipes.)
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parm
• 1/2 tsp salt

For the truffle sauce:

• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tbsp truffle oil
• 1 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp salted butter
• Balsamic fig glaze for drizzling

What to do:
For the sacchetti:

1. Combine the ricotta cheese, parm and salt. 
2. After you've made and sliced your fresh pasta, it's important to remember to keep it covered with cling wrap or a damp towel while so it doesn't dry out and crack.
3. Working with a few squares at a time, add 1 teaspoon of ricotta filling onto the center of each pasta square.
4. One at a time, fold up the edges up and over the ricotta cheese and squeeze the center to seal. The shape should look like a little bucket purse.
5. Boil for 7-8 minutes in salted water. Test one of the little dumplings, sometimes it takes a bit for the pinched together part of the pasta to cook through because it's thicker than the rest of the pasta dough.

For the sauce:

1. Pour the truffle oil into a medium sized skillet and turn the heat up to medium. Grate the garlic into the warm oil and cook for a minute or two until fragrant.
2. Add the heavy cream into the skillet, in three equal portions -- so 1/2 cup at a time. Whisk and wait until the first 1/2 cup warms and starts to bubble a bit before adding the second 1/2 cup. Repeat and add the third cup.
3. Bring the sauce to a boil, add the parmesan cheese and butter and then turn the heat down to low. Season with salt ad pepper and keep whisking until the sauce turns thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. You can add more cream to even things out or make a bit more sauce, just keep whisking over heat and don't forget to adjust the amount of salt and pepper you're seasoning with!
4. Once the sauce is done, transfer the fresh pasta into it and toss to combine. Plate and finish with the balsamic fig glaze.

I make alfredo sauce with a heavy whipping cream base and I am not sorry!! So many people are scared of heavy cream because of the amount of dairy and fat but this is one of those recipes where you really just treat yourself and don't try to make short cuts. You'll be glad you didn't once you start eating it, I promise!!