Tag Pic Pac (from Carrabba's)

Tag Pic Pac Italian Home-style

Picchi Pacchiu Sauce with your favorite pasta is about as good as it gets. A dish made popular here in America by Carrabba’s Italian Restaurant and Grill is based on an authentic Italian recipe. I use to go quite often and get this dish and could not believe how good it was. I always ordered Tag Pic Pac (short for Tagliarini with Picchi Pacchiu Sauce) with grilled chicken.

On evening I had the opportunity to talk with the owner who was a super nice fellow, he even let me purchase one of his imported dishes that was on display hanging in the restaurant. It was a super cool large serving dish that had a octopus on it. I just had to have that thing, and to my surprise he did sell it to me! Funny thing the lady I was dating at the time was with me and she insisted she pay for half of the plate. I let her, however made the stipulation that should we stop dating, I keep the dish. Well in the end, the dish I kept was the one on the wall, the other dish I never saw again. 

This is the plate I bought off the wall in Carrabba's Restaurant. We still use it
to serve on special occasions.

That night while chatting with the owner I ask him about the main secret in making Tag Pic Pac, because mostly I could not figure out how to do the sauce. He said,

“Jim, you will not believe it is as simple as it is. You first hand crush fresh tomatoes; add fresh sliced garlic, basil, oregano, dash of salt and pepper. Then put in a pan with EVVO and cook for only about a minute, then serve.”

Well, that sounded a little too easy for me. So anyway I decided I would give it a try and sure enough it really is that simple and truly delicious. The fresh herbs are a must and for us the more basil the better.

Here is how we prepared this simple and delicious meal.

·         In a bowl slice then hand crush fresh tomatoes and add basil, oregano, Italian parsley, salt and pepper and set aside.

·         Precook your pasta, drain, and set aside

·         Precook you chicken stripes either grilled outside or seared in cast iron. Season with garlic, pepper and salt. Then set chicken aside and keep warm.

·         Lastly, add the bowl of tomatoes to a hot pan with EVVO and stir only for a minute. Take off heat.

 

NOTE: We had the best results by not precooking the garlic. We simply add them when we add the tomatoes. Also we added a little fresh Motz and grated Romano Cheese on top.

 

To serve place pasta on a plate, then add chicken and top off with the fresh Picchi Pacchiu, and add your favorite garnish, basil of course.

You can substitute the chicken with veal, pork or seafood if you like. It is all great!

Chow,

Jim Baugh
JBOTV
Author of Hooked and AFTERATH
Husband to "Ms11"

(Check out my Calamari recipe below-fantastic!) CLICK HERE

 

 

Sausage and Peppers! Will make you an offer you cant refuse.

Talk about a simple recipe, this is it!!! For those that don’t cook, and even for those that do, this is a sure fire favorite that is cheap and easy. Reminds me a bit of myself.

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s versatile and is a one skillet dish. Easy clean up and can even be cooked on a campfire.

Like most good things whipped up in the kitchen, a cast iron skillet is a good tool for cooking sausage and peppers. The reasons are many, however for the most part the skillet enables one to properly char the veggies as well as brown the sausage to perfection

You will need:

Cast Iron well seasoned skillet

Onion halved and broken apart

Fresh garlic

Green peppers sliced

Can of your fav whole tomatoes

Black Pepper

Sea Salt

Fresh Italian Sausage

Olive oil

Red wine

Red wine vinegar

Parmesan cheese

Crushed red pepper flakes

Sugar

Sides: Italian bread, or any variety of pasta.

First properly pre heat the cast iron, then bring to a good medium to medium high temp and brown the sausage with a bit of olive oil. Get a nice char on the meat and turn often. Remove from skillet when half done.

Next add some more olive oil and add all the veggies, garlic, etc. Let the veggies get a slight char to them and then stir. After slightly caramelized add a splash of red wine and one teaspoon of crushed red peppers and one teaspoon sugar.

Next add the sausage back into the mix and hand crush the whole tomatoes and add to the skillet along with a half cup grated parmesan cheese.

Stir in the skillet and as it thickens add about a quarter cup of red wine vinegar. Stir on medium for another 10 minutes then cover and let rest for 15-20 minutes covered. Salt and pepper to taste.

TO SERVE!!! Anyway you like. Just by itself, on a hoagie, on pasta, just about anything. Always have a little Parm on the side when serving and have at it. DELICIOUS, very inexpensive and something that is great for leftovers.

Lastly, NEVER by meat unless it is on sale. Get you sausage on a bargain and vacuum seal it for when you nee it.

Godspeed!!

Jim Baugh