Appetite For Instruction: Marinara Cream Sauce

​Recipe Demonstrated by Anthony Russo of Russo's New York Coal Fired Italian Kitchen

We all have big dreams. Some people want to win a Nobel Prize, others want to swim with sharks at the Great Barrier Reef and most just want to retire at the age of 30.

Mine is simple, I want to move to Italy, drink wine and eat pasta all day, every day.

Unfortunately, the process of getting to that point isn't simple. I did get a glimpse of what that might feel like on my first trip to the semi-new restaurant, Russo's New York Coal Fired Italian Kitchen. Owner and chef, Anthony Russo opened his first restaurant in 1978 in Galveston, after moving to Texas from New York. Since then he has opened up numerous Italian restaurants in Texas--including his first one in Dallas back in the late spring.

Russo's atmosphere is very inviting: wine glasses never left empty and the pasta dishes keep coming and coming. Just how I picture it to be over in Italy, and exactly how I imagine a restaurant should be. Of course, the homemade sauces are what really make the pasta. So for today's Appetite for Instruction we will be demonstrating the mariana cream sauce that Russo's uses for their lobster ravioli.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs butter
Splash of garlic sauce
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of black pepper
1 pinch of chopped fresh parsley
2 fl oz. white wine
2 Tbs mascarpone cheese
6 fl oz homemade white sauce (1/2 half and half and ½ heavy whipping cream)
5 oz grated Romano cheese
2 wedges Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 pinch chopped fresh parsley

​Step 1: Melt the butter in a skillet and add the garlic sauce, salt, pepper, parsley and white wine, mix well.

​Step 2: Add mascarpone cheese, white sauce and 2 oz. of the Romano cheese; mix well until medium consistency

​Step 3: In a separate skillet add 2 oz. of the white sauce, marinara sauce and remaining Romano cheese; mix well until medium consistency

​Step 4: Combine the two sauces and drizzle over your pasta of choice (I definitely recommend using lobster ravioli)