Fancy Scrambled Eggs

I like the word fancy.  I tend o use it a lot.  

Eggs are tasty, nutritious, easy and quick to make, with endless flavour combinations.  I bought a bag of spinach for crepes, and had lots left over, so I ended up having some raw, and various scrambled eggs for lunch a few days in a row.  I didn't get tired of them, because I changed the ingredients each day, with the exception of the eggs and the spinach.  Here is one of my lunches.  It includes, cherry tomatoes from my back yard, yellow and red ones, spinach, lachsschinken, parmigiano reggiano, s&p, butter.  First melt butter, then add spinach, and cook until it softens and shrinks a lot, then add the  lachsschinken, let it shrink a bit.  I love using  lachsschinken, because of its smoky flavour, but you can use various meats, or skip it all together.  Cut the cherry tomatoes in half, add to the pan and cook until they soften a bit, you can even squish them with your spatula to speed things up.

Add the cheese, and s&p.

Mix it all.

Depending on how you like your eggs, cook accordingly.

I enjoyed the eggs with a slice of toasted rye and butter.

This idea could just as easily be made into an omelette.

Pork Riblets

Pork riblets are yummy, I usually make them in a mushroom sauce or use them to make stock, then serve them in the soup, makes for a more filling meal.

Here I made them in mushroom sauce, I don't like to use the word gravy.  "Gravy" always makes me think of that disgusting sludge people used to get on their icky french fries in our high school cafeteria.  I use wild mushrooms to make the sauce.  The carrots, surprisingly sweet, I peeled, cooked lightly, drained, put a bit of butter on them, and sprinkled fresh, home grown from seed, chopped parsley.  If you recall my mini garden in my kitchen, that parsley was in that photo.

The asparagus, I sautéed in butter, then sprinkled with s&p, lemon juice, and freshly ground parmigiano reggiano.

Ith gu leòir! (Eat plenty!)  (Scottish Gaelic)

Ricotta Pasta

This is one of my favourite pasta dishes, and it's so easy.  I've been making it for quite sometime, and I've noticed that little things make a difference.

Here are the things that make this dish yummy:
fresh basil
roasted tomatoes
good quality ricotta cheese
freshly grated parmesan cheese (I always use Parmigiano Reggiano; it seems expensive, but a $5 piece lasts me a long time)
egg noodles (which I tend to use any time I need pasta, noodles, or macaroni)

I use small tomatoes, cherry, campari, or grape; the smaller ones work better than full sized tomatoes.
First take out the ricotta from the fridge, so it's not as cold.
Then, half or quarter your tomatoes, place in a baking dish or on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with dry basil and oregano.  No need for grease.

Boil your noodles or pasta.  Try the egg noodles, you won't regret it.  You can even make your own egg noodles, I'll write about that another time.

Take a bowl or dish large enough to fit everything, including a container or package of ricotta and all the tomatoes.  In that dish, mash up the ricotta with a fork, add some sea salt and ground pepper, chop up some fresh basil and add it to the rest, grate some parmesan and add it in, mix it all.

Next drain your noodles. Rinse lightly.  Add the roasted tomatoes to the ricotta mixture.

Then add the noodles.

This pasta dish tastes incredible, and it's so easy.  It's even better if you have access to fresh non refrigerated tomatoes, because all grocery store tomatoes have been refrigerated, and this is why store bought tomatoes have very little to no flavour.

This makes me think of summer.

Bonum appetitionem! (Latin)

Butternut Squash Risotto

Squash is quite amazing, with so many varieties, the possibilities are endless.  Butternut is one of the most popular, available and in turn widely used squashes.

Risotto is such a simple dish to make.  It can be a side dish or a main meal, and it's flavour possibilities are infinite as well, since you can virtually add anything to go with the rice.

All you need for this dish, is a butternut squash, a cup of short-grained round or semi-round rice, such as Arborio, Vialone Nano, and Carnaroli.  Arborio rice is available at almost any supermarket.  A few leaves of fresh sage, about 1/3 cup of freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, s&p, 30 oz of stock - just under 4 cups, about 1/4 cup of white port and 1/4 cup water or 1/2 dry white wine.  Port has a much stronger taste, so I diluted it with water for this dish, since butternut squash has a mild flavour, I didn't want too much port to take over.  You can also skip the port or wine all together and just use extra water with the stock.

The hardest part is peeling and cutting the squash, but to make it a bit simpler, you can cut it into pieces first, slice off the skin, and use a spoon to get the seeds and stringy bits out, like this:

You'll need to cut it into about 1/2" cubes. 

Add to the melted butter, stir frequently and let it cook for about 10 minutes.  Then add 1 cup of rice, and stir so that it's coated.  If using wine or port, add that and cook until it gets absorbed.  Then add stock in about 1/2 cup amounts at a time, wait for the liquid to be absorbed, and stir in between.  At the end add the parm, sage, s&p, and serve right away, because it's best fresh off the stove.  This is not one of those dishes that you can make ahead of time.  My sage in the backyard still hasn't died, so I managed to get a few good looking leaves.

I used pink Himalayan crystals which I crushed a bit with a mortar and pestle, but you can use any good quality sea salt.  I just have some of the pink salt, so I sue it when ever I can.

I also use freshly ground black pepper, because it's more potent, so I don't need as much and I know how much I need, because I'm used to using freshly ground as opposed to pre-ground, which loses its strength over time.

This risotto was delicious, sweet, with a bit of tang.  Even James had 2 servings.  By the way, these amounts will yield about 4 servings as meals, more as side dishes.

So good and easy.  Perfect for a cold day.  Enjoy!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

This was my first time making spaghetti and meatballs, because I was never a huge fan, but now I'm thinking that maybe I just never had a tasty enough version.

Here is what you'll need:
-pasta, I used a whole multi-grain pasta
-a can of tomato paste
-a can of plum tomatoes or fresh plum tomatoes, but fresh take longer to simmer down to sauce.  I found a can of Italian sodium free plum tomatoes at the market
-ground beef, or ground beef and pork
-rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, I used fresh, if you're using dry, use less then fresh
-olive oil
-bay leaf
-fresh garlic
-a bit of onion (optional)
-s&p
-eggs
-red wine
-parmigiano reggiano
-bread crumbs or stale bread
-milk, I used (whipping) cream and a bit of water
NOTE: if you're using bread, then soak it in the milk, then add to meat.  Milk breaks down the meat.

Directions:
-Have a baking sheet ready, use parchment paper or a non-stick sheet.  Set oven to 350 F.
-Mix the meat, s&p, herbs, eggs, bread/ crumbs in a bowl with your hand.
-Mold small balls, about 1.5", by rolling between your hands, and place on baking sheet
-Bake for 45 minutes
You can fry your meat balls, but I find that too messy, and by baking, even if you're using lean meat, even more fat comes out on to the sheet.

For the sauce:
-Add some oil to a pot, add garlic, onion if using, simmer for a minute, add bay leaf, a sprig of rosemary, thyme, oregano, pepper, dry or fresh basil, but save some fresh for later.
-Add tomato paste, wine, and chopped plum tomatoes.  Stir, cover, and let simmer.
-When meatballs are done, add to pot with sauce.
-Boil spaghetti.
-Add fresh chopped basil to pot, and salt and pepper to taste.
-I used bowls, cause I had unexpected guests, and some of us ended up sitting on the sofa.
-Drain pasta, I like mine al dente, firm, but not too hard, because they will continue to absorb moisture from the sauce and keep softening.  Best way is to try your pasta after a few minutes, if it's soft on the outside with a firm centre, it's good, usually about 7-8 minutes, but this depends on the pasta.
-put some pasta on a plate, or in a bowl, ladle in sauce with meatballs, sprinkle with freshly cut basil and shaved parmigiano reggiano.
-Pour yourself a glass of red, sit back, and enjoy ;)

Of course I forgot to take photos of the final product, but here is one of the sauce simmering with the meatballs:

The whole multi-grain spaghetti: