Growing up in England I was lucky enough to be openly exposed to it's carb-heavy, artery clogging and delightfully named cuisine. I grew up consuming Toad in the Hole, Sheperds's Pie with Mushy Peas, Bangers and Mash, Saveloys with Chips, oh the list goes on and on...Not only is the cuisine exceedingly different than in America but the actual names of the mealtimes differ too. Breakfast was brekkie, lunch was dinner, dinner was tea or supper. Your midmorning snack would be called elevensess based of the hour of consumption. Sunday was a different animal altogether. It was breakfast, Sunday lunch and then tea. This was my favorite meal day. I loved Sunday lunch as I have expressed to you before. Of course, I would go crazy for the roast and all it's accoutrement but, my favorite part of the day was tea time. Since lunch was so big and filling, teatime would be a light snack of nibbles, just something to tide you over. Plates of cakes, sandwiches and possibly pancakes (crepes) smothered with butter and lemon juice. Oh the memories. In England, a perfectly fine teatime dish would be beans on toast. This would be a standard for me, I loved it. The perfectly crisp bread laden with butter and smothered in creamy beans. I couldn't get enough.
Not long ago on a night by myself, not wanting to cook, I provided myself a little trip down memory lane. While heating up the beans I thought to myself, I want something more, something to add a little pizzazz. That's when it hit me: add an egg! I pulled an egg out of the fridge and fried it up. The beautiful white surrounding the creamy, gooey, sunshine orange center. I placed this perfect food atop the beans on toast and I was in business. It was pure heaven, the yolk melding with the beans, the grainy, chewy bread, a perfect vehicle for consumption. Last night, I had to have it. And I did.
Delightful Tea: Beans on Toast
Ingredients:
2 slices of bread
1 can of baked beans
2 eggs cooked sunny side up
Preparation:
Toast the bread, heat the beans and fry the eggs. Place the beans on the toast and top with an egg. Prepare yourself a cup of tea and there you go, Bob's you're uncle.
I am so looking forward to watching it. You know what it is... Spain, on the Road Again. Gwyneth Paltrow and Mario Batali road trippin' and food eatin'. The cuisine, beyond. Paella on my mind, I've been daydreaming about the socorrat, the sweet, the crunch, the delicious. I'm sure this is going to be my new food/telly obsession and I can't wait. Here's a little preview:
There is nothing in this world that gives me more pleasure than a big bowl of pasta with meat sauce. It's what I'm having for dinner tonight.
Bolognese Sauce with Pasta
Ingredients: 1lb ground beef or veal (depends on your taste) 1lb ground pork 1 cup of mirepoix, equal parts carrots, celery and onion - exceedingly finely chopped 3-5 cloves of garlic smashed 6 strips of bacon 1 cup red wine 1/2 cup beef stock 1 large can San Marzano whole tomatoes 6 oz.tomato paste 4 sprigs of thyme 2 teaspoons sea salt 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper 1 large pat of butter Olive oil 1 lb of Tagliatelle
Garnish: Parmesan cheese Handful of finely chopped flat leaf parsley
Preparation: Coat the bottom of a large pan with olive oil and cook the mirepoix over medium heat for 7 minutes. Add the garlic cloves and bacn and cook another 2 minutes. Add the ground meat, stirring to break up the pieces until it is cooked. Drain out all of the cooking juices from the pot.
Add in the wine and a large pat of butter and simmer for 5 minutes. After this simmer add the stock, can of tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper and thyme. You can add the thyme sprigs whole and just fish out the stems later. Break up the tomatoes with a spatula and fold all the ingredients together, stirring from the bottom of the pan up.
Simmer over medium to low heat, uncovered, for about an hour. As always, do your taste test to see if you need any more salt and pepper.
If you are so inclined you may also add ¼ cup of half and half to this sauce when you are adding the stock. I do this because I like the creaminess it gives but the sauce is just fine without it.
Presentation: Cook up the pasta, spoon it out into big bowls. Top with a generous serving of sauce, freshly grated cheese, the chopped parsley and you’re in business.
My roam through the farmer's market today yielded some interesting new finds: cranberry beans and the fairy tale eggplant - a lighter, sweeter, less bitter alternative to it's classic dark purple cousin. These items were spied at the Sycamore Farms stand and I couldn't resist picking them up along with some heirloom tomatoes, yellow and red peppers and a white eggplant. I enjoyed shopping at this laid back vendor, they were extremely friendly and I was offered suggestions on how to use the beans. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet but instructions for cooking were to hull the beans and drop into boiling water for 20 minutes. The buttery beans can be added to pasta, salads, risotto. Endless possibilities. I am very excited for this gastronomic experiment.
Next I made a quick pit stop at S&S.O Produce. Not as friendly as Sycamore Farms but I was drawn to their artfully displayed boxes of red potatoes and cippolini onions. This will be simple. Roasted potatoes with caramelized onions, maybe some chives sprinkled on top. I'll have to see what's in the fridge.
I always find it strange when bloggers write that they are sorry for not posting. I don't know why they are apologizing. I don't notice. I'm sure you don't either.
I don't have a camera to capture my food and my refrigerator is not properly stocked. I have to take a break. Maybe I'll come back with a musing, but a meal will not be written about until I can properly document it.
On our way to the first day of school, my son looked at me and said, “I think the moms are the only one’s happy that school’s starting,” I think he’s right. Outside of school everyone was catching up, taking pictures...We couldn’t control ourselves; we were the only ones who were happy. Here we go again…like summer never even happened; campus life begins. Tonight, spice it up. Let’s try shrimp curry over rice cooked in coconut milk.
I know I have vowed to go a more traditional route when presenting recipes to you but when I make curries it’s a little different. My Asian heritage lends itself to more of a feeling, a taste, a smell rather than a hard and fast recipe. I’ll try to go traditional but do everything per your taste. The dish will only be complete upon your liking.
For the curry: 3 cans of coconut milk 1 lb of deveined shrimp (you can have the fishmonger remove the tails if you so wish) Red Curry paste Turmeric Sea Salt Red Chili Flakes Fish Sauce Touch of Sesame oil for taste Olive Oil ½ an onion – finely chopped 5 Yukon Gold potatoes, quartered 1 pint of grape tomatoes Lime juice Cilantro Chicken Stock
In a large pot with the olive oil heating up, add the onions and a shake of salt. Cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. To the onions, add the curry paste, turmeric and a splash of sesame oil. Start with a few tablespoons of the spices and then go from there. Once the curry paste and turmeric have coated the golden onions add the coconut milk, lime juice, potatoes, tomatoes, salt (per your taste) and several generous pours of fish sauce. In a separate pan, sauté the shrimp with a drizzle of olive oil and a splash of lime juice. Once cooked, add the shrimp to the curry and let it simmer until all these sultry flavors are combined and the potatoes are cooked. Add more lime juice and fish sauce to your liking and if you choose to add extra liquid or thin out the curry, this is the time to add your chicken stock.
Rice: Packaged rice and 2 cans of coconut milk Cook your rice per package instructions. Substitute coconut milk for half the water needed.
Scoop the velvety rice into a large bowl. Pour the flavorful curry over it and top with chopped cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice and the spicy chili flakes. I have nothing more to say.
I know I keep threatening, but now I really mean it. It is, officially, back to business. There's one day left and then school starts. During the summer I love to chill out, relax, enjoy the flow. I love to hang out with friends, take the dog for a late walk, stop to get an ice cream, let the boy sneak in a late night here and there to lie with me and watch Camp Rock together for the 900th time.
When school starts, things are very different. Once September hits there is the whole issue of schedules and school and homework. The evening schedule is tight. As a single mother I have to keep to military precision. Sometimes, though, we get off track. Evenings can be hectic. There could be a friend stopping by for dinner, last minute errands and then there are the usual things that are always there, homework, animals, required reading, walking the dog, watching cartoons, basically, I'm living my life within the confines of 5 hours a night! Through it all I do try to cook every night but, there are only so many hours in the day. That's when I do it. I cheat. Sometimes, during the weekends I make a couple of dishes and then stick them in the freezer. On any given morning I can pull something out, pop it in the fridge and by the time we get home it's ready to go into the oven. One of the best freezable dishes I have came straight from Rachel Ray. I'm not a huge fan of her personally, but I am always intrigued by her ability to put together a solid meal in that half hour slot. I love her mozzarella stuffed meatballs. You can make up a ton of these and stick them in the freezer (cook before freezing). They can be served with pasta, as a stand alone dish with sides, in a sub smothered with marinara sauce, the variations are endless. Let's go with the stand alone dish.
From Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals:
The Italian take on meat and potatoes: Meatballs with a tangy San Marzano tomato sauce, smashed potatoes and roasted broccolini.
Take 2lbs of your favorite type of sausage meat. I use a mix of chicken and pork. With your fingers, squish in salt, pepper and some chopped parsley. Take a portion of meat and wrap it around a little piece of mozzarella bocconcini and manipulate it into a regular meatball. Roll together as many as you can, place them on an oiled baking sheet and pop into the oven for about 20 minutes at 400F. Boil up some quartered potatoes and when they are done, add up to 1 cup of milk or half and half, 2-3 generous handfuls of Pecorino Romano and as much fresh ground black pepper as you can handle and then smash. These aren't mashed potatoes - do more of a rough mash to yield a rustic presentation. Roast a package of broccolini in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil and a shake of salt and pepper. Same oven as the meatballs, 7-10 minutes. Now the sauce. Pour one large can of San Marzano whole tomatoes into a pan add 3 cloves of smashed garlic, salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar (which cuts down the acidity) and then take a potato masher to it and yield these whole tomatoes into submission. If you are so inclined, you can stir in ½ cup of red wine for extra richness.
Assemble on your plate, drizzle the meatballs with the tangy tomato sauce, add a few more grinds of black pepper and enjoy that delicious.
The greeting when you walk into the dining room is a definite indicator as to how your meal will go; comforting, familiar and soul warming. Every time we go to Ipuddo the meal is the same: Pork buns and Akamaru Modern ramen. The pork is mouth wateringly moist and the creamy ramen broth is unbelievably flavorful. Whether you decide on a quick lunch or a late and lazy dinner, your appetite will thank you.
