Image courtesy of www.joythebaker.com

The internet is a great source for all things foodie, and we’re constantly bookmarking, starring, and emailing intriguing recipes, food porn, and inspiration. Here’s a selection of clippings we think are worth checking out.

Waking up to these lemon raspberry rolls on a sunny Sunday morning would not be too shabby.

I know we’ve been enjoying late summer sun and warm temperatures, but I couldn’t help start drooling over these very Fall-appropriate roasted carrot and ricotta gnocchi.

Same thing goes for these bread and cheese meatballs. You’re sure to please the vegetarians in your life.

And again, it’s time for tomatoes. Think about making this Southeast Asian tomato salad for dinner tonight. Or, if you want some indulgence, roll up your shirtsleeves and make some biscuit dough for a tomato cobbler.

Image courtesy of www.wednesdaychef.com

The internet is a great source for all things foodie, and we’re constantly bookmarking, starring, and emailing intriguing recipes, food porn, and inspiration. Here’s a selection of clippings we think are worth checking out.

A tomato salad sandwich sounds like a perfect solo supper.

Although it’s unlikely that my cherry obsession will allow me to do anything but eat the sweet spheres by the handful, I think these roasted cherry brownies might be worth the effort.

The same thing goes for blackberries, but I could also make the effort for large, buttery blackberry oat scones.

After polishing off the brownies and scones, I should probably lighten up a bit and try this yogurt pasta carbonara.

Completely unrelated, how ’bout we make this beef rendang?

Pasta pasta pasta. It probably shows up in my posts as often as Mark Bittman. You know I love it. And it’s so easy. And with barely any effort, you can pull off something that’s worthy of guests. This is one of those recipes. And and and, you can spend time with your guests while dinner’s cooking and not worry about being on top of multiple items.

As the only hostess of the house, I worry about that. I want to enjoy a glass of wine with friends with my face to them. I don’t like when all they see for the first part of the evening is my back as I chop, chop or stir, stir. With this gem, the tomatoes go in the oven, and the pasta gets minded a bit. That’s it. I get to catch up while the timer tells me when to take notice. I get to gossip while my apartment quickly fills with the appetizing aroma of garlic baking down with tomatoes.

Tomatoes! One of pasta’s perfect partners and in this dish, they become a sweet mess after the time in the oven. The breadcrumbs balance things out and the cheeses give the necessary salty kick. All that’s left is to sit at the table, pour more Chianti and make a cheesy but classic toast to good food and good friends.

Pasta with Baked Tomato Sauce
Adapted from Nancy Harmon Jenkins via The Wednesday Chef
Serves 4

I’ve made this twice now and made one adjustment my second time around — tossing the tomatoes with olive oil, garlic and seasoning before topping with the breadcrumb mixture.

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound / 2 pints very ripe cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup plain dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup freshly grated parmigiano
2 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino
3 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 pound pasta
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, torn

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss tomatoes with one of the minced garlic cloves, a sprinkle of salt, some pepper and 1/3 of the oil. Place tomatoes cut side up in 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

In a small bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, cheeses, and remaining garlic and toss with a fork to mix well. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the tomatoes, making sure that each cut side is well covered with the crumb mixture. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Bake until the tomatoes are cooked through and starting to brown on top, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Time the pasta so it finishes cooking about the time the tomatoes are ready to come out of the oven.

When the tomatoes are done, add the basil and stir vigorously to mix everything into a sauce. Drain the pasta and immediately transfer it to the baking dish. Add the remaining olive oil and mix well. Serve at once and grate a little more cheese on top.

Serve alongside a green salad or tender-crisp green beans and broccolini quickly sautéed in olive oil, garlic and chili pepper.

I wish I could sexy up this post somehow for you; come up with a charming story about this soup and its origins.

Is there charm in wanting healthy food after a weekend full of pumpkin pie, whipped cream, mashed potatoes, turkey and bottomless glasses of red wine?  Not particularly.  It just is.

As a chill has entered the air (so salad just wouldn’t cut it), I took to making myself what amounts to a diet soup.  Like a diet salad, it’s full of high-volume, low-calorie ingredients that are chock full of vitamins, flavonoids, antioxidants and heart-healthy fibre.  See?  Not sexy.  Delicious, however, and the perfect thing to eat as you’re coming down off your tryptophan high.  And the perfect thing to eat before indulging in another piece of leftover pie.  Okay.  That might be the sexy bit.

Dining companion:  Boardwalk Empire

Tomato, red pepper and barley soup

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 shallots, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 2 carrots, halved then chopped
• 2 red peppers, diced
• 28 oz can of plum tomatoes
• 2 cups of chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 0.25 cup hulled barley
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.  Add shallots, peppers and carrots and sweat down for about 5 minutes.  Add garlic, oregano and crushed pepper and saute until fragrant.  Add tomatoes (with juice) and break up with the back of a wooden spoon.  Add some salt and pepper to taste here.

Add stock and bring to a boil.  Add barley, reduce heat to a simmer and cook soup half-covered for about an hour — until barley is cooked, may only take 45 minutes.  Check seasoning and adjust to taste.

So, I’m about 10 years behind the times.  I’ve only just begun to watch the HBO series The Wire.  The important thing is, I’m catching up.  And with my summer television only decent on Sunday nights, I’m unapologetic about needing a little couch time in the evenings.  The outdoor weather is lovely, but I’ve always been a fan of using the glow of the boob tube to help me get a little sleepy.

Now in the thick of season two of the Baltimore-based series, I got a little inspired by the character The Greek when it came to dinner time.  If I was a better cook, I would have gone full tilt with a Chesapeake Bay inspired crab feast.  You can tell by the picture my bar was set a little lower.  Anyway, the easiest idea that came to mind for a Greek summer supper was a Greek salad.  And while I eat Greek salad, it’s not exactly something I crave.  But you see, I like most of the ingredients and putting them all together is very easy.  What if I just added pasta?  Then it would be Greek, crave-worthy with the fill of carbs and salt and ridiculously simple.

Was it delicious?  As my favourite character Omar would say:  Oh, indeed.

Dining companion:  The Wire

Greek Pasta
Serves 1.

0.25 lbs pasta
0.5 cup sliced bell pepper
0.75 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
0.25 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
0.5 tablespoon olive oil
0.25 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Few tablespoons fresh parsley
Salt and pepper, to taste

While pasta is cooking in boiling, salted water, heat oil in pan over medium heat.  Add peppers and saute for a minute or two.  Add garlic and stir until fragrant.  Add tomato halves and cook down a few minutes (don’t break them down).  Add olives and cook another minute.  Add cooked pasta and a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Toss and then turn off the heat.  Toss in cheese (I like my cheese to melt a bit), then finally parsley, pepper and salt.  You might not need any salt because of the feta and olives.

]]> http://creamandsugar.ca/recipe-greek-pasta/feed/ 2 http://creamandsugar.ca/bucatini-amatriciana/ http://creamandsugar.ca/bucatini-amatriciana/#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 05:50:06 +0000 cream http://creamandsugar.ca/?p=275 Is there spaghetti?

This was the question always asked when I was told that there was indeed a kids’ menu at the restaurant we were at.

I distinctly remember one road trip to the Rocky Mountains where I ate spaghetti almost daily.  I did the same during another road trip down the Atlantic Coast.

I knew what I was getting and I knew that I liked it.

The tomato sauce, however, always had to come on the side.  The leap from spaghetti with butter to spaghetti with tomato sauce could not be completed overnight.  Spoonful by spoonful, I learned to love red on my noodles.  My preference for tomato-based pasta sauces has stuck ever since.

Giant balls of meat never really grabbed me.  Neither did a Bolognese.  Primaveras were popular as a teenager, but meh.  A little boring.

For a long while, I was a devout all’arrabiata girl, but as I’ve never been a fan of sausage, my constant modifications got old fast.

Here’s what I liked:  tomato, garlic, chilies.

Here’s what I saw on a menu once: tomato, chilies, onion, bacon.  Close enough.

My first taste of Amatriciana.

Hard to find thereafter, it was something that I greatly loved but rarely ate.  The menu I first saw it on removed it with the introduction of new owners.

A good friend and I often speak of when we see it, when we crave it, when we eat it.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’d never made it before this month.

It’s not very hard to find a recipe when you visit Google—especially now that pork fat is all the rage.  You find many recipe versions when searching.  Some use tomato sauce, some diced or crushed canned tomatoes, some diced fresh.  Some have garlic, others don’t.  Some have parsley, some don’t.  The most authentic ones require guanciale (pork jowls), pecorino cheese, tomatoes, onion, and the pasta shape called bucatini.  It’s almost like a long macaroni noodle.

I combined what I read and what I liked and bought what was easy.  I don’t want to go on a quest for ingredients when cooking just for me.  The Italian Centre  had all that I needed.  A version on Epicurious uses balsamic vinegar.  I thought that might be a little strong, but I needed to deglaze the pan before adding the tomatoes, as mine weren’t very juicy.  I grabbed the white balsamic from my cupboard and it did the trick.

What I love about this dish is that it represents the simplicity of Italian pasta recipes.  Just a few key ingredients in the right combination.  Smoky, salty, sweet, spicy. 

I warn you, though.  The thickness of the bucatini means twirling can prove difficult.  Saucy chins should be expected.

Bucatini all’Amatriciana

Makes two healthy servings.

1.5 tablespoons of olive oil

250 g bucatini

4 slices pancetta, chopped and divided

0.5 onion, thinly sliced

5 roma tomatoes, chopped, seeds removed, and mashed slightly

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

0.25 teaspoons of chili flakes

1 tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar

0.5 cup Italian parsley, chopped

Grated pecorino romano cheese, to taste

Heat 0.5 tablespoons of oil on medium heat in a skillet or sauté pan.  Cook half of pancetta until crispy.  Transfer to paper towel.

Heat remaining oil on medium-low heat.  Cook remaining pancetta and onions until onions are translucent.  About 5 minutes.  Add garlic and chili flakes and cook one more minute.  Deglaze pan with vinegar.  Add tomatoes and cook an additional 7–10 minutes until tomatoes soften and the sauce comes together.  The pancetta adds saltiness (as will the cheese later), but taste to see if more seasoning is needed.

Meanwhile, cook bucatini in salted water until al dente.

Transfer cooked pasta to sauce and cook shortly to coat pasta.  Take off the heat and toss with parsley and reserved pancetta.  Finish pasta with grated pecorino.

Mangia!