making noodles & motivational issues

for some reason i find it easier to work on new projects then to work on projects that have been piling up all summer. summer has been busy. also i've been having motivation/inspiration issues lately. so it is not only exciting that i actually wanted to pick up my camera before (& during) eating today, but it is also exciting that i am actually writing this blog with these images right now. you probably aren't as excited as i am. you may have even disappeared because of my horribly inconsistent blogging. but i do hope you enjoy my photos of this half-eaten pasta, and be patient with me as i attempt to catch up on posts. like making salmon on a campfire, my favorite brunch spot in vancouver, and a recently opened coffee brew bar.

at any rate, i made a really tasty pasta tonight. got home from work late, and decided to try my hand at homemade noodles, even though i knew it would take a while, and i knew i was hungry. i think maybe i was excited to use our food processor. slowly loving this machine more and more. (hummus takes almost 5 seconds to make now. this makes me so happy!!)

i was supposed to use 2 cups of flour, 3 eggs, & a teaspoon of salt for these noodles. somehow, though, i used 1 cup of flour, 2 eggs & 1/2 a teaspoon of salt. and a little bit of olive oil. they turned out though. kind of clumpy, but nevertheless tasty. i pulsed it in the processor until it came together (drizzling a little bit of oil in), turned it out onto a floured surface, kneaded it a bit, and covered it in the fridge for 30 minutes. i then used my sister's noodle maker machine of awesomeness, but you can also roll out the dough (with flour), and cut it with a knife or something. less consistent this way, but more rustic - giving your noodles the 'i am most definitely homemade' kind of look.

for the sauce i sauted a chorizo sausage in some olive oil & bacon fat (yes, i keep my bacon fat for further use. it is amazing. you should do this too. if you eat bacon.), added onions & garlic, rosemary & thyme, zuchinni & roma tomatoes, salt & pepper. after the veggies were cooked to my liking, and the noodles were finished cooking (3-5 minutes in boiling salted water with a touch of olive oil), i just tossed the noodles straight into my veggie/sauce, added a 1/4 cup of the pasta water, stirred it all up, and served it with freshly grated parmesan. seriously delicious.

oh yeah and i had to take a photo of this zuchinni because it is hilarious. a friend of my sister's gave it to her from their garden. i love the random shape. and the tomatoes were from our awesome landlords (i also borrowed on onion from them), and the herbs were from our garden, so our meal was relatively cheap. isn't that the best? cheap AND delicious? what's not to like about that?

lasagne with bolognese sauce from scratch

i've avoided making lasagne for a while, thinking it was troublesome to make. but people kept telling me how easy it was! so when i saw a recipe for lasagne in my jamie oliver cookbook, i thought i'd give it a go. i thought 'perfect, i'll make a lasagne and have leftovers all week.'

the lasagne was great, i loved it. (though it needed more cheese)

however! i had very few leftovers, since my brother, sister and i had 2 huge servings each. i don't think i'll be making lasagne very often, for the very reason i've avoided it in the first place. its a bit of work when you are making your bolognese sauce from scratch.


here's what i did:

sauce:
2 slices bacon, finely sliced
2 medium onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
olive oil
2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano
1 lb ground bison (beef)
2 x 14 oz can dixed tomatoes
sea salt & black pepper
bunch of fresh basil, chopped
parmesan cheese

in a large pan on medium heat, add olive oil (roughly 2 tablespoons, or 'lugs' as jamie oliver calls them), bacon & oregano. cook & stir til bacon is cooked. add the veggies & stir until softened & lighter in color. 8 minutes or so. stir in the ground meat & tomatoes. fill one of the cans with water and add ot pan. stir in salt & pepper. bring to a boil, turn heat down, and simmer with lid for 45 minutes. stir once in a while.

remove sauce from heat & finely grate 2 ounces of parmesan cheese into sauce. stir in basil leaves. taste & season if it needs it.


lasagne:
preheat: 375 F.

8 oz dried lasagne sheets
2 cups sour cream
4 ounces parmesan
mozzarella cheese (optional, i added this)
1 large ripe tomato, sliced
basil leaves

grate 4 ounces of parmesan (and however much mozzarella you want). boil water in a pan, add lasagne sheets with a touch of olive oil and blanch for 4 minutes. drain the sheets and carefully pat dry. spoon a third of your sauce into a 9x12 pan. layer with lasagne sheets. add a third of your sour cream & smooth over to cover sheets. add a third of your cheese. repeat layers, finishing with the sour cream & cheese. top with your sliced tomatoes, a sprinkle of sea salt & pepper, basil leaves & drizzle some olive oil on. cover with foil, slide in oven, bake for 20 minutes. remove foil, cook for 35 more minutes until lasagne is golden. if you are uncertain, poke with a fork to make sure noodles are tender.


i served my lasagne with a simple salad of spinach leaves, marinated artichoke hearts, kiwi fruit, topped with almond slivers roasted with butter & brown sugar. drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette.

so this is just a base recipe. i think next time i would like to use ricotta or cottage cheese instead of sour cream, and definitely add more mozzarella. my mom used to make lasagne with layers of blanched spinach, and that was amazing as well. be creative. you might as well if you're going through so much work to make lasagne anyways!

jamie's food revolution: broccoli and pesto pasta

i used my first recipe out of the jamie oliver book i got for my birthday: jamie's food revolution

the recipe: broccoli and pesto tagliatelle. except i used fresh fettucine from a local italian deli, not tagliatelle. i recommend fresh pasta: tastes better, cooks quicker.

the recipe calls for pesto. we had some in our freezer that we made up in the summer, but if you don't have any pesto on hand, you can follow jamie's pest recipe here.

what you need:
- 1 large potato or a few small ones
- 1 head of broccoli
- fresh basil
- 1 lb pasta (jamie calls for dried tagliatelle)
- 1/4 cup + pesto (i used a bit more than 1/3 cup)
- 3 ounces roughly of parmesan cheese - freshly grated


what to do:
- wash & peel potato(s); shave thinly using either a peeler or the back of your grater that has that one blade you never know what to use for (until now. potatoes)
- cut the broccoli florets off; peel the stalk, then slice up thinly
- pick off your basil leaves, rinse, chop up roughly
- bring to boil a large pot of salted water, add your pasta & broccoli stalks
- 2 minutes before pasta is cooked (see your pasta instructions), add potato slices and rest of the broccoli
- once pasta is cooked, drain everything, and keep some of the cooking water aside. return pasta etc to pot
- add to pot half of the basil leaves, pesto, and half the parmesan
- stir it up, adding some of the cooking water to thin it up if the sauce is thick
- taste it and add more seasoning (pesto or salt & pepper) to taste
- serve with fresh basil and parmesan on top

enjoy!

best pasta concoction ever

i was walking on main street on wednesday, near king edward, and randomly walked into a deli store. maybe i was hungry (likely. i often am), maybe something caught my eye that made me think "i want some deli meat!" or maybe it was something else. anyway, i'm glad i did. i was greeted in a friendly manner, and immediately was offered to try some chorizo. i'm not a huge chorizo fan, and i don't buy/eat lots of meat. it was tasty, however. i bought some. i also bought some organic turkey deli meat, and a cute jar of maple mustard. to be honest, the guy was so friendly, and knew his product, and was passionate about it. if i stayed any longer than i did, i probably would have bought some of their handmade pastas, too, or some other condiment in a cute jar. luckily for my wallet, i left at some point before it was too late.

on my way home, i excitedly thought about my dinner plans. i wanted to incorporate chorizo somehow, meanwhile wanting to use up some kale in my produce drawer. i also had a weird craving for mushrooms. i stopped for a few quick groceries at donald's (i love donald's), and went home with a rough plan for my meal. it was to be a pasta dish.


"joey's best pasta concoction so far"
serves 2 big meals, or 4 small ones
measurements are roughly estimated - i don't measure things when i cook
cooking directions are also roughly estimated - i don't follow rules & half the time don't know if what i'm doing is actually the right way to do what i'm doing...

ingredients:

• mushrooms (i used organic crimini mushrooms because i hadn't used them before and they looked tasty) - about 2 cups chopped mushrooms
  
• garlic - 2 or 3 cloves, minced
• onion - 1 medium sized onion, any kind you like baby
• sage - 2 teaspoons chopped, fresh sage or 2 teaspoons dried (use fresh, its so much better)
• butter - lots
• kale - de-stemmed, roughly 2 or 3 loose cups
• cream, or coconut milk
• parmesan cheese - lots. freshly grated
  
• chorizo - 1 link, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• pasta noodles - 1 to 2 cups? i need to start measuring! i just poured out of my pasta jar until i was happy. i used emmer pasta, an ancient variety of wheat - tasty!
• salt & pepper - "to taste," soo.... lots. :)
  

to do:

boil water with some salt for your pasta noodles. when water is boiled, add a tiny bit of olive oil to deter pasta sticking to the pot bottom. add pasta & cook according to package directions. don't drain them when they are cooked. if your pasta is ready WAY ahead of everything else, set a bit of the pasta water aside and then drain the noodles so they don't get soggy & icky.

in a large saucepan, or a wok (i used a wok), on low heat, melt a gob of butter, add your onions & saute until translucent. add half the garlic. turn heat up to medium & add them mushrooms & sage. until the mushrooms are browned and/or cooked to your liking. add the kale & cook for a few minutes. set aside mushroom concoction, in a bowl or something, and keep the wok/saucepan on the heat. you may want to turn your heat down a bit at this point, and add a larger gob of butter & the rest of the garlic. you don't want to burn the garlic. add a couple cups of cream (i used coconut milk, it seemed to work fine!), and cook until bubbly. add your grated parmesan, stir it around and cook for a bit. now add the noodles, a bit of the pasta water, and your chorizo. and everything else - including salt & pepper. cook for a bit longer, and make sure everything is coated in sauce. if not, add a bit more cream & cheese. serve, & garnish with more grated parmesan cheese & maybe a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley if you have it.

essentially, i made an alfredo sauce, but i'm not a cook who follows rules well, so i cook things the way i cook things, not necessarily how they are supposed to be done. so if you want, find a good alfredo sauce recipe & try that! (this recipe looks decent)


i preemptively did a photoshoot with my bowl of pasta before tasting it, assuming it would be decent enough to validate being hungry for a few more minutes. while eating my delicious pasta dinner, i decided it was the best pasta concoction i had thrown together yet. thus, it deserved a blog post dedicated to it.

and here it is. enjoy. :)