Showing posts with label WHB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WHB. Show all posts

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Bacon and oregano homemade pasta and two silly people having fun in the kitchen together

Bacon and oregano homemade pasta

I have read that food can bring people together. I think it’s true – many celebrations involve family and/or friends around a table. And one doesn’t need an established occasion at all – having friends over for dinner for no apparent reason is equally wonderful.

Joao and I make our Sunday lunches a special part of our life. Work and traffic jams already keep us apart on weekdays and there’s barely any time for cooking. That’s why I love cooking and baking on weekends – my way of having fun. I’m lucky the hubby shares that with me.

Bacon and oregano homemade pasta

Weekdays are all about what I have to do, so weekends are all about what I want to do. I want to have fun. And is it fun making pasta while Joao takes pictures? You bet!

Bacon and oregano homemade pasta

We laughed like two kids – there was flour all over my kitchen when we finished our “pasta making session”. And after that, we had delicious, fresh pasta for lunch. A pretty good Sunday, if you’ll ask me.

Bacon and oregano homemade pasta

This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by the lovely Kalyn, the blogger who created the event.

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Bacon and fresh oregano homemade pasta
from Donna Hay magazine

400g (14oz) fettuccine, linguini or any long pasta you prefer
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup fresh oregano leaves
2 tablespoons salted capers, rinsed and drained
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
60g (2oz) unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup olive oil, extra – I used a little less
crispy bacon, to serve
grated parmesan, to serve

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, return to the saucepan and keep warm.
Meanwhile, heat a non-stick frying pan over high heat, add the oil and oregano and cook for 30 seconds or until crispy. Drain on absorbent paper. Add the capers and garlic and cook for 1 minute or until crispy. Add to the pasta with the butter and extra oil and toss to combine. Divide between plates and top with the oregano, bacon and parmesan.

Serves 4.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Crash-hot potatoes

Crash-hot potatoes

I was devastated when I learned that Tastespotting had been closed. Luckily for me and for all the foodies, there new options for our daily dosis of food porn: Food Gawker and RecipeMuncher. Go check them out!

Deb, from the super yummy Taste and Tell, has mentioned a couple of times that she has trouble choosing side dishes. Deb, my dear, these are for you! Not only they are extremely simple to make but they’re also delicious! And one can play around using their favorite herb – I followed one of Jill Dupleix’s suggestions and went for thyme.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Joanna, from Joanna’s Food.

Crash-hot potatoes

Crash-hot potatoes
from Totally Simple Food

16 small, round potatoes
salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon thyme or rosemary sprigs – I used a bit more

Heat oven to 230 or 250ºC/445 or 480ºF - yes, hot. Don't peel the potatoes. Just bung them into a pot of salted water, bring to the boil, and simmer for around 15 minutes until they'll take a skewer without too much resistance. They should be just about cooked, without being soft.

Drain, and arrange on a lightly oiled baking tray or sheet. Use a potato masher to squash each potato flat, until it is twice its original diameter.

Brush the tops with olive oil, and scatter with sea salt, pepper and thyme.

Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until terminally crisp and golden. Serve hot.

Serves 4

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Crepes filled with corn and nutmeg

Crepes filled with corn and nutmeg

Don’t you love going through cookbooks/websites with lots of photos? Isn’t it wonderful to know what to expect – visually speaking – from a recipe?

After taking a look at this, I knew I would end up making it. I’m a big fan of crepes and they look so adorable served this way!

I thought these were good, but in my opinion they would have been better with some sort of sauce. I think the sage brown butter sauce I used for this spaghetti would have worked really, really well here.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Gay, from A Scientist in the Kitchen.

Crepes filled with corn and nutmeg

Crepes filled with corn and nutmeg

Crepes:
1 cup (240ml) milk
½ cup (120ml) water
2 eggs
1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
pinch of salt
butter, oil or cooking spray, to coat the pan

Filling:
1 onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups frozen, cooked corn kernels, thawed – I used canned corn kernels, drained
¼ cup (35g) all purpose flour
2 cups (480ml) milk
salt
freshly ground fresh pepper
pinch of ground nutmeg
chives, to fasten the crepes – dip them quickly in hot water before using, so they will be more flexible

Start by making the crepes: Place the milk, water, eggs, salt and flour in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Heat a lightly oiled or greased with butter 22cm (9in) frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the pan, using ¼ cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Repeat with remaining batter. Set aside.

Now, the filling: in a large, deep frying pan, melt butter over medium-high. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until golden. Add the corn, cook for 2 minutes, then sprinkle with the flour. Cook, stirring constantly, for another minute. Add the milk and cook, still stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, mix well. Place mounds of warm filling on the center of each crepe, closing it like a bundle/package and tie it up with one chive.

Makes 12

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Linguine with olives, thyme and lemon

Linguine with olives, thyme and lemon

Some people hate Martha, but I’m one of those who love her. :)

I got this recipe from her website; the original version calls for pappardelle, but I chose to use linguine (one of my favorite pasta shapes). I think the substitution worked well.

It is a quick, easy to put together sauce and it smells wonderful, but one thing that didn’t please me much was finding large pieces of zest in my pasta – as much as I love lemons and oranges, I’m sure that the result would have been a lot better if grated zest had been used instead of chopped.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by the adorable Anh, of Food Lover’s Journey.

Linguine with olives, thyme and lemon

½ teaspoon coarse salt– I used sea salt
225g (8 oz) linguine
16 Kalamata olives, pitted
½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
zest of 1 lemon, coarsely chopped
one 3-inch piece orange zest, coarsely chopped
¼ teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt and the linguine, and cook until pasta is al dente, following label directions. Drain in a colander.
While pasta is cooking, combine salt, olives, parsley, olive oil, thyme, lemon zest, orange zest, and red-pepper flakes in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse until a chunky puree forms. Transfer to a warm serving bowl large enough to accommodate cooked pasta.
Add pasta, and toss to combine.
Serve immediately.

Serves 2, or 4 to 6 as an appetizer

Friday, April 25, 2008

Ricotta gnocchi with lemon thyme butter sauce

Ricotta gnocchi with lemon thyme butter sauce

I know that many people frown at the simple mention of the name “ricotta” - right, C.? :)

I’m not one of those. I really like ricotta and find it very versatile. You can use it in both sweet and savory recipes and jazz it up with a diversity of flavors.

Valentina posted this gnocchi recipe a while ago on her blog in Portuguese and it sounded so easy I had to try it myself. Another use for the wonderful lemons in my fridge and also for my newest addiction: fresh thyme.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Margot, from Coffee and Vanilla.

Ricotta gnocchi with lemon thyme butter sauce

Ricotta gnocchi with lemon thyme butter sauce

Gnocchi:
250g ricotta cheese
¼ cup (25g) grated parmesan
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup (70g) all purpose flour
¼ cup finely chopped parsley
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
extra grated parmesan, to serve

Sauce:
80g unsalted butter, room temperature
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Start with the sauce: place all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, until the butter melts completely. Remove from heat and set aside.

Now, the gnocchi: place the ricotta, ¼ cup parmesan, egg, flour, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well until smooth – the ricotta cheese we have here in Brazil is a bit dry, so I started by breaking it with a fork and then added all the other ingredients. You'll see specks of ricotta in the gnocchi because I did not want to overmix the dough.

Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased or coated with cooking spray surface and shape into a long log; cut the gnocchi – they should be about 2cm.
Make indentations in each dough ball with a fork – I did not do that.

Cook the gnocchi in a large saucepan with boiling salted water – as soon as the balls come up to the surface, they will be almost ready; let them cook for another 30 seconds then remove them carefully from the pan, using a skimming ladle.

Heat the sauce, pour over the gnocchi, sprinkle with parmesan and serve at once.

Serves 2

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Artichoke and lemon linguine and I've won a book!

Artichoke and lemon linguine

Food bloggers are the best, aren’t they?

The talented Allen had his first book giveaway and I won! Yay!!
He’s sending me this amazing book, which comes with a DVD. I can’t wait to start making recipes from it!
Thank you, Allen!

I once tried a no-carb diet. Needless to say, it was a huge failure. I avoided rice and potato and bravely resisted cakes and cookies. But there are two things I can’t live without: bread and pasta.
Even those who are not that crazy about pasta will admit that, if you need a quick meal, that is the way to go. And to make it even faster, sometimes you don’t even need to cook the sauce.

If you decide to give this fabulous recipe a try, I promise you that dinner will be on the table in 10 minutes. Maybe 12, if you grill some bread with olive oil and serve along. :)

Recipe found on Fernanda’s beautiful blog – she used coriander in her pasta, but I did not have any around and went for parsley instead.

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This will be my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Jai and Bee, from Jugalbandi.

Artichoke and lemon linguine

Artichoke and lemon linguine

200g linguine
8 canned artichoke hearts – rapidly rinse them to remove any excess brine
juice and grated zest of 1 lemon
1 large handful of parsley
fleur de sel
freshly ground black pepper
4-5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
grated parmesan, to serve

Cook the linguine in a large saucepan of salted boiling water until al dente; drain and set aside.While the pasta cooks, make the sauce: place the artichoke hearts, lemon zest and juice, parsley, fleur de sel, pepper and olive oil in a food processor and process until you get a smooth mixture. Stir the sauce through the pasta, top with the parmesan and serve at once.

Serves 2

Artichoke and lemon linguine

Monday, March 31, 2008

Parmesan wafer salad

Parmesan wafer salad

Donna Hay again. Bear with me, please. :)

This salad was published on her magazine #29, in 2006, and it was part of an article in which she showed the readers some of the recipes from a book she was releasing back then. Such a teaser! I chose this salad because I love each and every ingredient in it, but I must admit that seeing it on the cover of the book made me think of how special it would be.

If you want a light, different and tasty meal, look no further.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by the lovely Kalyn, the mind behind that wonderful event.

Parmesan wafer salad

Parmesan wafer salad
from Donna Hay magazine

1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 red apples, thinly sliced
80g (3oz) arugula leaves
1 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
150g (5oz) goat’s cheese

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/355ºF. Arrange 8 x 1 ½ tablespoons of parmesan in circles on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper* and bake for 10 minutes or until crispy. Set aside to cool.
Place balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
Arrange the arugula on serving plates, top with apple slices and goat’s cheese and drizzle with the dressing.
Finish it off with the parmesan wafer.

* I used regular baking paper coated with cooking spray. The cheese got stuck. So I tried it again, using foil coated with cooking spray and it worked out perfectly.

Serves 4

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Two side dishes worth trying: Jamie's potato salad and Martha's roasted asparagus

Jamie’s potato salad

I beg of you – make one of these recipes. Or go wild and make both. You won’t be sorry, I promise.

Fresh asparagus are something quite new to me – I don’t ever recall seeing them in supermarkets when I was younger. But ever since I spotted them for the first time there was no turning back – I became a huge fan. In my humble opinion, fresh asparagus will taste great no matter how you make them – I especially love them in risottos – but pair them with olive oil, black pepper and parmesan and you’ve got yourself an addictive combination.

As for the potato salad… I’ll tell you that it’s another recipe from the show “Jamie at home” and I know you’ll be convinced of how good it is. I would never have thought that a simple potato salad could be so delicious – and it tasted even better the next day.

Jamie used lemons for the salad, but I used limes instead; since I’m making this again about 184 times, I’ll try it with lemons too.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted by Lia from Swirling Notions.

Martha’s roasted asparagus with parmesan

Martha’s roasted asparagus with parmesan
from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast

2 bunches (680g/1 ½ pounds) asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 230ºC/450ºF. Trim the tough ends from the asparagus.
On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the asparagus with the olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Spread in an even layer. Sprinkle with the cheese.
Roast until the asparagus is tender and the cheese is melted, 10-15 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Jamie’s potato salad

Jamie’s potato salad
from Jamie at Home

500g new potatoes, peeled
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
grated zest and juice of 1 large lime
3 tablespoons capers, drained
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 handful chopped parsley*

Cook the potatoes in a large pot of lightly salted boiling water until they’re tender but not too soft; drain.
Place the olive oil, lime zest and juice in a large bowl and mix well. Add the potatoes while they’re still hot, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat. Add the capers.
Add the parsley after the potatoes are cool. Mix well and serve.

* Jamie used dill

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Roast chicken tray bake with tomatoes and potatoes

Roast chicken tray bake with tomatoes and potatoes

A couple of weeks ago I watched "Jamie at Home” for the first time – it was an episode about potatoes. I love potatoes – who doesn’t? – and all the recipes were mouthwatering. Joao must have thought so too, because he asked me to make this chicken for lunch on the following day – and he is a beef guy. BEEF.

I didn’t have a pen at the moment to take notes, and I don’t really remember him giving exact ingredient amounts, so this is my version of his roast chicken tray bake with tomatoes and potatoes.

The food was really good and I like the idea of using fresh oregano – a nice herb change to a basil addict like me.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Erin, from The Skinny Gourmet.

Roast chicken tray bake with tomatoes and potatoes

Roast chicken tray bake with tomatoes and potatoes
from Jamie at Home

8 chicken pieces – I used thighs, wings and drumsticks
1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
salt
freshly ground black pepper
juice of ½ lime
400g new potatoes
100g cherry tomatoes
¼ cup (60ml) olive oil
1 large handful fresh oregano leaves + 2 extra sprigs

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF.
In a large pan over medium-high heat, heat the 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil. Add the chicken, garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook until nicely browned.
Meanwhile, boil some water in a large saucepan and rapidly cook the potatoes – drain and set aside. If there are potatoes much bigger than others, cut in half.
Squeeze the lime juice over the chicken, mix well and remove from heat.
Place the handful of oregano leaves in a mortar or food processor – Jamie used his crazy shaker - and lightly smash/process. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper and smash/process again, until you get some delicious green oil.
Place the chicken, potatoes and tomatoes in a baking dish, drizzle with the green oil, add the oregano sprigs and mix.
Bake for 25-30 minutes and serve immediately.

Served very well the hungry couple on a Sunday lunch. :)

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Pasta with tomatoes, olives, grana padano and basil

Pasta with tomatoes, olives, grana padano and basil

Joao loves pasta but he’ll mostly have it with tomato or bolognese sauce. He tried pesto when I first made it and liked it, but still looks at other pasta possibilities very suspiciously. That’s silly and I always tell him that.

So when I choose different pasta recipes to try he goes all “I want mine with bolognese sauce, please” and I go “ok, same old pasta for you, mister”. I won’t force him - mom made me eat beef so many times as a kid and I never learned to like it.
But things seem to be slowly changing around here… Bill’s pasta smelled so great that while eating I noticed a fork “stealing” spaghetti from my plate. And it happened with this pasta dish, too: every time I looked at my plate there was less food there – the fork had attacked again! I looked at Joao with angry eyes but it didn’t work. :)

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I adapted a recipe found on a Portuguese food magazine called Blue Cooking and this is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Ulrike, from Kuchenlatein.

Pasta with tomatoes, olives, grana padano and basil

Pasta with tomatoes, olives, grana padano and basil

400g short pasta – choose the one you like the most
60g black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
500g ripe tomatoes, cut in 8 parts each (half moons)
salt
freshly ground black pepper
rosemary leaves
½ cup (120ml) extra virgin olive oil + extra olive oil to drizzle
4 garlic cloves
200 grana padano cheese, in shavings
1 handful basil leaves

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Lightly oil a baking dish and place the tomatoes on it; sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.
Peel and cut the garlic cloves so there is one piece of garlic for each tomato slice. Place the garlic on the tomatoes, add some rosemary leaves on top, drizzle with olive oil and bake for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes are tender and the skin starts to blister. Remove from the oven, allow to cool then tear them into pieces. Set aside.
Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente.
Place the basil in a small bowl, add the ¼ cup olive oil and process using an immersion blender – I halved the recipe and made the basil oil using a mortar and a pestle; a small processor would do the job, too.
Drain the pasta, add the olives, the reserved tomatoes, the cheese and the basil oil and gently toss the ingredients together. Serve at once.

Serves 4

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Spaghetti with garlic and spinach and how I love You Tube

Spaghetti with garlic and spinach

Love it. Just love it.

There are loads of interesting things there - music videos (something our stupid MTV hardly ever plays), interviews (I saw a really old one with Duran Duran the other day, so much fun) and food TV shows. I can watch the ones I missed before upgrading my cable TV and also the ones that are not aired here in Brazil. Like bill’s food.

Even though my heart belongs to Gordon Ramsay, there is nothing like watching Bill in the kitchen. The way he cooks – the fact that he smiles all the time is a plus, of course – the music… Not to mention the beautiful kitchen itself, something I totally envy – actually, I envy his house as a whole. And then he goes and serves the food to his wife and daughters… So lovely!

This is the second time I make one of his recipes: the first was the delicious choc banana bread. There are many, many other recipes printed and on the top of my “to try” list. This pasta dish was taken from the delicious. magazine, November 2006 issue.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Anna, from the blog Anna’s Cool Finds.

Spaghetti with garlic and spinach

400g spaghetti
1/3 cup (80ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup diced bacon
6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
sliced red chilli, to taste – I halved the recipe and used only 1, deseeded
1/3 cup (80ml) white wine
90g spinach – measure without the stems or use baby spinach
salt and freshly ground black pepper
small handful finely chopped parsley
finely grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Cook the spaghetti in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente.
Meanwhile, put the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until almost crispy. Add the garlic and chili and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, until the garlic is golden. Add the white wine and cook, stirring, for about 20 seconds.
Drain the pasta, add to the frying pan with the spinach. Toss to coat in the sauce until the spinach is wilted. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the parsley.
Serve with lots of parmesan.

Serves: 4

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Roasted squash salad with tahini

Roasted squash salad with tahini

My husband thinks I’m funny. He tells me that all the time – maybe I am. I find it a good thing, actually.
One of the things that make him laugh is when I almost scream “God I gotta eat that” while going through my cookbooks. Depending on the “reading”, I say that quite a lot.

I saw this salad on a book Monday night and more than quickly wrote down the ingredients I needed to buy, in order to make it for dinner last night. I made 2 changes: used lime instead of lemon and nigella seeds instead of black sesame seeds.

I bet Joao can’t tell you how many times I said “this is delicious” while eating the salad. Really – I stopped counting at the tenth.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Rinku, from the blog Cooking in Westchester.

Roasted squash salad with tahini

Roasted squash salad with tahini
from Marie Claire Easy

1 small butternut squash
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season
3 tablespoons tahini
½ cup plain yogurt – I used non-fat
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon lime juice
3 ½ cups arugula (rocket)
1 large handful flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 tablespoon nigella seeds

Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF. Peel the butternut squash and cut it into large chunks. Toss it in the oil, season with salt and pepper and then put the chunks on a baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the butternut squash is tender, then allow it to cool.

To make the dressing, mix the tahini, yogurt, cumin, garlic and lime juice to a smooth paste; season with salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the arugula and parsley leaves together and pile them onto a serving plate. Top with the roasted squash, add a spoonful of the dressing, and garnish with a sprinkling of nigella seeds.

Serves 4

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Autumn spicy rice

Autumn spicy rice

I know, I know, it’s not autumn anymore – and the hot days here in Sao Paulo keep me pretty aware of that… but being a rice lover it was impossible for me to resist this recipe.

I don’t eat meat and you know it – and even when I did, back in the day, I would never eat pork. It’s nothing religious or anything, I just don’t like it.

I always have chorizo sausages in the fridge since Joao loves them – there’s a kind called calabresa that is used in barbecues and also as a pizza topping. I decided to put my prejudices aside for a moment and try this recipe with the calabresa sausage. And I’m glad I did – the rice was packed with flavor and most of it due to that ingredient.

There’s no rosemary in this recipe – I just thought it would make the dish look prettier. :)

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Vani, from the blog Batasari.

One last thing: the results for this DMBLGIT (in which one of the judges was yours truly) are up - congratulations to all the winners!

Autumn spicy rice
from Donna Hay magazine

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, sliced
3 chorizo sausages, sliced
200g (7oz) butternut squash, peeled and chopped
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
2 cups long-grain rice
3 cups (24fl oz) chicken stock
2 zucchinis (courgettes), thinly sliced

Heat a deep frying pan over medium heat. Add the oil, onion, chorizo, squash and chilli and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the onions are soft. Add the rice and cook, stirring for 1 minute.
Add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook for 15 minutes or until the stock is absorbed and the rice is cooked. Stir through the zucchini and allow to stand for 2 minutes.

Serves 4

Monday, December 10, 2007

Spaghetti with basil, smoked ricotta and roast bell pepper

Spaghetti with basil, smoked ricotta and roast bell pepper

I’m always interested in new ways of cooking pasta.
Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love fresh tomato sauce (I only use homemade) but pasta gives you so many possibilities that it’s almost a sin not to try other sauces and ingredient combinations.

If you are in a hurry and have to put dinner together quickly, this is a really good recipe: you can take a shower while the peppers are roasting and boil the water/cook the pasta while they’re cooling down.

The original recipe calls for feta, but I decided to use some delicious smoked ricotta I had in the fridge. The sweet flavor of the peppers played wonderfully with the saltiness of the cheese.

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This is my entry for the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Astrid, from Paulchen's Food Blog.

Spaghetti with basil, smoked ricotta and roast bell peppers
adapted from Kitchen: The Best of the Best

4 red bell peppers
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
125g (4½ oz/1 bunch) basil
400g (14oz) spaghetti
150g (5½ oz) smoked ricotta (ricotta affumicata)

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Rub the peppers with a little oil, slice them in half lengthways and put them, skin-side up, on a baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the skin blackens and blisters. Put the peppers in a plastic bag or bowl covered with plastic wrap, allow them to cool, then remove the skin and seeds. Put the pepper flesh into a blender with the vinegar ad 10 basil leaves, season and blend. Add the strained liquid from the baking dish (if there’s any) and a little olive oil to make a sauce consistency. Put the sauce in a large saucepan over low heat to keep it warm.

Cook the spaghetti until it is al dente, then drain the pasta and add it to the warm pepper sauce. Crumble half the ricotta over the pasta and gently toss the ingredients together. Serve garnished with the remaining basil leaves and the rest of the ricotta crumbled on top.

Serves 4

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