weekly_food_challenge | Entries tagged with challenge #2

Just catching up here; hope that's OK.

( Week 1: Naleśniki Nadziewane z Jabłkami )

( Week 2: Italianate Fridge Salad )

( Week 3: Squash Goulash )

miss_s_b

Mood: full

I suspect all of these were about as Italian as a fourth generation New Yorker, but like that fourth generation New Yorker I choose to call them Italian anyway ;) The meal consisted of: warm bruscetta with tomatoes, basil and cheese; followed by vegetarian spag bol; followed by Italian-style baked fruit and ice cream.

I just et all that lot, and am fit to asplode, so if there are typos and/or some of this doesn't make sense, blame the food.

( pics and recipes under here )

norfolkian

This isn't anything fancy and you could argue how Italian it actually is. In fact, the recipe I based this on is passed down from the Maltese side of my family. A lot of Maltese cuisine is heavily influenced by Italian food, however, and this is definitely Italian-influenced.

It's also very easy, tasty and doesn't require a lot of ingredients. I have tried to put measurements as best I can, but I have to admit this is one of those dishes where I never measure anything.

Serves 2

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
150g mushrooms, sliced
250g minced beef
1 400g can tinned tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
salt and pepper
a handful chopped herbs such as basil or parsley
2 tsp capers (optional)
2 tsp sliced green olives (optional)
sun-dried tomatoes - about 5 or 6 (optional)
some sort of grated cheese (optional)

Method
Heat the oil in a medium pan, then saute the onions for a few minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and saute until mushrooms have reduced and are soft.

Turn the heat up a bit and fry the mince until completely brown.

Pour in the tinned tomato and add the tomato puree and stir. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently, uncovered, for about 20 minutes.

Then add the herbs, capers or olives or sun-dried tomatoes, and simmer for about 10 minutes more. Season to taste.

Serve with some pasta. I don't have a preference and generally use whatever's in the cupboard. If you like cheese, sprinkle some grated cheese over the top. I am weird and like cheddar or red leicester on my pasta sauce.

You should end up with something that looks vaguely like this:

gominokouhai

Recipe ganked from here. I'm starting to dislike the We Are Not Foodies site (they are foodies, they just don't like the word for some inadequately explained reason, but they won't say so; also, they're frequently not very good foodies), but occasionally they've got some useful stuff. This recipe for marinara sauce, Santelli family style, was one such thing.

I know how to spell marinararara but I don't know when to stop
( Long and contains pictures )

At the end, the garlic cloves had (mostly) dissolved into the sauce, which was smooth and deep red and inviting. The wine had given it some depth, the cheese some tang, and the chilli was just enough to give it a warm kick without alienating that one member of your family who doesn't like spice. Fantastic.

At the end of the day it made enough marinararara sauce to fill a two-litre iced-cream tub, which should be enough to keep me going for a while.

Now to find something to do with it. I foresee a great deal of spaghetti-and-meatballs in my future. And I think I'm going to get some escalopes and make chicken parmesan.

Meantime, I had a few drinks last night, and decreed it was time for snacks.

Drunken Sunday night pizza of destiny
( More length )

Most expensive tomato puree I've ever made, but by Cthulhu it's worth it.

missdiane

I didn't have a grand plan to spend most of the day cooking Italian fare, but that's what ended up happening. Since I wasn't going to Trader Joe's this week - I made my own cranberry-pistachio biscotti for dipping into coffee in the mornings, using this recipe. I tasted some of the edge bits before the second baking and the flavor on them is fabulous. The only changes to the recipe is subbing 3/4 cup whole wheat flour for part of the white and using orange-flavored dried cranberries - interestingly enough from the last Trader Joe's trip - which they are YUMMY.

The next thing I made were some zucchini basil muffins - using this recipe - since with my new workplace, it's going to be easiest to pack bento-style lunches that don't necessarily need to be refrigerated and have plenty of grabbable foods. I'll have to say they turned out merely ok - they seem to be missing something but I can't quite put my finger on what. Maybe some cracked black pepper or mixing in some of the parmesan instead of only sprinkling it on top.

The last thing I made was a no-recipe-needed pasta dinner for one. I cooked up some orecchiette pasta in one small pan while I prepped the rest of the ingredients and cooked them in a saute pan. Then when the pasta was mostly done, I drained it and dumped it in the saute pan to soak up the liquid. Note to those who haven't used orecchiette before - it takes longer than usual to cook. Most dried pastas are good at about 8-9 minutes but I am very glad I looked at the packaging because it did take the full 13 minutes to get to mostly al-dente.

( Some pictures of the day's work )

gominokouhai

Here's one of my standards, already posted on my personal blog: Meatball Lasagne el Diablo! I've had actual live Italians tell me that it's not really Italian, but what the hell would they know. It's got pasta in it and that's good enough for me.

While we're on the subject, here's Jamie Oliver's pici con ragu, thoroughly trashed. The recipe for the latter was heavily adapted into the former.

I recently got hold of a Proper Italian recipe for marinara, so in my CFT this week I shall be giving that a stab. I'll post the results if I do.

miss_s_b

Mood: busy

In a blatant attepmt to get

matgb to post about his home made pizza... this week's challenge is Italian! I'm not going to specify sweet or savoury, or indeed anything, so if you want to do pesto or ice cream you guys knock yourselves out. I shall be posting my recipe in a couple of days :)

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Weekly Food Challenge

A challenge for cooks every Wednesday

Entries tagged with challenge #2 - italian

3 for the price of 1

Three Course "Italian" Meal

Italian Challenge: Easy pasta sauce.

Italian challenge: Marinarara-boom-de-ay

I know how to spell marinararara but I don't know when to stop

Drunken Sunday night pizza of destiny

Challenge 2 - Italian

Italian challenge: One from the vaults

Challenge #2: Italian!

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December 2018

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