couscous with stir-fried veggies

my first time to prepare and eat couscous was something so fast and yummy that i wish it weren't only sold in delis, which means - expensive! and that it was readily available in the local supermarkets at affordable prices.

i wanted to make a greek/mediterranean inspired dish with my left-over half-packet of couscous so i checked out what i had and made this:

prepare the following
2 shallots, roughly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
5 red ripe tomatoes, quartered
1 carrot, diced
1 can of shiitake mushrooms, drained, rinsed, drained again, and sliced
1 can garbanzo beans. drained, rinsed, and drained again
a handful of raisins
a handful of cashews

after the nifty mise en place you just made, melt a pat of butter in a small pot, pour in a cup of water and season with salt and pepper, as soon as it starts boiling, remove the pot from the fire, pour in 1 cup of couscous, make sure every tiny bit settles down into the liquid, cover and leave for 5 minutes.

while waiting for the 5 long minutes to end, stir fry what you prepped above, in a hot pan with 2 tbsps. of hot olive oil in it.  put in the ingredients one after the other in the same order as listed above.  season with salt and pepper and a sprinkling of dried parsley.  when the five minutes are up, switch off the fire.

fluff your couscous with a fork and pour it into your stir-fried veggie concoction, mix 'em up gently.  serve hot, preferably in bowl with a spoon and a drizzle of lemon.  start eating and marvel at the really hearty, really yummy, and unbelievably easy invention you just made.

you can substitute my ingredients with whatever you have, just make sure you stick to the sorta-greek/sorta-mediterranean inspired theme so as not to end up with anything bizarre.  but hey, sometimes, bizarre tastes great too!

home made basil pesto with pine nuts

i finally conquered my fear [or was it laziness] of making my own basil pesto with pine nuts from fresh ingredients.  my sister had just learned how to make fresh pasta and she asked me to make the sauce for it for our planned dinner that night.

i scoured the nearest supermarket for some pesto of the bottled kind but they yielded nothing.  i contemplated on going to another store but decided to check the fresh herb aisle for basil.  i negotiated with myself that if i found good-looking ones i would then try my hand at making the sauce from scratch too.

so i was able to buy 6 bunches of okay-looking basil leaves and hoped to the heavens that my rarely-used electric mini-chopper still worked.  i was not ready to chop them leaves with my knife for fear that my arm would ache so much i wouldn't be able to hold up a spoon and eat. =P i noted with delight that i had everything else i needed in the pantry, yes, even pine nuts [which have been perfectly preserved in the freezer for a secret number of years, can you believe that???]

it turned out a real hit.


because the ingredients were fresh you could inhale the pungent fragrance of the newly chopped basil leaves infused in the the deep, rich olive oil with every forkful.   and you get to bite into real pine nut bits and whole ones too.

it was a cinch to make [thanks to my trusty chopper].  i got the recipe from here. 

i tweaked it a little by warming it all up on the stove-top and stirred in freshly grated parmesan cheese [pecorino is hard to come by in my part of the world].

oh, i also dry roasted the pine nuts and only pulsed half of them for added texture.  i used the remaining half as topping with more grated parmesan.. and i did not follow the proportions [i'm lazy that way], i go by feel and frequent tastings, he he. =D you can check out my recipe version here.

all in all, this is what i have to say: you can find plenty bottled pesto in any well stocked grocer, plus you can stock up the ready made ones for longer.  but nothing beats the taste of fresh ingredients, so i urge you, go ahead make your own basil pesto.  it's fast, it's easy, it has a very short ingredient list and most of them you already have in stock!

and more importantly! you get the added bonus of being able to declare that you made it from scratch and then bask in the oohs and ahs of your guests, if they can manage it between mouthfuls. ;D

my pine nut proven fact: they say you can keep it in the freezer for a maximum of 6 months or so but i've had mine for probably 4 years now and they are as fresh as the day i bought them.  and they DO NOT freeze at all, they just stay crunchy.

spaghetti alla carbonara

contrary to popular belief, this type of pasta dish is not [supposed to be] dripping in creamy white sauce.  It is the kind of pasta dish that is moist, yes, because the sauce coats each and every strand of pasta.  and it is kind of tricky to make, especially if you are afraid to undercook the eggs in it.

so once and for all, what we popularly know as carbonara or pasta in white sauce here in the Philippines, is actually different variations of the Alfredo sauce, which naturally became more liked here as we are a people who love food dripping or swimming in sauce.

i will not pretend to be an italian but this is what i'm sure of:  carbonara sauce is basically made up of bacon, eggs, and salt and pepper.  you can add butter, milk or cream and parmesan and probably even fresh peas but take out the bacon and eggs and it ceases to be carbonara.

Alfredo is basically the sauce made of butter and heavy cream.  you can add different ingredients to it but the most popular ones are mushrooms and chicken[preferably slivers of cooked skinless breast meat].

when i stayed in florence [in my late teens, for 5 months, but that story belongs to another blog] we always made pasta alla carbonara because it is fast and cheap  to create.  i never heard of Pasta Alfredo though, so i'm suspecting it did not originate there, i'm leaning on the italian who migrated to the US of A story.  anyways, because of this, i love carbonara more than alfredo, because it brings back memories of me as a young girl in a little italian city, trying to work for a more united world with other young girls coming from different parts of the world.

but enough of the chit-chat, here's the recipe of Spaghetti alla Carbonara, which i cooked today for 2 hungry children who happily gobbled it all up at lunch and at dinner time.

ingrediendts:
450g dried spaghetti
1 tbsp olive oil
225 g lean bacon, chopped
4 eggs
5 tbsp light cream
4 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

steps:

1. bring a large pot with lightly salted water to a rolling boil
2. meanwhile, heat oilve oil in a skillet and add chopped popped bacon, cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes
3. put pasta in boiling salted water and cook until al dente [firm to the bite], usually 10 minutes
4. beat the eggs with cream in a bowl and season with salt and pepper
5. drain the pasta and return it to the pan, DO NOT RINSE THE PASTA
6. pour in the cooked bacon, the egg mixture and half the parmesan cheese
7. stir well and transfer to a serving dish
8. serve immediately, sprinkled with the remaining parmesan cheese

note:  be careful not to pour the eggs while the fire is still on, this will curdle the eggs, and you will end up with pasta in scrambled eggs, instead of a smooth, creamy coating. the eggs will cook in the residual heat left in the hot pasta.  because of this, timing is key.

p.s.  my lengthy discussion before the recipe was just my o-c-ness kicking in, i just wanted to set things straight.  but please don't let it stop you from adding other ingredients you want like chopped onions and/or mushrooms.  with food, there should be no strict rules to follow.  whatever suits you, as long as it isn't harmful, is perfectly fine.  buon appetito!

pasta primavera

this is giada de laurentiis' recipe. but i made some substitutions as i lacked some of the ingredients and a lot of revisions in the procedure as i am a lazy cook. i like shortcuts, to make life easier. the picture is mine though, i prepared this recipe last year and it was a hit with my brother who is a pasta freak like me. i intend to cook this again soon as the memory of it makes my mouth water.


Ingredients

* 3 carrots, peeled and cut into thin strips
* 2 medium zucchini or 1 large zucchini, cut into thin strips [i used eggplant]
* 2 yellow squash, cut into thin strips
* 1 onion, thinly sliced [and i added minced garlic too]
* 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
* 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs or herbes de Provence [i just used parsely and thyme]
* 1 pound farfalle (bowtie pasta)[i used spaghetti, my all time favorite pasta]
* 15 cherry tomatoes, halved [i used regular tomatoes]
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

On a large heavy baking sheet, toss all of the vegetables with the oil, salt, pepper, and dried herbs to coat. Transfer half of the vegetable mixture to another heavy large baking sheet and arrange evenly over the baking sheets. Bake until the carrots are tender and the vegetables begin to brown, stirring after the first 10 minutes, about 20 minutes total.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Toss the pasta with the vegetable mixtures in a large bowl to combine. Toss with the cherry tomatoes and enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and serve immediately.

my version: stir fry garlic, onion, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, squash, and eggplant in olive oil. add thyme and parsely when veggies wilt, sprinkle with salt and pepper. transfer to large bowl, add freshly cooked spaghetti and then grated parmesan cheese. toss to combine all ingredients. serve hot!

spaghetti in pesto and cream

i dunno if this is italian but i was just trying to imitate a dish i love in one of the cafes here in davao. this recipe of mine is more generous with mushrooms and pine nuts though. =D


Ingredients:
spaghetti cooked al dente
straw mushrooms, roughly chopped
home made or bottled pesto
olive oil
minced garlic and onion
dry roasted pine nuts
all purpose cream - 1 tetra pack
salt and pepper
grated parmesan and fontina cheese
water for thinning out sauce

note: you can play with the measurements, put in any of the ingredients as much or as little as you like


Directions:
saute garlic and onions in olive oil. add chopped mushrooms.
add all purpose cream when mushrooms are wilted, salt and pepper to taste.
add pesto and half of the pine nuts
add grated cheese
add water if you find the sauce too thick
add cooked spaghetti.
mix well.
top with remaining pine nuts, sprinkle with cheese.
serve hot
enjoy eating. =P

sausage and pepper penne

papi arrived from manila today. And i am tired of making his favorite -fetuccine Alfredo, which he insists on calling Carbonara. I made this instead, as i had left over penne from my pasta primavera [which i cooked for the focolarine, i had them as dinner guests last night]. i bought hungarian and italian sausages from the deli and used feta, provolone and fontina, instead of the usual mozarella. of course i still topped it with parmesan. i also used canned peppers as i ran out of fresh ones.

now papi can't decide which one he likes better. =P

ingredients and procedure:
saute in olive oil:
sliced onions
chopped garlic
italian sausage - peeled and broken into small pieces
hungarian sausage - sliced
bell pepper - cut into strips
1 kalamata olive - chopped so unrecognizable, papi hates olives
sundried tomatoes -cut into strips

add tomato sauce
crumbled feta cheese [ i didn't add salt anymore cause the feta was salty enough]
freshly ground black pepper

simmer, the sauce should be thick and a bit oily, never watery so please don't add water.

meanwhile, drop in strips of fontina and provolone into a bowl of steaming hot penne cooked al dente. switch off fire and pour in simmering sauce and mix until pasta is well coated. sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan. enjoy with a glass or two [or three =P] of red wine.

p.s. i didn't put in measurements as you can use as much or as little as you want of everything. =D try making this if you like peppery pasta.

my favorite pasta recipe of all time

This is one comforting, filling meal. if i don't watch myself, i could easily finish 2 big servings of this dish. I discovered this in Loppiano [Florence, Italy], when one night i couldn't eat what was prepared by one of my czech housemates. I can not eat sweet, cinammon flavored rice [their version of our biko] for dinner.

Because it was Italy, we always had leftover pasta in the ref. so we made this dish out of what was inside our ref at that time: the pasta, a lemon and some mozarella.

it's so simple to make: melt butter in a pan, pour in left over pasta, turn off flame, squeeze lemon over it [careful not to let the seeds drop into it], add as much salt and as much mozarella cheese as you want. mix well.

Back here in the Philippines i even substitute the lemon with calamansi and the mozarella with whatever cheese i have in the ref. If i don't have cheese, the salt alone will do nicely. But tonight, i have freshly grated parmesan.

i know it's not much to look at. but if you try it, you will believe me.