Sorta Lasaga Soup: SHV

Quite a while ago, I read this recipe in a shared space and was interested in blogging / sharing it; but had some issues with provenance. For one thing, the person that posted the recipe wasn't the author, but where she got it from wasn't the originator either. Messy! Plus I really don't know how any of that works.

So, I decided to do the recipe anyway, almost a year later, but with all the changes I thought would make it all the more awesome, and also somewhat healthier along the way. And voila!! Zut alors! And alla that jazz (hands!).

You will need:

600 g hot Italian turkey sausage (8 med in this case)
2 tsp Olive oil, divided (NEVER EVOO for cooking! Nevair!!)
Chili flakes
2 med onions
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
4-6 cloves of garlic
1-156 ml can tomato paste
1-2 tsp oregano
Salt, pepper
2 bay leaves
796 ml  (28oz) can diced tomatoes
6 c chicken stock ( I use unsalted-ish)
3 c egg noodles, 4.5 oz (I use No-Yolks brand out of habit, but whatever you have is fine)

Optional: 6 oz light shredded cheese

Not pictured: bay leaves. It's always SOMETHING!

Prep!! First, de-skin your sausages (not a euphemism); I've found that the easiest way to do that is to cut along one side, like zo:



Then just peel them off around. Voila! Touche! Lots of other words that mean Easy Peasy!

Heat one teaspoon of the oil in a large, heavy bottom pot. They make the cooking world go round.

Add the sausages and chili flakes, breaking the meat into bite-sized chunks.

While that is cooking (jk, you know  did it in advance. But you totally could do it while the sausage is cooking), chop the onions and peppers.

When the meat is all nicely browned, scoop it out and set aside.

I absolutely HAVE to take a picture every time I see a nice fond like that. Lookit it!!

Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil and the onions and peppers, cook stirring over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Now mince your garlic! No earlier. The air does things to it.

Add in the garlic, cook for ONE MINUTE ONLY.One!!

Add in the can of tomato paste, cook for 3 or 4 minutes until it turns a dark rust colour.

Add in 1 teaspoon of oregano, salt, pepper and return the sausage to the pot. Stir until well mixed. Coat that sausage (also not a euphemism).

Add in the tomatoes, stock and bay leaves, and another bitta oregano. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the lid, add in the egg noodles and cook for 10 more minutes or until the pasta is tender.

This is a very big soup, it makes 6 very healthy-sized portions at 294 calories per serving. 



To make it more lasagna-ish, you can top it with as little or as much cheese as you would like. This is half an ounce of light cheddar blend, but I also recommend adding Parmesan. People use cottage or ricotta in the bowl, more power to you. Just add in the calories and Bob will be your uncle.

Enjoy!

Roast Beast

I had such a good day yesterday, I absolutely have to share.

First, the meat. I had dry-aged a prime rib roast for a week. Now, when I say dry-aged, I mean nothing more than that I wrapped a hunk of beef in cheesecloth and stuck it in the hubs beer fridge and forgot about it for a week. It really is just that simple. The end:

And the process:

Lay out a double layer of cheesecloth (reusable my FOOT) flip over, sprinkle underside with kosher salt and coarse black pepper

Flip back over, more salt, more pepper

Fold it all up, put it on top of a baking rack on top of a cookie sheet, put it in the (beer) fridge

 So the big day came and it was finally time to roast this bad boy. I brought it out of the fridge an hour and a half before roast time, because I wanted it at room temp, then did a very slow roast at 250 degrees for just under five hours. I usually get all fancy with the seasonings, but I wanted the taste of the meat to be the point, so I just threw some fresh rosemary and garlic in the pan for the gravy. BTW, I totally ate some of that garlic. All by itself. Oh yeah, may sound disgusting, but it was DELICIOUS. All of this was based on what Captain Awesome does, and he certainly earned his name again with this one.

Done!

And the centerfold shot again

Mini Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Muffins: SHV

I had three bananas aboot to take a turn for the worse and since my wee hooligans are taking snacks to school / preschool these days, I thought I would make something small enough for them to pack. Also, since I'm a buzz kill, I thought I would make them as healthily as possible. Yay!

You will need:

Tzatziki: What Not To Do!

Just like the nuggets and freedom fries, have you ever wanted some tzatziki and thought instead of running to a store, you would just spend several hours making it? Awesome! I love tzatziki. I like it with crackers, I like it on donairs (which are apparently called gyros elsewhere), I especially like it on spanakopita. I use it in place on mayo on pitas, it is such a good low-fat substitute. It only has a few general ingredients, what could go wrong?

Now, I've only made it once and it was a bit of a disaster, but somehow I STILL thought it was a good idea to make this without a recipe, just sort of making it up as I went along. Oh yeah. It went about that well.

So this is not just a recipe, it's a cautionary tale.

Muffaleta Sandwiches: SHV

Back in 2010? 2011? I was in a series of cooking classes at NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology for those of yous ootside of the area); this is one of the first things we made. After several litres of mayonnaise. Anyway, I haven't made it since, because I am the only one in my house that loves olives like we should all love air. HOWEVER, if you've read this blog before (Mom), you know that this day of the week is also known as Vegetarian Wednesday or HusbandisoutsoIgettocookweirdfoodday! Yay for unusual food!

Once I started messing around with the ciabatta bread, I couldn't get these sandwiches out of my head. You can also use an Italian loaf, or even just whatever bread you have kicking around. The cheese is similarly customizable by your fridge, as is the meat. Use whatcha got!

You will need:

1/2 c large green stuffed olives
1/3 c unstuffed sliced black olives
2 tsp capers
1 Tbsp EVOO (Yes! Finally the extra-virgin olive oil!)
1/2 tsp fish sauce (or anchovy paste)
4 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp dried oregano
Black pepper
70 g light cheddar or marble cheese (you know, a little over 2 ounces, enough to cover two sandwiches)
90 g fat-free chicken kolbassa (sounds disgusting, tastes delish), about 12 rounds
4 slices ciabatta bread (or Italian loaf)

This recipe is basically all prep, no cooking. Chop all the olives up niiiice and tiny, start filling a large stainless steel bowl.

Mince the garlic really finely, along with the capers, dump along with the rest of the ingredients into the bowl. Give it a good stir, cover and refrigerate while cleaning up and prepping the bread, cheese and meat.

Lay out your bread on top of a large piece of plastic wrap. Spoon a quarter of the olive mixture on each slice, gently press down with your spatula. You were totally using a spatula, right??

Place one full layer of cheese across one side, top with the kolbassa (honestly! It tastes so.good!) and top with the other half of the sandwich. Carefully. Pick up the olives that fell out and push them in the sides. Or eat. I did both.

 

Wrap as tightly as possible, refrigerate for at least half an hour.

This makes two large sandwiches, and the filling, including meat and cheese, comes to 297 calories per each. I didn't include the bread, because I didn't work out the nutritional information for the ciabatta bread. I didn't work that out because it is too tricky to figure out how many / what size each piece would be. So just add in your bread and Bob's your uncle! I wonder if a pita would work...

Enjoy!

Gottahaveit Ciabatta

This is an overnight bread dough, similar in that way to sourdough, but doesn't take quite as long. It is amazing, so few ingredients and tools, comes out gorgeous every time. Since I am a whole grain girl, I will be doing original recipe and my whole wheat grain version.

Turkey Parmesan Meatballs with Rose Sauce: SHV

It's Wednesday! Which means it's odd food night. I wanted to do another pasta with a cream sauce, mostly so I could use another finishing salt, but was also obsessed with the ground turkey I picked up the other day. Throw in some parmesan cheese and blammo! Supper! Using ground turkey and whole wheat pasta means I get to call this a Somewhat Healthier Version, yay!

 

You will need:

2 tsp olive oil (NOT ever EVOO)
360g ground turkey ( I would suggest 1/2 lb, but that's what I used)
1 lg slice stale whole grain, whole wheat bread
1/3 c 1% milk
1 tsp thyme, divided
Salt, pepper, basil
4 cloves roasted garlic (you know, if you have some kicking around), optional
1/2 oz parmesan cheese - about 14 g if that helps. I know, not really.
1/2 red onion
1/2 red pepper
4 garlic cloves
1/2 c wine
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 c chicken stock
1 c homogenized milk
170 g whole wheat spaghettini (about half a small box)

Not pictured: stock. Dang it

Prep! Breaking with my usual prep-absolutely-everything-in-advance style, I like to get the meatballs started right away, as they take a little while and afford all kind of time to get everything else prepped.

First, soak your stale bread in the 1/3 c of 1% or skim milk. Throw the turkey, the roasted garlic if using, 1/2 of the parmesan cheese (so 1/4 ounce. I know), 1/2 of the thyme, salt, pepper an some basil into the bowl of a stand mixer.

When all of the milk is absorbed into the bread, add it to the mixer bowl and blend with the paddle for 2 minutes. This style of making meatballs with milk-soaked bread is called using a panade, and I usually prefer it to using an egg and crackers as binding agents. Not always! But today.

After two minutes, start rolling the mixture into teaspoon-sized balls, basically bite-sized. Ish. It's your mouth, judge yourself accordingly. When you are about half done, heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a large saucepan (NOT non-stick. sticky) and drop them into the hot pan in a single layer. No crowding! Crowding means steaming and stewing and we just want luscious browning. On all sides, please!

While the meatballs are doing their thing, go ahead and finish your prep. Chop your onion and red pepper into a large dice, mince your garlic.

Heat the second teaspoon of oil, brown the second batch of meatballs; set all aside somewhere relatively warm. Add in the onions and red peppers. Ignore the mushrooms, I only had two so they don't really count. I bet a couple of cups worth would have been magic, though.

Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until almost softened. Add in the 4 cloves of minced garlic, cook for just one more minute. Just one! I mean it! Deglaze with the 1/2 of wine, stirring to scrape up delicious brown bits on the bottom

When the wine is just about gone, stir in the 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, some salt, pepper, the rest of the thyme and some basil.

Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the paste turns dark and starts to stick. Add in the cup of chicken stock. This is a good time to start boiling water for your pasta! I wanted to use angel-hair, but I couldn't find any whole wheat stuff, so I went with the finest whole wheat noodle I could find: spaghettini.

Scrape! Cook until reduced by half. Start adding in milk, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring all the while.

When all the milk is incorporated, let reduce until you can make a full trail across the middle with your spoon, about 7-10 minutes.

Add your meatballs back in, cover and warm through, about 5 minutes.

Drain your pasta! Plate and cover the pasta with the sauce. Finish with a little of the rest of the parmesan cheese and a wee dram of finishing salt. I am using Wild Porcini Sea Salt tonight, but any kind would work, I am sure.

 

Including the pasta, this works out to 4 servings at 430 calories each, which is on the high side, but still puts us within the recommended 400 - 500 per meal. Add a small salad! Yay us!

 

Enjoy!