Two good things.

You know what's good? Feeling like everything is going to work out. Feeling like this is right, this is good. When it fits. When you feel like everything, in it's own timing, and with patience, it will turn out for your good. And not so much because you're entitled to it, but because you know that deep inside, when you sow the seeds, believe in it and work for it, you're bound to reap fruit. :)



You know what else is good? A good recipe. Whether it's a trusty no-fail formula, or a brand new endeavor, it's always rewarding when a recipe turns out to be a success. I mean, they might need a few tweaks or adjustments sometimes, but what's the harm in making good, better?



So this delicious looking seafood pasta up here is Andrew's specialty pasta. He learned it from his friend who's an awesome cook, but he's made it his trademark recipe ever since. It's an olive oil and white wine based sauce with various seafood. And it's really really good. We cooked it for my parents and they loved it so much! My mom made Andrew promise that he'd make it for her birthday!



What is this dangerously delicious looking lasagna up here, you ask? Well boldly so, its' name is "Number 1 Lasagna". I found it online, searching for a good classic meat lasagna and this recipe popped up. It was from a blog solely dedicated to lasagnas. The author of the blog has a looong roster of various lasagna recipe they've tried. Ranging from vegetarian to cream sauces, classic Italian recipes to fusion ones. Anyways, this one seemed to be deemed as the best recipe so I gave it a go!



The recipe asks for a long simmering time for the sauce, which helps all the herbs and meats come together beautifully. I decided to put my mom's slow-cooker to good use and let it cook for an even longer time. Oooohh-so-fragrant and wholesome, I loooooved the sauce. Slow-cooking is key to making any good sauce, I guess, but I was surprised at how it really brought the flavours together. As for the rest of the recipe, well it turned out to be a perfect comfort-food. Extremely cheesy and gooey and saucy, I can't imagine anyone not loving it. If you're wondering why my lasagna looks super runny and can't hold its shape.. it's my fault. I added more sauce/ricotta than the recipe asked for because I just had extra left and decided to pile it on. Also, I didn't let it set, like it asked for, because I didn't have enough time. Bad move.

One down side to the recipe. The pasta noodles. When the recipe said, "No boiling for the pasta noodles" I went, YAY! But in reality, the lasagna noodles tasted a bit under-cooked and hard/mushy. It was kinna weird. Next time I'll just cook em. OH ALSO. When I cooked it the second time, I made sure I added about two more noodle pieces. The recipe calls for only 12 pieces, but for the huge lasagna it is, it's not really enough. I would recommend maybe 14 pieces, even if it overlaps just a bit. :)

No 1 Lasagna Recipe

recipe from "mylasagnarecipe.com

Serves 12 people

ingredients

1 pound of sweet Italian sausage
1 pound of ground beef
1/2 cup of chopped onions
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 (28 ounce) can of crushed tomatoes
2 (8 ounce) cans of tomato sauce
2 (6 ounce) cans of tomato paste
1/2 Cup of Water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon fennel seed
2 teaspoons fresh Basil leaves chopped
4 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley chopped (2 for sauce, 2 for ricotta mixture)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
23 ounces of ricotta cheese.
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1 egg
1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
12 Lasagna Noodles (I recommend 14)

directions

1. In a pot heavy pot, on medium-low heat, brown the ground beef, Italian sausage, onions and garlic. It takes about 6 to 9 minutes to brown the meat. You can use a Dutch oven to cook this portion of the recipe. It is optional to remove the grease from the meat once it is finished browning, your choice.

2. Then add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato pasta, 1/2 cup of water and gently stir into the the cooking meat.

3. Add the following: white sugar, fennel seed, fresh Basil, 2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley, teaspoon of salt, Italian Seasoning and ground pepper. Gently stir these seasoning into the sauce.Cover the pot and let the meat sauce simmer. Simmer on low heat for at least 1 hour and 30 minutes.

4. Soak 12 lasagna noodles. The lasagna noodles need to be soaked in hot tap water for 15 minutes. (Or I recommend you boil 14 pieces of lasagna noodles.)

5. While the noodles are soaking you can make the cheese filling. Put the following ricotta cheese and fresh grated nutmeg into a mixing bowl. Then add 1 egg, and 2 tbsp of Italian parsley. Mix these ingredients together with a spoon.

7. Now we start building the lasagna layers.
Use a 9×13 inch baking pan.
Spread 2 Cups of meat sauce on the bottom of the pan.
Remove your lasagna noodles out of the water bath. Shake water off wet noodles.
Lay 6 noodles across the layer of sauce.
Spread half of the ricotta cheese mixture over the layer of noodles.
Spread 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese over the ricotta layer.
Sprinkle half of the Parmesan cheese over the mozzarella layer
Spread 2 cups of meat sauce over the cheese layer
Lay down the next layer of noodles
Spread the remaining ricotta mixture over noodles
Spread the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses saving some cheese for the top of the lasagna
Put the last layer of meat sauce on the cheeses
Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

8. Cover with foil
Bake in preheated oven at 350 for 25 minutes
Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool for approximately 15 minutes.

Simplicity, rocks.

dreaming of lazy afternoons....


(Just a little sautéed garlic and grape tomatoes with butter, fragrant with basil and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt. Farfalle (butterfly pasta) and pasta water was added to the mix, along with a drizzle of olive oil and a generous mound of parmesan cheese. I added a boiled egg as my source of protein! YUM!)

Quick Italian Dinner!

It's so easy to make delicious dinner if you just have the right ingredients in your kitchen. Lately, I've decided to eat and cook mostly at home instead of eating out all the time. I've had some more time at home I guess, but mostly just got so tired of eating out. Cooking at home is great: it's saves money, it tastes fresh, it's fun, and it's so much healthier than fast food, that's for sure.



I've been eating a lot of pasta lately, just because I have so much that I've bought and it's about time I got rid of it. Pasta really isn't just tomato sauce out of a jar. Cook it with some olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and fresh grated parmesan-- mmmm! At the same time, the truth is that it doesn't always taste restaurant quality. It could be a bit bland or dry and not as impressive sometimes, but honestly, I think it's worth it! I've been improving as I practice more, and it's fun being your own cook.



Staring with appetizer, this is the easiest and quite "Italian" appetizer ever. Sweet and soft cantaloupe wrapped in salty and savory prosciutto. I had this in Rome and now you can have it at home. You can get the prosciutto from any deli or supermarket. The combination is heavenly, and it looks quite posh. ;)



For pasta, I made something I saw out of a cookbook while I was roaming around Chapters. It was simple enough for me to remember so here I made it. I had to alter it quite a bit, though, since I didn't have the exact ingredients. But that's fine too! Here is my quick and dirty recipe. I'm sorry I don't have the ingredient list, because I'm not quite sure of the measurements. I just grabbed stuff as much as I thought I needed.

Simple Spaghettini with Soft-Boiled Egg

directions

1. Boil Water. Add pinch of salt. Cook pasta al dante. I also put my egg in the boiling water so that I save time. But make sure you don't overcook the egg like I did. You want the egg to be soft-boiled, not hard-boiled. :(
2. While cooking pasta, wrap whole clove of garlic in foil and bake it in the oven for 7-10 minutes, or until it is roasted and fragrant.
3. Drain pasta, but save pasta water.
4. In a large pan, heat milk and pasta water. Add bit of salt. Add the garlic (out of its wrapping and smashed with the knife). Stir and cook over medium heat. Add diced tomato or for extra flavour, sundried tomatoes. Generously sprinkle olive oil.
5. Stir in the cooked pasta. Add baby spinach. Grate lots of parmesan cheese. Sprinkle bit of parsley.
6.Place onto plate. Top with soft-boiled egg and sliced pecorino cheese. Some freshly ground pepper.

VOILA.



Anyways. It was delicious. Clap clap clap. And now, what to do with the stack of dishes in my sink....

sunday small group

i hosted a lunch for my sunday small group. and it was a hit! :)
i wanted to make some comfort food but on a gourmet level! hahah.
so here's the menu.


organic field greens with avocado and toasted walnuts. a slice of grilled tomato drizzled with olive oil. don't forget the scallion. (it makes it taste so fresh!) dressed with maple balsamic sauce.


fresh baguette with a. black olive pate and b. olive oil/balsamic vinegar.


baked ziti (three cheese with ground beef, onion, mushroom)


and who can forget dessert!?
"after eight" cupcakes



mmmmmm.


i hope everyone enjoyed my meal.


oh!!
by the way!
have you met my new friend?




she's gorgeous, isn't she?