Spaghetti alla carbonara

Pasta is my comfort food.  It makes me happy when I'm feeling sad, calm when I'm feeling stressed, and always hits the spot when I'm meandering through the fridge searching for that late night snack. Hot, cold, or 2 days old - the stuff never tastes bad!  One of my all-time favourites since I was little has been 'spaghetti all carbonara'. Eggs and bacon, in pasta. It's like breakfast pasta (if something exists that's more exciting than this, absolutely let me know). I've been trying to find the perfect recipe and I think Nigella Lawson has really brought out a winner.  She manages a perfect balance between English and Italian cuisine - parmesan cheese and pancetta paired with whole eggs and a little bit of cream. You can find the full recipe here, its from her cookbook "Feast". (Which, by the way, is pretty damn amazing if you are struggling with an upcoming dinner event). 

What you need

• 500 g spaghetti
• 275 g pancetta
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 60 ml white wine (dry)
• 4 medium eggs
• 50 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 60 ml double cream (I used half and half)
• 1 sprinkle of nutmeg

Fresh pancetta, with the rind off.

Dice the pancetta into small cubes.

Using a pan that will fit the pasta later, cook the pancetta on low heat with a bit of minced garlic.

Cook until the pancetta is crispy, not crunchy.

Add the wine, let it bubble away the alcohol for a few minutes, then take the pan off the heat.

Mix eggs, cream, cheese, and pepper in a bowl. don't overbeat the eggs - just lightly stir them.

Cook the pasta al dente. Remove about 1 cup of pasta water. Put the other pan, the one with the pancetta, on the heat and add the drained pasta, tossing well to coat with the syrupy bacon mixture. Add some of the pasta water to lubricate if needed.

Take the pan off the heat (again), and ad the eggs and cheese mixture, tossing everything to mix. Grind over some pepper, grate over some nutmeg, and dig in.

What's your favourite pasta? If you don't have one....eat more pasta.

Happy Thursday!

A.C

Veggie puttanesca

While it's basically just a spin off the all-time fave pasta puttanesca, i'm quite a fan of the added veggie/sans capers recipe. Mainly because I can't afford capers right now.

Slice up 1 zucchini 

Set aside in a bowl with washed, dried, and sliced mushrooms

Sauté garlic and chopped white onion in about 2 tbsp oil

Toss the veggies in with the onions and garlic

Stir occasionally

Mix 1 jar of Nonna's tomato sauce (or your favourite tomato sauce) with

half a can of tomato paste

Add to the veggies with 1/2 cup olives

Add crumbled feta to taste

Pair with your favourite pasta and bon appetite

I've been reading a ton of reviews lately about Grand Electric, the Mexican restaurant on Queen West. I'm heading there Friday for a farewell dinner with some friends so hopefully my expectations aren't set too high!

Happy Tuesday!

A.C

Pasta with green beans and ricotta

If you're looking for a lighter, fresher, healthier alternative to a cream sauce pasta, look no further. Giada works her magic again, with this super-easy, super-fast, ricotta cheese with green beans and tomatoes recipe. The recipe actually calls for linguine, which I feel would work a lot better than the angel hair capellini I used (only box I had in the pantry). Linguine is much thicker and I found the angel hair kind of decapitated under the weight of the vegetables. 

What you'll need:

1 pound whole wheat linguine (or spaghetti or angel hair if that's all you have)

1/2 cup part-skim ricotta

2 tbsps olive oil

1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and halfed lengthwise

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

1 lemon, zested

What to do:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally about 8-10 minutes.

2. Drain pasta reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. Transfer the hot pasta to a large bowl and add the ricotta cheese. Toss to combine.

3. Meanwhile, in a large heavy skillet (which I don't have so instead used a large frying pan), warm the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the green beans, garlic, salt, and pepper and saute for 4 minutes.

Trim the beans and half them lengthwise

4. Add 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid and continue cooking until tender, about 4 more minutes. 

5. Add the pasta with ricotta to the pan with the green beans and toss to combine. 

6. Add the tomatoes and gently toss. Cook on medium for about 4 minutes.

7. Transfer to a serving plate, and top with lemon zest. Serve.

The ricotta is a a great substitute for any traditional cream sauces - less prep time, less calories, and less of that 'I-feel-so-sick-and-full' feeling post dinner. I'm going to put the rest in the fridge with a sprinkle of olive oil and take it for lunch tomorrow. Who doesn't love pasta leftovers?

Happy Thursday!

A.C

Miami restaurant numero uno - Quattro

Okay, I know I've been M.I.A for a while, but I swear there is a legitimate reason for my abscence. It's just...I've been extremely distracted by the glorious weather, fantastic shopping, and indescribable dining experiences down in South Beach, Miami. I spent the past week at the oceanfront Shelborne Hotel, right on Collins Ave. in the heart of the Art Deco district. Not only did we have amazing weather (I have the tan lines to prove it) but I ate myself silly at some truly awesome restaurants (I have the belly to prove it). One of these was Quattro Gastronomia Italiana -  authentic Northern Italian cuisine, right on South Beach's stylish Lincoln Road. For those that haven't had an opportunity to visit South Beach yet, Lincoln Road is the go-to spot for quick and tasty dining. Restaurants literally line the entire street, which is pretty overwhelming when deciding where to eat for the night. Quattro is a perfect choice if you're looking for a delectable Italian meal with a relaxed, but sophisticated ambiance.  Identical twin chef's Nicola and Fabrizio make sure that everything on the menu is made fresh daily (with ingredients especially imported from Italy) and, as you can see from what we ordered, they specialize in their unique and flavourful pasta dishes. Following a prosciutto and mozzarella charcuterie board, here's what my family decided on for their mains:

Tri-coloured mushroom ravioli with a porcini truffle sauce

Home-made fontina (a soft Italian cheese made from cow's milk) 

ravioli with white truffle oil

Beef ravioli with a braised beef sauce

Strozzapreti (a thick, elongated pasta) with tomatos, 

spinach and pine nuts

Each of these pasta's tasted completely different, but were all delicious in their own way. The fontina cheese ravioli was my favourite - I'm not usually a big fan of cream, but it was really light and didn't have that "rich" taste you can get from most cream sauces.  Surprisingly, the beef ravioli was also very well done. I thought it would be hard to combine beef into a pasta without making it taste too "meaty", but they do a really great job of making their dishes savoury, without over-doing it. If you're heading down south, I would definitely recommend Quattro for some authentic Italian!

More photos to come from the rest of the trip!

A.C

Parsley pesto

So I had a ton of leftover parsley in the fridge and it was starting to go bad, so I thought hmm..what can I do with all this parsley?? Besides making a really herb-friendly tomato salad, I thought pesto was the perfect solution. I actually got this recipe from Rachel Eats, which is pretty awesome if any of you are looking for another foodie blog to follow.

What you'll need:

150 g flat leaf italian parsley (or however  much you have in your fridge that is starting to die)

50 g pine nuts

2-4 cloves of garlic

50 g grated parmesan or pecorino cheese

250 ml extra virgin olive oil

pinch of salt

This recipe is really easy to make, and takes about 20 minutes to prepare. Best of all, you can make a large quantity and keep it for the week!

1. Wash and dry the parsley very well, using a clean cloth. Separate the leaves from the stems, making sure to remove any yellow/already wilted ones.

2. Smash the garlic, crush the nuts, and add them to a food processor ( or a mortar and pestle if you have one) with a little bit of salt. Pulse the processor as you add the parsley leaves a little bit at a time, until you have a grainy green paste.

3. Transfer the paste to a bowl.  Pour the olive oil in a thin stream, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. I found I didn't need to use all of the olive oil (maybe only 150 ml), likely because I didn't have that much parsley. 

4. Add the cheese and continue stirring. Taste and adjust seasoning - I added a bit more salt to mine.

5. Pesto will last in the fridge for a few days, but the sooner you eat it, the fresher it will taste. If you happened to have a LOT of extra parsley in the fridge and made a big batch, store half of it in the freezer until you're ready to serve. For one portion of pasta, about 2 tbsp of pesto will suffice. It may not look like a lot but pesto has a very strong taste, so don't over power your meal.

Parsley pesto on angelhair pasta

I think pesto works best with thin pastas, like angel hair or spaghetti, but since I live alone and didn't want to eat pasta for 3 days straight, I found some other uses for this concoction. 

1) Use as a marinade or rub on chicken breast or white fish

2) Spread over a baked baguette as a garlic bread substitute

3) Use it as a pizza sauce! Sounds odd but it's great for a veggie pizza with sun dried tomatoes and fetta, or even with some sliced chicken

Although pesto is usually made with basil, I really liked the parsley twist. Think of the pesto formula as "herb + nut + cheese + garlic + oil = pesto". The ingredients can be changed as long as they fall into one of those categories. Feel free to try it with cilantro instead of parsley, or with walnuts instead of pine nuts. I think my next venture will be to try it with rosemary or oregano....

Happy Hump Day!

A.C

Protein power

I have been collecting food magazines and articles for a while now, and every now and again I go through some of them with the hopes of finding an old gem that can be reused. Such is the case when I flipped through the 2009 edition of "Eat Smart" with Ellie Krieger. My boyfriend was coming over for dinner and I wanted to make something hearty but different, and voila! - Baked shrimp with tomatoes and feta. Succulent shrimp soaked in rich tomato sauce, baked with feta cheese and topped with fresh parsley and dill - that's exactly what I was looking for.

I used black tiger shrimp

What you'll need:

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tsp)

2 14.5 oz cans no-salt added diced tomatoes, with their juices

1/4 cup finely minced fresh flat leaf parsley

1 tbsp finely minced fresh dil

1 1/4 pounds frozen and thawed medium shrimp, peeled

2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

salt and pepper to taste

orzo or rice (this dish can be served on either, I used orzo)

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Heat the oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ohio and cook, stirring until softened, about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. 
3. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 5 minutes, until the tomato juices thicken.
4. Remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley, dill, and shrimp and season with salt and paper.  
5. Sprinkle the feta over the top.
6. Bake until the shrimp are cooked through and the cheese melts, about 12 minutes. 

Cooked orzo

You can use pretty much any type of pasta for this recipe, but I decided to use orzo as I'm a huge fan of this grain. Orzo (an italian "barley") bears a close resemblance to rice, just but a bit longer (almost as large as a pine nut). Traditionally, it's used as the base for many soups, but I think it can be used interchangeably with any other grains in cold and hot pasta dishes. The nutritional info alone is pretty remarkable - In 1/2 cup of Primo brand orzo pasta, there's 300 calories, 1.3 g fat, and 10 g of protein! Add that with the shrimp packed sauced and you've got a protein packed meal.

Top with some shaved parmesan cheese and serve!  :)

Bon appétit!

A.C