Posts tagged What I ate

What I ate: Squid ink pasta and crabmeat aglio e olio

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Sometimes, you just want a light lunch. Sometimes it’s nice to pretend that it’s still spring and immerse yourself in punchy fresh flavours that make you forget that you had to drag yourself out of the warm cocoon that is your bed to face the day.

As much as I love long stews and slow cooking during the cold dreary days of winter, sometimes I feel like it doesn’t even feel like winter yet. Not that I’m complaining, but sometimes I feel a little weirded out when I see the sun out, and can walk to the shops in my t-shirt and shorts. But the upside is that the sun just calls for light meals and a cold glass of crisp white wine.

And that’s where this recipe came in. I had some squid ink pasta that had to get used, and my pantry is always stocked with chilli and garlic. In this case, I used tinned alaskan crab meat, but crab meat is available in tubs at the supermarket, or feel free to use bacon or pancetta if you’d like. I know it’s not an Aglio e olio in the strictest sense, but it’s time to clear out my cupboards and it’s extremely tasty and so simple.

Here’s what I used:

Squid ink pasta
Garlic (1 clove per entree size portion, and I love my garlic.)
Bird’s eye chilli (1 chilli per clove of garlic, but feel free to use more)
Extra virgin olive oil (a nice fruity one)
Fish stock
1 tin alaskan crab meat
Coriander
Yuzu juice

I par boiled the pasta first in salted boiling water, then finished it in a little bit of fish stock.

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TENTACLES OF THE SEA!!!!

I find that finishing the last 2 minutes or so in fish stock gives it just a little bit more flavour, but you can just finish boiling the pasta in salted boiling water. Just remember that because you’re cooking it a bit further with the garlic and chilli, haven the pasta slightly underdone, so that by the time the garlic is cooked, your pasta is perfectly al dente.

While the pasta is boiling, I smashed the garlic and chilli through a mortar and pestle with some cracked black pepper and salt.

I moved the pasta from the pot into my sauté pan with a splash of fish stock, and simmered it till the stock is completely absorbed. Half a cup was all I had to use for 2 entree sized portions, but add a splash more if it isn’t enough. Then simply add the garlic paste and olive oil to the pasta, gently sauté it till the garlic loses the acrid burn, then stir through the crab meat, yuzu juice and a smidgen more oil. Scatter with some coriander to finish,

Curiously addictive and easy, this makes for a light lunch, or a simple weeknight dinner. Don’t like crab? Well it works with all sorts of meats, herbs (use parsley if you don’t like coriander), and because it’s so basic, it’s open to your wildest imaginations.

What I ate: Miso glazed eggplant

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Eggplants seem to be everywhere lately, and I love how a simple glaze can transform the humble eggplant into Nasu Dengaku. The miso glaze is dead easy.
Just combine:

1 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp shiro miso (white miso)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1-2 tbsp water, to thin it out

I grilled my eggplants in the oven, set to 200C, but you can also do it on the stove. I first sliced my eggplant into thick pieces and lightly salted them. When beads of moisture appeared, I patted dry with a paper towel, then sprayed them with oil and popped them under the grill. When they’re a light brown, I just brushed them with the glaze and put them back under to finish off.

So simple, and tasty. I have it on rice as a light lunch, but you can definitely also have it as part of a larger meal.

What’s your favourite eggplant recipe?

What I ate: Pumpkin and Blue Cheese Gnocchi

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It’s that time of the week again – when you want something delicious, but you don’t want to go through the hassle and production of spending the whole evening in the kitchen preparing dinner.

And let’s face it – everyone wouldn’t mind something new for their meals. Cooking in big batches gets rid of the need to be cooking all the time, but (I don’t know about you) I tend to have a short attention span when it comes to my meals, and after the second meal of the same thing I’m off looking for other things to feed myself with.

That being said, leftovers are a wonderful thing! I like them because you can always repurpose them in creative ways for your new meal, and you can clear a few little containers of food at one go. For this speedy meal I used:

  • Gnocchi (I made a large batch once and have a bag of them in my freezer. You can use bought gnocchi if you’d like)
  • Roast pumpkin (Leftover from the weekend)
  • Stilton Blue Cheese (I had a hunk just sitting in my fridge)
  • Cream
  • Truffle honey (a treat for me, any honey will do though)

And as with all my other What I Ate posts, there aren’t any quantities. Just get creative! I boiled the gnocchi until it floated to the top of the water, drained it, then in the pot I just emptied, I warmed the pumpkin up (there was oil from the roasting already). And since the pumpkin was roasted with thyme and garlic, there’s your flavour boost that’s already been incorporated into the ingredient. Then I add the hot gnocchi back into the pot, add a little bit of cream, crumbled some blue cheese on the top, and drizzled some honey over just before digging in.

It was creamy and comforting, and used up stuff I just had sitting in my fridge/freezer and pantry. Don’t have roast pumpkin handy? Well just about any roast root vegetables would do – I would use roast carrot, parsnips, capsicum…not so much potato though, because there are potatoes in the gnocchi. But it’s completely up for interpretation! Don’t like blue cheese? Add some cheddar and turn it into a gnocchi version of mac’n’cheese!

The variations are endless, and I’m no longer bored when I need to clear my fridge. Especially when I get into a cooking mood over the weekend and there are containers of random things everywhere.

What’s your favourite way of using up leftovers?

What I ate: Brussel Sprouts

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It’s that time of the week again, where I look in my fridge and wonder what I’m going to do with the random things that are in my fridge and pantry. This time it’s the great winter veg: the brussel sprout!

Brussel sprouts get such a bad rep because of the possibility of them being bitter, but that’s also because many places that sell brussel sprouts tend to boil them to death, like the ‘steamed veg’ option in a bad steak restaurant. But they actually taste really lovely when done right, and are really not that hard to cook.

So, as with the other recipes that involve me clearing out my fridge, there aren’t any quantities, but feel free to use as little or as much as you like. Also feel free to include or omit whatever you’d like, and get creative with it!

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

 Brussel Sprouts
Bacon
Parmesan
Olive oil
Cumin
Honey

Preheat your oven to 180C. Halve the cleaned brussel sprouts (click the outer leaves off if they’re a bit raggy and give them a quick wash) and toss them with olive oil, ground cumin, salt and pepper.

Roast them in the oven till lightly browned, then sprinkle the chopped bacon over the top. Once the bacon starts browning and the brussel sprouts look lovely and golden, drizzle with honey and pop back to the oven for a minute.

Finish with grated parmesan.

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It’s great as a side or as a light, healthy lunch, especially when it’s cold and rainy outside, like it was today. Hearty and satisfying. =)

What I ate: Bean salad

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Bean salad

It’s been so crazy busy lately and I’ve got so many photos backed up to write about!!!!

I usually try to pick and choose the interesting or special places/recipes/dishes/etc to write about, cause I generally feel like the meals that I have at home – as it can be for many people – can get a little repetitive and boring. But after a suggestion from one of my closest friends – Fiona – I thought it might be worth a mention the stuff I throw together at home. Especially on leftover Sundays.

Today, it’s a bean salad. It’s a pretty loose and easy recipe, and great if you have stuff in your pantry that you’d like to clean out. Here’s what I used:

  • a tin of four bean mix (drained and rinsed lightly)
  • a tin of cannelloni beans (ditto)
  • tinned beetroot (finely diced)
  • finely diced chillies
  • sliced black olives
  • semi dried tomatoes
  • feta
  • tuna in springwater
  • finely diced onion
  • finely diced cucumber
  • lettuce

For the dressing I used the juice from the tin of beetroot, reduced with 1 bay leaf, then mixed with some white miso (I didn’t have mustard in the fridge), some balsamic vinegar, a squeeze of lemon, pinch of salt, and extra virgin olive oil.

I also had some bread rolls in the fridge – you know the kind that you finish baking at home? – and spread those with some homemade garlic butter (parsley, garlic, lemon juice and butter) and threw them into the oven.

I really liked that this salad was pretty much a pantry-ready salad, and cleared out a lot of bits and pieces in my fridge that needed eating. I didn’t feel over stuffed after, and it was incredibly moreish.

Leftover sundays are the best. =)