Your Morning Yolk's New Best Friend

Maybe this isn't anything revolutionary.  But it sure is tasty...

You know when you get a jar of pasta sauce (good pasta sauce, something authentic and rustic) and you're left with too much sauce to toss and too little to use on another batch of linguine?

I have the solution, lovies.  My sauce of choice today?  A zingy, tangy arrabiata sauce, left over from last night's cincue colori conchiglie alla arrabiata (phew, that's a mouthful...a tasty, tasty mouthful).  My recipe?  A fried egg and focaccia sandwich with a shmear of the tomatoey stuff.

Here's how it goes.

Egg Sandwich Italiana

1 large egg
Sandwich-sized piece of focaccia (any kind you like)
1 tsp arrabiata sauce
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

1. Split focaccia, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt.  Toast in toaster oven until golden brown.

2. Heat olive oil in a frying pan or skillet until it glistens.  Fry egg on one side, then add about a quarter cup of water to the pan and cover.  The egg should steam for about two minutes, sealing in the yolk under a thin layer of egg white and leaving it runny.  Top the egg with a bit of salt and a touch of cracked black pepper.

3. Smear the arrabiata on one half of the focaccia.  Place the egg on the bread and enjoy.

The sammy's messy, but it's delicious.  The fatty, savory yolk complements the acidic and spicy tomato sauce.  It works the same way as the hot sauce I liberally apply to my bell pepper and egg sandwiches.  And the focaccia?  Well, that just serves as a tasty, crusty bread that holds up to the cascade of runny yolk and reinforces the Italian-ness of the dish.

Molto buono.  Molto, molto buono.

Buon appetito!

~AF

The Mac Daddy: Homemade Baked Mac 'n' Cheese

Nothing much to it, lovies!  You just need a handful of ingredients, and you too can make tasty pasta!

I made this for my sister's birthday, and everybody loved it!  (A success, I tell you!)

Basic Baked Mac:

Melt some butter in a saucepan.  When it begins to foam, add a quantity of flour equal to the amount of butter you added (1 tablespoon of butter to one tablespoon of flour, etc., based on how much sauce you're making).

Now whisk, whisk, whisk!  Don't let it burn!  The flour needs to cook out a little.  After a few minutes over medium heat, begin to whisk in some milk (nothing lower in fat than 2%. Skim milk screws this up).  Keep whisking!  Don't want any lumps in that béchamel.

Add in a dash of nutmeg (that flavor that'll make you wonder why it tastes so good) and a dash of dry mustard (it lends depth of flavor).

Now add in your cheese.  I may have erred in using a sharp aged cheddar.  Tasty, for sure, but it didn't melt nicely!  You really need a Gruyére or other melting cheese.  Whisk it in and check to see if you need salt.  Depends on the cheese you use.

Pour the sauce over your pasta (macaroni is good, cavatappi is better!  Part macaroni, part corkscrew pasta, all good when it comes to cheese sauces).  Mix well so every noodle has sauce on it, then pour it all into a greased casserole dish.  Top it off with a mix of sharp cheddar (a must in this case), grated parmesan (for nuttiness), and breadcrumbs (I like Italian-seasoned, but Panko works well too).

Pop the whole concoction into the oven at 375 F and let it bake away until the sauce is bubbling and the top is golden and crispy.  I made my macaroni in a 9"x9" glass casserole and popped it into the toaster oven.  Being that the top was close to the heating element, the topping crisped quickly, so I really can't tell you how long yours will take in a real oven.

Adjust the recipe to your taste, just like I always say (I like changing up the cheeses and adding meats like sausage or ham).

Bon Apetít!

~AF

Pasta Salad and Mini Meatloaves: Just Another Foodie Saturday

Readers!  The Foodie has the materials she needs to make amazing food!  We got eggs, and ground beef, and orzo pasta, and...okay, I'll calm down.

But seriously.  Having ingredients to cook with makes a huge difference in the Amateur Foodie kitchen. 

Lunch today was another Greek-inspired dish, this time an orzo salad.  I prepped a vinaigrette dressing with red wine vinegar, minced garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper, plus a dash of dried oregano.  The oh-so-essential accoutrements portion of the dish included sliced pepperoncini that I chopped up even smaller (leave them as-is and they take over the whole dish!), quartered black olives (nothing special...I would've liked some nice vinegary Kalamata olives, but I worked with what we had), meticulously chopped cherry tomatoes (lose the seeds and the jelly-like medium they're suspended in, and you lose a great emulsifying agent! Plus, you don't want to crush those little babies), cucumber diced up teeny-tiny (seeds removed, of course), and feta cheese.

My best piece of advice is to put the hot pasta into the dressing and toss.  This keeps the starches in the orzo from making your pretty salad into a bowl of pasta clumps and veggies.  Then chill, baby, chill!  You cannot.  I repeat, you cannot put crisp, delicious fresh veggies into hot pasta and expect them to remain crisp and delicious.  Think I'm wrong?  Try it.  Be disappointed.  But don't say I didn't warn you.

Unfortunately, there is no photo of the pasta.  Put it this way, I didn't make a lot of it, and my mom and I really liked it.  Really.

Our second topic of discussion this evening is meatloaf.  Calm yourselves!  I call myself a foodie, yet I'm preparing stuff like meatloaf?  Yes.  Yes I am.

Because, truth be told, sometimes I just crave meatloaf.  It was never something we had on a regular basis, so I never got tired of it, and I never ate enough bad meatloaf to get on the bandwagon with the people who hate it.

Meatloaf can be really delicious if you have fresh ingredients and a good recipe.  Still too un-foodie-like for you?  Well, get ready.  I'm about to tell you what's up.

Mashed potatoes and a gloriously glazed mini meatloaf.  Notice the elegant white plate?  Mmhmm.  Fancy.

Mini.  Meatloaf.  Muffins.  Heck yes.  Something about making a big ol' meatloaf in a little muffin tin turns it into the most twee, foodie-like thing ever.  Yes, twee.  Cutesy.  Like Zooey Deschanel's outfits.  Or kittens with bows around their necks.  Meatloaf's never looked tastier.

Pick your favorite meatloaf recipe (if you don't have one already, find one, for crying out loud!).  Make it as you normally would, and divide the meat into lightly greased muffin tins (use cooking spray or olive oil...not butter and flour).  Cooking times can be dicey, so keep an eye on your mini loaves.

In my opinion, an important aspect of foodie-ness is an ability to adapt a recipe.  To make it better, obviously.  So here are some changes I made to my standard-issue meatloaf recipe (from that plaid cookbook that pretty much everybody owns).

• Sauteed onions:  The recipe just says to add a quarter cup of chopped onion, raw (raw?!?) to the meat mixture.  From past experience, the onion just ends up with a weird consistency.  It's not done enough for me, so before I assembled the mix, I sauteed my onion in some canola oil over low heat until it was slightly golden (and certainly no longer raw.  Nothing ruins a velvety, soft meatloaf like biting into a big chunk of onion).  Be sure to cool it thoroughly before adding it to the meat!
• Italian breadcrumbs:  The recipe calls for plain, dry breadcrumbs.  We only had panko or Italian-seasoned, and the last time I used panko in a meatloaf recipe, it was just strange.  Italian crumbs it was, then.  And, might I add, they were delicious.  That little bit of herbage offers another dimension of flavor that does just enough to help the meatloaf without being overpowering.
• Muffin tins!  There are no instructions for making meatloaf muffins in my cookbook.  Quite the oversight, I think.  The cook time for a free-form 9-inch diameter patty was 50 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit.  So I cooked the muffins for 30 minutes at 350.  Then I unmolded them.  Then they went back in for ten minutes.  Then, since my mother wasn't home yet, they went into the fridge.  Just before serving, I heated them at 350 for ten minutes without glaze, plus another ten with glaze.  You may need to play around with your cook time.  Less is more, unless your beef is still bloody in the middle.  Please don't get sick.
• Gooey glaze:  The recipe said ketchup, brown sugar, and dry mustard!  I didn't listen!  I skipped the dry mustard, adding a squish of Dijon instead.  I used uber-molasses-y dark brown sugar in lieu of the more traditional light brown.  And I added a healthy shot of Worcestershire sauce.  (I can't eat a beef dish that doesn't contain Worcestershire.  Don't ask why.  It's just good.)  And it was the best meatloaf glaze I've ever had.  It was like candy.  Only with Worcestershire sauce.

I served my mini meatloaf muffins with sour-cream-and-garlic mashed russet potatoes.  I steeped rosemary in the cooking water, and poached a garlic clove with the potatoes.  Not only did poaching make the garlic super easy to peel, it mellowed the flavor and made it easy to smash it into a paste (which mixed oh-so-nicely with my 'taters).  Tasty?  Indeed.

Embrace the Meatloaf!

~AF

Putting My Must-Haves to Work: Pepperoncini Peppers

Okay, I said I'd try to help you out.  I gave you a list of essentials, and then I didn't follow through and tell you what to do with them!

Pepperoncini peppers look like a wild card on the list.  What are you supposed to do with a spicy pickled condiment?  Actually, you can do a lot.  My suggestion today is just one example of the many possible uses of this tasty ingredient.

If you're someone who likes tuna salad sandwiches like I do, then you're gonna love this quick tip.  Use the peppers, along with some Romaine lettuce and Greek feta cheese to perk up a classic.  Instead of doing the traditional tuna, mayo, and pickle relish version of tuna salad, leave out the pickles.  Just drain the tuna really well (the peppers will add liquid back in, and we're not making tuna soup sandwiches here), then mix in just enough mayonnaise to sort of bind the tuna together.  After adding just a pinch of salt and a twist of cracked pepper, you're ready to assemble.

I always toast my bread for any sort of meat salad sandwich, whether it be crab salad, tuna salad, or chicken salad.  The bread du jour in our house this weekend was English muffins.  They actually go surprisingly well with the tuna and peppers.  I too was shocked.  You can really use any bread you like, but I prefer something a little more adventurous than just your standard white bread.  Whole grain and 12 grain bread are my favorites when I have them on hand, although a nice hearty sourdough or marble rye would also be really tasty.

So set up your bread, adding a couple leaves of romaine to the bottom piece (this keeps the underneath of your sammy from getting soggy).  Please don't chop up your lettuce.  It's not as good that way, and if your bread is still hot, it'll just wilt faster.  Top the bed of lettuce with a healthy scoop of tuna.  Then nestle a few slices of pepperoncini pepper in the tuna.  Sprinkle with crumbled feta, then finish by topping the sandwich with more lettuce and the top of the English muffin (or other slice of bread).

The spice from the pepper acts as a more flavorful and savory alternative to sweet relish, and the feta ties everything together and makes it feel a little like a Greek salad on a sandwich.  It's something to try.

You can use pepperoncinis just about anywhere you would otherwise use pickles.  And pairing them with ingredients like feta or Kalamata olives can turn something like a burger, chicken sandwich, or salad into a Greek-style treat.

Opa!

~AF

The Ten: My Essentials (For the Moment) in the Kitchen

There's a lot of stuff to cook with.  But everyone that cooks on a regular basis understands that there are those few ingredients that can be used over and over again in innumerable dishes that are absolutely essential.  And then there's those ingredients that are just so good that you need to have them on hand at all times, whether you can use them in everything or not.

Here's my Top Five of all time (the stuff you should always have):

1. Onions: If you try to think of as many onion-containing dishes as you possibly can, you'll undoubtedly run out of fingers to count on.  Meatloaf, soups, pasta sauces, my egg casserole, stir fry, sandwiches...the list just goes on.  Onions add flavor, and not having them on hand?  Tragic.
2. Eggs: Here's yet another versatile ingredient.  It can be used to make pasta, casseroles, French toast, scratch-made pancakes, omelets, and egg sandwiches that can rival a McAnything.  Just be sure that you use them.  It's always a terrible feeling to buy a whole dozen and realize after a couple weeks that the "use by" date has passed and you still have enough eggs left to make scrambled eggs for a hungry family of six.
3. Flour: Okay, maybe this seems a little too basic.  But you need flour on hand if you're going to make pasta, pizza dough, bechamel sauce, breaded pork chops, or chocolate chip cookies.  And you can't make a good baked macaroni without bechamel or, indirectly, flour.
4. Herbs and Spices: I'm not going to be too specific with this one.  Only you can determine what spices you like or need.  I like chili flakes in my tomato sauce, nutmeg in my bechamel, and paprika on my sauteed mixed vegetables.  Maybe you like something different.  Experiment!  Try new flavors!  Build your own spice pantry, and this will ensure that you won't be wasting ingredients you only use once in a while.
5. Bell peppers: Surprised?  Bell peppers may be a little non-traditional, but along with a few of my other all-time essentials, I know I can make just about anything.  With the addition of a protein, flour and egg (for a pasta, perhaps?), onion, and maybe some tomato, a dish can be built from seemingly nothing at all.

Here's my Top Ten for the month (ingredients that are just good):

1. Vidalia sweet onions: Onions are used in so many dishes, and if you're able to get a sweet onion, I feel that it can often improve a meal that's already going to be delicious.  They're available now.  Take advantage of it!
2. Cherry tomatoes: Whether they're from a local farmer's market, your own garden, or just the grocery store, these little sweeties are so useful.  I love them in pasta dishes (simply sauteed with olive oil, salt and pepper, then tossed with linguine), on English muffin pizzas (less gourmet, I know, but so tasty!), or in my breakfast egg casserole!  Shameless recipe self-promotion?  Perhaps.  Check it out on the blog.
3. Sliced pickled pepperoncini peppers: Now I know you're thinking, 'Whoa, whoa, whoa now...pepper-what?'  Trust me, you've seen these little guys.  It's the just-spicy-enough, sharply vinegary pepper that they toss into your salad at the Olive Garden.  It works for a Mediterranean-style salad, but I really like it with eggs, macaroni and cheese, bratwurst, and baked beans.  Baked beans?  Weird, I know, but the little tickle of heat from these little guys, coupled with their bright acidity, contrasts incredibly with creamy, barbecue-y beans.  Notice all my pairing suggestions are sort of fatty?  It's that acidity, kids.  A match made in food heaven, whether you realize it or not.
4. Green Tabasco: Holy promotions, Batman!  I have to do it!  I just do!  I'm a big fan of the so-hot-it-hurts, clear-that-stuffy-nose-right-up, regular old red Tabasco.  But its milder green cousin is so much nicer to your taste buds!  It's jalapeno-flavored, which wins in my book anyway.  But it's also super vinegary and has a heat that builds up in the back of the palate instead of just punching you in the face.  I put it on a ton of stuff.  But I especially like it on eggs.  Any eggs.  It's just awesome.
5. Parmigiano Reggiano or similar cheeses: I cannot stress how important it is to have delicious sprinkling cheese!  Yes, sprinkling cheese is a technical term.  And I'm not talking about the stuff that comes in a green canister and looks a little like breadcrumbs.  Parmigiano Reggiano is an aged, incredible cheese.  Grana Padano is similar and can be used in similar applications.  Asiago is a little less nutty-tasting, but it also works great.  Don't do the processed stuff, and try to get cheese that is well aged (even imported if you can find it).  All of these cheeses have huge flavor, and a little goes a long way, so keep that in mind if the price freaks you out.

I'll hopefully be able to direct you to some awesome applications for these ingredients over the next couple weeks.  That is if I can get to the grocery store to replenish our house's supply of a few of these essentials.

Peace, Love, and Good Eating!

~AF

A Tasty Egg Casserole for the Weekend

Now, readers, I may have been slacking off a little lately, but just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I haven't been hard at work gathering material to share with you.

On the weekend, I like to cook.  Actually, I like to cook any time, but especially the weekend.  It shouldn't make a difference since I'm on summer vacation right now, but I digress.

I like to cook on the weekend!  And this weekend, I raided the veggie crisper and came up with something I just had to share.

We've all been there.  The last two or three eggs in the carton are about to pass the "best by" date, and the veggies are nearing the point where you're not quite sure if they should be consumed.  Fear not!  This will solve your problems.

With an array of veggies that complement each other and enough eggs to turn them into a casserole, you too can have a delicious breakfast to share with your mom (and then reheat the next morning for breakfast again, but we'll get to that later!).

Basic Egg Casserole

Ingredients:

•  4-5 mini sweet peppers (or 1 medium-sized red or yellow bell pepper)
• 1/2 medium Vidalia sweet onion
• 3 medium-sized button mushrooms
• ~1/3 c. sweet cherry or grape tomatoes
• 3 large eggs
• 3 Tsp. 2% milk
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/3 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• Fresh-cracked black pepper
• Salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Butter (to grease the casserole dish)

Instructions:

1. Prep your veggies:  Chop the onion into a 1/4 inch dice.  Cut the peppers into small strips.  Slice the mushrooms.  Halve or quarter the tomatoes, depending on the size.  If all of your veggies are prepped ahead of time, you won't need to rush back and forth trying to get everything ready for the pan.  Also preheat your oven (or in my case toaster oven) to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a saute pan over medium heat.  Add in the diced onion and allow to cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent.
3. Once the onion has had a chance to cook, add in the sliced pepper.  Add just a pinch of salt to draw the moisture out and help it to cook.  (If you want to speed up the cooking process, add a few tablespoons of water to the pan to generate steam and put a lid on it.  Let the veggies steam a few minutes, then let them cook uncovered for a bit to let the water evaporate.)
4. Once the peppers are softened and the onions and peppers are starting to brown just a bit, add in the mushrooms.  After the mushrooms soften and shrink up a little, toss in the tomatoes, stir a bit, and shut off the heat.  You want them to remain plump and juicy in the casserole.  The veggies will rest a while in the pan while you prep the eggs and casserole dish.
5. In a small bowl, crack the three eggs.  Add in the milk, along with a pinch of salt, a few twists of ground pepper, and the dried thyme.  Beat the eggs vigorously with a fork until the yolk and white are well-blended.  (If you want to use more or fewer eggs, it's fine.  You should add as many tablespoons of milk as the number of eggs that you use.  If you use four eggs, use four tablespoons of milk, and so on.)
6. Here's where my recipe differs from most.  Grease the casserole dish with butter.  Put the veggies in the dish first, then sprinkle the cheese on top of them.  Pour the egg mixture over the veggies and cheese, and gently stir until everything is well-dispersed.
7. Place the casserole in the preheated oven.  The eggs will cook at 375 for about 20 minutes.  Stir the whole mix after the 5-minute mark and the 10-minute mark.  This will make the casserole fluffy.  But after that stop mixing.  The casserole develops a nice souffle-like puff as it finishes cooking (thanks to the milk we added, along with some residual water from the veggies).
8. You know it's time to take the casserole out when the middle is set.  You can gently part the eggs in the middle of the dish with a fork and just make sure there's not any liquid egg remaining.
9. Allow the dish to rest for about five minutes after it is removed from the oven.  Tent it with foil (loosely cover it up) so the top stays nice and warm.  You can serve it with some extra cheddar for on top.  Serves 4.

Here's some important stuff to note:

Use milk and not water for a creamier casserole.  Substitute water and it'll be much puffier, but not as smooth.  Plus, I think the milk gives it a nice flavor.

You can use just about any vegetables that go together.  Just remember, aromatics like onions and garlic cook first.  Don't leave garlic by itself in the pan for too long because it'll burn, and burnt garlic tastes yucky.  'Yucky, you say?'  Yes, yucky.  Don't burn it.  Veggies that contain more water take less time to cook and should be added toward the end of cooking so they don't become mush.  And never steam watery veggies.  Never.  They are soggy enough already.  These veggies include mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes.  Greens like spinach and kale can wait to go in until the end.  And peppers and eggs are a match made in heaven.  I recommend using peppers.

Don't use a mild cheese if you're going to bake it in!  The flavor will just disappear into the eggs, and you'll be left panicking and asking yourself if you forgot to add the cheese.  Sharp or extra-sharp cheddar go so well with eggs...use them!

Do not be afraid to add salt.  Say it with me.  Don't be afraid to add salt.  Eggs love salt.  Plus they'll taste like Spackle if you skip the seasoning.  That's Spackle, not spaetzle.  One is a delicious German food, the other is, well, drywall putty.  Not that I know what Spackle tastes like, but I would imagine it would be something like unseasoned eggs.  Get it? Got it? Good.

Thyme is super-traditional with eggs, especially in French cuisine.  And it's tasty.  But you could use any herbs you like with your eggs.  Except maybe mint.  But I'm not a big fan of mint anyway, so use it if you'd like.

Unless you have high cholesterol anyway, please don't be afraid of using eggs.  They contain lots of protein and important nutrients and stuff.  Plus they're much tastier than that fake-egg-in-a-carton stuff.  (I've just used the word "stuff" twice...well, now three times.  The journalist in me is having a temper tantrum...but you're picking up what I'm laying down, right?)

When you go to reheat any leftovers, add a teaspoon of milk to the top of your serving before you microwave or bake it.  This will keep it moist and delicious, instead of making it the consistency of a kitchen sponge.  Preferable?  Yes, indeedy.

Enjoy your breakfast, and try to share it!  Eggs are good for you, but not if you eat the whole casserole.  Plus, your parent/significant other/kid/whoever's eating with you will really appreciate the fact that you cooked for them!  (Because you were cooking for them, right?  Wink, wink?)

Happy Cooking!

~AF