What to do with leftovers.

Getting recipes from books, magazines and the web is easy.
Transforming the left overs into something else, it's an art.
I am an artist.
I hate throwing food away. I save the smallest amounts of leftovers
and transform them into something else.

I had leftovers mashed pumpkin and potatoes from yesterday.
Today they became: Pumpkin agnolotti with Gorgonzola-sage cream sauce.

I used wonton wrappers; filled them with the mashed pumpkin/potato.
Added a very small cube of cheese and a little cut up sage. (from my garden)
Dipped the edges with water and closed them.

For the sauce, just heavy cream with some Gorgonzola and a touch of salt and pepper.

I boiled the agnolotti in salted water, just for a few minutes until the floated and the dough
turned a little transparent and you could see the orange filling.
Strained them and saved them for a few seconds while I sauteed some sage leaves in butter.

I warmed up the plates, cover them with the sauce, top the sauce with the agnolotti and
drizzled them with the sage butter.

That's it. Fast, affordable and delicious.

Veggie Garden

This year I started a veggie garden. I have to admit it is a sad veggie garden.
I had a late start, waiting for the gardener to do some pruning and fixing.
He said: ''I'll be there Thursday.''
He just forgot to mention WHAT Thursday.

I had started lots of tomatoes seedlings, which by the time I transplanted them, they were on the verge of dying, torture by the lack of space (30+ plants in 1 pot).
A big variety of peppers. Mostly seeds I collected after eating a new kind anywhere in the world.
Some herbs, the classic ones: oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage, a couple of different types of mint and Huacatay, a not so classic, from Perú.

After planting them I left for the summer to work on the coast, leaving my dear boyfriend in charge of the crop.
Dear boyfriend had never even watered a pot in his entire life, so by the tame I came back, two months later, I was pretty surprised that most of the plants where still alive. Except for Mr. Jalapeño, one of my favorite ones.
Ive been working for the past two weeks, putting some tutors to the tomato plants, fixing the soil, cleaning u dead leaves and slowly but surely I started to see a little improvement. We might be able to eat some home grown tomatoes after all.
What are doing wonderfully, are the herbs.
It's nice how some herbs can change a simple meal into something special.

Today for lunch we had some steak with mashed pumpkin and potatoes and I just chopped some mint, basil, thyme and oregano; mixed it with olive oil, kosher salt and a touch of balsamic and eat it with the meat. (and dipped some bread, couldn't help myself). Delicious!

Tagliatelle with seafood/saffron croquettes on a cream sauce

I probably get more than 20 recipe newsletters a day. Love them all. Not always I have the time to read them all, actually 5 days out of 7 I delete them to keep my inbox on a manageable size.
The glorious days that I get to enjoy them, I usually save 2 or 3 recipes I would like to make.
I also have  hundreds of cooking magazines with sticky notes, cookbooks, pictures, Cd's, software,...napkins, papers, notes, clippings....out of control!
What should I cook first?? How can I  get organize?
That time will come...

But I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself. Today I made a recipe that I saw only a couple of days ago (well, maybe 4 or 5 days ago). It was from Giallo Zafferano, an Italian website that I love. I have try several of their recipes and they were all keepers. The original name of this recipe is: Tagliatelle mimosa

For the tagliatelle:

• flour, 300 gr
• salt
• 3 medium eggs

For the croquettes:

• 1 clove garlic
• 250 gr hake (or cod)
• 80 gr bread crumbs
• 50 gr grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• Pepper
• salt
• 1egg
• 1 packet saffron

For the sauce:

• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 30 g butter
• 2 Tbs Olive oil
• 250 ml heavy cream
• pepper
• salt

Garnish:

• Parsley

To prepare the pasta, mix eggs, flour and salt together: knead until smooth and let it rest covered for at least half an hour in a cool place. Then roll out the pastry and ass it through the pasta machine. (or you can cut them by hand) or....just buy fresh pasta.
Meanwhile, remove any bones in fish, cut into pieces  and chop it in a food processor. Pour into a bowl, add the garlic clove  crushed ,  bread crumbs, Parmesan, egg, salt, pepper and saffron dissolved in a tablespoon of water;  mix well. You will get a bright yellow  mix.  Form it into very small balls.
 Put the oil, butter and two cloves of garlic  in a pan and  add the meatballs, sauté 2 minutes, then add the brandy, add the cream  season with salt and pepper and then turn off the heat. Cook the noodles in salted water and then, once drained, mix them in a pan with the sauce . Sauté for a couple of minutes, then serve dividing the meatballs in the various dishes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

FANTASTIC FISH PIE

A while back I spent a wonderful winter in a small town called Piriapolis,

located in Uruguay, South America.

Piriápolis was founded in 1893 by Francisco Piria.

Population of around 10,000 people ( and 12000 dogs...)

Piriapolis is also known to be a mystical place.

It suppose to be the crossroad of strong points of energy.

I don't know if that it is true but I have to admit that I did spent a very peaceful and happy

four months.

What I do know is that they have the best sunset I've seen in my life.

Everything is walking distance (long walks). There is a fantastic market once a week

where fruits, vegetables, cheese and other goodies were great quality and extremely affordable.

The best thing about it was the fresh fish. Very early in the morning boats will leave

the coast and come back with loads of fresh fish.

I did get to try several seafood recipes while I was there.

My favorite fish is call ''Brotola''.

With brotola I made this delicious fish pie, I got the recipe from Food.com (Recipezaar at that moment)

Ingredients:

5 large potatoes, peeled and diced into 2 . 5cm/1 inch squares

salt & freshly ground black pepper

2 free range eggs

200 g fresh spinach

1 onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, halved and finely chopped

extra virgin olive oil

600 ml cream

200 g cheddar cheese

1 lemon, juice of

1 teaspoon English mustard

100 g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

500 g haddock or 500 g cod fish fillets, skin removed pin boned and sliced into chunks

nutmeg (optional)

Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F

Put the potatoes into salted boiling water and bring back to the boil for 2 minutes.

Carefully add the eggs to the pan and cook for a further 8 minutes until hard boiled,

by which time the potatoes should also be cooked.

At the same time steam the spinach in a colander above the pan.

This will only take a minute. When the spinach is done, remove from the colander

and gently squeeze any excess moisture away.

Then drain the potatoes in the colander.

Remove the eggs, cool under cold water, then peel and quarter them.

Place to one side.

In a separate pan slowly fry the onion and carrot in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes,

than add the double cream and bring just to the boil.

Remove from the heat and add the cheese, lemon juice, mustard and parsley.

Put the spinach, fish and eggs into an appropriately sized earthenware dish and mix

together, pouring over the creamy vegetable sauce.

The cooked potatoes should be drained and mashed - add a bit of olive oil,

salt, pepper and a touch of nutmeg if you like.

Spread on top of the fish.

Don't bother piping it to make it look pretty - it's a homely hearty thing.

Place in the oven for about 25-30 minutes until the potatoes are golden.
 
 
 

Now, if you are wondering why I do not have a picture of the finish dish....It's because we were sooo hungry, that I forgot and we eat it all!

Sorelle in pentola: Seppie saltate con carciofi croccanti

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ITALIAN COMFORT FOOD

Food that nourish the body and soul.In Italy it differs with the regions.

I was volunteering for 6 months in Puglia, the South of Italyand hosted by the most adorable couple, Gianni and Graziella.

Graziella happens to be one of the most amazing cooks I've ever met.And trust me, I've been in the food business for a long time.

Cooking is her passion and her husband keeps a large organic veggie gardenwere we picked most of the fresh produce needed for her fantastic meals.

Top quality.

If I try to reproduce one of her meal with the sad tomatoes that I find at the grocery store this days it will probably taste like ...water (if I'm lucky)

Comfort food is a nostalgic element, and this baked pasta dish bring back memoriesof my great journey in Puglia this past winter.

Baked Pasta Puglia Style :

Ingredients: (4 people)

400 grs. rigatoni

120 grs. sausage

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 Tbs. basil, chopped

200 g ground beef

200 g tomatoes, diced

100 g bread

50 g milk

2 eggplants

200 grams mozzarella

100 g mortadella

extra virgin olive oil

salt

In a pan with olive oil, place onion, basil, tomatoes, salt and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes.

Mean while shred the sausage, chopped the mortadella and set aside.

Mix the ground meat with bread soaked in milk, sausage and a pinch of salt and make some small meatballs.

Cut eggplant into strips and fry in a pan with olive oil.

Cut the mozzarella into pieces.

Cook the rigatoni in salted water, al dente and strain.

In a greased baking dish put a layer of rigatoni and cover with half of all ingredients including meatballs, add a second layer with the remaining rigatoni and finish the rest of the ingredients.

Bake at 200 degrees for twenty minutes.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD FESTIVAL

I arrived to Bergamo the first week of October just in time to go to the annual international food festival. Hundreds of stands with magnificent food steaming in the cold Autumn days.
How lucky I was.

People are always so happy around food.

I had dozens of samples.

But I spent most of my money on cheese. Mmmm...so many creamy, pungent and delicious cheese.

I also had toasted chestnuts for the very first time in my life. I loved them.

One of my favorites was a spice stand with seasoning freom all over the world.