A Bit of MY Soul Food : Pasta Edition

Some people love chocolate. Some people (eh-hem my husband) love candy. Some love cake or cookies or ice cream. For me, my biggest weakness is pasta. Whether it’s simple angel hair tossed in truffle oil and parmesan or it’s penne alla vodka, I love it all. I don’t discriminate too much with the ingredients I’ll cook/eat with pasta. Sometimes I want it simple and sometimes I just want to use up whatever leftover veg I have. There are a few go to ingredients like tomatoes (of course), garlic, onion, mushrooms and some sort of meat. If I have the time, making a lasagna from scratch is relaxing for me. Letting that sauce cook slowly to let the flavors really marry. Making that bechamel the way it should be and so on. Baked pasta dishes are great because usually it involves melted cheese and it just looks so pretty when it comes out of the oven. Also, I like that you can put it in the oven and tidy up before guests arrive! Both of the dishes today are baked coincidentally. But they seem appropriate as the season changes. Somehow I associate autumn with cozy casseroles and lots of starches!

Pastitsio

First up is a dish I made earlier this summer on a whim but that had rave reviews, so I took another stab at it. It’s a Greek type of lasagna called Pastitsio. It’s like lasagna in that it has pasta, meat sauce and is topped with a bechamel sauce. I did an adapted version of Ina Garten’s recipe but here’s another one and another. What makes this dish so delicious and different is that it has cinnamon. If you’re able to, you should use an authentic Greek cheese Kefalotyri, but I used parmesan like Ina did. Here are the changes/adjustments I made to her recipe:

• MEAT: I used ground beef and pork instead of lamb. Not only is ground lamb (mince) a bit expensive but also I was cooking the dish for someone who doesn’t eat lamb. Also, be sure to season your meat with salt and pepper when you’re browning the meat.
• TOMATOES: I didn’t have tomatoes in puree, so I just used my chopped tomatoes which was just fine.
• SEASONING: I really love the cinnamon flavor, so I added more until I was happy with the taste. I also added a beef stock cube to just add depth of flavor.
• BECHAMEL: I never buy whole milk and didn’t want to use heavy cream. I find bechamel can be just as good with semi-skimmed (2%) milk, and you feel a little less guilty!

The cinnamon in this dish is so fragrant and in a way you won’t be used to. Normally we think of cinnamon as something sweet for dessert. But when you smell this spice in a savory dish, it just all makes sense. The first time I made this, I didn’t have any eggs to add to the bechamel so it came out softer. The second time I added eggs and you’ll see the difference in the photos because it set more. Both tasted great but I think I’d prefer the one that was softer. Some pastitsio recipes use just egg yolks rather than whole eggs like Ina. I might try that next time..

My second dish is just something I threw together – Baked Gnocchi and Spinach in a Creamy Sausage Tomato Sauce. I’ve posted my basic tomato sauce in Recipes, and for this dish I used carrot but not celery. I also added creme fraiche (not cream), and some oven-baked Cumberland sausages I happened to have. In case you don’t know what gnocchi is, it’s an Italian potato dumpling that is soft, thick, gooey and so good. And like pasta, it’s a perfect way to use up any meat or veg you have. I had some leftover sauteed spinach (that had been seasoned simply with salt and pepper), so I placed that at the bottom of the baking dish. I cooked the fresh gnocchi (which I bought at Borough Market) very quickly for just a minute in boiling water. Normally you know gnocchi is done when it floats to the surface. But because I was going to bake it, I under cooked it. So on top of the spinach, I added the gnocchi and sausage tomato sauce. I topped it with parmesan and homemade breadcrumbs (leftover crusts from sandwich bread that was blended with oregano). And then baked it until it was golden brown! SO good. I served it with some roasted asparagus wrapped in parma ham. And as always, it was hot, creamy and had a bit of breadcrumb crunch. It was still good as lunch the next day too! Hope it inspires you to whip up a pasta dish in your kitchen tonight!

For some more of MY soul food, check out this post.

Baked Gnocchi

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Being a food tourist (UK Edition)

For the last couple of weeks, Chris and I have been showing my parents, aunt and uncle around the UK. As you’ll know from my blog, my family loves food. So it was only fitting that food was a central part of being a tourist with me!

We started in Birmingham for our 2nd wedding celebration with friends and family. We were blown away by our amazing caterers – Celebration Caterers– who fed us so well with the creamiest homemade pâté, incredible roast pork with the best crackling I’ve ever had, delicious vegetarian lasagna and much much more.

Homemade pâté with a clarified butter top

Served with rustic bread, mixed green salad and red onion chutney

Our next stop was to the Lake District to the family caravan. I couldn’t believe how lucky we got with weather! Loads of sunshine the first day and barely any drizzle the next. I promised the family that they were in for some of the best fish and chips and Cumberland sausages and they were not disappointed. You can’t really go too wrong with these classics!

Next stop – London!

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NY TRIP (PART 2) : COMFORT FOOD

Comfort food. It’s a term that everyone, anywhere in the world, is most likely familiar with. It even has a Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_food). Simply put, it is food that brings us comfort. It could be Mom’s home cooking, the local diner, the local curry house (for you Brits) or any food, whether it’s simple classics or gourmet cuisine, that brings you satisfaction even thinking about it.

By now you should know that I am a serious food lover. If you’ve seen Anthony Bourdain’s recent episode of No Reservations in Vietnam, you might have an understanding of how my Vietnamese heritage “forces” me to eat, want to eat, and talk about eating all the time. Unfortunately, it’s something I seen to be unable to suppress.

With that said, when I think back on my year in New York, I naturally think about the food I ate. Of course, most of the food memories involve really good times with friends – whether it was dinner at a new BYOB or a great Sunday brunch. If you didn’t know already, New Yorkers love their brunch. I don’t know if it’s the ability to drink so early in the morning or rather to continue drinking after a late night or if it’s the social aspect of catching up with friends in your precious free time.

Either way, one of my absolute favorite brunch places is Extra Virgin in the West Village. Granted this place usually has a pretty long wait on the weekend, I have never minded waiting. That’s probably because I kill the time by having one of their spicy Bloody Mary’s that will turn you into a Bloody Mary lover. If I recall a couple years ago, I didn’t really care for them until I had one here. It might be too spicy for some, but it gives a great amount of kick for me. But that’s not the reason I go back to this place. The real reason is the Gorgonzola fondue and fries. If you want to talk about comfort food, this super simple side dish makes me dream about New York. I have no idea why I love it so much. The sauce is just divine and the fries are fantastically thin and crispy. I kept bragging about it to my friend Adi who wasn’t really impressed until she tried it. It was a great reaction. First she commented on how the fries looked great. Then she dipped. Then her eyes opened wide and she moaned, a little. Needless to say we had to ask for more fondue to finish off the fries 🙂

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