Home alone quick meal

In a very unusual turn of events, I found myself home alone in the Lodge this evening. So, I decided to make one of my favourite quick dishes: Tofu and fried vegetables with rice.

I always fry the tofu quite hard for this one and with a good pinch of curry and ground cumin. The best thing is to not use any heavyweight vegetables, so no carrots, no onions (although I always include garlic). It makes for nice colours to only allow green vegetables, e.g. spring onions, green beans, squash and as I did here savoy cabage.

The secret, though, to making this exquisite is to have a really good soya. I prefer tamari which is mild and for some reason goes really well with tofu. Use a good deal of tamari at the very end - never let tamari boil on the pan for more than half a minute or so.

Pasta night

Ok, I made homemade tagliatelli again, and also rocket pesto. But I made it mixing half and half the Farina di Semola with kind of normal flour (tesco pasta flour) The result was good but a softer pasta than the previous one, made only with Farina di Semola.
I realised that it is not a good idea to have this soft delicated tagliatelli with pesto because of its stickiness. They would go better with a bolognesa, or a creamy sauce. But overall they were equally appreciated and devoured.





The usual (and very keen) photographer was not in the mood for photos that night, so we don't have a picture, but Anders took one of us AT the table, which is good to have too. In the plates you can still see some of the homemade focaccia and the mozarella and tomato salad. In the background you can see the pasta resting in the counter.

I must said that the wine La Grola, as all the wine we usually drink along these meals, was very good, Elia's choice.

our daily heaven

homemade bread... warm from the oven, with a bit a butter, maybe some cheese or homemade strawberry jam.

I wonder why one does never get tired of these simple foods, even when eaten everyday.

The Japanese Meal

Our little meal turned out really good. I made Agedashi tofu for starter, and Andreas did a teriyaki beef as main, and we had rice done in the new rice cooker. Elia, one of our habitues, brought japanese beer. He always take our invitations for dinner seriously.



I wont comment on the tofu, because I prefer other's opinions on what I cook. Andreas' beef was really good, tender in spite of the tendency beef has to get sort of boiled in our western-very weak heat type of cookers.




I missed dessert though...

THIS is a book

and THEN there will be serious cooking in this house...


I browse through this book today while we were having lunch in a Eatery, a sort of delicatesssen resto, and the recipes were just pure sophistication... so I told the boys and Andri bought it!!! Yes!!
ooohhh this is gonna be amazing

I am gonna try the chesnut ravioli with fontina and celeriac sauce...

Not to be neglected

Laura's fresh pasta
Originally uploaded by Mr. Akwekwe

And let's not forget the pasta, while we're at it. Laura made this with this flour that we bought in Valvona & Crolla in Edinburgh. It proved to be really, really good pasta. And it was still great even after it had been dried.

Tofu and grilled courgettes lasagne

Tofu and grilled courgettes lasagne
Originally uploaded by Mr. Akwekwe

Let me just blog that lasagna! It was really nice. Just look at this sea of cheese. I guess it's understandable that Lau wanted a light week after this.

a simple meal

So, this was gonna be a very light meal, because we had decided to have a week of light food, after my Homemade Ravioli di Zucca with Sage Butter on Thursday and the Tofu and Grilled Courgettes Lasagne Andreas had made for the weekend.
In the end I used up a leftover tomato and chicken sauce and made a tomato soup by just adding some water and milk and blend it well. Then I grilled some chicken that I have previously marinated... this marinade is the most simple and obvious thing you would do if you want to marinate any meat, but it works so well. I suspect it is the amount of lemon I put on it. I couldn't tell how much is it, but I suspect is more than they usually say. With butterflied chicken breast the result is total tenderness. I also roasted some butternut squash and sautéed brussels sprouts with garlic (these boys are good, they even eat brussels sprouts!) Andri gave me a point, and so did Andreas, in spite that he still complained that a two courses dinner wasn't his idea of a "light meal".

Yeeeees

We have it at last!!

we should have taken pictures of the ravioli, which I think began the realization of the very serious cooking that is going on IN our house...

Fish in a Parcel

Fish in a Parcel
Originally uploaded by Mr. Akwekwe

Just a test. Look at these Sea Bass in parcels! They were quite nice.