Pasta and Meatballs

Friday, 21st February 2014

Meatballs made with a mix of pork and beef mince, a few breadcrumbs, onions, herbs and an egg. Following a suggestion on Quora I formed the balls and then put them in the fridge for a couple of hours before cooking, which definitely did seem to help them keep their round shape.
A sauce of tomatoes, onions and mushrooms.

Veal Cutlet

Sunday, 26th January 2014

As usual, seared the meat and finished it in the oven. The addition of a bit of lemon gave it a nice extra flavour. For the pasta a sauce of onions, garlic, tomatoes, mushrooms and lots of oil, cooked gently for a long time, to get a rich, oily caramelised taste. The sauce reduced so much I should have started with an extra onion and two or three more tomatoes.
(Taking pictures of food without showing smeary plates is hard!)

Spanferkel chops

Friday, 10th January 2014

The little suckling pig chops were simply seared then finished in the oven for a few minutes. Very tender and flavourful, but the star of the plate was the pasta sauce.
This was just onions and garlic softened in a good amount of olive oil, then cherry tomatoes added and allowed to simmer gently so it all caramelised. I added fresh basil and bit more oil at the end. Deliciously oily and rich, but at the same time simple.
Served with a salad of lamb's lettuce, bacon and parmesan shavings.

Iberico Pork Cutlets

Sunday, 25th August 2013

Once again, season the cutlets well, then fry them for one minute each side in a very hot pan and finish for 10 minutes in the oven at 150°. Then allow to rest for 5 minutes. The cutlets came out very tender and juicy but could still have been a little pinker in the middle. I put a little thick balsamico on them before serving, which worked very well.
For the sauce I softened a large, thickly sliced onion and a crushed clove of garlic in lots of oil for 15 minutes, on a low heat, until it started to go brown. Then added a little white wine, and a large quantity of roughly chopped tomatoes from the balcony. Theses were Orange Banana, White Peach, Mini Red Pear, and Black Krim tomatoes. I added some more oil at this point too, and plenty of seasoning, and let it continue to bubble gently while the meat and pasta cooked. It came out just as I hoped, rich, oily and slightly sweet from the caramelized onions and tomatoes, with chunks of tomato still present.

Roast Poussin with Pasta

Thursday, 19th January 2012

Very simply roasted poussin served with pasta and a sauce made with onions, basil and cherry tomatoes. Very good, but needing more liquid in the sauce to coat the pasta.

Crostini - Pasta

Sunday, 27th November 2011

I made these little crostini, topped with paremesan, ham and chorizo, in order to take a photograph of the olive. "Olive" was one item of 26 is a photography scavenger hunt in which I took part.
Didn't win any prizes but the crostini were delicious.
The pasta shells were made with a simple tomato and onion sauce, and topped with parmesan. Sauce a bit too liquid really. Should have used fresh tomatoes or sieved the ones from the carton.

Pasta with Salsiccia

Thursday, 20th October

Left it too long after make this to post the journal entry, so I can't really remember much about how this was done. I think it was fairly simple though. I cut up fresh salsiccia from the Italian deli into chunks, browned them and then removed them from the pan. Softened onions and garlic in the same pan, then added a jar of tomato sauce from the same deli, some fresh basil. Lastly put the sausage back and heat through. Served with more fresh basil and parmesan.
The sauce from the jar was tasty and certainly very tomato-y, but I think I still prefer the taste of just chopped fresh tomatoes.