Mrs. G. Mixology (2): Homemade Arancello with Cinnamon and Cardamon | You've Got Meal!

Strong, full of flavor and sweet, this home made drink is based on the classic Italian Arancello. Ready in 2 weeks, it is amazing served chilled, with ice or used in desserts. It is also great to give someone as a gift, especially if you play around with the presentation.

You will need:

• the zest from 5 oranges
• 1 l vodka
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cardamon pods
• 600 g sugar
• 500 g boiled water

1st step: Week 1:

1. Peel the orange zest, trying to avoid the white, bitter part. Place the zest, the cinnamon and the cardamon in a big jar.
2. Pour the vodka on top of them.
3. Seal the jar.
4. Shake the jar everyday, for a week to combine all the flavors.

2nd step: Week 2:

1. Place the sugar in a heatproof bowl.
2. Pour the hot water over it and stir well, until all the sugar is dissolved.
3. Add the syrup over the vodka in the jar and stir.
4. Let it sit in the jar for another week
5. Shake the jar daily.
6. When it is done, pour it in bottles. You can keep it bottled for up to 4-5 months.

Enjoy,

Speckled Pasta with Tomato and Anchovies Sauce

All you Youvegotmeal fans out there (insert the sound of nobody here) know that we love making honemade pasta and prefer using it over bought pasta. Even so, sometimes we feel the need to mix things up, bring a little bit of color even to a classic like homemade pasta. So we decided to make what is called speckled pasta, which means that we added finely chopped herbs (in this case we used exclusively parsley) in the dough composition. And, to give the recipe a nice little kick, we also added 5 roasted chilies and 2 fresh ones.

Spicy Chicory (Endive), Bacon and Egg Pasta

And many other things! Seriously, I’m proud of this recipe for a simple reason: it is our 1^st original (I hope, the internet is big and I’m too lazy to search it all) pasta recipe, and we love pasta. So let me get cracking. 

For our home made spaghetti (3 portions), we used 

2 chicories, 

250 grams of smoked bacon, 

2 eggs, 

4-5 medium hot chillies, 

3 garlic cloves, 

3-4 peaches, 

parsley, 

salt & pepper, 

olive oil, 

parmesan.

This needs a couple of things to be done at the same time, but you can always cook those ingredients in advance (like 30 minutes or an hour, not the day before). So, start of by frying the bacon cut into cubes for 5 minutes, then add the chicories (slice them however you want, but remove the middle, I, at least, found it too bitter for my liking) and sliced garlic. Cook for another 4 minutes.

. Remember when I said that you can have things cooked in advance? Well, for the chillies, you need to roast them and you can do that in advance. After you remove their burned skin, remove the seeds if they are too hot and cut the roasted chilies into strips. Also, the peaches need to be grilles, so cut them in halves and then into 3 each half and grill them on an ultra hot grill for 2 minutes on each side. The fruits will get some very nice grill marks and, because of their sweetness and delicate flavor, will balance with the bitter taste of the chicory. Make sure the fruits aren’t all that mushy, keep them firm.

So, mix the bacon, chicory, garlic, chili, peaches, salt, pepper on the fire for another minute. Add the pasta, cooked al dente, about 50 ml of the pasta cooking water. Meanwhile, poach the eggs and have them ready to be placed on top of the plated pasta, after you’ve sprinkled some parmesan, olive oil and parsley on them. The idea behind this is that the soft yolk will also serve as a sauce that binds the spaghetti together.

So, there you have it, my 1^st try at a recipe and, I have to say, it couldn’t have been anything else except pasta. The result was an interesting dish, with flavors that combined pretty nicely. I guess you can add or remove things from this, but, overall, we were happy with the outcome.

Have a great day,

Recap: 3 Pasta Dishes (Budget Friendly and Time Saving)

If you are looking for a dish that is really affordable and that can be done in under 30 minutes, we've rounded up 3 of our favourite pasta recipes that anybody can prepare and it won't leave a huge hole in your pocket.

1.  Farfalle with Bacon, Peas and Ricotta
2.  Spaghetti al Pomodoro e Basilico 
3.  Spaghetti Indiavolati

100TH POST* Spaghetti al Pomodoro e Basilico (Tomato & Basil Pasta) *100TH POST

Tomato time again!!!You didn’t think I was done that easy with those beautiful fruits? Yeah, that’s right, tomatoes are actually fruits, big shocker, I know. Hey, you can even say I cooked a dessert.  This, combined with some Italian style basil-power, leads to very nice, fresh and absolutely delicious pasta recipe.

For the pasta, you already know how we do it and the fact that we prefer homemade over bought (when we have the time to make them). So for about 3 generous portions, we made some spaghetti out of 200 grams of white flour and 2 eggs. Besides this, we used 500 grams of tomatoes, about 1 big handful of basil leaves, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Honestly, this recipe is incredibly easy and is something that anyone that wants to start cooking can make, with great results. 

The secrets for this recipe are: 1. The basil – use very fresh, whole basil leaves and be careful when you wash and pat them dry, don’t bruise them.

2. The tomatoes – use only ripe, bursting of flavor tomatoes, and if you’re using whole ones, make sure they are not bruised, or damaged.

For the tomatoes we activated “cute mode” in our kitchen. I mean, take a look at those tomatoes, what’s not to love about them. 

The incredible intense taste, the adorable colors, it’s summer in your plate. So, 500 grams of that yellow and red combo, the smaller ones I’ve left whole, the bigger ones I halved or quartered. Start up by heating some olive oil, add in you tomatoes and cook them on high heat for 5-7 minutes.

My idea was not to turn this into some kind of stew, make sure they keep their form (some of the already cut tomatoes will crumble, it’s OK), after which add the whole basil leaves, salt, pepper, cook for another minute, then add the pasta that you boiled meanwhile, turn off the heat and stir things in. 

  

Plate your delicious pasta, sprinkle with some freshly grated parmesan and have yourself to a wonderful, aromatic summer dish.

Enjoy,

Mr. G.