Eggplant Ricotta Bites- Appetizers August (2)

To start on an honest note, I have to say at first I wanted to cook eggplant rolls filled with ricotta, but I got really lazy and I tried to find a different solution. And I found an idea, obviously, on the Foodnetwork site.

This turned out to be perfect, because I had some gorgeous white eggplant, but it was a short fatty :), so not very suitable for rolls. That is why you can notice the slices are kind of big, not actually bite-size, but you get the picture, if you have guest coming over and your eggplants are normal size and shape you will get the perfect bites, delicious and fresh.

Let's get down to business! You will need to cut the eggplant into rather thin round slices and salt them.
To fry them you will need to put together 3 bowls: the first one with flour, the second one with 2 beaten eggs and the latter with 1 part grated parmesan and 3 parts breadcrumbs.

Heat up some oil in a skillet. To get your eggplant slices ready for frying, toss them in flour, then in the eggs, them in the parmesan-breadcrumbs mix. Fry them until they turn golden brown, about 1 minute to each side. They can burn pretty fast, so make sure you check. Also, I found it necessary to add more oil between batches.

Meatball Madness (II) Italian Style Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Meatball madness! What? Again? You can't escape the madness! Especially when you have a lot of them hanging in your fridge, in wich case you can make them shine again with an easy and super delicious sauce. 

Now, the results of the original madness were some meatballs with a definite sweet touch, so I wanted to make a more sour sauce. 

Ingredients: 

the juice of 4 big, ripe, red tomatoes(just use a grater), 
1 medium onion, 
2 garlic cloves, 
200 ml of red wine, 
250 grams of tiny cherry and plum tomatoes, both red and yellow, 
half a handfull of basil leaves, 
salt and pepper

Saute the diced onion and garlic in some olive oil, add the wine and let the liquid reduce by half. Next put in the tomato juice and the tomatoes, chopped basil, salt, pepper and bring to a simmer on low heat, pop in the meatballs and cook with a lid on for about half an hour. a very simple but great tasting sauce that brings a wonderfull zing to the meatballs, so get your madness on and start cooking those meatballs.

Enjoy,

Meatballs Madness (I) Meatballs with Ricotta and Sun-dried Tomatoes

Did you ever think about who was the first person who thought of saying meatball madness? Who ever saw an indefinite amount of meatballs and screamed: This is madness! I keep imagining some 17th century dude, in his tight pants, being absolutely bedazzled by the sight of meatballs. So, with that image in mind, I decided I need to have  reason to say meatball madness, thereforeI had to cook some tasty  beef meatballs. 

I used: 

• 500 grams of minced beef, 
• 1 medium onion, finely diced, 
• 3 cloves of garlic, 
• 150 grams of ricotta cheese,  
• 100 grams of sun dried tomatoes and about 3 tbs of the oil they were kept in, 
• parsley,  
• thyme, 
• 2 eggs, 
• flour, 
• salt, 
• pepper, 
• some oil for cooking. 

Just mix all the ingredients together really well, except the flour. 

Make sure the onion, tomatoes, garlic and herbs are all finely chopped,  so you can mix then evenly.  Add the flour to thicken the composition, I used around 150 grams, both for putting it in the meat and for lightly flouring the meatballs. Heat up some olive oil on medium high heat, and fry you golf ball size meatballs until golden brown on all sides,  shouldn't take long. 

As a side dish, I just boiled some delicious,  fresh green beans and seasoned them as mentioned here. 

This meatball recipe, with  definite Italian influences is light, fresh and a delicious way to bring some ordinary and common meatballs to the next level. The ricotta make them moist and very light. There is definitely gonna be a next time cooking these.

Enjoy,

Ricotta and Tomatoes Puff Pastry Galette

Last night I was getting hungry and I just needed a quick snack. I remembered we have puff pastry in the freezer and I never get to use it.

I was in the mood for something rather salty, but ironically the only cheese we had was ricotta (not so salty).

I just rolled the puff pastry on a clean surface, dusted with some flour and divided the patsry in 6 equal squares. I sprinkled some salt on the dough, made some tiny holes with a fork, so that ot won't puff to much while baking. Then, I just added some ricotta cheese and thin slices of tomatoes in the middle leaving the edges clear. Brush the edges with a beaten egg and seal them so that the juices don't spill in the oven. Garnish it with some basil leaves and in the oven it goes.

After just 20-25 min you have a great snack and I have to say it is actually quite filling. I liked it best warm to room temperature, but cold would also do if you want to make smaller galettes and pack it for work/school.

Enjoy,

Farfalle with Bacon, Peas and Ricotta

You may recognize this recipe as it was shown by Gordon Ramsay in one of his shows and, after trying it myself, I have to say it’s a very nice, very easy pasta dish that you can cook up with minimum effort. 

• For 250-300 grams of farfalle (3 portions) I used 
• 300 grams of bacon (go for pancetta if you have it, I used bacon because, in my opinion, this dish is about great results with minimum fuss)
• 175-200 grams of peas
• 150 grams ricotta
• 1 garlic clove 
• 75 grams cream
• salt
• pepper 
• olive oil

Cut your bacon into cubes and drop them in preheated pan for about 5 minutes, until they get a golden brown color. 

Add the finely chopped garlic and cook for another minute. 

Meanwhile, prepare the pasta according to the package instructions and, with 4 minutes before them being done put the peas in the water (I used canned peas that proved quite easy to cook). 

Drain your pasta-peas mix (keep a couple of tbs of cooking water just in case) and drop it on the bacon-garlic combo, then put in the cream and mix until everything starts simmering. 

Cook this whole combo to thicken it up (or add cooking water if you think it’s too thick), serve it on a plate and add small portions of the ricotta on the pasta. 

Drizzle some olive oil on top, mix in the cheese and enjoy. 

I’m not really sure if this was exactly the way Ramsay did the recipe (am I allowed to say his name on the internet? I feel like he knows… Chuck Norris style….), but you can always try and mix it up (try some sage or parsley, maybe some pine nuts). 

In all, one great easy recipe for a relaxing afternoon. Good job Mr. Ramsay! (I feel the sudden urge to shut down my computer and pull the internet cable out……)

See ya next time,
Mr. G