Tonnarelli ai Canestrelli

We made this with minor variation; symbol brought home half a pound of discount scallops, and we had about 200g of corn spaghetti that needed to be used up, so I combined the two to make a half batch of this recipe. I've written up the original recipe here, using 1lb of scallops and tonnarelli.

It comes together very quickly, and you can skip toasting the bread crumbs if you want to.

Tonnarelli ai Canestrelli (Tonnarelli with Scallops)

The Classic Pasta Cookbook, p.107

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried pasta
• ½ C + 2 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 2-4 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼-½ tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 lb scallops, of which ¼ are finely chopped
• ¼ C breadcrumbs, toasted

Directions

1. Begin bringing the water for the pasta to a boil.
2. While that happens, put ½ C of olive oil, the garlic, and the red pepper flakes in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook until the garlic turns fragrant, ~30 seconds.
3. Stir in the parsley.
4. Add the whole scallops, season with salt, and cook, stirring often, until they are no longer translucent, 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the chopped scallops and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat.
7. Cook the pasta al dente.
8. Drain pasta and toss with the scallops, remaining olive oil, and bread crumbs.
9. Serve as is or with parmesan.

I had some extra egg yolks to use up and decided to try out this baked custard now that we've restocked on chocolate. I'm really pleased with how it came out. Pleasantly chocolatey and not too sweet. I served it with a dollop of unswetened whipped cream.

Chocolate Custard

Slightly adapted from the Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 2 c. whole (3-4%) milk
• 85g dark chocolate
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 large egg yolks¹
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Heat milk over medium-low heat until hot, but not boiling.
3. Add chocolate and sugar and stir until chocolate has melted and sugar has dissolved.
4. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla.
6. Slowly whisk in the milk mixture.
7. If desired, strain the mixture. (I didn't bother with straining.)
8. Pour the mixture into a baking dish or several small ramekins.
9. Place the dish(es) into a large baking pan and pour boiling water into the pan so that it comes halfway up the sides of the dish(es).
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 minutes.
11. My custard didn't seem quite set yet, so I removed it from the bain marie and baked it at 160°C (325°F) for another 5 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
13. Serve room temperature or chilled. Top with whipped cream if desired.

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¹ My eggs were a little on the small side and I had three egg yolks to use up, so I just put them all in. ^Back

This is yet another recipe courtesy of the Good Egg. We made this one a few weeks ago, but I've been slow to get recipes written up lately and it initially slipped through the cracks.

The basic recipe is very simple: just scrambled eggs with some garlic, herbs, and Parmesan tossed with fresh noodles. It reminds me a bit of a spaghetti fritatta and a bit of the onion and fried egg pasta dish that TF and I used to make often (also from this cookbook). This one just uses scrambled eggs rather than fried.

In the notes below the recipe, the author mentions several possibile additions to the recipe: mushrooms, bacon, chicken, broccoli, sausage, or roasted red pepper. We had most of those things on hand already, so we decided to add a whole selection! The resulting pasta was probably much "busier" than the original recipe intended, but we liked it quite a lot and felt that it worked fairly well as a self-contained meal.

Hugo's Pasta Mama

Adapted from the Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. unsalted butter
• 2-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped (optional)
• 250g cremini mushrooms, sliced (optional)
• 450g Beyond Meat Italian sausage (optional)
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped (optional)
• 1-2 c. chopped frozen spinach or kale (optional)
• 6-7 large eggs
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh (flat-leaf) parsley
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano (or 1/2 tsp. dried oregano)
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 350g pasta of your chohice
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil

Directions

1. Melt butter over medium heat and put a pot of water on to boil.
2. Once the water boils, add the pasta and cook until al dente/tender-firm, then drain.
3. Meanwhile, add garlic and onion (if using).
4. Once onion has softened, add the mushrooms (if using). Cover and cook until mushroom have released their liquid.
5. Add sausage (if using) and cook until mushroom water has evaporated and sausage is cooked through.
6. Add bell pepper (if using) and cook for a minute or two.
7. Add spinach or kale (if using) and cook until greens have thawed and are heated through.
8. Whisk together the eggs, Parmesan, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper and set aside.
9. Once pasta is cooked and drained and all of the various inclusions are cooked, add the pasta to the pan.
10. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta and cook, stirring gently, until the eggs are just set.
11. Sprinkle with basil and more Parmesan and serve.

I can't believe I haven't written this recipe up yet! It's one of our favourites. The fishcakes are a little fiddly to make (only because I hate trying to grind up the fish), but the results are absolutely delicious. And once you have the fish cakes, the rest of the salad is easy-peasy. We've made this one a bunch of times and I'm sure we'll be making it again. So tasty!

Fish Cake Salad

Slightly adapted from Burma: Rivers of Flavour by Naomi Duguid

Ingredients

Dressing

• 1 tsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. Scallion Oil, made with green parts only
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 green Thai or cayenne chili, minced
• 1 tsp. Toasted Chickpea Flour
• 1 Tbsp. Fried Shallots, from scallion oil made with green parts only
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Salad

• 1 recipe Fish Cakes
• 1 c. shredded Napa cabbage¹

Directions

1. Whisk together all dressing ingredients and set aside.
2. Cut each fishcake in half and place in a large bowl.
3. Add the cabbage.
4. Whisk the dressing and pour it over the salad.
5. Toss to mix.
6. Adjust seasonings to taste with additional fish sauce, lime juice, or salt.

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Variants

FODMAP-Friendly Version

Ingredients

Dressing

• 1 tsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. Shallot Oil
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1 green Thai or cayenne chili, minced
• 1 tsp. Toasted Chickpea Flour
• 1 Tbsp. Fried Shallots
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Salad

• 1 recipe Fish Cakes
• 1 c. shredded Napa cabbage

Do not substitue "brocco-slaw" for the shredded cabbage if preparing this salad as a low-FODMAP dish. While cabbage is usually well-tolerated in servings of up to half a cup (and many people can have up to a cup at a time), broccoli stems are high FODMAP and should be avoided.

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¹ I've also had great success using coleslaw, "kale-slaw", and "brocco-slaw" mix. You can also make your own "brocco-slaw" by julienning broccoli stems and a small carrot. It's a great way to use up the stems! ^Back

The Kidlet and I wanted to try this funfetti cupcake recipe. I already have a good one, but I wanted to give this one a go and see how it compared. Overall, I think I like the America's Test Kitchen recipe better, but this one is still nice. The cupcakes rise fairly well, and they're tender. They are very sweet. So sweet that the Kidlet and I decided that we didn't want to ice them after all. That said, flavour is nice and they do work quite well as an uniced cupcake.

In future I'll probably go back to the ATK recipe for my future confetti cupcake needs, but I'm glad I gave this one a try.

Funfetti Cupcakes

slightly adapted from C&C Cakery via the Something Awful Forums

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c. sugar
• 3 large egg whites
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1/4 c. milk
• 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt
• 1/4 c. sprinkles

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a miffin tin with cupcake liners/papers.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in egg whites one at a time.
5. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.
6. In a small measuring cup, whisk together milk and yogurt.
7. Add half of the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir to combine.
8. Pour in the milk mixture and stir to combine.
9. Stir in the remaining flour mixture along with the sprinkles.
10. Spoon into cupcake liners. Do not overfill. This recipe should just make 12 cupcakes. It may look like the wells are underfulled, but they should rise fairly well during baking.
11. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~20 minutes.
12. Remove from oven and transfer to wire rack to cool.
13. Once completely cooled, ice if desired. The original recipe recommends a Swiss meringue buttercream, but I would be inclined to try a French buttercream to help use up the excess egg yolks.
14. Garnish with additional sprinkles.

In the stock recipe I wrote up yesterday, I kept referring to the braising liquid from these ribs. Given that, I figured I'd better write up this recipe next.

These ribs were really excellent. The homemade barbecue sauce really made them. I found it a bit on the tomato-y/ketchup-y side for my tastes, but that's probably because I didn't boil the braising liquid down as much as I was supposed to. You're supposed to strain it and then boil it down until you have only ~3/4 of a cup left. I didn't want to do that for reasons of both time and heat and humidity. I also didn't feel like straining the sauce. So instead, I boiled it down 'til there was maybe 2 cups left (including all the solids) and then I used a generous 3/4 c. in the sauce and the rest went into the roasting pan with the vegetables and soup bones. I'm sure if I'd concentrated the liquid as much as I was supposed to it would've balanced out the tomato flavour. In lieu of that, I think that next time I'd try adding a teaspoon or two of dark mushroom soy sauce.

Braised Barbecued Short Ribs

Slightly adapted from The Right Recipe

Ingredients

Braising

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6-8 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 bottles of beer¹
• 1 c. dry white wine
• 1 chipotle in adobo²
• 1 tsp. chicken stock powder (or amount needed to make 1 c. of stock)
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 2-2.3kg short (braising/English cut) ribs
• water³ (optional, see footnote)

Barbecuing

• braising liquid (from above)
• 1 c. ketchup
• 2 Tbsp. molasses
• 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1-2 tsp. dark soy sauce (optional)

Directions

Braising

1. Heat oil over medium heat. (Or use "sauté" setting on InstantPot.)
2. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened.
3. Add oregano and cumin and sizzle for 30-60 seconds.
4. Pour in beer and wine.
5. Add chipotle, stock powder, peppercorns, bay leaf, and ribs.
6. If necessary, add water to just cover the ribs.
7. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
8. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2-3 hours.
9. Remove ribs from braising liquid and set aside to cool.

Barbecuing

1. If desired, strain the braising liquid and remove the solids.
2. Return liquid to pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Cook, uncovered for ~60 minutes.
4. Combine 3/4 c. of the braising liquid (which may or may not be all of it) with the ketchup, molasses, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce (if using). Excess braising liquid can be reserved for another use.
5. Stir to combine and heat sauce over medium heat. Simmer, uncovered, for a few minutes to marry the flavours.
6. Meanwhile, heat up your grill. The ribs will be cooked over direct heat, so arrange your coals/burners accordingly.
7. Oil either the cooking grates or the meat or both and toss the ribs on the grill.
8. Once the ribs have some good colour on them (3-5 minutes per side), baste with sauce and cook for another minute or two on each side.
9. Serve hot with additinal sauce and roasted veggies or other sides of your choice.

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¹ The original recipe calls for 3 bottles of lager. I didn't have any lager, but I did have a bottle each of alcoholic ginger beer, some sort of raspberry beer, and white wine. I put in both of the sugary beers + some dry white wine to balance it out a bit. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for a fresh jalapeño to be minced and sautéed with the onion and garlic. I didn't have any fresh jalapeños, but I did have a tin of chipotles in adobo. I figured it would work just fine since chipotles are just smoked jalapeños anyway. There were some aditional flavours from the adobo, but I think they were all harmonious. If you don't have any chipotles on hand, feel free to use a jalapeño instead. ^Back
3 I was using up the last of my braising ribs and only had ~1.6kg left. Because the quantity of ribs was less, I found that I didn't need any water to get enough liquid to cover the ribs. If you're making this with the full amount of ribs, you may find that you need to add water to get the ribs fully submerged. ^Back

I have a bunch of other recipes to write up, but I'm doing this one right away because I took a lot of liberties with the recipe and I don't want to forget what I did. I don't normally use a recipe for stock, I pretty much just put a bunch of things in a pot, add water and heat, and wait for it to become delicious. That method has always worked pretty well for me. And it's a great way to use up odd bits of stuff and vegetable peels. I actually made an amazing stock a few months ago that was pretty much just leftover chicken bones, onion, garlic, vegetable peels, and some spices. I honestly wish I'd done a write-up for that one. It ended up being one of the best stocks I've ever made. But I should stop reminiscing about that stock and start talking about this stock. This stock is (loosely) based on a recipe out of Offal Good. As I said, I made quite a few modifications to make it fit what I had avaialbe, but it's still inspired by their recipe.

The original recipe is for veal stock. It calls for veal knuckles, onion, carrot, celery, fennel, garlic, tomato paste, bay leaves, black pepper, coriander seeds, fresh parsley, and thyme. I didn't have veal knuckles, but I did have some beef soup bones that needed using, so I used them! I didn't have any fennel either, so I just tossed in some fennel seeds instead. I did have tomato paste, but I also had some fire-roasted diced tomatoes sitting in the fridge that needed to be used, so I swapped them in. The tomato paste is more concentrated and was meant to be added to the vegetables for roasting. Hopefully the larger volume and fire-roasting helps make up for the less concentrated flavour. I also tossed in a small amount of cilantro, mostly because I had it and I figured it would complement the coriander seeds.

The other big change with this recipe is that I was making it after grilling some short ribs. The ribs were braised for a couple hours first and then grilled and basted with a barbecue sauce made from some of the braising liquid. Afterward I filled a roasting pan with soup bones and vegetables and poured the leftover braising liquid over them. I roasted everything together until the veggies were tender and delicious and the liquid had cooked down to a delicious glaze. We ate most of the roasted veggies with dinner, but the soup bones and glaze went into the pot for stock. Then, instead of roasting more veggies for the stock, I just put raw ones into the pot. Maybe the broth won't be quite as flavourful that way, but I'm hoping that the glaze and roasted bones will make up for it. It certainly smells like it's going to be a delicious stock!

Veal/Beef Stock

Adapted from Offal Good by Chris Cosentino

Ingredients

• 2kg beef or veal bones¹
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 carrot, cut into large chunks
• 2 stalks celery, cut into large chunks
• 2-6 cloves garlic²
• 2L water
• 2 c. diced fire-roasted tomatoes
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1/4 c. fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Roast your soup bones. I roasted mine on the barbecue with a whole mess of veggies, garlic, scallion oil, and some leftover braising liquid from cooking short ribs. If you're not doing any of that, then just roast them in the oven at 180°C (350°F) for ~45 minutes.
2. Dump your roasted soup bones into a pot. (I like using the InstantPot for this, but a regular pot on the stove works too.)
3. Optional: You may also roast your veggies if desired. Half an hour at 180°C (350°F) should do the trick. If you're using tomato paste, rather than diced tomatoes, toss the veggies with it before roasting. Otherwise, leave the tomatoes out until you're adding everything to the pot.
4. Add (optionally roaste) veggies to the pot with the roasted bones.
5. Add water, tomatoes (if using), bay leaf, peppercorns, coriander, fennel, parsley, cilantro (if using), thyme, and salt.
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for at least 8 hours.
7. Cool, strain, and discard solids.
8. Stock may be frozen for future use. I like to freeze mine in ice cube trays to have easy portions available as needed.

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¹ I'm not sure exactly how many soup bones I had, but I think it was probably ~2kg give or take. ^Back
2 I only added two cloves of garlic to the stock because I'd already added six cloves to the braising liquid for the ribs and a further nine to the roasting pan when cooking the veggies. Now, some of that garlic ended up in the barbecue sauce and some ended up getting eaten with dinner, but there was still a lot of garlic-y goodness in the soup bones and the glaze that went into the pot with them, so I felt pretty comfortable going light on the garlic in the pot. If you're making this fresh, without the benefit of braising liquid/glaze/etc., then I'd recommend tossing at least five or six cloves of garlic in the pot. ^Back