Just Sara » cooking

Yellow rice

Sara — Sun, 02 May 2010 20:37:11 +0000

Risotto allo zafferano con piselli

I love this recipe, I could live on that… and alas, too many other recipes!
Here we go:

Ingredients:
- 1/2 white onion, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- salt, black pepper
- saffron powder
- 1 cup of rice
- 1/4 glass of white wine
- 1/2 can of sweet peas
- fresh parsley
- pecorino romano or parmigiano cheese

In a pan, gently brown the onion with the olive oil.
Add the rice (I used arborio rice today), stir and then add the white wine. Let evaporate, stirring, then add about 0.6 grams of saffron, just the tip of a teaspoon. Stir constantly and cook at medium heat. Keep adding hot/warm water now and then, so it doesn’t stick to the pan. Add salt to taste.
When the rice is 2/3 cooked, add the sweet peas. Keep stirring and add water if needed.
When the rice is almost done, add some parsley and stir a little until the rice is done.
Serve with grounded black pepper and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

NB: this time I had Pecorino Romano cheese, which is a lot more ‘salty’ than Parmigiano, then I added a little less salt during the cooking.

Refurbished leftovers

Sara — Sat, 01 May 2010 12:28:38 +0000

Yesterday I cooked some polenta. I had one of those sachets with polenta and dried mushrooms, you can easily cook in 15 minutes or so. Just boil 2 lt or water, add the polenta mix and stir for 10-12 minutes.
Of course, the portions were too many, so I had put the leftover (about 4 portions!) in the refrigerator.

Now… Cold polenta isn’t creamy anymore, so you can either slice it and fry it: not too healthy but very very good! or you can slice it and re-heat it with some vegetables. I had sweet peas, so that’s the result:

Polenta with porcini and sweet peas

Seasonal Ingredient Map

Sara — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:08:41 +0000

Here’s the link… Peak-Season Map at Epicurious.com.
We should have one map like this one for every country

Some dinner party menu ideas

Sara — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:45:09 +0000

via Times Online. This article could give nice ideas for a whole dinner party menu using Fairtrade products.

The geekiest cookies ever

Sara — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:31:02 +0000

Haha… I want to try some of these. The shape can be geeky, but the taste could be good

via HuffingtonPost.com.

Spaghetti con Zucchine e Gamberetti

Sara — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:01:38 +0000

SPAGHETTI ZUCCHINE E GAMBERETTI “Spaghetti with zucchini and prawns”
(approx. 6 servings)

In a bowl:
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 white onion (diced)
- 3 medium sized zucchini (diced)
- 1 teaspoon of ground salt

Cook at medium heat until soft, then smash everything (like smashed potatoes) until a little creamy.

At medium heat, add:
- some cream (you can add as much as you want, or even don’t add it…)
- 2 or 3 medium sized zucchini (diced)
- 2 cups of cooked prawns
- a bunch of fresh parsley, chopped a little bit, not too much
- pepper

Cook at medium heat for approx. 10 minutes, till the zucchini are cooked.
In the meantime, cook the spaghetti in boiling, salted water.
Then add the sauce and freshly grounded pepper.

Pasta alla Pizzaiola

Sara — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:58:00 +0000

PASTA ALLA PIZZAIOLA “Pasta a la pizzaiolo”
(approx. 8 servings)

In a sauce pan:
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil

Warm a little bit, then add:
- 4 cans of “diced tomatoes in tomato juice”
- 1 teaspoon of ground salt
- 1 1/2 cup of capers
- 1 1/2 cup of black olives (diced)

Cook at medium heat until a little more than half the liquid is gone.

In the meantime, boil water… add 2 teaspoons of ground salt and add pasta (2 bags of short pasta, approx. 1 kg)
Cook the pasta 1 minute less the recommended cooking time (it has to be very firm). When the pasta is ready, strain it and put it in a big baking pan. Add the sauce, some oregano and mix.

Pre-heat the oven (medium heat). Put slices of mozzarella all over the pasta and bake it for a few minutes, just the time to have the mozzarella melt. Serve hot