Skip to main content

A Three Dish Dinner that Shrank!

Every now and then I feel a need to make fuss of a meal and go for a three dish dinner thing. Today was one of those days :) The whole meal was prepared in Italian style, however after the main we were so full that  dessert comprised only of Italian espresso, still delicious though!
I got the idea for the starter from one of the Italian places we frequent for lunches and dinners - bread balls (made of pizza dough) served with pesto genovese (basil based pesto), pesto rosso (pesto with sun dried tomatoes), and salted butter.

For the starter you need:
about half a cup of flour
a pinch of yeast
salt
lukewarm water or milk
a splash of olive oil


Mix all ingredients and knead the dough well until it's soft and playable. Sprinkle olive oil onto it place it in a bowl, and leave in a warm place to grow for about half an hour. Then form small balls and place them on a baking tray, leave some space between them as they'll grow during baking. Preheat the oven to about 180C and place the balls inside. They don't need a lot of time in - as soon as they are golden -brown on top they're ready to be served. Needless to say, they're best served hot.
As I mentioned, they're served with green and red pesto, and salted butter; though, olive oil or balsamic vinegar, or a mixture of both works well with them too.

For main dish we had spaghetti a'la carbonara - one of the meals that stunned me how easy it is to prepare. You do need best quality, proper ingredients, but apart from being careful in order not to turn it into scrambled eggs, the preparation really is a walk in the park!

You need:
Spaghetti pasta
2 eggs
2 yokes
65 gram grated parmesan  (plus some extra for serving)
200 gram pancetta ham (can be replaced with bacon, if necessary)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
1-2 tablespoons of cream
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. Chop garlic cloves finely, and dice pancetta. Heat the oil and butter, fry the garlic and pancetta until garlic is golden. Whip the eggs and yokes, season to taste, and stir in cream (I know the Italians would shun me for thins, but do prefer it a tad creamy!) and parmesan. When pasta is cooked, drain it, add to the frying pan and toss it well. Reduce the heat to minimum and pour in the egg mixture. Stir it all well and put on the plates. Sprinkle parmesan on top and serve.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Gingerbread Layer Cake

This Christmas I decided to "pimp up" my gingerbread a bit, after a last minute inspiration. I saw a photo of this cake, literally a day before making the cake and decided it's an absolute must this Christmas. I really like how the cake combines gingerbread and gateau type cake features, it's both presentable and delicious. The cake (4 layers): 150 g honey (liquid) 200 g butter or margarine 500 g plain flour 3 yolks 4 tbsp milk 1 tbs purified soda 100 g sugar 1 tbsp ground ginger 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1 tsp ground cardamon 1tsp ground cloves a pinch of ground black pepper Combine the ingredients in a large bowl - as it's really hard to do, you may be best off using dough whisks on a food mixer. Cover the bowl with cling film and put into the fridge for 24 hours. After that time, divide the dough into 4 parts, place on a baking paper-lined baking tray and bake in 180C for about 15 minutes. Leave to cool.   The cream: ...

Home made pasta

I got a pasta maker for my birthday and we seem to be eating nothing but pasta since! Though the every first attempt was far from successful, I quickly sussed it out. The fact that I naturally tend to start with the most complex things, didn't help here, either. Instead of taking baby steps and making simple spaghetti or tagliatelle first, I had a go at making ravioli :-) Well, I ate my humble pie and next time I made simple soup pasta. Successfully! :-) It reminded my of the childhood days when my gran would make a delicious soup with home-made pasta when I stayed with her. Of course, I keep hearing questions, like: why bother making something you can buy in every single shop? Well, I bother as the home-made pasta is incomparably better! :-P To make basic pasta dough you need: 1 cup of flour 1 egg a pinch of salt a dash of olive oil water if the dough is to dry more flour - if the dough is to sticky, also to sprinkle on the worktop The proportions above are enough fo...

Pork with Gorgonzola

I came across this meal in one of my mags, and it looked cool enough to give it a go. Worked so well that it has become one of our staple dishes since. Though the original recipe had Gorgonzola cheese in it, we've tried it with a variety of other blue cheeses and it worked equally well. Also, the first time I made it I used rose, instead of white wine, and must say that it probably worked even better. You need: about 0.5 of boneless pork chops 3 cloves of garlic salt pepper some dry basil and thyme a handful of fresh parsley leaves 3 tbsp of oil 5-6 slices of Gorgonzola 200 ml of wine (white or rose) Slice the meat and season it, sprinkle the herbs on top. Pre-heat the oil on  a frying pan, seal the chops on both sides (fry about 1 minute on each side, or until it turns golden brown), then move into a bake dish. Peel and finely chop garlic and parsley, place them on frying pan and fry them on a small heat in the remainder of the oil from dealing the meat. Pour in ...