Summer in Italy

As in most of Europe, Summer came late even to Italy. BUT - it's here now, and with it lots of fresh and delicious fruit. Throughout the year I try to buy fruit according to season and which grows - if possible - in the same country. I'd never buy strawberries in wintertime or from Spain. I have to admit though, that I do buy them if they come from Sicily, even though that's almost 1.000km as well. So on my last trip to the local fruit- and veggie-store I bought watermelon, nectarines, cantaloupe and Nespole. I don't think there's a name for them in English, I don't even think you can get them out of Italy (at least, I've never seen them anywhere). They're as big as apricots and they taste like something between a strawberry and a lemon. Yummy Yummy!!!

There's nothing like a good Steak

We are no vegetarians, not even close. We like a good steak once or twice in a while. Preferably with fries or - like today - with "patate al forno". While "Fiorentina" is one of the best meats to have, they're also incredibly expensive and almost-2-inch-thick-cut: so one steak weighs at least a good pound. Thus, we usually go for steaks from happy Danish cows, cut thick (2cm), cooked raw to medium. Not too small, as you can see from the picture.



Cooking the steak: While the Barbecue or open-fire-grill is undeniably the best way to cook a nice steak, most people living in Rome do not have a garden or balcony (and even if you have a balcony, I wouldn't recommend striking up a nice cosy fire). So, what's next? I prefer a ridged pan, well preheated, no oil or fat used for frying (there usually is still enough fat at the meat), lots of coarse salt and - that's it. You might want to rub the pan with a garlic clove or add other spices. I sometimes add Balsamico-Cream on the cooked side of the steak and flip it over for another 10 seconds.



The oven-potatoes: Potatoes, peeled and cut in cubes, rosemary, salt, garlic-cloves, olive-oil. Other spices if you wish so. Throw into oven and cook until done or browned. I still haven't found the secret regarding the right choice of potatoes. Even when I buy the potatoe "especially suitable for oven-potatoes" they still do not turn out excellent. Oh well, they tasted quite good. Experiment!








Sidedish: Just to regain some dignity and some sense of being healthy, there's a nice little side-salad.

Baby: Pasta and Broccoli in Cheesesauce

Since my little one has decided that she's big now, and since I'm fed up with cooking special baby-pap every day and feeding it to the dog because "la signorina" does not like it, I started cooking for her the grown-up way. This way, we both can eat it and I do not have to cook several meals. All I have to do is add salt to my plate afterwards, as i cook without salt. Today we were to use up the broccoli:

broccoli
cream-cheese of any kind you like (we used stracchino), milk
pasta


Cook pasta, at the same time cook broccoli until soft (I did it in water, which pretty much kills all the vitamins, so steaming might be a better idea). Melt cheese in pan, add milk until you have a creamy sauce. Add broccoli and pour over pasta.










Broccoli is good for you!

Falafel

I love a good falafel and on several occasions I've (successfully and less successfully) made the chick-pea-dumplings myself. This time I only had time for the ready-to-go ones (mix package with water, form dumplings and fry in oil, and to top it up I burned them. The sandwich was quite good though.

Storebought falafelbread, spread with yoghurt and the dumplings, add salad and spices as you like, roll up, enjoy.

Meat-filled baked pasta

This afternoon, while rooting through my fridge, I found a package of ground beef (or what do you call it? minced meat? Hamburger?). Tired of the usual Spaghetti Bolognese, I decided to cook stuffed pasta - since it goes in the oven it's quick and easy. Here we go:

Filling:
- 270 gr ground beef
- leftover slice of bacon
- leftover pancetta
- 1 egg
- 5-6 cherry tomatoes
- finely chopped garlic + whatever spices you like. I used salt, pepper and parsley

Pasta:

large-holed pasta, e.g. cannelloni or, as was my case, paccheri. The packages are half a kg, but I used approx. 300 gr.

Sauce:

- 1 bottle of "pomodoro passato" (pureed tomatoes)

- optional: 1 small package of cream (ca. 200ml)

- optional: spices. I used a bit of pepper and a dash of peperoncino

Preheat oven. Throw ingredients for filling in bowl, blend well. I used an electric blender, so I got a really dense dough-like mixture. Stuff pasta with the filling and place in oven pan.

Empty bottle of tomatoes into pot, add cream and spices. I like to add cream, because the sauce becomes creamier and milder. Bring to a boil. Pour over pasta. As you can see in the picture, I topped it with parmesan cheese, but since the pasta is uncooked and has to stay at least 20min. ion the oven, I strongly advise to add the cheese later on, maybe a few minutes before taking out the pan.

Here's the result on a plate - sorry for the low quality of decoration. Obviously my real plate was a bit fuller. I like to eat!

Introducing the pink kitchen

The name of my blog

The pink kitchen: Actually, it's not pink. I mean, the kitchen isn't. The tiles are a lovely marbled color of grey, pink and whitish, the same goes for the floor, and the walls are painted bright pink for the lower half and white for the upper half. I'll add pics tomorrow, right now it's already dark outside.

The disasters: Actually, my cooking isn't so bad. There are some minor disasters now and then, but most of what goes on in here is edible and quite tasty. Since I like cooking and baking, I thought I'd share it with you. Please do not expect to find very detailed information on grams / ml - especially when it comes to pasta-sauce I go by intuition, experience and what's left in the fridge and pantry.

Enjoy!