Chunky Meaty Fantastically Easy Pasta Sauce

Posted by CK in beef, carrot, celery, mushroom, pasta, peppers, recipe, sauce

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Everyone has their personal recipe for a deliciously meaty pasta sauce. When I was still living with the 'rents, I used to LOVE how my mom always made her sauce so chunky! Once I got my own place, I wanted to get the taste of this delicious and easy meal but always failed at making it as good as my mom's. In search of a great recipe, A's mom gave me her family recipe and with a little personal touches, this recipe turned out to be so delicious, I can almost say that it's better than my mom's!! (sorry mom). It's perfect to freeze up, and it's got all kinds of good vegetables in there!

Once you're done with this recipe, you'll want to eat it up with a spoon, forget about the pasta and eat more for lunch the next day. Feed it to your boyfriend before they go out and play sports and they will be on adrenaline! Here's what you need to do to get your (and your man's) taste buds going:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 table spoon of olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 lb ground beef (you can substitute this with turkey or half turkey and half beef)
• 1 yellow or orange pepper (or both, or a different colour. Whichever one you prefer really)
• mushroom (as many as you want, I usually take about half of those white mushroom boxes)
• 1 large celeri stem
• 1 large carrot
• 1 medium can of Aylmer Tomato Soup (sometimes I use a can of diced tomatoes, but the soup tastes better)
• 1 small can of tomato paste (preferrably plain - without any added spices)
• 3/4 table spoon of oregano
• 3/4 table spoon of thyme
• salt and pepper to taste

Putting the deliciousness together:

1. Chop your onions is small pieces and caramelize them in the olive oil in a large pot on medium-high heat. Add your crushed garlic into the pan and stir.
2. Add your meat to the onion mix and stir to make sure that all the meat cooks well.
3. Cut up all your vegetables and add them to the meat/onion mixture. Stir for another 2-3 minutes. *Note: it's easier if your vegetables are prepped beforehand, but I often simply chop them while the meat is cooking.
4. Add your tomato paste and tomato soup. Stir well for the sauce to cover the entire mixture.
5. Add your oregano, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir very well.
6. Cover and let simmer for at least 2 hours (longer if you have time). Stir once in a while.

That's it! :) The long part is the simmering, but it's sooo worth it! The sauce comes out chunky and meaty. If you like it more liquidy, you can add some water. Also (although I haven't tried it yet), perhaps some tempeh or tofu would be a good substitute for the beef for vegetarians out there.

Enjoy and feel free to play around with this recipe!! Let me know how it turns out! :D

-CK

Spinach Pies

Posted by CK in eggs, healthy, lebanese, mushroom, recipe, spinach, vegetarian

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Growing up in a Lebanese family, there's always ALOT of food going around and alot of recipes passed on from generation to generation. One of my favorite things growing up in this environment were the small appetizers (that us kids ultimately ate as meals because they are so filling!). The spinach pies were particular because they never tasted the same from one person to another, although my aunts all used the same recipe.

In light of this, I've decided to try my own version of the spinach pies. I asked one of my aunts for her dough recipe (because she ultimately makes the best dough) and I made changes to a spinach filling recipe I found online. Take note that this recipe takes a while the first time (it took me about 2.5 hours all in all, including the time for the dough to rise - about 1.5 hours).

Let's start!

Make the dough:
- 1 1/4 cups of warm water (the recipe says about 43 degrees C, I gauged it according to how long I could keep my finger in the water - about 10 seconds).
- 1 tablespoon of yeast (not having any yeast, I used 1/2 baking soda and 1/2 lemon juice)
- 3 1/4 cups of all purpose flour (I used half and half flour)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- a pinch of sugar

1. Pour 1/4 of the water in a bowl. add the yeast (or mix of baking soda and lemon juice) and let it rest for 2 minutes. Add the sugar, cover the bowl and let it rest for 5 to 6 minutes in a warm area.
2. Mix the flour and the salt in a large bowl. dig a hole and add the yeast mixture. Add the rest of the water and the oil and mix with your hands.
3. Once your ingredients are well mixed, make a big ball with the dough and transfer it on a floured surface. Knead for about 10 minutes, until the dough becomes elastic and smooth.
4. Put the ball of dough in an oiled bowl (make sure the whole ball is covered in oil) and cover. Let it rise in a warm location for about 2 hours (I left it for 1.5 hours).

Spinach stuffing:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- about 300g of frozen spinach
- 1 scallion
- half a cup of brick cheese (or whatever cheese you feel might be appropriate for your recipe)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
- mushrooms (I cut up about 3 large ones in tiny pieces, but you can add as many as you want)

1. Defrost your spinach in the microwave for about 6 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat the olive in a saute pan and cook the onions over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Add the mushrooms and cook for 1 more minute. Meanwhile, squeeze most of the water out of the spinach and place in a bowl. Add the onion/mushroom mixture, scallion, cheese, eggs, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Putting it all together:

1. Once you feel like your dough has risen enough (after about 1.5 hours), take it out and make small balls with them. I split my dough in 12 pieces (yes, it did make for large pieces but it was quite filling).
2. Take each piece and roll them out into approximately 12cm diameter circles.
3. Take each of those circles and place them in a muffin pan to create a small bowl. put the spinach stuffing inside and fold the sides to close the pie and create a star (you can make these in any shape you want, the common shape is a triangle)
4. Put in the oven for about half an hour, until the dough becomes a little golden. You don't want to leave it in for too long or else the dough will be too hard.

You can also make these on a cookie pan and give them whatever shape you want. I don't have a cookie pan so I had to improvise with what I had. They turned out to be amazing and they are nutricious and delicious for afternoon snacks! :)

Enjoy!

-CK