Spaghetti with meatless meatsauce

Brrr. We have been hit by a tremendous cold front, which has brought tons of snow (or at least, tons by lake Lugano standards) and very cold temperatures, temepratures I had never seen around here. We are talking teens. We are talking "what the hell am I going to wear to work?" kind of temperatures.

I have pretty much locked myself in the house every single night. Going out for drinks or dinner? No thanks. All I wanted to do was sit by the fire or bake stuff in the oven to warm up the house.

The upside of it is that I've spent a lot of time cooking. The downside is that I haven't spent a lot of time writing about it because the cold made me lazier than usual. What can I say? That's the way it is some days.

Now the situation has improved a little, although we look like we are still very far from seeing the beginning of spring. Which is sad, because I have just realized that I'm so freaking done with winter. It's funny because I actually like the winter a lot and love the snow and skiing and all. But I reach a point, and this year that point was reached today, where I just cannot stand it anymore and I desperately want to wear spring clothes, eat asparagus and zucchini and sit outdoors with the sun warm on my face. So I keep looking at the forecast and end up being annoyed when I see no signs of spring in the near future.

And while I wait for spring to come I keep munching on winter vegetables that by now have really grown old, to say the least. I can barely stand them anymore. So I try to stick them in sauces and stews like this one, my first experiment at making "meatsauce" with seitan. I'm not a vegetarian and I will never be one, but I was intrigued by the description my friend gave me of seitan and wanted to try it. Well, it makes a really good "meatsauce", believe me.

SPAGHETTI WITH MEATLESS MEATSAUCE

For 2

1/2 pound spaghetti

1 seitan patty, processed until ground

2 carrots, minced

1 onion, minced

2 celery stalks, minced

1 cup tomato puree

1 cup water

1 vegetable borth cube

1 glass red wine

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper

Evoo

Warm olive oil in a dutch oven, add onion, carrot and celery and sautee for a few minutes, until soft. Add ground seitan, season with salt and pepper, sautee for a minute or two, then add red wine. Let cook until it's almost evaporated, add tomato sauce, water, broth cube and bay leaves and lower heat. Simmer on low for at least an hour.

Serve with spaghetti.

Healthy habits: Eat more veggies! Vegetable frittata

Since apparently I didn't have enough stuff to do with my other challenge, the Indie travel challenge, I decided to embark in a healthy eating challenge as well. "Cooking Light's 12 healthy habits" seemed like a good option, since it isn't too demanding but at the same time it does push you toward a better way of eating and living.

January's challenge (I know, I'm a bit late, aren't I?) is to eat more vegetables, specifically to "Add 3 more servings of fruits and vegetables to your diet each day". Since I'm intolerant to most raw fruit and I don't really care for cooked fruit, I have decided to add vegetables to my daily diet and call it a day. It isn't too much of a challenge for me, as I really like veggies anyways, but I have decided to concentrate on some good vegeterian recipes that I can take to the office with me and eat for lunch.

Today I brought a nice frittata packed with tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini and fresh herbs. Easy to make, delicious to eat and, most of all, nice and light, so I didn't feel that after-lunch fatigue overcoming me.

VEGETABLE FRITTATA:

2 eggs
1 teaspoon butter
1 small zucchini, cubed
A few cherry tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper

Cook vegetables in a small pan with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a bowl beat eggs, add salt, pepper and thyme. Add vegetables.

Heat butter in a small skillet, pour egg mixture into it and cook, about three minutes per side, or until desired degree of doneness.

Baked eggs... and a happy new year to everyone!

Happy 2012 everyone! I hope you had a great New Year's Eve and all that. As for me, I was fighting a cold, so it wasn't spectacular, but other than that I can't complain. 2011 was a good year for me. Lots of positive changes came along, and although it wasn't always easy to stay optimisitc and smile, it wasn't too hard either. I've found a job a like and friends I love, traveled to Sweden, Greece, Czech Republic and Germany... so, seriously, what's not to love?

And here I am again, super excited because the day after tomorrow I leave for a nine day vacation in Paris and London. How cool is that? I can't wait.

Of course I hope I'll find plenty of wi-fi connections so I can keep you posted while I'm visiting the cities and eating all that delicious food... but in the mean time, I want to leave you with a recipe I made on New Year's, a simple, no fuss dish that tastes great and is very comforting: baked eggs.

BAKED EGGS

(Adapted from Cooking Light)

Cooking spray

4 (1-ounce) slices French-style country bread, cut into (1/2-inch) cubes

1 thinly sliced onion

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper, divided

2 tablespoons water

6 large eggs

1/4 cup milk

Dill

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Lightly coat 6 (8-ounce) ramekins lightly with cooking spray. Spread bread cubes in an even layer on a baking sheet, and lightly coat with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until bread is crisp and lightly browned, stirring after 5 minutes.

Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper to pan; cook 10 minutes or until onion is tender. Increase heat to medium-high. Stir in 2 tablespoons water, and cook 5 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Evenly divide onion among prepared ramekins; top with croutons. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper evenly over croutons.

Carefully break 1 egg into each ramekin on top of croutons; drizzle 2 teaspoons milkover each egg. Arrange ramekins in a roasting pan lined with a dish towel (to anchor them in the pan). Pour boiling water halfway up the sides of the ramekins to make a water bath. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until the whites are almost set. They should be slightly underdone as they will continue cooking in the hot dishes when you take them from the oven. Garnish with dill sprigs, if desired.

Potato and mushroom cups

I'm soooo tired these days. Last night I had the closing shift at the newspaper and afterwards, I stayed up drinking beer and watching The Mentalist until 3 am. Not smart, I know, but I have such a hard time unwinding, especially after a night like last night, when people seem to drive you crazy on purpose. When the alarm went off this morning at 9, I was tired, but thought I felt pretty good for how little I had slept. It's now 11:24 and I just hit a major wall. I could curl under my desk and go to sleep. Instead I have an interview to transcribe, pages to take care of and the thought that tonight it's Christmas tree/decorations time!

Of course I could sleep during the weekend... not this one though. Friday morning I'm leaving for Zurich, so I guess I won't be sleeping too much. Oh well. Thank God the weeened after that is a four day weekend, so I guess I'll have plenty of time to nap then! 

As for my "detox diet" (read: I have to shed at least 4 pounds because I hate the way my jeans fit me right now) it's going well. I bought a really cool cookbook called "Ammazzacicca" which literally means "fat killer". Gotta love that. There's all kinds of good recipes, all under 500 calories, so I'm enjoying food, yet losing some weight. So far just .5 kilos (1 pound), but hey, I've only started on Monday. Here's a good little recipe for you: simple, yet very satisfying.

POTATO AND MUSHROOM CUPS

1/2 pound potatoes cubed
2 shallots
A few sprigs of rosemary and sage
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 pound mixed fresh mushrooms, sliced
Salt and pepper

Sautèe shallots in olive oil, remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the same pan add potatoes and minced herbs, season with salt and pepper, cover and cook for about 7 minutes. Remove lid and cook for another 7 minutes. Add shallots.

Place potato mixture in a muffin pan to give it a cup shape.

Sautèe mushrooms and garlic in the same pan for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve potato cups with mushrooms on top.

Roasted potatoes with thyme and shallots

Thanksgiving weekend is over, at least for me. I work on most Sundays, so here I am, sitting at the office, already looking forward to next weekend. Friday and Saturday I'll be in Zurich, Switzerland, to check out some art museums, eat fondue and, hopefully, bump into some Christmas markets. I was also kind of hoping for snow, but I just checked the forecast and, apparently, we are going to get fog on Friday and rain on Saturday - a wonderful combo to take pictures...

Oh well, maybe they are wrong. We'll see, I guess.

Other than that, I'm trying to eat light this week, after gorging on way too much food over the holiday weekend. That doesn't mean I won't be posting recipes, luckily I'm always behind when it comes to posting, so I have tons of recipes from the past 15 days still unpublished. See? Procrastination can be a good thing.

So here's the first one: these are the potatoes I served on Thursday night. I was tired of serving rosemary potatoes, so I decided to dress them up a bit with thyme and shallots. It was a very good idea, believe me.

ROASTED POTATOES WITH THYME AND SHALLOTS

Fingerling potatoes, peeled
Salt and pepper
A few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 shallot, minced
1 cup vegetable broth

Place potatos in a baking dish, season with salt and pepper, add shallots and thyme and pour 1/2 cup of broth in the dish, so they won't stick to it.

Cook in a preheated oven at 375° for about 30 minutes, adding more broth as it evaporates.

Skillet cornbread

Here I am, on Thanksgiving Eve (does that even exist?), trying to make stuff ahead so I don't lose my mind tomorrow like I did in 2008, break my knee like I did in 2009 or end up with food even in my hair like I did in 2010. You live, you learn, they say. We'll see. 

As of now, it's 11 am on Wednesday and I've already baked cornbread for my gluten-free stuffing. That's all folks. It's not like I'm crazy ahead, but in the next few hours I'm going to crank out some serious food... at least the appetizers, the stuffing and the cranberry sauce.

I'll keep you all posted. Hope you are having a great almost-holiday weekend =)

A funny note: buttermilk doesn't exist in Switzerland. Or if it does they hide it so well I couldn't find. So my day started by having to make buttermilk, which is not complicated, you just mix a scant cup of milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice... but it kind of makes you think about the challenges ahead.

SKILLET CORNBREAD

• 3 teaspoons vegetable oil 
• 2 cups buttermilk 
• 1 large egg 
• 1 3/4 cups yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 
  

• Coat bottom and sides of a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with bacon drippings; heat in a 450° oven for 10 minutes.
• Whisk together buttermilk and egg. Add cornmeal, stirring well.
• Stir in baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour batter into hot skillet.
• Bake at 450° for 15 minutes.

Goat cheese appetizer balls

It seems like yesterday that I was thinking about Thanksgiving being two months away. And now it's here. Only two days away. Of course I havn't even started cooking or prepearing for it, mostly because this working full time thing has kind of gotten in the way ;-) Since Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Europe I had to take the day off and, while I was at it, I also took tomorrow off, so I have two days to prepare the feast! I have to say that I'm super excited about cooking. I hadn't really noticed it, but since I've started working I have been cooking less than I used to and I really, really miss it.

It sounds a little crazy, but it's true.

So tonight I'm baking cornbread that I will use for the stuffing, so that my celiac friend can eat it too. Tomorrow I'll make what can be made ahead: my famous homemade patê, a pumpkin spread for my vegetarian friend and, most likely, the pumpkin cheesecake I intend to serve as dessert. Thanks to Debbie at Feast for the eyes I will also make the gravy ahead. That way on Thursday I only have to make the turkey and the side dishes. Sounds like a good plan, right? We'll see if I actually follow it through. I'm famous for not following through, so chaos and disorder are always around the corner...

Anyhow... if you are looking for an easy to make and cool to look at appetizer, here's a recipe for you!

GOAT CHEESE APPETIZER BALLS

2 goat cheese packages

2 tablespoons ground almonds

EVOO, 1 tablespoon

2 teaspoons honey

Salt and pepper

Mix cheese, oil, honey in a bowl, season with salt and pepper. Place in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

Using your hands make balls out of cheese mixture. Dredge them into ground almonds.

Serve with a honey drizzle over it.

Grilled vegetables mock lasagna

 

One thing I miss about summer the most once fall sets in is eating flavorful fresh vegetables. Fall veggies are fine, but they are definitely not the same, not just because of their color, but also because of their flavor. Let's face it: parsnips are ok, but they are no fresh baby zucchini.

Still, I have promised myself that I wouldn't buy out of season vegetables that come form the other side of the world this year, that I would make more sustainable choices in the months ahead. And, to be honest, summer veggies don't taste that good when you eat them in the fall, they just aren't the same.

Unless you grill them, of course.

See where I'm going here?

I bought a last batch of summer veggies -zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplant- grilled them and used them to make this mock lasagna. Again, I call it "mock" because it's not made with lasagna noodles, but with pane carasau, a Sardinian flatbread.

 

This isn't really a recipe. I just grilled the vegetables, chopped them and alternated layers of flat bread, layers of veggies and sprinkled them with shredded mozzarella. Then I baked it at 350°F for ten minutes and... voilà. Dinner is served!

 That's all floks. I won't be around for a few days, I'm going to Prague tomorrow... so have a great weekend everyone, and see you on Monday!

Acquacotta... much more than just "cooked water"

Acquacotta in Italian means, literally, cooked water, but as you can tell by the picture, there's much more to this Tuscan soup than just cooked water. There's a poached egg, there's a rich mushroom and tomato broth and, underneath it all there's a thick slice of bread sprinkled with Pecorino cheese. It's a very comforting dish, easy to make and, above all, it's very cheap. Mushrooms are plentiful in this season, but I had so many bags of dried porcini (don't ask, I'm not sure why) in the pantry I used those, and it turned out great.

ACQUACOTTA

Serves 4

2 large onions, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

Extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds mushrooms, sliced

5 tomatoes, cubed

5 cups tasty stock

Grated Romano cheese

4 eggs

4 large slices country bread

Salt and pepper

Dried marjoram

Heat a bit of EVOO in a large dutch oven, add onions and sautee on medium heat for a ten minutes, stirring so it doesn't burn. Add garlic and mushrooms, sautee for three minutes. Add tomatoes, season with salt, pepper and marjoram and cook for about ten minutes. Add broth, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

In the mean time, toast bread and place each slice on the bottom of a large bowl. Sprinkle with cheese. Pour very hot soup in each bowl. Crack an egg in each one. The broth will cook the egg. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Vegetarian pad thai

I've recently became a tofu eating freak. Don't get me wrong, thre's nothing wrong with eating tofu, or with being a freak for that matter. The wierd thing about my tofu eating habit is that I have loathed tofu for so long, I was actually famous for campaining against "that cardboard-like crap". I would tell to everyone that listened to me that never would I dream of ruining a perfectly good dish by putting tofu in it. And so on.

The problem, if you are wondering what my problem was, is that the only way I had ever had tofu was in miso soup and, let's be honest, when you eat it like that it doen't taste like much. And I find that the broth makes it kind of slimey too, which is not my favorite consistency in the world.

I had to go to a Japanese restaurant in Milano to change my mind. There, because of a mistake, they brought me a noodle dish with tofu instead of chicken. What a revelation. Because it was sauteed in spices and condiments, it was actually yummy. There and then I decided that tofu would become part of my diet. I bought it shortly afterward and tried my first tofu recipe at home, adapting a Cooking Light pad thai recipe. Success!

VEGETARIAN PAD THAI

Sauce:

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons apple vinegar

1 to 2 tablespoons hot sauce

1 tablespoon honey

Noodles:

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 cups thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps (about 5 ounces)

1 cup matchstick cut zucchini 

1 garlic clove, minced

8 ounces extra-firm tofu, drained and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 cup light coconut milk  

1 cup (1-inch) sliced green onion tops

1 cup chopped fresh basil

1/3 cup dry-roasted peanuts

8 ounces uncooked wide rice stick noodles (Banh Pho), cooked and drained

5 lime wedges

To prepare sauce, combine first 4 ingredients, stirring with a whisk.

To prepare noodles, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, zucchini, and garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Add sauce and tofu; cook 1 minute. Stir in coconut milk; cook 2 minutes. Stir in green onions and next 3 ingredients (lettuce through noodles); cook 1 minute.

Serve with lime wedges.

Corn fritters with fresh tomato sauce

Another great summer recipe. This year I'm definitely trying to hold on to summer more than last year, although I have to say that it feels pretty damn great to sleep under the covers with the windows open. Last night I enjoyed a glorious rainstorm, one that made the temperature dip from Saturday's 81 degrees to a high of a mere 68F and a low of 52F. I know it's not freezing by any means, but it was quite a shock. The ten day forecast looks good, though. Today is still a little chilly, but from tomorrow on we are going back into the low 80s, hopefully until the 29th, when I'm hosting my birthday party at an outdoors venue.

But enough about the weather. Let's talk about food, shall we?

I had toyed with the idea of making corn fritters for a while, but for some reason I never got around to actually make them. Something would always come up and I'd cook something else, postponing the fritters indfinitely. I mean, between cookbooks, cooking magazines and blogs, how on earth is one supposed to try all the delicious recipes one finds? Seriously, how do you guys deal with this recipe overload?

Anyway, I finally made the fritters... and now I wish I had made them earlier on because they are de-li-cious! Also, they are very easy and quick to make, so I definitely suggest you try them as well.

CORN FRITTERS WITH FRESH TOMATO SAUCE

1 large can of corn (or you can use fresh, if you have it)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 red chili pepper, minced
2 scallions, finely chopped
A bunch of basil, chopped
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons of water
Salt and pepper

2 tomatoes
1 scallion
Salt and pepper
Fresh basil, torn into pieces

To make sauce, cube tomatoes, slice scallion, mix together with fresh basil and season with salt and pepper.

To make fritters, place corn in a large bowl. Add garlic, basil, scallions, chili pepper, soy sauce, flour, eggs and water. Mix well.

Heat some oil in a large skillet. Spoon batter into skillet, one tablespoon at the time, then, using a wooden spoon flatten the batter and make the fritter as round as possible. Cook for two minutes, then carefully flip and cook on the other side for two minutes. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve with tomato sauce.

Oven-fried zucchini chips with basil dipping sauce

The end of summer is near. Yesterday the weather was hot and humid, the kind of day that makes you run to the nearest gelateria for a good ice cream cone or to the bar for an ice cold beer. Today there's a high of 69 and the rain is falling heavy upon Lake Lugano, making it look like the midst of November.

Seriously, it's quite a shock. Yesterday flip flops and a sun dress. Today leggings and boots. As the old people would say, where the hell have the half seasons gone?

Nobody knows.

Still, yesterday I went grocery shopping and, since the weather was still nice out, I bought a bunch of summery ingredients, mostly fresh produce and such. By the time I got home, the clouds where rolling in, the wind had picked up and the lake was white capping. But I had no choice. It was too late to make stew or a roast. So I made this recipe that I found a while ago on Reeni's blog, which is wonderful and you should visit if you have never done so.

I tweaked the recipe a little bit because I didn't have the exact ingredients. It turned out great. As soon as the chips where out of the oven they were all gone. 

OVEN-FRIED ZUCCHINI CHIPS WITH BASIL DIPPING SAUCE

1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup vegetable broth
2 small zucchini cut in 1/4-inch-thick slices
Cooking spray or vegetable/olive oil

Preheat oven to 425° F. Grease a large oven-proof wire rack set on a baking sheet.

Whisk together bread crumbs, Parmesan, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Place broth in a separate shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in broth then in breadcrumb mixture patting the crumbs on. Place slices on wire rack. Repeat until all are coated.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately with basil dipping sauce if desired.

BASIL DIPPING SAUCE

1/2 cup plain yougurt
A big bunch of fresh basil, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1/2 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Kosher salt and ground black pepper

Use a blender or food processor to combine all ingredients except salt and pepper until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.

Veggie and mozzarella pie

If you think that I'm obsessed with savory pies, you are 100% right. I am. My obsession springs from the harsh reality that more than once savory pies have saved my ass when I had to throw a meal together at the very last minute. Also, another great quality of theirs is that you can fill them with virtually anything you have at hand so there's no need to run to the store and get ingredients when you are already running late.

As you might have guessed by now, I happen to run late a lot in the kitchen. I always have these grand plans of prepearing everything in advance so that I have time to clean up the kitchen and take a shower and welcome my guests happy, clean and relaxed... then I usually end up greeting them looking like a freak with food all over my hands and half the stuff still in the oven or on the stove. But I guess they love me anyways, because they keep coming back. And they love my savory pies, even though I admitted to all of them that the only reason there's almost always one on my table is that I'm incredibly disorganized.

Oh, well.

In case you have missed my other savory pie recipes, here they are:

Zucchini blossom savory pie
Spring vegetables savory pie
Zucchini savory pie
Savory yogurt pie


VEGGIE AND MOZZARELLA PIE

1 refrigerated pie crust
1 yellow bell pepper
1 small eggplant
1 onion
2 small zucchini
1 mozzarella, cubed
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Fresh or dried oregano

Chop all vegetables. Heat some olive oil ina large skillet, add vegetables, season with salt and pepper and saute for a few minutes, until crisp tender.

Unroll pie crust, scatter half of mozzarella on it, add vegetables, then other half of cubed mozzarella. Season with oregano.

Cook in 350F oven for about 25 minutes.

Homemade tomato sauce

There's tomatoes and then there's Tomatoes, with a capital T. The Tomatoes one of my coworkers brought to work yesterday definitely belong to the latter category. Fresh, plump, pretty much just-off-the-plant. My coworker's father grows them (along with other vegetables) in his garden and they are absolutely delicious. They were extremely ripe so I decided to turn them into tomato sauce right away, before it was too late. Making tomato sauce is not something I do very often, but when I do I enjoy every second of it, mostly because the whole house smells amazing five minutes into it.

Fresh tomatoes, onions, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, salt and a little crushed red pepper. That's it. That's my recipe for perfect tomato sauce. Of course there's a gazillion different ways to make sauce, as many as there are Italian (and non-Italian) cooks. But this is the way I made it. And, believe me, it was amazing. I'm looking forward to using it all week long to cook several dishes I already have in mind.

Note: I don't peel my tomatoes to make sauce because I actually like the way the sauce stays thicker that way, but you are free to peel them if you prefer.

HOMEMADE TOMATO SAUCE

10 large tomatoes

2 onions, chopped

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt, to taste

Crushed red pepper, to taste

A bunch of fresh basil

Place whole tomatoes and chopped tomatoes in a large dutch oven, pour some olive oil on top, season with salt and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, breaking the tomatoes with a wooden spoon as they become soft. 

When tomatoes have cooked for about half hour, season with crushed red pepper, torn basil and toss it in the sauce. Cook for ten more minutes. Turn the heat off and let cool. Use sauce for pasta, pizza or whatever other dish calls for tomato sauce.

Thai style fried rice

"Let's make Thai (or French/Chinese/Moroccan/etc.) food this weekend."

You often here me announcing such things on Monday or Tuesday night, as I enjoy a post-work drink at my favorite new bar, the Borromini Art Caffè. I won't lie to you: I announce such things at the beginning of the week because I can't wait for the weekend already. As much as I love my job, I still love cooking and doing nothing all day a little better. Waking up at 10... going dowstairs to have coffee with my friend Samy... taking my sweet time to make it to the pool... what's not to love?

And, of course, having time to cook for 8 or 10 people ROCKS. That is probably my favorite part of the weekend. I cook, they bring the wine/beer. It beats going to the restaurant, both because of the price and the quality of the food.

Every week I come up with a theme, then go with it. My friends are adventorus eaters, thank God, so they never turn down the opportunity to try something new. This past weekend I had my heart set on Thai food, so I made my green curry and also fried rice. As much as I love curry, I have to say that the rice was my favorite part of the meal.

THAI STYLE FRIED RICE

Adapted from Cooking Light

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste), divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 bunch green onions
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil, divided
• 2 1/2 cups cooked and cooled brown rice
• 1/4 cup vertically sliced onions
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup julienne-cut bell pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
• Cooking spray
• 2 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
• 4 lime wedges

Preparation

• Combine first 4 ingredients, 1/2 teaspoon sambal oelek, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine eggs and remaining 1/2 teaspoon sambal oelek in a bowl. Separate green tops from green onions, and diagonally chop; set aside. Cut green onion bottoms into 1-inch pieces; set aside.
• Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 teaspoons oil to pan, swirling pan to coat evenly. Add rice; stir-fry 1 1/2 minutes, stirring constantly. Transfer rice mixture to a large bowl. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in pan. Add onions to pan; stir-fry 30 seconds or until tender. Add brown sugar mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 1 minute or until liquid thickens slightly, stirring occasionally. Add to rice mixture.
• Wipe pan clean with a paper towel; return pan to medium-high heat. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add broccoli and bell pepper; stir-fry 3 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add the remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, green onion bottoms, and garlic; stir-fry 1 minute or until fragrant. Add rice mixture to pan, cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
• Add egg mixture to pan, swirling to coat pan; cook 30 seconds or just until egg is set. Top with green onion tops; garnish with lime wedges.

Mock vegetarian lasagne

Every once in a while I have a stroke of genius. I know I'm not being very modest here, but if you had tried this mock lasagna the other night, you would have called it a stroke of genius too, I promise. The heat has been relentless lately. We have had high temperatures in the low and mid 90s and lows barely dipping below 70. For Lake Lugano that's very hot. 

Of course everyone started bitching.

Gotta love people. In July they were practically crying over the fact that it was rainy and not warm enough. Several of them were parading around crying that summer was already over. Already? It practically started in April, for crying out loud. And now that it's hot out, they are moaning and crying again. Go figure.

My only problem is that we don't have an a/c system in the office yet because the company just moved, so working, especially in the afternoon, is challenging. When I get home I usually sit in front of the a/c for a few minutes to cool off and come back to life. Then I can think about cooking, usually while I drink an ice cold beer. 

The other night I invited a couple of friends over and, over some chilled prosecco, I came up with this mock lasagna recipe, using what I had on hand. I call it mock because instead of using lasagna noodles, I used pane carasau, the Sardinian flatbread I had used in this other yummy recipe. 

MOCK VEGETARIAN LASAGNA

Pane carasau (Sardinian music bread)

1 large eggplant,sliced

3 cups tomato sauce with basil

2 tubs light cream cheese

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Greated parmesan cheese

Lightly grease a baking dish with olive oil.

Place eggplant slices on a baking sheet, season with salt and pepper and cook for ten minutes at 350°F.

Soak bread in warm waterfor a few seconds. Place a layer of bread on the bottom of baking dish. Cover with a layer of eggplant, a layer of tomato sauce and a layer of cheese. Repear until you tun out of ingredients. Sprinkle top layer with parmesan cheese, then bake in a 350°F oven for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

"Skinny" eggplant Parmesan

First things first. I have an announcement: I HAVE FINALLY FOUND A JOB!!! And not any job. A kick-ass journalism job here in Switzerland. I couldn't be happier. After 18 months of forced "vacation" I'm back in business.

Back in May a friend asked me if I had seen the ad in the paper looking for journalists. I hadn't. So I bought the paper. Went home. Sent my resume along with a presentation email to a guy. And then of course got pissed because he didn't write me back the next day. I'm crazy like that. Anyways, he didn't write back for 5 weeks. Then, when I had practically forgotten about it, he sent me an e-mail asking me to go for an interview on June 30th. The interview went well. Then they asked me and the other candidates to write an article to see our abilities. And then they didn't say anything until last week, when they wrote me to inform me that they had picked ME!

I won't lie: I started dancing around the kitchen like a complete lunatic. But hey, finding a job in journalism these days it's not easy. It definitely called for a celebration. So I decided to make eggplant Parmesan, because ever since I've been to Greece I'm madly in love with eggplants. Only, I made a light version of it because deep fried eggplants are great, but they make your ass become the size of Brazil. And since it's still bathing suit season I decided to bake them in the oven instead. Also, I didn't have any mozzarella in the fridge, so I used ricotta. They turned out great, so great I wish I had made more!

SKINNY EGGPLANT PARMESAN

3 eggplants, sliced
16 ounces ricotta
2 pounds tomatoes
1/2 onion, sliced
Fresh basil
1 cup grated Parmesan
Extra virgin olive oil

To make tomato sauce: wash tomatoes, cut them into cubes and place them in a dutch oven with the sliced onion, 5 basil leaves and a little olive oil. Cook for about 20 minutes, then process them with an immersion blender, season with salt and cook for another 30 minutes on low heat.

Drizzle sliced eggplants with salt and olive oil, place on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes at 350F.

Lightly grease a baking dish with oil and distribute eggplants on the bottom. Follow with a layer of ricotta, sprinkle with Parmesan, then add a layer of tomato sauce. Repeat layers until you run out of ingredients. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

Zucchini blossom savory pie

I love savory pies. They are so easy to make and so versatile, but most of all they are yummy both hot and cols, so they are also perfect as leftovers. Seriously, there's nothing I don't like about them. Plus, this summer I'm being kind of lazy in the kitchen, which means that I tend to gravitate towards quick and easy recipes that pack in a lot of flavors and fresh ingredients. 

Zucchini blossoms are easy to come by here in Switzerland and in Italy, both by themselves or still attached to baby zucchini. If you can't find them in your area you can make the pie with baby zucchini by themselves, it will still be good. Or you can make this other savory pie with spring vegetables.

ZUCCHINI BLOSSOM SAVORY PIE 

One pie crust, such as Pillsbury
2 eggs, beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper
1 pound ricotta cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups chopped baby zucchini
8 zucchini blossoms
Salt and pepper

Grease a round pie pan and unroll the pie crust on it.

In a bowl, mix eggs, cheeses and zucchini and season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour mixture into pie crust. Decorate top of pie with zucchini blossoms cut in half.

Preheat oven to 400F. Cook pie in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Light and cool cream of tomato soup

A summer recipe. As if we needed them around here. Seriously, folks, it's raining and storming and haling pretty much every other day, if not every day. Whenever the weather is nice I practically run to the Lido (pool and lake access here in town) to catch some rays and read in the sun. Otherwise I'm home, doing laundry and the likes.

Maybe I shouldn't be complaining too much. The end of June and beginning of July have been really nice. I just don't get why we have had so much rain in the last ten days. I kid you not, yesterday the weather was so gloomy we went up to Lanzo d'Intelvi, right after the Swiss Italian border and we ate homemade tagliatelle with deer ragout. I mean, that's something you do in October, for crying out loud. Right now we should be frolicking in the water, drinking margaritas and eating fresh produce, right?

So whenever there's a gorgeous day out I do my best to cook up some summer fare because I know, I just know it, that come September I'll start moping around blaming myself for not having taken advantage of the bounty of summer produce enough. Last week I made this cold tomato soup, a recipe I've found in an Italian cooking magazine, Cucina Moderna. It turned out great. Next time I'll make more so I can have some leftovers to enjoy once the weather turns horrible again...

LIGHT AND COOL CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP

Serves 4

2 pounds of ripe tomatoes
2 onions
1 tablespoon paprika
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 pound yogurt
1 teaspoon sugar
Fresh thyme
Olive oil
Salt

Wash tomatoes, cut in half. Chop onions, place them in a Dutch oven with tomatoes, a tablespoon of olive oil, salt to taste, sugar and paprika. Cover and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat.

Add broth, stir and cover for 10 more minutes. Process with an immersion blender until smooth. Let it cool. Add yogurt, stir well and regulate salt.

Sprinkle with fresh thyme and serve.

Pane frattau (Sardinian music bread with eggs and tomatoes)

Again  have disappeared and haven't posted anything in what seems like an eternity. Also, I haven't been able to visit other people's blogs, which is even worse than not posting. The thing is, it seems like there's finally going to be a paradigm shift in my life —I won't say more because I don't want to jinx myself— and I have been hoping and wishing and dreaming too much to concentrate on cooking and writing. Plus, my parents just arrived from the U.S., so we have been going to restaurants a lot and we have been visiting family and friends, so there hasn't been a lot of cooking going on in our kitchen.

Sunday, though, my sister came to visit with her kids and we decided to make a special dish my parents used to eat while vacationing in Sardinia before I was born: pane frattau. Sardinian music bread is very thin and very brittle, which is why you have to dunk it in broth briefly before serving it. It's a very satisfying and yet very light dish... its only problem is once you eat it you want to eat it over and over again. 

PANE FRATTAU

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Half an onion, chopped
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans whole plum tomatoes, undrained and coarsely chopped (such as San Marzano)
• 4 large eggs
• 4 sheets pane carasau (Sardinian music bread), each broken into 4 wedges
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely grated aged pecorino Sardo
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• Vegetable broth 
• • Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion to pan, cook 3 minutes or until fragrant, stirring often. Stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Reduce heat to low. Working with one egg at a time, crack eggs over tomato mixture, about 1 inch apart in pan. Sprinkle eggs with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from heat.
  • Bring broth to a rolling boil. Dunk pane carasau in broth for a few seconds, until soft. Arrange pane carasau on each of 4 plates; spoon 3/4 cup sauce over each serving. Top each serving with 1 egg, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons grated cheese. Top each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil.