"Italian" Night
No pictures to accompany this recount as they didn't quite turn out well.
For dinner, it was a two-fer for Italian fare tonight, though I'm sure there are Italians out there shaking their head at my meal. It was a meal of convenience with no thoughts of well-roundedness in flavor or presentation. For the main course, I slapped together Jamie Oliver's Pasta in Sweet Tomato Sauce with Baked Ricotta. This was actually round 2 of this recipe. The first time, it was ok but the baked ricotta was a mess. Not until later did I figure out that there is the soft stuff for lasagna etc in tubs at the market, and then the solid stuff. Well, not surprisingly, the soft stuff didn't firm up as per the recipe. I accidentally found the solid stuff and bought it immediately to retry my hand at this. I seasoned it and doused it in olive oil as per his direction and this time, the ricotta did crumble though I overbaked it which resulted in a rather firm (didn't exactly melt) hunk. At least this time around, it was much tastier. The salt stayed crunchy which provided a fun texture but it also went well with the blander, "sweet" pasta.
For dinner, it was a two-fer for Italian fare tonight, though I'm sure there are Italians out there shaking their head at my meal. It was a meal of convenience with no thoughts of well-roundedness in flavor or presentation. For the main course, I slapped together Jamie Oliver's Pasta in Sweet Tomato Sauce with Baked Ricotta. This was actually round 2 of this recipe. The first time, it was ok but the baked ricotta was a mess. Not until later did I figure out that there is the soft stuff for lasagna etc in tubs at the market, and then the solid stuff. Well, not surprisingly, the soft stuff didn't firm up as per the recipe. I accidentally found the solid stuff and bought it immediately to retry my hand at this. I seasoned it and doused it in olive oil as per his direction and this time, the ricotta did crumble though I overbaked it which resulted in a rather firm (didn't exactly melt) hunk. At least this time around, it was much tastier. The salt stayed crunchy which provided a fun texture but it also went well with the blander, "sweet" pasta.
As a side, I made Eggs in Purgatory from the Sopranos cookbook with the leftover tomato puree from the can for the pasta recipe. I'd been wanting to try it out of curiosity for the longest time but never remembered to when I actually had leftover puree. The tomato part of the sauce was nicely garlicky and infused with basil flavor though the egg was a bit bland. Well...I think I cooked off too much sauce and didn't have enough to begin with. I also overcooked the eggs as I was too busy taking pics of my dinner. ;P It's a nice change of pace for an egg but nothing that wowed me. I think it'd be great as a snack or breakfast item on a nicely toasted crusty slice of bread. It certainly is easy enough to make and probably healthier than a fried egg but it's different enough where I wouldn't replace it as my breakfast egg.
Labels: eggs, italian, Jamie Oliver, noodles
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