We Love Cooking!:
italian

Christmas has well and truly started for me and I am already addicted to Christmas FM which plays non stop Christmas tunes 24 hours a day! Last year I was Peter Pan in a panto in Dublin, which meant I was working right the way up until the big day, so I kinda missed out on the Christmas cooking. This year I have some time off so I'm going to be cooking up a storm, I have mince pies, christmas pudding, traditional glazed ham, and cheats Christmas dinner recipes to put up on the blog which got me thinking- Is there any Christmas recipes you would like to see up on the blog? If so leave me a comment below or say hello on twitter or facebook!

While all this festive food is fine, I have been taking a break and finally got a chance to try the amazing Lor from my favourite Irish blog Italian Foodies' recipe for Carbonara. It's such a simple recipe which is so easy to throw together and you just have to try it! She nearly killed me when I told her I used cream, but sure it was in the fridge, it would have gone to waste! I also added a little garlic but don't tell her! :)
Check out the recipe on Lor's blog: Italian Foodies.

Before I met the lovely Sofie from Sweden, meatballs for me were always associated with Italy. Combined with a thick tomato sauce and soft melt in the mouth pasta, they make a dish which is a staple of the classic Italian mama's recipe repertoire. If I was to name one recipe that is ideal for food therapy its this, there is something strangely yet extremely relaxing about rolling the meat into satisfying little balls and plopping them into boiling hot creamy tomato sauce. Relying solely on the heat of the sauce to cook and infuse the little balls to perfection.

The recipe itself is pretty fool proof, and will give you results making you feel like the perfect Italian mama or papa!

Mood Food Meat Balls

1. 500g of Minced Meat (Pork or Beef)
2. 2 Garlic Cloves Minced
3. 2 tsp of Dijon Mustard
4. 2 tbsp of Tomato Ketchup
5. 1 tbsp of Oregano
6. Good pinch of salt and pepper

1. 1 Garlic clove chopped finely
2. 1 Onion chopped finely
3. 2 tins of chopped tomato's
4. 1 tsp of Tabasco sauce
5. 1 tsp of dried oregano
   
6. 1/2 cup of red wine (optional you can use water but the wine gives a richer flavour when the sauce reduces)
7. 1/4 cup of milk
8. Good pinch of salt and pepper

Now for the tomato sauce, it's a fairly standard affair, heat a large saucepan and add a drop of olive oil, fry the garlic for a minute and then add the onion. Fry the two till golden and soft and then add the tinned tomato's. Bring the mixture to the boil and then stir in the Tabasco sauce, dried oregano, and red wine. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes or until the sauce has reduced.

Add the meatballs to the sauce pan, making sure they are covered by the sauce, I know your thinking raw meat in my sauce surely I'll be poisoned! But no believe me it works and keeps the meat lovely and tender. Bring the sauce pan back to the boil and simmer for another 15 mins.

Serve with some good quality tagliatelle and there'll be clean plates all around!

I've been planning to experiment with this for a while, ever since the girlfriend dropped the bombshell that she was allergic to both soya and nuts (I think I mentioned that before?).

Pesto is one of those food items that seemed like it had never been heard of before it became popular and reminds me of a chapter in Nigel Slater's "Toast" where he describes his father bringing home spaghetti for the very first time, and how strange the whole family felt eating this odd foreign food.

Pesto for me was the same, I first tasted it on toasted french bread with sun dried tomato at one of my mother's dinner parties when I was younger, and from that moment I fell in love! Pesto was smothered on toast for breakfast, heavily mixed in spaghetti for lunch, and every other combination I could come up with.

Pesto is considered one of the oldest oily sauces in culinary history. It's classic ingredients are Basil, Salt, Garlic, Olive Oil, and Parmesan cheese. I did a bit of research on Pesto and there is a non nut variety deriving from France where it is called Pistou, the ingredients are Basil, Olive Oil and garlic only. I love the nutty flavour so wanted to recreate it and here's what I came up, now this is hardly radical but here it is:

Nut Free Pesto

1. 3 Cloves of Garlic
2. 1/3 cup of Mixed seeds (Sunflower, pumpkin, sesame etc.)
3. 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
4. 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
5. 3 Handfuls of fresh Basil

Pesto is so easy to make, peel the garlic cloves and bash them with the back of a knife, put in a food processer with the seeds, cheese and basil. Blitz for about 30 secs depending on what consistency you want. I drizzle the oil in bit by bit but that's just me, you can just add in once you have the rest of the ingredients in a paste.

Serve straight away or put in a container with olive oil poured on the top. IT'S LIKE SOOO EASY!

Now I am not going to profess a love for aubergines but I ate this dish on a holiday recently in Rome, and was pleasantly surprised with the fresh full flavoured taste! I immediately wanted to know how to recreate it, so when I came home I looked through some Italian cookbooks and unfortunately what I came up with were deep fried or cheese laden version's.

So just the other day I experimented with what I thought was the closest to the recipe I had eaten. I fried the aubergine slices in olive oil but I think it would be easier to grill them in future! So here goes:

Aubergine Parmigiana

1. 2 Large Aubergine slice length ways
2. A good splash of Olive Oil
3. 2 Cloves of Garlic
4. 1 Red Onion
5. 2 400g Tins of Chopped Tomatoes
6. 2 Teaspoons of dried Oregano
7. 2 Teaspoons of fresh parsley finely chopped
8. 1/3 of a cup of grated Parmesan cheese

I read about preparing Aubergine's and there seems to be some sort of argument over whether or not to soak them in salted water before cooking. But I decided to soak them not wanting to go against tradition!

Soak the aubergine slices in salted water for 20 minutes, then remove from the water and pat dry. As I said already I fried the slices but I think it would be far more healthier and less time consuming to grill them till soft. Put the cooked slices to the side.

While the Aubergine slices are soaking, in a saucepan fry the garlic and red onion till soft. Then add the two tins of tomatoes, Oregano and Parsley. Bring the sauce to the boil and leave to simmer for about 15 Min's or until reduced. When the sauce has cooked stir in some salt and pepper to taste and leave to cool.

In a large roasting tin, spread a thin layer of the tomato sauce and place the aubergine slices on top, add more tomato sauce, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese, and repeat the process until you run out.

Bake in a preheated oven at 150 degrees Fahrenheit for about 25 Min's.