Easy to scale up or down for any number of people, from one to a crowd.  The recipe below is for 2 medium size portions, or a pretty large one with a bit leftover.  Spaghetti is traditional, but I like egg noodles.  Adapted from Marcella Hazan.

3 slices of bacon, cut in 1″ pieces
about 4 oz (1/3 of a package) egg noodles, or other pasta
1 egg
1 T creme fraiche (optional, or substitute sour cream or plain yogurt)
2 T parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
fresh ground black pepper
2 T chopped parsley, or other fresh herb

Brown bacon in a small pan, until crispy. Reserve drippings. Meanwhile, cook egg noodles per directions. While pasta cooks, beat together the egg, creme fraiche, and parmesan cheese. When pasta is done, reserve a little bit of the pasta water and drain. Return the pasta to the pot, and toss with the egg mixture. (Since the pasta and pan are hot, the egg gets most of the way, but probably not completely, cooked, making a rich and delicious sauce.) If it seems too dry, add in a bit of the reserved pasta water. Toss in the bacon, herbs, and some of the drippings. (I only used about half the drippings, but my bacon was pretty fatty.) Garnish with more herbs and parmesan cheese.

As I mentioned last week, we’ve been grilling as much as possible and enjoying eating on our patio.  Burgers are always a great thing to grill, but sometimes you gotta spice it up a little from plain old ground beef (not that that isn’t wonderful, too, from time to time).  These burgers were inspired by some that my friend Sadie made for a cookout for the Fourth of July, and I immediately had to go back home and recreate them.  They are chock full of bell peppers and onions, as well as a bunch of herbs and spices.  The only peril is they don’t hold together real well.  I might add some breadcrumbs or something next time.  But it’s a tasty combination – almost like a light, summery version of meatloaf, and endlessly adaptable to whatever veggies, herbs, and spices you have on hand.  I somebody forgot to put buns on the grocery list, so we ate them on a bed of watercress since I happened to have some (also good if you’re trying to go the low-carb route).  Either way, a cheap, easy, and quick dinner, perfect for eating under the summer sunset.

Doctored-Up Burgers

1 lb ground beef
3 strips bacon
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 of a green pepper, diced
1/4 of a yellow pepper, diced
small onion, diced
1/4 c cilantro, diced
1 t salt (or to taste)
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t ground coriander
1/4 t ground mustard
black pepper to taste
dash cayenne pepper

6 slices of cheese (cheddar, American, colby-jack, etc.)
leafy lettuce such as watercress, arugula, mesclun greens, etc., or buns

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and form into burgers (I made 6). Try not to handle it too much or squeeze it all together too tightly, as that can make them tough. Grill over medium high fire, covered, a few minutes to a side until desired doneness. When almost done, top with cheese so it can melt a bit.  Serve over greens or on a bun, with the usual accompaniments.  Sit outside and enjoy!

For Christmas last year, my parents gave me a “gift certificate” to go shopping with my mom for something for the kitchen.  Although I used some of it a couple months ago (to get those low bowls in the picture, come to think of it) we hadn’t found time for me to use the rest of it, mostly because I had been indecisive about what I wanted to get.  Last week I was told that my “gift certificate” would expire after six months, so I needed to get to it!  We went to Williams Sonoma one night last week and I decided to buy this beautiful pasta maker.  Isn’t it a beauty?  I love that it’s bright red and shiny!

I was eager to put this baby to work, so I decided to make ravioli for some friends we were having over Saturday night.  (I’m in a little bit of trouble for breaking it in without letting Mom help, but I was just getting the kinks worked out.)  My only previous experience with making pasta was for the Daring Bakers lasagne a couple months back.  In that case, while it turned out very tasty, it was really a pain to roll out by hand (tearing, etc.) and I could never get it anywhere close to as thin as I wanted. (more…)

I know this is a bit redundant with the Daring Bakers post earlier this week, but I did end up making a quiche with the leftover filling, and it turned out so well, I wanted to share.  Also, I realized I’ve never shared my quiche recipe with you, which comes from Matt’s grandmother by way of my mother-in-law.  She always filled it with bacon and swiss cheese, but here I used the mushroom barley filling from the strudel instead of the bacon (though I added a couple slices of bacon, too).  Also, I usually use cream but I didn’t have any so I substituted the buttermilk I had on hand from making a strawberry buttermilk cake.  I’ll be repeating that substitution — it added a nice rich tang.

I’ll admit that the mushroom barley filling made the quiche just a tad watery, but the flavor was so good we really didn’t mind.  Matt said “I didn’t even notice I hadn’t put hot sauce on it until I was more than halfway through a slice,” and usually even his favorite quiche, from his grandmother, is drowning in it before he even starts eating.  So I considered that high praise indeed!

(more…)

The Daring Bakers recipe this month, hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks was strudel, and while the original recipe was apple, we were allowed to fill it however we wanted.  I decided to do a savory version, based on a filling from a mushroom barley pie from Smitten Kitchen.  It turned out pretty well, although the filling could use a little more oomph.  Matt suggested it needed sausage, which I think would be a good idea.

The strudel dough was actually easier to make than I was expecting.  You just mix flour and salt, water, oil, and a bit of vinegar.  The dough has a very nice feel and is easy to knead — not sticky at all.  However, stretching it was a little harder.  I pretty easily got it out to about a foot by a foot.  But, as I continued to stretch it, it started to get holes, especially on the edges, and I never was able to get it as big as the 2 foot by 3 foot recommendation.  This may partly have been because the directions suggest stretching it on a floured tablecloth, but I don’t have any tablecloths, so I just used my kitchen counter.  At any rate, it was still tasty, but I think it would’ve been better if it had been thinner.

I’m not sure it’s quite worth the trouble of making the dough again, but I did like the concept and the filling, so I think I might try it again sometime, but take the easy way out and just use pre-made phyllo dough or even puff pastry.

It was definitely a fun challenge, and thanks again to Linda and Courtney for hosting!

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers. (more…)