Last night it was spaghetti with a scratch sauce of tomatoes, onion, garlic and hot Italian sausage, with a bit of rosemary thrown in. Topped with fresh grated reggiano, of course.
Tonight it’s lamb chops marinated in olive oil, garlic and rosemary (I’m seeing a trend here) and mashed potatoes.
Berbere is a mix of ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, coriander, fenugreek, cayenne, paprika, nutmeg, cloves, black pepper, and salt. I picked up a huge amount of it from Cafe Pasqual’s in Santa Fe, and it’s amazing. I love the stuff.
It was incredibly good. Mr. Athena made up some basmati rice with cardamom and anise and some other spices. It all turned out like a pseudo-Caribbean kinda meal. Next time I wanna do it with black beans & rice and a pineapple salsa.
We ended up with beer - Mr. Athena’s been having belly problems, and he didn’t think the acidity in the Marg would do him any good.
I have a passel of bratwurst waiting to be cooked. I have no idea what to do with them – it’s been years since I lived in Wisconsin–and then only for a college summer where friends and brat-trucks did all the cooking. I have no peppers today. I have sauerkraut, but don’t know if it goes. I have a grill (prefer cooking outside), but also some Saranac dark beer. Any suggestions?
Last night we had a collection of three antipasti made with fresh garden veggies:
Grilled eggplant with parsley, lemon juice and olive oil
Grilled Italian zucchni with red wine vinegar, fresh thyme and olive oil
Steamed chilled cauliflower with red wine vinegar, cracked black pepper and basil
Then I chased it with baked Italian meatballs. They were far superior to meatballs fried or poached in tomato sauce; you film a baking pan with olive oil, place largish meatballs on it, tent it lightly with foil and bake them until almost done. While they’re baking, make some of your favorite recipe of tomato/basil sauce. Nap the meatballs with this and bake ten more minutes. Serve them as it, pastaless, topped with parmesan, and with plenty of crusty Italian bread as a sop for the sauce.
Just throw them on the grill. Some people insist on parboiling in beer before you put them on the grill, but that’s never seemed like it does anything for me. I just grill the babies until they’re done, slap 'em in some buns, and pass the condiments.