Re: [london.food] New Year's Resolution.....

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From: Rev Simon Rumble
Subject: Re: [london.food] New Year's Resolution.....
Date: 00:52 on 04 Jan 2007
This one time, at band camp, Hugh Macdonald wrote:

> No more ready made pastas or pizzas

Whenever you make a pasta sauce, make a mega-huge-super batch in a big 
pot.  Especially with the standard tomato one[1] made from tinned, 
super-cheap EU-subsidized tomatoes.  Then freeze single portions in 
zip-lock bags.  Any time you're feeling lazy, nuke one of these sauces 
while boiling up some pasta.  Dinner in ten minutes.  If you're feeling 
adventurous but still lazy, fry up some lardons or bacon, steam some 
veggies and chuck that all in the sauce.  Use up leftover sausages in 
the sauce.

Buy the ready-made pizza bases in the supermarket.  Grill some sliced 
vegetables (carrot, sweet potato, courgette, whatever).  Crush some 
garlic and mix into tomato paste along with some fresh or dried basil 
and oregano.  Smear over the base.  Bung on the grilled vegetables, 
salami or pepperoni if that's your thing, top with grated cheese (sliced 
buffalo mozzarella if you're feeling fancy) and bake in the oven.  It's 
nearly as quick as pulling a frozen one out, a lot tastier and less E 
numbers.

[1] Standard and versatile tomato-based pasta sauce
10 tins of third-world-economy-destroying EU-subsidized Italian tomatoes 
(24p/can from Scumerfield)
3 medium onions, sliced
6 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1 star anise
1 bay leaf
handful of ripped-apart basil (preferably fresh)
handful of ripped-apart oregano (preferably fresh)
generous dash of worcestershire sauce

Fry up the onions until soft, then add and gently fry the garlic.

Open all the tins of tomatoes and, using a sharp knife, chop them up 
while still in the can by swishing the knife around.  Dump them in the 
pot with the garlic and onions.  Add all the flavourings.  Simmer gently 
for an hour or so until a nice saucy consistency.

Try to fish out the bay leaf and star anise, but don't worry overly if 
you can't find them.  Freeze in individual portions in freezer bags once 
cool.

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <simon@xxxxxx.xxx>
www.rumble.net


 "There's no 'I' in 'team'. But then there's no 'I'
  in 'useless smug colleague', either. And there's
  four in 'platitude-quoting  idiot'. Go figure."
- David Brent, "The Office"

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