Tuesday, November 1, 2011

good eats (GEs) - dinner (lunch) series 1

yummy. pasta with fresh sauce made from homegrown tomatoes and chives. grilled shrimp and fried grean beans. that's some good dinner eats right there! (we call it dinner and not lunch. but i know a lot of people refer to it as lunch)



fresh tomatoe pasta sauce (for two people with a little left over to snack on):

4-6 nice-sized roma tomatoes - fresh off the vine if possible
1 tblspn of apple cider vinegar WITH the mother
3 tblspns of cold-pressed virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
one dollop of honey
one quarter of a lemon
a tiny piece of fresh ginger, crushed
as much fresh oregano as you can stand - we like tons!
one handfull of fresh-chopped chives
a sprinkle of parmesan
sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
pasta - as much as you like

1. boil water and cook your pasta according to the package. for this particular meal we used spaghettini which only takes 3-4 mins to cook.

2. while your pasta is cooking, chop up the tomatoes as big or as small as you like. for this particular meal, i chopped the tomatoes really fine - but sometimes we prefer them to be in bigger chunks.

3. drain pasta and add olive oil to your pasta pan. next add vinegar, lemon, garlic, ginger, honey and sea salt and cracked black pepper. then add tomatoes. stir and squish the tomatoes if you want a runnier-type sauce. cook on medium heat until tomatoes are heated through. right before serving throw in the fresh-chopped chives.

4. pour tomatoe sauce over pasta, sprinkle on some fresh-grated parmesan and enjoy!

shrimps on the barbie:

as many shrimp as you want
1-3 tblspns of cold-pressed virgin olive oil, for brushing on the shrimp
sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste

1. peel shrimp down to the tail, and de-vein, if so inclined. brush the shrimp on all sides with olive oil. salt and pepper the shrimp to taste

2. skewer the shrimps on either a wooden or metal skewar (if using wood, make sure to soak the wood first).

3. plop the skewers on the barbie and leave for 2-3 minutes, each side, until they lose their translucent colour.

4. serve on skewers or remove from skewers. enjoy!

fried green beans in bacon grease:

as many green beans as you want, ends trimmed
one dollop of bacon grease
sea salt and fresh-cracked black pepper to taste

1. heat bacon grease in a pan (we save all of our bacon grease in a mason jar. and use it to cook just about everything!).

2. toss in the green beans. stir to make sure all beans are coated with the bacon grease. cook for 1-2 minutes until the beans start to get brown edges. don't overcook - you want them to still be pretty crisp. salt and pepper to taste.

3. serve and enjoy.

a very easy meal to prepare and very healthy. anyone who considers bacon grease to be unhealthy can stop reading right now. bacon grease is a pure lard unlike whatever the heck is in that spray stuff - which we won't touch with a ten-foot pole!

i hope that you enjoyed the GEs - dinner series. up later will be a GE's supper series and then we'll be back to breakfast.

12 comments:

  1. That photo looks like a great appetizer.... ;)

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  2. Matt - that's my plate. jambaloney had about 3 times as much of everything - bahahahah! thanks for stopping in buddy!

    your friend,
    kymber

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  3. Guess I'll do shrimp tonight now that you've set me off....oh, the cost.

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  4. We had 2 year old rice with 3 year old chili poured over it with a sprinkle of grated cheddar cheese. Dessert was fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. I like your dinner better.

    PS... I use a lot of bacon grease too. There is absolutely nothing that will make your vegetables taste better.

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  5. "Lunch" was brought into American culture by wannabe upper-crusters who liked the French term "luncheon" that some organizations used at one time to be snobbish. Now we have that damnable term "brunch" for people too lazy to get up in time for breakfast.

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  6. @GS....I have even heard the term Lupper and Linner.

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  7. I save bacon grease too, and use it. It is better for us than the alternatives. I discovered pork belly, bacon with no curing or preservatives. So, I figured the grease from it was superb.

    When people speak of dinner, and it involves my being there, I ask if it is at noon or evening. I would hate to miss lunch and show up at supper.

    Now, I am going to bake banana bread!

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  8. Yum. Jim always gives me a bad time about my serving green beans with lasagna and spaghetti. He thinks it's weird, so I'm VERY happy to see that YOU do it! :>

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  9. That pasta sauce sounds heavenly. I love pasta. I could probably eat it 3-4 times a week but Mars isn't so big on it. As for the bacon grease, I'm not sure I'd know how to cook WITHOUT it! As a matter of fact for SUPPER tonight I sauteed mushrooms (got them on a markdown sale for $.99) and onions in bacon grease to go on our cheddar cheesburgers with home made buns! LOL Can you believe I'm actually making buns??? Who would have thought! LOL

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  10. Stephen, dear friend, sorry to have set you off. but glad that you like shrimp too!

    Mama Bear - i love chili on rice! and Jam would love the fresh-made chocolate chip cookies! and isn't it true? bacon-grease makes everything taste better.

    i used to think that saving bacon grease was an atlantic canada thing but have since learned that most southerners save it as well! cool!

    Mr. Smythe - like i said - we still call it dinner. and we don't do brunch - bahahahah!

    Mama Bear - Lupper and Linner?!?!?!? you have got to be joking!!!

    PracticalP - does the pork belly make a good grease like bacon? is it as tastey? because if so, i will start using it. mmmmm- banana bread!

    Kathi - give Jim a knock in the head from me and tell him you are not weird - bahahahah! him and his "smurfbrains" eh?

    SciFi - we eat pasta probably once to twice a week, sometimes at dinner and sometimes at supper. your cheeseburgers sound delicious! i haven't gotten into making hamburger buns yet - just bread and rolls and teabiscuits and stuff - gonna need your hamburger bun recipe!!!

    thanks to all of you for stopping by!

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  11. I cook just about everything with some bacon grease.(except for them smurfbrains.)

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