Italian Sausages in Hot Tomato Sauce with Polenta

Husband was complaining to me the other day that I've slagged off on making dinners lately. The problem here is that he's so used to coming home to a piping hot plate of food that he doesn't get that this doesn't happen by miracle and I too come home from a full day's work and don't always feel like putting together a well rounded plate of food. Now let me tell you this man does not go hungry..it's just that sometimes his dinner's aren't the fanciest and sometimes he will have to make his own...must be nice. Anyhow, today was one of those days that I just didn't want to make a meal..but I'd told him I'd make this for him and it is for the blog...I had a inner argument with myself. You see I had an eye exam this evening...had to go to work early so I could leave early to make my 5:10pm appointment. This actually was going to work in my favour tonight I thought because my evening would go like this...get eyes examed, stop at grocery store, be home by 6pm to make dinner then - and now here's the truly exciting part - meet ny new nephew!!!! Born yesterday!!! Here's how thing did go..

1. Get lost on way to optomitrist

2. Find office at last second

3. Spend 2 hours at eye doctors
4. Leave with fully dialated pupils and bitterness

5. Have battle with innerself about if I should be making this recipe tonight because I'm running so late

6. Become paranoid that Husband has come home and is at that moment visiting new nephew without you leading to a lifetime of resentment and bitterness that you'll never forgive and may have to get divorced

7. Decide you may aswell go to grocery store because you're f*cked now no matter what

8. Arrive home to find Husband is still at work and new nephew is not home from hospital yet

9. Start making recipe while stressing about when you will finally get to see this new little face.

So as you can see I had a busy night and I was a little distracted. Despite all this though I was able to make this recipe with little incident and Husband really enjoyed it. I'd never made polenta before but it was straight forward enough. This will take you about 20 min to cook, start to finish and is a nice little change from the ordinary. Or at least it was for Husband!

Minestrone in Minutes

She ain't kiddin'! Minutes indeed. I made this because I needed to make a lunch to take to work but had no time and this came thru for me. Or maybe Nigella came thru for me...either way in about 15 minutes lunch was made and in the fridge ready for the morning commute. It's not the fanciest of soups but hearty and great in a pinch. you wouldn't know this soup took no effort at all.

Forgotten Pudding

This recipe book is LOADED with desserts. I don't know how I'm going to eat them all. Seriously, that's not sarcasism. I honestly don't know how I will eat all these desserts. This one I served as dessert to my parents and sister. Sister requested this be our dessert so I obliged.

My mother helped me to make this recipe, the marshmallowy base at least. We did run into a bit of a problem as we kinda messed up getting the stiff peaks...but we just let the kitchen aid beat it to death and we did eventually get our stiff peaks. Then once my mother told me that all a swiss roll pan is is a cookie sheet with a lip on it I pulled one from my baking drawer and spread the egg white mixture about. Then I popped it on the oven, shut the oven off and left a note reminding all that even having a thought about opening the oven door was a crime worth punishment. After that I didn't lift a finger for this until after dinner when we were ready to have a little something to finish off our great meal. I took the double cream out of the jars and gave it a good whisking. Then I spread that over the marshmallow type cake on the cookie sheet. At this point all you've got to do is dribble about your fruits. Nigella calls for Passionfruit, blackberries and strawberries. My Metro didn't have passionfruit that I could see so I used blueberries in their place. I hodge-podged the berries on and then started cutting and serving. Everyone liked this, it's sweet and fresh and a perfect summer time dessert. I really liked this and I think you will too!

Mirin Glazed Salmon

My parents came to visit and spend the night this past Saturday. So I pulled a bunch of Nigella recipes from the book. This recipe I made for my mother, sister and myself while Husband and dad had steak. Nigella instructs you to buy 4 thick & narrow salmon fillets for this but I went with buying an organic large fillet enough for 3 or 4 people. This piece was just under $20 and I think well worth it. My sister knew I was making this dish as our main course and she asked me if I was able to find mirin. I replied "Yeah, I googled it and found that Japanese Sweet Rice Wine is just sake." Sister says "No it's not." And we go back and forth like this for a bit before we decide it's really neither here nor there as I've bought what I've bought. Since this time I've looked into it further and found that Mirin and Sake are essentially the same with one major difference...Mirin has less alcohol that Sake. Traditional Mirin has 14% alcohol and Sake has 20% alcohol. Turns out what I bought was sold as Sake at the LCBO and has an alcohol content of 12.5%...so draw your own conclusions.

Either way if you use Sake or Mirin to make this dish you will love it! You have to get your pan really, really hot inorder to get the crispy, blackened, sugary top. Like turn it all the way up and then down just a tick. This may also get a bit smokey on you. Just turn on your overhead fan..or open an window. This dish is simple enough to make - you marinate for about 5 minutes and then cook it for a bit in either side. My piece of fish was just one big piece so it took a little longer to cook. And I cooked it to about medium-well as opposed to my usual well-done. This dish really has it all though. Presentation gets full marks, taste gets full marks and easy of preperation get full marks as well. Whom ever you make this for will be blown away by your culinary prowress. This one's a keeper!

Christmas in a Glass

♪ Chestnuts roasting on an open fire ♪ Jack Frost nipping at your nose♪ yuletide carols♪...wait..oh, wait....what's that? It's June you say? Oh....But I love Christmas. It's only 6 months away. And really what are we celebrating at Christmas? A baby being born. And I'm pretty sure today somewhere a baby was born...maybe even one named Jesus...you just never know. I mean people are naming babies Apple, and Moses and Noah and Mohammad..someone might have had a baby they named Jesus today. So yes...I do believe drinking Christmas in a Glass is perfectly acceptable today.

All kidding aside this drink is not the greatest (and I like myself a drink). It's a cutesy novelty drink that I would never want more than one of at a time. The only reason I would want one in the first place is because of the name. I think the perfect way to serve this drink would be as a welcoming drink for a christmas party. Or as something to drink for a toast on Christmas Eve ...perhaps toasting your favourite blogger ☺

Anchovy Red Wine Dressing

Anchovies...not a very popular food. Most people's reaction to anchovies is "Pleggghhhh!" Until a short time ago I completely agreed. I'm not going to go around snacking on anchovies and crackers any time soon but I have come to discover the amazing and subtle world of the anchovy. This dressing lends further comfirmation. It's eazy peazy to make and as I didn't have garlic oil I just upped the amount of olive oil and threw in a clove of garlic. Even Husband who doesn't really like oil and vinegar dressings liked this. I highly recommend this - nothing like a fresh homemade dressing!!!

Mexican Scrambled Eggs

Hola! These scrambled eggs are what Nigella herself claims to eat for brekky when hung-over...This morning I was in tip-top shape while eating this though. Due to the G20 and my office bulding being directly in the red zone I have the pleasure of working from home today. So I had loads of time to make a nice breakfast. Actually, It's a bit depressing I was relishing the fact that I woudl have a chance to sleep in on a Friday...and yet I woke up only 30 minutes later than I normally do...6:30am!! But anyhow..I checked my cupboards and decided to give this recipe a whirl. I'm glad I did too. It's quite a nice change from the ordinary for breakfast. The fried tortillas make this really hearty and tasty too. I'm not sure I scrambled my eggs really perfectly either...I didn't let them cook, then stir. I just kept stirring away the whole time ...mostly becasue I was in auto-pilot a bit at this time of the day.
All in all though this is a great little recipe if you wake up in a spicy mood. Vive La Mexico!

Slow-Roast Tomatoes, Goat's Cheese and Mint Salad

The recipe title tells you just about all the ingredients in the fabulous salad. Nigella calls for arugala (which I've since learned is what the English call rocket - thanks sis) but I didn't use arugala because I was too lazy to stop at the grocery store on the way home. I used the hearty romaine that was in my fridge drawer. I wasn't really sure how that would effect the taste of the salad because arugala and romaine really don't taste similar at all...but this salad was soooooo good. It's also rates 10 out of 10 on the easy scale. You make your moonblush tomatoes the night before and then you can have this salad ready to eat in about 6 minutes. And deliscious??? Let me tell you, I was almost licking the bowl at the end. I highly recommend making this salad for dinner.You will not regret it!

Quick Chili

Even when I was eating meat I wasn't a big fan of chili. Husband though is obsessed with chili so this was a dinner just for him...and where I could again remind him that I am a perfect wife. This chili is a combination of sausage and ground beef and is very spicy. Husband actually said this is one of the best chilis he's ever had. That made an impression on me. This man has eaten a lot of chili and he loves the chili he makes. As far as making this recipe, it's really very simple. Cooking time takes a bit longer for a Nigella Express recipe but that's due to the 20 min simmering time. Overall if you like meat chilis you'll surely enjoy this one.

White Chocolate Mint Mousse

I really don't like white chocolate. It's really not even chocolate at all but a sugary immitation of the real thing. The only chocolate I like is 70% cocoa content or higher. I hate these sugary milk chocolates and white chocolate is the worst offender. All that said, this recipe wasn't that bad even for me who doesn't like white chocolate. The problem I have with white chocolate is how fake it tastes. So in that same frame of mind that's the only problem I have with this dessert. Due to the white chocolate this dish tates somewhat artificial to me...but if you are in the white chocolate camp (like husband) then you'll really like this. I thought this was an okay dessert, gets a passing grade. Husband rather enjoyed it. You can whip this together in about 15 minutes and it would make a great dessert for a lunch you're hosting. Nigella suggests this serves about 6 people if you get your portions right. You could give a heartier portion to each and make it for 4. I halved the recipe and split it between husband and I for a lovely Saturday afternoon treat.

Mozzarella with Crazy Gremolata

I was feeling really good about myself having made 4 recipes in one single night. So tonight I came home and decided to count how many recipes I have to go...121. I was instantly depressed. 121 still???? But I made 4 just last night and I've stepped it up???? Still facts are facts and the numbers are the numbers. Still 121 recipes to go. So I decided to see if there was another recipe I could knock off tonight from what's in the cupboards. And I came up with this.

Mozzarella with Crazy Gremolata is AMAZZZZZZZZZZZING! Oh my god! Make this, make this, make this!!!! It's fresh tasting, tangy, zippy and light. This is a perfect appetizer. Thank you for this one Nigella. I hope the other 120 are just as good.

Bake Sale Bonanza!

The title of these recipes are not Bake Sale Bonanza. That is just what I spent my night doing...baking for a bake sale. My friend is raising money tomorrow morning via a bake sale for Itchthyosis. Are you thinking is "Itchthyosis??? Is this anything like TBA from Arrested Development???" The answer is no. Itchthyosis is a real disease that is painful. I told my friend I'd make some Nigella recipes for her to sell. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about the disease:

Itchthyosis is a heterogeneous of at least 28 generalized mostly genetic skin disorders. All types of Itchthyosis have dry, thick, scaly or flaky skin. In many types the skin is said to resemble the scales of a fish.

learn more at http://www.scalyskin.org/

The first thing I made was ... PINEAPPLE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Making this cake wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I thought it would be. And it does look pretty neat - even though mine didn't flip out of the pan perfectly..it still has some presentation. I haven't had a pineapple cake in forever and I still wasn't able to do a taste test for this as the cake is for the bake sale...but I did lick the spatula and that cake batter was pretty damn good. So if hte batter is any indication of the cake itself this is one good dessert. I would make this if I were entertaining someone from a older generation like perhaps your grandmother...or if you just wanted to make a totally off-beat dessert people will not be expecting this...That's for darn sure.

Baked Good #2 was MARSHMALLOW CRIPSY SQUARES

Maybe you're thinking what I thought.."How can Nigella be publishing Rice Frickin Crispy Squares???". The only answer I can come up with is the fact that she has added sprinkles to them. If that makes it a new recipe then so be it. You make these as you do your everyday Rice Krispy square and then you add sprinkles..it's pretty tough this one..you may not be up to it. But if you're over 5 I think you can handle it. These are great for a bake sale though because every-freakin-body love rice krispy squares. Even if we have no idea just what exactly marshmallows are.

Baked Good #3 was HOKEY POKEY

The Jury is still out on this one. It's incredible how simple this one is too..but it's supposed to be like a sponge toffee I believe and right now I've got something of a maliable sucker on my silpat. I'm not sure this one will make it to the bake sale. Nigella says let set and then smash apart to serve. What I have right now will not be smashing apart. If it's still in this condition come morning I'll have to decide if I'll ..a) take it in to be sold as taffy...or ...b) roll it up into a ball and toss it in the green bin. Currently I'm thinking option B sounds about right.

Anyhow, one night tons of recipes knocked off and hopefully some good cash to be raised for a worthy cause.

PS - any licked spatulas were promptly retired from service and not used again ;)

Tuna and Beans

A pretty boring name for a dish if you ask me..but don't let the name fool you. This one is actually not bad. It's easy to make (once you figure out a sub for borlotti beans...I used pinto beans after phoning my sister who turned out to be camping in Northern Ontario at the time) and it's a great protein dish to have with a salad. It's not incredibly flavourful but the lemon juice and the red onion add some much needed zip.

I have to tell I really did kinda botch this one because I not only used half the amount of beans I was supposed to I also bought a mediocre tuna when Nigella specifically says "use a best quality canned tuna". Oops! I messed up with the beans by missing that fact that I needed 2 cans and I only purchased one. Maybe it was because I was getting tired but I decided F*#k it. I'm still making it as if I had them all. Then I realized when I was opening my Tuna cans that they were not chunk light tuna in oil (as I usually get) but flake light tuna in water...sigh. The only thing this tuna had going for it was that it's dolphin friendly...so I take solace in that. All this conundrum aside the dish is actually decent. I'm taking it for my lunch tomorrow as a compliment to my garden salad and I'm quite looking forward to it. If your looking for a new protein rich snack or side dish this will suit you nicely.

Golden Honey Mustard Dressing

More like Golden Nectar for your salad! This dressing you can make in 3 minutes and it's soooooo yummy. a nice light dressing that when you make this for your friends they will say "Oh my God, I love this dressing! Where did you get it???" and then you can casually reply, "Oh I just made it this morning." Pretending like you do this all the time and they will first, not believe you, then second, seethe with jealousy. But what they don't know is that this is beyond simple. I think my cat could make this. Seriously. You can be the bitch that somehow finds time to do "everything" with her uppity dressings but meanwhile it's laughable the time and skill level that this takes. So you can laugh evilly in your head while your friends stare at you with green faces and think "Bitch!" While they munch on your fab salad. and if you really want to piss them off tell them you just lost 3 pounds.

But seriously, This recipe is listed under the heading 'My 3 Favourite Dressings' for a reason. I highly recommend you make this but when you do, only make a half batch. That will be more than enough..unless you're feeding an army.

Go Get 'Em Smoothie

Two recipes in one day. Unbelievable! I really wasn't very hungry for dinner but I wanted to have something. I felt like I need a tiny bit of nourishment for the evening. So I decided to have this smoothie for dinner. Nigella lists this recipe as a breakfast but really it can be had anytime and this would also make a great afternoon treat. Basically this is a chocolate banana smoothie and yum! it is good. You could make these for your kids anytime and they woudl love it I bet. Though if making this for children you may want to leave out the instant espresso powder...
However, I highly recommend this delightful 'shake' either way.

Just a footnote I made this with soy milk :)

Halloumi Bites

I'd never heard of Halloumi cheese before this. I am a cheese fanatic though so I was excited to try a new flavour. Halloumi cheese is a fresh cheese like boccocini (which I love) but it's a middle eastern cheese. The recipe takes no effort at all and maybe about 7 miuntes to make. While I was frying the cheese I thought things were going horribly wrong - the cheese didn't go too golden for me which was likely because my pan wasn't hot enough. But I just let it fry for a bit and then decided I should take it out before the cheese started to melt (it was looking vulnerable). So I transferred it to the oily marinade and let it sit, then mixed it about in the serving dish. I wasn't feeling particularly chuffed about this dish at this point..so I tried it with a certain amount of nerves. But those nerves were washed away by a tangy heavenly sensation in my mouth. This dish is definitley going to be a hit at your next party. Two thumbs up Nigella!

Spaghettini with Prawns and Chilli

Today was a weird day. Both Husband and I were caught in a commuter train "pedestrian accident" on our way to work. It took me over 2 hours to get to work this morning and Husband didn't get to work until 3.5 hours after he left home this morning. Husband was actually on the train that hit the person and then after sitting on the train for 2 hours he had to walk past the body of the person who was hit and the shoes that had been knocked off him. I'll spare you any more details..Husband was disturbed by this all day and talked about it for a good 20 minutes when he got home, while I made this dinner. It was really an awful morning. So I was thankful that this dinner was so easy to put together. I used whole grain pasta and Nigella's Moonblush Tomatoes in place of sunblush tomatoes..mostly because I've no idea what sunblush tomaotes are and I remembered that Nigella's moonblush tomato recipe is what she uses in place of sunblush tomatoes. Also I couldn't find rocket anywhere so I used organic flat leaf parsely. This dish is straight-forward to make and tasty enough but lightening will not strike your taste buds when you eat this. Mostly this dish is a comfort food which is exactly what Husband and I needed tonight.

Pear and Ginger Muffins

I feel sorry for pears. If pears where people they would be apple's kid bother that never gets any attention. But when you eat a pear you're like 'OMG this pear is so awesome why have I been wasting my time with apples when pears are so freakin' deliscious and cool?!?!?' Really, pears are the one night stand of fruit. Often bought spontaneously and you think to yourself while eating it 'God this pear is good. I really ought to eat more of these.' But then next time you're in the grocery store you forget all about that pear and how good it was and breeze by the pears to get to the apples. Like promising you'll call but then never do. Until you're desperate for something a little different and you suddenly remember how good that pear was and when you go back to the market there they are... waiting for you, with desperation, just begging for someone to buy them instead of the apples.

So if pears are the one night stand of fruit I suggest you have a brief albeit delightful affair with these muffins. They are of course easy to make and completely different than the kind of muffin you're going to get in the bakery section of the supermarket. (Which in my books is great because on average supermarket muffins are shit.) The pieces of cut up pear turn to a lovely sweet apple-saucey (if you will) mush in the baking process. And the ginger in it makes these mufins feel like more of a treat. Husband and I both found these utterly deliscious and I'm looking forward to another date with these little charmers tomorrow morning ;)

Mellow Meatballs

If you felt a tremor tonight it's because there was a small earthquake taking us one step closer hell freezing over. I made this recipe with Meatless Meatballs. Whaaaa? Yeah, that's right meatless meatballs. Here's the part where hell nearly freezes over. Husband not only knowingly ate the meatless meatballs but actually liked them. I repeat. Husband knowingly ate meatless meatballs and then admitted he liked them. I am breathless.

Why am I breathless? Because we're talking about the man who loves eating meat and if I serve him a meal of just vegetables he thinks it's an appetizer and then says so where's lunch?..because according to him it's not a real meal unless there is meat in the dish. This is the man who when I sucked in air through my teeth in disgust as a truck of pigs were being led into a slaughter house, making the sound "ssssssssst", says to me "Sounds like bacon cooking!". This man liked this meal. This meatless meal. This is a massive victory for me. For all mankind really. Because if my husband likes this dish with meatless meatballs - you will too.

Nigella herself says this dish is just another version of the 'Curry in a Hurry' which we also enjoyed. So if you liked the Curry in a Hurry you will like this. The prep and cook time for this meal is about 35 minutes if you chop everything yourself like I did. Nigella suggests that you use the pre-cut stuff from your supermarket. But honestly, why do I want to pay 3 times more for something when I can take 5 minutes of my own time and so the same thing. And if you are cooking with the right mind set and focusing on what you're doing prep work, like chopping, is actually quite relaxing. (no I don't have kids) Rather than powering through this recipe I took my time with it and relaxed while making this meal. Which was nice because I did run into a problem at the grocery store with this, though not for the reason you're thinking...I couldn't read my grocery list. One item in particular, all I could see was 'can of chopped tin'. Obviously this was not correct. Eventually I willed my mind to remember the ingredient - chopped tomato. And after all the agony I went thru to come up with that I ended up deciding not to buy a can of chopped tomatoes because we had 3 tomatoes at home needing to be used. So I just chopped them myself.

Much like curry in a hurry this meal is all in the prep work and once you're done all your chopping you just dump the ingredients in the pan in the right order and at the right time. Then magically dinner is ready after a few stirs. Meatballs are always a fun meal and a huge comfort food so give this a try. And if you're feeling experimental make this with meatless meatballs. Husband said he would eat this again meatless and all. I'm convinced that if he liked this a la veggie version anyone will.

PS - I made this with green curry paste asn I HATE red curry. The actual recipe is for the red curry but I've found you can make any curry recipe with the paste that best suites your taste buds.

Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

♪♪C is for cookies it's good enough for me ♪♪...One of the best song ever written by one of my favourite characters - Cookie Monster. Do you know who Cookie Monster really is??? My Husband. He eats cookies by the truck load. Always has. Actually When we got married I instructed the best man that should Husband try to make a break for it and ditch me at the alter to remind him what a killer chocolate chip cookie I make. I knew that would be enough to make him stick around for the ceremony. So tonight I inched a litter deeper into his heart [via his stomach] with this recipe.

This recipe make 12 monster sized cookies but they are sooo chocolatey and sooo rich that 12 is more than enough even for the most hardcore of chocoholics. To be honest with you I could only eat one bite. And not even a full bite just a tiny piece that I broke off the 'corner' of one of these bad boys. That was enough for me. Maybe you think "Huh? WTF do you mean only one tiny piece of this chocolate heaven staring back at me from the screen"...I am an enigma remember. Not really a fan of the chocolatey desserts. You know those molten lava cakes? I don't like those at all. I would have to have PMS on top of PMS to want to eat one of those. And even then I'm not so sure. My addiction to sugar runs deep within these veins but the crazy sweetness and richness of the uber chocolate dessert is just too much for me. Another thing I don't like is cookies. Did you just shit? I thought you might've. But it's true. I could go the rest of my life without the whiff of a cookie and be perfectly happy. But now here is where things get really mad - I love making cookies. I am one of those people that could bake cookies all day long, being happier that a pig in shit (as the saying goes), and not eat a single one. It's okay to call me a freak, I'm comfortable with it. But don't you see what all this means? Husband and I are the perfect pairing. He is the cookie eating ying to my cookie baking yang. And there friends is the true definition of soul mate.