The sad meal

of the poor, lazy, rained-out people.

I worked on Sunday.
Then I got rained on.
Gingold bought ingredients for dinner.
It was weird.
I had to make pasta from flavoured tuna. Tomato and onion flavour.
I never knew how shit Greenseas tuna was.
It was like paste.

We powered through.
Also, it was a good way to stay away from the filming at Lure for W's space-themed love soapie starring Kamal.
Yes...that Kamal.

Sad-face pasta
Serves 4

1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 chili, finely chopped
stalks of 1 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
The bag of tomatoes G bought...like...9 mini ones, diced
1 capsicum, chargrilled on the stove, skin and seeds removed, diced
1 can of peeled tomatoes
balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
2 mini cans of Greenseas evil tuna of hell, tomato and onion flavoured
2 tablespoons of cream
1/2 bag of baby spinach, washed
400g spaghetti, cooked

Sweat off the onion, garlic, chili and parsley stalks. Turn the heat up and add the fresh tomatoes and fry off for a few minutes, salt.
Add the canned tomatoes and the cap. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Bring to boil and then down to a simmer for 30 minutes.
I figured cos the tuna tasted like arse, that I had to add it now to try overpower the flavour.

It pretty much destroyed the sauce.

So, we cooked it down more, added some balsamic and salt to take the artificial sweetness away.

But it was still sad.

So, we cooked it down more.
And more.
And more.
It probably went on for about 50 minutes.

And then, to cut the gross, I added a couple of tablespoons of fresh cream and then spinach.


It actually saved it.
Surprisingly.


And we ate it with garlic bread that D made.

This is the first time in the place the quality of meal and wine were on par...oh, and we buy cleanskins, so it is a hit and miss.
Interpret as you will.

I made hippy food and I didn't even know it.

And that upset me.

I scrounged around for food-stuffs in a very lacking home and found some quinoa left from a meal I made a while back there. And it wasn't infested with weevlis. Meh, it was good.
And gluten free.
And egg free.
And vegetarian.

I know...it's horrendous.
I can't even make some sarcastic title about it to make myself feel better. Don't worry, I bathe and use bleached paper when printing assignments.

Quinoa Fritters.
Makes 20-ish.

2 handfuls of white quinoa
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
salt
pepper
1/2 a market bag of baby spinach, washed
1/2 bunch of parsley, finely chopped.
1 medium sized eggplant
2 handfuls of grated parmesan
1-2 handfuls of mungbean sprouts
cashew butter, or a few handfuls of cashews pounded into butter with a mortar and pestle

Cook the quinoa with twice the amount of water as there is quinoa for 15-20 minutes with the sliced garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, grill the eggplant, peel and set aside.
When the quinoa is cooked, add the spinach and parsley and stir till wilted, throw in the parmesan and mungbean sprouts and stir. Add the eggplant while warm with a few tablespoons of cashew butter, to taste. Season with salt and pepper.

You'll have a weird looking mixture like this.
Gross...innit?

Now, heat a skillet on a high heat and fry off the fritters in tablespoons. Make sure the pan is really hot, or they will stick to the pan. You'll need to do them for about 3 minutes on each side. And no, if they stick, it doesn't mean you need more oil, it just means your pan needs to be hotter. Don't be afraid.
Or, alternatively, you could deep fry these fuckers.
But, I didn't...your choice.


Serve with a wedge of lemon.

Despite

having got up this morning and gone to the gym and the market, I am wrecked. My partying has finally caught up to me and I am in a momentous amount of pain.
Oh, and I threw up a few times.

So, ambitiously, I made this to bring to my friend's birthday of food and drinks and sadly, I can't move. And I think if I have thrown up, other people should probably not be exposed to this. Even though it is a really good salad.

*Sad face*

Excuse the shitter than usual photo, I kind of didn't care by the time I finished and this is the strange lighting we have in the house in the late afternoon.

Don't eat this unless you want to contract the plague in your brains.
Um, but feel free to make it.

1/2 pumpkin, cleaned, skin still on, diced
1 red onion, halved and sliced
1 stalk of rosemary, stolen from the neighbour's front garden
sage, torn
2 cloves of garlic, diced
salt
pepper
salt
oil

1 handful of hazlenuts
half that of walnuts
A few big handfuls of baby spinach leaves

1/2 a block of feta (don't ask me what type, I just stood at the counter asking the person at the counter at the market until I liked one...I know, irresponsible blogging), diced

Dijon mustard, the dregs in the bottom of the jar (probably 2 teaspoons)
Extra virgin olive oil (a few glugs)
salt
pepper
juice of 1 small lemon
honey (to taste)

Preheat the oven to 200 and combine the pumpkin, onion, salt, pepper, sage, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and oil and place on a baking tray. Bake for 20-30 minutes.
In the last 10 minutes, throw in the nuts.
Meanwhile, whisk together the mustard, oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and honey until you have a dressing balanced to your liking.
Crush the nuts.
In a large salad bowl, throw in your spinach leaves and the cooked pumpkin and etc. Stir to wilt the leaves a little. Mix in the nuts and the feta and dress with the dressing so that it is coated, but not leaving a pool a the bottom.
Serve with crusty bread and apologise to your chicken friend.