IDEA159: Tackle the Mysterious Fennel with a French Recipe, Even Your Kids Will Eat

Do you have a certain vegetable that you in principle find a good idea to eat but in practice a culinary puzzle to prepare?

I have a vegetable like that and it's fennel. I like the way it tastes, I like its fragrance, but how to actually consume it always remained a bit of a mystery. I mean, taking raw bites out of it is simply not very elegant. What is elegant on the other hand is French cuisine... always! So I figured I will go to my latest obsession the evocative, Mimi Thorisson's Manger blog, to see if there was any hope left for the poor fennel bulb. I was in total luck! (As one who searches usually is...)

I scanned the recipe for "Sausages and Fennel" picking out key words such as, mustard, thyme, butter and red wine and immediately decided to give it a try! 

Since the oven was doing most of the work, I was left with the hard task of struggling against myself not to finish all of the red wine before it was time to add one cup of it to the recipe... An hour later and a bit later dinner was served. It was phenomenal! Let's just say even our two boys ate the fennel. We did end up pairing it with some fancy Belgian beers because alas the red wine did not make it to dinner.

Thank you Mimi for changing my non-consummate relationship with fennel, the flirtation is definitely on - STRONG!  

Here is the recipe for the amazing "Roast Sausages With Fennel" and happy Culinary Travels!
 

• • •    LESSONS LEARNED    • • •

When you're not sure what to make, make it French! 

Get everyday adventure ideas @LiveLikeYoureTraveling  

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IDEA132: Go on a Culinary Adventure to Savannah with a 15 Min. Crab Chowder

"It's a Snap" has been inspired by the obsession of instagramming one's meals (Guilty!). These come straight out of my Instagram feed @alla_otspblog, and they're actual meals that I cook daily for my family. Disclaimer: I'm no chef, I just love home cooking. All meals you'll see here take no longer then 30 minutes to prepare, and I make these on regular weeknights. If a recipe is based on another I will link the original for you!  

Lazy Girl's Crab Chowder Recipe (15 Minute Crab Chowder)

My mom in law was due to come over for dinner and usually I like to make a bit of a bigger deal for her, but I sort of... forgot (well now that I have 2 kids I can always blame it on them for not getting something done on time). Anyway, I still wanted to wow her just a little bit by making something "different" that we don't eat everyday. Crab Chowder popped into my mind! Don't ask me how or why, the mysteries of the inner workings of my mind shall remain undisclosed. The recipe however is below.

15 Minute Crab Chowder (serves 4 with leftovers)
• 1 tbsp of butter
• 2 potatoes peeled and chopped into small cubes
• 1 medium onion
• (Optional) half of a zucchini chopped into small cubes (I had this laying around the fridge and wanted to use it up so in it went!) 
• 1 red bell pepper chopped really small (great for a pop of color)
• Chicken stock (about 6 cups)
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups of frozen corn
• 2 cans of crab meat
• 1 tsp of Chinese fish or oyster sauce (if you'd like to make it just a tad more fishy)
• 1 tsp of berbere (I put this in everything pretty much!) or cajun seasoning
• a bunch of fresh parsley chopped-up
• pinch of chili pepper
• ½ cup of milk

Prep: 
Heat up the butter in a pot or Dutch Oven. Throw in the onion, potatoes, zucchini, red bell pepper and the parsley. Stir it over medium heat until onions are translucent, about 2 minutes. Add berbere or cajun seasoning and give it another stir. Pour in the chicken stock and throw in the bay leaf. Add the corn and cook for about 10 minutes (peppers and potatoes should get soft). Add the crab meat and let it warm up for another 2 minutes. Add the fish/oyster sauce and that pinch of chili pepper. As the last step, turn of the heat, add the milk, stir and serve! Perhaps with a warmed up baguette smothered with garlic butter! 

• • •

If you'd like to do this the longer way, and have 2-3 hours, check out this lovely recipe. 

And even longer... why not fly on down to Savannah, Georgia and head over to River Street to eat this southern specialty overlooking the harbor? We hear also that within 30 minutes drive from downtown, A-J's Dockhouse on Tybee Island, is THE place to be for crab soup... 

• • •
River Street, Savannah
{ Via TripAdvisor }

• • •
AJ's Dockside Restaurant
{ Via Trip Advisor } 

Hope you'll enjoy this quick recipe or the longer trip down to Savannah, Georgia. Let me know which Instagram meal you'd like a recipe for next! 
 

• • •     LESSONS LEARNED    • • •

"Armchair travel" can also be
done from the kitchen counter!

Love it? Share it! - We are dedicated to sharing stories that spark ideas and are meaningful to you. The best way to let us know is to post a comment, like below or pin on Pinterest! ~ For More ways to Live Like You're Traveling, follow us on Feedly, Bloglovin, Pinterest, or Facebook. 

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IDEA107: Channel the Romance of Nice with a Savory Pumpkin Soup

about 12 years ago

IDEA110: Enjoy a 15 Min. Homemade Spaghetti Bolognese on a Weeknight

Some recipes just seem to inspire this inexplicable fear in our hearts. You know what I'm talking about, those recipes that we think will take hours to make, or might require fancy kitchen equipment or exotic never before seen ingredients. Spaghetti Bolognese used to be that kind of recipe for me. Obviously to make it one needed to spend the entire day in front of a large spattering pot of sauce, being sure to stir it regularly at strategically spaced intervals... Oh and you absolutely had be an older Italian matriarch with expansive bosoms who could make little children wet themselves just from one disapproving look you would give them.  

This fantasy I constructed around the Bolognese sauce was shattered during the time I spent in Florence.  (I studied abroad there, long, long ago.)  It was one of those carefree Saturdays spent frolicking on the beach near Sienna.  By the time a group of us finally got back to Florence and piled into Peppe's small apartment, everyone was ready for a big filling meal and pronto! Well imagine my surprise when Peppe suggested we make Spaghetti Bolognese and a quick inspection of his kitchen confirmed the lack of a big bubbling pot on the stove being supervised by an intimidating Italian matron.  Trust me, said Peppe seeing my surprise, it wouldn't take longer then 15 minutes!   

And sure enough someone ran downstairs to the shop for the ingredients while we tooled around opening bottles of wine and setting up the dinner table.  In what seemed like minutes we were all contentedly devouring our Spaghetti Bolognese accompanied by red wine, laughter and evening sun shine streaming through open veranda doors.   

Spaghetti Bolognese

Simplified Bolognese Sauce (serves 4)

• 5 medium tomatoes (I like to use roma tomatoes)
• 500g or 1 lb of ground beef 
• 1 medium onion
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• ½ glass of red wine (don't drink it all yourself!)
• ½ teaspoon of paprika
• 1 teaspoon of sugar 
• salt and pepper to taste
• pinch of black and chili peppers
• pinch of dried oregano and basil
• spaghetti or fresh pasta (using fresh pasta will save you even more time, since it cooks in 3-4 minutes.) 

Garnish
• Fresh basil leaves
• Pecorino Romano cheese  

Prep/cook – Homemade Spaghetti Bolognese
Boil a large pot of water then add the tomatoes and boil for about 3 minutes.  We're not trying to cook them, but simply shock them in heat so the skin loosens up and cracks.  Take the tomatoes out of the water (save that water for boiling spaghetti in) and run them under cold water.  This is so that they cool off enough for you not to burn your fingers when peeling the skins off.  At this point it should be easy to simply peel the skins with your fingers.  Remove the hard cores of the tomatoes and chop them up a bit. Set aside.

Chop up the onion and saute’ it in 1 tsp of butter until translucent.  Add ground beef and cook until it's not pink anymore.  Add the chopped tomatoes, the garlic, the wine and the rest of the spices.  Lower the heat and stir periodically.

Turn the fire back on under the pot with saved tomato water, add the spaghetti and a generous twist of salt.  Cook about 8 minutes as per instructions.  Don't forget the sauce!  Stir it periodically imagining yourself as an Italian mamma.

You won't even get a chance to finish that glass of wine when it's all ready!  

Serve
Pile the delicious al dente spaghetti onto plates and top them off generously with your homemade sauce.  Garnish with shavings of pecorino romano cheese and fresh basil leaves. Pour everyone a large glass of red wine.  Why not make it a Chianti? And as the Italians say, you got yourself a meal that's al bacio*!...*perfect like a kiss

--> Follow us on Pinterest, where you'll find more great ideas on our board:  Pasta! 

• • •    LESSONS LEARNED   • • •

There's more than one way to bolognese.

Love it? Share it! - We are dedicated to sharing stories that spark ideas and are meaningful to you. The best way to let us know is by posting a comment, like below or pin it on Pinterest! ~ For More ways Live Like You're Traveling follow us on Feedly, Bloglovin, Pinterest, or Facebook. 

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