Easy Pasta Sauce

I came home late and needed to make something filling and quick with little ingredients.  This sauce is actually really delicious!

Categories:  Pasta, Tomatoes, Ground Beef

Frenchman Rating:  7/10,  "It was simple, so it gets a simple grade."

Ingredients

• 1 small can tomato paste
• 3 large tomatoes, sliced in half and then gutted- guts to the side; the rest choppped thin.
• 3/4  cup water
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 300 grams 'steak haché' or ground beef
• salt/pepper
• 1 tablespoon herbes de provence

Instructions

1. Begin by heating a small amount of oil in a pan and sautéeing the garlic/onions.  After about a minute, toss in the ground beef.  Good for a few minutes, stirring often.
2. Add in the tomato guts and 1/2 the water.  Stir.
3. Add in the tomato paste, rest of water, herbs.  Stir, cover and cook medium-low for 5 minutes.
4. Toss in the sliced tomatoes and salt/pepper to taste.  Stir, cover and cook over low simmer for 10 minutes or ready to serve.

Tarte aux Moutarde

One of my favorite savory pies, the tomatoes/mustard work really well together and make for a delicious lunch or dinner.

Category: Savory Pies, Tomatoes, Dinner, Lunch

Frenchman Rating/Comments:  8/10,  "The mustard was not strong enough, next time use 'extra fort'."

Cost per Serving: The entire pie came to about €4.00... so very minimal.

Ingredients

• Pastry shell or enough pastry dough for one open-faced 'pie', ensure the dough is not sweet, but is salty
• 3 Large House Tomatoes sliced thinly, or 6 medium size roma tomatoes sliced thinly
• 6 slices swiss cheese (3x5 inches is good, with a width of 1/4 inch)
• 1/3 cup mustard with seeds (like a rough mustard or a brown mustard- better flavor), 1/4 cup Dijon mustard (yellow and kinda spicy) extra strong.
• 2 tablespoons Herbes de Provences, or just plain old oregano and basil (one tablespoon of each, mixed)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Pie Dish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F or 200°C
2. Lay out the pastry dough into the pie pan, if it's a pastry shell with a pie pan attached skip to step 3.
3. Poke holes all over the bottom of the crust, this will ensure the pie will not bubble up.
4. Spread the mustard evenly over the bottom of the crust, if need more add more, ensure the pie crust does not show through.
5. Place slices of swiss cheese along the bottom on top of mustard, it will resemble a pizza
6. Layer tomato slices clockwise starting from the outside edge swirling to the interior until the bottom is covered. If there is extra, continue to layer to cover spots.
7. Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil and about 2 tablespoons of the seasoning, plus salt and pepper to taste
8. Place in oven, cook uncovered for about 20 minutes, or until the tomatoes are curled on the edges, the outside crust is brown, like the photo below:
    

 

Serve with a chilled wine and a tossed salad!

Chicken Caccitore

Chicken caccitore, one of those homey favorites... and tend to be complicated.  My version is one where you can start it and leave it to stew while watching some TV or even better, hanging out and snacking on some buttery popcorn.

Category:  Chicken, Pasta, Tomatoes; Dinner


Frenchman Rating/Comments:  8/10, "Incredibly delicious, the chicken was tender and well cooked, the sauce worked well with the chicken and the olives actually added some round to the flavor."

Cost per Serving:  Chicken = €1.50ea,  Tomato Sauce = €1.00 per serving.  Total Estimated: €2.50 per serving.


Ingredients

• 2 Chicken Breasts, deboned
• 1 can stewed/chopped tomatoes
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 can black olives
• 1/2 cup shredded emmenthal
• 2 tablespoons romano shredded
• salt/pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 1/2 cup flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, put in a shallow plate.

Equipment

• 1 medium sauce pan
• 1 large frying pan
• 1 shallow plate

Instructions

1. Begin by heating up some oil (medium high heat) in the large frying pan.  Take the two chicken breasts and roll around in the flour, knocking off any extra.
2. When the oil is hot, lay the chicken in it.
3. As the chicken fries on one side, crush the garlic cloves and put in with the canned tomato and seasoning.  Cook over a high heat, stirring constantly.
4. 3 minutes later, turn the chicken, it should be nice and dark brown.  Cook for another 3 minutes.
5. Pour the tomato mixture over the chicken in the frying pan, ensuring it gets under the chicken and on top.  Add the olives, cover and cook on medium heat.
6. Go do something interesting for about 15 minutes, checking the chicken mixture once in awhile to ensure it's not burned.
7. Start cooking up some pasta; al dente at 8-9 minutes.. Continue cooking the chicken, but add the cheese on top, recover.
8. Serve when the pasta is al dente; on the side.  I like to eat the sauce like a ratatouille with the chicken and compliment it with the sauce.

Salade Niçoise

I had a can of tuna and I didn't want to make another tuna fish sandwich- so I let it hang out in the pantry until one night I was totally inspired a la Julia Child to make a salad niçoise.. my version.

Category:  Dinner OR Lunch, Main Dish, Salad


Frenchman Rating: 9/10, "Incredibly delicious, and surprisingly was not simply just a salad, but a filling meal."

Cost per Serving:  €2.53 per serving

 Ingredients

• 1/2 sac of mache lettuce OR 1/2 head of any type of green leafy lettuce

• 2 whole tomatoes, chopped into chunks  

• 1 can of tuna (usually about 15oz can)

• 2 lemons

• 1 tin of sardines (suprisingly delicious, tastes like a rich tuna)

• 1 large can green beans

• 4 boiled eggs, shelled, chopped
• 3/4 medium onion, sliced
• 1/3 cup black olives (pitted or non pitted)
• 3-4 baked or steamed potatoes
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt/Pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Begin by opening the tuna, draining, opening the green beans, draining, and pretty much preparing everything (chopped tomatoes/eggs, sliced onions, steam the potatoes)..
2. Mix up the '*super ball-samic dressing'
3. Layer:
1. Lettuce
2. Tomatoes/Olives/Greenbeans
3. Tuna/Onions with a little spritz of lemon juice or oregano
4. Eggs
4. Serve with dressing on side, or dressing tossed into it.  Serve with two slices of lemon. I like to ensure my potatoes are still warm when I do the tossing.. really goes well with a crusty bread.

*super ball-samic dressing
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tablespoon red wine
2 tsp grainy mustard
(Shake well, serve)

Holy Frickin' Tomato Herby Soup!

Tomatoes are really inexpensive in France, so take advantage of this and use it.. like I decided to.  Inspired by Google searchings regarding tomato soup- I came up with this soup.. it can serve about 4.. or 2 very hungry people.. (like Frenchman and I).


Category:  Dinner, Main Dish, Soup


Frenchman Rating: 8/10
Comments:  "It is.. a tomato soup.. it would have been more decadent served with a crusty bread on top or maybe less herbs.."

Cost per Serving:  Around €2.00

Ingredients

• 5 whole tomatoes, either roma or on the vine (at the marché you'd ask for about 500g)
• 1 medium can whole stewed tomatoes (I used stewed w/ basil)
• 1 whole bunch basil
• 2 tablespoons rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons oregano
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped fine
• 2 cups either vegetable stock or chicken stock
•  
• 1/5 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/5 cup olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, whole/peeled
• 1/4 cup cream
• Salt & pepper to taste

TOP.. 1 nice sized slice of baguette, toasted in the oven with olive oil, set aside... and 1/2 cup of shredded emmenthal.







Equipment

• 4-6 quart pot
• Baking sheet 

Directions
Preheat oven to 220 celsius.

1. Begin by washing the tomatoes, of course, and pat dry.  Cut the tomatoes in half, sprinkle with salt and put them face down into a baking dish or tray.  Use a spoon to drizzle a mix of the balsamic and olive oil mix over the face down tomatoes.  Put the whole garlic next to it.
2. Bake the tomatoes for about 30-40 minutes... you can just leave it to bake.
3. About 10 minutes left on the bake time, start heating up the canned tomatoes, chicken broth, rosemary, bay leaves, oregano, onions and salt/pepper (around 3 teaspoons of salt, 1 tsp of pepper).  Allow to cook over high heat for the last 10 minutes of the baking time.
4. Once tomatoes are done, take and drop into the soup mixture.  Allow to cook on medium-high heat for another 10 minutes.
5. Take the bay leaves out, pull out a stick blender and blend until medium/chunky.. depending on the mood.
6. Add in the basil leaves, cook and season to taste for another 10 minutes on medium or low heat.
7. To serve... take two bowls, ladle about 2 cups of the soup into each bowl and pour in half the cream into each.. 1/8 cup each.  Stir around., top with the cheese.
8. Serve with the crusty bread...

Final product, cream and a grilled cheese... YUM-O