Today is the first day of the fall. My appetite is bigger than ever. I'm not pregnant or anything, just to clarify. The fall air always inspired me to cook and eat well. I'm sure many people out there are feeling the same. Since I don't have to pick up my daughter from school around lunch time anymore, I've been making my lunch home more. I'm alone at the house and it is the best time to come up with something fun and easy to cook in peace and quiet.
My lunch is usually made of something left over in the fridge. Today I made this baked pasta. I happen to have a small batch of quinoa and brown rice pasta that I didn't know what to do with for a while. I'm not gluten intolerant but I eat gluten free stuff often. Just because I live in Seattle? Maybe? They are just very available and fun to try out. I must say I'm not a huge fun of gluten free pasta. The texture and tastes are still a bit off. But I don't mind them eating baked because it seems to be more forgiving with the texture.
I bought this small cast iron pan that I thought I'd be using a lot more. I liked the idea of using this pan all the time. But cleaning this thing isn't simple. Maybe as I use it more, I'll get used to it.
Anyway, using this pan to cook just for me seemed like a fun idea. When I see this pan, it reminds me of baked eggs. I eat eggs every day and I like to eat them raw sometimes. I have 5 grown chickens. Sadly I don't get to eat my chickens' eggs every day. They are not laying much lately. I guess they are molting because of the change of the season. The thought of butchering them instead of almost keeping as pets cross my mind all the time. But I'm not a real farmer and the kids name our chickens. Hence the family insists on keeping them even if they never lay eggs. Luckily I had 3 of our eggs still in the fridge from the last week.
This is a super easy dish to make for one or two people and it kinda made my day special. Warm and cozy feeling was all around. Have a happy fall cooking everyone!!
Recipe: serves two
a hand full of spaghetti
1 can of diced tomato
1 small onion diced
2 large cloves of garlic minced
2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 table spoon of tomato paste
fresh thyme leaves
fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper
2 large egg
mozzarella cheese
extra versin olive oil
fresh basil leaves
Heat up a pan with olive oil at the medium high heat and sauté diced onions until onions sweat. Add minced garlic, diced tomato, fresh thyme, fresh basil, tomato paste. Add salt and peer to taste. Stir occasionally and cook it for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven at 450 degrees. Bring water to boil in a large pan. Add a table spoon of salt and a hand full of pasta. Stir occasionally and cook for 7 minutes or so. make sure the pasta is al dente (or whatever the instruction on your pasta package says and a minute or two less).
Take the pasta into the tomato sauce with a bit of cooked pasta water. Combine them well and transfer pasta onto an iron pan. Crack open the eggs over the pasta and cover with mozzarella cheese. Baked it in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on how you like your egg. I over baked mine. Sprinkle some salt and pepper, drizzle some extra version olive oil to finish.
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