Pantry dinners #1

After the holidays, DH and I got into a cleaning frenzy - putting away the Christmas decorations, filing papers away, throwing away clutter that somehow builds up over time.  However, there was one area that I avoided.....my pantry.  I have a fairly deep pantry cabinet, which means I tend to forget what canned goods I have lurking back there.  So in the spirit of out with the old & in with the new, I'm on a mission to cook meals using whatever I have in my pantry / fridge / freezer.  I can buy some fresh ingredients, but each meal has to use something from the pantry. 

Today's first attempt:

Broiled Rainbow Trout Fillet with a Warm Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 frozen trout fillets

• 1 can chick peas, rinsed & drained
  
• 1 T olive oil
  
• 2 cloves garlic,minced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 C frozen corn
• 1 tsp chili pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  
• juice from 1/2 a lemon

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  
• Place fillets in an ovenproof pan.  Sprinkle fillets with salt + pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
• Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until cooked.
• Meanwhile in a medium saute pan, soften garlic and onion in olive oil.
• Add drained chickpeas, cumin, chili pepper flakes, salt+pepper.  Saute for a few minutes and then add corn.  Saute for a few minutes more and then add lemon juice. 
  
• Serve broiled fish and chickpea salad with steamed rice.  Optional - add a dollop of tzatziki to the chickpea salad before serving.
  

It took me 10hrs to make a 12hr Bolognese

When SlantYYZ first alerted me to this recipe for a slow cooked bolognese - I scoffed.  12hrs effort for a pasta sauce?! You're a madman, I tell you!  Downright batty!  Open up a jar of Prego and be done with it.

As I read through the recipe and the logic behind it, I became more and more intrigued.  Could slow simmering for 6+ hours really impact flavor that much?  And using star anise as a flavoring, as oppose to the usual oregano.  Interesting.  Very, very interesting.

Soon I was hooked.  I had to try and make this sauce.  Each day that I didn't make this sauce was spent in agonizing anticipation.  Realistically, I knew I couldn't attempt this without knowing I had at least a full day to spend in the kitchen.  And considering the holiday season is hectic, when could I find a day that I could devote to this recipe?  Finally, that day came.  I woke up early and carefully diced, minced and measured, devoutly following the recipe. after 6hrs of slow simmering in the oven, I got impatient (and hungry).  The sauce wasn't reducing quickly enough in the oven.  So I cheated and moved it to the stove.  It took another hour or so before it was at the desired consistency.

I served it on spaghettini with grated Parmesan cheese.  DH could barely wait before I could take a photo (granted, it was almost 8pm by now so he was HUNGRY).  The end result was a melt in your mouth sauce with a nice beefy flavor.  Very tasty.  Very rich.

Recipe link here