Minta Eats

Even if you have a nice sunny weather outside and nice people all around  sometimes you can feel terribly low, useless, lonely and, well, bad . With no particular reason. It just happens and that’s all. For such days/moments you need pizza. Well, at least I find it very comforting and calming. It is no about stupid binging on fast food, Oh no. It’s about really thin, crispy pizza made with wholemeal flour with healthy, light toppings (goat cheese, fresh basil, arugula, spinach, cherry tomatoes – you name it), some crystals of sea salt and drops of good olive oil. The best and I think the simplest recipe for pizza dough is the one I’ve found some time ago on the  great SmittenKitchen Blog.

It is very nice and you just can not ruin it (so there is no risk of feeling worse)

Pizza Dough – Adapted form the Smitten Kitchen

Ingerdients:

2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, add water and olive oil and stir well, touching the sides of the bowl with the spoon and collecting all flour into the center of the bowl. Try to from a nice ball-like form. Having it, transform your dough on the floured surface and knead for few minutes, so you would have a really nice, elastic bowl (if the dough don’t want to cooperate with You, leavce it for mere 2-3 minutes on the counter – after some rest it should get form easier.
Grease the bowl you have used to mix the dough with some olive oil and put there you pizza dough bowl, cover with elastic wrap and leave for 1-2 hours.
Knead once again to get rid of gas bubbles from the dough, wrap in elastic foil and leave for additional 20 minutes.
Heat the oven to 200 C degrees. Flatten the dough on a greased and floured baking sheet, add your fav toppings and bake for 10 minutes

Knead it for just a minute or two. Lightly oil the bowl (a spritz of cooking spray perfectly does the trick) where you had mixed it — one-bowl recipe! — dump the dough in, turn it over so all sides are coated, cover it in plastic wrap and leave it undisturbed for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size.

I think this will be my new best pasta , sitting just by the classic yet not boring gorgonzola and spinach variaton.
This great recipe has been introduced to my by my dearest friend, R. R. is this kind of person that will immediately comfort your soul, heart and mind whrn You feel really low. Talk with You about nothing, something or the most important things in the middle of the night. She is a great friend, artist, scrabble-maniac, gardener and cook. Must come from some fairy tale, IMHO.
So here is the pasta we ate lately – tagliatelle with almonds and ricotta.
As I’ve arrived to R. and P.’s house a bit to early, she decided to make something quick and comforting, espeially that despite June we have had a typically october-ish weather .
And the best option here is pasta. This pasta.

Tagliatelle with ricotta and almonds

Ingredients:
0,5 kg tagliatelle pasta (linguine or buccatini will do just fine)
1 x 250 g pot of fresh ricotta cheese (I use Galbani’s)
1/2 of pot (=125 g) sour single cream
150 g almonds, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 cup vegetable stock
pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
salt and fresh white pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil

Heat dry, heavy pan and put pine nuts onto it. Grill them till golden brown, than take off the pan and put nuts into some bowl.
In a big pot boil some water with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When the water will boil, add pasta and stir well to avoid lumping of the noodles.
Put ricotta on hot pan, add sour cream and mix well. Add almonds, spices and than spon by spoon, some vegetable stock to losen the thick souce.
When the pasta will be ready and al dente, drain it and transefer into a warmed bowl. Pour the souce onto the pasta, sprinkle with pine nuts and some olive oil. Serve. Eat. Enjoy.

Whun I am seeing beautiful asparagus, tomatoes, strawberries or radishes I just can’t stop myself. I am buing amounts more suitable for 4 people household than for me alone. Maybe it’s because of those clod, grayish months when you can just dream about tasteful fruit or veggies.
So it was with ruby red rhubarb I bought for the Slow Food event and charlotte . Instead of half a kilo I came back with two. But it was so beautiful, sooo red, You know? You understand, don’t you? I hope You do:-)
Due to some evening circumstances I wasn’t on to make anything difficult No triple layers torte with mascarpone and rhubarb filling (though sounds delicious, doesn’t it?) or other masterpieces. I needed something sweet, comforting and easy to make. And what’s easier than good ol’ muffins?

This time: Oatmeal Rhubarb Muffins (with white chocolate, if you wish)
Ingridients:

1 cup oats
1 cup flour (can be 50/50 regular and wholemeal)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar (rhubrab is’t to sweet, so You can add more)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 cup youghurt
3 tablespoons of butter, melted
4 stalks of gloriously red rhubarb
optionally: 50 g white chocolate, chopped

Wash and trim rhubarb stalks, cut them into 1 cm length pieces.
Greas the muffin form and layer with paper cups if you like. Turn on the oven for 185 C degrees.

Mix all dry ingridients in one ball. Beat the eggs with butter and youghurt. Add the liquids to flour and oats, stir one time. Add rhubrab (and chocolate), mix NOT so well.
Pour the batter into the muffin form, bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool before serve and Eat!