Spaghetti with Hotdogs

A childhood favourite and probably one of the first recipes I made on my own!
While watching an episode of the Big Band Theory I was shocked to hear that it's Sheldon Cooper's favourite meal too,  he mentioned wanting spaghetti with little slices of hotdogs in it  ^_^

This is such a tasty recipe for all ages but kids love it!





As always we do things from scratch around here (but don't let that discourage you because it is as easy as 1-2-3, or opening a jar of premade sauce!)

- 1 pack hotdogs (one large frankfurter per person or two per person of the smaller hotdogs) 

- 2 tbsp plain oil
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 jar passata (italian strained tomato puree)  

(OR use a can of whole tomato, strain from liquid and puree until it's a smooth tomatoy sauce) 

- Salt & Pepper to taste

- 1 tbsp sugar (I use coconut sugar to keep it healthy)

- 2 cloves garlic, just crushed

-1 slice of green bell pepper (optional, it adds a nice flavour if simmered in the pasta sauce and removed later)

Chop your hotdogs into rings, I used shopsys all beef. Place saucepan on heat with oil, sautee hotdog rings on both sides until golden. 

Remove and set aside. 

Now in the same saucepan over medium high heat add olive oil, crushed garlic and let it sautee until fragrant a few seconds (don't let the garlic burn!). Add in your passata (it's an italian pureed tomato that comes in a tall glass jar)  Sautee on medium heat in the oil until it smells good, this is to get the sugars caramelizing in the tomato and remove that "raw" flavour.  

Cover at this stage with a lid because it will splatter all over your kitchen.  It takes about 3 minutes.

Season sauce with salt and pepper, add sugar and piece of green bell pepper (optional) 

Now cover and simmer on low until your pasta water is boiled and you've boiled your pasta too.  

Spaghetti (cook enough according to person's and directions)

Strain and keep some of the pasta water, add the pasta back into the pot with the 1/3-1/2 cup pasta water and add your sauce + hotdogs    Let it heat for about 30 seconds on the same heat you were boiling the pasta then cover, turn heat off and let it stand until it meddles (about 3 minutes - Can straighten up the kitchen at this point and get the plates out)

Now serve and enjoy! It doesn't need any cheese or anything, perfect as is!

Strawberry Almond Bread Pudding

What did we do with all that maple syrup we bought back with us from the festival?  Make french toast, pancakes, waffles... so many goodies, of course!

And bread pudding!!! I think bread pudding is probably one of my favourite things in the whole world... I know, it's not fancy but it has that yummy french toast taste and there is zero slaving involved to fry up each piece of toast.

There are endless possibilities when it comes to bread puddings, from the type of bread used to the custards that soak up all that yummy bread... variations of things to throw in from chocolate to dry fruit, and all kinds of compotes and fruit syrups to drizzle over top when serving

I love a good cinnamony bread pudding casserole with a sugary crunchy topping but today I kept it simple (sometimes simple is best)

I used about 6-8 slices of rye bread (ideally it should be more stale but I only had fresh)
Chop bread into large cubes and dump it into the pan (9x13 or smaller, lightly greased)

Now the second part, the custard:

- 1/2-3/4 cup Milk

- 2 or 3 eggs

- 1/4 cup heavy cream

-1/4 cup melted butter + 1 tsp oil

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 tbsp sugar (I used a product I recently discovered called coconut sugar to keep this healthy!)

Whisk it all up, pour over bread.

Toppings with:
-Tiny cubes of butter (about 1 tbsp worth)

-A handful of slivered almonds

-A handful of very coarse sugar

Each dotted or sprinkled evenly over the top.

Pop into a 350 F preheated over and it's ready in 20-25 minutes or when the liquid has dried up and the edges are a little brown,  to test you can remove a piece from the centre and it should be nice and custardy like and no more raw egg.

Serve with sugared slices of fresh strawberries and a drizzle of maple syrup!
Enjoy!

Whole Brined & BBQ chicken and Elmira Maple Syrup Festival 2013

Brined and BBQ Chicken

I love this chicken because it tastes very similar to those big smoked bbq turkey legs you get at the fairs and festivals! No smoking involved and it's super easy, just requires some prep the day or two ahead of time.

Start brine by mixing 2-3 tbsp salt in a large vessel, a steel pot is ideal, add hot boiling water to dissolve the salt.  Allow this to cool. The water should taste very salty to be able to flavour the chicken right down to the bone!

Add 1 tbsp sugar, or honey or maple syrup

1 large head of garlic, sliced horizontally, with peel and all

1 lemon, cut in half (wash skin and dunk right into the bath)
1 tbsp black whole peppercorns

1 tbsp vinegar (white wine, regular white is fine!)

(You could add herbs like dry thyme, rosemary...) 

Add enough cool water to be able to submerge the chicken in, and finally add the cold raw chicken from the fridge into the bath!  Put it straight back into the fridge for a day or two.

It must marinade at least 1 day in the fridge, when ready to cook remove the chicken from the brine and set it somewhere to drain well.  Let the skin dry up a bit so it's not "soaked" and rub the top with olive oil.

Heat the grill to medium low as this whole chicken will take about 20 + minutes to cook so you want a lower flame.  Allow it to cook flipping from time to time so both sides are roasted.  You can brush it with some maple syrup as a glaze if you like towards the end of cooking.
It's done when it registers to the proper chicken temperature on your thermometer OR you can slice the area where the leg is and the juices should run very clear, there should be no more redness near the bone either.

And here's a glimpse of our trip to Elmira for the Maple Syrup Festival earlier this month, it was fun!

Sweet Saffron Milk

Sweet Saffron Milk

- A pinch of authentic saffron strands (let stand on the counter soaking in about 2 tbsp water overnight)

- Milk

- Sweetener (honey/sugar/agave/ your choice!) 

Heat the milk in a small saucepan, or the microwave and sweeten to taste once it is warm. Add soaked saffron threads and water it was soaking in, at this point the water should be so intense in colour, stir it all into the milk.

If you want to make a milk tea (chai tea) then here is the alternative method:

Heat milk in a saucepan and add to it 1 or 2 teabags (good quality orange pekoe) as soon as it's just about to come to a boil and the milk begins to rise up remove from the stove and stir, steep just about 2 minutes, remove teabags and sweeten.

Now add your saffron threads soaking in water right in and serve!

Feel free to strain the saffron threads out but they're so healthy (and expensive!) I'd rather just consume them.

Serve and enjoy!