Homemade Pasta with Homemade Pesto

To make up for my (extremely)extended absence, I thought I'd ought to make my (re)debut post a knock-out. And that, it is. It really is.

Homemade Pasta with Homemade Pesto



(I literally had to throw this plant out a few hours ago. Maybe I was feeling nostalgic, hence the surprise posting... but it was just getting too buggy(ew) and those bugs are stubborn and I would not put it past them to mowsy on over to my brand-new herb additions and set up camp there.)











To the last drop.


Recipe for homemade pasta from JoyTheBaker. Get it here!

Recipe for homemade pesto from Das Grosse Betty Bossi Kochbuch:

(Lately we have been adding chopped sundried tomatoes to the basil mixture before pureeing it and it is amazing!)

Basilikum-Pesto

3 bunches basil, coarsely chopped (about 100 g)
3 garlic bulbs, pressed (*we use only 1, though)
2 T pinenuts

Puree in food processor
(do not over-process or basil leaves will become bitter)

1/2 t salt
3 T grated parmesan
small amount of lemon peel (*I think we skip this, but it sounds nice!)

Mix into basil mixture

150 ml olive oil

Add slowly to mixture

Pesto will keep in the fridge for a maximum of 5 days.

Pasta Salad

What I Have Had On Previous Days
That I Would Have Had Today
Had I Not Had Something Else
(title)



Really cheap (in every sense of the word) beer in my Mason jar.
I did drink out of my Mason jar today, but it was iced coffee, not beer.
And I did drink beer today, just not out of my jar because it was dirty from my coffee.



Pasta salad. Atop a bed of lettuce.
Wanna know the recipe? Here it is:

Pasta Salad a la Missus Mustard

roughly 200 g uncooked whole grain egg noodles
a handful of grape tomatoes
a nice bed of lettuce
2 tbsp olive oil
(vinegar if you want)
1-2 tbsp pesto
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp fresh, chopped basil
salt & pepper
dollop of cottage cheese
sprinkling of parmesan cheese
(mozzarella would work nicely too)

1. Cook pasta in salted water
2. Cut grape tomatoes in half, set aside
3. Drain pasta, put back into the pot (make sure it's not too hot) and add oil (vinegar), pesto and spices. (Add enough oil to coat all pasta quite thoroughly, it should not be at all dry. I suppose you could add a little water too if it's too dry and you don't want to add extra oil.)
(At this point I also stuck a lid on the pot and put it outside to cool down. You don't need to, but Mr M wanted the pasta cold)
4. Plate on top of lettuce with cottage cheese and parmesan.

Mister Mustard put vinegar and sliced black olives on his and he loved it.
I'm sure it would be tasty with a lot of different things thrown in too.

Spätzli

Spätzli
(pronounced sh-PATZ-li)

A Swiss specialty made by my special Swiss Mister.
If you've never had spätzli before, it essentially tastes like pasta. (Is it a pasta?)
In Switzerland you basically don't bother making it from scratch because pre-made is everywhere, cheap and delish. But this is North America! We don't typically do spätzli. But luckily for you, my Swiss guy does. And I will lovingly hash out the directions into English.









Adapted a lot from Annemarie Wildeisen's Kochen recipe for Käsespätzli.

(We made a half recipe)

400 g flour
4 eggs
250 ml fizzy water
1 tsp salt

1. Put flour in a big bowl, make a well in flour, drop in the eggs and lightly beat them.
2. Add in fizzy water and salt and mix for 5 minutes until dough is fluffy.
3. Leave at room temperature for 15 minutes.
4. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
5. Drop small blobs of dough into boiling water by cutting off pieces as you slightly pour dough out of the bowl (if that makes ANY sense. Look at pictures 1 and 2 and it might make more sense)
6. Let blobs boil until they float to the surface.
7. When they float to the surface, scoop them out with a slotted spoon.

Optional directions:
Lightly fry spätzlis in a pan before serving with sauce.

Mushroom sauce

um...

I'm still waiting on this one. It is a Mister Mustard original and he's not home. Next time, okay? Okay. Deal.

Two Thai dishes.

Mister Mustard Masterpieces


Tofu and red pepper Pad Thai.


Tofu, yellow pepper and baby bok choy on rice.

He likes to free-style his Asian dishes. And he does them well, let me tell you!
Maybe one of these days I will have to sit him down and get him to teach me the ways of his impromptu dinners. He's probably the cutest cook I know.
Thanks, Mister.

Hi, I'm Missus Mustard.

I'm cheating. I directly copy pasted this from my other blog, Milk White Air. Way to start out a new blog...
Although I must say, that this is exactly why I started 'ol Mean Missus Mustard. I like to keep my food an fashion separate; makes perfectly good sense!

Here goes, entry number one:

"That's it. I'm officially obsessed with food and all things food. One look at my first food blog and I was hooked. Although if I'm going to be hooked on anything, it may as well be food, right?

Here are some recipes (though I seem to have an insatiable compulsion to change them, whether because of necessity or just whim. I can't remember the last time I followed a recipe to a T. Sometimes it turns out great, sometimes not) I have been hoarding.

I also went a little wild with my new free toy, Poladroid. I feel like I'm cheating on Photoshop, in a bad way. But it's just. so. fun.

Let's start with Breakfast.


Devenish-style müseli with mashed banana and grated apple.
No recipe. Just memories of breakfast chez the kids I nannied.


Blueberry pancakes.
Recipe from smittenkitchen.com the apple of my food blog eye! I love Deb.


No recipe. Just my love of organics.


Daily granola with everything and anything nice you can think of in a breakfast granola. I've already made it twice and I love to add to it. It is vegan too!
Recipe from orangette.blogspot.com whom I also love.


Decaf coffee from my grab-n-go coffee maker, because my body hates caffeine so very much.

Lunch.


"B".L.T. Made with lotsa mayonnaise and veggie Canadian bacon.

Since we're usually: a) at school over lunch, or b) eating dinner leftovers for lunch, time's up for this category.

Rollin' up to Dinner.


Veggie fajitas topped with cheese and into the oven.
No recipe, because you're looking at the Mexican master. Well. Reading words from the tips of the master's fingers.


Eggplant tomato sauce. People, this pasta sauce is so good. I don't even like eggplant and this sauce puts a party in my mouth. It is vegan also.
No recipe, but more memories, and tweaking thereof, of the Devenish house.


"Wurst" im teig and Plain Jane, with chickpeas. The "wurst" meaning veggie dogs, even better! So easy and magnifique we've made it again since. Hint* though the recipe is in German, I will let you know it's basically phyllo pastry wrapped around a veggie dog with mustard. Yum.
Recipe and recipe from a German childrens' cooking page and orangette.blogspot.com
And this whole meal is vegan!




Cyril's ratatioulle. It is vegan. Cyril is a fantastic cook. He can take anything blah and turn it into BAM.
No recipe, just his pretty little head.


Would-be Butternut squash soup with Gruyère croutons, but is more like Pumpkin potato soup with cheddar croutons. One of the best soups I've ever made. Now I want to try the recipe as it was intended.
Recipe from milkeggschocolate.blogspot.com
I think Alyson would be the catalyst who got me onto these blogs. Her ever-lovely unruly things page often has little food goodies tucked into it. One thing led to the next. And now I'm a cookaholic.


Valentie's Day gnocchi. I didn't do Deb's recipe justice, but now I know for next time.
Recipe from smittenkitchen.com


All made 100 x better by Cyril's cheesy cream sauce.

Dessert.


Chocolate fondue is amazing with grapes. And bananas. And pears. And I bet you could stick about anything in a warm pot of melted dark chocolate and it would taste good.


Spiced and baked pear with butterscotch ice cream.
No recipe. You could not mess this up if you tried.

I'm hungry."

Next installment: something new? I think so.