Sunday 21 June 2009

Penne in tomato-basil sauce, au gratin

This is the pasta I (or most Italians) do on a regular basis when we don't have any special idea on what to cook, hehe. This is the way I do it. This time I however cooked it au gratin at the end with readily grated regular cheese and parmesan on top. Yum!

Ingredients (x3):
270 g penne (I prefer my penne rigate and integrali)
2 cloves garlic
1 big onion
5 tomatoes
70 g tomato sauce
2 tablespoons white vinegar or apple vinegar
a tiny pinch of dried peperoncino
pepper
salt
olive oil
grated cheese
grated parmesan
basil (fresh or dry)

Preparation:
Cook the pasta in salted water. Grind the garlic and chop the onion quite fine. Peel the tomatoes and remove their insides. Cut the tomatoes into sticks. Fry the garlic and onion on a pan with olive oil, and when they have gained a little bit of colour, add the tomatoes. Add salt and pepper plus a tiny bit of peperoncino. Pour in the 2 tablespoons of vinegar. Cook on heavy heat for some 2-3 minutes and then lower the heat by half. Add the tomato sauce and cook for 6-8 minutes still. At the end add the basil.
Mix the pasta and the sauce together and pour it on an oven baking plate. Add some regular cheese and parmesan on top.
Bake in the oven set to the gratin function for 10 minutes.


Apple pie featuring oats

Here's the recipe for a heavenly oat-driven apple pie. Yes, Finns use them even in apple pie. Comes out really good! I recommend it if you still haven't tried!

Ingredients (8 portions):
100 g butter
1 egg
1 ½ dl oats
½ dl sugar
1 ½dl wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

2-3 apples

On top:
50 g butter
½ dl sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
1 ½ dl oats

Preparation:
Mix the sot butter, egg, sugar, oats, flour and baking powder together. Apply butter on the surface of your baking mould. Press the dough onto the bottom of the mould and use extra flour to help. Peel and slice the apples and settle them on the dough.
For the topping: Melt the butter and mix into it the sugar and the oats. Dust the mix equally on the whole surface of the pie.
Bake the pie in 200 c for 25 minutes.
Excellent served with vanilla sauce or vanilla ice cream!