Wanting to use the delicious homemade tomato sauce that we had made the previous night with organic whole peeled canned tomatoes, garlic, onion, carrot, chianti wine, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and basil (the kind of stuff you pay high prices for in the grocery store) - we resorted to a recipe we had tried while back in New York whose inspiration came from a recipe found in a Men's Health magazine. This is an easy, wholesome and filling meal - perfect for weekdays when spending hours in the kitchen just isn't in the cards.
Ingredients: Tomato Farro with Baked Eggs
1 cup farro, rinsed and drained
2.5 cups water
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 large green pepper, diced
1 T. EVOO
1-1.5 cups good tomato sauce
4 eggs
salt and pepper
The first step is boiling rinsed farro until just about cooked (about 25-30 minutes) - we used just under 1 cup of farro and about 2 and 1/4 cup salted water to a pot and brought it to a boil. Once it came to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer and cover the pot - letting the farro cook in peace for about 20 minutes more. Once almost cooked - remove from heat (and drain any excess water if any).
While the farro is cooking, roughly chop up some goodies into that will be sauteed and then mixed in with the farro. We used garlic (minced), onion, and green pepper, but any other variations of bite sized vegetables would probably work too.
Saute the chopped vegetables in some EVOO until softened slightly.
Add the farro to the vegetables and cover with tomato sauce (we used about 1 cup). Mix well and let the flavors cook together (either at low temperature on the stove top or in the oven at about 350.
After about 10 minutes of slow cooking, carefully crack eggs, one at a time, on top of the farro mixture so as not to break the yolk. Once you have the desired number of eggs added to the dish, cover and either bake or heat on stovetop until the egg whites are no longer clear and the yolk is still runny.
Remove from heat and sprinkle with salt and pepper - serve either straight from the pan or on individual plates.
And because Katie wanted to add some kale to the farro, and I'm not a huge fan of kale, I decided to make a side dish of my own creation - something that I could tolerate and that Katie would like as well.
We had received a bunch of dinosaur kale in the latest "Farm Fresh to You" shipment. Whole Foods describes this kind of kale as: "Dinosaur kale is the common name for the kale variety known as Lacinato. It features dark blue-green leaves that have an embossed texture. It has a slightly sweeter and more delicate taste than curly kale."
So what does a man do with something that is a bit foreign and not necessarily at the top of his "eat" list? Add bacon and beer of course!
I started by cooking up a few slabs of bacon - Nieman Ranch Applewood Smoked Dry-Cured Bacon. The package claims that it is the finest tasting meat in the world. I'm not sure about that, but it's good bacon. Once cooked, I removed the bacon, crumbled it up and reserved some (not all) of the bacon fat for cooking the kale.
Next I added some onion, leeks and garlic and let those cook a bit before adding the chopped up kale.
I had bought some beer from Trader Joe's so I popped that open and poured some (probably half a cup) into the kale mixture and let the flavors simmer for a good 30-40 minutes.
The beer itself was pretty boring. I haven't really had an organic beer that I have found to be that amazing. It just tastes like a watered down Pale Ale, and I am used to drinking particularly dry and bitter pale ales loaded with hops. But it was refreshing and went well with the meal, plus its beer so that's a plus.
The picture below is the finished kale. The stuff is pretty bitter, stiff, and waxy on its own...so braising it in liquid really permeates it making it tender, edible, and actually quite delicious.
Ingredients: Tomato Farro with Baked Eggs
1 cup farro, rinsed and drained
2.5 cups water
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 large onion, diced
1/2 large green pepper, diced
1 T. EVOO
1-1.5 cups good tomato sauce
4 eggs
salt and pepper
The first step is boiling rinsed farro until just about cooked (about 25-30 minutes) - we used just under 1 cup of farro and about 2 and 1/4 cup salted water to a pot and brought it to a boil. Once it came to a boil, turn the heat down to a simmer and cover the pot - letting the farro cook in peace for about 20 minutes more. Once almost cooked - remove from heat (and drain any excess water if any).
While the farro is cooking, roughly chop up some goodies into that will be sauteed and then mixed in with the farro. We used garlic (minced), onion, and green pepper, but any other variations of bite sized vegetables would probably work too.
Saute the chopped vegetables in some EVOO until softened slightly.
Add the farro to the vegetables and cover with tomato sauce (we used about 1 cup). Mix well and let the flavors cook together (either at low temperature on the stove top or in the oven at about 350.
After about 10 minutes of slow cooking, carefully crack eggs, one at a time, on top of the farro mixture so as not to break the yolk. Once you have the desired number of eggs added to the dish, cover and either bake or heat on stovetop until the egg whites are no longer clear and the yolk is still runny.
Remove from heat and sprinkle with salt and pepper - serve either straight from the pan or on individual plates.
And because Katie wanted to add some kale to the farro, and I'm not a huge fan of kale, I decided to make a side dish of my own creation - something that I could tolerate and that Katie would like as well.
We had received a bunch of dinosaur kale in the latest "Farm Fresh to You" shipment. Whole Foods describes this kind of kale as: "Dinosaur kale is the common name for the kale variety known as Lacinato. It features dark blue-green leaves that have an embossed texture. It has a slightly sweeter and more delicate taste than curly kale."
So what does a man do with something that is a bit foreign and not necessarily at the top of his "eat" list? Add bacon and beer of course!
I started by cooking up a few slabs of bacon - Nieman Ranch Applewood Smoked Dry-Cured Bacon. The package claims that it is the finest tasting meat in the world. I'm not sure about that, but it's good bacon. Once cooked, I removed the bacon, crumbled it up and reserved some (not all) of the bacon fat for cooking the kale.
Next I added some onion, leeks and garlic and let those cook a bit before adding the chopped up kale.
I had bought some beer from Trader Joe's so I popped that open and poured some (probably half a cup) into the kale mixture and let the flavors simmer for a good 30-40 minutes.
The beer itself was pretty boring. I haven't really had an organic beer that I have found to be that amazing. It just tastes like a watered down Pale Ale, and I am used to drinking particularly dry and bitter pale ales loaded with hops. But it was refreshing and went well with the meal, plus its beer so that's a plus.The picture below is the finished kale. The stuff is pretty bitter, stiff, and waxy on its own...so braising it in liquid really permeates it making it tender, edible, and actually quite delicious.
No comments:
Post a Comment