Weeknight Pasta

So I am here studying in Scotland for the semester, and living in an apartment style dorm with my own kitchen. I have gotten pretty sick of having pasta sauce out of a jar and makeshift quesadillas with the lack of mexican food around the UK.

This recipe is super easy and can really be adapted in any way to fit what you have in your kitchen as long as you have the basics!

Weeknight Pasta Dish (for lack of a more creative name)

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup goat cheese
pasta
olive oil
mushrooms
bell peppers
spinach
sausage
(or whatever you want in the dish! these are just some favorites of mine)

Boil water for the pasta

In a frying pan, cook the sausages in olive oil. Add the peppers and mushrooms (chopped and sliced, respectively) and sautee along with the mostly done sausages. Add the spinach and stir until wilty (you know, til it's all soft and squishy and delicious).

During this process, cook the pasta. When you have maybe 5 minutes left on the pasta, put the cream in a saucepan and heat, stirring occasionally until bubbling. Turn the heat off, and add the cheeses, vegetables, and sausages. stir well while the sauce is still hot.

Put the finished pasta in the saucepan along with the sauce and toss. Garnish with grated parmesan, salt, and pepper, as desired. Eat up and be happy :)

Perfect for a stressy night when I have leftover veggies in my fridge and just a few key ingredients!

Popovers

So they probably can't really be considered a bread since popovers are gooey and baked in muffin-like tins, but everyone in my family goes absolutely nuts over these and often fights to tear the last one into pieces just to get one last bite before the next time I make them. Not that their hard to make...it took me a few times to really understand how to make them without complete failures.

My grandmother has made Yorkshire Pudding as long as I can remember, and everyone always seemed very concerned and stressed when she did so. I think this gave me a preconceived notion that popovers and similar starches are evil and impossible to master (though they may have been stressed due to the fact she has attempted to burn the house down on multiple occasions due to baking issues....haha).

Anyway, I have found there are basically two requirements to creating popovers successfully:

1. Do not, under ANY circumstances open the oven door after you put them in.
2. Pierce them with a knife as soon as you remove the pan from the oven. This lets the steam escape so that they will remain puffed up and only fall very minimally.

Popovers
from "The Williams- Sonoma Baking Book: Essential Recipes for Today's Home Baker"

Ingredients
3 tbsp butter
3 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Pour 2 tbsp of the melted butter evenly in each little section of the popover pan (if you don't have one, ramekins - my favorite! - or muffin tins will work). I use a brush to make sure all sides are covered in butter.

Whisk together the remaining tablespoon of butter along with the eggs and milk. Once well-combined, add the flour and salt and stir until all lumps are gone.

Pour the batter into the popover pan (this recipe makes exactly 6 but can easily be doubled if necessary). Place in cold oven and immediately turn temperature to 375 degrees. This is what the recipe says but I usually turn mine on about a minute or two before I'm ready to put them in....yet to determine if this makes a difference.

Cook, without opening the oven door, for 35 - 45 minutes.

If you don't have an oven light I wish you luck in coping with the anticipation, but fear not! If you followed all instructions you will open the door after 35 minutes to find delightfully tall and puffy popovers.

As I stated previously, stab each popover with a knife (at least halfway through) and serve immediately.

Pizzas