mercredi, octobre 29, 2008

like water for chocolate.

i don't know why, but cooking for me is oddly therapeutic. It's not as though i'm supremely good at it. i just like watching onions sweat in olive oil, or watching apples brown in sugar and butter. But the only time i ever really cook is when people are coming over for dinner.

Yesterday, i was feeling pretty drained, but some friends were coming over for dinner. So i bought some fresh pre-made canneloni stuffed with cheese and asparagus, and i decided to make the sauce. i had heard from a friend that pesto is key, so i decided to try it out! First, i let some onions sweat in olive oil. Once they became translucent, i added in cubes of apples and diced yellow peppers. Then i added in mushrooms, and a can of herb and garlic diced tomatoes. i let this all simmer for awhile, and then added in 5 tablespoons of sugar, to draw out the juices from the tomatoes, peppers and apples. Finally, i added in two huge wooden spoonfuls of tomato pesto (my friend told me to use regular pesto, but tomato pesto was calling my name!!) and 1/4 of a small carton of heavy cooking cream. i let it cook for about 8 minutes.

I lined the bottom of a glass baking dish with the sauce, then lined up the canneloni, covered the pasta with more sauce, sprinkled a layer of cheese over the sauce, lined up more canneloni, covered it with sauce and added another thick layer of cheese. I baked this for 20 minutes and then broiled the cheese for another 4-5 minutes.

Voila!! Yummy goodness in under 40 minutes! (The apples made the sauce really sweet and tangy. As you can see, i'm on a fruit-in-my-meal kick..and it's pretty exciting.. not going to lie).

Anyways, this is an open invitation. If you call me the day before, you are always (read: almost always) welcome for dinner chez Lydia.

7 commentaires:

Katie V. a dit...

I am very impressed by your cooking skills. What caught my attention though was the title reference. Interesting film. Does cooking do that to you too? ;)

lowonthego a dit...

haha.i haven't seen the film..but i've read the book..

and no..cause i don't cook with rose petals..

haha.

Anonyme a dit...

You can cook for me and mom when you are back in Dec.

Love you,

dad

Tarren a dit...

Mmm, thanks for letting me be the recipient of your delicious cooking!

Fun times!

It's My DLu! a dit...

that's so cute that your dad just wrote on your blog. i'm fully going to write on my kids' blogs when/if they have blog!!!

oh and i like cooking sometimees. once in a while i'll get really into it. but usually it has nothing to do with fruit, but it'll be me making wings or ribs or roasted chickens or something like that. but still ... the reward is great!!

Anonyme a dit...

you're a good cook -- good idea with the apples in the sauce. that sounds yummy!

Sid S. a dit...

i wish u would come here in na so u can cook 4 me. i want some of that!