So much for my ‘break’. But I’ve been having a lot of fun and couldn’t resist sharing some pictures.
Taking a recipe and re-thinking some elements to come up with something new and exciting is important for the daily cook. And those of us on a budget who can’t run out and buy exotic or expensive ingredients.
So, adding beet puree (only 2 tbsp to a 2 egg pasta recipe) to a basic pasta recipe and coming up with a very pretty pink pasta doesn’t take a lot of money, just some imagination, or google-fu in case your imagination is as limited as mine.
Making the Beet Pasta
Dressing the resulting pasta is another fun pastime.
Shrimp Scampi … a very romantic shrimp supper for two
Browned Butter and Sage … a more modest meatless pasta dish with a generous grating of Grana Padano cheese
No changes in this dish from the basic recipe I posted before, but the pictures are MUCH nicer.
I haven’t made these onigiri (Japanese rice patties) in ages. You can leave them plain or fill them with anything from the classic umeboshi which are a type of pickled ‘plums’, dried bonito flakes moistened with soy sauce or a very Western tuna salad. The onigiri may also be eaten as is or grilled, basted with soy sauce and then grilled again briefly. Wrapping a strip of nori around the rice patty keeps your fingers clean, but you’ll want to wait til the last minute so the seaweed stays nice and crispy.
I learned a fun way to shape/pack sushi rice into a round ball. Simply take 2 small round bottomed bowls, rinse them with water so the rice doesn’t stick, add your rice to the bottom bowl, put the other bowl on top and SHAKE back and forth for a minute or so.
Crack open the ball of rice on a moistened sheet of food wrap over which you’ve sprinkled some salt, and add your filling. Tighten the plastic wrap around the ball and filling and squeeze it tightly, then form into a triangle shape.
Plain Onigiri – wrap a strip of nori around the patty before eating
Yaki Onigiri – I like to add a bit of wasabi to the onigiri before wrapping the nori around it and eating.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies become cookie cups … I used 3-4 tbsp to make balls which were placed into muffin tins sprayed with cooking spray. The cookies and cups were baked together for 15-16 min at 350 deg F and then I used the bottom of a shot glass to press down the cookie in the muffin tins to make a ‘cup’. The cups were allowed to cool for 5 minutes before being removed from the muffin tins and transferred to the cooling rack to cool completely.
I’ll fill the cups and share pictures soon.
Cooking is Fun ... Really!! 
I’m loving the punk pasta. Curious about the romantic dinner you made with it!😉
LOL
I live alone and am not dating anyone. Any romance is only in my dreams. 🙂
Darn, I was hoping to get some juicy details!😜
Your onigiri look really cute! I make my triangle onigiri with special moulds because whenever I tried with hands, I lost patience (I also make sometimes the balls with small round bowls, like you!). I also got very curious about the “romantic dinner for two” 😉
Thank you for the comment on the onigiri. I only made a couple because I used the rest of the rice to try to make sushi pizzas which ended up a major FAIL. So, I could take my time and make the triangles look nice. On my first attempt … several years ago, I ended up with smaller and more messy patties.
As to the ‘romantic’ I just thought that the pink pasta would be appropriate for something like Valentine’s day. 🙂
That pasta sure looks appetizing! Onigiri is also something that we want to make some time soon, thanks!
Thank you for commenting. Yes, I had fun making the pretty pink pasta. I must remember to cut back on the amount of rice I use for the onigiri … I’ve used as little as 1/3 of a cup for the unfilled ones and 1/2-3/4 cups of cooked rice for the filled ones.