11 weeks in and I still can’t keep up with this blog. This post probably was not worth the wait.
Those of you who are friends with me on Snapchat may notice the sporadic installments of “Chef Maddie” posts, in which I share whatever mediocre meal I’ve prepared that day. Groceries are surprisingly cheap in Florence and my apartment has a great kitchen, so I’ve really enjoyed practicing cooking instead of going out to eat all the time. I mean, I still go out to brunch or get dinner delivered at least once a week, but at least I’m making an effort to cook.
Since one (!!!) person asked me about one of the dishes I posted on my snap story, I realized it’d be wrong of me not to share my culinary expertise with all of you.
Chef Mads hard at work, preparing a biscotti crust for her greek yogurt mousse that she learned how to make in cooking class. That recipe will not be shared on this blog today or ever.
Here are just a few of my favorite recipes to prepare in Italy:
Pasta with Whatever-Vegetables-Are-In-The-Fridge Sauce. A staple in my diet.
Ingredients:
- Noodles (any kind works, I prefer penne)
- Whatever vegetables you can find in your fridge
- Parmesan
- Water
- Olive Oil
- Salt/Pepper/Garlic Powder/Literally any seasonings you enjoy
Fill a pot 2/3 with water. Add a little salt and olive oil. Turn the stove on and watch at least one full episode of “Friends” in the time it takes the water to boil.
Once the water is on the stove and “Friends” is playing, chop your vegetables. I generally use zucchini, onions and tomatoes (ok fine that’s a fruit), but you can literally use anything. It doesn’t matter.
(Water still will not be boiling). Pour approx. 1 Tbsp of olive oil into a medium-sized skillet. Warm the oil on medium heat.
Add vegetables to the pan before the oil starts bubbling and spitting at you. Or after, if it’s already too late. If you use what I suggested, I recommend giving the zucchini about a minute in the pan on their own before adding the onions. Throw in tomatoes last since they don’t need much cooking.
Dump a ton of seasonings on the vegetables.
Oh no! The water is boiling over! Add the pasta.
8 minutes later, burn your tongue trying to taste a noodle to see if it’s cooked properly. It is.
Drain pasta, mix in the vegetables, top with parmesan and enjoy!
Almost Tasty Microwave Brownie. Something I came up with when I really craved chocolate. This didn’t really satisfy the craving.
Ingredients:
- 4 spoonfuls Nesquik (why would I have actual cocoa powder in my kitchen?)
- 2 spoonfuls flour
- 1 spoonful sugar
- Sprinkle of salt
- Splash of milk
- Reasonably sized cube of butter
Melt your cube (2 Tbsp.-ish) of butter in the microwave, in a mug.
Add all of the dry ingredients, stir.
Pour in some milk. If the batter seems too dry, add a little more.
Stir some more.
Add some peanut butter or nutella or chocolate chips or a banana if you want.
Microwave for 60 seconds (1 minute).
This is actually more like chocolate cake. It doesn’t taste too bad, though. Enjoy! (?)
Potato Gnocchi. This is actually a real recipe I slaved over for a full day. Worth it.
Ingredients:
- 2 potatoes
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- Jar of sauce you bought from the store because you just made the gnocchi from scratch, you don’t need to make the sauce yourself, too.
Boil water. Add peeled potatoes to the pot and cook for about 15 minutes, until they’re mashable, but still a bit firm.
Mash potatoes with fork or potato masher (don’t use a food processor, they’ll get runny and gross).
LET THE MASHED POTATOES COOL, PLEASE. I BURNED MY HANDS ON HOT MASHED POTATOES. I WISH I WAS JOKING.
Mix flour and egg into COOLED mashed potato in a large bowl. The key is to use as little flour as possible, so the gnocchi remain fluffy. Add just enough that the dough stays together and isn’t sticky.
Roll small portions of the dough into snakes, and chop the snakes into small lil gnocchi. Shape as you please.
Cook gnocchi in lightly salted boiling water for 3-5 minutes or until they float to the top of the pot.
Serve with whatever sauce you prefer.
LEFTOVERS: If you fry the gnocchi up in olive oil the next day, they’re kinda like Italian tater tots. Dip in tomato sauce for best results.
Caramel Popcorn. The exact same thing I ate while writing this post.
Ingredients:
- Sugar
- Butter
- Cream
- Salt
- 1 bag microwave popcorn
- Pour some sugar into a pot. Add some water if you, like me, don't pay enough attention to what's on the stove. This will keep the sugar from burning. And no, I didn't measure anything for this recipe. I'm sorry.
- Cook on medium-high heat, stirring frequently until the sugar reaches an amber color (not quite as dark as you'd think caramel should look). I don't have a candy thermometer, so there's a lot of guesswork involved in this recipe.
- Turn the heat down and add maybe 1/4 a stick of butter (?), stir until the butter is melted.
- Add a splash of cream, stir some more.
- Sprinkle in as much or as little salt as you want. Really depends how salty you like your caramel.
- Pop a bag of microwave popcorn for 2-3 minutes, as per instructions on the bag.
- Open the bag of popcorn. Pour in your desired amount of caramel sauce and shake it up to mix the caramel and popcorn. If you have a large bowl, you could also pop multiple bags of popcorn or just mix everything together in the bowl so the popcorn is more evenly coated.
- Store the remaining caramel in a mason jar/mug/bowl/sippy cup in the fridge. It may harden, depending on how much sugar you used and how hot it got. Regardless, you can just melt some more tomorrow to mix with more popcorn, dip apples in, or just eat with a spoon.
Other common dishes I cook include: chicken with whatever I can find in the fridge, coffee with milk and sugar, scrambled eggs and peanut butter straight from the jar. Let me know if you’re interested in any of those recipes!
Thanks for following me through my journey from world traveler to beauty guru to master chef.