Dinner! - So I worked all day but then had to feed myself...eep!



Ham

 So, after thanksgiving, we have left over EVERYTHING in my house. Left over ham, left over turkey left over stuffing, the left over cranberry we threw out because in my opinion that stuff shouldn't even be eaten to begin with.  Anyways, so we have tons of ham and I wanted something different. So I decided to whip something up really fast. So here's how to make Remmy Duchene Pasta with some Kick. First, you need ham...or chicken breasts. I use ham because I didn't want to cook something new when our fridge is already overflowing.


First, fill your kettle with water and let it boil. You never know when you're going to need to add water to something and you never want to use cold water to add to a boiling pot. This slows down the boil and takes longer to cook. And some meats you can't add cold water to. So always have some hot water standing by.

So I got some ham, and cut it up in bite sizes pieces. You don't want it to be cut too small because if too small, it can be cooked out or suck up too much sauce too quickly and you don't want that. There's nothing worse than soggy ham. HA! Sorry I know there's a dirty joke in there somewhere but, hey, moving on, right? Oh, this ham was cooked in the oven and glazed with brown sugar so it was yummy to begin with. It was soaked in a sweet, delicious sauce from before.

Then you need onion. If you notice, its cut up in large chunks. Why? You don't want them cooked out completely. You want, by the end of the cooking, you still could taste the onion when you lift a forkful to your mouth. Remember, we're not going to cook the onions, we're just going to saute them, make sure they soak through but not enough to completely break apart.


You want to taste the hotness of the onion because this is pasta with some kick, right? Ok, so moving on. You may have to use more than one or two onions to make an impact. Depending on the size of the onion. I was making enough for one and the onions were really small so I used three. I cut them into chunks to flavour my meal.

 Another thing you need is tomato. I don't know what it is about the tomatoe that I LOVE so much. It has a very rich, familira flavour. In Jamaica we grow them naturally and as they starts getting ripe, we would use them. When we fry them in really hot oil the oil would turn red fromt he tomato. But these one these days don't do that. I miss that. But in this, I didn't use the whole tomato because it was large and I was only making enough pasta for one person. (though I have tons left over). Oh to reheat the finish product, simply scrape it into a plate, sprinkle with fresh water, sprinkle and place in oven for a few minutes. You don't want it to recook but heat through. Or you can use a microwave but it will taste different. When you're done adding parmesean cheese and then eat.

While you're setting up everything, you want to set a pot on to boil.  Add some salt to it and cover it tightly.  The salt helps the pot boils faster and sealing it keeps steam in and boils it faster. Once it begins to bubble, add the pasta. Now you want to break the pasta into manageable sizes. This helps with eating later on.

How? Well its easier to wrap around the fork. Easier to eat without getting pasta sauce on the front of your clothes or flipped into the eyes. Breaking it into smaller sizes is better all around because then you get use a small pot, less energy. So break them into three or two.

In a saunce pan, add a little oil. I use vegetable oil because its what I'm used to. You don't want to drown the pot in oil, you just want enough so you can saute some onions, tomato and ham in. So dont go heavy on the oil. Once it's hot, add the onions first because they are thicker cut. Turn the stove down to medium, you want the onions so soak through without breaking apart or burning. Then add the tomato. Now be gently when you're mixing this up. Try to make hotspots in the pot...so what are hotspots...so you have the onions going, move them to the side or make space in the centre and add the tomatoe. This way the tomato can be cooking, while the onions are cooking and you don't stir them too much so they don't break apart.

Then, you want to add the ham and some spices. I only used all purpose and ground pepper. This makes it hot mixed with the onions. Once all those ingredients are in, gently mix things up. Dont keep stirring, use a spatula. This way you can pick up chunks of the ingredients and literally turn them over so they don't break apart. Remember, you don't want to completely cook out the onions. 

You really have to time the cooking by the way. This way both sets of ingredients are ready at the same time. If you notice the water is boiling out on your pasta, juast add some hot water from your kettle! See? Coming in handy huh!

With the noodles, once they're cooked strain it. Use a strainor (this is what we call it.) And let it sit. You don't want to let it sit for too long because it will clump together and be really grose when eating it so don't let it sit too long. And you know how your parents say rinse pasta when you cook it before you do anything with it? Don't do that. Once you rinse the pasta, all that nurients that was stuck to it from boiling it, the salt etc, gets rinsed off. You don't want that. So don't rinse it.

I used premade sauce for this. So pour it over your cooked up onions, tomato and ham. You don't want to use ALOT because this is just for one person right? So use enough that you think will make your pasta good. It depends on how you like it.  I don't like too much sauce on mine when I'm using the store bought one. So add it, mixed it in a little and let it sit for a little bit until the sizes begin to bubble.

In a new sauce pot, a bigger one, add the drained pasta. Then dumped some parmesean cheese on top. Mix that in.  Then you want to add your sauce (with the ham, onion, tomato and sauce). Once you add it, use a form and mix it all together gently. We still don't want the onions to fall apart. We want to be able to chew into them when you eat.



Drained Pasta with cheese



Anyways, I use the fine parmesean cheese. This way it melts faster so you have to move fast when using it to cook.  You want to turn your stove down low under this because since there is no water or sauce in the pasta, if its too high it might burn. So turn the stove down, don't forget. 

Ok, next, with the everything mixed in and sit for a bit over low heat. You want to add more pamesean cheese. This is for the actually effect.

Dont be stingy on the cheese either. You want to be able to taste all the different ingredients, so use as much cheese as is possible.

You want it to be tasty good because you're not going to eat this everyday and tomorrow at the EDJ you're going to stress it off anyways lol.

Et Voila! the finish project. Be sure to take the pot off the hot stove. If you don't and turn off the stove it will continue cooking and you don't want that because it will stick to the pot. So turn off the stove and remove the pot from the burner. Drink this with white wine, if you are that age. It's really good because the sweetness of the wine with the cheese and onions very good.

Ok, please enjoy. And be sure you turn off all ovens, all burners and unplug the kettle.

Hugs,

Remmy D