Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Let's Eat: Good Ingredients


GOOD FOOD TASTES GOOD.

It’s really that simple.




Food tastes better when it’s made with good ingredients. Less is more and enough is enough when eating and enjoying food that offers both substance and sustenance. Eating doesn’t always have to turn into an extravagant foodie feast and, in fact, sometimes the simpler the better.  Let the beauty of the ingredients shine. Simple, but not always easy.

Until good food becomes affordable and accessible for everyone, mediocrity and unhealthy choices will abound. But that doesn’t mean having to buy in to believing one must eat tasteless food that has little nutritional value.  Everyone must eat, so  figuring out how to eat well is the first step. One meal at a time is where to start.

Thankfully, the cultural revolution has already begun.

Sure, good food costs more.  So does anything of exceptional quality. Where are the dollars spent?

One simply has to learn how to shop, cook and eat.

 Home cooked meals can be just as cost effective as the fast food found at drive-thrus and school cafeterias. Fresh produce can cost less than processed foods and all of their extraneous packaging.  Most local farmer’s markets now even take food stamps! When we choose to support local farmers and artisan producers,  more money goes into everyone’s pockets.  And that is very, very good. 




Buon appetito! © 2012 Bella Cucina

EAT!


EAT from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.



oh the joy of travel and the delicious treasures that each culture offers.







Buon appetito! copyright 2011 Alisa Barry

Sunday Breakfast Ritual


I love Sunday mornings.
They are a sacred ritual at my home. The morning begins with Benton's applewood smoked bacon sizzling on the stovetop, waking me gently and deliciously up and out of bed. Organic eggs are not far behind. The coffee is already simmering in the french press and the local and NY Times Sunday edition papers have arrived from the grocer around the corner. It is cold out today, prompting an oakwood fire in my studio fireplace to warm it up for the next few hours, where I will spend the rest of the afternoon.

Today we are having one of my favorite Sunday breakfast dishes, Baked Organic Eggs with Sugo a la Peperonata. A light and flavorful tomato sauce with golden and red peppers and carmelized onions layered with fresh spinach, cracked whole eggs with brilliant sunny yolks and a dusting of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. This dish is deceitfully easy and deliciously elegant, so whether fixing it as breakfast for two or a brunch for a crowd, it can be made with little fuss and lots of fluff.

The last of the season's spinach; made it through two snowfalls!

Baked Organic Eggs with Sugo a la Peperonata and Sauteed Fresh Spinach

1 Cup Bella Cucina Sugo a la Peperonata* {or your favorite tomato sauce}
1/2 cup fresh spinach leaves { or arugula} cut into ribbons
4 fresh, organic eggs
Salt & pepper to taste.
2 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

You make this dish either in the oven or on the stovetop.
In the overn:
Heat oven at 350 degrees. In ovenproof cassarole dish, spoon sugo tomato sauce and spread to cover bottom of pan. Place in oven for 5-10 minutes, or until sauce is warm. Remove pan from oven and layer spinach leaves over sauce. Crack eggs one at a time and gently place over spinach. Season with salt and pepper. Place egg dish back in oven and baked until eggs are cooked to your liking, about 5-8 minutes should do it. Remove from oven and sprinkly with Parmesan cheese.
Serve warm from oven to table or spoon out on individual plates. You can also cook in individual ramekins.


If you don't have an oven {its possible!} you can cook on the stovetop over medium heat. Simply cook over medium heat, following same directions for the oven. You will love how easy it is!

Don't forget the bacon!
We love the bacon from a Tennessee family, Benton Hams.
If you can't find it at your local specialty grocer, you can order from their website. http://www.bentonshams.com.

* Bella Cucina's Sugo a la peperonata can be purchased at www.bellacucina.com

Buon appetito!
copyright 2008 Alisa Barry