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"I'm hungry", said Riia to herself, as she pushed herself away from the computer, where she had been diligently working all afternoon, "I wonder what we have in the fridge? I could just make a quick pot of soup from frozen vegetables like I usually do--nah, too much effort, I just want something quick to eat--that sort of soup takes a good 15 minutes from start to done." A few seconds later she reached the refrigerator and peeked inside.
"Hmm, we still have some fresh spinach and alfalfa sprouts. Mmmm, spinach sauce, with home made noodles! That would be a good idea." she said and pulled out the ingredients in question. "But that isn't very much spinach, I wonder what I can add to it to make it a reasonable amount of food?" she said, and glanced at the pantry shelves. "Canned artichoke bottoms (packed in water, NOT vinegar!), I like that, and it goes well with spinach", she said, and took the can over the counter, put a pot on the stove (with water therein) to start heating, and dumped the spinach into the steaming basket, ready to set over the pot after the water reached a boil.
"I should save the water from the artichoke can; I can add it to the spinach water to cook the noodles in", she said as she peeled a clove of garlic. After she combined the artichoke bottoms and garlic in the food processor she looked at the result and said "hmm, that needs walnuts", and hurried over to the shelf to fetch a handful. "Now it is too thick, better add some fil... but wait! There is so not enough spinach in that 1.25 bags I had in the fridge--why do they sell it in such tiny quantities? 65 grams is nothing!", she said as she added the spinach (and the alfalfa sprouts) to the food processor and blended the contents. "Gagh, way too pale! What else can I add? Carrots? Nah, that would take too long to cook them enough to soften, or to grate them, and hard chunks of carrot wouldn't work in this. How about that left over nettle pesto** I have in the freezer? How much of that is there left?"
"Yes! That was just exactly enough pesto to make the sauce a lovely shade of green. However, it is still rather thick--it would make an even better ravioli filling than a sauce", she said as she mixed eggs with flour to make the noodle dough. I think I will use the ravioli maker I bought in Italy--one should use kitchen toys now and then to justify the space they take in the cupboard, and I don't think I have used that one since I moved here."
"Hmm, perhaps I should have made more than two eggs worth of dough, this is enough dough to do one set of ravioli, but not a second. Then again, I am still hungry, perhaps it will be better to just cut the remaining dough into the pot of boiling plain water combined with the spinach water and artichoke water like I normally do when I make home made noodles. Then I can use some of the remaining sauce as a topping, and the rest can be frozen for other meals."
a short bit later... "Mmm, that was even tastier than I thought it would be, I think I will go get seconds. Gack! I must have been hungry, I haven't washed the cooking dishes yet, my that project made a huge mess; no real surprises there, since I couldn't be bothered spending 15 minutes to make something easy I do all the time I spent an hour inventing something new and yummy.", she said and started cleaning up the evidence and putting the leftover noodles/ravioli into the fridge for tomorrow and the spare sauce into the freezer for another day.
*fil is kind of like yoghurt, but uses a different culture and isn't as thick
**this batch of nettle pesto had been made with: nettles, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, pepper, cilantro, basil
"Hmm, we still have some fresh spinach and alfalfa sprouts. Mmmm, spinach sauce, with home made noodles! That would be a good idea." she said and pulled out the ingredients in question. "But that isn't very much spinach, I wonder what I can add to it to make it a reasonable amount of food?" she said, and glanced at the pantry shelves. "Canned artichoke bottoms (packed in water, NOT vinegar!), I like that, and it goes well with spinach", she said, and took the can over the counter, put a pot on the stove (with water therein) to start heating, and dumped the spinach into the steaming basket, ready to set over the pot after the water reached a boil.
"I should save the water from the artichoke can; I can add it to the spinach water to cook the noodles in", she said as she peeled a clove of garlic. After she combined the artichoke bottoms and garlic in the food processor she looked at the result and said "hmm, that needs walnuts", and hurried over to the shelf to fetch a handful. "Now it is too thick, better add some fil... but wait! There is so not enough spinach in that 1.25 bags I had in the fridge--why do they sell it in such tiny quantities? 65 grams is nothing!", she said as she added the spinach (and the alfalfa sprouts) to the food processor and blended the contents. "Gagh, way too pale! What else can I add? Carrots? Nah, that would take too long to cook them enough to soften, or to grate them, and hard chunks of carrot wouldn't work in this. How about that left over nettle pesto** I have in the freezer? How much of that is there left?"
"Yes! That was just exactly enough pesto to make the sauce a lovely shade of green. However, it is still rather thick--it would make an even better ravioli filling than a sauce", she said as she mixed eggs with flour to make the noodle dough. I think I will use the ravioli maker I bought in Italy--one should use kitchen toys now and then to justify the space they take in the cupboard, and I don't think I have used that one since I moved here."
"Hmm, perhaps I should have made more than two eggs worth of dough, this is enough dough to do one set of ravioli, but not a second. Then again, I am still hungry, perhaps it will be better to just cut the remaining dough into the pot of boiling plain water combined with the spinach water and artichoke water like I normally do when I make home made noodles. Then I can use some of the remaining sauce as a topping, and the rest can be frozen for other meals."
a short bit later... "Mmm, that was even tastier than I thought it would be, I think I will go get seconds. Gack! I must have been hungry, I haven't washed the cooking dishes yet, my that project made a huge mess; no real surprises there, since I couldn't be bothered spending 15 minutes to make something easy I do all the time I spent an hour inventing something new and yummy.", she said and started cleaning up the evidence and putting the leftover noodles/ravioli into the fridge for tomorrow and the spare sauce into the freezer for another day.
*fil is kind of like yoghurt, but uses a different culture and isn't as thick
**this batch of nettle pesto had been made with: nettles, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, pepper, cilantro, basil