Macarrons amb samfaina

Well, I had all this leftover samfaina that I needed to use, so I cooked up some ground meat and some pasta and mixed it all together for a yummy, quick meal.

Unfortunately, the ground meat I bought was actually “Italian sausage.” I guess that somewhere on the Italian peninsula they might eat something that tastes like that, but I’ve never had it in Italy. Okay, so I haven’t spent vast quantities of time there, so maybe it is quite typical in some parts that I’ve never visited. Perhaps they should specify what part of Italy this so-called Italian sausage comes from. At any rate, next time I’ll think through my options more carefully before I choose my ground meat.

Other than that, our midday meal was very tasty and easy, and it was ready on time to pack for school lunches. What else can one ask for?

Ingredients:

• left-over samfaina
• pasta
• ground meat

Steps:

Cook pasta in boiling water.

In the meantime, brown the ground meat. When done, add the samfaina and mix well.

Drain pasta and mix with the meat sauce. Add parmesan cheese if desired.

Eat.

Samfaina

I’m making samfaina to put on a pizza crust for tomorrow’s lunch. I can’t say that this is a typical recipe in any land except my own home, and even here it hasn’t been made for several years. 

First, the samfaina. I started by chopping up the tomatoes and putting them to cook in my earthenware pan with some olive oil. I added some cloves of garlic, then two zucchinis and two red bell peppers. The concoction is cooking up while the eggplant is draining. After adding the eggplant, I’ll throw in some tomatoes and let it all cook slowly for several hours.

As far as the pizza crust goes, I’ll likely use this recipe later on in the day and bake it with the samfaina as the topping. I’m not sure yet whether or not I’ll add some cheese. There is also the possibility that I’ll ditch the pizza plan and mix the samfaina  with rice, instead. Stay tuned….

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 1 onion
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 2 zucchinis
• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 eggplants
• 6-8 Roma tomatoes
• salt

Steps:

Chop the onions and saute in olive oil. Add the chopped garlic. Chop the peeled zucchini and peppers and add to the pan, stirring occasionally.

Peel the eggplant, dice it, and put in a colander with plenty of salt. Allow to drain for about half an hour, while the other vegetables are still cooking.

Add the eggplants and chopped tomatoes to the pan. Simmer for a couple of hours, stirring every once in a while, until all the vegetables are thoroughly cooked. Add water, broth, or extra oil if it gets too dry.

Normally samfaina is eaten with chicken, rabbit, meatballs or cod or tuna fish. Add any of these, raw or partially cooked, to the mixture before the vegetables are done. Adjust cooking time to ensure the meat or fish are well done.

Enjoy!

Update: I did end up making the pizza crust for this. I used about half of the samfaina in all on the two pizzas I made. I scrambled an egg and put it on one of them to add a bit of protein to their lunch. Both had grated cheese on top, and both were delicious, except that perhaps they needed a bit more salt.