Saturday, May 25, 2013

Egg & Tomato Pasta

Baby steps, Amy. You're not going to become an accomplished cook in one day.

As much as I would loved to have made some fancy-schmancy dish for you all, I decided to start with the basics. This dish is one that my family makes quite often on a lazy weekend - Egg & Tomato Pasta.


蕃茄炒蛋 (literally translated: tomatoes cooked with eggs) is a typical Chinese dish in our household, and quite easy to make. Somehow, I even managed to mess it up a bit - mine weren't nearly as beautiful as my mom or dad's. Still, they taste great, and that's really all that matters, right?

Combine it with pasta and you've got a tasty brunch or lunch! (If this recipe makes me sound like a total novice, it's because I am one.) A nice simple dish for a weekend in which my dad is out of town.

Plus, the dish is in the colours of today's Champions League finalists- yellow for Borussia Dortmund, and red for Bayern Munich! I'm predicting that Bayern will win, but I'm rooting for Dortmund- hope that Lewandowski and Reus (Klopp too) can do their magic!

INGREDIENTS
4 large eggs
1 to 2 large tomatoes *
pasta of choice **
salt and pepper
soy sauce (optional)
white vinegar (optional)

* I recommend 2, because it'll give you more sauce
** I used fettuccine

Boil some water. Once boiling, add in some salt and then add in your pasta; cook to desired texture. (I don't follow this whole al dente thing only because it's too much trouble and pasta is pasta. Pasta will always be tasty, in my opinion.) You can let the pasta cook while you're getting the rest of the components ready, and once cooked enough, turn off the heat and set aside.


Crack open and beat four eggs.


Add a pinch of salt. (Optional: Add a drop of white vinegar to your eggs. This will make them fluffier, and since you will be cooking them with tomatoes, you won't be able to discern the sour taste the vinegar would usually give the eggs.)


Chop up your tomatoes, then put them aside in another bowl. Add some salt, which will help you get more juices out of the tomatoes.


Add some olive oil to a nonstick pan on high heat. When the pan has heated up (I test by using small drops of egg to see if they bubble), add in your eggs. Allow the eggs to bubble up before folding them. Don't scramble too much, as you will cook them more later with the tomatoes.


Take out your eggs, into the bowl you used before to beat them.


Add the tomatoes into the pan, and cover.


The juices should start to come out of the tomatoes. (I evidently did not add enough salt, and my tomato wasn't particularly juicy. As I said in the ingredients, it might go better for you if you use two tomatoes.) If you aren't getting a lot of juice, you can add a little water. After a few minutes, turn the stove down to low heat and add in your eggs.


Once the eggs are combined with the tomatoes and look sufficiently scrambled, you can add your pasta to the pan with the eggs & tomatoes, using a strainer (or strain beforehand and then add in.) You can add in a little pasta water if you want more sauce still. (I don't have a picture of this step, but I do have a picture of my Borussia Dortmund-coloured outfit...)


Anyways, back to the food. I decided to add some more flavor with a little soy sauce and black pepper.


Eat! (The amount of pasta I used made three servings- enough for my mom and I as well as leftovers for my lunch tomorrow!)


Oops, the tomatoes seem to have disappeared. I guess this means... Dortmund will win? Heh. Here's to wishful thinking! [eta] Well, sad to say that my predictions were correct. Happy for Müller and Neuer though!

I think next time I will add some zucchini too. (I topped it off this time with some leftover sauteed jalapenos that my mom made for dinner the night before.)

Enjoy!

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