Super-Homemade
For the last two weeks I’ve been in a bit of a food loop. It started with the creation of homemade tomato sauce that I promptly put on everything, and continued on with the poached egg, which I discovered tastes very nice on top of toast and doused with white truffle oil. This is what I’ve been eating nearly every day.
Speaking of poached eggs, they always remind me of a specfic time in my life where I was living in Dorchester, a slightly seedy neighborhood in Boston (New Kids on the Block grew up there!) My friend Nika used to come down from New Hampshire to spend the weekend and we would always go to Victoria’s Diner down the street from my apartment. For $5 we could get poached eggs, toast, hashbrowns and endless coffee. I miss that place. I do not miss the shootings and domestic violence though, sorry Dorchester.
Polenta with Homemade Tomato Sauce and Poached Egg
Polenta (makes one cup)
3 cups water
1/4 tps sea salt
1 cup dry polenta
Bring water and salt to a boil. Add polenta and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for around 5 minutes and remove from heat. Cover and let stand for a few minutes.
Tomato Sauce
5 large tomatoes
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
generous handful of fresh basil, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
oregano
salt & pepper
red pepper flakes
cumin
1 zucchini, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup green olives, chopped (optional)
Bring several cups of water to boil in a large pot. At tomatoes and boil for a few minutes - the skins will break. Remove from water and run under cold water until they’re cool enough to handle. Remove skins and chop the tomatoes. In a pan, saute onion, garlic and red pepper until soft. In a food processor, combine tomatoes and onion, garlic and red pepper. Blend until it’s a smooth consistency. Add basil and spices, tasting frequently. Pour sauce into a large pan and add zucchini and/or green olives. Simmer until zucchini is soft and you’re satisfied with the overall flavor.
Poached Egg
To assemble, spoon a heathy amount of polenta onto a plate, top with a few spoonfuls of sauce and a poached egg. This is a filling dish! Perfect for brunch.
I haven’t taken many photos the last few weeks, so instead, you can see how super adorable my niece Marion Grace is. I think she liked the monkey I got her.
This upcoming week is shaping up to be pretty amazing. Comedy at UCB, portrait class at 3rd Ward, the arrival of Colleen and Patty from Raleigh, Jon Stewart show, birthday parties etc… and today I root for the Seahawks, because that is what fickle Seattle sports fans do.
