Breakfast: Zucchini Omelette Baked / Steamed/ Fried

My favourite way of preparing omelette lately is by steaming or baking it. Steamed omelette creates a very nice fluffy texture that I really enjoy. Baking creates a texture that is similar to flying and also creates some browning if that is what you are after. 

This omelette allows you to incorporate leftover egg yolks, and use zucchini that currently is in season. 

This year my garden blessed me with an abundance of zucchini so I ventured on a culinary journey to make the best of this nutrient dense vegetable. And starting your day with a healthy protein packed breakfast is always a win!

Ingredients

• Around 150-200 g of zucchini, grated. Peel it if skin is hard.
• 3 scallions or a bunch of chives, chopped
• Bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
• 4-5 eggs, can use leftover egg whites or egg yolks
• 25-50g hard cheese such as parmesan, gruyere, grated (optional)
• salt, pepper
• 2 tsp pine nuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Place eggs in a blender and mix until fluffy.

2. Add chopped scallions, parsley, grated zucchini, grated cheese (optional) and pine nuts (optional).

3. Mix all ingredients with a spoon until well combined.

4. Season to taste.

5. You can fry it, bake it, or steam it! Place the mixture in a frying pan with some butter and cook covered for about 5-7 minutes. Alternatively, place the mixture in a dish that can go to the oven or into a steaming vessel. Bake or steam for about 20-25 minutes.

6. Enjoy!

7. If you made the recipe - share and tag it @healthywithjoanna

Home made pasta

Pasta is one of the food ingredients that we do not consume often. I find it almost impossible to find any kind of pasta that taste good and truly complements the other ingredients. 

In Poland for years we used to make pasta at home and since it takes more time to make it, it's not an ingredient often featured in the Polish cuisine. At Christmas it used to me by dad's job to make pasta dough, roll it, cut it. I remember it as a very labour intensive activity. However, with today's kitchen gadgets the whole process is a lot less labour intensive and amazing pasta can be produced in just a fraction of the time.

To make pasta I use my Cuisineart food processor with a dough insert. Mixing takes about 5 minutes. Within this time I have a pretty elastic dough with well developed gluten. 

Ingredients:

3 cups of all purpose flour (about 450 g)

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 tbsp whipping cream

150 ml warm water

1 tsp salt

Dried herbs (optional)

1. Mix all ingredients in the food processor for about 5 minutes. You will see them all coming together, if they don't you may need to add a little bit more water.

2. On a board sprinkle some flour and roll sections of the dough at a time. With this quantity I do it in 5 batches. Rolled dough should not be thicker than 1 millimetre. 

3. Cut rolled dough into strips of your preference.

4. Sprinkle with more flour, separate each pasta string and let them dry. Once they are dried they can be stored in containers. Fresh soft pasta can be cooked.

5. Cook for about 5 minutes to you liking.

6. Enjoy!