Wait, shortbread isn't bread?

Given my oft-confessed love of bread, you might think that I would harbour a resentment towards those that wear its colours falsely, trying to pass themselves off as something better than they truly are. And you'd be right: sweetbreads? Not what they sound like. Shortbread, though? Love it.



I mean, sure, it's far from bread. But it's just butter, flour, and sugar - where can you go wrong? For a start you can use the wrong kind of flour. That would be a start. In our defense, wheat flour was all we had, and... healthy, right?



But I'm getting ahead of myself. At this point we were just excited to finally be getting a chance to use our gorgeous mixer, which really is more suited to cooking for crowds. (The included recipe for chocolate chip cookies had a yield of 54 cookies. Crowds! Or, y'know, Americans.)



Today's Gordon touch: lemon thyme. Shortbread is a delicate creature (when made right), and lemon thyme is a delicate flavour, so we were definitely looking forward to the finished product - something suitable for afternoon tea, perhaps.



In with the flour! Did I mention it was the wrong kind of flour? I'm beginning to get the impression that we should stick to savouries.



All seems well for now, anyway - we have dough! It's a bit brown, sure, but that's only to be expected, given the flour. Time to roll it out and cut our rounds.



Ah. So that's not going to work, then. Plan B?



Good old Plan B: throw it all in a baking dish. We can always cut it up later. (Even the camera was excited about Plan B.)



Did I mention it was brown? Cooking it until it's golden brown is a wee bit trickier when it was darker than that to begin with. So it ended up being not really cooked through.



Most disappointing was that the lemon thyme was all but lost in the mix. Overall I thought it was kludgy and weird, but Christina loved it!

Taglia-Stelly

Keep reading if you're looking for a super yummy meal that's quick and easy to make on a weeknight. And for you legit vegetarians out there, I don't think you could go wrong doing a fake meat version of tagliatelle with sausage bolognese.



As you can see, there isn't a whole lot going on in this recipe. Boring, you say? I prefer to call it rustic. The key is to get high quality Italian sausage (from Skagit River Ranch or other places like such as [no, my grammar is not really that bad]). Trust me, the extra flavor makes a world of difference.



Ready to see how amazingly simple this is? First, get your pasta water boiling and sweat the onion and garlic in olive oil, then add the sausage and break it up to brown it...



...add cherry tomatoes and seasoning, and heat for a few minutes, adding a little bit of water for the sauce - hopefully your pasta is cooking by now.



Toss the tagliatelle with the bolognese mixture, serve and sprinkle with some parmesan.



Seriously, that's it. And it's really, really, really good; it made Robin's top 3.

Muscly Mussels

There aren't a lot of shellfish easier to work with than mussels - they even open themselves for you! So we were pretty excited to recently discover a fresh, local, and sustainable source in Penn Cove's farmed shellfish offerings; I'm sure we'll be trying their oysters and clams soon enough.



We haven't talked enough about how fantastic it's been to work with all these fresh ingredients. It's easy to get in a cooking rut, where the only fresh things you're buying each week are lettuce for lunch salads, onion and cilantro for Mexican, and maybe the occasional tomato or avocado for variety. Having to buy shallots, thyme, celery, peppers, what have you - it all has a knock-on effect for our cooking the rest of the week, and that can only be a good thing.



Can you tell I'm stalling? It's because this is another incredibly simple recipe. (And that's the real secret of cooking, it turns out - use fresh ingredients, and don't try too hard!) Into the pot go the shallots, green onions, pepper, celery, thyme, and bay leaf - let them sweat down a little.



Then it's the mussels' turn! Throw them in, put the lid on, and let them open up. Then, when they're least expecting it, drench them in wine and vermouth.



Once the alcohol has boiled away - yes, I know, terrible waste - you're pretty much done!



Dish those mussels out into a bowl with a generous serving of the sauce, and plenty of bread nearby to soak it up. The only problem you'll have will be figuring out what to do with all those empty shells...

Spicy Balls

We like spice and we like meatballs, so why not try spicy meatball soup? After all, Gordon's meatballs in coconut broth were to die for (seriously - shame on you if you haven't made those yet). The long list of ingredients for this recipe seemed daunting at first, but it's not so bad once you realize that most of the stuff goes into making those delicious meatballs.



Just like before, we sauteed the onion and garlic with dried chili flakes and combined them with the ground beef, (fresh) breadcrumbs, and milk. And salt and pepper for seasoning. Never forget the seasoning!



Then we shaped them into perfect little golf balls and let them chill in the fridge for a bit. Now that's a nice looking meatball!



To cook the meatballs we sauteed more onion and garlic (it turns out onions are pretty good for you - look it up!) and added cumin seeds for extra flavor.



Time to make the soup! Canned tomatoes, oregano, veggie broth, and smoky chipotles went into the pot to simmer with the meatballs. Chipotles in adobo are my new favorite.



Finally, we threw in the zucchini and sweetcorn (actually, it was creamed corn because I messed up but, so what? Who cares?) and garnished with cilantro, tortilla chips, and jalapenos because, apparently, it just wasn't hot enough.



Mmm. The absence of cheese threw me off a bit, but any soup with crushed tortilla chips on top is okay in my book. This soup does not disappoint.