Thursday, August 28, 2008

Open Source Food

Open Source Food is rapidly becoming another popular player in the vast open source community. But not with source code for software applications... with food!

The idea behind Open Source Food is that your everyday Joe Schmoe can submit their delicious recipes and scrumptuous pictures and share their knowledge of delectable cuisines. What better place than the interwebs to share peoples loves of food. The best part about it is that most of these meals aren't crazy and require foreign spices and herbs you've likely never heard of - they are ingredients that you probably have in your pantry/fridge right now.

Light English Brunch

Take this lovely dish. Some might say it's a happy face. I say it's a marvel of human engenuity. Bust mostly it looks funny

Simple recipe for a cute brunch meal with British roots. It's not going to win any awards, but it tastes good.
1. Cut the crusts off your bread and use a mug to press a hole in the center. Yes, we're about to make "egg in bread".
2. Put your baked beans on a low heat and stir occasionally.
3. Add a glug of olive oil and a knob of butter to a griddle pan. When hot, gently lay your slice of bread in and let it fry for a minute until golden on the underside. Flip it over, bring the heat down and crack an egg into the hole.
4. Chuck a few mushrooms in the pan and squeeze a bit of lemon on them. Let everything cook through (don't turn the egg-bread, just let it cook from underneath).
5. Garnish with something green - a rosemary sprig or a fried sage leaf would do nicely. Season your egg with a bit of freshly ground salt and pepper.

Yes, you read that right, fellow TOTI reader - "a glug of olive oil and a knob of butter". Crazy british.

Pesto Tortellini

I have a weakness for both pesto and tortellini. And cherry tomatoes. The BEST part here? AVOCADO! :O

1. Chop up the bacon to small pieces and fry up until crisp. Blot off the fat and set aside.
2. Boil tortellini as directed and drain. (I find that spinach & ricotta or mushroom & gruyère filled tortellini work the best.)
3. Dice the onion and sweat in a pan with some olive oil until translucent.
4. Add the bacon, tortellini, pesto and cream (as needed). Stir well until pesto covers the tortellini evenly. If you work fast all the ingredients should still be warm, which helps spread the pesto paste.
5. Add the avocado and some tomatoes and mix carefully so that you don't destroy the avocado.

If you like, just before serving, add some more tomato halves and avocado to the top for presentation points.
Feel free to omit the bacon to make this dish vegetarian.

Maybe I'm just hungry. Maybe the pictures of food won me over. Maybe people giving out recipes for free makes me happy. Regardless, the idea of combining open source goodness with cooking deserves an A+ in my book!

(From Guy du Blag)

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