Welcome to “The Plate Daily”, the newsletter serving up under 40-minutes meals as international as chef Rafael Cagali’s background
In todays edition:
💭 my thought of the day (yeah I write them down)
🍝 15-minutes instant pot pasta with small meatballs
🌍 one fascinating fact from the world of culinary
❓ quiz of the day - is it real or just for the reel
Lets go🧑🍳
By the way there are 5 subscribes!
Thanks for everyone who’s reading this!
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Keeping the balance between eating and sport
I’m someone who loves to eat. A LOT!
But once I hit the age of 25/26, my body started to getting a little chubby. There are several reasons but one of the main? I wasn’t working out anymore. I wasn’t even going for short walks. My health app showed days with barely 2.000 steps, and that’s basically nothing. So a few weeks ago, I started running again. And damn … it’s painful. But I want to be healthy and able to eat as much as I want. And this feels like one of the easiest way to keep enjoying one of my biggest hobbies.
Takeaway: You can enjoy more if you keep the balance between things. Especially for people who love to eat. Just take that walk afterwards and take about the food you ate!
Dinner for today
🍝Instant pot pasta with small meatballs
Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2 - 2 ½
Style: Fast default dinner
🧾 Ingredients
Pasta and meatballs
½ - 1 tbsp olive oil (depends how much oil your sauce should have)
¼ - ½ lb. frozen chicken meatballs (or any pre-made meatballs - I prefer one that were already cooked) about 2 cups of you’re eyeballing
one 32-ounce jar of your favorite tomato pasta sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1 ½ cups small pasta - I like to use rigatoni
salt and pepper to taste
Herbed lemon ricotta
1 pound fresh ricotta
juice of 1 lemon + a little bit of zest
1 garlic clove, finely grated
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup finely chopped mixed chives, parsley, basil
👩🍳 Instructions
1. Start with your ricotta
Finely chop your chives, parsley, basil and grate your garlic finely. Add the ricotta, the mixed herbs, the juice of 1 lemon and the oil in a bowl. Taste and add salt and pepper.
2. Preparing the meatballs
Place the meatballs in the pot, drizzle with olive oil. Sauté for a couple minutes to get the meatballs a bit browned on the outside. They don’t need to be fully thawed.
3. Add the sauce and pasta
Add in this order: pasta, sauce, chicken broth. Do not stir. Cook on high pressure for 2-3 minutes. And have the pot closed!
4. Take care of the pot
Turn down the heat a bit. Release steam right away if not your pasta could overcook and get mushy). Stir to incorporate. A small amount of sticking is normal, but with a few gentle stirs it will lift up and come together perfectly. It will be saucy at first; if you let it rest a few minutes, the sauce will absorb into the pasta and it’ll get a little less saucy. It’s delicious to eat either way! Let it cook for 5-10 minutes.
5. Serve
Serve the hot pasta in bowls with dollops of the ricotta over the top.
That’s it
Hope you enjoy
CULINARY FACT OF THE DAY
The Michelin stars have nothing to do with fancy chefs
The Michelin Guide was created in 1900 by the tire company Michelin. The goal? Get people to drive more and wear out their tires. Restaurants were added later to encourage travel. Today, Michelin inspectors visit anonymously and rate places based on five criteria:
Quality of ingredients
Mastery of technique
Harmony of flavors
The personality of the chef in the cuisine
Consistency over time
And the stars?
⭐ 1 Star “A very good restaurant”
⭐⭐ 2 Stars “Excellent cooking, worth a detour”
⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars “Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey”
It’s not about luxury. It’s not about décor. It’s purely about what’s on the plate.
Takeaway: Creating something out of a mistake, leads to fantastic product. Sometimes.
Question of the day
❓Is it real or just for the reel ❓
“Carrots weren’t originally orange - they were purple”
Options:
This is real
Just for the reel
If this email felt calm, that’s intentional.
The Plate Daily is one short food idea, every day.
Nothing more.
See you tomorrow
Patrick | The Plate Daily | share this with your friends & family