We Love Pasta

Well I love Pasta and I love to try it in so many ways. I was planning on roasting some prawns but "quelle domag...not in our freezer today, so I had a good look in the fridge and look what I found

In the fridge was a piece of carrot, a piece of courgette, 1/3 green pepper, half a leek, 1 lonely mushroom and and some bacon...in the freezer some frozen corn, and some breadcrumbs

Perfect

You can use what ever you like but this was such a good and colourful selection

Plus in the pantry I found some some spaghetti

So put on a pot of well salted water to boil for the pasta

Then prep your vegetable

Grate the carrot and courgette

Remove all the outside leaves of the leek, wash it and slice 

Slice the mushroom and the green pepper and you are ready to go 

Put a pan on the stove and bring up to medium heat

Chop the bacon and sauté 

When the water has come to the boil add the spaghetti and cook till just al dente around 6-8 minutes

Meanwhile

Remove the bacon and place in a bowl, add the mushroom

It does look a little lonely but it was worth it

Remove and place with the bacon  

Then add the chopped leeks

Saute them gently till soft 

Add the rest of the ingredients including the bacon and mushroom

Saute till soft

Throw in a good slurp of wine and turn heat up so that it evaporates

Meanwhile while this is happening

In a another pan add some oil... about 2 tbs, 

Heat till just about smoking and then add the breadcrumbs

Toss well and cook till they are just nice and toasty

When the pasta is cooked

Using your tongs, add it to the vegetables and toss well

Place on your plate

Sprinkle the toasted breadcrumbs over the top and enjoy

Lunch is served and very good it was too

It's Pie Time Spinach and Feta Pie on the Menu Tonight

Spinach and Feta Pie or Spanankopita

Such a easy way to get the green vege into your kids

Often children find it hard to eat those dark leafy vegetables 

But mix it up with cheese, onion and eggs

Turn that into a pie, with crispy Filo Pastry and you are onto a winner

I used a 23 cm square pan, this amount of filling was enough for this size

Don’t forget to work quickly with the filo pastry as it drives out quickly

In fact keep a damp towel to put over it if you have to walk away

Family couldn't wait for me to take the photograph 

You need 

Olive oil

400 gms frozen spinach thawed

1 large onion diced

2 cloves garlic smashed and finely chopped

2 spring onions finely chopped

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Nutmeg ground about 1/2 tsp

2 eggs lightly beaten

200 gms feta cheese crumbled

8 sheets Filo Pastry

Melted butter about 60 gms

Heat oven to 170C 

Put the thawed spinach in a tea towel 

and squeeze it to remove all the moisture  

Heat about 2 tablespoons Olive in in a pan

Medium heat

Add onion 

Sauté till tender

Add garlic and spring onions 

Continue over the heat about 2-3 minutes don’t let it brown

Add the spinach

and cook for about 4-5 minutes

Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Add a little freshly grated nutmeg

Cool 

Meanwhile lightly beat the eggs

Add feta cheese and mix well

Season with a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Add spinach mixture

Your filling is ready to go

Remove your filo from the wrapper and lay on a damp towel 

It’s important that the pastry doesn’t dry out 

Brush the first layer with melted butter 

Lay in buttered tin 

Butter the next sheet and repeat till you have 4 layers

Add your cooled spinach mixture 

Then butter another sheet and lay on top

and repeat with another 3 layers

Fold the edges in

Brush top with little more melted butter

Score the top with a sharp knife

Bake at 170C for about an hour

By then the pastry will be golden and crispy

Below The Cross section, sorry about the photo I need a proper camera ha ha

We had some ketchup on the side

Lunch is served

A little salad on the side to round it out perhaps, if you feel like it 

Prawn and Spinach Cheesy Pasta Bake - Good for the Freezer or Wolf Down straight away

Would you believe I had some Cooked Prawns leftover last Thursday.
It may be that the beautiful Bluff oysters were so yummy, that we filled up on them
Also, in the fridge, there was an unopened bag of baby spinach 
Anyway, as usual…waste not want not
Almost a boring refrain... BUT it’s all true
Best way to get the most out of the prawns
Turn into a Pasta Bake, easy to freeze too
Now I know the Italians don't put cheese and seafood together
BUT the French do, so I am going the French way
If you are starting from scratch and your prawns are frozen
They are so easy to cook

Just toss the defrosted prawn tails with a slosh of Olive Oil
Some sea salt 
A grind of Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 clove Garlic finely chopped
Grated zest of a lemon

Into a 200C oven for just 6 mins
Remove from the oven
Squeeze juice of 1 small lemon and mix 
Cool

Now back to the main dish
Enough to feed at least 6 People

Ingredients
2 cups  Cooked Prawns
2 cloves garlic chopped very finely
125 gms butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 large cherry tomatoes chopped
1 bag baby spinach
1/2 cup flour
5 cups milk

1/2 cup grated cheese

2 cups cooked prawns and juices
Zest lemon
Juice half lemon
4 cups dry pasta of your choice
Penne or Orecchiette perhaps
Your choice

Topping
Extra grated cheese and
Fresh Breadcrumbs

Method
Melt butter in medium size pan
Gently sauté the garlic, till just cooked do not burn
Add  chopped tomatoes

Season with Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sauté about a minute and then add the spinach
Let it wilt

Add the flour to make a roux and stir, cook down for about 3-4 minutes
to get rid of the raw taste

Meanwhile heat the milk and add to the roux
Bring back up to a simmer, stirring so that it doesn't go lumpy
and it thickens up nicely

Let it simmer about 3-4 minutes,

stirring constantly, to stop from sticking to the bottom of the pan

Add the grated Cheese
Hooray a Mornay sauce is born
Throw in the Prawns, any juices, lemon zest and the lemon juice

Meanwhile cook  the pasta
till it is al dente
About 8 minutes
Drain and add to the sauce

Transfer to a ovenproof dish
Cover with extra grated cheese and some fresh breadcrumbs

This can now be frozen or cook straight away
180C oven for 20-25 minutes
Till top is golden and the sauce is bubbling
Delicious, Just enough for me in this  particular dish.

And these containers for the Freezer 

Don't waste Food - Make something for your freezer. Egg, Cheese and Ham in a Tasty Sauce

I'm about to go away for a few days. I went to clean out my fridge. There were so many bits and pieces tucked away in there
Spring onions, red and green pepper, celery in the Vege bin
Some shaved champagne ham, 3 eggs, milk just on it's last legs, and some chunks of old cheese
A few cherry tomatoes

Surely I can do something with this.

Yes I can!
Here is the finished dish ready to go into the freezer, for a meal when I get home
I will either cook up some yummy mashed potatoes and smother the sauce with them
Or Might just cover it with a Golden Puff Pastry Lid
Going to be tasty, no matter what

To fill this plastic container
I used
75 gms butter
75 gms Flour
450 mls of milk

salt and pepper

1 small green pepper chopped
1/4 red pepper chopped
3 spring onions chopped
2 sticks celery chopped
6 cherry tomatoes cut in half

Handful of shaved ham chopped
2 hard boiled eggs peeled and chopped
1/2 cup of chopped leftover cheese

Over medium heat, melt butter
Add chopped vege
Season with Sea salt and Ground Black pepper
saute about 3-4 mins till tender

Add flour
Stir well
Cook for about 2-3 minutes to get the rawness out of the flour

Add the milk
Keep stirring till sauce is thickened
Let cook again,
You may need to add more milk, don't want it too gluggy
Add the protein

Gently fold in, then I plonked it into a plastic container, and it is now in the freezer

Yumo

Cauliflower - So Trendy - So Tasty - This Recipe Not Paleo Though

In fact this is from Ottolenghi’s “Plenty More” book
I love his recipes and this is a winner
Cauliflower Cake

When I started to cook this little delight, I realised that I had forgotten to top up my cheddar cheese supply, so instead of running out to the supermarket.
I used the Castello White Cheese that I had in the fridge
It was delicious but was very rich, next time I will use  Cheddar or Parmesan

To serve, I just sautéed some mushrooms, garlic and spinach
Very tasty.

With the leftovers, Popped some beetroot relish on the side. Yum
I reckon served with a  lovely crisp Salad and some French Bread. That would be superb

1 small cauliflower, outer leaves removed, broken into 3cm florets (450g)
1 medium red onion (170g)
75ml olive oil ½ tsp finely chopped rosemary
7 eggs
15g basil, chopped
120g plain flour, sifted
1½ tsp baking powder
⅓ tsp ground turmeric
150g coarsely grated Parmesan, or another mature cheese
melted butter, to line the tin
1 tbsp white sesame seeds
1 tsp nigella seeds salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC/Gas Mark 4.
Place the cauliflower florets in a saucepan and add 1 teaspoon of salt.
Cover with water and simmer for 15 minutes, until the florets are quite soft:
they should break when pressed with a spoon.
Strain and set aside in a colander to dry

Cut 4 round slices, each 0.5cm thick, off one end of the onion and set aside.
Coarsely chop the rest of the onion and place this in a small pan, with the oil and rosemary.
Cook gently for 10 minutes on a medium heat, stirring from time to time, until soft.
Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
Transfer the cooked onion to a large bowl, add the eggs and basil, whisk well and then
add the flour, baking powder, turmeric, Parmesan, 1 teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper. Whisk until smooth before adding the cauliflower and stirring gently, trying not to break up all the florets.

Line the base and sides of a 24cm springform cake tin with baking parchment.
Brush the sides with melted butter, mix together the sesame and nigella seeds and toss them around the inside of the tin so that they stick to the sides.

Tip in the cauliflower mix and arrange the reserved onion rings on top. 

Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until golden-brown and set:
a knife inserted into the centre of the cake should come out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave for at least 20 minutes before serving:
it needs to be served just warm, rather than hot, or at room temperature

Summer Food - Flan of Green herbs with Raw Tomato Sauce

In the previous post, I gave the recipe for a superb Courgette Salad, that I served with Lamb
This is the first course, that I served to my guests.
It went down really well
I found this in The "Essential Pepin" Cook book
by the wonderful Jacques
I love his food

Perfect as a first course, or even a lunch
I served some hot rolls, just in case you need to mop up the the yummy sauce

For The Flan
6 cups of mixed green herbs such as parsley, coriander, chives, basil rocket
4 cups loosely packed baby spinach leave
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1/4 cup Pine nuts
6 larger eggs
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

For the Sauce
1 kg ripe tomatoes coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped Jalapeño peppers (optional)
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons White Wine Vinegar
1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch sugar

Preheat the oven to 185C

First wash and dry the herbs and spinach
Roughly chop

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a 23-25 cm ovenproof, nonstick pan
Add the nuts and sauté for 1-2 minutes until light browned
Stir in the herbs and spinach and cook for 3 minutes or until soft and tender

Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk with the cream until blended
Add the mixture to the pan along with salt and pepper and cook stirring

For about 15 seconds until semi set
Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top

Transfer the Flan to the oven and bake for 10 minutes
or until set and lightly browned

For the Sauce
Put the tomatoes in a Food Processor or Blender, with the Jalapeño
Process till smooth
Add salt, pepper. sugar, vinegar and olive oil

Process for a few seconds
Check for seasoning and adjust if necessary

You can make this earlier and keep in the fridge

To serve
Place some sauce on a plate
A piece of Flan on top

A perfect first course

Chicken Deep Dish Style - Looking for Sunday Lunch for The Family?

Thursday at Grandmas
Its busy
"Planking" by Cleo 

Computers and colouring in by the others

Once upon a time when we were first married, we were invited to dinner.
Diane the hostess made this chicken dish. We loved it.
Of course I asked for the recipe and Diane introduced me to the Triple Tested Recipe Book compiled and published by the Lower Hutt Plunket, as a fund raiser.

Over the years I have made several of the recipes. Funnily enough I reckon I have cooked more out of this book than most of the hundreds of other books I own.
I loved the names.

This one 
Chicken - Deep Dish Style 
then we have
Veal Roast That Can Wait
Down Easy Pudding and so on.
Many a dinner party in Wellington, was created from this book.

So back to the recipe it tastes like Old Fashioned Roast Chicken
All those herbs in with the bread, just delicious
If there is any left over it is even better the second day
Thought it would be excellent to serve the Grandkids
They loved it.



So back to the recipe.
There are 3 stages
First cook the chicken
Make the bread mixture
Make the White sauce

Chicken
1med size chicken
1 carrot rough chop
1 parsnip rough chop
1 onion cut into quarters
2 cloves of garlic sliced
Thyme, rosemary, sage and parsley
Salt and pepper
2 bay leaves
Water enough to cover the chicken

Put everything in a large pot
Bring to boil and simmer for about an hour
Cool in the water
Remove chicken
Take meat off the bones and put to one side
Reserve the stock

Bread
1/2 a baguette about 300 gms
Cut into 1 cm cubes
1tablespoon chicken stock powder
1 small onion finely minced
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup hot milk

Toast the bread in the oven till golden
Place in a big bowl
Along with stock powder, herbs vege, salt, pepper
Eggs and milk
Mix well till the bread has absorbed everything

White sauce
6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
4 cups hot reserved stock
Salt and pepper
2 eggs beaten

To make the white sauce
Melt the butter in a pot
Add flour and stir well
Cook about 4 minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste
Add stock
Whisk and bring to boil
Simmer stirring till thickened
Taste and adjust seasoning
Add beaten eggs and mix well

Now to assemble
Grease a gratin dish
Layer 1/2 of bread mix
Add 1/2 chicken meat

Cover with half of the sauce
Repeat with the remainder chicken, bread and finishing with the sauce

Pre-heat oven to 180C
Bake for 1/2 hour
Till golden and bubbling

Remove, let sit for at least 20 minutes
Cut into slices just like Lasagne

 Serve

Roasted Maryland of Chicken - Pretty Lunch for One

I was about to make a sandwich for lunch, but it wasn't hitting the spot, so I rushed off to the butcher and bought a Maryland of Chicken Not the Southern Fried chicken usually associated with that name. Instead in this Antipodean part of the world it is the name that Butchers have given to the Thigh and drumstick joint of the bird.

I would much rather eat this cut of chicken than the breast which as we know can so easily be dry and then chewy. Personally I love to eat the meat of the leg and then pick up the bones and have a good gnaw on them. Its the primitive in me, I believe. I then, have the insane desire to throw the bones over my shoulder but I have resisted that. So far.

Anyhow back to lunch. There is nothing nicer than Roast Chicken, roasted of course, "Skin On".
I haven't given specific amounts, you can't really go wrong with any proportions of these ingredients.
Go for it.
I picked some Sage, Rosemary and Thyme and chopped the leaves with the zest of a lemon,
1 small shallot, some sea salt, good grind of black pepper 
All mixed up with a little good olive oil.
Chop away till almost a paste and then push this beautifully aromatic mixture under the skin of the leg.
Rub on a little more oil,  sea salt and pepper.
Sit on a bed of fresh herbs and another shallot to make a little rack for the roasting.
Add 1/2 cup chicken stock ( this helps to steam the chicken and keep it moist while the skin is meanwhile crisping up. Yum)
Gosh my mouth was watering. Is there anything better than the aroma of Roasted Chicken in your kitchen?
I had to eat a peach while I was waiting, to stave off the hunger pains.
This will take about 35 - 40 minutes till the juices run clear
Rest for at least 10 minutes.


Meanwhile make a pretty little salad.
I used Iceberg lettuce. I'm sorry, not fashionable but I love it, really crunchy
Bright red radish sliced
English Cucumber, sliced
1 x tomato quartered, de-seeded and sliced, reserve the seeds for the dressing
Spring onions, chopped

I love using the seeds of the tomatoes, to retain the juice.
Just squeeze them through a tea strainer or small sieve
This juice, makes a good base for a dressing
Season it with a pinch of sea salt, ground black pepper and a pinch of sugar.
This delivers a very intense tomato flavour.

I then turned this into a dressing with 2 tbs of Extra virgin Olive oil
2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar
Stir well and dress your salad.
Cut your perfectly roasted chicken in two
Plonk on top of the salad.
Isn't that marvelous?

How healthy is that...even with the Skin on?

Gnocchi - Its easy when you know how.

 

I never really got Gnocchi, thought it was a bit boring. Obviously I hadn’t really tasted it properly.
This recipe that I got from Chef Michael Smith is perfectly simple and is excellent.
The little gnocchi pillows just melt in your mouth, with the added extra, of brown sage butter
Heaven.
Sorry if you are on the Atkins, or watching the calories, stop here.
Otherwise carry on, you are in for a treat.

The Gnocchi is made from Kumara (Sweet potato)
No eggs just some oil to moisten.

There is a little trick rolling them down the fork and I haven’t got that right yet but I am on my way. This is not necessary but the ridges formed by the fork hold the sauce.

Has to be fresh sage but that is easy to come by. Sage is one of the herbs easily grown in pots. If I can do you can!

So here we go


Sweet Potato (Kumara) Dumplings (Gnocchi).

3 medium Kumara
1 cup flour plus extra for rolling out
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
Sea Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper


1/4 cup unsalted butter
6 fresh sage leaves

Heat oven to 170C
Place Kumara on baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour till they are squishy
When they are cool enough to handle
Split open and spoon flesh into a large bowl
Add oregano, 1 cup flour. Salt, pepper and olive oil
Mash and knead everything into a dough
If the dough seems a bit wet add a little more flour
The trick is to add the least amount of flour to bring the Kumara into a workable dough

Turn out on floured board and roll into a ball.

Cut in half and roll each half into a sausage

Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to the boil
Salt the water liberally as you would for pasta.
Cut each sausage into 2.5 cm pieces
Toss them around in flour, to stop them sticking together

 Now is the time to roll them if you wish

Just roll down the fork and the tip of the prongs will make little ridges

Drop them into the boiling water you can do about 10 at a time.
Cook them till they float to the surface about 2-3 minutes

In another pan melt butter over medium heat
Add sage leaves
Let butter brown and bubble
DON'T burn
It will have a lovely nutty smell
Remove gnocchi from pot and place in sage butter

Toss around for a minute or two till they brown
Continue and repeat with the rest of the gnocchi.
Look at these. So yummy

I placed the extra, not eaten by us, on a tray and free flow froze them for a later date.
NOW leftovers
I had of course the Baked Kumara Skins
Popped them on a greased tray

There was leftover Pumpkin Risotto
Filled the skins.

There was also Sage Brown Butter in the pan
Too rich to eat the lot, over the Gnocchi

Warm the butter
Add 2 medium chopped tomatoes
Saute about 2 minutes
Add enough flour to make a roux
Stir well
Season with S & P

and add water stirring while it thickens.
Let simmer for about 5 minutes

Pour over filled skins
Cover with grated cheese

Into a hot oven say about 10 minutes

Sprinkle with a little parsley
Voila Lunch!