Spaghetti Cabonara

This is one of my staples .. and is super quick and easy to cook when you have no time, and are busy writing reports. This makes enough for 2-3 serves - depending on how big your serves are generally :) ...

The original recipe is from Nigella Lawson - How to Eat .. but I've tweaked it and added other ingredients.

200g (approx) - spaghetti pasta
dash of cream (maybe 60ml)
60g - 100g - finely grated parmesan
2 x eggs (lightly beaten)
60g - 100g - pancetta - finely chopped (or bacon if you have no pancetta)
60ml - white wine (not sweet)
1 x clove garlic - finely chopped / crushed
pinch chilli flakes
pinch nutmeg (ground)
freshly ground pepper

Method:

Cook your pasta according to packet directions

whilst pasta is cooking:
in a frypan - fry off your pancetta - medium to high heat
after it has been frying for a couple of minutes - (2-3) - add in garlic
fry off for another minute or 2
add in white wine - and let it bubble away to almost nothingness

meanwhile - in a bowl or measuring jug - combine:
. eggs (lightly beaten)
. parmesan
. chilli
. nutmeg
. pepper
. cream

Take pancetta off the stove.
Drain pasta - and then put back into the pasta pot (but off the stove - you want only the residual heat to cook the egg / cream / cheese mix - otherwise you'll end up with scrambled eggs)

mix through the cooked pancetta / garlic / wine
then tip in the egg / cream / cheese mix - and stir / toss thoroughly.
Within a minute or two - it will form a smooth creamy sauce for the pasta.

Chestnut Soup

Ok - the fantastic & rich Chestnut soup recipe ....
Liberated from a Donna Hay Magazine (July / August 2005)
www.donnahay.com

I've halved the amounts (as I only ended up with 1/2 the amount of chestnuts needed).
this is what is needed for about 400-500ml of soup)

400g - shelled chestnuts
1 brown onion - finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic - finely chopped / crushed
500ml stock (vegetable or chicken) ... (vegetable for any vego friends out there)
20g butter
250-300ml pouring cream
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt / pepper
additional stock / water

Porcini Oil:
1/4 cup olive oil
3-5g dried porcini mushrooms.


To Make Porcini oil:
put dried mushrooms & olive oil in small saucepan - over low heat .. heat for approx 5 minutes - then take off heat to cool.
(Make sure the oil isn't too hot - as your dried mushrooms will burn - and the oil will end up tasting rather rancid.)
When cool - strain off mushrooms - retaining only the oil.

To de-shell / de-skin chestnuts: - 2 options
(options not provided with recipe .. so had to scrounge around my thousands of books for this information)
Roasting:
. cut a small cross in the base of each chestnut
. pre-heat oven - 220C
. roast in pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes
. take out of oven .. and place in newspaper - wrap fairly tightly - the steam will loosten the shell & make it easier to remove the inner skin

Boiling:
. cut a small cross in the base of the chestnuts
. boil in water - approx 15-20 mins
. take out - drain/ cool ... skins should remove fairly easily

To Make Soup:
in a largish pot .. heat over fairly high heat
. add onion, olive oil (1 Tbsp), garlic, chestnuts - and fry for approx 2-3 minutes until onion starts to soften
. add stock - and cook for approx 15-20 minutes until chestnuts are soft - stirring occassionally
(if you are cooking with raw chestnuts [ie. not boiled or roasted] allow for additional 15 minutes)

. keep watch over your soup - approx every 5 minutes or so
(you may need to skim the top of the soup - and add more liquid if it looks like too much has boiled away).

. take off heat when cooked - (and rest soup until the liquid has stopped bubbling)

. add cream - stir through
. add salt & pepper to taste
. blend soup in food processor
. pass through sieve to remove larger chunks of chestnuts .. this will result in a smoother soup

To serve:
. drizzle each serving with a small amount of porcini oil

Enjoy.

Notes:
This soup is very very rich ... so only serve smallish portions
Also .. regarding the use of 'raw chestnuts' .. This is NOT recommended.
If ever you read a recipe and it says to use 'roasted' or 'boiled' chestnuts, don't think you might like to try it from scratch / raw ... getting the shells off is a really really painful process (both mentally & physically) ... my fingers have only just recovered after a week (the inner skins gets up and under your finger nails and tends to either become stuck, or just go in for the quick kill (the under the fingernail paper-cut)

Sweet Potato Salad

Roast some sweet potato chunks and onion. Throw some baby spinach or rocket into a salad bowl. Tip in your roast sweet potato, onion and either walnuts or pine nuts... and mix some Aioli through it (Neil Perry's Aioli from the fruit and veg cold section in Woolies is YUMMO!).

How easy is that? And it's super YUMMO!

Easy Fish

This is so basic that I'm ashamed to be posting it... but I make it all the time.

Get your fish... and baking tray... put the fish in foil... tip olive oil over it, pine nuts (love my pine nuts), salt and pepper, squeeze lemon juice over it, cut up some lemon (in rings or quarters) and whack it on top. Fold the foil up and whack it in the oven for 20 - 30 mins, and dinner is done! YUMMO!

Last night I roasted some sweet potato and had it with it. But whatever you fancy as a side really.

Yummy Curry

I tried this curry last night & it is yummo! So easy to make ...

"Looking for an exciting taste adventure for you and your family?Look no further than Continental Sizzle & Stir. Two exciting steps to a delicious sensory experience!"

I used the "Golden Korma" one with beef strips & it is delicious ... I added potato & carrot as well. I served it on a bed of coconut rice ... I put a tin of coconut milk, water & jasmine rice in the rice cooker & let the rice cooker do the rest!

Mmmmmm yummy curry!

Some handy recipe links

http://recipefinder.ninemsn.com.au/

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/index.asp (This one is care of kat-ohki)

Pasta with Roast Vegetables and Pecans

I made this on Sunday, with my own variations (used pine nuts instead of pecans!) - BUT YUM!

Serving size: Serves 8Cooking time: Less than 30 minutes

Whether you buy organic or conventionally grown produce, this pasta with roast vegetables and pecans is a delicious way to enjoy a variety of vegetables.

INGREDIENTS
2 red onions, cut into eighths
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
4 baby eggplant, sliced lengthways
10 Dutch carrots, peeled
4 cloves garlic, skin on
1 tbsp olive oil
100g pecan nuts, chopped
400g fettuccine
2 tbsp olive oil, extra
2 tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
METHOD
Place onions, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots and garlic in a large mixing bowl. Add oil and mix, lightly coating the vegetables with oil.
Spread the vegetables on tray and bake in a moderate oven, 180°C, for 20 minutes.
While the vegetables are roasting, spread pecan nuts on a tray and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Prepare fettuccine according to packet instructions.
In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Remove vegetables from the oven and squeeze the garlic out of its skin into the oil mixture. Mash garlic with a fork.
Add roasted vegetables and olive oil mixture to cooked pasta. Serve sprinkled with roasted pecan nuts and basil.

Per serve: 1340 kilojoules (320 calories). Protein 8g. Total fat 12g. Saturated fat 1g. Carbohydrate 41g. Total sugars 6g. Sodium 100mg. Potassium 480mg. Calcium 50mg. Iron 1.4mg. Fibre 6g.Tip: If you don't have baby eggplant or Dutch carrots, just use the regular variety. One medium eggplant and four regular carrots will substitute nicely.

Recipe prepared by the Sanitarium Nutrition Service. The Sanitarium Nutrition Service is a free community initiative. It is a team of qualified nutritionists and dietitians who work together to help people enjoy the benefits of healthy foods and a healthy lifestyle. For more information from Sanitarium please click here.

Source: http://health.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=93062

Who are we?

We're pretty much just two crazy girls, who don't really dig cooking.

But we're trying to change that.

So why not start a blog (everyone else seems to be doing it), where we can post recipes and try and fool ourselves into believing that cooking is a great hobby!

And that's pretty much it :)