Cooking at Mums!

A little while back I paid a visit to my Mother and little, sorry Younger Brother and treated them to a cooking fiesta. Money was a tad tight for them so they had been living off the same bolognaise and sausages for a while now. So... Out comes my polished Italian cooking skills, newly honed under the tutelage of a drunken Italian Chef by the name of Flavio. I made them some fettucine Arabiatta, Boscaiola, the Chili and garlic bread, Pizzas, and Mexican Tortillas Fajitas style.

Here is a couple of pics:

Pancakes!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups self raising flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essance
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
  

METHOD

1. Place flour in a mixing jug or bowl, make a well and add the milk, egg and vanilla essence.
2. Using a whisk, mix ingredients until no longer lumpy. Alternatively use a mixing tool, like a Mix Master, or Chef Master or electric egg whisk are an easier way.
3. Coat a frying pan with oil and place on a medium heat. Add a small amount of butter and pour pancake mix into frying pan, about 15 cm diameters worth.
4. Once the bubbles have either slowed or stopped forming on the top of the pancake, flip it or just scoop it up with an egg flip and turn it over.
5. After a couple of minutes the pancake should be ready, just check the under side to see if its golden. Place the pancake on a plate and place in the oven at lowest setting to keep warm. Continue making pancakes until there is no more mixture, adding each pancake to the plate in the oven.
6. Serve with any number of toppings (see below)

This ones up here because its an easy way to make pancakes, and i think tastes better than the plastic jugs you get in the supermarkets. The mix will be fairly thick and the pancakes will come out fat and fluffy. Some ideas for toppings are as follows:

• lemon and sugar
• whipped cream and jam
• ricotta cheese and jam
• maple syrup or golden syrup
• maple/golden syrup with vanilla ice cream
• honey
• scrambled eggs and parsley

The list goes on.

Enjoy!

James The Not So Skinny Cook

Creamy Tomato Pasta

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of pasta (Penne, Travelle, Shells, your choice Fettucine is also good)
• 200ml light cooking cream
• 3 tblspn low fat Ricotta cheese
  
• 400g tin of diced italian tomatoes
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 rashes of bacon cut into small strips
• garlic, 2 or 3 cloves, crushed
• 1/4 cup of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh parmesan, grated
• 1 tsp chili, finely chopped - optional

METHOD

1. Cook pasta as per intructions, drain and set aside.
2. Cook the onion with some oil or butter in a deep frying pan or large pot until it becomes soft and translucent (about 3-5 mins). Add the bacon and garlic and cook for a further 5 mins.
3. Add the can of diced tomatoes and half the parsley, plus the chili if you used it. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins.
   
4. Reduce the heat to low and add the cream, Ricotta and half the parmesan. Mix thoroughly and then toss in the pasta, ensuring all the pasta is coated in the creamy sauce.
5. Serve and garnish with the remaining parsley and parmesan, add Salt and cracked Pepper to taste.

This recipe is so easy to make, and tastes great. For the vegetarians out there, you can easily substitute the bacon for sliced or diced capsicum, or even mushrooms. This dish can be modified to include diced chicken breast or thighs, Italian sausages, or 400g of cooked chicken mince. More chilli is great for the adventurous sort. My wife and I also discovered that this dish is wicked served cold the next day also!

Enjoy!

James The Not So Skinny Cook

Chilli and Garlic Bread

INGREDIENTS

• 200g butter
• 2 tblspn dried Chilli
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
• salt
• Turkish Bread
  

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
2. Slice bread along its length sideways
3. Grate or finely slice garlic and mix with butter, Chilli and parsley in a small dish or mixing bowl. Whip butter mix until the mixture is slightly melted and spreads well, add salt to taste.
   
4. Spread butter mixture onto Turkish bread evenly, and place in the oven with the butter side up.
5. Bake for 15-20 mins or until golden. Serve hot.

You can add more or less of the ingredients to taste, I prefer more garlic and perhaps less chilli, but more chilli always goes great when the boys are drinking. I learnt this one off an Itallian Chef called Flavio at a mates bucks weekend. We were in charge of food and I made Chorizo omlettes (recipe to come) and we both put together this garlic bread before the stripper came. At about 3:30 that morning after we got back from the pub Flavio put together this fantastic Fettucine Arrabiatta, which I'll try and recreate before I post it. Flavio works at a restaurant in Sydney called Taste. At least I think he does, it might be Prima Taste. I was pretty drunk.

Enjoy

James the Not So Skinny Cook.

Fettucine Boscaiola

INGREDIENTS

• 15g dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 cup boiling water
• 375g fresh fettuccine
• 30g butter
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 300g mixed mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced sage leaves
• 4 eschalots, diced
• 1 cloves garlic, sliced
• ¼ cup dry white wine, Madeira or port
• ½ cup cream
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Pour boiling water over dried mushrooms and set aside to re-hydrate (20-30 minutes) and soften.
2. Cook pasta in large pot of salted, boiling water, (5-6 minutes) until al dente and drain. Drain mushrooms and strain liquid through a fine sieve to remove any dirt; reserve liquid and slice mushrooms thickly.
3. Heat butter and olive oil together in a large, non-stick frying pan and cook fresh mushrooms, sage, eschalots and garlic until starting to sweat and caramelise. Add sliced porcini and wine, sauté. Add some porcini water and add a dash of cream and pepper. Bring back to the boil and reduce slightly.
4. Add drained pasta and, if necessary, a little of the pasta cooking liquid to thin the sauce slightly. Serve hot.
   

I use either home made fresh pasta, or the gourmet pasta from a deli or supermarket. The dried instant stuff is ok for bulk stuff or just for plain pasta for that really special dish, say you're entertaining in-laws or cooking for your date, i recommend going all out and using the good stuff. It makes all the difference with good pasta dishes. Find yourself a good Italian Deli in town somewhere and ask them whats good for your dish.

Enjoy.

James the Not So Skinny Cook

Just a joke I wanted to share...

Three Italian nuns die and go to heaven. At the Pearly Gates, they are met by St. Peter. He says,
"Sisters, you all led such exemplary lives that the Lord is granting you six months to go back to earth and be anyone you wish to be.
The first nun says, "I want to be Sophia Loren;"
And *poof* she's gone.
The second says, "I want to be Madonna and *poof* she's gone.
The third says, "I want to be Sara Pipalini.."
St. Peter looks perplexed. "Who?" he asks
"Sara Pipalini;" replies the nun.
St. Peter shakes his head and says, "I'm sorry, but that name just doesn't ring a bell." The nun then takes a newspaper out of her habit and hands it to St.Peter. St. Peter reads the paper and starts laughing. He hands it back to her and says.
"No sister, the paper says it was the ' Sahara Pipeline' that was laid by 1,400 men in 6 months."

If you laughed, you're going straight to hell!

James the Not So Funny Cook

Feta & Pine Nut Cheese Strudel

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 1 3/4 cups feta cheese, crumbled
• 250g ricotta cheese
• 2 tblsp chopped basil
• 4 spring onions, chopped
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 9 sheets filo pastry
• 40g butter
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 2-3 tspn sesame seeds

Method:

1. Preheat oven to moderate (180 degrees C). Mix together pine nuts, feta, ricotta, basil spring onion and eggs. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Brush each sheet of filo with the combined melted butter and oil and stack them one on top of each other.
2. Spread the cheese filling in the centre, covering an area about 10cm x 30cm. Fold in the ends of the pastry, then fold in the sides to enclose the filling. Carefully turn the strudel over and place on a baking tray, seam-side-down. Lightly brush the top with a little melted butter and sprinkle with the sesame seeds.
3. Bake for 35 mins or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Serve warm with relish, chutney or salad.

James the Not So Skinny Cook.