Quick heads up.

I have been a busy girl recently with college and not had huge amounts of time to cook through my bookshelf. More cooking through my text books for college instead. This isn't to say I have totally neglected being a bookshelf cook at all, it means I have chosen a few recipes from Jamie's 30min meals book which has taken me no time at all since I have bailed on the desserts and extra sides some of the time. One of my favourite which seriously (no joke) took no time at all was the 'Pregnant Jool's favourite pasta' a sausage ragu. It tastes like it had been stewing for hours but really only cooking for maybe 20min.

You start off by blending in your magi-mix or in my case two batching in osca, spring onions, a carrot, a stick of celery, sausages (any you like), fennel seeds, chilli's (I used dried chilli flakes) and dried oregano until its a mushy mess. Throw it in a large frying pan on high heat with some olive oil and break up while cooking.

Meanwhile add your (penne) pasta to some boiling salted water. Crush garlic cloves into the sausage mixture and add some balsamic vinegar (this is to add sweetness to the dish which cannot be achieved in the short cooking time) and tinned tomatoes, bring to a simmer.

Your pasta should be cooked by now and as always save some cooking water before you drain the pasta. Add your pasta to your sausage ragu. Mix through and add a little of the cooking water if needed. Stir some fresh basil through and serve with some parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Jamie serves this pasta dish with a crunchy chicory and watercress salad and little frangipane tarts for dessert. I only cooked the pasta dish this time as we had a green salad with mum's dressing on top.

Can't beat that dressing with any!!

Not a first timer.

Christmas Count down: 2 months.


Tonight was Recipe #62: Mini Shell Pasta with a Creamy Smoked Bacon & Pea Sauce. I think a very fitting dish since its nearly Christmas and it makes a great left over dish. 


I do have to admit this was not the first time I have made this pasta dish. I love it! The first time I made it was at the beginning of this year with Christmas ham left overs instead of bacon. A very versatile dish. Leave out the parmesan for a lighter dinner which suited greedy me tonight or keep it in for a heavier dinner when you haven't finished of the weekends leftovers for afternoon tea.


So here it is. Very simple and scrumptious.
I finely sliced the bacon and chopped the fresh mint. Add a little olive oil because the bacon was not very fatty and fried it until golden and crispy. My pasta water was boiling and the pasta was added while the bacon was frying and spitting and popping all over mums kitchen top. I used bow-ties instead of little shells as we had them already at home. Next I added a large handful of peas, a dash of light cream (you are meant to use creme fraiche but all we had was light cream which worked well and made me feel like my bum might stay the same size tonight and not enlarge itself after eating) and some of the mint. Cooked the peas for a couple of min, drained the pasta, added the cream to the peas, added the pasta to the pea and bacon sauce reserving some of the cooking water and squeezed in half a lemon. Served it with a sprinkle of parmesan and dug in. 


Mmmm YUM! 
Mum had seconds :)

Quick, Easy and Tasty...

What more can you ask for?


Recipe #61: Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle

First things first, I hate jared pesto and when I saw that this recipe asked for jared pesto I immediately turned my nose up and thought Ew!! but knew I had to give it a go. Now a few weeks ago my friend Katie had the girls over for dinner and a movie and called me to tell me what she wanted to cook for dinner and if it sounded ok, it sounded delicious apart from the pesto she mentioned that she was not going to make from scratch but buy jared. I instantly held my tongue well aware it gets me in trouble at the best of times and said it still sounded delicious even with my silent fears of jared pesto ringing in my head. But as I helped her cook the dinner I sampled the jared pesto and there must have been a revolution in jared pesto world since the last time I tried it because this one was delicious. I instantly took a shine to this jared pesto and would say its the only one to buy. EVER. Its doesn't tastes the same as home made as it lacks the potent punch home made pesto has but with a but of extra cheese, garlic butter and S&P it was so yummy it has made an appearance at home a couple of weeks later. I have named it 'Katie's Pasta'.


But on to the dish I cooked the other night; Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle. It was yum but I do prefer Katie's Pasta... I think I over cooked the pasta slightly and under cooked the potatoes. I didn't have a choice though... either cooked pasta and slightly underdone potatoes or cooked potatoes and mushy pasta. I couldn't win.

So to start with Jamie asks you to cut the florets off your broccoli then slice the stalk in half (discarding the  very end bit) and finely slice. I used two small bits of broccoli but I think one would have been plenty like he says but I got greedy as usual and slice your potato using a speed peeler. The pasta (I used spaghetti as we didn't have tagliatelle at home) goes into salted boiling water with the sliced broccoli stalks. 2min before the pasta is done you are meant to add the broccoli florets and the shaved potato and cook for 2 min. Drain it all, reserving some of the cooking water and return everything to the pan. Stir through the pesto and halved baby cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes are my little touch as I know they go well with this jared pesto. Add a little extra parmesan cheese, a good amount of seasoning of S&P and a slosh of the reserved pasta water if it looks to dry. 

We served this with fresh sourdough bread smothered in butter. Mmm I love real salty butter :)

Just give me Mac & Cheese Pleeease!

Recipe #58: Macaroni Cauliflower Cheese Bake


This looks delicious in the cookbook and looked delicious when it came out of the oven all bubbly and golden but I'm just not a fan of cauliflower. I don't mind a bit but all through mac & cheese... please just mac & cheese with NO cauliflower next time.


On the bright side, my mum who likes cauliflower LOVED it!


This is what went in it:
- 1/2 a head of cauliflower (I put a whole one in because I only just realised then I read the recipe wrong so maybe thats why it was too cauliflower-ee)
- 200g cheddar cheese (we only had low fat grated cheese)
- 100g parmesan cheese (grated)
- a bunch of fresh parsley
- S&P
- 400g dried macaroni (I used elbow pasta)
- 200g creme fraiche (I used 100g sour cream & 100g of pouring cream because we didn't have any creme fancy delicious-ness at home)
- pinch of chilli flakes (this was my touch as I felt for a little spice tonight)

I chopped the cauliflower up breaking small florets off and finely slicing the stalks of the larger florets. The cheeses when in a large heatproof bowl and the parsley finely chopped and kept to the side. I brought a large pot of salted water to boil and threw in the pasta and then placed the bowl of cheeses over the boiling pasta. The creams went into the cheeses and attempted to melt... I say attempted because it all glooped up to start with and the pasta water started to over flow onto the stove top. But once that was under control and the sauce stirred, it started to melt I regained my faith in Mr Oliver.  After 5 min I threw in the cauliflower and let cook for a further 3-4 min. 

Parsley and S&P went in the melted cheese and cream while the pasta and cauliflower drained. Everything was then combined and poured into a baking dish. I then topped this with a bit more cheese and grilled it in a preheated oven for about 20min until golden and oozy on top.


I made a variation of my favourite salad to go with this and I needed a fresh taste after the creaminess of cauliflower. The salad had rocket, ripe tomatoes, red onion and avo; dressed with the usual white wine and balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.


Sorry Jamie but wont be making it again...

Lesson number 1 learnt. Tick.

Recipe # 35 and 36. Last Night we had Creamy Bacon and Mushroom Sauce served over hot pasta and Mediterranean Chopped Salad.

Crème Fraiche. The dictionary meaning should be 'Devouring Delicious-ness'... although you do pay for the DD.

First I deseeded and chopped the (home grown) chilli, then the bacon and mushrooms. I heated the oil in a pan and forgot about it until it started smoking.

I added the bacon and gave the kitchen a oil shower of oil and bacon fat.... mmm mum loves me :) While the bacon was frying I had put the water on to start boiling for the hot pasta. I started chopping the Mediterranean Chopped Salad. Again I started with a home grown chilli which I deseeded and chopped along with tomatoes, onion, olives, lettuce and some wilted home grown basil. I made the dressing in a jar and DID NOT pour it over the salad yet as I have learnt my lesson with 'Soggy Salad'.


I added the tube pasta to the water and put the timer on so I wouldn't forget about it like I had forgotten about the oil. Next the mushrooms, chilli and fresh thyme was added to the now crispy bacon. Stirred until the mushrooms were coated in the bacon juices and then 4 tablespoons of Devouring Delicious Crème fraiche was added till bubbling.


Pasta is done and drained and poured into the pan of bubbling creamy bacon stirred through and seasoned with salt and pepper. Served straight away and sprinkled with some parmesan cheese.

Pasta and crème fraiche... Do I need to say anymore??


Salad was nice but the wilted basil made it bitter. Will leave it out or add fresh oregano next time.

Fuss Free delicious-ness!!

Recipe #28 & 29: Lasagne (+Bolognese sauce). This recipe was made back in January for our double dater couple. Chloe and I go on dates while our lovely boys have there bro-mance time together. 


First things first: I LOVE Lasagne! My mum never makes it enough and only makes it when we're having a dinner party and thats not very often at all. I have to beg and plead for Lasagne so I decided to make my own.. well Jamie's. 


You start with making the Bolognese sauce which takes 45 min to cook once everything is in the pot. Once that is cooked and looking delicious don't be tempted to give up and boil spaghetti. Keep going... keep going! It's worth it let me tell you!! 
    Preheat the oven and grate parmesan into the bolognese sauce. Tear and stir in any large basil leaves, keeping the smaller ones aside for later. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Soften your lasagne sheets by pouring hot water over the top and draining. 
    Spoon a third of the bolognese sauce in the bottom of an oven proof pan followed by a  lasagne sheet. Dollop a third of your creme fraiche and smooth it over to cover the lasagne sheets. Sprinkle with pepper, salt and a parmesan cheese. Repeat until you have no ingredients left and making the finishing layer of creme fraiche and parmesan. To make it look pretty add sliced tomato on top and the smaller basil leaves. 
    Cover with foil and bake for 20min in preheated oven. Remove foil and cook for a further 35min until bubbling and delicious.


One word. YUM!


I will make this again and again and again once this mission is over! The creme fraiche makes the sauce delicious and rich but with no fuss!  Just remember to keep on track after the bolognese is made because it is worth it!

Confession

Fear not my fellow followers, I am still alive! While coming down with a tummy bug and then Australia Day there has been not much chance to cook until now. All I felt like eating was plain pasta with butter on it... I can hear you all saying mmm yum right now. SO for dinner tonight I thought i'd cook again as I have been having a slight freak out. 154 days left in my mission for "Jamie's Ministry of Food" and 148 to go. I know one per day and i'll get it done but that won't happen I know myself. I need to get crackin'!


If you have just been trying to add up the recipes in my blog and the amount left to cook it doesn't make any sense. Thats because I have to admit something... I have cooked more recipes then what is written on my blog. They will be posted but I started cooking before I started writing.


Recipe #12- Classic Tomato Spaghetti. (With added peas and baby spinach)- Cook garlic, basil stalks in olive oil add a can of tomatoes. Add chopped basil leaves (& frozen peas), bring to the boil, add cooked spaghetti and baby spinach. Serve.


It needed a lot more salt but then it could have been just me. I have this mouth ulcer that makes everything taste metallic. fun.

24 Balls

I’ve been lazy over the weekend. I won’t get all the recipes finished if I keep cooking this slow. But Thai take-out was just calling me! How can anyone resist the call of Thai take-out???

Recipe #4- Spaghetti and Meatballs. No drama's last night except having sayo crumbs everywhere and trying to keep my cat away from the meatballs. She sat on the kitchen stool while Jamie asked me to scrunch all the ingredients together with my hands then roll them into 4 large balls and split the 4 large balls into 6 small balls (There was a lot of balls) and tried to get on the kitchen bench. When I stopped her she would try to just get her head on the bench with no paws... sneaky cat.