Chicken & Sundried Tomato Fettuchini

Well I hope everyone had a good weekend , we early managed to get thru it without any rain. We are so sick of rain, this has been the longest Winter.

 

Miss Fish was trying to think of something for tea on Sunday and pulled out my Women's Weekly cookbook that dates back the ahmm 1970's. Flicking thru the pasta recipes gave me the idea for this meal.

In the back of the pantry I found a packet of organic black pepper Fettuchini that I bought on one of our trips to Adelaide. Now why I keep these delicacies I don't know but I thought it would be a good time to use it.

 

This recipe is quite simple while the pasta is cooking , you make the sauce. Mine took nearly 15 minutes because it was quite thick handmade pasta, if your pasta takes less time to cook start the sauce first, then drain the pasta add it to the cooking sauce, toss together then dish up with freshly grated Parmesan on top.

This is enough for 4 generous serves.

Chicken & Sundried Tomato Fettuchini

2 large skinless chicken fillets, cut into 2 cm cubes, 3 heaped tbsps tomato paste, 2 cloves garlic finely chopped, about 20 semi sun dried tomatoes chopped into 1 cm pieces, 1/2 red onion very finely diced, 1 cup water, 2 tbsps fresh or 1 tsp dried basil, 1 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp ground pepper, 2 large handfuls baby spinach and/or roquette, 3 tbsps cream, 3 tbsps olive oil, 375 grams dried pasta

In a large saucepan bring sufficient water to the boil to cook the pasta. If your pasta takes 10 - 15 minutes, start cooking then start the sauce.

In a large frypan heat the oil then add the onion & chicken, cook stirring occasionally till the chicken starts to get golden. Add the garlic, cook 1 minute.

Push the chicken to the edges add the tomato paste to the centre, cook for 1 minute then stir into the chicken mixture. Add the water, sugar, pepper & dried basil. Stir let simmer 5 - 7 minutes or until the chicken has cooked. If the sauce has got too thick add a ladleful of the pasta cooking water to thin it down.

When the pasta is cooked, drain. Add the cream, spinach and fresh basil, if you are using it, stir it into the sauce. Add the pasta and using tongs toss together, once the pasta is well coated in the sauce remove from the heat and serve with freshly grated Parmesan, I also served ours with buttered French stick.

 

 

Spaghetti Carbonara

Well another week has slipped by, what with sewing and several trips to the shops this week went by like a a fast train.

I did manage to cook some different meals this week. So I have photos and recipes to write about.

Now my carbonara doesn't have any cream nor big chunks of onions like you get when you eat out.

This is the true Italian way of making it by using the eggs and grated Parmesan to form the sauce.

As this recipe doesn't have a lot of ingredients if you can use the best ones you can afford it makes all the difference.

For the eggs I am a bit lucky that Miss Fish has chooks at her work so the eggs I use are very fresh and the yolks are bright yellow. Also make sure you use a good quality fresh Parmesan for the sauce.

Now its up to you if you add the chopped parsley, I use it if I have some otherwise I make it without.

This is a good store cupboard recipe because if you have some bacon in your freezer and we all usually have some form of pasta in out pantry as well as Parmesan and eggs.

The recipe only takes as long as it takes to cook the pasta. So it is another quick recipe that you can cook if you have unexpected guests staying for a meal.

Now don't be mean with the amount of Parmesan you use as you need plenty to form the sauce with the eggs.

This recipe is enough for 4 generous serves.

Spaghetti Carbonara
4 eggs, 6 rashers of bacon rind removed and cut into 2cm pieces, 2 tbsps finely chopped fresh parsley, 1 cup grated Parmesan, plenty of freshly ground black pepper. 2 cloves garlic grated, 1 packet of spaghetti spaghetti

In a large saucepan bring water to the boil. Once boiling add salt and spaghetti, stir to ensure the pasta has separated. Cook till al dente.

While the pasta is cooking heat a frypan and add the bacon cook, stirring frequently till the bacon is crispy around the edges but still soft in the middle. Remove the frypan from heat and stir in the garlic.

In a small bowl whisk the eggs with a fork add 1 tsp grated pepper, stir in Parmesan and parsley.

This is not a recipe to be mean with the amount of Parmesan, if you don't use enough the eggs have a tendency to scramble as you are tossing them through the hot pasta.

You need enough to make to eggs for a thick almost paste like consistency.












Leave the bacon in the frypan because that is were you are going to combine the pasta.

When the pasta is cooked you will need to work quickly.

Drain it in a colander then tip into the frypan, using tongs toss the pasta to coat it with the bacon, garlic and bacon juice. Pour over the eggs and toss till a sauce forms over the spaghetti.

You may need more pepper or Parmesan.

Serve with extra Parmesan grated over the top. Once you have tasted it you will find that you go back for a second bowl full.

Pasta with Chicken and Basil

Now I was going to cook Spaghetti Genovese, but I needed green beans and Parmesan. When I finally sat down yesterday it was 4.15 and I couldn't be bothered driving to the shops, so I created this recipe instead, as I wanted to use the fresh basil I had in the fridge.


This is quite a simple dish that doesn't take long to cook, once you get the pasta started you then start the sauce by the time the pasta is cooked so is the sauce. 




Then you drain the pasta adding it to the sauce toss it about for a minute add the basil, then serve.


Now you really do need fresh basil for this so that you can get the sweet flavour of the basil.


Pasta with Chicken and Basil
enough spaghetti or pasta to serve 4 people I cooked 300 gms dried spaghetti
3 small or 2 large chicken breasts, cut into 2cm cubes, 1/4 - 1/2 onion finely diced, 2 large or 3 small cloves of garlic finely chopped, 500 gm passata, 1/2 tsp dried marjoram or oregano OR 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 2 tbsps balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves torn


Pasta
Bring enough water to the boil to cover your pasta, add salt and pasta. Cook until al dente.


Drain and add to sauce


Sauce
In a large frypan heat 2 tbsps oil, add chicken, onion and garlic. Stir until the chicken is white, be careful and don't let anything burn.

Add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT balsamic & fresh basil, bring to the boil, cover and reduce heat, simmer 7 - 8 minutes until chicken is cooked through.

Once chicken and pasta are cooked, add balsamic vinegar stir, then add the pasta. Toss till covered in sauce, then toss in basil. Serve immediately with grated Parmesan on top.

All ready to eat. Yum !!!

Gluten Free Lasagna

Why am I making a gluten free lasagna, well a friend of Mr CLI's has a son that is gluten free and she was going to have a minor surgery last week so I volunteered to make something soft for her to eat.

Mr CLI suggested lasagna and his friends son jumped with joy. lol

So off to Woolworth's I went last week to look for gluten free lasagna sheets.

The only brand they had was Orgran, it wasn't till I came home and looked at the box that I realised they were mini sheets.

I searched on the internet to see what in my lasagna recipe I couldn't use, it turned out that I couldn't use flour in my bechamel sauce, so I used cornflour instead. Now beware even though it reads cornflour on the packet check the label on the back because not all cornflour's are from corn some have what they call " wheaten corn" what ever that is !

Also if you use bought pasta sauces, which I don't to use in your bolognese sauce, you must make sure that they don't have any wheat products, as you don't know what there thickener is these sauces I would be very cautious of using them.

So what was the end result like, well it was rich in tomato and was covered in a very cheesy sauce on top.

After Mr CLI dropped it off, he received a text message to say that the lasagna was yummy, so mission accomplished.

Recipe for lasagna below, substitute cornflour for plain flour you may need extra to get the bechamel to thicken.

http://cooklikeina.blogspot.com/2011/04/happy-easter-and-yummy-lasagna.html

3 Ways with Stale Bread

Now in our society we are encouraged to reuse and recycle, this can easily be done by thinking outside of the box when trying to reuse leftovers.

Now most people would throw out stale bread or perhaps turn them into crunchy croutons, but here a 3 recipes for stale bread that might give you inspiration to use it in other dishes.

I have travelled to Italy for inspiration, they seem to have lots of recipes for using stale bread. I have adapted some of Lidia Bastianich's recipes

Lasagna

1 bottle passatta, approx 16 , 2 cm wide slices stale bread, 1/2 tsp salt, olive oil, 2 cloves garlic finely sliced or grated, 1/2 onion finely diced, 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano - or you can use basil or parsley or a combination of all, 2 cups grated Parmesan or 1 cup of each grated Parmesan and mozzarella

Preheat the oven 180.c

Heat 3 tbsps oil in a frypan add the onion, saute over medium heat till it begins to soften. Add the garlic, saute 30 seconds, then add tomato passatta, simmer 15 minutes or until it thickens. Stir in the herbs then season with salt.

Place some boiling water into a shallow dish. Brush the base and side of a 20cm x 30cm baking dish. Place a ladleful of sauce over the bottom, quickly dip the bread in the water turn over and dip again, this will soften it, place in a layer over the sauce, sprinkle with some more sauce then some cheese continue layering making sauce then cheese the final layer.

Bake for 2- 25 minutes until the lasagna is heated through and the cheese is golden and bubbling.

Rocket, Bread and Potato Soup

750gms medium-size potatoes, peeled, washed, and cut into 1/2-inch slices,7 cups water ,salt, 500 gms rocket,½ cup day-old Italian bread, without crusts, diced, 4 tbsps extra-virgin olive oil, 6 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed, ½ teaspoon crushed chilli flakes, ½ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, freshly grated

In a deep, heavy pot combine potatoes and 7 cups water. Salt the water lightly and bring it to a boil. Adjust the level of heat to medium-high and cook the potatoes, covered, until they are tender, but still hold their shape, about 18 minutes.

Wash the rocket in cool water to remove all sand and grit, changing the water if necessary. Drain the rocket well and cut it into 5 cm lengths. Stir the rocket and bread into the pot. Continue boiling 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan, heat the olive oil over low heat. Add the garlic and chilli and cook until golden, about 3 minutes.

Scrape the contents of the skillet into the pot. Stir well. Season the soup with salt to taste. Serve in warm bowls, sprinkled with grated cheese.

Now for some thing sweet

Bread and Butter Pudding

75g unsalted butter, 75g sultanas, optional 3 tablespoons dark rum or other liquor of your choice, 10 slices bread approx, optional jam of your choice, 4 egg yolks, 1 egg, 3 tbsps caster sugar, 1 tsp spice of you choice - cinnamon, cardamom, anise etc, 500ml double cream, 200ml full-fat milk, 2 tbsps demerara or raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Grease a pudding dish with a capacity of about 1½ litres with some of the butter.

Put the sultanas in a small bowl, pour the rum over, and microwave them for 1 minute, then leave them to stand. This is a good way to soak them quickly but juicily.

Make sandwiches with the bread, with butter and jam if using , you should have some butter left over to smear on the top later.

Now cut the sandwiches in half into triangles and arrange them evenly along the middle of the pudding dish. I put one in the dish with the point of the sandwich upwards then one with flat-side uppermost, then with point-side uppermost and so on, then squeeze a sandwich-triangle down each side - but you do as you please. Sprinkle over the sultanas and unabsorbed rum that remains in the bowl.

Whisk the egg yolks and egg together with the caster sugar, and pour in the cream and milk. Pour this over the triangles of bread and leave them to soak up the liquid for about 10 minutes, by which time the pudding is ready to go into the oven. Smear the bread crusts that are poking out of the custard with the soft butter, mix the spice and demerara sugar together and sprinkle this mixture on your buttered crusts and then lightly over the rest of the pudding.

Sit the pudding dish on a baking sheet and put it in the oven to cook for about 45 minutes or until the custard has set and puffed up slightly. Remove, let sit for 10 minutes - and spoon out into bowls, putting a jug of custard, should you so wish, on the table to be served alongside.

So next time you go to throw out your stale bread have a think about how you can reuse it and make it into something much more tasty.

Cheats Chicken and Sundried Tomato Pasta Bake

Now I must confess first off the only cheaty part of this is that I used bought pasta sauce. The rest of the dish I cooked myself.

The reason I resorted to bought sauce is that at the moment I have pulled/torn muscles under my right armpit down to my waist so cooking is a bit difficult at the moment.

You could make your favourite tomato pasta sauce and add a little cream, because I find straight tomato sauces in this a bit acidic.

This is one of those recipes you can add anything that takes your fancy. I have only used 7 ingredients in total to make a truly mouthwatering dish. Mr CLI even asked for seconds, and decided that I could make it again !

The pasta sauces I used were both pasta bake sauces by Dolmio one was - Creamy Tomato and Mozzarella and the other was - Creamy Sundried Tomato and Garlic.

My assistant Miss Fish helped, while my back was turned added water to the dish. I normally add some water to the jars replace the lid and shake because these sauces are very thick and the all don't come out. She saw me do that and while my back was turned nearly filled the jar with water and poured it in.

There were some tears from her and nearly by me, but it turned out all right, as for a pasta bake you need it to be quite saucy because the noodles drink up the sauce and if there isn't enough the dish can become dry. So alls well that ends well.

Chicken and Sundried Tomato Pasta Bake

2 jars pasta sauce or home made sauce totalling 1080 grams, 1 cup water, 350 gms dried pasta I used ribbed penne, 2 chicken breasts chopped into 2 cm pieces, 4 tbsps chopped fresh parsley, 20 kalamata olives pitted and sliced in half, 20 semi sundried tomato chopped

Topping - grated cheese of your choosing, I used about 1/2 cup of grated tasty

Preheat fan forced oven to 200c.

Bring water to the boil and cook the pasta until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking heat 2 tbsps oil, add the chicken saute until starting to brown. Add all remaining ingredients except pasta. Simmer for 5 minutes.

When pasta is cooked drain then place into baking dish, mine was approx 20cm x 40 cm. Pour over sauce, mix together. Top with grated cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes, it should be bubbling and the cheese will have melted and started to brown.

I served mine with a bit of grated parmesan on top.

Pasta Frittata

This is an idea I have had for a while, but I usually don't have a lot of pasta leftovers to make it. I suppose I could cook pasta especially for it, but as most frittatas are based on using leftovers it doesn't seem quite right some how.

Now if you would like a more eggy frittata you could add more eggs, but I found that 6 was enough to set all the ingredients together.

You can use what ever vegetables that you want, I just used what I had in the fridge. You could also add more bacon or even use ham. If you what a vegetarian one you could leave it out all together.

Pasta Frittata

4 cups cooked pasta, 2 cups chopped vegetables - I used a bunch of asparagus, 1/2 red capsicum & frozen peas - 1/2 cup grated parmeson, 1/2 grated tasty cheese. - plus extra grated cheese for the top - 6 eggs. salt & pepper to taste. 4 rashers bacon

Preheat the the oven 220.c

In a bowl mix together the eggs, 2 cheeses, salt & pepper, using a fork.

Remove the rind if any, then cut the bacon into 2cm pieces, place into a frypan that can go into the oven, add about 1 tbsp oil, when the bacon starts sizzling add the vegies stir 1- 3 minutes or until they start to soften. Add the pasta toss around to distribute the vegies and bacon evenly. Remove from the heat pour over the egg mixture.

Lower the heat and return the frypan, leave on the heat until the edges start to sizzle and you can smell the egg on the base starting to cook, this takes about one minute.

Remove from the heat sprinkle with the extra cheese place into the oven check after 10 minutes, mine took 15 minutes to cook. The egg should be set and the cheese should be melted and golden.

Remove from oven carefully, don't forget that the handle will be hot. Slice and serve.

You could serve this with some crusty bread or a salad. It is also a good dish eaten lukewarm, also it is terrific to take on a picnic.

Happy Easter and Yummy Lasagna

Well a Happy Easter to everybody, and be very careful on the roads.

As Miss Fish and I are off to visit my parents for Easter, Mr CLI is working over Easter. So he will be batching for himself. Being a good wife I am making him some supplies that are easy to heat and eat. I am making home made pizzas for tea tonight, so I will make extra pizzas for him. This morning I made him a lasagna.It is a very easy recipe.

Lasagna

Meat Sauce

500 gm - 1 kg mince beef (depending on how meaty you want the sauce) 1 bottle of tomato passata, 2 cups water, 1/2 stalk celery, 1 medium carrot, 1/4-1/2 onion all finely diced, 1 sachet/1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, grated, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 tsp dried oregano or marjoram,

In a large frypan saute for 2-3 minutes carrot, onion and celery in 2 tablespoons of oil. Push to one side add tomato paste stir 30 seconds, then stir into the vegetables. Remove the vegetables add the mince, saute until it changes color. Return the vegetables and stir in, add remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Make sure that the sauce has more liquid than normal, as we are using non cook lasagna sheets you need the sauce with more liquid to cook the sheets.

Cheese Bechamel Sauce

50 gms butter, 1/4 cup plain flour, salt and Pepper to taste, 1 cup grated cheese, 2 cups milk

Now I make this in a pyrex jug in the microwave, so that you don't have to worry about it burning.

Melt the butter on high 30 - 40 seconds. Add flour, whisk, cook on high 40 seconds. Add milk, salt and pepper. Cook on high 2 minutes, whisk. Cook for further 1 - 3 minutes until sauce thickens add the cheese, whisk until the cheese has melted.

1 - 2 packets of no cook lasagna sheets, depending on the amount of layers use wish to make and the size of the dish you are using.

To construct: cover the base with a thi

n layer of the tomato sauce liquid, place lasagna sheets over, spread some meat sauce then drizzle a little of the cheese sauce over. You don't need a lot of the cheese sauce as it spreads during cooking. Continue creating layers, making the last layer lasagna sheets, making sure that you leave enough cheese sauce to cover the lasagna sheets. Cover the sheets, bake in a 180.c 30 - 40 minutes until a the lasagna sheets are cooked when you insert a knife into them.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Well I have been unable to make a posting due to the vagaries of the internet. It has crashed, dropped out mid click, and generally given me the pip.

Well here is a simple recipe for spaghetti and meatballs that I have been cooking for years. There is no need to fry the meatballs before cooking them in the tomato sauce. You can even just cook the tomato sauce and have it on pasta, or you could add mince at the first stage after cooking the vegies and turn it into bolognese sauce.

Tomato Sauce

1/2 bottle of tomato passata, 1 cup water, 1/2 stalk celery, 1 medium carrot, 1/4-1/2 onion all finely diced, 1 sachet/1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, 1 tsp dried oregano or marjoram, herbs to finish 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley.

In a large frypan saute for 2-3 minutes carrot, onion and celery in 2 tablespoons of oil. Push to one side add tomato paste stir 30 seconds, then stir into the vegetables. Add remaining ingredients, except fresh parsley. (You can make it to this stage early in the day, then just bring it back to the boil and add your meatballs) Bring to the boil add meatballs, reduce heat simmer, covered 15 - 20 minutes. Add parsley stir then serve.

Meatballs

500 grams mince beef, 2 tablespoons grated parmesan, 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley, 1 large or 2 small cloves garlic grated, salt and pepper, 1 slice bread torn into small pieces placed into a bowl with 1/4 cup milk or I discovered this one day when I didn't have any bread 1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs mixed with 1/4 milk

Now I mix the bread/breadcrumbs with the milk first, so the milk can be absorbed. Place all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, add the milk/bread mixture (the bread may need to be squeezed if it hasn't absorbed all the milk). The best way to mix this is with your hands so you can squeeze the mixture together. Roll into golf ball size balls. You can make these ahead of time and keep in the fridge.

Now while I am preparing the sauce and meatballs I have the water coming to the boil for the pasta and I generally add the meatballs to the sauce the same time as I add the pasta to the water and the can cook at the same time.

To serve, drain pasta return it to the pot add 2-3 ladlefulls of the sauce, toss. You just need enough sauce to coat the pasta. Place some pasta in your bowls, place the meatballs on top drizzle some more sauce over meatballs and pasta. Top with freshly grated parmesan.

I hope you try this recipe, the bread milk mixture seems a odd addition but makes the meatballs very tender.