Tagliatelle With Pesto, Beans, Potatoes and Sausage

Taglietelle With Pesto, Beans, Potatoes and Sausage












Bit of a comedown from last nights dinner, but tasty all the same and wonder upon wonder the three year old cleared his plate without the normal pleading, cajoling and threatening. The wife also cleared the plate and proclaimed can you please give me smaller serves in the future, I clear the plate cos it's tasty not cos I want to eat it all.

Ingredients:

• Tagliatelle
• Pesto
• Green beans
• Potatoes
• Sausage
  
• Parmesan cheese
• Olive oil
• Salt

Fry sausage, blanch beans, boil spuds (I used the pinenut pan for the sausage well actually I used the sausage pan for the pine nuts, and the pasta pot for the spuds and beans). Stuff in pan with a little oil and then add cooked pasta. Stir through pesto. Season, taste smile.

Tagliatelle

• '00' flour
• Eggs
• Salt

I still haven't figured out portion control yet, how much does a person eat in fresh pasta. I've been whittling it down from 200g to 150 to 100g and it still seems I have leftovers. That aside making pasta is a dodle. 100g flour to 1 large egg to 1 pinch of salt dumped in the kitchen aid with the dough hook and left on slow until it forms a smooth shiny mass. Run that through the pasta rolling machine thingy and you are done.

Pesto

• Basil
• Garlic
• Pine nuts
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil

Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan and then apply more machinery, bung all ingredients in food processor and blitz adding enough oil at end to make 'wet enough'

Cost of ingredients: $30 ( I stupidly bought a kg of pine nuts which jacked the price as I include the cost of the pine nuts that hit the floor when I tried to pour them into my pinenut jar.)
Time to prepare: 45 minutes
Number of serves: 4
Recipe inspiration: Tagliatelle genovese in one of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks

Gnocchi, with Bolognese and Meatballs

Gnocchi with Bolognese, Meatballs and a baby vegetable salad.












Nice and quick to prepare (especially when you cheat and buy the gnocchi), which apparently meant I could spend more time on the photography (note I managed to capture steam for the second time in about 50 posts). I couldn't get any pork mince tonight, so it was just veal and the bolognese suffered for it. The gnocchi was cooked to perfection and the crunchy salad made me feel virtuous as I enjoyed it so much. Managed to get the 3 year old to try all items on his plate, he wouldn't eat the rocket, but he really liked the cucumber.


Ingredients:

• Veal mince
• Tomatoes, canned
• Tomato paste
• Onion
• Garlic
• Salt
  
• Basil
• Spicy sausage, cases removed
• Gnocchi
• Baby veg salad.

Baby veg salad

• Cherry tomatoes
• Golden cherry tomatoes
• Baby cucumbers
• Baby rocket
• Baby spinach leaves
• Balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil
• Salt

Time to prepare: About 45 minutes
Cost of ingredients: $25
Number of serves: 6
Recipe inspiration: Supermarket isle browsing.

Chicken Pesto Fettucini

Chicken Pesto Fettucini












Food photography is hard! That aside this one all started with a trip to the Dromana drive-in Sunday market. There was a guy there selling herbs and vegetables so fresh they still had the dew on them from when he picked them that morning. The enormous bunch of basil screamed pesto. Add a little fettucini and some shredded chicken and a tasty meal ensues. Enjoyed by all who partook.

• Chicken thigh, shredded
• Pesto sauce
• Fettucini
• Salt
• Olive oil

Pesto Sauce

• Basil
• Garlic
• Salt
• Lemon
• Olive oil
• Pine nuts
• Parmesan cheese

Fettucini

• '00' flour
• eggs
• egg yolk
• salt
  

Time to cook: 45 minutes
Cost of ingredients: About $15
Number of serves: 4

Steak with Salsa Verde, Pot Sticker Potatoes and Spinach Salad

Porterhouse Steak
Salsa Verde
Pot Sticker New Potatoes
Spinach Salad








Tasty enough meal, perhaps a little too much lemon on the spinach.

Porterhouse with Salsa Verde

• Char grilled porterhouse steak
  
• Garlic
• Anchovies
• Capers
• Lemon juice and zest
• Olive oil
• Basil sprigs
• Parsley sprigs
• Salt
  

Pot Sticker Potatoes

• New potatoes
• Salt
• Water
  
• Olive Oil
  These are great and easy, just oil a pan and get it smoking hot, toss in spuds, wait for them to stick, shake, wait 3 minutes, add a little water, cover and serve when water has gone.

Spinach Salad

• Spinach leaves
• Lemon Juice
• Salt
• Olive Oil

Time to cook: 20 minutes.