Fresh Pasta

I love making fresh pasta, there is something very relaxing about it.

Ingredients

5 cups of tipo 00 flour
6 large organic eggs

Method

Place the flour on a clean top and make a well in the center. Crack the eggs into the well and incorporate the flour from the sides to make a smooth dough. Need the dough for about 10 minutes if you have time as this makes a nice firm pasta that will not be soft when cooked. Run it through the pasta machine or roll by hand and coat with semolina so it doesn't stick together. Cover with a damp tea towel until ready to cook as it will dry out fairly quickly. Drop pasta into salted boiling water and boil for 2 - 3 minutes until al dente.

Tomato Relish

Ingredients

6 tomatoes
1 onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
fresh chilli, optional
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
splash of white vinegar
sea salt and black pepper
olive oil

Method

Cut a cross in the skin at the bottom of the tomatoes and cover with boiling water for about a minute. Take them out, peel the skin off and dice. Fry the onion, garlic and chilli in the oil until translucent then add the tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar and salt and pepper. Simmer for about half an hour to one hour until thickened and a deep red colour. Pour into sterilized jars while still hot to seal. Serve with chunks of crusty bread.

Baked Summer Fruits

Ingredients

blackberries
figs
plums, stoned and quartered
peaches, stoned and quartered
unsalted butter
brown sugar
fresh thyme
cassis blackcurrant liqueur

Method

Cut a double layer square of baking paper and place the fruit in the centre. Top with a small knob of butter, a light sprinkle of sugar, a dash of cassis and a sprig of fresh thyme. Wrap it up into a parcel and place on a baking tray. Place in a preheated oven at 190° for 20 minutes.

Food Goals 2010

My food goals for this year

1. Learn about and cook food from:
- Native Australian Food
- Spanish Food Tortilla Española, Gambas al Ajillo
- Indian Food
- East African Food

2. Learn to make:
- Doro Wat (Ethiopian chicken dish) Complete
- Pollo Pibil (Yucatecan barbecued chicken) Complete

3. Buy these books:
- I really don't need anymore cook books this year as I received three great tomes for Christmas and my book case is bursting at the seams. Instead this year my goal is to make some order out of the folder I have kept all my collected and invented recipes in since I was about 13. It is so full it no longer closes and is in such a mess.

4. Cook with these ingredients:
- Nigella seeds Complete
- Berbere Complete
- Spanish smoked paprika
- Achiote paste Complete
5. Learn about traditional chocolate making and make some homemade chocolate

6. Complete my leftover food goals from last year


Food Goals 2009

Food Goals 2008

Apple Tarte Tatin

Ingredients

100g of butter
100g of sugar
about 8 apples, peeled, quartered and cored
3 cardamon pods
1/2 a cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1 sheet of puff pastry
cream or ice cream, to serve

Method

Spread the butter over the bottom of the pan then add the sugar, spices and apples. Simmer on the stove for 20 minutes then trim the puff pastry to size and place on top of the pan tucking the edges into the sides. Place in the oven for 20 minutes until golden and puffy.