Category: Random

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The Pleasure of Pasta

I am very excited.  Stupidly so.  All because of a pasta machine.

For my birthday I asked Husband to buy me an Imperia Pasta Machine.  I had been reading up and this seems to be the king of domestic pasta-making.  Despite the fact I have always sworn that the purchase of a kitchen appliance for my birthday would be grounds for divorce, I ate my words (and my pasta) when I gleefully unwrapped my coveted equipment.
I did have a pasta machine once, but it was a cheap one that twisted when you wound the handle and despite pasta dough going in, it seemed to get stuck around the cogs and not really come out.  Certainly not in a thin, beautiful sheet.

However, this is a different matter, and last night I cooked Nigella’s Linguine Tagliatelle with Lemon, Garlic & Thyme Mushrooms FROM SCRATCH!
I did use my second fav cook’s recipe for the actual pasta dough – Lorraine Pascale’s cracked black pepper pasta – without the pepper.  But the rest of the recipe was all Nigella.  It is delicious, easy and swish enough to serve to friends.

Anyway, I digress.  My pasta machine performed beautifully and the tagliatelle tasted amazing.  I always thought that once I started making my own pasta, nothing else would be good enough.  And I fear this may be true.  However, it is so quick and easy to do that it’s not a problem and feeding the pasta through the machine is actually quite therapeutic.  As is having it hanging around the kitchen.  

Recipes from Nigella’s ‘Nigella Express’ and Lorranie Pascale’s ‘Home Baking Made Easy’.

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My First Curry

I made my first curry tonight.

Not a completely from scratch one, but a Jamie Oliver Ministry of Food one, so better than some fried chicken and a jar of Sharwood’s finest.

It was chicken tikka masaka and it was rather nice!

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Coconut Jam Sandwich Bars

Flicking through The Hummingbird Bakery: Cake Days book I was transported back to school days.  These biscuitty, jammy, coconutty, yummy things kept me going through many a maths lesson when I was at school and I was desperate to make some and see if I could re-enact days gone by.

Judging by the fact I have already eaten four, you will guess that they were every bit as scrummy.  And fairly easy to make.  The only tricky bit would be the meringue, but as I am blessed with a kitchenaid, this was not a problem.

I urge you to try them.  And if this means buying the book, then do so.  It is worth it for all the other delicious recipes that lie within, including the best vanilla cupcakes I’ve come across.

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Recipes from my Mother for my Daughter

I don’t often do reviews and this is not sponsored or anything like that, but I wanted to write about Lisa Faulkner’s new recipe book ‘Recipes from my Mother for my Daughter“

Lisa Faulkner is a model/actress and recently(ish) won Celebrity Masterchef.  It was during this series that I thought how nice she was and such a good cook!

Anyway, it was with great excitement that I saw she has recently released a book and last week Amazon duly dropped it at my door.

The introduction brought a tear to my eye.  The book is a testimony to her mother who died when Lisa was 16 and for her daughter, Billie, who was adopted after three failed IVF attempts.  It is this that, for me,  makes the book so poignant and although a recipe book, as you read it Lisa makes you feel like you are sharing a real history as well as some very well-loved dishes.

Aside from all this, the book is beautifully set out and full of very accessible recipes.  It is important for me that a recipe is ‘do-able’ for the everyday cook like me with a small kitchen and a temperamental oven.  And that the recipes are not too ‘cheffy’.  The  recipes are something I could serve to the whole family without rasied eyebrows!

My first attempt was the Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pies.  Except I didn’t have any pots, so I served it as one big pie!  The result was tasty, looked good and was consumed with gusto.

Next stop, Rice Krispie Chicken!

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Poached Eggs #2

Yesterday was my birthday and I got a fabulous Imperia pasta machine and also the Julia Child cookery Bible ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’.  It was to this I turned for poached egg advice.  Ah, Julia!  She came up trumps!  Following her instructions to the tbsp my results were much improved, in fact Husband said his egg was perfect!

Looked better ‘in the flesh’.  Honestly…

Julia Child’s recipe is:

  • Pour 2 inches of water into a 8/10″ frying pan and bring to a simmer.  For every pint of water used add a tbsp of vinegar.
  • Break a fresh egg into a saucer and as close to the water as possible, let it fall in.  Immediately and gently push the white over the yolk with a wooden spoon for 3 secs.  Maintain the water at simmering point and repeat with any other eggs.
  • After 4 minutes remove egg with slotted spoon and test with finger – the white should be set and yolk soft to touch.
  • Place egg in cold water.  This washes off the vinegar and stops the egg cooking.
Hope this is useful!
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Poached Eggs

I don’t know what possessed me to try and cook poached eggs for breakfast.  Well, I do.  It was the Waitrose magazine coaxing me into trying one of those cheffy, swirly poached eggs that look so elegant.
Mine looked like this.

And this was my second attempt.  I did actually eat the first one, but it was practically hard boiled and in much the same stringy state as this one.
I am not sure what I’m doing wrong.  This frustrates me.  When I follow a recipe to the letter, why doesn’t it work?  Water was simmering, water was swirled to the point of spinning over the sides of the pan, drops of vinegar in egg, egg slipped in to the middle….and instantly it dissipated throughout the water looking like I’d just sneezed egg white into the pan.
No doubt on another misguided day I will try again, but until then I will stick to these:

They might come out looking like a pair of boobs *sniggers* but at least they cook properly.