Pasta Salad with Broad Beans, Pancetta and Fetta
I ended up with a pasta salad, a quick trip to The Deli for some pancetta and everything was go. Straight forward and only taking 15 minutes I had dinner. Coming into summer it’s great the next day for a picnic once the flavours have mingled even more.
Zucchini Cannelloni with Brie Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
It also gave me a chance to break out the Multix piping bags I picked up ages ago. They worked a treat. If you don’t have use for a professional piping bag I’d highly recommend them even thought there are only 5 bags in a pack.
Ricotta and Zucchini Cannelloni with
Brie Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
Ricotta and Zucchini Cannelloni with Brie Stuffed
Zucchini Flowers - Serves 2
2 Zucchinis
250 grams of ricotta
Salt and Pepper
12 cannelloni tubes
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of flower
1 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
20 grams of gorgonzola
50 grams of grated parmesan
½ cup of tomato based pasta sauce
100 grams of mozzarella
4 zucchini flowers
50 grams of brie
1 egg, beaten
½ cup of breadcrumbs
Sunflower oil for frying the zucchini flowers
Heat oven to 170ºC. Grate the zucchini and press out as much of the
liquid as possible. Mix it in with the ricotta and add salt and
pepper to taste. Spoon into the piping bag and fill the cannelloni.
Place into an oven tray that will hold them without too much extra
space. I ended up using a bread tin.
In a saucepan, melt the butter until bubbling then add the flower.
Whisk for about 10 minutes so that the gluten cooks and the flour
doesn’t catch on the pan and burn. Slowly add the milk in about
tablespoons until a paste forms. Add the remaining milk and whisk
to smooth. Add the nutmeg and cheeses and stir until melted. Spread
evenly over the cannelloni. Pour over the tomato pasta sauce and
then grate the mozzarella over the top. Bake in the oven for 20-30
minutes until the cheese has browned. Take out and allow to cool
slightly.
Heat the sunflower oil to 200ºC. Cut the brie into four cubes and
stuff inside the zucchini flowers. Dip the flowers into the beaten
egg and then into the breadcrumbs. Fry until golden and serve.
Fast Tortellini Soup with Chared Sourdough
Fast Tortellini Soup with Chared
Sourdough
Fast Tortellini Soup with Chared Sourdough
- Serves 2
500g Packet of Fresh Tortellini (I used veal)
1L Box of Ready Made Beef Consommé
1 Bunch of Broccolini
2 Slices of Sourdough
1 Garlic Clove
Put the consommé into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile,
heat a grill pan.
When the consommé is boiling, add the tortellini and return to the
boil. Drizzle the grill pan with some olive oil and place the
slices of sourdough on the grill pan. Leave until thick black lines
are formed on the bread. Turnover and repeat for the opposite side.
When you turn the bread over, rub the hot side of the bread with
half of the garlic clove.
By the time this is done the pasta should be about ready. Break up
the broccolini into bite sized pieces and toss in the
consommé.
The other side of the bread should be ready by now so take it off,
slice in half and serve two pieces per person. Divide the soup,
tortellini and broccolini between each person and serve.
Optional: If you've got larger soup bowls and want to add an extra
bit of style to this dish, place the slices of bread under a
griller/broiler topped with cheese until it's golden and bubbly.
Float in the bowl when serving.
Veal Tortellini and Meatballs
I really am sorry to say but I couldn't taste much of it at all. The meatballs were strong, the pasta wasn't and the sauce had a nice chili kick that I think has made my nose start running again. I'll have to try those meatballs again when I can smell them.
Veal Tortellini and
Meatballs
Bunny, Pancetta and Shitake Pasta
They’re cute, fluffy and hop around a lot. I’ve got one named Sneaker and boy is he cute. Except when he’s being a jerk. And that’s a lot. I’ve lost $2000 worth of cabling from around the house that I’ve had to replace (he has a taste for the expensive proprietary Apple kind) and his favourite game is to hop up on my bed an hour before I want to wake up each morning and run around across me until I get out of bed, after which he’ll ignore me. He’ll make a great pie one day.
In the mean time, I happened across fresh grain fed farmed bunnies in the David Jones food hall. Now, I love Sneaker and since I haven’t cooked much bunny before I figured I needed some practice to do him justice so I picked one up with no real idea what to make with it that night.
When I got home I rummaged around and found some pancetta in the fridge and some dried Chinese mushrooms in the cupboard. I didn’t want to have to make a buttery short crust pastry, so, pasta. Easy.
Jointing the bunny was fairly easy; it only took five minutes, slicing off the legs at the joint, and since I was going to be chopping the bunny up after it was roasted I hacked off the saddle with out too much care, just keeping close to the ribs to keep as much meat as I could. The rest of the carcass went into a zip lock bag and into the freezer for a future bunny stock.
The jointed bunny pieces were dusted in flour and fried off in a heavy roasting dish then set aside. The onion and pancetta were fried in the oil left over from the meat. The bunny was added back in along with the diced mushrooms, stock, mushroom soaking liquid and some chopped rosemary. The roasting dish was covered and the lot was roasted slowly for two or three hours. Once roasted, I shredded the bunny meat off the bone with two forks ready to be used to top the pasta.
The pasta was simple, 100gms of flour and 1 egg per person (the should be enough sauce for 4-6 people). Kneaded until smooth then rolled to a low setting through a pasta machine. Once I had the long sheet, I simply tore off chunks (not cut). The pasta was cooked in salted water and then added to the bunny sauce. Tearing the pasta helped the pasta to soak up more of the juice from the sauce.
Served with some lightly grated parmesan.