Easy Sauce-less Pasta

I know that sauce-less pasta sounds very strange but if you use good quality pasta, preferable home made, then the ingredients themselves pack enough flavour when combined with the olive oil to make a delicious dish.  You can substitute the vegetables for what ever is in season or in your garden, add olives or capers or but it really needs the fresh tomatoes to add some liquid and herbs to give it punch.



For this version of my sauce-less pasta I used what I had on hand baby yellow zucchini and basil from the garden, grape tomatoes, onion, panchetta, chilli, olive oil and home made pasta.  The below recipe is not quantity specific but the amounts I mention made enough pasta for 4 serves.  If you want a vegetarian version just leave out the panchetta.

Easy Sauce-less Pasta

Fresh Pasta for 4 people

4 Slices of Panchetta (Optional)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Punnet of Cherry/Grape Tomatoes

1 Brown Onion

1 Clove of Garlic

1 Red Chilli

5 Baby Yellow Zucchini

2 Handfuls of Basil Leaves (A few leaves set aside to garnish)

Salt and Pepper

Grated Parmesan

In a large dry fry pan place your panchetta slices and then heat from cold to a medium heat cooking your panchetta till it is brown and starting to turn crunchy.  Once done drain on a paper towel.

Get a large pot of salted water on to boil.

Leave any oil that had come out of the panchetta in the pan and add 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil and your finely diced onion.  Cook stirring often until the onion is soft.  When the onion is soft add the crushed garlic  and finely diced chilli and stir it through the onion.

Slice your zucchini into rounds and halve your cherry tomatoes and add them to the pan  and stir through and every minute or so for the next 4 minutes so that the tomatoes release some of their juice.  Do this at the same time as you get your pasta in the boiling water.

My pasta takes 6 minutes to cook from fresh and when there is 1 minute left I add the basil leaves and stir them through so they are wilted.

Before you drain your pasta take 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta waster and add it to your fry pan of veggies stirring it through.  Add a good grind of pepper and salt to taste.

Stir through your drained pasta and serve with a garnish of fresh basil and grated parmesan.

This is my favourite way to have pasta and always turns out a bit differently every time I make it as I use different ingredients (just adjust the cooking time accordingly).

Mushrooms and capsicums go really well and you can add olives and capers too. This makes a nice alternative to pasta covered in tomato sauce and this allows you to taste the pasta which is important when it is fresh and home made.

What is your favourite type of pasta and way of cooking it?

Pumpkin Chickpea and Panchetta Salad

It's pumpkin season and last week a friend gave us a 1/4 of a very large Queensland Blue pumpkin and I decided to make a warm salad with it.

I used panchetta but bacon would also work and for a vegetarian option it could also be left out or replaced by home made garlic croutons.
I get my panchetta sliced for me when I buy it so that it is not too thin.  It needs to be about half the thickness of a slice of bacon.  Because it packs a lot of punch you do not need very much of it which makes it quite a frugal option.  I purchased 8 slices and use 4 slices in this and 4 slices were left to be added to pasta and it cost me just over $2.

Pumpkin Chickpea and Pancheta Salad

1 kg Pumpkin cut into 1.5 cm cubes 
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Clove Garlic
4 Slices of Panchetta
1/2 Cup dried Chickpeas that have been cooked or 1 x 400 gm tin of Chickpeas
1 Cup of loosely packed Coriander

Dressing

Salt and Pepper
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 Clove of Garlic

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees then combine the pumpkin, first measure of olive oil and garlic in a large bowl and spread in a roasting tray and cook for 30 - 45 minutes or until cooked.  Cool until the pumpkin is just warm the start preparing the other elements.
Heat a fry pan up to a medium heat and fry your 4 slices of panchetta till browned then drain on a paper towel so they crisp up then when they are cool crumble the slices into small pieces  Remove the pan you fried off the panchetta in from the heat and add the chickpeas moving them around in the so that they warm slightly and pick up some of the panchetta flavour from the fat that has cooked out.
Whisk together your dressing and you are ready to assemble.

Reserve 1/2 the panchetta to sprinkle on at the end,  Combine all of the other ingredients gently in a bowl before adding the dressing and serving with the extra panchetta.

Home Made Re-fried Beans

This is such a tasty recipe and can be served as part of a meal as a side, replace the meat portion of the meal, work as a dip or a sandwich spread and even goes well on baked potatoes.

But best of all it is incredibly easy and costs next to nothing if you use dried beans.

Re-Fried Beans

4 Tbs Oil/Lard/Tallow
1 Cup Dried Kidney Beans 
2 Brown Onions
2 Cloves of Garlic
1 Red Capsicum
1/2 Tsp Ground Chilli
2 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Sugar

Soak you beans and then cook until soft enough to mash.  Drain and set aside.
In a large saucepan place the fat/oil of your choice and add you finely diced onion and cook over a low heat until the onion is translucent and not browned.  Once the onions are cooked add the crushed garlic and finely diced capsicum and mix well continuing to cook over a low heat with the lid on the pot.  Once the vegetable are soft increase the heat to 3/4 add the spices and cook for 2 mins stirring constantly then add the sugar, salt and cooked beans.
Mix through then use a potato masher to break down the beans a bit and cook for a further 5 minutes stirring constantly (you may need to add a little water if the mix gets too dry) then remove for the heat and serve immediately or set aside for later use.  I like to garnish mine with chopped coriander.

You can make this in much larger quantities if you want and feel free to adjust the seasoning to your taste.

The Weekend Kitchen And Preparing For Selling

It has been another busy weekend at our place with lots going on both inside and out.

I made a batch of BBQ Sauce which I use as a marinade and as a sauce during the year.  Because it is a little labour intensive I make a big batch and then preserve most of it in my Fowlers Preserving Jars which means I can get away with making it only once  a year and store it in the pantry until it is needed.  It makes divine spare ribs and chicken drumsticks and has been really well received when given as a gift which can be bottled up at the drop of a hat since it is already made.

A while a go I picked up 4 x 500 g packets of kidney beans for just $1 each and I have been meaning to make a batch of refried beans for ages.  
Refried beans make a great substitute for the usual meat based sauce for nachos, can form part of a range of toppings for Mexican foods, is great served with salad and on sandwhiches and makes a great dip for corn chips.
Tonight we enjoyed it along with guacamole, salsa and corn chips.

Out side we tackled two fairly big jobs, water blasting the house and cleaning out the farm shed.

We try and water blast the outside of our house twice a year as being a timber weather board home the spiders like to spin their webs in all the little corners. The front veranda also provides the perfect home for spiders and other assorted bugs.

The other big job was to clean out the farm shed. When we first moved in this is where the tractor lived but it was barely running so we sold it.  Since then the shed has housed all the bits and pieces that we have used for farm projects (fence wire, post, roofing iron, pipes, ag pipe, garden stakes, paint and painting supplies) as well as bales of hay, sugar cane mulch and other bits and pieces.

The were lots of things that we had held onto in case we needed them in future farm projects but now that we are putting the house on the market and getting ready to move there will be no more farm projects.  So it was time to get rid of all the stuff that we were not going to need.  It feels strange to get rid of things that might be useful in the future but it will not be useful to us so we had to let it go.

We gave away some of the fence wire to a neighbour and all of the roofing iron went to the dump for recycling, which is where most of it came from originally (we took heaps from the dump when building our woodshed as we were not sure how much we would need) and we also had a great big throw out of other things.  
In total it cost us $10 for a full trailer at the dump and I am glad we have got this done as it it is another big de-cluttering job done and we will not be worried about it when it finally comes time to move.

All Tidy after the big throw out.  The timber is going to a friends place in a few weeks.

The next big job is clearing out the garage which is another place things are stored that we "might" need one day.  All going well we will tackle that next weekend.

Do you have a whole lot of stuff you are keeping for a possible future project?

Awsome Vegetarian Black Bean Nachos

Something we have been focused on this year is eating more meat free meals. We are both meat lovers and neither of us would choose to be a vegetarian. We raise much of our own meat and where we don't we try to make ethical choices. But like most things in life you need to find a balance and for us this means aiming for at least one meat free dinner per week.  Sometimes we miss the mark and some weeks like this week we had two meat free dinners, an omelette and black bean nachos.

The omelette used eggs, silverbeet, spring onions and asparagus from the garden along with capsicum, mushrooms and cheese.  With the glut of eggs we have at the moment it made a quick, healthy and easy meal after a long day at work.

The nachos recipe took a bit longer but was extremely tasty (so tasty that there were no photos taken) and is something we will eat again.  I used 1/2 cup of dried black beans that I had soaked and precooked but you could also use a tin of black beans instead.

Vegetarian Black Bean Nachos

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1/2 Cup Dried Black Beans

1 Brown Onion finely diced

1/2 Capsicum

1/2 Large Green Chilli finely diced

3 Cloves of Garlic, crushed

1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 Tsp Ground Cumin

1 Tsp Oregano

1/2 Tsp Smoked Paprika

1 1/2 Cups of Diced Tomatoes or 1 tin of Diced Tomatoes

1/2 tsp salt

Chopped Coriander leaves to garnish

In a large saucepan cook the onions in the oil over a medium heat for 5 minutes then add the garlic, chilli and capsicum and cook for another 2 minutes.  Then add all your spices (except the salt) and cook for 2 minutes stirring all the time to cook out your spices.  Add your beans, tomato and salt and cook until the mixture has thickened/reduced to your desired consistency.

Serve garnished with coriander with your choice of corn chips, taco shells guacamole, sour cream, jalapenos, fresh tomato salsa, salad or anything else you fancy.

This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.  You can leave out the chilli if you do not want any heat or increase it if you want it hot.

What vegetarian meals have you made lately?

Do you have a favourite vegetarian meal?

Best Baked Beans

This is a really tasty version of baked beans that is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe.  It makes a great Sunday breakfast, lunch with salad, nacho topping or side dish.  This is what baked beans should taste like.
I am preserving some of this batch in my Fowlers jars as a bit of an experiment as it it is easy to make this in big batches.  The recipe calls for Cannellini Beans but as we are doing our stockpile challenge I used Borlotti Beans and it worked just as well.

Best Baked Beans

4 Tbl Olive Oil
4 Onions
2 Heaped Tsp Smoked Paprika
3 Large Dried Chillies (Chipotle) or
5 Small Dried Chillies (I get mine from an Asian grocer)
50 gm Butter
750 gm Dried Cannellini Beans or
6 Tins Cnnellini Beans
1200 gm Diced Tomatoes
2 Tbl Tomato Paste
3 Tbl Golden Syrup
2 Tbl Apple Cider Vinegar
3 Bay Leaves
2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Ground White Pepper

Soak your Beans overnight then drain and rinse.  Cover with fresh water and cook till soft then drain off most of the liquid and set aside.  (If you are using tinned beans you do not need to drain them.)
In a large pan put the oil and cook the onions over a medium heat till soft.  Turn the heat down and add the paprika and cook for another few minutes.
While you are doing this boil the jug and soak your dried chillies in 500 ml of boiling water
Add the butter and once melted add the rest of the ingredients except the chillies.  Stir everything to combine and set over a low heat.
Remove the chillies from the water ad add the water to the pan.  Dice the chillies finely and add to the pan. The heat should be low enough that bubbles are just coming to the surface occasionally.  Cook like this for an hour.
Taste and adjust your seasoning if required then enjoy.

Garden Odds and Ends Risotto

I made a whole lot of chicken stock over the weekend and most of it got frozen but there was still some in the fridge.  So rather than freeze it I decided risotto would be a good option.  I was going to make my favourite fennel and pea risotto but a I had used up most of the fennel last weekend.  All I had left was fennel re-shoots.  I have not grown fennel before so I had no idea that if I just cut the fennel bulbs off at the base, leaving the root in the ground, that they would re-shoot.   Any way lucky they did because I managed to find a few small bulbs to add to the risotto.

 

Fennel re-shoots, a bit small for tonight's dinner

I also managed to find a few small leeks that had been left to develop  but had not come to much, so they went into the risotto too.

Anyway here is my recipe for my fennel and pea risotto.  Risotto needs constant attention so you need to have all the elements ready to go.  You can expect to be at the stove for 30 minutes and you .  Serves 4.

2 Tbs Olive Oil

1 Tbs Butter

1 Brown Onion finely diced

1 large or 6 small fennel bulbs finely diced

250 gm Arborio Rice

1/2 Cup White Wine

5 Cups of Chicken Stock simmering

1 Cup Frozen Peas

1/4 Cup Parmesan or Pecorino if you prefer a milder flavour

Put your stock on and bring to simmer.  While this is happening heat your oil and butter in a large heavy based pan.  Add your fennel and onion (or the odds and ends you might have) plus a pinch of salt and cook with out browning on a medium heat until the onion is soft and translucent.  Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes stirring continuously.  Add the wine and stir until fully absorbed.   You can then start adding the simmering stock one ladle full at a time.  Do not add the next ladle until the previous one if full absorbed.  When you have only one ladle left it is time to add the peas.  Once the last lot of stock is absorbed remove from the stove and stir in the cheese and 1 tbs butter.

Have you ever had fennel re-shoot?

What is you favourite risotto?

Curry of the Week - Delicious Dahl

This recipe is so easy to make and is cheap, filling, comforting and oh so tasty.

I makes a big batch and you can freeze leftovers. The below recipe makes a spicy dahl so you can cut the chilli back or leave it out altogether.  Serve as a side dish or as a main course, or even as a spread on bread.

The dry ingredients, ginger and garlic

This recipe is made with two sets of ingredients, the main ingredients and a spice mix.

375gm Red Lentils                           5 cup Water
1 large Onions diced                        4 cloves of Garlic crushed
2 tsp each of Ground Turmeric, ground coriander, and ground cumin
40gm grated Ginger                         2 tsp chilli flakes

Spice Mix

2 Tbs Vegetable oil                         2 tsp Mustard Seeds
2 tsp Fennel Seeds                           2 tsp Fenugreek seeds
2 tsp Cumin Seeds                        2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Sugar                                      4 Tbs Lemon Juice

Wash and drain the lentils then add the rest of the the first set of ingredients.  Cook for 20 mins until lentils are mushy.
While the lentils cook, heat the oil in a small pan and fry the seeds of the spice mix until just fragrant.  Remove from the heat and add the salt, sugar and lemon juice.
When the lentils are nearly cooked add the spice mix and cook a further 5 mins.

The mix will thicken as it cools and can be kept for 4 days in the fridge.

Water added and onto cook

The finished product

A final word of warning.  The recipe contains turmeric which will stain everything it comes in contact with so wipe up any spills or splashes asap and cook in a stainless steel pot.