Pasta snack on the run

I love pasta. Mac and cheese (or Lobster Mac and Cheese if you go to Goodmans), pasta bake, spag bol, lasagne, ravioli, you name it, I'm there! But more often than not I seem to end up labouring over my pasta since, since whilst making the sauce I keep thinking "maybe I should add .... "  stuff like bacon, mushrooms, grated zucchini, peas, more garlic, leeks, etc. etc. then I end up making 3x as much as I wanted, and it takes 3x as long.

I've never really tried to make a super simple pasta but on the day that I did (with some help from Nigella recipes, yet again) I was pleasantly surprised. This is a snack rather than meal since the only substantial ingredient is the pasta and there's no real protein to beef it up a bit (pun not intended). Its rather like spaghetti vongole but without the clams - no need for such fancy things when making a snack. However, if you did have something like crab meat in the fridge, or if you're like me and love flavoured tinned tuna (yes, really) you could dress it up pretty easily.

What's in it

The basic ingredients are simple and might often be found lurking in your fridge and pantry:

• Pasta - I think this is the most delightful with spaghetti - don't ask me why, I just like it (of course you can use whatever you want)


• Stale bread (food process this into breadcrumbs), or ready made breadcrumbs


• Olive oil


• Lemon zest (more an optional than a must - good if you have a real lemon handy)


• Lemon juice (from the real lemon if you have one, else from the bottle does just as well)


• Garlic (mine is minced and from the jar, but if you have the time you might want to crush your own)


• Chilli flakes (or powder, or fresh chilli, or whatever). Of course this is optional


• Chopped parsley (to balance out the garlic)

That's it! Tastes awesome when you're hungry and takes 15min to make and 2min to eat.

How to make

1. Cook spaghetti: put paste in a pan of salted boiling water (will take too long to cook if not boiling plus it'll all stick together). Check on the packet how long to cook for - usually 8-10min minutes, but keep checking until its just the texture you like it.


2. Make sauce: while the pasta is boiling, heat up a frying pan to medium heat and put in a glug of olive oil.
   
   
   
   • Add the garlic and fry till fragrant (maybe a minute  or two).
   
   
   • Add the breadcrumbs and lemon zest and cook until breadcrumbs are golden, should take a minute at best. Note - watch the heat on the frying pan, don't have hit too hot or everything will burn. Keep everything moving with your spatula. 
   
   
   • Add chilli flakes (optional).
   
   
   
   


3. Combine:
   
   
   
   • Scoop out a cup or two of pasta water from the pot (save this), then tip the pasta into a colander to drain it.
   
   
   • Put pasta back into the pot and throw in contents of the frying pan, the chopped parsley, and a couple of splashes of lemon juice.
   
   
   • Toss it all together. If its looking & feeling a bit too dry, add some lemon juice or the pasta water to loosen it up a bit.
   
   
   • Season generously with salt and pepper before eating
   
   
   
   

That's it really and I promise it'll satisfy any carb / pasta cravings you might have! Do you have any super quick cooked snacks you love to eat? I'm all ears if you do.

Till next time, happy eating!

Chocolate hazelnut cheesecake

I've not been very good at caking lately (shock horror) but I think I've been re-inspired now - yesterday one of our grads came to work and he had brought hummingbird cupcakes to give out for his birthday. Because I make cake so much I rarely eat more than a small slice, but yesterday I devoured the whole cupcake in about 2 minutes after missing it so much. As an aside, I do think its particularly weird here that if its your birthday you bring the cake - especially as I practically became the resident cake baker at my old workplace that made half the department's birthday cake. Even if I didn't make it, it was always someone else who arranged the cake for you on your birthday, shop or otherwise. I think the first time this really struck me as odd was when it was someone's 50th and he brought around trays of sparkling wine in plastic cups like a waiter and served half the floor. Whatever next, will you have to buy presents to distribute on your birthday too?!

After eating the chocolate hummingbird cupcake yesterday (in the words of our grad, "no explanation of flavours required then Kate") I think I've rediscovered my love of cake. Just as well, since I'm heading off to test the Mad Hatter afternoon tea tomorrow! But for now, here is a chocolate hazelnut cheesecake (no baking required but you will need fridge time) courtesy of Nigella Lawson. It has been extensively Ka-te-fied and you can do whatever you want; this is just my adaptation of Nigella ideas. Super simple, super quick to make (but you do need chilling time), and super delicious.



Apologies for the photo quality in this post, for some reason my white balance was playing havoc with me!

Base

• This is a regular cheesecake base, but substituting hazelnut meal for almond meal to make it extra hazelnutty.


• Of course you can use plain biscuits and just add melted butter, but its a pet hate of mine. I can just taste the biscuit and I know its not right. Call me pedantic but to me its like putting soy sauce in your spaghetti.


• Because nutella also = hazelnut, feel free to put in a spoon or two into the base as well!

Complete ingredients & process

1. Mix a cup or so of hazelnut meal with around half a cup of icing sugar (don't get hung up on measuring please. Its just a base, it doesn't need to rise, just hold together)


2. Add a couple of spoons of plain flour (you could use all hazelnut meal but it gets a bit expensive; the flour is just a bulking agent really)


3. Add in a chunk of melted butter (no need to cool), I usually use about a quarter of a block (I think its around 50g or just dig in 2 big spoons into the tub of butter


4. (optional) Add in nutella, about half the amount of butter that you used


5. Too wet? Add flour. Too dry? Add butter.


6. Press into lined cake tin (springform please else you'll be struggling to get it out) then bake at 180 / 200 / 220 deg for around 10min or until golden - watch it doesn't burn.

Filling

• I used a stand mixer for this but hand mixer or elbow grease will do just as well


• There is no need to line the sides of your cake tin (but please do line the bottom). As long as you give the cake enough fridge time, it will be stiff enough that you can just lift the ring portion of the cake tin off and it'll still hold its shape.


• Soften your cream cheese ahead of time, if you remember (if you are using a stand mixer this won't make much difference, but it means your machine will work less hard)

Word of warning: This is seriously unhealthy but because its so good you'll be eating it for days and staring at it in the fridge. I'd suggest inviting friends over or investing in a flatmate / siblings like mine. Read on if you dare...



Complete ingredients & process

1. Two packets of cream cheese into a large bowl (I use one full fat packet and one low fat packet - I can never decide which one!!)


2. Add in most of a jar of nutella (maybe about 3/4 jar - can always add more if there's not enough but you can't really remove it)


3. Add in around half a cup of icing sugar, maybe some vanilla as well


4. Mix and adjust to taste. Texture should be fairly light and creamy like a really thick version of a whipped cream that's whipped to soft peak stage.

Assembling

Once the base has cooled, put the mix on top of the base and put in fridge, overnight is best. Can sprinkle nuts or other decorations on top if you choose, I used pecans since I couldn't find any hazelnuts in the shop.



Till next time, happy caking!



 

Tiramisu (one of many ways to make it!)

There are no rules when it comes to Tiramisu, which is one of the reasons I like it so much. It can be as fancy or as cheat's way as you like, and as long as you have the core ingredients / blend of flavours it'll taste pretty good anyway. I think what would generally be considered the essentials are:

• Sponge cake / sponge finger biscuits


• Marscapone cheese


• Coffee (instant coffee or espresso, whatever you have on hand)


• Cocoa powder


• Marsala or sherry (personally I think this is a nice to have rather than an essential, but I'm sure there are people there who know better that would probably correct me)

Some extras that I tend to throw in as well if they are conveniently in the kitchen already: crushed nuts, and a bit of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste to add to the marscapone. Note that these are optional extras (even more optional than the marsala) and don't tend to affect the "tiramisu-iness" of your final product too much.



Today was tiramisu day, since I had leftover sponge cake from yesterday when I made lamingtons. Stupidly, I didn't take any photos (and almost cried when everyone had left and I was planning my Oz day blog post, only to find I had no photos). I was so busy making food and eating that for some completely odd reason photos didn't even occur to me! Talk about being sidetracked. On the upside, it did mean that the food was wonderful since I got so distracted...

Mr T wasn't feeling the love for whipped cream and strawberries on his leftover sponge cake today, and so was kind enough to go and source some marscapone for me. As implied by the title of this post, tiramisu can be made in many many different ways and this is just what I did:

One way of tiramisu

1. Slice the sponge cake into two. Note: it would probably have been better to slide into 3 layers but since the cake was a little too soft light in this case I decided to avoid a crumby mess on my bench.

2. Instant coffee. Add a couple of splashes of hot water from the kettle to a couple of teaspoons of instant coffee. Nestle 43, Carte Noire, again whatever you want.



3. Dip the sponge cake into the coffee. I wouldn't recommend soaking - you could also brush the coffee on or use a spray bottle if you have the energy - or you can dip the pieces of cake (or sponge finger biscuits if you are using these) straight in the coffee for a second and that would work just fine too.

4. Marscapone mixture. I used equal parts marscapone (about half a small tub) and icing sugar and added in a tiny bit of vanilla. The marscapone was quite hard so I thinned it down with a little milk and a instant coffee mix. Basically this is just a taste test and you can be the judge of how sweet you want it. Texture wise I like mine a bit mousse-like since its easier to spread. 


5. Assemble. Cake (coffee side up), marscapone, dusting of cocoa powder, and repeat! Voila!

Other things you could do...

I've listed a few different things you could do with tiramisu; and I'm sure you'll see from this why I prefer an easy no-fuss way. After all, as long as its tasty and I don't brand it as authentic Italian tiramisu its ok right? (by the way, am I the only one who used to think that tiramisu was a Japanese word and therefore dessert?)

• Sponge finger biscuits could be used instead of the sponge cake. This would be my normal option but I had leftover sponge cake in this case.


• Marscapone mix ingredients. Recipes sometimes call for whipped egg whites to be folded into the marscapone, presumably to lighten it. Other recipesI have read call for whipped cream instead of egg whites.


• Tiramisini (individually portioned), like Nigella Lawson's recipe. Great for parties or any occasion which calls for individual servings. I did this for a birthday at work once, and it was wonderfully mess-free. The lightness of each portion meant it wasn't too heavy for each person to eat a whole thing (I did the whipped cream trick to lighten the marscapone).


• Tiramisu ice cream cake, Bill Granger has a great one. This is my all time favourite - it has ice cream instead of marscapone! And chocolate shavings instead of cocoa powder on top. An ice cream monster like me will surely choose ice cream over cheese every time...


• Tiramisu cupcakes, Hummingbird has a recipe which involves scooping out the middle of the cupcake and filling it, then reassemble and frost (way too much work for my liking, I'd rather the tiramisini option).

Till next time, happy eating

Meringue Gelato Cake with Chocolate Sauce

I've been feeling rather absent minded and distracted lately with all that's been happening, but I think its time to turn my attention back to a primary love - FOOD! I had thumbed through Nigella's new book about a month ago after going to the book signing and the desserts look fabulously delicious and uncomplicated.

I was so inspired that I thought about doing a cookbook cook through, but since I've been back at work I've been feeling less than inspired to make the effort to cook anything but tried and trusted easy weekday food that requires no thinking. Also, if I did do a cookbook cook through, would it be cheating if I didn't follow the recipe to the letter and just picked out the ingredients and made it how I want to in order to come up with a similar result?

Nevertheless, the Meringue Gelato Cake with Chocolate Sauce definitely caught my attention and it turned out to be far too easy for an ice cream guzzler like me to eat. What's in it? Four key ingredients, and some extra cream for the sauce.

• Meringue - crushed up. Mine are looking slightly darker than usual since I wasn't paying enough attention and they browned a little too much!!


• Ice cream - vanilla (could be anything you want though really)


• Chocolate - some shaved into the ice cream mix, and some made into a sauce (I just melted it and added a bit of cream)


• Raspberries - for decoration and to cut through some of the sweetness.

After mixing up the ingredients and refreezing it all, it turned out a little like a different version of a Viennetta (without all the pretty swirls) or a cassata perhaps? Either way, it was great stuff and didn't last long in the freezer at all.



Next on my Nigella hit list: a chocolate hazelnut cheesecake!



 

Meeting Nigella Lawson

I met Nigella Lawson today, and it was like all my Christmases came at once.

While my lovely girlfriends here tend to prefer pretty boys and tennis stars, I'm a total and utter fangirl for are Nigella Lawson, domestic goddess, and Lisa Eldridge, make up artist extraordinare. I was really disappointed that I couldn't get to a Nigella book signing a couple of months ago when she was first doing signings all over the UK, so I was super excited when I read on twitter that she would be in Selfridges at 6pm today promoting her latest book Nigellissima - Instant Italian Inspiration.

To put this into context, last year when we were still in Sydney Mr T came home one night saying that one of his staff had gone to a Nigella Lawson signing in David Jones ... of course only knowing this after the fact it was far too late for me to get a pre-signed copy (yes, I should have known about it earlier and just taken the time off if I couldn't afford the waiting time at lunch). So I've actually been hanging out for this for a year!



I love Nigella - though I knew about her in my uni days I was never really into food and didn't pay too much attention. It was only until I started to cook myself and read Lorraine's blog www.notquitenigella.com when looking for restaurant reviews that I discovered the wonderful world of food and of course Nigella Lawson. Besides being utterly gorgeous, there's just something about Nigella's turn of phrase (describing pomegranate seeds as "ruby jewels" comes to mind) and watching her on tv invariably makes me want to immediately eat or make whatever she is making.

Fortunately I was able to wheedle my way into a 4pm departure from work today with a promise to make up the time later. I arrived at Selfridges at around 4.30pm, bought the book (you had to buy the book from there in order to get it signed) and patiently waited for 1.5 hours. This is the longest I have ever queued for anything in my life. Yes, I was the first person there! and the first in line after the special priority people who had picked up their book and wristbands a day before.



Nigella was as lovely in life as she is on tv, was so gracious and had time to chat to everybody and I'm very proud of my book cover. Thanks to Mr T for being kind enough to dash over from the office and make sure I got the photos.



The book actually looks pretty good too - in fact I might even start a mini project to cook my way through it. What do you reckon?