Fresh Pasta

I love pasta, especially fresh homemade pasta. That’s why we’ve invested in our own little pasta machine. No you don’t really need a machine to make your own pasta. You can take time to roll out the dough paper thin, and cut it into strips, but I am far too impatient for that. 

The life saver!! Thank you @Home!

Every time I show a friend how to make pasta I get the same response: “Wow, I didn’t know it was so easy!” Making your own pasta really is extremely easy.

There are however a view things to remember.

1. Always use bread flour.
2. If you halve the recipe always use more eggs. (e.g. 5 eggs /2 = 3 eggs to be used in pasta)
3. Always knead your dough for about 10 minutes.
4. Always rest your dough for 20 minutes in the fridge.
5. Always have extra flour available when you roll out your pasta.
6. Never leave your dough uncovered, it dries out fast.

If you keep these simple rules in mind, your pasta cannot flop.

Basic Pasta Recipe

Serves 10-12 people

Ingredients

450g White bread flour

5 Eggs (whisked)

15ml Olive Oil

2,5ml Salt

Directions

• Add the salt and flour in a big mixing bowl.
• Add the 5 Eggs and Olive Oil and mix until it forms a dough.
• Dust your working surface with some flour and knead your flour for about 10 minutes. This helps to activate your glucose in the flour, and helps with the elasticity of your dough.
• Wrap the dough in cling wrap and let it rest in the fridge for about 20 minutes. (It can be left for no more than two days in the fridge)

Making pasta

• Take small pieces of dough at a time, making sure the rest of the dough is covered with the cling wrap.
• Lightly dust the dough, and put it through the pasta machines widest setting.
• Dust the dough as necessary, you don’t want to over dust it or it will dry out, just enough not to stick to the machine.
• Work the dough from the widest setting, one setting down until you reach the smallest setting. I like to roll it twice through a setting before I start on a smaller setting.
• The pasta will become thinner and longer every time you put it through the machine.
• Lastly cut it into spaghetti/lasagne/ravioli strips.

Cooking fresh pasta

• Cook the pasta in salted boiling water.
• It does not take long to cook, no more than 5 – 7 minutes. When the pasta starts to float, it’s an indication that it is cooked.
• Add a small amount of olive oil over the cooked pasta.

I like to add spices in the dough like some basil, or you can even infuse your pasta with some tomato paste by kneading the paste into your dough. I sometimes use half white bread flour, half whole wheat bread flour. This pasta is extremely filling.

You can make ravioli by cutting it into blocks inserting a filling, and sealing it. You can use it for cannelloni or make lasagne sheets. You can even air dry the pasta and put it in an airtight container for later use. (You can use it for up to 3 months.)

Be creative, try something new and enjoy your meals :)

Yummy lunch

I hope this isn’t bad for your toaster, ‘cause I love making this.

It’s my open toaster grill sandwiches. Firstly you’ll need a toaster, nothing fancy, and you turn it on its side. This way you can assemble sandwiches and insert it horizontally. It will toast the bread, and grill the toppings.

This is my whole-wheat sandwich, with just some sliced tomato and crumbled feta. I toasted it, and added the Avocado afterwards.

That’s it for my trick of the day, enjoy making your own combinations.

I hate Brussels sprouts!

Okay so I must admit; I never really liked Brussels sprouts. It’s one of those veggies you know you should really eat more of, but just thinking about the taste is enough to make you shriek. I love cabbage, and even though Brussels sprouts is part of the cabbage family I just couldn’t ever get over that bitter taste.

Brussels sprout is a fantastic veggie, jam-packed with vitamin A and K. When steamed it could be beneficial to lower one’s cholesterol (big plus for me). The glucosinolate found in Brussels sprouts is also regarded as a cancer-preventive component (please google this for more information). It is a great veggie to have in one’s diet.

Thanks to a lovely Italian lady my dislike in Brussels sprouts was cured, I now love eating this veggie and I hope you’ll try it too!

It’s all about the preparation!! First cut off the bottom of the Brussels sprout and make an x with your knife. It will look like this:

Next you need to steam it for about 15min. If you do not have a steamer, cook it in boiling water for 2min, remove from the heat and strain the water, this removes the bitterness. Next boil again for about 10 minutes in salted water with a touch of lemon juice. The lemon juice helps to keep the bright green colour. The sprouts should still hold form but should be soft in the centre. Do not over cook.

Now you will have tasty Brussels sprouts! You could obviously have it just like this, but I like to spice it up. Here's my recipe for a tasty Brussels Sprout side dish.

Brussels Sprout Side dish

Ingredients:

300g cooked Brussels sprouts

1 large onion chopped into cubes

1 clove of garlic crushed

5ml Butter

Salt and pepper

Instruction:

·         Sweat the onion and garlic together,

·         When it starts turning translucent add the Brussels sprouts,

·         Add the butter and salt and pepper to taste

Serve this dish warm, it is great for a Sunday lunch. Let me know how it turned out J

Salmon Zuchini Pasta

It was off to lunch with one of my lovely friends, I wanted something tasty, easy and of course I wanted to treat my friend. What better way than to make a beautiful pasta dish with some delicious pieces of salmon?

Here’s what I did:

Salmon Zucchini Pasta

Ingredients:

100g Cooked Pasta (I usually mix whole-wheat and normal pasta)

500ml Plain Yoghurt

150g Zucchini (or baby marrow roughly chopped)

200g Salmon (roughly chopped)

Salt and pepper

Instruction:

·         Steam the baby marrow until almost cooked,

·         Add the Pasta and plain yoghurt to the zucchini and mix well,

·         Add the Salmon and cook over a low heat for about 5 minutes,

·         Lastly salt and pepper to taste.

Remember salmon does not need a long cooking time. I made a nice green salad with it, and viola a beautiful dish to treat my friend.

Happy cooking!

Grapefruit Avo Salad

I know it sounds weird, but the acidity of the grapefruit together with the richness of the avocado blends together create a tasty side dish for nearly any meal. It is fast and tasty, my favourite combination for weekly dinners… fast and tasty :)

Grapefruit Avo Salad

Ingredients:

1 large avo

1 large grapefruit

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

Salt and pepper.

Instruction:

·         Firstly peel the grapefruit, making sure you cut of all the white bitter parts. Carefully cut out all the fruity red flesh of the grapefruit, leaving behind the skin that divides the segments. Stack in a bowl.

·         Next squeeze out all the juice left in the grapefruit skin. Add the lemon juice to the grapefruit juice.

·         Next peel the avo and slice it and cover it in the lemon/grapefruit juice. Make sure every inch of every piece of avo is covered.

·         Lastly add the avo to the grapefruit and add a bit of Salt and Pepper.

It is as easy as that. I hope you enjoy this simple colourful salad.

Chocolate Expedition

This weekend we went to a wine farm for a cheese and wine tasting, but instead we were treated to a fantastic chocolate tasting. This Cape winelands gem offers a chocolate taste explosion for all you chocolate lovers out there.

First we were welcomed with a beautiful view, it’s good living in such a beautiful part of the world.

Next we were greeted with warm smiles and a warm fire, it was freezing outside! The owner and founder of DV Chocolate took the time to explain to us the whole process of chocolate making. From how the coco bean grows to when it is produced into a delicious treat.

He took us on a taste journey. They make use of chocolate beans from 6 different places in the world. Each chocolate had its own unique flavour, and story.

Of course I was in chocolate heaven…

If you haven’t been there yet, you better get together a view friends and go! It is truly an experience not to be missed.

Check out their website: www.dvchocolate.com

Lemony Pasta

I used to order a dish similar to this when I still worked at Century City. I don’t have a clue what was in the original recipe, I just remembered it had a tangy, addictive taste to it. So of course I had to try and make this.

Lemony Pasta

Lemony Pasta - It looks good, doesn't it :)

Ingredients:

200g Spaghetti

½ Green pepper (thinly sliced)

½ Red pepper (thinly sliced)

2 Chicken Breasts

Cajun spice

Vinaigrette:

1 medium sized lemon

1 teaspoon of castor sugar

2 tablespoons Olive oil

Salt en pepper

Instruction:

Cook the spaghetti until soft. While it is cooking create the vinaigrette by dissolving the castor sugar in the juice of one lemon. (You can add lemon zest for a more lemony taste.) Add the Olive oil and whisk, salt and pepper to taste. Add the vinaigrette to the cooked pasta, make sure all the pasta is covered with it and set aside to cool.

Next spice the chicken breasts and cook it for about 7 minutes on a side. The chicken must be cooked through but still moist.

Add the sliced peppers to the pasta and mix well. Slice the chicken to be placed on top of the spaghetti. This dish is to be served cold.

I can’t begin to explain the flavours to you; it’s such a simple fresh dish. I love the flavours of this dish, and I hope you love it too.

Happy Cooking!

Stuffed Butternut

3 Parties in two days, while trying to maintain a healthy eating plan… it didn’t go THAT bad. By the end of the second day I was tired and not in the mood to cook. It was a cold rainy day, so a salad wouldn’t do. What was on the menu? Stuffed butternut, and it was good!!

Stuffed Butternut

Ingredients:

Butternut, halved and cleaned and microwaved on high for 5 minutes.

First stuffing:

3 Tablespoons Roasted almonds,

1 Table spoon Honey or maple syrup

 

Second Stuffing:

1 teaspoon of cream cheese (low fat of course),

1 Spring onion chopped,

Feta cheese crumbled (about 2 tablespoons)

Salt and pepper

It is really as easy as sprinkling the ingredients over the butternut and putting it on a baking tray. Cover the Butternut with foil and bake for 30min at 180 degrees Celsius. After 30min, remove the foil and grill the butternut until golden.

Serve while it is still hot.

What is your combination?

Chicken Snitzel

One thing you need to know about my hubby and I is, we both LOVE chicken! We eat loads of white meat during the week, and you can only eat your favourite dish so many times before you get bored with it.

Yesterday I decided to try something new. The challenge was to take something that is usually high in fat and calories and make a low fat alternative.

I think I might just have achieved this goal, and it tasted as good as it looks!

Chicken Snitzel

Ingredients for chicken

2 Chicken Breasts (flattened)
Some Corn starch for dipping
Some Plain flour for dipping
1 Egg whisked
Salt and paprika
Olive oil

Ingredients for roasted zucchini

• 500g of Zucchini/baby marrow
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Ingredients for mushroom sauce

• 250g of thinly sliced mushrooms (the thinner you slice it, the more flavour it will give to your sauce)
• 1 table spoon of corn starch (and more if you want the sauce thicker)
• ½ cup of water
• 1 cup of milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

• Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius
• I started off by tenderizing my chicken (you need it to be the same thickness over the whole breast for even cooking)
• I then created an assembly line, first a bowl with some corn starch, second a bowl with the whisked egg, lastly a bowl with plain flour. I added some salt and paprika to the plain flour; this helped to flavour the chicken.
• I first dipped the chicken in the corn starch, followed by the egg and lastly the spiced flour. Make sure you get and even coating of all three.
• Now place the breasts in a baking tray.

Zucchini

• Next you need to cut the zucchini in halves, lightly brush it with some olive oil. Add your salt and pepper and place the veggies in the baking tray with the chicken breasts.
• Place the tray in the oven for about 12 min, take it out and lightly brush the chicken with olive oil. Place it back in the oven for another 5 min, or until it starts to brown.
• Flip the chicken breasts and repeat the step above.

Mushroom Sauce

• While the chicken is cooking start on your sauce, cook the mushroom in half a cup of water, the water turn brown with all the lovely mushroom flavour.
• When the mushroom is cooked mix the corn starch and milk and add it to the mushrooms in the pot. Stir continuously, until the sauce thickens.
• Flavour with salt and pepper.

The chicken was soft and tender, with just the right amount of flavour. Paired with the mushroom sauce and a bit of grated cheese it was a hit. I will definitely make this again!

Enjoy making your own combinations!