Pasta Primavera

Spring has finally arrived in old Melbourne town, which means asparagus. Hooray! You'll probably see a bit of it around here in the next few weeks, as the season is so short you simply have to make the most of it. So bring on the asparagus, and bring on the smelly wee!

Ahem. Onto the recipe :-)

Pasta Primavera

500 grams dried spiral pasta (I went for the giant spirals, just because I thought they looked cool)
2 bunches asparagus, woody ends trimmed, cut into shortish lengths
2 zucchini, ends removed, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen peas
300 ml light cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, crushed
grated rind of one lemon
freshly ground black pepper, to serve
Parmesan cheese, to serve


1 - Bring a large pot the the boil. Add the pasta, and cook until al dente, adding the asparagus, zucchini and peas about 4 minutes before the pasta is fully cooked. Drain.

2 - Meanwhile, put the cream, mustard, garlic and lemon rind in a large pan, and bring to the boil. Turn down to a simmer, then add the pasta and vegetables. Toss well to combine, then serve immediately, with pepper and parmesan to taste.

Macaroni and Cheese

This is based on a recipe in The Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Ruth Reichl (who is one of my food heroes). I'd never really been a mac and cheese kinda girl - the reason being that every one I tasted prior to this was bland and insipid. But I did like the idea of it - pasta + cheesey sauce = heaven in my book. When I made this, it completely and utterly knocked my socks off!

I've cut down a bit on the cheese in my version - they ask for 4 cups, which I thought made it a bit too cheesy (if there is such a thing), although I do use pretty darn tasty 'tasty' cheese, so maybe keep that in mind. I've also added peas, just because I think all that cheesyness needs to balanced by something from the vegetable kingdom!

Macaroni and Cheese

2 cups fresh breadcrumbs, preferable made from wholegrain bread
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
2 3/4 cups milk
3/4 cup cream
3 cups grated tasty cheddar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 cups frozen peas
500 grams elbow macaroni

1 - Preheat the oven to 200 C.

2 - Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. With 5 minutes to go, add the peas. Cook until al dente, then drain and set aside.

3 - Meanwhile, made the cheese sauce: Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the flour and chilli flakes, and whisk to combine. Cook for a minute or two, then slowly add the milk, stirring furiously the entire time so that no lumps form (if they do, just squish them on the side of the pan). Simmer, whisking for 3 minutes, then add the cream, cheese and mustard. Let simmer for a minute or so more, or until the mixture thickens. Take off the heat.

4 - Put the macaroni and peas in a very large baking dish, then pour the cheese sauce evenly over the top. Spread the breadcrumbs over the top, then bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are golden. Take out from oven, and let sit for 5 minutes before serving with a green salad.

Indian style fritters with coconut rice and raita

I love spicy fritters - they are such a great way to hoover up whatever is looking a little on the sad side in the vegetable drawer. So, if you don't have peas or cauli, then use whatever is on hand. Got carrot - grate it up and chuck it in! Zucchini is good when grated, too. Oh, and if you make them as spicy as I have, trust me - the raita is a MUST.

Indian style fritters

1/2 cauliflower, cut into florets
1 cups frozen peas
3/4 cup plain flour
2 eggs, lighly beaten
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 tablespoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons fresh coriander
vegetable oil, to fry

1 - Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Add the cauliflower and cook for 3 - 4 minutes. Add the peas, and cook for another 3 minutes. When cauliflower is tender, drain. Put the vegies in a bowl and roughly mash them.

2 - Add the flour, eggs, tumeric, chilli, cumin and coriander to the bowl, and mix to combine.

3 - Heat a couple of drops of oil in a non-stick pan over a medium-high heat. Place tablespoons of the mixture down, and cook for 2 minutes. Flip the fritter over and cook for 2 minutes more, or until cooked through. Keep warm in the oven until all the mixture is used, then serve with coconut rice and raita.

Coconut rice

3 cups jasmine rice, rinsed until water runs clear
400 ml tin coconut milk

Place all ingredients in a saucepan over a high heat. Bring to the boil, then turn heat down and simmer, covered, for 8 - 10 minutes, or until rice is al dente. Leave for 5 minutes, then fluff rice with a fork. Serve.

Raita

1 cup natural yoghurt
1 small Lebanese cucumber, peeled and seeded, and finely chopped
1/3 cup mint leaves, roughly chopped

Mix all ingredients together in bowl, and then serve. Season if desired.

Penne with Pea Pesto and Roasted Cherry Tomato Salad

Such a crap photo! Sorry - we had guests over for dinner, and I was too busy gasbagging and slurping wine to fuss around with the photo, bwahahah!

My mum used to say, as she handed out our dinner, "Plate's hot, but the din-din's gorgeous!" So, to paraphrase very badly, "Photo's ghastly, but the food's delish!"

Penne with Pea Pesto

300 grams frozen peas
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/2 cup pine nuts
100 grams parmesan cheese, grated
Finely grated rind of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
5oo grams penne

1 - Cook pasta in a large pot of lighly salted water according to packet instructions, or until pasta is al dente. Drain.

2 - Meanwhile, cook the peas in a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain, then let cool (as you don't want to crack your food processor by processing hot stuff. Trust me, I've learnt from bitter experience).

3 - Put the peas, garlic, parmesan, pine nuts and lemon rind in the food processor. Blitz until smoothish, then add the combined olive oil and lemon juice whilst the motor is running. Blitz for 20 seconds, then turn motor off.

4 - Add the pesto mixture to the warm penne and serve immediately!

Roasted Cherry Tomato Salad

15 ripe cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 pinch dried oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
100 grams feta, roughly crumbled

1 - Preheat oven to 180 C. Place cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and oregano in a smallish roasting pan, and toss to combine.

2 - Roast for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the tomatoes are puffy and oozing. Arrange on a platter, sprinkly with the feta, and serve.

Shepherd's pie with minted mushy peas

This is comfort food at it's very best. In fact, it was so comforting that I had two helpings, and then scarfed the leftovers for breakfast. Buuuuurrrrrp!

Shepherd's Pie

1 kilo potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
800 g tin crushed tomatoes
400 g tin brown lentils
4 tablespoons sundried tomato strips
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon dried oregano


1 - Preheat the oven to 200 C.

2 - Place the potatoes in a saucepan, and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the potatoes are tender. Drain, then mash, adding the milk until the mash is light and fluffy. Season with pepper, and stir in the cheese.

3 - Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan. Cook the onion until tender and golden, then add the garlic. Cook for a minutes, then add the tomatoes, lentils and carrots. Bring to the boil, then simmer away until the mixture becomes nice and thick. Add the oregano.

3 - Place the tomato mixture into a large baking dish. Gently spread the mashed potato over the top, and cook for 40 minutes, or until the top is a lovely golden brown. Serve with the mushy peas.

Minted mushy peas

500g frozen peas
50 grams butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped mint leaves

1 - Cook the peas in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 3 - 4 minutes, or until tender.

2 - Drain the peas, then blitz with the butter and mint in a food processor (Don't over blitz - you want them to be kinda lumpy, not a pea puree). Serve.

Curried Pea and Lettuce Soup

Sorry folks, no photo for this one because I am a big ol' duffer who completely forgot! Both my husband and daughter have that awful leurgy that seems to be taking Melbourne out, so my mind was more on making a soup to make them feel better, or at the very least a little bit less congested, and the whole photo thing simply went out the window.

So you'll have to take my word for it that this soup is very, very green. And very, very good for people with horrible snuffly colds. It's also good for alarming dinner guests (trust me, it's that green!), but that's a story for another day.

Curried Pea and Lettuce Soup

1 cos lettuce, leaves washed well and roughly shredded
1 onion, diced
50 grams butter (or olive oil for vegans)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons hot curry powder
1 litre vegetable stock or water
500g frozen peas

1 - Melt the butter in a large saucepan, then saute the onion until tender and golden. Add the garlic and curry powder, and mix until combined. If you happen to have a cold, take this opportunity to stick you head right in the pan, and breath in deeply. We'll shake off that cold in no time - you, me and the peas!

2 - Add the lettuce, and stir so it is coated with the onion mixture. Wait until it wilts, then add the peas and stock.

3 - Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Let the soup cool, then blend until smooth. Reheat to serve, ideally with some yummy crusty bread.

Zucchini, Pea and Ricotta Fettucine

Low fat and full of vegetables. And carbs - I love me some carbs (blowing a raspberry to Atkins diets - bleuuuuurrrrrgh!). What more could a girl want? (Besides rubies and picnics with Champagne and cute new red shoes and yes, ok, alrighty, I'll shut up now!)

Zucchini, Pea and Ricotta Fettucine

350 g wide egg fettucine ribbons
20 grams of butter
2 zucchini, julienned
2 cups of frozen peas
2 spring onions, washed and finely sliced
300 ml low fat cream
250 firm ricotta (from the deli, not the runny stuff from the tub)
Parmesan cheese and mint leaves, to serve

1 - Cook the fettucine in a large saucepan of salted water according to the time on the packet. With 3 minutes to go before the end of cooking, add the zucchini. Add the peas with one minute to go. Once done, drain, and add to the big pan cream mixture, which should be finished at about the same time.

2 - Once you've added the fettucine to the saucepan, get cracking on the sauce: Melt the butter, and gently fry the onions for 2 minutes in a large pan. Add the cream, and simmer for 5 minutes. The stir through the pasta, peas and zucchini, adding the ricotta. Stir to combine.

3 - Top with mint leaves, if you desire a fresh, springy taste, or parmesan cheese, if you're a bit of a cheese addict like me. Serve immediately!