Roasted Tomato and Goat's Cheese Pasta

I'll admit, it's taken me a while to come around, but his persistance has finally come to fruition. At first I was put off by his earthiness, and musky smell. It reminded me of the unwashed, and I had no desire for that to take up residence on my dinner plate. But then, with a little convincing, I encountered his sweeter side, the side you can only experience when you let him roll around your tongue. And with that I was hooked - my love affair with goat's cheese had begun!

Roasted Tomato and Goat's Cheese pasta

1 packet small pasta of your choice
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 red onion, cut into wedges and separated
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 good pinch dried oregano
1 roasted red capsicum, cut into strips

100 grams marinated goat's cheese


1 - Preheat oven to 200 C. Place the cherry tomatoes, olive oil, red onion and oregano in a lined baking dish, and roast for 25 - 30 minutes.

2 - Meanwhile, cook pasta according to packet instructions, or until al dente. Drain well.

3 - Combine the pasta, roasted veg, capsicum strips and mix well. Serve onto plates, then top with goat's cheese. Serve with a crunchy green salad.

Penne with Snow Peas, Broccoli and Feta

For this recipe I dressed the pasta in garlic olive oil. If you can't find that, it's really easy to make your own - just finely chop a clove or two of garlic and let marinate in the olive oil whilst the pasta is cooking. Too easy!

Penne with Snow Peas, Broccoli and Feta

1 packet penne
1 head broccoli, cut into florets
100 grams snow peas, destringed and sliced
100 grams feta, crumbled
3 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil

1 - Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Add the pasta, and cook according to packet directions. Two minutes before the pasta is done, add the broccoli and snow peas. Cook until al dente, then drain.

2 - Put the pasta and veggies back in the pan, and combine with olive oil and feta. Serve immediately, seasoning with freshly ground black pepper if desired.

Ravioli with Butter Tomato Sauce

This is what's known around our place as the 'end of week cheat'. You're kinda cooking (as in your make the sauce) but you're also making your own life easy by using some pre-prepared filled pasta. And at the end of a long week, there's no shame in that!

Ravioli with Butter Tomato Sauce

1 packet ravioli of choice (we used pumpkin and almond, and it was gooooooood!)
800 gram tin crushed tomatoes
100 grams butter
1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters
Parmesan cheese, to serve

1 - Put the tomato, butter and onion into a saucepan, and cook over a medium heat for 20 minutes or so, mixing well.

2 - Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to packet directions. Drain well, then serve with sauce on top. Sprinkle of parmesan, if desired.

Asparagus and Broad Bean pasta bake

1 bunch asparagus, woody ends removed, and stalks cut into thirds
300 grams broad beans, podded
500 grams orecchiette
juice of one lemon
300 ml sour cream
salt and pepper, to taste
100 grams tasty cheese, grated

1 - Bring a smallish saucepan of water to the boil. Cook the broad beans for 2 - 3 minutes, then drain.

2 - When cooled, removed the grey skin from the broad beans. Set the beans aside.

3 - Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to the boil. Cook the pasta according to packet directions, add the asparagus 2 minutes before the pasta is cooked. Drain well.

4 - Preheat the oven to 200 C. In a large baking dish, combine the pasta, asparagus and broad beans. Add the lemon juice and sour cream, and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then top with the grated cheese.

5 - Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the cheese is golden and bubbling. Serve with a nice green salad.

Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta

You really, really cannot beat the old pasta-and-pesto combo. It's quick, flavoursome and perfect for a mid-week meal. And if you chuck some roasted veggies into the mix, then it becomes healthy with a minimum of fuss. Bwahahahah!

Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

1 largish sweet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm dice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 quantity of fettucine
1 small jar of Sundried Tomato Pesto

1 - Preheat the oven to 200 C. Place the sweet potato in a roasting dish, and toss with the olive oil. Roast for 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender.

2 - Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet directions, or until al dente. Drain, then place back in the pan.

3 - Toss as much pesto as you fancy in with the pasta, alongside the sweet potatoes. Mix thoroughly, then serve with a nice green salad.

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.

Pesto Pasta with Pumpkin and Feta

It took me ages to like pesto - primarily, I suspect, because I'd only tasted commercially prepared ones that were far too oily. I'd have a wee taste, and then screw up my face in disappointment, thinking "What is it with this green goop that makes people swoon in delight? I cannot understand it at all!"

Then a friend put me onto home made rocket pesto, and bang! The illuminations, and major appreciation, began! Most pesto recipes call for a bit more oil, but I like to keep mine lighter, with more of an emphasis on the lemon. However, feel free to muck about with it and make it your own.


Pesto Pasta with Pumpkin and Feta

500 grams rigatoni
1/2 Jap pumpkin, peeled, seeded and diced into two cm cubes
100 grams feta, crumbled
3 handfuls rocket, washed well
1/3 cup pine nuts
100 grams parmesan cheese, grated
juice of one large lemon (or two small ones - the more juice the better, I think)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
50 ml olive oil (use the best one you can get)


1 - Preheat the oven to 200 C. Place the pumpkin in a baking tray, tossed with a smidge of olive oil, and roast for 20ish minutes, or until tender. Set aside

2 - Cook the rigatoni as per the packet instructions, until al dente. Keeping warm, set aside.

3 - In a food processor, place the rocket, pine nuts and parmesan. Whizz for a minute, or until combined. With the motor running, add the lemon juice and olive oil.

4 - Combine the pesto with the pumpkin, feta and pasta in a large pan, and then serve immediately.

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.

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.

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!

Cheat's cannelloni with sesame broccoli

This would have to be the world's easiest cannelloni recipe. It's perfect for those Friday nights when you're tired, and you want something that's comforting and tasty, but won't take hours to prepare. And if you don't tell anybody that you cheated with a preprepared sauce, then who will ever know?

Cannelloni

1 packet cannelloni tubes
250 gram tub of ricotta
250 gram frozen spinach, defrosted
3 spring onions, chopped finely
100 gram parmesan cheese, grated
750 ml jar of passata (or any preprepared tomato based pasta sauce)
300 ml cream
200 grams cheddar cheese, grated

1 - Preheat oven to 180 C.

2 - Mix in a bowl the spinach, ricotta, spring onion and parmesan cheese until well combined.

3 - Pour half the passata over the base of a long casserole dish.

4 - Stuff each cannelloni tube with the spinach mixture. Lay in a line along the casserole dish, on top of the passata.

5 - Once all tubes are in the dish, cover with the remaining passata. Pour the cream over evenly, then cover with the grated cheddar cheese.

6 - Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, or until the tubes are al dente, and the cheese is bubbling and golden. Serve with sesame broccoli or a green salad.

Sesame broccoli

1 head broccoli, cut into flowers
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 - Steam the broccoli flowers until tender.

2 - Place in a bowl, and toss with the oil and seeds. Serve immediately.