Nursery Spaghetti

Here is what you do.

Cook a packet of spaghetti til it's al dente (I say that to make this seem fancier and more foodie than it is, truth be told, but DO cook your spaghetti nicely)

Then you need

One warmed tin of condensed tomato soup (don't add water! must NOT be salt reduced! if you like a lot of sauce, get the biggest can of soup)

One block of Kraft cheddar cheese, grated (this is the one that is NOT kept in the fridge at the supermarket)

You cook the spaghetti, as we said.

You use the warm non diluted soup as the pasta sauce.

You put a LOT of cheese on top.

You eat it up.

Shame. Shame. Shame. Yum.

Tessa Kiros Tomato Lasagna

My version of Tessa Kiros' Tomato Lasagna

Tomato Sauce

1.25 kg of tinned diced tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

a good slosh of olive oil

one cup of warm water of stock

bunch of fresh basil or a teaspoon full of dried Italian herbs

8 sheets of instant lasagna (the dried one) : I used one family sized packet : about 350g

250g Parmesan

Bechamel Sauce

1 litre of warmed milk

3/4 cup of plain flour

120g of butter

nutmeg

Make the Tomato Sauce First

Heat the oil and gently fry the garlic till it's fragrant (not browned!) Throw in the tomatoes. Cook for 15 minutes, and then add 1 cup of water (or you could use stock!) Season with salt and pepper and then simmer it on a low heat while you make the Bechamel sauce. (You are meant to puree it, but I didn't, because I am lazy and I don't like too many dishes!)

Make the Bechamel Sauce Next

First warm your milk. Then in a separate large-ish pot melt the butter. Once the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk like crazy to make a smooth butter and flour paste. Continue to stir the floury butter over the heat for a few minutes to cook the floury taste away. Now start whisking in the warm milk a slosh at a time. Don't stop whisking! Your Bechamel will end up nice and thick and smooth. Good work. It needs to be thick so that it layers nicely.

Assemble it All

Grease a lasagna suitable dish or just slosh some oil and and coat the dish well with it using a pastry brush or your fingers. My dish was around 20cm x 30cm and quite deep. Slosh a layer of Bechamel sauce in first and spread it over the base. Put two sheets of dried lasagna atop the Bechamel. Now layer tomato sauce, then Bechamel, then Parmesan, then lasagna. Do that two times. Then add a final layer of lasagna and top with Bechamel, more Parmesan and dot with any leftover tomato sauce.

Cook in a 360F/180C degree oven for 30 minutes until golden and cheesy.

Eat it all up!

Serves 6

Baked Rigatoni

Rice and Pasta - The World's Best Dishes
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Baked Rigatoni


Hmm. Well. Let me just say this straight up. Good concept but bad recipe.  Sorry AWW.  I do love you a lot, but this recipe was completely annoying.  You are meant to COOK the rigatoni. And THEN stuff them.  Hmm. Nope. No. Nada.  Cooked rigatoni are very prone to splitting.  They don't like to be stuffed.  But don't let that stop you : just use cannelloni and it will be fine.

I knew my kids would love this recipe if I could get it to work.  So I bought some super huge rigatoni from Simon Johnson (which is in my neighbourhood).  You may not be able to find super huge rigatoni.  And it is expensive.    So as I said, just use cannelloni and everything will be alright.   Mr Simon did not have cannelloni.  Probably cannelloni is a bit retro from him.  (I don't think he had vol au vents either.)  We had to buy the super huge... and that worked okay too.

It took a  while to stuff all the pasta tubes, but it was kind of fun and sort of therapeutic.  I got to think about Lou and Frankie in Love My Way.... and wonder what the heck Lewis is all about.... sip wine... listen to Neil Diamond.... that kind of thing.  Tubes (uncooked) stuffed, sauce made, into oven.  There followed lots of topping up with water (you could use stock) to ensure the pasta was kept moist and cooked through.

I put the cheese on once the pasta was cooked and let it brown a bit more.   And then it was all done. And very super hot as it cooked for just over an hour at a pretty high temperature.

The kids DID love this, especially Max.  But yes, forget the rigatoni unless you are a masochist like me.  Go for cannelloni and you will be grinning from ear to here.

I think this would be even nicer with ricotta and spinach, but I am not allowed to divert from the recipe without good reason (says me) so I stuck with the meaty filling.

I saw Julie in an op-shop in Blackburn on Friday. Hi Julie!  I have been working on the zig-zag blanket.  I have been making lamb shanks a la Jamie Oliver (with raisins and apples - quite sweet!), I have been going to see James and The Giant Peach at ACMI with Ari. I have been mulling over books for Book Club.  I have been watching the final eps of Love My Way Season 3.  I have been visiting Camberwell Market with Cam and Ari : I saw Chris and Kitty there and they are rad.  I have been eating smoked trout dip on rye bread... and tomato and cheese on french stick (with salami).  I have been working on project ideas for Book 3.

How was you weekend?  Do you like Baked Pasta?  Do you have a favourite recipe?  Do you like Love My Way?  (I have stopped watching Offspring... sigh. I just can't do it. Sigh.)

xx Pip

Porcupine Meatballs w Tomato Sauce

Sauce
2 440g tins of crushed tomatoes - nice ones
1 onion, finely diced
1 large jar of tomato sugo
250ml of stock - whichever you like (not fish though!!)
1 clove of garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
a bunch of basil

Meatballs
250g pork mince
250g beef mince
1 cup of cooked rice
1 egg, beaten
1tsp of dried oregano
salt and pepper

For the Sauce
In a BIG POT. Fry the onion in the olive oil until transparent. Add the garlic and give it a quick fry before tipping in the crushed tomatoes, sugo and salt and pepper. Add half the basil - just tear the leaves and throw them in. Leave to simmer away nicely while you make the meatballs.

For the Meatballs
Mix all the ingredients up until well combined. Roll into small balls (wet your hands so they don't stick to you! and have the sink full of nice warm soapy water so you can clean up when you get to meatbally!). Drop the balls into the simmering sauce.

When you've rolled all the meatballs and they are sitting in the sauce - simmer slowly over a gentle heat for 20 minutes. Serve with hot rice, pasta, mash or in a nice soft roll! Yum!

Famous Light as a Feather Gnocchi

6 large pontiac potatoes (or desiree) peeled and quartered
2 large free range eggs, beaten
250g plain flour
salt and pepper

Cook the potatoes in salted boiling water until they are tender. Drain well and mash throughly - or pass through a ricer or food mill for extra lump-free ness! Allow to cool. Add the beaten eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Mix lightly with your hands - but not too much - we need the gnocchi to be feathery light, remember?!

Put on a big pot of fresh salted water to boil.

On a floured surface, roll handfuls of the mixture into long sausage shapes. Cut into two cm pieces and toss in flour to prevent the gnocchi sticking to one another. Once you've made about ten - drop them into the boiling water. When they float, they are cooked! Keep warm (with a drizzle of olive oil) in a big bowl covered with foil until you've cooked them all. Drizzle some more oil on them to stop them sticking to each other - or drop them straight into a bubbling pot of your chosen sauce!