Dinner: Pasta alla Genovese

Tonight I had the help of my closest girlfriend Issy, now Issy is one of those people that are very hard to please when it comes to food and better yet she is a vegetarian... that doesn't like tofu.
(WHAT KIND OF VEGETARIAN ARE YOU!)

But I still had not only her company but her amazing skills with a knife.


Tonight if you haven't noticed I made Pasta alla Genovese which is basically a fancy way of saying Pesto Pasta, this dish is quite basic but it did test my patience when it came to waiting for the potatoes to cook then the pasta, then the beans (which Issy couldn't stop nibbling on).


I didn't really have any major problems with this recipe, however I may have cheated a little and I didn't make the pesto sauce myself :S

Issy pointed out that the mixture of potatoes, beans and pasta gave off a Irish/ Italian feel, then we started speaking with funny accents... weird I know.


Tip:
How to test if the pasta is ready is to throw it at a wall (and then at Issy) and if it sticks it's ready, do it three to four times just to double check.

Now I'm sure you have been wondering if this meal has pleased Issy and to my surprise it has :)
She loved it, her bowl is now empty as I am typing this and she rates it a 9.5/10 because it didn't have chocolate... mmm chocolate...


















A picture Issy took of me while I was eating... the sly child.




09/04/11

Breakfast: Mortadella and Mozzarella Frittata

I'M BACK!

China was a blast, the food and the people are so different to those in Australia.

Just to let you know Scorpion isn't that bad, it has a dry after taste and a crunchy first bite but other than that they taste quite... delicious?

Anyway, today I began cooking through approximately 179 recipes which are to be completed by the due date of this project, which I'm unsure when that will be.

Nigella Lawson:

When I was little I used to cuddle up with my mum and watch Nigella's famous T.V shows. I used to love the food she cooked (mostly the desserts) and now in 2011 I'm cooking through all of her home style recipes and maybe even adding a little flare of my own.

Mortadella and Mozzarella Frittata

This is the first dish in the book and also what I thought would be the easiest of them all... I was kind of right.

I came downstairs this morning ready to go and I suddenly noticed that I had forgotten to buy parsley and mozzarella cheese, so my loving father rushed down to the supermarket and fetched those items for me.

Everything was great until it came to the cooking of the frittata, I put it under the grill for three minutes instead of five (Oh no she didn't!) and then cooked the rest of it on the stove... bad idea... I really should have left it in the oven for longer so the top could cook the bottom of the frittata took on a nice brown colour... I really should have cooked it less on the stove and more in the grill.

But the end result looked quite good, you would have never known it was burnt

As a person that hates EGGS! This was a big step for me to cook let alone try, but it tasted alright even though it was a little over cooked on the bottom.

My dad on the other hand loved it, i quote "It's light and fluffy, smells good and... tastes amazing" - Andrew Dawson.

One down many more to go, tonight I'll will be cooking Pasta alla Genovese with potatoes, green beans and pesto.


09/04/11