Student kitchens
Easy, delicious, healthy(ish) recipes that won’t own your budget.Archive for vegetarian mains
The omnom thing
I can’t really describe was this IS, but it was really, really good. I tried to replicate one of my favourite dishes at Ginkgo on Hereford St (the aubergine and potato thing), and while I failed miserably, this worked out to satiate my cravings for something BBQ-y, flavoursome and not too complicated. With potatoes, onions, green peppers, eggplant and tofu (if you used chicken I guess I would envy you), this is easily reheatable the next day (and I would argue it’s nicer, like curry the next day) and is a complete meal in itself. The one thing you will need that not everyone has is a hefty-sized frypan or wok, unless you’re cooking for two (but the leftovers are soooo good).
serves 4
4 large potatoes or equivalent, cut into wedges
1 medium sized eggplant, cut into “fries” about 1cm thick
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1 large onion, cut into wedges
6-8 garlic cloves, chopped finely
100g super firm tofu*, sliced thinly, or 100g cooked chicken
about 2 Tbs char sui sauce* (Lee Kum Kee do the best)
1/4c light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1/4c water
freshly ground black pepper
50g butter or 1/2c oil or a mixture of both (hey, fat makes this dish)
*Available in vacuum packed bags at Chinese supermarkets. Char sui sauce is at most Asian supermarkets.
Add potatoes to a medium large saucepan, just cover with water, turn to high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium high and let boil for 5 minutes, covered. Drain and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix the sauces, water, and pepper until you get a dark, runny sauce that still looks syrupy. Set aside.
Heat half the oil on medium heat in a large deepish frypan (more than 10inches) or wok and add the onions. Let onions cook until golden on the undersides. Add potatoes and eggplant, and the rest of the oil. Leave to cook until the underside of some of the aubergine is golden in bits. Drizzle all the sauce over the veges, and cook until the aubergine goes tender and squishy, stirring occasionally. Serve while hot.
To reheat in the pan, just add a teeny bit of oil and heat it up, then add leftovers to the pan, cover, and cook on medium heat for about 2 minutes. Uncover, stir, cover, and heat for another 2 minutes. Continue until heated all the way through (shouldn’t be too long really).
PS. I do realise this is not in the slightest bit festive, being drafted about three weeks ago… :$ However, this is a pretty good fix for leftover boiled potatoes or a quick one bowl dinner at the end of a long day of (ahem) cooking. Or shopping. Hint: avoid malls in your car like the plague, unless you’re in during work hours.
More miso, less misery
So…I went overseas for about a month and forgot to say anything about it, and then I realised wordpress is blocked in China (where I went). Let’s not get into the political frustration of that right now. Personally, oops, and sorry, and if you bought miso due to my rapturous recommendation last post, then here’s another way to use it. Just as fast and easy, quite a bit more delicious. Before I get down to the recipe (miso glazed noodles with sesame oil and spring onions, plus an optional green salad on the side with a super simple soy and rice wine vinegar dressing), let me show you how ridiculous my 5 square meter garden is right now, after 4 weeks of me being gone:
Planted in my precious 5 square metres: sage, thyme, oregano, carrots, leeks, celery (2 types), 4 types of lettuce, kale, snow peas, mesclun salad leaves (my favourite being mizuna red coral), radishes and spinach. In the pots: leek? onion?, flat parsley, chives, garlic chives, blue cornflowers, blueberry bush, rhubarb, and Bob has half a dozen kids of berries.
That’s after I pulled out about 5 carrots whose tops had grown about a metre high. The front pots do contain some of Bob’s achievements, such as the boysenberries, but other than that, there are very few weeds, and Will didn’t even water the vege garden once (to his credit, he didn’t forget, the plants just kept…growing…). I used some organic fertilisery stuff before I left, but the nitrogen fixing from the snow peas staked at the back must have given the plants around their roots a bit of a boost. I have so much vegetable.
In this section: mesclun salad leaf mix (kale, mizuna, mizuna red coral, mustard streaks, some magenta coloured thing, and a whole bunch or other things I dunno the name of…maybe raddichio?), spring onions, carrots, unhappy (ok, dead) purple beans, and flat parsley. In pots: Marigolds and blue cornflowers, plus some more mesclun salad in the big tub…although maybe I shouldn’t grow any more for a wee while…
This is the second 5 square meter vege garden I dug up, but it doesn’t get nearly as much sun, so the spring onions (which is in the same family of onions, which wards off slugs) surrounding the mesclun mix got a bit weed choked. So far the companion planting seems to be working wonders, as this garden has very few bug bites or problems. Let me know if you’re interested. Before you think I’ve lost my mind gardening, let me show you who I feed some of the scraps to:
Bob and Emily’s rabbits! Adam says the left one looks like a Panda rabbit.
Anyway, onto pressing issues such as how to use up that miso you bought!
Miso glazed noodles
per person
A bunch (about 2cm diameter) of soba/buckwheat noodles (see photo below)
3/4Tbs miso paste
approx 1 Tbs chopped spring onion
approx 1 tsp sesame oil
approx 2 tsp canola or cooking oil
Bring about 2-3c unsalted water to the boil in a saucepan on medium high heat, add noodles. Stir occasionally for about 3-5 minutes, until noodles are softened. Drain, but retain some moisture. Immediately add the rest of the ingredients, and stir until thoroughly combined and evenly distributed. Serve.
These buckwheat/soba noodles are my new version of 2 minute noodles, but healthier and just as versatile. They taste different to 2 minute noodles, but not enough for them to be off putting. They aren’t as cheap, however, with this 1.3kg packet costing about $10 at Kosco on Blenheim Rd (most Asian supermarkets, particularly Korean or Japanese ones, have several varieties in stock). Still…1.3kg is a lot of noodle.
Onto the green salad, which consists of mesclun salad leaves (easy find at the vege section at supermarkets, you can pick as much or as little as you like. Growing is easy too, even in containers) and chopped or shaved cucumber. The dressing is just 1 part good Japanese soy sauce (such as Kikkoman), 2 parts rice wine vinegar or white vinegar, 1 part sesame oil and 1 part canola oil. Use about 2 Tbs dressing per serving for good measure.
I’ve had this for dinner and lunch already, and I’ve only been home 2 days! If you want you can add nuts or chopped hard boiled egg to the salad to add even more protein, but remember miso is relatively high in protein anyway. Good luck, and let me know how it goes!
PS. Anyone notice that I didn’t use my DSLR camera? I got a new point and shoot, and thought I’d try it out. Lightroom did wonders too.
Cheesy roast vege pasta with caesar dressing
It has been rather summery of late, so it seems inappropriate to wax lyrical about bread and butter pudding (to come though, don’t you fret). If you like what cheese does once it has been baked, read on. Now that the sun is shining and my tomato seeds have been planted, it seems right to unveil something that will be easy, relatively fool proof, yet super rewarding. This is non-fussy, versatile and relatively cheap too, so I shall probably be making it again tonight.
Cheesy roast vege pasta with caesar dressing
serves 2
250g (half a conventional bag) uncooked pasta of your choice
salt
veges to roast: broccoli or cauli cut into large florets, carrots cut into chips, or whole button mushrooms, or pumpkin cut into chunks… about 1 1/2c per person
about 100g-200g cheese, grated
dried or fresh herbs of your choice
about 1/3c caesar or ranch dressing (paul newman and kato are great), plus extra for drizzling
optional: 1/2 c (ish) roasted red peppers, pitted olives, or artichoke hearts
Turn oven on to about 200C (400F). Cover the bottom of an ovenproof dish large enough to hold the veges to be roasted in a single layer of veges. Sprinkle over some cheese, herbs, and a pinch of salt. Add another layer of veges, then cheese, then veges, until you’re out of both. Place in the center rack of the oven, and let veges cook until they are as tender as you like (test with a fork or small sharp knife), checking every 15 minutes.
About 15mins before the veges are done to your liking, put the pasta on to cook according to packet instructions. Once cooked to your liking, drain. Roasted veges should be done by now – using a fork or knife, add the contents to the drained pot of pasta, drizzle in about 1/3c caesar dressing with any other optional extras, and mix it all in. Once everything is evenly distributed, serve up and give another quick drizzle of dressing to make it a little prettier. Enjoy!
Thin and crunchy crust quick fix pizza
Zomg. I whipped this up in a jiffy for lunch, and basically felt sick from overeating for several hours afterwards. To be fair, I was the only one home, okay? It would have been a waste of really good ingredients (caramelised onions, hello?). Don’t give me that look. Do, however, make this. Lunch or dinner. Nom Nom.
The base doesn’t require ANY rising, but does have a little yeast in (I guess for flavour because there’s very little rising). I think I did my base a little too thin, but this just made it quicker to cook and crunchier. I ain’t complaining. My only gripe is that I personally didn’t have more topping ingredients – I’d run out of my gooey white goat’s gouda from the cheese shop, so I had to use dobs or cream cheese. You can use pretty much any good cheese, but even just one relatively creamy cheese would be good, like feta. Instead of rocket, any mustardy green leafy thing should do. In fact, you can experiment with plenty of other toppings, just remember not to use things that will release too much water or you won’t get crunchy crust, but rather, a hard-chewy-soggy mess.
Caramelised onion, rocket & goats cheese pizza
makes two large pizzas
2 T butter
pinch salt
1 large onion, sliced very thin
2 large handfuls of rocket
about 150g goats cheese (white gouda or feta), crumbled
black pepper, to taste
1 T extra virgin olive oil
In a medium sized frypan on medium heat, cook onions in butter and a pinch of salt. Stir every now and then, and let cook for about 10 minutes, until deeply golden brown. Once cooked, let cool and set aside.
Crust
3/8 c water
1/4 t dry active yeast
1 c all-purpose flour (or half and half white and wholemeal for super crispiness)
1/4 t salt
Preheat oven to 250C (500F), arranging a rack in the centre. Mix water and yeast, let sit until yeast dissolved. Add flour and salt, and mix through to form a soft dough. Scrape dough onto a lightly floured surface, and form into a ball. Halve the ball into two portions. Roll out each portion until super thin, almost translucent when you hold it up to the light. Transfer to a lightly greased baking tray.
Bake for about 3 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. Remove from oven, top with half the rocket, cheese, and onions, and drizzle with half the olive oil. Return to oven as quickly as possible for another 5 minutes or so, until the edges are properly golden. Remove from oven, and repeat the process for the the other portion of dough.
To serve, sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper, slice, and crunch away.
Easy peasy vinegar squeezy
If you’ve never had cabbage sauteed with a splash of vinegar, you’re missing out. It’s one of the best flavour combinations, partly also because it’s not fancy or expensive, but still bloody fantastic.
Turns out the splash of vinegar also pairs well with kale. Kale is sort of like…dark coloured cabbage, but it’s more leafy rather than tight ball of leaves all crammed together, if you get my drift. In any case, you can totally use cabbage in this recipe and get away with it. If you’re keen to try kale out though, wander on down to a farmers market, as they’re in season (in New Zealand) and very affordable. They also last ok in a bag that’s not in the fridge, although having said that our kitchen is probably just scraping two digits in the temperature department… Ah, winter.
I highly recommend the parmesan/three cheese mash that this is sitting atop, by the way. I was sick with the flu when I made this but it was easy enough to whip up and to eat without thinking about the fact that I was consuming dairy (does anyone else find they can’t eat dairy when they’re sick? Even the thought of yoghurt conjures up imagery of oral excretions). On that happy note, I present garlic and red wine vinegar sauteed kale n mushrooms perched atop a parmesan potato mash.
Sauteed kale bit
serves two, as if you are on some whimsical diet
lots of kale (chop it up, and you want about 3-4 cups worth) or cabbage
lots of garlic (about 4-5 cloves)
shallots or half an onion, pretty much minced
some white button mushrooms, quartered
about 1/4c red wine vinegar (or white if you have it, esp. with normal cabbage)
cooking oil (extra virgin olive oil works wonderfully)
salt and pepper to taste
Heat some oil in a pan, and throw everything in except the vinegar. Cook on medium high heat until the mushrooms are taking on that translucent sheen and the kale is nice and wilted. Add vinegar, toss it around a bit, and remove from heat. By the way, I suggest you have your potatoes cooked before your start this, and the cheese all ready.
Parmesan/three cheese mash
serves two
4-5 medium potatoes, chopped to 1cm dice, plus enough water to keep ‘em submerged
large handful finely grated parmesan & gouda, plus a little sprinkling of another strong cheese (I used goats gouda). Tbh any strong cheese will do, but use STRONG cheese, or you won’t really taste it
salt and pepper to taste
about 30g butter, chopped into little bits
Boil potatoes plus a generous sprinkling of salt (or stock buillon) on medium high heat until fork tender (as I said, cook your other veges while doing this). Drain, reserving some liquid (depending how mushy you like your mash), add butter and cheese, and mash. Add further salt and pepper if desired, and serve up.
Warm pasta salad
Ever since I whipped up my slaw dressing, I’ve had a healthy respect for raw cabbage. Ok, ok…this is mainly a sneaky attempt on my behalf to direct you to my new dressings & sauces page (for which there is a permalink under the “My pages” section to your right). It’s all for good reason, however. It’s been sunnyish recently (still freezing though of course, quite literally for once) so it seemed appropriate for a non-roast. Eating this salad made me feel like slipping back into a bikini and hitting the beach, but it was creamy enough to ensure I stayed put. It’s just the sort of thing that I’ll be eating possibly all summer (although I’m not sure what all the mayo/hollandaise is going to do to my bikini prospects). It takes barely any time to throw together, has raw vegetables (did I mention that they’re much better for you than cooked veges? Watch Food Matters if you’re intrigued), and is creamy, crunchy, tangy, soft and mildly sweet – all at the same time. Indeed.
Just in case I haven’t already mentioned this, a great big thank you goes to my flatmate Adam whose brother made the gorgeous hot pot wood block thingee that has been gracing so many of my photos. Its rich, warm golden hues always make me feel all caramelly inside.
A quick note before I divulge the recipe: Some added nuts, particularly walnuts, but possibly also roasted pistachios or roasted cashews will add even more deliciousness and protein. To roast cashews, heat on a single layer on a plate in the microwave or oven on high or 180C (350F) at a time, turning/tossing at 2 minute intervals until golden. Cashews will feel rubbery at firstbut will harden up as they cool. Wish I had thought of it before devouring the lot, but after tasting the first sliver of dressing-endowed cabbage, there was no stopping me.
Warm pasta salad
serves 2 relatively big eaters
Half a 500g bag of pasta (preferably shaped), or however much pasta you normally have
Hearty amount of salt for the pasta
1 onion, finely chopped
about 2 c very thinly sliced (or “shaved”) cabbage (green, red or Chinese will all work)
about 1/2 c peas
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
about 15g butter
pinch salt
Slaw dressing (quantities are approximate)
1/3 (heaping) c quality mayo or hollandaise (Japanese mayo or Kato Hollandaise, or Free Range mayo…any thick stuff that’s not too white)
1 1/2 Tbs white wine vinegar, or white vinegar, or lemon juice
1/2 Tbs dijon or wholegrain mustard
pinch salt
plenty of freshly ground black pepper
about 1/4c powder fine grated aged gouda or parmesan (optional)
a handful of walnuts, cashews, pine nuts or pistachio nuts (optional)
Place your pasta on to cook according to packet instructions, with salt. Don’t worry about using oil, it’ll just make the pan greasy and annoying to wash. Just make sure you occasionally stir. Just ask Donna Hay!
While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a medium frypan on medium heat, add a pinch of salt and the onions. Let cook, stirring occasionaly, until properly golden. Mix in peas (if frozen) and garlic, and cover, letting cook for about a minute. Uncover, stir, and cover again for another minute. Continue doing this until the peas are cooked. DO NOT BOIL THE PEAS. Thank you. Remove from heat, and leave cover on the pan until pasta is done.
Mix up the dressing in a cup or small bowl (or if you hate dishes you can mix it up in a large bowl you’ll be eating the salad out of). Mix the cabbage into the dressing, then mix in the peas, onions and garlic. Finally, once the pasta is cooked, drain and immediately mix in to the other ingredients. Scatter over any nuts you wish to use, and serve while warm, although it’s also fine cold. If you want it for the next day, make sure you cover the salad (with a pot cover or plate if you want to save money on clingfilm).
Cous cous and wintery herby veges
I finally decided to grab some wholemeal couscous at Piko’s the other day, and I now really wished the other packet I’d bought was wholemeal too. Unlike wholemeal flour, which cooks differently in bread and has a definite flavour (bitter but nutty), wholemeal couscous cooks exactly the same as the normal stuff, and barely tastes any different. The texture is similar enough – but it keeps its shape much better, so really, I don’t see a reason to ever get white again. If you’ve ever considered getting more wholegrains into your diet, this is a great way to start – remember that couscous is the fastest, easiest grain to cook!
Perching atop that mountain is my fresh herb trio (they’re all shivering outside in the garden, along with the oregano which I now can’t find among the forest of rocket plants): rosemary, sage and thyme, the wintery herbs that make this combo feel as comforting a steaming bowl of noodle soup. Easy enough to adapt for vegan friends, too – just be sure to use vege stock and olive oil instead of butter.
Also, I was comparing the two different kinds of cous cous (plain & wholegrain) and wholegrain has a respectable amount of iron in it (1/3c gives 10% of your RDI of iron). It also had a small amount of calcium, as opposed to none in the white, and slightly more protein. Just a thought, even though I normally don’t espouse nutritional advice… I think it’s winter and the fact that everyone is getting sick. Take care of yourselves and eat well damnit!
Cous cous with cabbage, mushrooms, and wintery herbs
serves 2 hungry souls
1c wholemeal couscous
1c vege or chicken stock, super hot (bring to a boil, or use bouillon/stock cubes + just boiled water)*
about 25g butter or some olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
about 2c finely sliced cabbage
as many mushrooms as you want (or substitute matchstick-cut carrots if you hate mushrooms)
a small handful of fresh rosemary, thyme and sage leaves (discard stalks), or 1/2 tsp each dried, finely chopped with 4 cloves of garlic (hey, it’s good for the immune system!)
salt and pepper to taste (at the end)
more butter, or olive oil if you’re harbouring illusions of diet consciousness
about 1/4 cup powder-finely grated parmesan (optional)
*If you’re out of stock, to be honest I think this dish will work fine without it, as long as you compensate with salt.
Pour hot water over cous cous in bowl or saucepan and cover (not with clingfilm if you can help it, but just a plain pot cover – come on, it’s easier and cheaper). Let sit about 3-5 mins before uncovering, fluffing it up with a fork, and re-covering. If you’re a multi tasker, you can do this while your onions are cooking.
In a large frypan or wok, melt butter or heat olive oil (about 25g/3Tbs) on medium heat, and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add onions, and cook on one layer until translucent, shaking and tossing every now and then. Once quite translucent and beginning to go golden, add cabbage, and let sit on one layer, cooking until the undersides are lightly golden, and then tossing. Keep doing this until the cabbage starts getting softer and starts taking on golden notes all over.
Mix in garlic, herbs, and mushrooms, and let cook on an even layer until the undersides of the mushrooms get golden fringes. Stir, and mix in all the cous cous. You may want to add the butter specified with the cous cous now as well. Continue cooking for a minute and then remove from heat. Stir in parmesan now if using, and serve up.
I haven’t tried this heated up the next day, but I can’t imagine it would be too bad, as long as you avoided the microwave. Just make sure to fridge it overnight, and you should be fine.
Super simple tomato soup
I know, I’ve been failing rather miserably lately. While I may only have one exam looming (on the 22nd, too), and it’s a multi-choice exam, I know a lot of students out there are slogging it away, with barely any time for sleep, let alone making tortellini from scratch. I know, I know. This is where I make it up to you. I’m sharing my method for making tomato soup. It’s ridiculously easy and versatile, thus its one of the few things I use canned food for (that and green curries are my weak spots).
As you can see, I’ve gone a little crazy with dairy (and Adobe Lightroom*) at the moment. There was the last of my buttermilk in the soup (optional), and I got a bit happy with the Parmesan I got at Canterbury Cheesemongers. It’s such a wonderful place, by the way – it’s so nice being able to taste a sliver of whatever you’re contemplating spending over $10 a slab for! Their recommendations have been brilliant so far. Anyway, I served this alongside some brie sliced up with home made bread rolls. In any case, this soup makes a great dip for any heading-for-staleness bread you have left.
* Yes, I did get carried away with making the red the perfect shade of hot, sexy, fiery red. Admittedly the actual soup did not hurt to look at nearly so much :P
Before I proceed, I know everyone has different methods of making their tomato soup. Share your tomato soup prowess with a comment, go on.
Quickie tomato soup
serves 2
1×400g can chopped tomatoes (preferably plain. You can use flavoured ones if you reeeaaally want to, but plain gives you more versatility. Also whole tomatoes chopped up by you are perfectly admirable)
2 stalks of celery, chopped finely (optional, but I like celery and texture in my soup)
1 onion, finely chopped
2-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
salt & pepper to taste
dash red wine vinegar (optional)
enough water to make it soupy (to your liking)
any herbs and spices you feel like. Good ones for tomato soup:
oregano, basil, thyme (herbs – about 1/2 tsp dried each if using)
cumin, curry powder, cayenne pepper, chilli powder, (spices – about 1/4-1/2 tsp each if using)
splash of cream or buttermilk, or a dollop of greek yogurt or sour cream (optional). Creamy dips work okay too, just ensure the flavours will gel with the rest of your seasonings.
parmesan for grating on top, or a nice cheese to serve alongside bread.
butter or olive oil (approx 2 Tbs)
In a medium sized saucepan, heat oil/butter on medium heat. Add onion, celery and garlic, along with salt and pepper, herbs and spices, and cook, stirring, until the onion is slightly golden. Thrown in tomatoes, bring to a boil, and add water to bring to your desired consistency. I like mine thick, so sometimes I just throw in another can of tomatoes! Bring to a simmer, turn heat to low, and partially cover, letting slowly simmer for five minutes or so.
Uncover, taste, season further (add vinegar here if you feel the soup lacks acidity), and add your creams. Let simmer another 2 mins and serve. Grate over parmesan if using, and add another sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper, fresh herbs or a pinch of cayenne if you have them. Serve with some sort of crusty bread (if it ain’t crusty, make it crusty by toasting it first), and maybe more cheese if you’re that way inclined!
Hand made tortellini
I know, I know – you’re all about to hit exams, or just got back home from work to screaming kids…and now I give you a recipe for hand made, from scratch tortellini? Well, on the plus side, you don’t have to make your own feta, but apart from that, yes: I want you to experience the joy/extreme stress of hand making your own filled pasta (If you don’t know what tortellini is, it’s a stuffed pasta that you can get at the supermarket, usually in those Frescarini packets). Why (you may be asking rather hysterically)?! Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, I am the sort of person who likes experiencing the whole made-from-scratch thing, especially with things you can easily pick up at the supermarket (like butter, or condensed milk…which I didnt post about because it turned out like dulce de leche…kinda lumpy, but still delicious). It’s fun. It gives you an earthy domestic feeling of superlative smugness, and even if you’re a dude, I think you’d appreciate the possible scoring (of whatever variety) afterwards with any female (or male I suppose) friends you have over for dinner. You don’t need a pasta machine, or a fancy pasta cutter for tortellini. An afternoon, a long rolling pin, and a bit of bench space are the only things I ask of you.
Making gnocchi a while ago has gotten me rather addicted to making things from scratch, you see. I did say it was fun, didn’t I? I guess it’s also relaxing, and incredibly rewarding. Great food for a failed exam/assignment, say. Or a stressful day. (You can see where I’m going with this, right?) So really, it’s ideal for an afternoon of calm, and even if your dough doesn’t feel right (like mine) at first, you can sit back and breezily order pizza. It’s not easy, this stuffed pastsa business, but it honestly is a good break from those hours of readings you’ve just done, and a good break on the eyeballs. Also, I lied a little because the sauce for this is just store bought pesto sauce. To be fair though, basil season is well and truly over, so sit-a-long-time supermarket stuff is the only kind left.
If you’re not convinced, you can try my ravioli made with dumpling wrappers, which doesn’t require you to make any dough or roll anything out. Then once you’re addicted, you can try this! Another recipe in my bookmarks that have inspired me to roll up my sleeves for from-scratchdom: Barefoot Kitchen Witch, I love your herb layered ravioli sheets!
Before I proceed with the recipe details, I just want to say: you can fill your tortellini with anything you want, okay? I just provided a filling as example. If you have leftover chicken, for example, you can chop it up really small and mix it together with some herbs, chopped garlic and cream cheese maybe. Second, I want to thank Frike at Sweet Smart for this brilliant post for making pasta dough from scratch, without a machine. Though it’s a Jamie recipe, she made it a per person guide which was super appreciated! The only thing I’d possibly change is using 1/2 a cup of flour per person to start with, as my dough was quite solid. To be fair though it did turn out delicious! As with most fresh pasta you can make this ahead and refrigerate (keeps a few days) or freeze it (keeps about a month), and it will be minutes away the next time you want some.
Tortellini with a spinach, feta and red pepper filling.
serves two
Before we start, a note on rolling pins. You (ideally) want a long (25cm or longer), relatively heavy rolling pin that isn’t warped in any way. If you’re thinking of buying one, try going to a vintage store or similar, as this will save you a bit of cash and the second hand ones will not necessarily be worse than new (new cheaper rolling pins tend to be made of soft woods that tend to get nicks in them easily, and proper ones I imagine are quite expensive). Hard woods that don’t leave a dent when you press on them with a fingernail are best, as these will last you ages. Also they don’t warp as easily, so your sheets will be even and rolling will be easier. This is not the place for a wine bottle unfortunately, as you’ll be rolling a lot and I do care about your sanity.
Dough – from Sweet Smart. You can make ravioli or just plain noodles with this dough – the original site is for making fettucine type pasta (wide flat noodles)
1/2c plain flour + 1 egg + pinch salt + some water if needed per person, plus extra flour for rolling out.
Place flour in a heap on your benchtop or in a medium large bowl, making a small well. Crack egg(s) into the well, and add pinch of salt. Beat the eggs with a fork slightly, then start mixing the flour into the eggs (with fork if in a bowl, or hands if on a bench), to form scraggly doughy bits. Pour these out onto your bench now if using a bowl (yeah…I prefer using the bench to start with, so you don’t have another bowl to wash. But you can re-use the bowl for filling). Bring the scraggly bits together and knead it (press it down and pull the edges into the middle, and repeat) until it forms a uniform dough. Mine felt rock solid, but softened up later. You just want eerything to form a ball and stick together! You may need to sprinkle it with more flour if it sticks too much to your hand or a sprinkling of water if it’s too dry. Form the dough into a ball, cover, and let rest on the side for about half an hour.
Filling
1 large onion, chopped finely
3 cups packed fresh washed, chopped spinach (chop at 1 inch intervals horizontally and vertically)
1 red pepper/capsicum, chopped very finely
about 100g creamy style feta (Bouton D’or is my favourite)
a Tablespoon or so of grated parmesan or normal cheese (optional)
more salt to taste
dry or fresh chopped herbs
cooking oil (preferably extra virgin olive oil!)
Heat a very small amount of cooking oil in a large frypan on medium low heat. Throw in the onion and cook on one layer until translucent and softened (if you want you can also add some dry oregano or basil at this stage). Lower heat slightly, and add red peppers, and let cook on one layer until softened, about ten minutes. The main point of this slow cooking is to let the water in the veges cook off, and sort of caramelise the onions and red pepper to maximise their sweet, smoky flavour, without burning them to a crisp *drools a little*. (Add fresh chopped herbs now if you’ve got some) Add spinach, keeping it all on one layer, and cook until wilted and sort of dried up. Remove from heat and dump in a bowl, with the feta, and mush it all up together with a long-tined fork. You could puree it in a food processor but I personally like some texture and substance in my food. It should sort of stick together when you pick up a lump of it, sort of like mince, but not as gross (I thought it was gross before I stopped eating it, for your information!) :D
Taste, and add a little more salt if necessary.
Rolling out your dough
Take the number of people you’ve made dough for an times by two – then cut up the dough into that many portions. Lightly flour your working surface. Take one portion of your dough and roll it into a sausage shape (aim for a cylindrical sausage), covering the other portions of your dough. Start rolling your dough out, in one direction so you get a long strip (or you could do a square actually, no one is stopping you). When it’s about 3mm thick, you’re going to want to keep lifting the dough up so it doesn’t stick or snag when your roll it out. Aim for a rectangular or square shape – to do this, you can fold the curved edges in to form a rectangle or square at about 2mm thick and roll it out. Keep lifting and rolling until it’s about 1mm (1/32 inch) thick, definitely less than 2mm or 1.5mm even. Try and get it even. Now, no one said this was going to be particularly easy! But at least you can cancel going to the gym this week.
Cut the pasta sheet into evenly sized squares, about 5cm in width (just under 2 inches). If you have a long rectangle, cut it in half long-ways, and then using that width as a guide, cut it into squares then. The reason I specified a long strip before, because then you can just cut it down the middle rather than going across and then ending up with a bit at the end. Don’t worry too much if your squares are not perfect, or if they have some curved bits on, as long as you can seal your dumplings in the end, it’s all good. using the tip of your finger, brush two of the edges of each square with a little bit of water (I like to just brush crosses along the cuts on the just-cut up sheet to save time).
Filling your pasta
Grats, you’ve made it to the fun part! Using a half teaspoon measure, pick up a slightly heaped teaspoon of filling and plop it into the middle of a pasta square. Pinch two opposite corners together, and press down to seal the edges (don’t worry if your squares aren’t perfect and don’t line up, but make sure to get two opposite corners together). Then pinch together the other two opposite corners, pressing tightly (here’s a picture of individual tortellini to give you an idea). Repeat until you’re out of squares, then roll out the rest of your pasta dough, and fill ‘em up! When you set them aside make sure to keep them apart, as they sometimes stick.
Cooking
Now you’ve got all your tortellini made! Heat up half a medium large saucepan full of water on medium high heat, and bring to a rapid boil (covered). Uncover, and put one person’s worth of tortellini in the water, being careful not to splash yourself too much. You want to make one lot at a time, making sure the tortellini is all on one layer (so you could do two lots in a super large frying pan or saucepan, or have two pots boiling at the same time if you really have to have it served at the same time). Once they float to the top, let boil uncovered for about eight to ten minutes, rolling them over in the boiling water every now and then. The easiest way to test if one is cooked is to simply bite into one (after a bit of blowing so you don’t burn yourself) – there should be no solid white bits, but the dough should not fall apart easily (it’s meant to be sightly spring-y). Once cooked to your liking, fish the tortellini out with one of those large holey spoons (so you drain the water out) and plate.
Toss sauce through (I just used store bought basil pesto, but use your own stuff if you have it – I’ve got a post on making your own basil pesto, but you can substitue cashews in and other fresh herbs), and serve!
Leftovers
If for some reason you can’t finish your cooked tortellini, or if you wanted to make some for lunch the next day, keeping it in the fridge overnight is not a problem. Just add a little olive oil, and stir through (with your sauce is fine). If the sauce is quite wet (ie. tomato), leave on the top shelf in your fridge, uncovered (or cover it, but with a non-sealed lid or plastic with holes poked through). If your sauce is relatively dry (ie, pesto), cover and refrigerate. When you’re ready to eat it again, just microwave on medium high heat until heated through (to ensure even heating you can mix it a little halfway through heating).
I hope you enjoy the process as much as I did, despite worrying that I’d have to get take out considering how solid my dough was when I kneaded it together! Most of all though, enjoy eating your creation :) What are your favourite fillings? Any other advice? Comment away!
Time for nostalgia, and pumpkin soup.
When holidays for Uni roll around, especially 3 weeks worth, I check most of the emails I get, even the ones I normally wouldn’t. That includes e-newsletters from my old high school. This afternoon I opened it up, excepting to do my usual scoff and oo-er as a few familiar surnames registered as scholarship winners. Instead, however, I started to get all teary eyed. I felt like I’d been away for too long, almost like a home-sick puppy wondering when it would finally be able to go see its mummy again, but somehow knowing that it never would. Not that I can’t see the black gates and red bricks again, but in any case, it’s not the buildings I miss. I think it’s that stage in my life when it’s actually beginning to dawn on me that I have to actually take care of myself, that if the cleaning doesn’t get done, it’s never going to get done. And hey, my flatmates are, comparatively speaking, great at doing dishes. No, it’s not just the cleaning. It’s the certainty that someone is going to be there, and that you’ll know and trust them to do it well, that I miss. It’s the familiarity and feeling of community with everyone around you, that deeper, fundamental understanding and common sense of knowing, deep down, what’s right. Even if they’re little things, like how the toilet seat should bloody sit (can you tell I went to an all girls school?!), or bigger things, like what you really mean when you say things. Even though I didn’t like everyone at high school, there were just so many things that were obvious to everyone, but at Uni, the person sitting next to you could be 35, have kids, be in a totally different mindspace. So there’s no attempt to reach out, and the cycle of unfamiliarity just continues. And with that simmering away in the depths of my brain, I shall attempt to bring you a recipe for a pumpkin soup I made the other day.
If you’re feeling anything like me, and noticing the chill outside (Autumn is here!), then I hope this is of some comfort to you. It’s fairly simple, and certainly great to curl up with (paired with a plate piled high with fresh bread). The soup photo is awful I know, but hey, I was hungry!
Pumpkin soup
serves 3 with bread, 2 without bread
1/4 small pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 2cm cubes
3 Tbs butter
1 tsp thyme
1 onion or equivalent leek, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, finely chopped (or substitute with more pumpkin if you prefer)
1c vege stock
salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbs sour cream
In a large frypan, melt 2/3 of the butter on medium heat, and add pumpkin, salt, pepper, and thyme. Cover, and cook 2 mins until underside is browned. Uncover, flip, add thyme, add a little water if the pan is dry, cover, and cook a further 2 mins. Uncover, add onions or leek, stir, add a little water if the pan is dry, cover, and cook another 2 mins. Uncover, add garlic, stir, cover, and cook another minute. Uncover, check pumpkin is fully cooked and soft (putting a fork through should be very easy), and transfer mixture to a large saucepan.
Add the last third of the butter and the celery, and mash with a potato masher (or you can whizz it all in a food processor, which is what I did). Turn heat for the saucepan on medium. Add stock to the frypan to sort of clean out the last bits and pour into the saucepan. Stir to bring the stock to the bottom, to prevent the whole mixture from sticking. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then turn heat down to medium low. Add more water or stock to bring it to the consistency you want, then keep simmering for a further 3 minutes (just enough to cook the celery). Add the sour cream and more water if by the end of the 3 minutes you think it’s too thick. Taste, season further with salt and pepper if desired, and serve with more dollops of sour cream and a few sprigs of fresh thyme.
This soup is fantastic with bread to dip into – try this basic (one rise time only) focaccia that takes very little time to cook, and you can replace the spring onion with thyme. It doesn’t matter how long the initial rise time is either really, so you can whip the dough up in the morning in 5 minutes, then just shape it out and put it straight in the oven before you make the soup. Ta da!
