Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

This is a great spaghetti recipe which will take only 20 minutes to cook. Traditional Puttanesca recipes will have you chopping all the ingredients and adding them into the pan. I find that chopping all the ingredients together and adding them all into the pan at the same time will release the flavours better and assist with preparing this recipe much faster.

You may have seen my Tupperware contraction in a few of my past recipes, its the Tupperware smooth chopper and a fantastic piece of equipment to use for chopping vegetables finely. Its great when chopping onions, no more tears!

Tupperware Smooth Chopper (shown without the lid)

Ensure to use a semi-deep non-stick pan, this is what will assist you with cooking your sugo faster!

Ingredients (Enough to coat 500 grams of pasta)

1. 1/4 cup olive oil
2. 6 anchovies
3. 3 cloves garlic
4. 2 spring onions
5. 1/2 red onion
6. 2 tblsp capers
7. 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
8. 8 large pitted black kalamata olives
9. 2 sprigs of oregano fresh (or 1 tblsp dried)
10. 1 tblsp olive oil
11. 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
12. 1/2 red chilli
13. 750ml tomato passata
14. Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Add the garlic, spring onions, chilli, red onion, capers, sun-dried tomatoes, olives and tablespoon of olive oil into a blitzer (blender or bamix or tupperware smooth chopper) and roughly chop into a paste.

2. In a hot pan add 1/4 cup of olive oil and anchovies. Stir and break down the anchovies

3. Add the roughly chopped paste to the pan, stir and cook for 2 minutes on high heat

4. Add the tomato passatta and stir through, add the sweet chilli sauce, fresh oregano, salt and pepper to season. Cook for 2 minutes on high heat.

5. Reduce the heat to medium strength, place the lid on top, slightly leaving it adjar and cook for a further 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes

 

6.  Whilst it cooks, prepare your spaghetti in a separate boiling pot.  

7. Your sugo should look like this when its ready. If you require an additional couple of minutes to simmer down ensure to allow this.

8. Serve with your spaghetti!

 

Enjoy 

xx Steph

Easy Eggplant Dip!

Southern Italians love eggplant, and for some time mum has been asking me to make an eggplant dip using her charcoal eggplants. Up until recently, I always said no only because I didn't really know what to add but this time I thought ok, it can't be too hard lets just try and wing it!

I thought to keep it simple with olive oil, salt, pepper, not too much garlic, parsley, basil and lemon. Keeping it simple was probably the best idea because it tasted delicious, but I must admit, this recipe will only work if you charcoal cook the eggplant. You need the smokiness in the eggplant to get the best flavor. 

 

How do you roast eggplants? 

Give them a rise and with the skin and stalk still on either place directly on a hot bbq grill or on an open flame (on the stove top) turning them every 5-10 minutes for approximately 45 minutes. After cooked place them in a plastic bag to sweat so that they are easy to peel.

You will require a mixer/ blender to make this Eggplant dip recipe.

Ingredients:
1. 3 large roasted eggplants, peeled and stalk removed
2. 8-9 basil leaves
3. Half a handful of parsley
4. Small clove of garlic
5. 3/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
6.1/2 teaspoon salt
7. Juice of one large lemon
8. 2 spring onions

Method:
1. Place your eggplants in a muslin cloth and place into a colander. Place a heavy weight on top to strain the water for approximately 30 minutes.
1. In an electric mixer add all the ingredients (excluding the olive oil) and turn on to blend together.

2. Slowly pour in the olive oil whilst the mixer is blending all the ingredients. This should cream the dip.

Serve with pita chips or on toasted bread.

Fantastic and healthy...

Enjoy!

xx Steph

Chilli Con Carne... Risotto Style!

We love chilli con carne, it is one of those easy one pot wonders with lots of flavor! It's a great dish to make for any Mexican themed dinner party, or just as a fun dish for lunch or dinner. It also makes a great burrito filling!

I like to make enough for left overs so that we can freeze a couple of portions for the nights we have no time to cook, easy and versatile!

My Chilli Con Carne is made the same way I would make a risotto however I will use either Jasmine or Basmati rice, it isn't as glutenous as an Italian Arborio rice.   

I purchase my spices pre-mixed from the Gewurzhaus spice shop, their chilli con carne spice mix contains chillis, cumin, garlic, pepper, lemon myrtle and oregano clove. You can either purchase the spices pre-mixed or mix your own and adjust the chilli dosage to your liking.

To make a simple Chilli Con Carne spice, just add (in order of amounts to add)...

1. Chilli powder
2. Cumin powder
3. Paprika
4. Garlic powder
5. Black Pepper
6. Salt

Tip: Make the Chilli Con Carne spice in one big batch and store it in a jar on your spice rack for whenever you want to use it again. 

For this recipe all you will need is one non-stick pan, you can use a deep pot or a fry pan no less than 10cm deep.
 
Ingredients (serves four very generous portions )

1. 500 grams beef mince (or 250grams beef mince and 250gram pork mince)
2. 1/2 Cup Olive Oil
3. 2 cloves garlic diced finely
4. 1/2 red onion diced finely
5. 1/2 capsicum diced finely
6. 1 carrot grated or diced finely
7. 1 tin black beans (400 grams)
8. 1+ 1/4 cup rice
9. 1 beef stock cube (Massel)
10. 1 cup tomato puree passatta
11. A full kettle of boiled water
12. 1 Lime
13. Light sour cream

Method:

1. In a non stick pan heat 1/2 cup olive oil and add diced onion and garlic for approximately 2 minutes on medium to high heat.
2. Add the diced carrot and capsicum to the pan and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
3. Add the minced meat and stir through adding 2 heaped teaspoons of your Chilli Con Carne spice mix.
4. Add the black beans.
5. Cook the mixture until the mince is no longer pink.
6. Add the rice and stir through.

7. Add the tomato passatta and cook for a minute.
8. Dilute the beef stock cube in 4 cups of boiled water and add to the pan. Stir through.
7. Lower the heat slightly (medium).

8. As the rice starts to cook and absorb the water, add additional hot water 1 cup at a time until the rice has absorbed all the water and cooked through. Ensure to stir every few minutes. The rice will take approximately 20-30 minutes to cook.  Ensure to taste the rice before you take the pan off the heat. Rice shouldn't be grainy (too hard) or too soft.

9. Serve in a bowl with a wedge of lime and spoonful of sour cream.

Easy...
Buon Appetito!

xx Steph

A Simple Chicken Saltimbocca

My chicken saltimbocca is very easy to make,  it is a simple 30 minutes recipe to prepare.
It is one of my favorites because of its simplicity, taste and truthfully, it is very difficult to get it wrong.
The chicken is tender and the buttery sage sauce compliments the crispy salty prosciutto perfectly.

To prepare  you will be required to cook the chicken in a fry pan then transfer onto a baking tray and into the grill.

For this chicken Saltimbocca recipe I have used chicken breast as it holds it shape better. You can serve it with baked potatoes and vegetables or some cous cous seasoned with some butter or olive oil.

Ingredients 
1. 2 Chicken breasts sliced horizontally, try and slice 1 - 1.5cm thickness.
2. 1 cup plain flour
3. 150 grams butter
4. 1/2 cup oil
5. 8-9 large sage leaves
6. 6 full slices of prosciutto
7. 1.5 Cups of white wine 
8. Sale & Pepper to season


Method 
1. Beat your chicken slices with a meat hammer until thinned out and place aside.
2. In a flat separate plate add your flour and season with enough salt and pepper.

3. Using a non stick fry pan, heat 100 grams of butter with 1/2 cup of olive oil. Wait for the butter to melt then boil and brown slightly.
4. In the meantime, place a slice of chicken in the flour and coat both sides heavily. Transfer into the browning butter and oil to start cooking. Repeat this procedure until you have no space available in your pan.

5. Cook for approximately 3 minutes on each side on medium heat. Once cooked, place the chicken slices into a side pan. Finish cooking the left over slices.
6. Place a piece of prosciutto on each cooked chicken slices.

7. Turn on your grill (or oven if your don't have a grill) set on high at 200 degrees Celsius.
8. In the same fry pan add 50 grams of butter and turn on high heat. Add 1.5 cups of white wine and  the sage. Let the alcohol sizzle and evaporate. Use a wooden spoon to de-glaze the pan during this process (scrape down the pan flour residue).

9.  Pour the sage wine sauce over the chicken.
10. Place the tray under the preheated grill for 8-9 minutes (until the prosciutto turns crispy).

Serve with some baked potatoes, vegetables or on some buttered cous cous.

Tips: 
1. Coat the chicken in the flour only as your need it. If you do it too early the flour will turn gluggy and wont coat the chicken as effectively. 
2. If you want it to be really saucy, add another 50 grams of butter and half cup of wine during the de-glazing process. 

Buon Appetito! 

x Stephanie

Almond Coconut & Amarena Cherry Flourless Biscotti

Italian almond biscuits are also know as Biscotti Di Mandorle and are a very popular sweet found in most Italian cake shops in Australia and in Italy. They are made using main ingredients almond meal, sugar, and egg whites with no flour added what so ever making them a perfect gluten free option. Traditionally these biscuits have always been made with out flour, the combination of  baked almond, sugar and egg white gives then a very soft but chewy consistency which is why I love them! 

Currently one of my most favorite ingredients is coconut and as I was lying down in bed on one Sunday morning I was thinking about how I could use it... Alas! A batch of Italian inspired almond biscotti came to mind... with a few tweaks and ingredient adds I came up with these beauties that  turned out to be a great little tasty treat for anyone that loves coconut (me! and maybe you too). The Amarena cherries can be found at any Italian grocery, the sweet and sour flavour of the cherry syrup combined with the coconut is to die for!  I was lucky to have these Amarena cherries gifted to me for my Birthday, if you find them, ensure to buy yourself a jar (taste great on top of vanilla bean ice-cream too).

Here goes!

Ingredients:
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup coconut flour
6 egg whites whisked
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup almond meal
1 Tbsp Vanilla essence
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup almond milk
Desiccated coconut to sprinkle
Amarena cherries

Method:
1. Sift almond meal, coconut flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl
2. Add desiccated coconut, sugar and mix all together
3. Whisk egg whites until they turn white with firm peaks
4. Fold egg whites into mixture and add the vanilla essence
5. Use hands to mix further until the mixture starts to come together when squeezed in your hands, add 1/2 cup of water to moisten further. The mixture needs to be firm however moist enough to hold the ingredients.
6. Using your hands, roll the mixture into small balls the size of a 50 cent piece

 

7. Place rolled balls on to a tray lined with baking paper 5 centimeters apart
8. Once all rolled, place a finger dent in the middle on each ball
9. Brush will almond milk and sprinkle with desiccated coconut
10. Place 1/2 an amarena cherry in the middle, let the syrup drip on the biscuit as you do this (adds more flavor)

11. Refrigerate for 30 minutes
12. Bake in a preheated 180 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until the biscuits turn a light golden brown
13. After baked set aside to cool, do not remove off the tray until cooled.

Enjoy making this recipe and the biscotti x

Happy Baking!