Archive for the ‘Pasta Dishes’ Category

Easy recipe: Sausage “Spag Bol”…

The meal plan was supposed to start yesterday but that was quickly put on hold when invited out to the pub. There was the option of pre-pub dinner or post- and we voted in favour of the latter (though in hindsight, cooking dinner before sinking a few jars would have been a better idea).

I finished a quick session at 10pm and made my way back to the house, promising dinner using one of my simple recipes. As my girlfriend was thumbing her way through the local Chinese menu, I knew that a quick recipe was needed.

Jamie Oliver’s 30 minute meals are on the TV at the moment but have had mixed reviews. Some people complain that it’s impossible to do them in 30 minutes, but my only issue has been the price and quantity of the ingredients.

One of his recipes did catch my eye; “Pregnant Jools Pasta”.

I began by chopping the veg; I couldn’t quite remember what was in his recipe but knew all good Italian sauces had a base of onion, carrot and celery (minus the celery as we didn’t have any). Jamie always used a food processer to speed things along, but this was something missing in my student girlfriends flat so I thought I would test my knife skills. After several pints this may have seemed like a bad idea and I was soon rescued by a soup making flat mate and her hand blender which did a perfect job of chopping up the onions and carrots.

At the same time, I added a tablespoon each of oregano, fennel seeds and chilli powder. When I checked back over Jamie’s recipe I realised that it was supposed to be only a teaspoon. This made my version is a bit more aromatic which can mask cheaper sausages (see below). I hand blended this together to bash up the fennel seeds in place of a pestle and mortar and threw it all in the pan. Read the rest of this entry »

I have never seen this dish in any restaurant or cookbook. My immediate family and relatives all made this. My mother would always tell me that this is how poor people in the olden days would feed their families well, fill their stomachs and get many compliments.

My mother always called this Genoese. We always pronounced it Gen-o-ays. I looked up the recipe Pasta Genovese to make sure that I was not crazy, but that is a completely different recipe. So, I guess this is original.

This recipe is for taking a cheap piece of meat, Chuck or Rump Roast and for making a delicious meal by making it better than it was and melt in your mouth tender with a delicious brown sauce and of course pasta. The pasta my mother always used is fettuccine. It is wide enough to stand up to the gravy. Pasta is the element that fills people’s stomachs and makes this cheap, delicious meal even more memorable. Now, I will tell you how to make this.

Ingredients:

1, 2-3 pound Chuck or Rump Roast
6-10 Onions, Sliced
1 pound Dry or Fresh Fettuccine Pasta
6 Cloves of Garlic, chopped
1 Bottle Red Wine, full bodied
1 Box of Beef Broth (or just use water)
Olive oil, salt and pepper
Parmesan Cheese to taste

· Dry the roast thoroughly. Thoroughly salt and pepper the outside.
· Heat up a Dutch oven on High on your stovetop and add 6 Tablespoons Olive Oil Read the rest of this entry »