Zucchini Pasta - the quick version! (GF or not)

made this tonight - Rora loved it! i was able to easily make a gluten and gluten free version to suit those who don't like GF pasta... it's not low fat but honestly you need the oil so i don't care lol

this is based on a recipe i got from a marcella hazan cookbook and learned when living in italy.

 around 1/2 cup olive oil
4-5 baby or small zucchinis, ends cut off and sliced finely
500g pasta (gluten free or regular)
salt and pepper
around a cup of diced or grated mozzarella cheese of any quality (or pizza cheese like me haha! it was still GOOD!)
2 eggs, lightly beaten

heat water for pasta and add pasta to boiling water. cook accoridng to directions.

heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan, over a medium heat. it needs to be hot enough to slightly bubble, but not smoking at all, or browning. add the zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally until the zucchini is see through.

add salt and pepper and stir. keep hot.

when pasta is done drain well then tip into the zucchini saucepan. add egg and cheese and stir well until mixed through and egg is mostly or totally cooked. serve.

YUM!

Foccacia (GF, TMX)

As promised, a thermomix conversion of this recipe. excuse my photos, our camera was dropped and broken today :( this amount makes a double batch (only half shown in teh picture)

180g millet flour, or millet ground for 1 minute speed 8
75g sorghum flour *
70g corn (maize) flour
60g tapioca starch
80g potato starch
2 tspns xanthan gum
1 tspn salt
10g sugar, agave syrup or other sweetener
15-20g yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (aagh forgot to weigh it, am thinking it would be around 420g?)
15g olive oil
fresh or dried rosemary and / or chopped garlic
sea salt
extra olive oil

heat oven to approx 200'c

place all ingredients (except rosemary, garlic, sea salt & extra oil) in the thermomix and mix for 30 seconds on speed 5, then 1 minute on knead setting

place in a greased container or a lined tray. cover with baking paper ** and press out to desired shape and size. sprinkle with herbs / garlic, and drizzle with extra olive oil. bake around 25 mins until brown.



* i bought my sorghum flour at the indian store, otherwise known as jowar flour

** use baking paper, not greaseproof paper, which will stick to the dough and begin to disintegrate :(

Pan Fried Veal Roast with Garlic, Rosemary and White Wine (GF)

from Marcella Hazan's "The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking", I made this for dinner last night - it was VERY good and sooooooooo easy!

Basically I took a rolled veal roast, cut deep slashes into it and filled each with a peeled garlic clove (i halved some of the bigger ones and used about 6-7 in total for a fairly small roast - probably about 5-600g).

heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan and fry roast on all sides to brown.

add white wine - around a cup - and stir, scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan.

i didn't have fresh rosemary so just used a small amount of dried, around 1-1.5 tspns, also put a bit of salt and pepper on.

put the lid on and keep it on, taking off only to turn the veal a few times. if the wine evaporates add a bit more, and / or some boiling water.

when the veal is cooked (took around an hour or just over i think) and tender, remove it and leave the lid off and let the juices simmer into a nice glaze / gravy.

we had ours with smashed potatoes roasted pumpkin, and steamed broccolini and corn on the cob - YUM!

Quick & Easy Slow Cooker Spag Bol Sauce (GF)

My slow cooker is a 5L and this amount of spaghetti bolognaise sauce nearly filled it, so please adjust if yours is smaller. This amount made enough for 4 meals for the 5 of us.

1.5kg lean mince, broken up with a spoon as you put it in.
1-2 onions, chopped (i chopped everything in the thermomix on speed 5)
5-6 carrots & / or zucchinis, chopped finely
6-8 shortcut rashers bacon, chopped finely
around 1 cup red lentils
2 large jars of pasta sauce (I use the Aldi Organic one) or a bottle of passata / sugo
few spoonfuls of tomato paste, optional
splash of red wine - about 1/4 cup
herbs to taste (i don't need these with the pasta sauce but would use them with passata)
stock powder or stock concentrate to taste (i used 1 dessert spoon full of stock concentrate)

place it all in the slow cooker on high or auto. I checked on it for the first half hour before leaving, stirring it around a bit.
If you don't have auto turn down to low and cook for 6-10 hours.

serve with pasta, baked potatoes, in lasagne etc.

note: you definitely don't need any liquid other than the wine and pasta sauce!


And as to what I did with my thermomix yesterday... you're looking at it above! I work on Wednesday afternoons & evenings and spend the morning preparing, so I don't do any cooking other than sometimes preparing dinner for geoff to give the kids while I'm at work. I didn't even make my breakfast as I had the leftover GF bread with avocado on it!

Lana's Bolognese Meat Sauce

Thank you to my good friend Lana who agreed to be a guest blogger here on my blog! yippee!! even better she made the recipe and brought some over for us to sample! (stay tuned) * it smells divine and the kids are loving theirs :)

Bolognese Meat Sauce

This great meat sauce is a specialty of Bologna. It is delicious with tagliatelle or short pasta such as penne or conchiglie as well as spaghetti. The oil/fat content makes it ideal for making lasagna, particularly homemade pasta. I will post more about this later! It keeps well in the refrigerator for several days and can be frozen for several months.

Ingredients
25g/ 1oz/ 2T butter
60mL/ 4T olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
25g/ 1oz/ 2T pancetta or unsmoked bacon, finely chopped (optional)
1 carrot, finely sliced or diced
1 stick celery, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
350g/ 12oz lean minced beef/lamb/chicken or kangaroo
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
150mL/ ¼ pt/ 2/3cup red wine (I have used merlot, cab sav, shiraz and grenache)
125mL/ 4fl oz/ ½ cup full milk
1 x 400g/ 14oz can plum tomatoes, chopped with their juice, or 450g fresh tomatoes
1 bay leaf
¼ t fresh thyme leaves

1. Heat the butter and oil over moderate heat in a heavy saucepan. Add the onion, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the pancetta (if using), and cook until the onion is translucent. Stir in the carrot, celery and garlic. Cook 3-4 minutes more.

2. Add the meat and crumble it into the vegetables with a fork or spoon. Stir until the meat loses its red colour. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Pour in the wine, raise the temperature slightly, and cook until the liquid evaporates. Add the milk, and cook until it evaporates.

4. Stir in the tomatoes with their juice, and the herbs. Bring the sauce to the boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, for 1 ½ - 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Correct the seasoning before serving.

Taken from The Italian Cook, A definitive guide to Italian ingredients and an inspirational collection of recipes by Capalbo, Whiteman, Wright and Boggiano.

For a no fuss preparation, you can chop the vegetables in a blender. For a more sophisticated finish, it is better to hand chop them. Or you can hand chop some and put the rest in the blender . I’ve used Black Russian tomatoes, which I have grown in my own garden (they are awesome croppers over the whole season, so far this season, from 2 plants which cost me $2 each, I have harvested 20.75kg!). They are chocolate brown, and give the sauce a rich dark colour. This is such a versatile recipe, I always make 2 or 3 times as much as I need, and either freeze, or make up a lasagna to freeze. It does lend itself well to increasing the quantities, just keep in mind that the wine and milk will take longer to evaporate.

* if you have a recipe you'd like to share on here please email me - you don't HAVE to cook for me ;) but thanks lana!

Involtini di melanzane

from the Canberra Times Food & Wine supplement on 3/12/08

Involtini di melanzane

serves 4-5 as a main, makes 16 rolls

salsa di pomodoro
3 medium/large eggplants
extra virgin olive oil as needed
1 bunch basil
cheese filling:
250g fresh ricotta, drained
1 free-range egg
sea salt & freshly ground pepper
110g fresh cows milk mozzarella, cut into cubes
1/2 cup (65g) freshly grated parmesan
2-3 tbs toasted pine nuts (optional)

1. to make the filling set aside 2 tabs of parmesan. lightly beat egg and mix in ricotta and seasoning. add mozzarella, remaining parmesan and pine nuts. keep in fridge til needed.
2. use long serrated knife to cut eggplants lengthways into slices 6mm thick. cut slices from the centre section of eggplants - you should get 5-6 slices from each (use leftover for another recipe)
3. sprinkle slices with salt and leave to drain on rack for an hour. rinse off salt and squeeze dry between teatowels.
4. brush lightly on both sides with olive oil, grill both sides (can also fry or bake)
5. to assemble brush a large shallow oven proof dish with olive oil. preheat oven to 180'c
6. lay slices on bench with narrow end closest to you. cut several basil leaves into shreds and sprinkle over slices. spoon a tab of cheese filling onto each at the narrow end. roll slices up around the filling and place seam side down in the dish
7. spoon tomato sauce over rolls and sprinkle on reserved parmesan. bake in oven until hot, about 30 mins.
   
8. leave to rest 10 mins before serving. drizzle with olive oil and scatter with basil leaves. serve warm or at room temp with italian bread and a salad

Salsa di Pomodoro - Tomato Sauce
2 tabs extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
S&P
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
750g rice tomatoes, peeled & seeded, or 2 tins tomatoes including juice, or combination
pinch chilli flakes
1/2 tspn sugar
splash red wine vinegar (optional)
handful basil leaves

1. add a little tomato paste if fresh tomatoes aren't at their best.
2. roughly chop tomatoes.
3. heat oil with onion & pinch salt
4. cover and cook gently for 10 mins, add garlic after 5 mins
5. increase heat and add tomatoes, chilli flakes, sugar, vinegar & pepper, cook for a few minutes
6. turn heat down and simmer, partly covered, for about 30 mins
7. stir occasionally, adding water if necessary
8. sauce is ready when it thickens and oil separates
9. puree with hand blender or food processor *
10. slice basil leaves & add

* this recipe is just made for a thermomix ;)

Bruschetta

i love fresh homemade bruschetta! i'm not so keen on restaurant versions as they're never fresh enough and garlicky enough for my liking.

here is how i learned to make it when i lived in Italy (albeit from my english boss lol) oh and by the way the 'sch' sound in italian is actaully a hard sound so you say it like "broosketta" not (NOT NOT NOT) "brooshetta" (pet hate in case you didn't notice lol)

1 loaf firm italian bread, a day or 2 old is great, sliced about 1.5cm thick
a number of garlic cloves, peeled and halved lengthwise. larger ones are easier
good olive oil to drizzle

optional -
roma / plum tomatoes diced (removing the seeds is better but not when you're lazy like me lol), mixed with chopped fresh herbs of your choice
freshly ground salt and pepper

toast the bread on one (or both if you prefer or if it's really quite stale) side
rub the toasted side with the cut side of the garlic - be carefu not to do too much as too garlicky is hard to eat! you should get a few slices per half clove

if you're having the tomato mix put that on now (a single layer) and drizzle the lot with a little oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper

YUM!

draft - Chicken Cacciatore Thermomix

just drafting this for geoff to try, will update after he has made it :)
EDIT - please don't use this yet! while this is the exact recipe that is delicious in the slow cooker it was pretty ordinary in the tmx. stay tuned for a fix...

parsley
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 onion
olive oil
2-3 chicken breasts, diced, tossed in seasoned flour (plain flour with salt & black pepper added)
1-2 carrots, 1 diced & 1 cut into 1" chunks
1-2 zucchini, diced & 1 cut into 1" chunks
1-2 green capsicums, diced
1/3 cup white wine
chicken stock powder or cube
passata or diced tomatoes - tinned, plus a few fresh if desired
olives - green and / or black, seeded, cut in half
rosemary - 1/2 tspn?
2 bay leaves
freshly ground black pepper

cook pasta
chop parsley for5-10 seconds on speed 6, remove to bowl
chop garlic for 2-5 seconds on speed 6 until you can hear them stop hitting the sides
chop onion, chunked (not diced) carrot & zucchini & half capsicum 5-10 seconds speed 6
scrape down sides and add olive oil - around 10g
cook 2 mins 100' speed 1
add chicken and carrot. cook 5 mins 100' reverse speed 2-3 (whatever you need to keep it moving)
add all other ingredients - zucchini and diced capsicum, white wine, stock, passata / diced tomatoes, olives, rosemary & bay leaves
cook 15 mins 100' reverse speed 2-3 (whatever you need to keep it moving)
add parsley & mix for a few seconds until mixed through
serve with spiral pasta


hmmm isn't there a recipe on the tmx site? better go check that out too ;)

Thermomix Very Quick and Easy Creamy Sundried Tomato Sauce for Gnocchi

i couldn't be bothered starting from scratch with the pasta sauce (the 5 year old remember?) so i did a cheats version that was very nice:

4-5 sundried tomatoes

chop for 3-5 seconds on speed 4

add in one jar pasta sauce (we use aldi organic usually but this time i used the aldi olive one) and a little cream if you have some that needs to be used up, or leave out if you don't want it.

cook for 8 minutes on 80'c speed 2

pour over gnocchi, top with parmesan if desired.

Thermomix Potato & Sweet Potato Gnocchi

no pictures sorry, a one hour long tantrum by the 5 year old ensured that, but here is a bit of a method for this. i may need to edit it next time as i'm not sure my brain was really focusing on gnocchi :(

for 4-6 people

350g Sweet potato, peeled and cubed
650g desiree potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 egg
2+ cups flour
salt & pepper

steam the potatoes & sweet potatoes. i did mine in the microwave but of course you could do it in the varoma if you wanted and didn't have your mind on when the noise was going to stop...
(you would probably use about 500g water, 12-15 mins (??) varoma temp, speed 2
they need to be really soft but not falling apart.

drain them well and let them cool as much as you can (last time i kept them in teh fridge overnight and this worked well.

put about 500g in the tmx and chop til they're fine - but be careful! you don't want to make glue out of them! (have done that before with a food processor, NOT pretty!) i did speed 6 for about 30-40 seconds i think.
remove to another bowl and repeat. add the first batch back in and add the other ingredients.

mix on speed 6 until well mixed, again keep an eye out for gluey tendencies! i was very distracted by the 5yo at this stage and mine was done for 2 minutes and was OK thank goodness, so glue must be less likely at this stage ;p

put a large pot of water on to boil.

remove from tmx and place on a floured surface. knead until smooth, adding extra flour until the dough is no longer sticky. my dough was very sticky at this stage (i think the sweet potatoes have more water than regular potatoes) so i had to add a LOT of extra flour, but it was fine in the end.

cut the dough into 4-6 pieces and then take one. roll out on the floured surface until you have a sausage that is about 2cm thick. cut into 1cm pieces with a knife (i used a bread knife so i didn't cut my silicone mat). i actually just cook them like that because we don't care what they look like!

but if you want them to look pretty like "real" gnocchi just roll them a little into a ball then press into shape with a fork.

to cook them you need boiling water - just drop one sausage worth of gnocchi in at a time (i found it took the exact time to make the next sausage-worth as it did to cook each batch of gnocchi). they are cooked when they flat on the surface - use a large flat slotted spoon to remove & drain them. you can serve them straight into a bowl.

top with sauce and cheese as desired.

of course you can swap the sweet potato for pumpkin, or use more potato and a little black olives etc etc - the options are endless!

Flavours of Italy...

i just found these two recipes on the floor (don't ask) and thought i should type them in before throwing the paper out so it can no longer decorate my floor! i'm pretty sure that i have had these recipes for a long time - probably 14 years from when i lived in italy! i suspect they are marcella hazan recipes but have no notes to say where they came from. i'm sure i'd made them both and they were both good :)

both recipes are for 4-6 people

Zucchini with Bacon
680g firm young zucchini, soaked in water 20 mins
6 tabs olive oil
5 medium onions, sliced very thinly
110g smoked bacon or pancetta affunicata, cut into 3mm strips
salt & freshly ground pepper

scrub zucchini after soaking. trim ends & cut into 5mm slices
choose pan large enough to hold everything. put the oil, onion & bacon in and turn heat to med. high. stir occasionally until onion is pale gold. add zucchini, turn once or twice. cover and turn heat to med. cook 12-15 mins, uncover, add S&P. cook uncovered 2-3 mins, stirring frequently.
may be reheated gently


Penne with Rosemary & Bacon
60g butter
2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
2 tspns fresh whole rosemary or 1 tspn dried leaves chopped
340g smoked bacon or pancetta affunicata, cut into 3mm strips
450g penne
50g freshly grated parmesan

in a 20-25cm pan put 40g butter & garlic & turn heat to medium high. saute until garlic is deep gold. remove garlic & add rosemary. stir once or twice then add bacon. saute until bacon is lightly coloured but not crisp.
cook pasta, drain and toss immediately with bacon sauce. add remaining butter and parmesan. toss and serve

Pasta with Prosciutto & Peas

needing a quick dinner after work on monday i decided to give this a go, based on Celeste's recipe at Sugar and Spice. of course i made a few changes lol (and totally missed the bit about the lemon zest and juice, will have to try that next time!)

serves about 4-6

500g spiral pasta (spirals catch the sauce better :))
8-12 slices proscuitto
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
freshly ground black pepper
1.5 cups baby peas, frozen
2-3 tspns cornflour
1 tin evaporated low fat milk **
parmesan

cook pasta according to packet directions
lightly fry the proscuitto, onion, garlic and pepper until proscuitto is crispy and onion and garlic are soft. *
add peas and gently fry, stirring occasionally, until peas are starting to soften.
add cornflour and mix well so everything is coated
add evaporated milk and cook until thickened, stirring most of the time.
immediately mix through pasta, top with parmesan to serve.

* actually you don't need to fry proscuitto as it does not require cooking, however i actaully had half proscuitto and half pancetta, which does require cooking ;)
** you can of course use cream like celeste, but i rarely have cream in teh house and get enough calories from other sources lol

Potato Gnocchi - wow!

i always thought that potato gnocchi would be too hard to make. but i was wrong! very wrong!

well, maybe it's harder without a thermomix, i'm not sure :p

anyway, i made it and it was very good. i doubt i'll buy it again if i can help it! i think i'll have the occasional gnocchi making session and then freeze quantities for quick dinners. i have to admit that i didn't 'pretty' mine up ie: roll into balls and press with a fork, but once they had sauce on them no one would know.

i used a combination of recipes from taste and used 1kg of potatoes which gave us just a little more than we needed for all 5 of us. other ingredients were salt (i use vegemare), plain flour and an egg.
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/8775/step+by+step+gnocchi
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/2446/potato+gnocchi

i cooked the potatoes whole then i acutally refridgerated them for 24 hours as i wasn't feeling well enough to make the gnocchi on thursday night. i then peeled them, cut them into quarters or eighths and put them in the thermomix. i think next time i will chop them up in smaller quantities, about 300g at a time. as it was i used the interval setting with constant scrapedowns and stirs with the spatula, as well as having the spatula in the top, trying to mix as it chopped. it mostly did an ok job though there were some chunky bits (that didn't matter in the finished product). i added the other ingredients and had to mix on about 6 to get anything to happen! i only did that for a very short time then tipped it out and kneaded by hand for a minute or two. divided into about 6 or 8 pieces, rolled into 2cm 'snakes', cut into 1cm pieces and cooked them a serve at a time with a slotted spoon.

no comment on the sauce, it wasn't a success and i won't make it again! (undercooked onions)

Links - Entrees, Appetisers, Dips etc

assorted dips : Basil & Fetta Cheese Dip, Beetroot Dip, Sesame & Ginger Dip, Blue Cheese & Bacon Dip, Avocado & Sardine Dip, Hot Crab Dip, Guacamole, Hommus Dip, Roast Pumpkin Dip, Salmon & Ricotta Dip, Smoked Trout & Dill Dip

Baked Suppli al Telefono - my sister used to make these when we were growing up and they are delicious! but deep fried :( now here's a healthier version!

Monkey Mix Snack Mix (slow cooker)

Thermomix Eggplant & Walnut Dip

Links - Biscuits & Cookies

apple sauce cookies

apple walnut cookies

chocolate biscotti

chocolate spice cookies & gingernuts

cranberry & walnut biscuits

lemon poppyseed cookies

key lime meltaways

NEW peanut butter pinwheels

pumpkin spice fudge cookies

spice cranberry oatmeal walnut cookies

wholewheat raspberry almond thumbprint cookies

Minestrone & TM31 bread

well, i could have sworn that i'd already posted a Minestrone recipe on my blog but i can't find it!

so here's the one which geoff gave to me based on the one his mum used to make...

Geoff's Minestrone

Serves 4

Another of Geoff’s favourites, based on June’s recipe!
You might want to add extra liquid (water or stock) if it’s too thick.

3 rashers of bacon, fat & rind trimmed
1 large onion, peeled & diced
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped
1 large carrot, peeled & diced
¼ cabbage, shredded
800g diced tomatoes
approx 250g pasta shells
1 jar pasta sauce, try garden vegetable
chicken stock cube
1 can kidney beans
2 cups water
parmesan cheese, grated

1. Lightly fry bacon & onion until onion is transparent.
2. Add garlic and fry, stirring for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add all other ingredients and simmer until pasta is cooked.
4. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
5. Serve with crusty bread. Enjoy!

and here's how i made it tonight...

Tonight's Version

6 shortcut rashers of bacon, diced
1 large onion, peeled & diced
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped
1 large carrot, peeled & diced
1 small green capsicum, finely diced
a handful of green beans, topped and tailed and cut into 8mm - 1cm pieces
800g diced tomatoes (i used tins)
approx 250g pasta shells
about 1/4 cup white wine
beef stock powder or cube
1 can borlotti beans, drained and rinsed
1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed
around 5-7 cups water
parmesan cheese, grated


1. Lightly fry bacon & onion until onion is transparent.
2. Add garlic and fry, stirring for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add all other ingredients and simmer until pasta is cooked.
4. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
5. Serve with TM31 bread. Enjoy!

TM31 bread
i made this tonight - had my first try at plaiting - it's really hard to plait bread as compared to hair lol
anyway, i was too lazy to brush with milk or water to get the seeds to stick, so drizzled olive oil over it - discovered that the top remained really soft instead of going crunchy!

Calzone cuisine!

dinner tonight was a success - woohoo!! homemade calzones and everyone got to pick what they had on them - i made it VERY clear they weren't pizzas (remember my kids won't eat pizza) and they loved them ;p they also helped prepare and make them.

dough:
1-2 quantities of your favourite pizza dough (i used the thermomix one of course ;))
i put some italian herbs in it

when it's risen enough split into balls and roll out. you're going to fold them in half so put your toppings in the centre of one half of the circle.
fold the other half over and squeeze the edges together. cut some holes/vents in the top (or first initials like we did hehe)
bake in a 220'c oven for around 10-15 mins until cooked.

toppings:
you can use whatever you like! i was imagining a satay chicken, rocket and sweet potato version - yum! here is what we had:
bacon and onion lightly fried
pepperoni shredded
capsicum diced
fetta cheese crumbled
mozzarella cheese
diced roma tomatoes (fresh not tinned)
sliced mushrooms
parmesan cheese
rocket
pasta sauce
sliced black olives

Pasta with Pesto and Pumpkin

OK, i hesitated in posting this because the food snob in me thinks it's not really a recipe LOL but then i decided if someone else could get some joy out of it (and it was REALLY yummy! we had guests for dinner and everyone went back for seconds and g had thirds) i would...

500g spiral pasta
1 red onion, finely diced
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
6 shortcut bacon pieces (or 2-3 rashers), diced into 1cm dice
pumpkin, diced into 1cm dice
small amount pine nuts, lightly toasted (i just toast in the microwave, doing 20-30 seconds at a time and stirring in between)
1 jar Barilla Pesto alla Genovese (you can buy this in any supermarket, it is my favourite by far)
white wine splash, optional (i wanted to use this but given i was cooking for friends and their children i wasn't sure how they'd feel about their kids having wine in their pasta! as it was the kids all ate the spag bol and rory was the only one to try this pasta)

1. cook pasta according to packet directions
2. fry onion, garlic and bacon over a medium heat for up to 5 minutes. add pumpkin and cook until just tender but not starting to fall apart. (if you were using wine you'd add it half way through the pumpkin cooking process)
3. mix pumpkin mix, pine nuts and desired amount of pesto through the pasta, serve with parmesan cheese if desired

Chicken Cacciatore

briefly so i don't forget what was in it (no quantities)

chicken
toss in flour, S&P
fry with onion & garlic
finely chopped carrot and zucchini (and larger diced capsicum which i forgot today)
white wine
stock
passata
diced tomatoes
olives - green and / or black
rosemary
bay leaves

slow cooker high 5-6 hours or low for longer
serve with chopped parsley and pasta (spirals)

*sigh* please turn head for the picture lol

Tiramisu, low fat

this one came from a magazine years ago, i forget which one though

Tiramisu
Serves 6

300g French Vanilla Light Fruche (fromage frais)
200g fresh low fat ricotta
1 egg
2 tbs caster sugar
250 mls boiling water
3 tsp instant coffee granules
80 mls (1/3 cup) marsala
1 200g packet sponge fingers (Savoiardi)
2 tsp cocoa powder, to dust

Place the Fruche, ricotta, egg and sugar in a medium mixing bowl and use electric beaters to whisk for 1 – 2 minutes or until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.

Combine the water and the coffee then marsala in a jug. Pour ½ into a small bowl. Dip 1 sponge finger at a time into the bowl of coffee mixture, then place in a single layer to cover the base of a 19 x 25cm, 2 litre (8 cup) serving dish. Brush any coffee mixture remaining in the bowl over the layer of sponge fingers. Refill bowl with the remaining coffee mixture.

Spread half the Fruche mixture evenly over the layer of sponge fingers. Repeat to make one more layer with the remaining sponge fingers and coffee mixture, then top with the remaining Fruche mixture. Smooth the surface with the back of a large metal spoon.

Dust evenly with the cocoa powder. Cover and place in fridge for at least 4 hours for the flavours to develop and sponge fingers to soften before serving.

Nutritional information per serve:
10g protein, 6.5g fat, 41g carbohydrate, 0g dietary fibre, 1155kj (275cals).
Traditional tiramisu, per serve:
10g protein, 56g fat, 68g carbohydrate, 0g dietary fibre, 3450kj (825 cals).