Pasta with Sardines

This is so totally out of order it's niggling at my brain.  Partly, this is because I recently did a cleanup of my phone photos.  And now I can no longer find (as in, I'm pretty sure I deleted them because they no longer exist) the photos I took of the meal I was meant to post about today.  So I'm just going to have to make that one again (ooh, tough) and tell you all about this other one instead.  This was part of my carb-loading before the City2South run. 

From the Jill Dupleix book Good Cooking: the new essentials, it's really meant to be Bucatini with Sardines.  I tried to find bucatini.  I don't think the food stores in my local area have heard of it.  Well, maybe they have, but the closest I could find was fat spaghetti.  Not very fat, mind you, but not the super skinny stuff.  And as the little blurb at the top of the recipe reads along the lines of make do with what you've got, I thought (slightly) fat spaghetti would have to do.

Ingredients:
400g bucatini (fat spaghetti)
sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, smashed (my favourite way)
1 tablespoon salted capers, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes or cayenne
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
300mL passata, or 400g tin tomatoes, drained and chopped (I always buy diced tomatoes so I just used the whole thing)
300g tin sardines or tuna, drained (I used sardines)
1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted (forgot to put these on)
1 tablespoon roughly torn parsley (very approximate measurement here, and I put it all on my plate)

Method:
Cook the pasta - you all know how to do this.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a low heat, and add the garlic, capers, chilli flakes and anchovy fillets, stirring.  Add the tomatoes, stirring well, and simmer for 5 minutes.
When the pasta is almost ready (this was the first time ever I put the timer on to cook pasta), drain the sardines (if not done already) and roughly chop.  Add to the sauce and gently heat through.  Drain the pasta, reserving a few spoonfuls of the water, and add the pasta to the sauce, tossing well.  If dry, add the reserved hot pasta water.
Scatter with the toasted pine nuts (...or not...) and torn parsley, and serve in warm pasta bowls.  Or just, you know, bowls.

In the book, it says it serves 4.  Ha. Ha. Hahahahaha.  I had one large serve the night before the run.  I had a recovery-carbs meal - another large serve - the night after the run.  It served 3 of us for dinner on the Monday (not girly serves, either).  And another 3 serves later... And we're up to 8.  I added bits of protein to each option, but still - double the expected amount.  Wow.  Next time I would probably reduce the amount of pasta but keep the sauce the same - I like to have a bit more sauce in the ratio.  But this is a nifty way to eat some unattractive fish without thinking about it!

Pasta with Courgettes

Even though I made the Eggs in Purgatory on New Year's Day, that was not my first Nigella recipe.  My first was this, the Pasta with Courgettes, that I made a few days after Christmas.  I had exactly the right amount of zucchini.  And, for me, it will be zucchini... Nigella says she would feel self-conscious calling them zucchini outside of North America or Italy, but they've always been that to me here Down Under.  She also warns that this is a recipe for the palate, not for a photo.  I agree...  Meanwhile, I found this wine and couldn't not buy it - how cool is this label?!  (Yes, I go for label more than anything else).

Ingredients:
200g casarecce pasta (or penne or farfalle)
salt for pasta water, to taste
2x15mL tablespoons garlic oil
4 spring onions, finely sliced
500g zucchini (preferably organic), finely diced
60mL dry white wine or vermouth
small bunch fresh parsley, chopped (I saw how much was needed and picked accordingly from the garden)
3x15mL tablespoons grated Parmesan, plus more (optional - but as if you wouldn't) for sprinkling
salt and pepper, to taste
2 teaspoons unsalted butter

Method:
Put a pan of water on for the pasta, salting generously (or to taste) when it comes to the boil, then add the casarecce - cooking as per packet instructions, though tasting a couple of minutes before they're meant to be ready - and get on with the sauce.
Put the garlic oil and chopped spring onions in a heavy-based pan (that comes with a lid) on medium heat and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
Add the diced zucchini and cook for 5 minutes, stirring every now and again.
Add the wine or vermouth, letting it bubble up, followed by 2 tablespoons of the chopped parsley, salt to taste, then lower the heat, cover with the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes, by which time the zucchini should be gorgeously tender.

Tip the drained pasta back into its pan, add the braised zucchini, or add the pasta to the pan of zucchini, along with 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan and 4 tablespoons of pasta-cooking liquid.  Combine thoroughly and taste to see if you wish to add more cheese or salt or pepper or, indeed, cooking liquid, then stir in the butter and most of the remaining parsley and divide between 2 warmed bowls, sprinkling with the rest of the parsley, and more Parmesan if wished, on serving.

 I added some poached chicken (my new favourite method) so that there was some protein involved.  Now, this is listed as serving 2.  Admittedly, I add a protein serving each time.  So far, I've had it with chicken, and with feta, and with roo, and with cheese, and I still have probably 2 serves to go.  This makes a lot.  Yummy though.

Movie #28 - Star Trek

Last night, I had my first ever Star Trek experience.  For real.  I'm pretty sure the friend who introduced me to this was a bit gob-smacked that I hadn't seen any Star Trek or Star Wars (yes - it's true).  We were just going to watch the very very beginning (actually so I could experience blu-ray for the first time) but then ... well, I don't like to leave things unfinished.  We watched the whole thing. 

Things I learned:
There are movies and tv series (I hadn't realised this before).
It's really great to watch something as iconic as this with someone who knows about it.  Short of watching every Star Trek movie and tv episode myself, then watching and going [lightbulb] aahhhh! - having someone knowledgeable (but not totally gung-ho) was a pretty good option.
Well, I could go on and on... But the other thing about watching an iconic movie like this, is that I now recognise some of the references from the Simpsons.  Yay!

Things I liked:
It makes your brain work.  Not just a plot that does a 3 act drama, this one made my brain try to work out how this had happened, tying it in with what I was learning about the previous shows that were really coming after this in time... kinda... and I know that once I've watched more, there will be more things I'll notice. 
The violence isn't overdone.  There were some bits that made me cringe or get a sympathetic twinge, but not overly.  And you didn't have to see close-ups of fighting or blood-splatters or anything.
Simon Pegg.  And, not Simon Pegg as recognisable from any of the ice-cream movies, but in an actually different role.  He does make me laugh.
The music is really well done.
I recognised the writers from Hawaii Five-O (I'm not great at recognising non-actor names).
I know it's cheesy, but the costumes.  So sixties and reminiscent of Austin Powers.  Love it.

Without having watched any other bits of this, the whole destiny thing is something I'd like to see a bit more.  That idea of our history, our past, the bits of time that have gone before us that have contributed to the way we are, the way others see us, the way we see ourselves - whether or not we are getting into the whole space/time travel thing, this is something so close to us that we don't even realise it's a part of us sometimes.

Today's photo:

Today's photo is really yesterday's photo x 2.  The first is from the 3rd storm of the day - I was at church in the evening and the clouds looked pretty impressive around the city.  Massive storm - we had to delay the service because all you could hear was the downpour.  The streets in the city, and around my neighbourhood, are all covered in debris today.  A bit further out of the city though (where some of my brothers and their families live) was really badly hit.

The second - much calmer - is my first try of gnoccho - a combination of shell pasta with gnocchi.  Love the little scoops with sauce!

The Music and Cooking Class

A couple of weeks ago, a friend sent a message to a few of us - would we be interested in a music and cooking class?  Once I'd checked the gig schedule, I was keen.  Cooking classes were on my list of New Things To Do This Year, and after a brief search earlier in the year, nothing had come of it.  This was too easy.  And, what could be a better way to spend a Saturday - music and cooking?!

On our way in, I had to ask: what exactly is happening tonight?  Details were still a bit sketchy...  Canapes.  The a cappella choir, 'Fusion'.  Cooking class with Danielle Dixon (from Masterchef last year).  6-8pm, at Taste in the Valley.  I was suddenly a bit dubious - what if the choir was, you know... not amazing?  Would I need cooking skills?  How precise and dictatorial would this cooking class be?  Agh!!!

On arrival, we could see some of the choir inside already, and I breathed a sigh of relief - I recognised a few, and when I spotted their conductor I knew we were in for a treat.  My favourite choir conductor in Brisbane (Debra Shearer-Dirie), with whom I've worked a couple of times.  The champagne on arrival also helped, and then we had a wander around the store to look at all these (largely unnecessary) gadgets before heading to the loft area.

A beautiful space, set up as a kitchen - the sort of kitchen you might find in a very large house, with a couple of huge tables and seating for many.  Rustic.  And a bench set up with many pasta-makers.  As it turned out, we were making pasta.  But first, music.  We were surrounded by the choir, who sang some early food-related songs before forming an arc behind us, and moving on to more modern food-related songs.  All the music was food-related, although some rather tangentially.  They even included us in one of the songs (when we weren't eating our delicious canapes).  By far the hit of the evening was Fields of Gold, which had a few of us getting sweaty eyes.

Cooking.  But first, explanation.  I was relieved that Danielle cooks the way I do - experimentation.  Recipes are more like guidelines.  Some pasta variations were discussed ('my nonna said...' etc), and pasta-makers as well as what to do and why.  And that was it!  Come and try.  The choir came and chatted with us too, so I got to meet one of the faces I've seen in many choir things.

So, 100g plain flour and 1 egg.  Mix it together until it forms a play dough sort of consistency (ooh, when was the last time I was in contact with play dough?!), knead it a bit.

 Divide it in half, squish it a bit.

Feed it through the roller bit, fold in half, and repeat for 3 goes. 

Then move the setting, one step at a time, up to 7.  It will be quite long...

Slice into 3 bits, and feed through the fettuccine end (or thinner option if you wish).

Take over to large pots of boiling water - it needed about a minute in the water before being removed with a big broad slotted spoon/ladle thingy.

Top with sauce and basil and parmesan, and enjoy while listening to the choir singing again.  Try not to slurp or slop sauce all over yourself or others around you. 

Dessert from Danielle was tiramisu with berries (yum!) but one of the choir, Bec (we go way back) had also made a dark chocolate and pretzel tart.  I think I've missed a word in that, but it's from the Donna Hay magazine and it was ... just... oh my.  The sort of rich chocolate-y goodness that makes you want to take the whole lot somewhere private and just gorge yourself.  I didn't, though.  I am getting the recipe, mind you - watch this space.

As originally hoped, this was a fabulous evening.  We could have paid the same amount for just a concert or just a cooking class, but to have them combined was superb.  The intimate, kitchen setting made it far more special than any vibe you get in a normal concert, and getting expert cooking tips from, well, experts, was handy.  Although I don't see a pasta-maker in my kitchen any time soon.

I would quite happily do this once a month, it was so good.  Fingers crossed for the next one!

Today's photo:

Walking down Ann St this morning, the bougainvillea were just so spring-like, bright pink against a blue sky.