aked in tomato sauce with mozzarella on top served with mashed potato & broccoli. This week we are eating the last of our broccoli from the garden. A friend suggested we cut the central florets as they were ready & leave the plants in to allow the side florets to develop. We have got an extra meal off each plant.
To make meatballs first soften a finely chopped onion with garlic, then combine with about 800g lean mince, 1/4 cup fresh white breadcrumbs (I crumb all our unused white bread & freeze so I always have some at the ready), 2tbsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp ground cumin, 1 tbsp chopped rosemary, 1 egg yolk, salt & pepper, sprinkling of chilli flakes, 1 tbsp grainy mustard. Essential ingredients are mince, breadcrumbs & egg. Everything else is optional - play with the flavours until you get the taste you like.Pat the mixture into meatballs the size you want. I use wet hands as it stops the
m from sticking to me. If you are making them in the morning you can cover with cling film & refrigerate for a day. Add the meatballs (at room temperature) to a thick bottomed shallow casserole & brown on all sides, in batches if necessary. Cover the meatballs with about 2 cups of tomato sauce, roughly torn basil leaves, broken up mozarella (remember Clevedon buffalo) and grated parmesan. Cook in the oven at 200 for about 20 minutes. Serve with mash & a seasonal green. I always use Agria potatoes for mash (they're such a pretty colour) and I usually mash with olive oil - try infused oils such as garlic or chilli. Or add a tsp of horseradish sauce or grainy mustard. If someone wants cheese, I just provide cheese & a grater at the table & they can add their own.
An alternative idea is meatballs with spaghetti. Then I cook the meatballs on a grill tray in the oven on fan grill (175) about 1/2 hour, turning once. Cook the spaghetti according to the packet then mix with your tomato sauce & add the meatballs. Serve with a seasonal salad.Another pasta dish I cooked this week was salmon tagliatelle. This is Peter's birthday dinner - everyone in our family has a birthday dinner, and I also make it for his homecoming meal 
when he's been away. He's just returned from 10 days in the UK. This feels like a glamorous dish & is so easy. I think there are boundless variations of this around but I learned this off a friend about 20 years ago. First put on your pasta water. Then in a heavy-bottomed pan heat about 300ml cream to almost boiling and add the juice & rind of half a lemon. Add 200g flaked smoked salmon, some black pepper, a pile of grated parmesan. Cook the pasta according to the packet - I use egg tagliatelle which takes about 4 minutes to cook. Divella is my favourite brand. Mix through with the salmon & serve sprinkled with fine-chopped parsley. You may have noticed I add parsley to everything because I love it and it makes even the dullest dish look interesting. Serve with a green salad.
m from sticking to me. If you are making them in the morning you can cover with cling film & refrigerate for a day. Add the meatballs (at room temperature) to a thick bottomed shallow casserole & brown on all sides, in batches if necessary. Cover the meatballs with about 2 cups of tomato sauce, roughly torn basil leaves, broken up mozarella (remember Clevedon buffalo) and grated parmesan. Cook in the oven at 200 for about 20 minutes. Serve with mash & a seasonal green. I always use Agria potatoes for mash (they're such a pretty colour) and I usually mash with olive oil - try infused oils such as garlic or chilli. Or add a tsp of horseradish sauce or grainy mustard. If someone wants cheese, I just provide cheese & a grater at the table & they can add their own.
An alternative idea is meatballs with spaghetti. Then I cook the meatballs on a grill tray in the oven on fan grill (175) about 1/2 hour, turning once. Cook the spaghetti according to the packet then mix with your tomato sauce & add the meatballs. Serve with a seasonal salad.Another pasta dish I cooked this week was salmon tagliatelle. This is Peter's birthday dinner - everyone in our family has a birthday dinner, and I also make it for his homecoming meal 
when he's been away. He's just returned from 10 days in the UK. This feels like a glamorous dish & is so easy. I think there are boundless variations of this around but I learned this off a friend about 20 years ago. First put on your pasta water. Then in a heavy-bottomed pan heat about 300ml cream to almost boiling and add the juice & rind of half a lemon. Add 200g flaked smoked salmon, some black pepper, a pile of grated parmesan. Cook the pasta according to the packet - I use egg tagliatelle which takes about 4 minutes to cook. Divella is my favourite brand. Mix through with the salmon & serve sprinkled with fine-chopped parsley. You may have noticed I add parsley to everything because I love it and it makes even the dullest dish look interesting. Serve with a green salad.
Toda
y at the market I bought some Rewena bread to eat with our soup for lunch. We had some Harira soup from the freezer (see blog entry June 1). It is quite sweet but dense & delicious. We've also been tasting Over the Moon cheeses. Try the triple cream brie & the goats cheeses. They also do cheesemaking courses in Putaruru & I am hoping a fellow cheese-lover may join me on a course one day.
If you want to treat a friend or loved one, buy them a Floriditas cupcake.
y at the market I bought some Rewena bread to eat with our soup for lunch. We had some Harira soup from the freezer (see blog entry June 1). It is quite sweet but dense & delicious. We've also been tasting Over the Moon cheeses. Try the triple cream brie & the goats cheeses. They also do cheesemaking courses in Putaruru & I am hoping a fellow cheese-lover may join me on a course one day.
If you want to treat a friend or loved one, buy them a Floriditas cupcake. 
Love the meatballs, a frequent request in our family. Would like to try the Taglitelle but dont cook with fish, what can I use as a substitute? Tried shredded chicken in other fish dihes, but was not nice, discovered adding lemon & lime to chicken not a good mix
ReplyDeleteI suspect you could just make the lemony, creamy pasta and just leave out the salmon. Try adding long thin ribbons of courgette. I also have a delicious spring dish I do with parma ham and peas and the thinnest ribbon pasta - tagliarini I think it's called. You don't want anything too dense with the egg pasts. Try a classic cabonara sauce. I'll do some more simple pasta dishes soon as I feel like them as spring comes. Have had good feedback on the salmon dish.
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