A Pretend Chef

I found the recipe for this Italian crowd pleaser in an edition of Australian Gourmet Traveller and since then I've prepared it every year, usually during winter. It feeds a small army and is perfect for a family gathering washed down with a nice Chianti. It's a labour of love but well worth the effort. If serving for a dinner party I start prep in the morning. This recipe is re-written directly from the one published in the May 2006 Australian Gourmet Traveller (p. 107) and I have slightly tweaked it to my preference. Serves 8-12 people. Ingredients 500 gm bucatini or spagetti pasta, cooked 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled 2 cups cooked green peas 2 cacciatore sausages thinly sliced 2 balls of fresh mozzarella, sliced 150 gm grated parmesan cheese 1 cup of tomato passata  1 beaten egg with a tbs of milk added For the pastry 500 gm strong plain white flour 125 gm cold unsalted butter, chopped 2 tbs caster sugar 1 tbs extra virgin olive oi...

It's not winter yet, however I've just returned to a cold wet Sydney after a week on Koh Samui in Thailand and it feels like winter. So what's one of the best things to eat on an unusually cool and wet Summer's night that feels like winter? A hearty, chunky bowl of Italian inspired soup. The great thing about this style of soup is you don't need to be exact. You can add various vegetables you happen to have sitting around in the fridge. I serve this sprinkled with some freshly grated parmesan and sometimes some chilli. It's also nice with some squeezed lemon juice over the top. Ingredients 1 medium sized onion, roughly chopped 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 carrot, peeled and diced 1 stalk of celery, de-strung and diced 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 large red chilli, halved and de-seeded 1 fresh bay leaf 3 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks (good waxy potatoes that won't disintegrate such as desiree are perfect) 1 cup of p...

This is possibly my favourite pasta sauce and is dead simple to make. I got the idea of a roast tomato sauce from Stephanie Alexander's legendary cookbook, The Cook's Companion. You can leave out the sausage and use the base sauce with any number of meats, particularly seafood. Roasting the sauce gives a slightly sweet caramelised effect. Serves 4 Ingredients 500g freshly cooked pasta 2 large or 4 small cacciatore sausages (I prefer the hot variety) diced into small pieces 10 roma tomatoes, roughly chopped 1 medium spanish onion, roughly chopped 1 medium brown onion, roughly chopped 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 60ml extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon olive oil 2 fresh bay leaves 1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley pinch of salt & pepper to taste Freshly grated parmesan cheese to serve Method 1. Pre-heat fan forced oven to 180C 2. Place tomatoes, onion, garlic, bay leaves, and extra virgin olive oil in a large baking dish, mix very well by hand, ...

This is a variation on a recipe featured in Gourmet Traveller from Giovanni Pilu of Pilu's at Freshwater http://gourmettraveller.com.au/malloredus_alla_campidanese.htm Ingredients 1 x celery stick (string removed) finely chopped 1 x carrot, peeled and finely chopped 1 x medium sized onion finely chopped 1 x garlic clove finely chopped 5 x pork & fennel sausages (or italian pork sausages), skin removed 1/2 cup of dry white wine 1 x sprig of rosemary leaves, finely chopped 2 x tbls tomato paste 1 x 400g tin of diced tomatoes 1 x cup roughly chopped Cavolo nero 5 x basil leaves torn 2 tbls olive oil 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 tspn sugar 500g dried penne pasta Grated Parmigiano Reggiano to serve Method In a heavy based frying pan, fry on medium-high heat onion, celery, carrot, garlic and rosemary in the olive oil for 5-7 minutes or until soft. Add sausage to the pan and break up with back of a wooden spoon. Fry for 5 minutes until slightly brown. Add tomato paste and fry fu...