Napoletana Sauce - Versatility...

There is nothing more soothing than a hot bowl of pasta. Napoletana Sauce is incredibly versatile and you will find I will use it often in my recipes. Make a big pot of it and freeze it in portions - you will not regret it I promise you.

This recipe I gleaned about 20 years ago from a book called Mamma Vittoria's Pasta Cookbook.

I use fresh home grown tomatoes where I can otherwise I use canned from Australia ('cause I am Australian if you hadn't worked that out). The garlic is strong and aromatic and is also grown in my own garden. Please do not buy garlic from China, there are questions about the fertilizers they use and the effects on our health. If you can grow your own or buy local produce.

The basil is also home grown and if out of season I always have plenty of leaves that I have dried. Parsley is forever abundant in my garden.

Ingredients:
4 cups of peeled tomatos (canned in their own juice is fine if fresh is not available)
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tbsp chopped parsley finely chopped
2 basil leaves chopped
2 tbsp light olive oil (or sunflower oil)
1 cup tomato paste
Water

Method:
1. Puree tomatoes in their juice (I use a stick blender but pushing them through a sieve works ok too)
2. Add the oil to a large pot and heat on a medium heat
3. Add crushed garlic and cook until aromatic and golden
4. Add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes
5. Add tomato paste and mix well
6. Add water to at least 4 fingers above mixture
7. Stir in herbs
8. Bring to boil then simmer for about 60 minutes
9. The sauce should have thickened
10. Add salt and pepper to taste

Hint: If the sauce is a little tart sprinkle 1/4 tsp of sugar into the sauce

Dinner on a shoestring

A couple of times a week my husband is not home for dinner so I just pick or graze during the day. I ensure he has a good hearty lunch with him that usually consists of leftovers.

So instead of getting dinner for 2 I just cooked last night for the freezer - Meatballs, Napolitana Sauce and Shortbread (well that wasn't for the freezer). I will post the shortbread recipe some time soon, maybe next time I make it.

Dessert in a Hurry: Fruity Cream Cake

 Whipping up a dessert in a hurry is a wonderful way to finish a good meal. This dessert looks terrific and tastes devine yet it is sooo simple. I guarantee you it will take less than 10 minutes to do (if that) and everybody will love it!

Ingredients:
Canned fruit of choice ( choose slices or halves in juice)
Whipped cream - whip it very stiff
Vanilla Butter Cake - click here for recipe (or any other plain cake you desire)
Icing sugar

Method:
1. Cut a thick slice of cake in an oblong shape
2. Top with fruit slices
3. Top with whipped cream
4. Top with another slice of cake
5. Sprinkle with icing sugar to finish

Vanilla Butter Cake - Simplicity

My husband loves to have cake for his morning tea so I find myself often having to rustle up a cake fast. If I am in the mood I often double the recipe and cut the cakes into halves and freeze them. I love my trusty freezer as it is always full of something that can be used at a moments notice.

This vanilla butter cake is a big favorite. I have changed it slightly from the original recipe in the Womans Weekly Cakes and Slices book from the 1980's.

I use a silicone loaf pan for this recipe - they are fast and easy to use and clean.

I will post a great little fast dessert recipe also using this cake. Yum.

Ingredients:
125g butter
1 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract (do not compromise it is really yukky)
3/4 cups of caster sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 self raising flour
3/4 cup milk

Heat oven to 180 degrees c


Method:
1. Using a mixer beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy
2. Add the eggs on low speed one at a time
3. Add the flour and milk
4. Mix until smooth
5. Pour into loaf pan and lightly smooth the top
6. Bake for about 40 minutes then using a skewer and check if cooked. If not then cook for another 5 minutes and recheck.
7. When cooked leave to cool slightly in pan before turning out onto a cooking rack.

Italian Bread Rolls - Great for Hamburgers

I was not sure whether to do hamburgers last night so I decided to make some Italian Bread rolls just in case. The firmness of the roll allows you to keep a hamburger together easier. But, they are great for lunches and toasted.

The great thing about bread rolls is they are very economical. I wrap them in cling wrap and place them in the freezer and use them for my husbands lunch. The defrost beautifully.

Ingredients:

1 tsp dry yeast
400g bread flour (don't use plain flour the results will not be the same)
1 1/2 tsp salt
20ml virgin olive oil
260ml water

Method:

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. Make a well in the middle and mix the ingredients with your hands.
3. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky
4. Tip the mix onto a floured bench and with floured hands knead until smooth
5. Place back into lightly oiled mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap.
6. Leave in a warm place for 30-40 minutes until doubled in size
7. Punch the air out of the dough and tip onto a floured bench and kneed lightly
8. Roll into sausage about 30cm long
9. Cut into 6 equal pieces and roll into balls - don't get to precious about it though, the joy of home cooking is it does not have to look perfect every time and different sizes cater for different appetites.
10. Place on a baking tray and cover with a slightly damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size and starting to collapse a little (this will give a slightly flatter roll).
9. Heat oven to 200 degrees c and bake rolls for 10 minutes until golden or the rolls sounds hollow when tapped.
10. Cool on on an rack.

If you have a bread machine: Just follow the instructions for your bread maker. Use the bread dough program if you have one.

If you have a mixer with a dough hook: Only recommended if you have a Kitchenaid or Kenwood type mixer as they can handle the work. Use the mixer for steps 1 - 4.

A Fast Loaf of White Bread with fibre added

Yesterday I made a loaf of white bread with a little extra fibre. There is nothing like a loaf of bread that is warm, crusty and just minutes old. You will be hard pressed to buy that in a shop but what is more I use no preservatives or numbered additives.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
420g bread flour (don't use plain flour the results will not be the same)
1 tbsp milk powder
1 3/4 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
15ml sunflower oil
2 tbsp psyllium husks (available the health food section in the supermarket)
320ml water

Method:

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
2. Make a well in the middle and mix the ingredients with your hands.
3. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky
4. Tip the mix onto a floured bench and with floured hands knead until smooth
5. Place back into lightly oiled mixing bowl and cover with cling wrap.
6. Leave in a warm place for 30-40 minutes until doubled in size
7. Punch the air out of the dough and tip onto a floured bench and kneed lightly
8. Place in a loaf pan and place in a warm place for 1 hour
9. Heat oven to 200 degrees c and bake loaf for 10 minutes then turn heat down to 180 degrees c and back until golden or it sounds hollow when tapped.
10. Cool on on an rack.


If you have a bread machine: Just follow the instructions for your bread maker. Use the rapid bread option if you have one

If you have a mixer with a dough hook: Only recommended if you have a Kitchenaid or Kenwood type mixer as they can handle the work. Use the mixer for steps 1 - 4.

Hideously Lazy

What a lazy day it has been. I really should have done so much more. When I say lazy dinner was just a rustle up of leftovers. But, like most days I did cook: a loaf of bread, 6 Italian bread rolls and a vanilla butter cake.

Lunch was a delight though. Fresh bread (home made of course), with ham, sliced hard boiled egg, mayonnaise and avocado (my husband calls avocado Irish butter).

For dinner I fed my husband a pizza that I had made extra last night but not cooked and I just had a simple left over of Moroccan Sausage Roll and fresh Italian bread roll with cheese and danish salami.

Nights like this are good because I can scrounge for food that is left over in the fridge and create meals from almost nothing.


But we are having dessert tonight which isn't usual. There are left over canned peaches in the fridge, whipped cream and I have made a yummy vanilla butter cake. So there will be a layer of cake, followed by peaches and topped with whipped cream. Yum.

Pikelets - for a fast afternoon tea

Being unmotivated to cook the biscuits I planned and liking our traditional Sunday afternoon tea yesterday I opted for Pikelets.

I remember Mum making pikelets when I was a kid when my Nan and Pa suddenly came to visit. They always went down a treat. Fast and yummy. Spread them with butter and top with strawberry jam and if you feel really naughty whipped cream.

My husband loves them simply spread with butter and I have a love of the low sugar all fruit strawberry jams on top.

Ingredients:
1 cup SR Flour
1/4 tsp bicarb soda
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vinegar
2 tsp softened butter

Method:

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
2. Make a well in the center and  add the wet ingredients
3. Mix until smooth
4. Leave stand for 30 minutes
5. Heat a heavy based fry pan and spray with sunflower oil
6. When super hot with a paper towel wipe out the pan
7. Keep the pan on the heat but turn it down to medium low
8. Add tablespoon fulls of batter into the pan and leave until bubbley on top with a dry look
9. Turn over and brown the other side
10. On a clean tea towel over a cake rack place each pikelet and cover to keep warm. Keep doing this to the batter is used.

Note: If you have a stick mixer you can gently mix the ingredients together.