Italian Sausage Ragout (serves 4)

This meal is perfect for those weekday nights when you feel like something warm and hearty but don’t have the time to make a stew or casserole.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 gloves garlic, crushed
500g Italian Sausages, skins removed
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
1 cup red wine
400g can chopped tomatoes
Italian parsley, chopped
Shaved parmesan

Method
1. Heat oil in a hot frying pan and add onion and garlic. Cook until onion becomes translucent.
2. Add the sausage mince and cook until browned.
3. Add the rosemary and cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add the red wine and again, cook for 2 minutes to allow the alcohol to evaporate.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes, bring to the boil and reduce heat and allow the ragout to simmer for 5 minutes or until sauce reduces slightly to thicken.
6. Serve over pasta and top with a generous amount of parmesan and parsley

As you all know, I caved into the end of financial year sales (EOFYS!) and purchased the Kitchen Aid pasta attachment. Last weekend I gave it a test run and can I just say, it is fabulous. I went a little overboard with the amount of pasta and made quite a lot. As a result, my normal little wooden pasta hanging thing (that's its technical name) wasn’t big enough so I had to improvise and use the clothes horse. Now, little Colin loves pasta and he spent the whole evening circling,starving shark style, under the drying pasta. It was very cute.

Sarah/Donna Hay’s Raspberry- Spiked Chocolate Brownies

This recipe belongs to a friend of a friend, Sarah but it also happens to be a Donna Hay recipe. Sarah is a brilliant cook and I have had the pleasure of attending one of Sarah’s afternoons teas where she cooked up a storm. This recipe is no exception. I have modified the method a little to suit my tastes

Ingredients
200g dark (70%) chocolate
250g butter
1 ¾ cups (205g) brown sugar
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups (200g) plain flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/3cup (40g) cocoa powder sifted
1 ½ cups raspberries (I use frozen)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Line and grease a square 23cm cake tin.
3. Over a low heat, melt chocolate and butter in a small saucepan. Mix should be smooth and glossy when melted.
4. In a bowl, mix sugar and eggs until mixture in light and fluffy and the sugar has dissolved.
5. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa over sugar and egg mix, add the chocolate mix, and stir to combine (be careful not to over mix otherwise the dough will become tough).
6. Top with raspberries and push a few of them down into the middle of the mix.
7. Bake for 45mins or until set (should be fudgey in the middle).

Enjoy

The Grand New Financial Year Backflip

Remember my post from last week about the new financial year resolution, and how I said I will be saving my pennies for our upcoming overseas adventures? Well, forget about it and pretend that post never existed!

Yesterday I made a purchase. It wasn’t a huge purchase, but it wasn’t a small purchase either.... I bought a Florence Broadhurst print. It is really lovely and will look amazing in our bedroom above our bed. Look at the image above for a sneak peak of what the print looks like.

The print is fabric stretched over canvas.

I made the purchase online (god bless the internet) from Signature Prints in Sydney (http://www.signatureprints.com.au/). I will receive it in approx 3 weeks.

Signature Prints sell a wide range of other Florence Broadhurst prints, as well as fabric and wall paper. If you were clever (unlike me!) you could simply buy the fabric and stretch it over canvas yourself.

OK, I've got my Florence and my Kitchen Aid pasta attachment, enough spending!

I've done it!

I have taken advantage of the mid year sales and finally purchased myself the Kitchen Aid Pasta Roller & Fettuccine Cutter Attachment Set.

The attachment has the pasta roller which is perfect for making lasagne sheets, or pasta sheets for ravioli or pappardelle, and a fettuccine cutter.

As you would know from my previous posts, I have been day dreaming about owning this set for ages. I love pasta making and this set, together with my kitchen aid will certainly take out all of the elbow grease.

I bought the set online from Peters of Kensington (http://www.petersofkensington.com.au/)

Pasta anyone?

Food heroes

I was listening to Triple M’s The Cage a few weeks ago, and a listener shared a story about his son’s school project.

The boy’s project topic was “Who is your hero?” His answer? Well, it was:

“Steak!
I love steak because it is yum and it makes me happy. It is nice when well but a bit pink.”

In an era of badly behaved sporting heroes, and hypocritical and untrustworthy politicians, I reckon this kid is spot on the money. Non human heroes are a far safer bet!

My non human hero (besides bubble tea) would have to be carrot cake. It too is yum and makes me happy but I am also astounded by the fact that an ordinary vegetable could be so tasty in cake. Who came up with the idea? Genius.

I love the fact that every bite is like a little party in my mouth and everyone is invited. Come on over nuts, cinnamon, and cream cheese icing….

I only wish my beloved carrot cake was kinder to my thighs BUT I’m sure with all the carroty goodness, one serve of carrot cake would also be equivalent to one serve of vegetables. That’s probably the best justification of them all!

What is your non human hero?

An Ode to Bubble Tea

My work colleagues would appreciate this post more than anyone else because they witness, almost on a daily basis, my addiction to bubble tea.

What is bubble tea? Wikipedia defines bubble tea as “a sweetly flavored tea beverage. Drink recipes may vary, but most bubble teas contain a tea base mixed with fruit (or fruit syrup) and/or milk. Ice blended versions of the drink are also available, usually in fruit flavors.”

To this sweetly flavored tea beverage (I love that definition!) you add a choice of toppings which includes fruit jelly and pearls. Pearls would most accurately be described as little black balls of hard snot, but they are actually tapioca balls.

My bubble tea of choice is the honey milk tea with pearls. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. It’s sweet
2. It’s tasty
3. It makes me happy
4. It reminds me of a summer’s day
5. It’s an all in one beverage and snack
6. It could be used as a weapon (by shooting the pearls out the straw)

Happy 2010/2011

Happy (belated) new financial year!!! I get really excited around this time of year (probably not as excited as David Koch would be but more excited than the average person!!). Why this madness? Well, why not, there’s a lot to be excited about. There’s the end of financial year sales (hello Myer), tax cuts (thanks K Rudd), and it’s a time to make new financial year resolutions. What are my resolutions? To continue saving for our overseas adventures. We are off to Germany, Poland and France in October this year. We would also like to go to Norway and Denmark in the next couple of years so we will have to save our pennies for that.

I wish you all the best for the next 6 months and beyond!