Taking a Leek

I knew I had been a bit slack lately (slash unbelievably busy), but it wasn't until I finally cooked that I realised just how long it had been! Last night I was back in the kitchen and ready to make fresh pasta and cook Leeky Streaky Cheeky Freaky for Naomi to do my August review!

I was pretty excited about this for two reasons:

1. Naomi is a trained journalist so I feel I can trust her review and;

2. I had intended to cook this exact meal for Belle two weeks ago but we decided to get drunk and order pizza instead!

This recipe is one that Sian stole from Jamie Oliver (Jay as Sian has now started referring to him) and it seemed pretty interesting. I was nervous to go to the shop on my own as I wasn't entirely convinced I knew what a leek was but I did and it was all OK (and Sian came anyway).

Since Naomi was coming over, Sian and I bought some biscuits and dip to have out for when she arrived – only problem was, we’d finished it all before Naomi even got there and did not feel good about ourselves. This is the sort of royal treatment you receive when dining at The Fort!

I was making the pasta from scratch which was really fun as I had wanted to try this for some time but never had. Sian's basic theory is one egg for every 100g of flour. This didn't really work for me for some reason, so we added another yolk and a bit of oil to the mixture to help it stay together.

The Leek mixture wasn’t too complicated. We adjusted the amounts slightly, and couldn’t find parma ham so just used bacon, but I don’t think that matters. The recipe called for white wine, so I used some out of a goon bag we had on the balcony (I can only assume this was Ange’s).

By the time the leek mixture was simmering on the stove, the pasta had rested and I was ready to start rolling it through the machine. This was really fun. Sian had to show me how to do it, but it was really simple and fun to play with the dough and watch it change texture. Naomi got to experience just how bad I am at talking about one thing and concentrating on another – and the story that should have taken me five minutes to tell, quite literally took me maybe 45 minutes!

After we'd slow cooked the leeks with the bacon blanket on top, the next step is to cut up the bacon and put it back in the mixture with the cheese and stir it all up. Instead of chopping the bacon, I decided to chop my thumb. It was one of those weird ones where I literally watched the knife slicing my thumb. It’s a pretty deep cut and I’ve even managed to cut the nail which is not great. So, unfortunately I had to stand back and try to stop the insane amount of blood, while Sian finished cutting the bacon and served it all up. Naomi was not impressed with Sian’s serving skills, but it all looked and smelt really good to me.

The first bite I had I thought it was really salty (something I never think!) but after that I thought it was totally amazingly delicious. My pasta was so yum and totally different to dried pasta. I ate a shit load and then we had ice-cream and I ended up feeling sick (a good indication of how much I ate is that I put on a kilo in 24 hours)!

It was a nice night. Sian forgot how to make an inappropriate joke, Naomi got to have a go at rolling the pasta and we talked about farting and burping and dating and everyone we know (while Sian played Farkle – she’s obsessed and pathetic).

Tips: Have a go at making the pasta – it wasn’t hard and was really fun and so much more delicious than dried pasta.

Music: Gnarles barkley, Gorillaz, Gotye

La la la la la lasanga

Gianna's Lasagne – 16 July 2011

Since I got this book, I’ve been waiting and waiting for the opportunity to try Gianna’s Lasgane. For some reason I knew it would be amazing and it’s a recipe from a real Italian family so I had faith in this recipe! Sian was slightly devastated because she wasn't going to be home for the actual eating of it, but I finally had a weekend when I had the time so I just cooked it anyway.

I invited Jen over for dinner and a movie. We were meant to be going out, but I changed the plans - had I been told last year I'd ever cancel plans to invite someone over and actually cook for them, I would never have believed it.

So, I got started. Gianna had said the most important thing was to chop the onion 'very very finely'. Not only did she write this in the recipe, but she also said ‘it’s very important’, so chop I did - for ages, to the point where I was amusing myself by chopping in time with the music. Interesting fact: I was wearing my glasses at first and was crying like a baby. I went away, popped my contacts in and no tears at all, it's bizarre. I've been told it makes no sense, but it works.

Anyway, everything else seemed to go ok. I had everything 'mise en place' as Sian says and I just combined it all up. Sian mocked me relentlessly about my stirring... as usual, but it was fine. It was all combined and simmering for an hour. It was around this time I realised I’d made a big mistake! I had just cooked Italian for a real life (second generation) Italian. Fool!

I was really nervous about making the béchamel sauce as I know it can go wrong, so I made Sian literally stand right at my side to help me. It was ok though. My arm got sore from all the mixing, but apart from constantly saying to Sian 'Is the right? Is this right? What's it meant to look like?' it seemed to go ok.

I layered it all up, meat, boccincini, lasagne, Bertolli sauce - Easy. I had a slight problem with one layer when I must have tipped the jar a bit hard and about 17 litres of Bertolli sauce flooded the dish and Sian absolutely lost the plot laughing at me while I had to scoop it back into the jar.

It smelt amazing. It was in the oven for 40 minutes and seemed to be cooked through and melted and yum! I served it up to Jen's oohing and aahing and we were good to go. It was really good. Really tasty and juicy and just amazing (tickets much?). I was so proud of myself. Gianna sure does know how to make me look good!

Jen kept telling me how nice it was which was cool - I should invite her over more often!

"It's ok," she told me "I do this over the food I cook too, even when no one else seems to enjoy it" Brilliant. Wait til she sees the dessert I made her!

Tips: Go heavy on the Bertolli, it was so deliciously juicy.
Music: Mix of songs from Triple J new music podcast.

The best kind of Spaghetti Arms

13^th February 2011 – Sian’s Perfect Spaggy Bol

February is going to be slightly challenging I think. Having an amazing holiday has really put me behind… woe is me! Bali was amazing, many hundreds of good times were had.

So I kicked off February with Sian’s Perfect Spaggy Bol. No trouble finding or pronouncing any of the ingredients this time which is handy! Alex was coming over to have dinner with me and watch Loser (still the best show in the history of television).

Turned the music up crazy loud and probably drove my neighbours mad as I have only five Yves songs and was listening to them on repeat (while singing loudly in jibberish as I am TERRIBLE at knowing what songs are saying).

Note to self: your chopping skills really aren’t good enough for you to dance while chopping – disaster waiting to happen.

Note to Sian: My stirring skills are greatly improved by my dancing – you’d probably be impressed.

Everything seemed to go smoothly – I didn’t use red wine as I had no money left to buy any (probably due to the rest of the weekend’s alcohol consumption) so used a combo of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar instead.

Seemed to go OK. I got confused because I didn’t have my recipe and when Sian wrote a new one out, she forgot to put on the different heats so I didn’t know when I was on a high heat, low heat, simmering etc. Was v. confusing.

I didn’t know what to tie the herbs with and they fell apart so it ended up tasting very rosemary-y, but apart from that I thought it was delicious.

Al said it was nice but she didn’t know what it was meant to taste like, but Sian knows and she said it was yum so… SUCCESS!

Tips: I didn’t know what to tie the herbs together with, and they all fell apart. Purchase some string (not blue, learn from Bridget’s mistakes). Also, we like a high fibre non-wholemeal pasta – keeps everything working in order and tastes the same.

Music: Yves Klein Blue.

Make the dinner Cinderella, Stir it properly Cinderella

6th January 2011 – Jenna’s Pumpkin and Ricotta Fettuccini.

Last week of holidays and have been totally bored out of my brains! The nights have been busy and fun, but the days have been slightly dulls-ville.

Went to culture club on Monday and got four new recipes. Was very cute, they came with printouts from home to write in to the book (in their best handwriting).

Invited Alex over for dinner to try Jenna’s Pumpkin and Ricotta Fettuccini. Everyone has been really excited about this dish. It’s often the one that people pick out of the book and comment on.

Couldn’t find pine nuts in Coles, so decided to leave them out. The recipe went pretty well, but there was a shit load! I had to get Sian to come and help me stir it all through because I was spilling it all over the stove which was gross.

She’s always mocked me for the way I stir, I didn’t know there was a right way and a wrong way, I just thought you stirred, but apparently I can’t do it.

So anyway, we sat down to eat and I had the shits. I thought it didn’t taste like anything. I said to Al and Sian ‘tell me your honest opinions, I won’t get offended’ and then proceeded to get offended about it!

I didn’t think there was much taste to it unless I got a bit of everything on every fork, then it was delicious. That night, when I got home from the pub after seeing Lauren (who I hadn’t seen in five years!), I tried some more. It was quite nice. I think it tastes better without the pressure of other people eating and judging it, and without my sobriety!

Anyway, I’ll try it again in a few weeks (a new batch, pretty sure it won’t age well) and make a few changes to see how I go.

Saw Jenna on Friday night and she was devo that I didn’t love her recipe. I’d like to taste her version of it so I could see what hers is like. The good news is, we were at Music Trivia and won a packet of Twisties (if only they were Fonzies). I got four recipes that night and another one at Sydney Fest on Saturday. Lots of good stuff coming up!

Tips: I bought sundried tomatoes from the deli instead of a jar and didn’t use enough. I think I had about 100grams and I reckon I’d use 300 or more next time. Especially since Sian picked them all out and I didn’t get any!

Music: Muse.