Making your own pasta

Making your own pasta sounds like a daunting task but it's well worth the effort when you allow yourself time. I first started making mine with the help of a rolling pin, my family could tell the difference from when I serve them shop bought pasta so I decided to make it a habit of making my own pasta everytime (which is about once a fortnight).

Today my husband's son visited us after a few weeks, the kids had missed him and they were so happy to see their eldest brother. They decided to show off mommy's cooking skills and asked me to make pasta for big brother (this was 6:30pm). Mommy had no choice but to oblige to the request and here is the result.

275g grade00 flour
3 eggs
2 garlic cloves crushed
Handful fresh parsley chopped

Mix together flour, garlic and parsley, make a well in the middle and add eggs
Using fork; gradually gather flour mixture from the edges to form a dough
Knead until smooth.
Divide dough into three balls and allow to stand for thirty minutes.

Roll out dough to 1mm thickness and cut into thin strips. Alternatively use pasta machine and use the tagliatelle attachment to cut your pasta.
Cook pasta for three to five minutes and serve with sauce of choice, pesto, creamy salmon, creamy chicken or whatever you have.

Tagliatelle pasta with creamy chicken sauce and blanched cherry tomatoes.

Blackberry and raspberry cheesecake to die for

Having foodie children means I am forever in the kitchen thinking and analysing meals and trying to remember what we had last night so I do not duplicate the same meal twice in one week. NO NO NO, I wouldn't be allowed to get away with such crime.

Today was Rocco's turn to decide my fate on dessert execution so he asked for a cheesecake. Phew, at least it's not Talya's complicated dishes some of which I have never heard of

So:
In went the 200g of crushed milk chocolate digestives
Added a tablespoon of caster sugar plus juice of half a lime
In went 50g of melted butter and I mixed the whole lot

Transfer the crushed biscuit mixture into a lined springform cake tin and chill for at least one hour.

Out came 300mls of double cream from the fridge, whip the cream to just about firm
250g mascarpone cheese plus 2tbs caster sugar and 1tsp vanilla extract, whisk these till nice and soft.
Mix cream and cheese together and later on top of the biscuit base

Get a punnet of whatever soft fruits you have in the fridge (I had raspberries and blackberries) and decorate the cake.
Reserve some of the fruit to make a coulis and drizzle on top of cake slices just before serving.

INGENIOUS

Blackberry and raspberry cheesecake on milk chocolate digestive base.

Slice fit for a prince

And this how he ate it 😋

Amarula and strawberry icecream

i know there is a lot of controversy when it comes to cooking with children. What age is considered right to allow your children to be in the kitchen with you? My answer would be as long as you think the children are sensible enough, interested enough and know not to initiate any cooking without supervision, then they are ready.

My girl wanted to make icecream, so we went into the kitchen together and before you know it, the brother came and joined in. This is how it went:

225g chopped strawberries, 2 tbs caster sugar, put both ingredients into a pan and soften on hob, strain the juices and set aside.

Whisk 2 eggs, 4 egg yolks and 185g caster sugar together in a glass bowl, place over pan of simmering water and continue whisking for 3-4minutes till custard is thick and pale. Remove from hob and set aside.

Whisk 600mls of double cream till it forms soft peaks, add to the custard and fold gently. Transfer to icecream machine and churn for 25minutes then add the strawberry coulis before transferring to a container and freeze for at least 2hours. If you do not have an icecream maker, transfer the icecream into a frees able container and freeze for at least six hours. Yum yum.

With sprinkles on top.

Beautiful summer day

It is a beautiful morning and promising to be a nicer day compared to yesterday. I would like to go out with the children and get out of the way of this building palaver but my children have other ideas. Ryan has asked me to make Eton Mess "because it's summer mommy and we have strawberries, besides we haven't had it at all this year"

This is what you get when your children are foodies. Eton Mess is of course an English dessert which originated from Eton College when the boys dropped the pavlova they were taking to the Principal, they had nothing else to give so they grouped up the mess nicely and presented it to the poor guy and Eton Mess was born.

I will and shall be making it for dessert this evening as per request from my non-paying customers. On one condition; they clean their bedrooms while I make the meringue which we will leave in the oven as we go out for lunch and a tumble in the woods and sitting by the ponds enjoying The beautiful weather.

We will share with you our mess later. 😘🍧🍧

Luscious Eton Mess

(Apologies for the delay in posting it; we were busy enjoying it)

Midweek feast 30 minute style

Getting home, I'm short of time children need to play with mommy, they need a shower, dinner needs cooking; (swoon) all this camaraderie can send one into stress mode. So, because I'm not just a mom I'm a super mom (I'm always ready for such evenings).

I had marinaded some beef ribs last night and left them in fridge, I had no idea what I was going to serve them with. Monday being Monday, one can never guarantee a smooth day at work so I was prepared for a late finish. I got home at 1700hours, played with the kids a bit when one of them started asking for an apple I took that as a cue to start dinner. Potatoes went on, chocolate brownies got shoved in the oven for dessert and tea accompaniment for the builders, then I sprinted upstairs to assist with showers. Left the kids to get dress and bumped my way down to mix up some salad, and boil some corn. The whole meal (dinner and starter) were done in thirty minutes (no kidding).

Beef short ribs with salad, mini baby potatoes and corn on the cob.

450g short ribs
50g ginger peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion chopped
1tbs granulated sugar
3tbs dark muscovado
2tbs soy sauce
1tbs soya paste
2tbs plain flour
1roasted red pepper peeled and deseeded and roughly chopped
Dash vegetable oil
Dash of barley malt vinegar

Method

Mix the garlic, onion, ginger and pepper and blitz into a paste, add the rest of the ingredients and blend.
Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a large bowl
Add the ribs and marinade overnight or at least 30minutes
 Fry the ribs for about 6-8minutes (flash fry).

Not bad for a busy Monday, in fact very very good for a busy evening.

Oh dessert so yummy

So we had vanilla and white chocolate creme brûlée, Haagen-Dazs ice cream and grilled pineapple for dessert. It was so yummy that I had my eye on the second creme brûlée but my little girl got there first to the disappointment of the two brothers who felt they had been dealt an unfair card (everyone wanted it).

All smiles

Plateful of yumminess

Celebrating English asparagus

I spent roughly 10minutes cleaning these tiny spears, not that I needed to but because I wanted to enjoy the English produce t its freshest. I did not have to cook them, just blanched them in salty water for ninety seconds then shook them in a lil bit of hot butter. This was accompanied by New Jersey royal potatoes, creamy mushroom sauce and rump steak fried in orange and juniper berries butter.