Citrus Flavours

Citrus Flavours
Photo by Scott Bauer

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This blog has been designed to enlighten the world to sweet and savoury cusine. Personally, my favourite ingredient in cooking is citrus fruits, particually lemons, so I will try to inspire your inner chef to share the interesting flavour of lemons in the most indulgent cupcakes, muffins, cakes, slices, cookies and of course savoury dishes. My collection of recipes can be applied to any situation; formal or informal, in any case they are delicious and will interest your guests! Enjoy preparing and sharing the following recipes for what will be a memorable gathering with friends and family for any occassion.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Pasta with potato, beans and pesto

Recipe from Perfect PastaImages by Yasmin

Use the recipe for making pasta/fettuccine previously to enable this dish to be created. In this post I will show you one way to serve your homemade pasta. This recipe is vegi-licious! No meat required.


Ingredients:
  • 600g small new potatoes, halved or quartered
  • 250g broccoli, cut into small florets
  • 1/2 cup  shelled broad beans, peeled or 350-400g in pods
  • 175g fine green beens, topped and tailed
  • 2 zucchini, cut into bite-sized chunks
  • 300g fettuccine or tubular and hollow pasta shapes (homemade)
  • sprigs of fresh basil to garnish
For Pesto:
  • 3-5 cloves garlic, coarsley chopped
  • 2 tblsp pine nuts
  • 100g fresh basil leaves
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated parnesan
  • 2 tblsp olive oil
  • 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
  • salt

Method:
Cook the potatoes in boiling water for about 15 minutes or until they are tender but not soft. Add the broccoli, broad bean, green beans and zucchini, simmer together for a further 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the homemade pasta in boiling water for 2-4 minutes or until al dente. If not using homemade pasta, cook in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.

Make the pesto while the vegetbles and pasta are cooking. Using a food processor, add all ingredients except for the oil and whiz to paste. Gradually add the oil through the feed tube with the motor running.
Drain the pasta and vetgetables  and toss both together. Top with the pesto, garnish with sprigs of basil, scattering them over the top. Serve immediately.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Homemade Pasta

Recipe and Images by Yasmin

For my birthday last year I received a pasta machine!!! However, these holidays have been the only opportunity thus far to use the machine and make my very own fettuccine!!! As a first timer, my first tip is to give yourself PLENTY of time before the designated dinner time to prepare the meal. My second tip is to prepare pasta with another person, I find that it is helpful to have two sets of hands rather than one. My third tip is two lightly flour both sides of the rolled out pasta before putting it through the part of the machine which cuts the pasta. This ensures that the pasta won't become stuck in the machine and bunch up when coming out because it is stuck to the sides. Taking all of these tips into account when making pasta is VERY helpful. Upon my second attempt this holiday at making pasta I produced the perfect fettuccine! My friend and I were dancing around the house we were so excited!!! The fettuccine we produced was picture perfect! Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the pasta before cooking it; however, the first time I made pasta I did take photos before cooking it. This means you will see the not so perfect first attempt at pasta rather than the picture perfect pasta, but it all tastes good anyway! I hope you are all successful in your attempts at making pasta. The best part about pasta is that you can add anything to it to serve. However, before I teach you how to make a meal out of pasta, I will devote this post to mearly teaching you how to prepare and cook plain fettuccine. Enjoy!

Before beginning the Recipe I would like to type out an excert from my new pasta recipe book which explains the ingredients.

Flour Special flour for making pasta may be 100% durum wheat semolina, such as an aithentic Italian flour called doppio zero (double zero). Other types may be a combination of durum wheat semolina and ordinary flour. Alternatively, use unbleached strong (bread) plain flour or plain wholemeal flour, or a mixture of unbleached strong plain flour and buckwheat  or rice flour. A small portion of soya flour will boost the protein content of the pasta.

Eggs Although much commercial pasta is made with just flour and water, most homemade pasta includes eggs. Standard medium eggs are ideal.

Oil Olive oil is authentic. Since the amount used is small, it Will not have a great impact on the fat content of a dish.
Salt fine sea salt offers the best flavour.



Fettuccine


Ingredients:
  • 500g bakers flour
  • 4 eggs or 320ml of water

Method:
The basic recipe per person is: approx. 125g of wheat flour and 1 egg (at room temperature). For 4 people, this equates to 500g of wheat flour and 4 eggs. Water can also be used in place of eggs. 1 egg = approx. 80 ml of water. For this particular recipe do not add any salt.

Pour the flour into a bowl and add the eggs/water into the middle of the flour. Mix the eggs with a fork until they are completely blended with the flour. Knead the mixture with your hands until it is completely homogenous and consistent. If the mixture is too dry add some water. If the mixture is to moist or soft and some flour. Remove the mixture from the bowl and place it on a lightly floured table. Cut the piece of dough into smaller and more manageable sized chunks before putting it through the pasta machine.


If you don't own a pasta machine simply roll the dough with a rolling pin and cut it into long thin strips of pasta.

When using the pasta machine, simply feed it through the rolling end a few times to ensure it is thin and smooth (with no holes or bubbles). Then lightly flour it both sides before feeding it through the cutting blades. This ensures the perfect slices of fettuccine. Repeat this step until all of the dough has been used.

Boil water in a big saucepan. Once the water has come to the boil, add the fettuccine. Cook the fettuccine on high for 2-4 minutes. Drain the fettuccine and place in a bowl for flavouring which will be found in the next post.