Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Spaghettini with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil

I knew if I kept going I'd have some success. This is another recipe from 30 Minute Pasta.

I thought the recipe was off to a good start when it called for a lot of tomatoes (more than the other pasta recipes from this book). Rather than peel with the peeler, I crossed them on the bottom and put them in hot water until their skins were easily peeled.

Lots of garlic. I was alarmed. Then I read Guiliano's reassurance that I shouldn't be alarmed.

Basil, but not too much, added at the end.

"It tastes like a dream", was my first comment. Things continued from there.

30 Minute Pasta comes through with the goods yet again. This is going into my stash. Using fresh tomatoes is completely different to using canned.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Spaghetti alla puttanesca

I seem to be drifting a little from Essentials. Tonight I tried Spaghetti alla puttanesca - Whore's Pasta, from 30 Minute Pasta. I've wanted to make this one for a while.

The sauce was promising, although I fear anchovies. Perhaps my problem was I mixed the full 440g of pasta into the sauce, and it was spread to thin.

Either way it didn't really work for me, and goes in the flop category. Perhaps I should try again from Marcella's Essentials and return to the source.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Pot Roast Braised with Butternut Squash (Pumpkin)

This is a recipe from Every Night Italian. I've wanted to make it a while.

Australians don't have the pot-roast tradition of the Americans, French and Italian. We roast our beef like the English. And it does taste good.

Nonetheless I wanted to try this one out. I do like Butternut Pumpkin. And love a beef stew, properly cooked.

Unfortunately this recipe did not fly for me. My chuck beef was a little stringy, and the pumpkin tasted like, well, beef.

I won't be cooking it again. I'm not sure if I failed in the execution or if this is what it is supposed to taste like.

I'll give the Alice Waters pot roast a try. Or indeed, Marcella's.