One Pot Spaghetti Carbonara

This is becoming a tradition when we leave Hannah's family farm - a pasta before we hit the road - we have come to call it 'breakfast pasta' - as it is perfect for a late brekky and it's made with bacon and eggs!

This time I decided to cook it all in one pot - as we had delicious leg ham so it didn't need cooking like bacon. When the pasta was cooked and drained, back in the pot I tossed though the shredded ham, 3 lightly beaten eggs and heaps of parmasen cheese and butter. Stirred this threw and when the eggs were all creamy I threw in halved grape tomatoes and parsley. Topped with a bit more cheese and parsley - a drizzle of olive oil, I think this was the best one I had cooked. But then again, eating it on the verandah of a farm in the hunter valley may have had something to do with it.

Dory Schnitzels with Italian Bread Salad

I picked up some John Dory fillets and they were the perfect schnitzel shape so I decided to make a big batch of them and keep them in the freezer for when we felt like a schnitzel fix.

Hannah came up with this salad, based on those chunky italian paesanella salads made with leftover bread. We chargrilled red peppers, put on some peas with onion (which we always have with schnitzel) tore the bread up and warmed it in the oven with herbs, chilli and olive oil.

I decided to throw some rosemary, tyhme and garlic in the oil I was frying the schnitzels in to flavour them a bit more. It worked well as the herbs sealed to the fish. When they were cooked we tossed all the cooked salad ingredients with cos lettuce and threw some anchovies threw. Just squeazed lemon and a drizzle of olive oil as dressing. Almost felt like a healthy(ish) version of fish and chips!

Parpadelle (homemade) with Mushroom Ragu

We had not pulled out the pasta maker for a while and we cranked it up one chilly sunday as we had tray of mixed mushrooms to cook. And this really did not take long at all...and was worth the extra effort.

I had a small tray of mushrooms - oyster, shitake, field and straw. In a pot I fried them with some garlic, rosemary and salt and pepper, than once they sweated for a bit I added a lot of red wine - enough to cover them. Once this simmered for a bit with the lid on, I added a tin of tomatoes.

While that simmered away Hannah made the pasta dough - we tried spelt flour this time and decided for parpadelle. We used the same technique as lasagne, then just cut them into big thick strips. They cooked very quick but the spelt flour worked a treat - and the ragu was very creamy and rich - a perfect winter pasta.