The Italian Job

Oh. My. Goodness.

I'm not hung over - honestly! Just not firing on all four cylinders quite yet. Entirely self inflicted, except for the extra generous triple measures of booze certain people were pouring ... you know who you are, hang your heads in shame ... if you can lift them off the pillow that is ;0(

Needless to say last night was great fun. Trying to play 'Scene It' on the X Box and half one in the morning and read the writing on the screen was a bit of a challenge but fun none the less. And as expected, I did forget to take photo's of the finished dishes but I'm still posting them cause they were yummy and I'll want to make them again at some point.

Homemade Pasta

250g pasta flour

3 large eggs

Sift the flour into a mound onto a work surface, or into a large bowl. Break the eggs into the centre. Blend eggs into flour with a fork, then use your hand to slowly work in flour until a paste forms in the middle. Keep going, until you have a rough textured dough.

Dust the work surface and your hands with flour. Hold dough with one hand, push down and away from you with the heel of the other hand, then fold back towards you. Repeat for a good 5 mins, then cover and leave for 15 mins.

Cut or shape the pasta for your recipe and spread out on a floured surface until required.

Add salt to a large pan of water and bring to a vigorous boil. Add pasta and continue boiling for 5 -12 mins or until cooked. Drain the pasta, add a dash of olive oil and serve as required.

This recipe made enough to make the lasagne with a lot leftover that I should have thought about drying for later use. The dough itself was really smooth and easy to work with, the jury is still out about the finished product though. I felt it was slightly firmer than the fresh pasta sheets you can buy at the store now days but nobody else knew that the lasagne sheets had been homemade until I told them. I think they were being polite!

Roasted Tomato Salad

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C. Put 500g cherry tomatoes, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tbsp olive oil and several thyme sprigs into a small roasting tin. Season and mix together. Roast for 5-8 mins, then cool.

Serves 4 as a side dish

Good Food Italian Magazine

The smell of this cooking was amazing. It did take me much longer than the stated 5-8 mins (closer to 15-20 mins) to get the tomatoes to a 'roasted' state but that could be that they weren't as ripe as they maybe should have been. I think I would prefer to have this warm as opposed to cold next time, although for a picnic or a barbie in summer cold would be fine.

I was going to serve the lasagne with a Garlic and Rosemary Bread but I stumbled across a recipe for Pesto Focaccia that just cried out to be made. I'm so glad I did, it was the run away success of the night. I used both Green Pesto and Red Pesto on it as some of our party liked one and not the other, I'm afraid though that you'll have to use your imagination for what the finished bread looked like as I didn't quite get around to taking a photo before we all devoured it!

Easy Homemade Pesto

50g pine nuts

Large bunch basil, leaves and stalks

50g parmesan

150ml olive oil, plus extra for storing

2 garlic cloves

Tip the pine nuts into a frying pan, then toast over a medium heat for about 5 mins, stirring often, until evenly golden. Cool, then put into a food processor with all of the remaining ingredients. Whizz until smooth, then season to taste.

Pour pesto into a jar and cover with a little extra oil, then seal and store.

Makes 250ml

Good Food Italian Magazine

Focaccia with Pesto and Mozzarella

500g strong white bread flour, plus some for dusting

1 1/2 tsp salt

7g sachet fast action yeast

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus some for drizzling

126g ball mozzarella, drained

5 tbsp pesto

Sea salt, to serve (optional)

Put the flour into a bowl and mix in the salt. Mix the yeast into 325ml tepid water. Add the water and oil to the flour, then mix well with a plastic scraper or your hands. When most of the liquid is incorporated, use your hands to bring all the ingredients together into a ball of dough.

Tip the dough out onto a worktop lightly dusted with flour and work it by pulling and stretching for at least 10 mins. Try to get as much air into it as possible. Put the ball of worked dough into a well oiled bowl, cover with a little more oil and a tea towel or cling film. Leave to rest for 1 hour or so in a draught-free warm spot, until doubled in size.

Now stretch the dough out onto a baking sheet until its about 20 x 30cm. Leave the dough to rise again to about half as high again, about 30-40 mins in a warm draught-free place, loosely covered with a tea towel.

Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C. When the dough has risen, press your fingers into it gently to make some holes. Bake for about 5 mins, then remove from the oven. Tear over the mozzarella, then bake for another 5-10 mins until golden and cooked through. Drizzle over the pesto and scatter with sea salt, if you like. Serve straight away.

Serves 4-6

BBC Good Food Website

Thanks to this recipe I was paid the biggest compliment my cooking has ever received last night. One of our friends works at the new very swanky and posh Italian Hotel and Restaurant that has recently opened in town. He said that this Focaccia Bread was even better than the ones that the Italian Chefs make in the restaurant!!! I was on cloud 9 ;0)