For all those that were at the cook school yesterday at the wonderful Good Food Trading Company, here are a couple of recipes for you.
Speedy Pasta
Serves 2
200g pasta ‘00’ flour
2 eggs or 4 egg yolks
Method
Sieve flour into a bowl. Add whole egg and combine mixture with finger tips. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead into a dough. If possible, rest in refrigerator for at least half an hour.
Roll out onto floured board into a rectangle. Next, flour surface of pasta and, using both hands, roll rectangle into a ‘swiss roll’ shape. Use a sharp knife to cut into desired thickness, e.g. tagliarini (thin), tagliatelle (medium) or parpadelle (thick).
To cook pasta, use 1 litre of water for each portion pasta and 1 litre for the pan. The water should boil fast while the pasta is cooking. Allow about 150g fresh pasta per person. Add 1 tablespoon salt per 4 litres boiling water. (Olive oil is only really necessary with lasagne sheets to prevent sticking.) Fresh pasta cooks in 2-3 minutes; “al dente” pasta should feel firm but not have a hard, chalky centre. Drain in a colander. Do not rinse or you will lose the precious sauce-catching starch. Quickly add olive oil and garlic to the hot pan, tip the pasta back in with a handful of freshly chopped herbs or some fresh tomato sauce (see below), cooked mussels, clams or fish, olives and capers or hot steamed vegetables.
Tagliatelle with Chicken & Green Beans
Serves 2
1 x 200g chicken breast, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1½ garlic cloves, finely sliced
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 batch tagliatelle (see ‘speedy pasta’ recipe above)
1 tablespoon olive oil
100g baby green beans, topped (not tailed) and sliced from end to end on the diagonal
65ml (¼ cup) chicken stock
Good quality parmesan cheese, grated
25g basil leaves
Method
Place the chicken, EVO oil and garlic in a bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt & pepper. Cook pasta in a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water until ‘al dente’ and drain well. Meanwhile, 5 minutes before pasta is cooked, place a large frying pan over a high heat until hot. Add olive oil and heat for 5 seconds. Add chicken with marinade and sear quickly for 30 seconds. Add beans and reduce heat to medium. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Return heat to high, add the stock and simmer for 30 seconds. Add pasta and toss to combine.
Divide pasta evenly between two bowls and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese, basil and freshly ground black pepper.
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