On Sunday night I had a group of friends over for the first of my winter dinner feasts. The theme for night was Italian. As always I had to cook a three course meal with each course being something I'd never done before (practice is ok). So, the entree was pizza, the main fettuccine marinara with home made pasta and dessert was panna cotta with blueberries.
I had made pizza a few months ago and was rather happy with the way it all worked out. I used Jamie Oliver's recipe and instructions for how to make the base. That guy is genius. His instructions are always simple to understand with just enough detail. You can almost put anything on a pizza but I think the trick is to not over do it. I went with a tomato, prosciutto and basil and a red onion, pumpkin, pine nuts and rocket. Oh and I used Buffalo cheese which is so tasty. Usually I'm a little tight for time with preparations but this time I had all the ingredients chopped up and ready to go. The pizza base was a little thicker than last time but the result was pretty good. I used a bit of semolina flour and that gave the base a bit more flavour.
Making your own pasta is a lot more rewarding and more fun than I thought it would be. Last weekend I bought a pasta machine and had a crack at making fettuccine. Given the only ingredients are flour and eggs you'd think it would be straight forward. There are a few little tricks which I was to learn the hard way. Getting the texture of the dough right is pretty important. It can be a bit difficult to roll out the pasta if it's too dry and if it's too wet the dough will stick together and you'll end up cursing away like I did. The pasta machine works really well. The pasta comes out really smooth and silky. When you get the hang of it, it's quite quick to make a batch. I've got two friends to vouch for that. They came over a little early and ended up making a portion of pasta from scratch in 25 mins. Jamie would be proud, he taught me and I passed it on to two others. Fresh pasta cooks much faster than packet pasta and getting it to be al dente is also much easier.
This feast had two firsts. It was the first dinner feast in my new place and it was the first time that the main meal's recipe was completely made up by yours truly. I did get some inspiration from a few recipes and Gill's Diner which by the way makes the best marinara. I started off boiling white wine, a couple of thyme sprigs, a bay leaf and a bit of butter in a big pot. I then cooked the mussels until they started to open. Next was the prawns. I then let the stock boil away until I had enough to use with the pasta. In a frypan I cooked a couple of salmon fillets. Next was to fry up some chilli, french onions and garlic in a good amount of olive oil. With that all done I was ready to mix it all together, add some parsley and lime juice. Using the stock gave the meal a lot more flavour and by the six clean plates I'd say it was a success.
And last but not least was the panna cotta, well sort of. I went to a cooking class at the South Melbourne markets last year and they did a slightly different version of a panna cotta. Instead of being a full cream recipe, I used half cream and half greek yoghurt. It's really quite simple to make. I would recommend getting the gelatine sheets instead of the powder.
Overall, I had a great night and really enjoyed learning how to make each course. There were lots of laughs and a cheeky new challenge was started. We had red Italian wine and even dessert wine. Thanks to all for coming. The next one is Indian. Hmmmm. Curry.
I had made pizza a few months ago and was rather happy with the way it all worked out. I used Jamie Oliver's recipe and instructions for how to make the base. That guy is genius. His instructions are always simple to understand with just enough detail. You can almost put anything on a pizza but I think the trick is to not over do it. I went with a tomato, prosciutto and basil and a red onion, pumpkin, pine nuts and rocket. Oh and I used Buffalo cheese which is so tasty. Usually I'm a little tight for time with preparations but this time I had all the ingredients chopped up and ready to go. The pizza base was a little thicker than last time but the result was pretty good. I used a bit of semolina flour and that gave the base a bit more flavour.
Making your own pasta is a lot more rewarding and more fun than I thought it would be. Last weekend I bought a pasta machine and had a crack at making fettuccine. Given the only ingredients are flour and eggs you'd think it would be straight forward. There are a few little tricks which I was to learn the hard way. Getting the texture of the dough right is pretty important. It can be a bit difficult to roll out the pasta if it's too dry and if it's too wet the dough will stick together and you'll end up cursing away like I did. The pasta machine works really well. The pasta comes out really smooth and silky. When you get the hang of it, it's quite quick to make a batch. I've got two friends to vouch for that. They came over a little early and ended up making a portion of pasta from scratch in 25 mins. Jamie would be proud, he taught me and I passed it on to two others. Fresh pasta cooks much faster than packet pasta and getting it to be al dente is also much easier.
This feast had two firsts. It was the first dinner feast in my new place and it was the first time that the main meal's recipe was completely made up by yours truly. I did get some inspiration from a few recipes and Gill's Diner which by the way makes the best marinara. I started off boiling white wine, a couple of thyme sprigs, a bay leaf and a bit of butter in a big pot. I then cooked the mussels until they started to open. Next was the prawns. I then let the stock boil away until I had enough to use with the pasta. In a frypan I cooked a couple of salmon fillets. Next was to fry up some chilli, french onions and garlic in a good amount of olive oil. With that all done I was ready to mix it all together, add some parsley and lime juice. Using the stock gave the meal a lot more flavour and by the six clean plates I'd say it was a success.
And last but not least was the panna cotta, well sort of. I went to a cooking class at the South Melbourne markets last year and they did a slightly different version of a panna cotta. Instead of being a full cream recipe, I used half cream and half greek yoghurt. It's really quite simple to make. I would recommend getting the gelatine sheets instead of the powder.
Overall, I had a great night and really enjoyed learning how to make each course. There were lots of laughs and a cheeky new challenge was started. We had red Italian wine and even dessert wine. Thanks to all for coming. The next one is Indian. Hmmmm. Curry.
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