I have missed some fantastic opportunities to blog during the second half of 2012, but when I planned with Poppy to do some cooking over the Christmas holiday, the opportunity was too good to miss!
I love cooking with Poppy, she has such enthusiasm for food and we always end up having a fantastic time. On this occasion we decided to make pasta which was quick and easy and would also give our neglected pasta machine an airing!
Our basic pasta recipe is as follows:
700g 00 grade flour
10 medium free range eggs
(We made half of this)
1. Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre
2. Put the eggs in the well
3. Using a fork, gradually incorporate the flour from the sides of the well until most of the flour is mixed in
4. Using your hands, (or dough hook attachments on a hand blender) bring the ball of dough together
5. Tip out on to a floured work surface and knead until smooth
6. Roll out using either a rolling pin (really hard work!) or preferably a pasta rolling machine
7. Cut into desired shape - our pasta machine has an attachment to make linguine or tagliatelle, so we made tagliatelle
8. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook for 3 minutes, keeping the water rapidly boiling throughout
We had a really fantastic time making this, and in reality Poppy did most of the hard work; she measured, mixed and operated the handle if the pasta machine. We served the tagliatelle very simply- tossed in olive oil with a sprinkling of finely grated Parmesan. Quick, easy and so beautiful. What made this experience even better was that George decided half way through that he wanted a piece of the action and ended up having a wonderful time fiddling with flour, pasta dough and trying to work the pasta machine!
We had a really fantastic time making this, and in reality Poppy did most of the hard work; she measured, mixed and operated the handle if the pasta machine. We served the tagliatelle very simply- tossed in olive oil with a sprinkling of finely grated Parmesan. Quick, easy and so beautiful. What made this experience even better was that George decided half way through that he wanted a piece of the action and ended up having a wonderful time fiddling with flour, pasta dough and trying to work the pasta machine!
With the left over pasta, I decided to make ravioli. We had limited ingredients, so I had to do a bit of a Masterchef invention test. The recipe for the filling was as follows:
Sundried tomatoes in oil (about 12, roughly chopped)
1 crushed clove of garlic
2 sprigs of thyme leaves
1 tablespoon of creme fraiche
2 tablespoons finely grated parmesan
1. Gently fry the garlic and thyme for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, creme fraiche and parmesan and season
3. Turn off the heat and leave to cool
I then used the remainder of the rolled out pasta to make 4 large ravioli. These were boiled in salted water for 3 minutes and then served with a drizzle of olive oil, some freshly ground black pepper and parmesan sprinkled on top. They really tasted great and were not bad for a last minute invention test!
Without getting too heavy, this experience (along with many others not recorded here!) only served to reinforce my thoughts on cooking with children and the positive benefits it can have. I am certain that if the government wants to reduce childhood obesity, then they need look no further than trying to get children into the kitchen with their parents - I know it's idealistic, but I am certain that society would reap the benefits in the long run.
Anyway - this was the final result:
Sounds idyllic! A session of cooking with two happy children and lovely food to enjoy at the end. Keep up the good work, Adam.
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