Good afternoon Melbourne!
It is December 8th 2016 and it is cold and raining. While the city of Melbourne seems to have missed the memo that the first day of summer has officially passed, I feel at least like making some summer-inspired meals to get in the mood. This post is also a shout out to my favourite new pan – made in Australia (http://www.solidteknics.com/).
Green Goddess Pappardelle
Fresh Pasta:
You can buy lasagna sheets from the chiller in the supermarket if you are nervous about making pasta from scratch – Just cut the lasagna into thick strips before cooking. Otherwise, have some fun with making some from scratch – it just takes 30 minutes. The quantities I have made here make 2 mains with leftovers (everyone loves cold pasta for lunch).
- 200g flour (preferably type 00 which means the really fine flour, but otherwise any normal white flour will work)
- 2 large eggs (free range – happy chickens)
Weigh the flour in a bowl and make a well in the middle using a fork. Crack in the eggs and start breaking them up with the fork. Slowly incorporate the flour into the centre egg mixture. Once the flour is mainly mixed with the egg, tip out onto the bench and kneed together. When you have a smooth dough, shape into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to rest (or longer – you can make this the day before).
Once rested, roll through your pasta machine. You can make this as thick or thin as you like, but I prefer about a ‘4’ thin. Cut by hand into thick pasta strips and hang on a pasta rack until needed.
Remaining pasta ingredients:
- Greens: Asparagus, beans, broccoli, green onion
- Herbs: basil, parsley, coriander (whatever you can get hold of)
- Parmesan – grated
- Garlic – grated
- Olive oil – garlic infused
- lemon wedge
- Haloumi
Heat a large pan with some good quality olive oil and add your greens. At the same time, boil water in a large pot and when boiling put the pasta in – stir immediately and put the lid back on.The pasta will cook quickly – about 3 minutes. With tongs, place the pasta into the skillet with the greens and stir in the garlic and some more olive oil – I use garlic infused oil for an extra garlic hit. Chop the herbs and add along with the Parmesan. Give another stir – if you think it needs a bit more sauce, add some of the pasta water. Season well.
To serve, top with more Parmesan. I also like to slice a couple of pieces of haloumi and give them a quick fry. Place them on top of the pasta. Finally, place a wedge of lemon on the plate and give another sprinkle of salt.
