Lj's Chilli Penne Pasta Bake

I wanted to do something really simple tonight so I could just relax and enjoy the evening. I had a scratch around the fridge and freezer and came up with this pasta bake recipe. So easy and quick to prepare and it was really delicious! I love the combination of Chicken & Choritzo!!

Ingredients:

1 large Chicken Breast diced

1 Onion diced 

1 Garlic clove finely diced

1 Chorizo Sausage

6 Button Mushrooms sliced

3 Shallots sliced 

125 grams of cooked pasta of choice ( I have used a gluten free chilli penne)

125ml of Extra light Cream

500 grams of pasta sauce ( use a jar if you like to make it even easier. I've used homemade that I make and freeze for convenience) 

What to do: 

Heat an oven proof cast iron frypan. Add a splash of olive oil and add the onions, garlic and mushrooms. 

Sauté until golden. Add the chorizo and chicken and cook until the chicken is golden brown. 

Add the shallots, pasta sauce and cream and stir to combine. 

Finally stir in the cooked pasta. Top with grated cheese and pop into the oven until the cheese is golden. 

Enjoy!!!!

Wholemeal Fettuccine ~ Malaysian Style!

 

Today I was lucky enough to learn a simple but delicious recipe from a lady I cook with every week. She is Malaysian born and we are always cooking different things!  We have so much fun and just laugh and laugh and laugh!!!

This is basically a homemade wholemeal noodle!

Ingredients:

3 Cups of Wholemeal Flour

1 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Tablespoon of Vegetable Oil

3/4 Cup Water

What to do:

Mix all of the ingredients together to form a dough. Knead until smooth and elastic. You can do this by hand but this lady prefers to use her bread maker. At home I use my bread maker, food processor or kitchen mixer with the dough hook to make pasta dough.

Here is how I usually make my home made pasta:

http://ljsgourmetkitchen.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/homemade-lasagne-sheets-and-fettucine.html

Boil some water and cook your fresh pasta for approx 8 mins and then drain.

In this recipe we have fried onion style shallots, sliced green shallots and an egg on top (runny yoke) To flavour the pasta we added cracked pepper, olive oil, soy & hot chilli sauce (just enough to coat is plenty) Add enough to your own tastes and also depending on how much pasta you cook up. You could easily halve this recipe as it does make a lot of pasta. She usually adds cooked bacon as well but we didn't today as she forgot to buy bacon in the shopping! 

As we sat and taste tested she told me that this was a tradition in her small home town community she called home  in Malaysia. What a treat it was to share it with her and an amazing experience with the usual laughs. I have to say she is my favourite client, I just adore her.

Lj's Skinny Chicken & Bacon Pasta Sauce

Quick & Easy weeknight dinner with leftovers for lunches.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

500 Grams Chicken Diced

2 Rashers of Short Cut Bacon Diced

6 Button Portabello Mushrooms Sliced

1/4 Cup White Wine

1 Shallot Sliced

300ml Skim Milk

1 Teas Dijon Mustard

1 Teas Chicken Stock Powder

1 Tablespoon of Cornflour

125 Grams of Dry Gluten Free Pasta

I used Garlic & Parsley from Aldi

(Cooked to packet instructions)

Himalayan Salt and Cracked Pepper to season

What to do:

Heat a nonstick frypan. Saute the bacon and mushrooms, then brown the chicken. Add the shallot, then the white wine. Stir to combine and let the wine reduce a little. Whisk together the Milk, cornflour, chicken stock powder and dijon mustard. Add to the pan and stir to combine. Keep stirring while cooking until the sauce thickens. Add then add the cooked Pasta. Season with the salt and pepper and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan when serving. 

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Lj's Skinny Lasagna

Delicious Lasagna using Slim Me Lasagna....

Start by making your Bolognaise.. I use Kangaroo due to the fact it has a lovely flavour, is practically fat free with lots of Iron and Protein. 

Here is my Recipe:

http://ljsgourmetkitchen.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/ljs-kangaroo-bolognaise-best-in-world-i.html

I had plenty of time yesterday so the only changes I made to this recipe is that I made the sauce myself, where as in this recipe I added a few jars of Passata. If you already make an awesome bolognaise then just stick with that.. As Claire Robinson says BYOC.. (Be your own Chef)

Oh I also added some lean shortcut bacon :-)

Make these Slim Noodles to packet instructions...

In a baking dish, layer your bologaise sauce and these lasagna sheets, top with a small amount of low fat freshly grated cheese and bake for 35 mins at 180 degrees C. Best to let it sit and cool as this makes it easier to slice and serve.

Lj's Skinny Garlic Prawn Pasta

Ingredients:

10 Medium Green Prawns (Peeled & Cleaned) 

1 Packet of Slendier Slim Spaghetti

1 Tin of Light and Creamy Carnation Milk

1 Tablespoon of Cornflour

1 Thick slice of Fresh Lemon plus a squeeze more of the juice

2 Fresh Garlic Cloves finely chopped

Fresh Chopped Parsley

Sprinkle of Parmesan if you wish to serve.

What to do:

Heat a non stick pan and add the Garlic and Lemon. Prepare the spaghetti as per the packet instructions (takes about 2 minutes, it is basically drain, rinse, throw in boiling water for a minute then drain again)

Add the prawns cooking on one side until you can just see them starting to change colour then flip them over. Add half of the carnation milk, extra squeeze of Lemon and bring to a simmer. Mix the cornflour well into the other half of the Carnation milk and add to the pan. Stir while simmering until the sauce is thick and add the parsley right at the end. Season with Cracked Pepper and Seas Salt. I like to use Murray River Salt Flakes. Turn off the heat and mix through the pasta.. Sprinkle with Parmesan if you wish.  That's it! Pretty much healthy dinner in under 15 minutes if that including prep time. 

Slendier is not for everyone, if you don't like it cook regular pasta before you start cooking the prawns. Rice spaghetti is also a nice alternative. Either way it is still a much healthier alternative to traditional creamy pasta :-)

Creamy Smoked Chicken & Sundried Tomato Rigatoni

I found some lovely Smoked Chicken while shopping yesterday and came up with this delicious lower fat pasta dish. My girlfriend Allison was coming over for dinner and I wanted to impress her of course with a nice pasta dish as she hadn't had pasta in ages.  She loved it, much to my delight but I do have the heads up on her fave foods. I served it with a Garlic Bread made with a Parmesan and Onion Batard that I purchased from Coles.

Ingredients:

250 grams of dried Rigatoni Pasta

(you can use whatever pasta you have on hand)

200g Smoked Chicken Breast Sliced

5 Slices of Shortcut Bacon diced

6 Button Mushrooms finely sliced

1 Tuscan Red Onion diced

Large Handful of Sundried tomatoes

(I used the ones I dried myself and reconstituted them in hot water, totally fat free)

Large Handful of Pitted Kalamatta Olives sliced

Tin of Carnation Light and Creamy

2 Tbs Cornflour

100g Reduced Fat Hillswood Tasmanian Feta Cheese

(I love this Feta as it crumbles beautifully)

Fresh Basil Leaves

Sprinkling of Freshly grated Parmesan for serving

What to do:

Heat a Ceramic pot/Frypan and a splash of Olive Oil. Add your Bacon, onion and mushrooms. Saute until soft and then add your Sundried Tomatoes and Olives and give it a good stir to combine. Add the Smoked Chicken and then  half of the Carnation Milk and stir. Mix the cornflour with the remaining milk in the tin until combined and add to the dish. Simmer on low until the sauce thickens. Boil and salt the water for your pasta and cook until al dente. At this point crumble your feta into your dish. Drain the pasta and add to your pot. Stir to combine your pasta and sauce. Serve into bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan and Basil.



Lj's Chicken, Bacon & Spinach Canneloni

Chicken, Bacon & Spinach Canelloni...

Ingredients:

400g Chicken Breast finely diced
3 Rashers of Bacon finely diced
1 White Onion finely diced
2 Cloves of Garlic crushed
250g Finely chopped frozen Spinach
1/3 Cup White Wine (I used Sauv Blanc)
Low fat grated Cheese
Basic White Sauce.. recipe below

In a hot frypan, saute the chicken, bacon, onion and garlic for a few minutes until the chicken is browned off. Add the defrosted frozen spinach and mix to combine. Add the white wine and simmer until the wine has reduced.

Make the white sauce with Parmesan:

Basic White Sauce with Parmesan:

2 Tbs Butter ( I used Nutalex)
2 Tbs Plain Flour
350 ml Skim Milk
Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt

In the microwave melt the butter, then add the flour and combine  Cook off the butter and flour for one minute. Add the milk and whisk, cook in one minute spurts whisking in between until the sauce is thick. Add the Parmesan Sea Salt and cracked pepper and mix.

Add 1/3 of the white sauce to the chicken mixture and combine. Roll the mixture into fresh pasta sheets to make canelloni rolls. Place in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray and top with the remaining white sauce. Top with some low fat grated tasty cheese and bake in a 180 degree oven for 45 minutes or until tha pasta is cooked and it loks golden. I'm serving with some homemade garlic bread. Nom Nom Nom

Lj's Chicken Pappardelle Carbonara

Whilst out shopping today I found some delicious Rosemary Pancetta and decided to make a Chicken Pappardelle Carbonara for my lovely Sissy tonight. I have used as much local product as I can... substitute the ingredients to suit yourself...

Ingredients:

2 Tbs Cobram Estate Olive Oil
2 Tbs Nuttalex (You can substitute with butter)
100g Rosemary Pancetta
500g Free Range Chicken Breast finely diced
8 Button Mushrooms finely sliced
2 Cloves of fresh Garlic finely chopped
1/4 Cup Sauv Blanc
1/2 Teas freshly Ground Black Pepper
2 Free Range Eggs
1/2 Cup Parmigiano Reggiano
1/2 Teas Murray River Salt Flakes
2 Tablespoons of chopped Flat Leaf Parsley
500g Fresh Pappardelle pasta or any fresh pasta of choice

What to do:

Heat a large saucepan of water and bring to the boil, add salt flakes. Heat a pan and add the olive oil and nuttalex. Add the garlic to infuse the flavour through the oil and butter. Add the pancetta and the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are soft.

Add the chicken and wine and stir through. Cook for a few minutes until the ckicken is just cooked and tender and the wine has reduced by half.  Set aside and keep warm.  Add the fresh pasta to the boiling water and cook until aldente.. approx 12 minutes. In the meantime whisk the eggs and the Parmigiano. Drain the pasta and add the eggs and Parmigiano. Mix well really quickly so that the eggs don't scramble. Add the Chicken etc and chopped parsley. Serve immediately and top with grated Parmigiano on top.

Lj's Fresh Pasta Salad fit for a king!

Delicious and easy Vegetarian Pasta Salad.. A meal on it's own!

(You could add some shredded Chicken or flaked Tuna if you wish)

Ingredients:

500g Cooked Pasta

1 Cup chopped pitted Kalamata Olives

10 Sundried Tomatoes diced

A good handful of grated Mozzarella Cheese

A good handful of crumbled Cracker Barrel shaved extra sharp Vintage Cheddar

Handful of shredded fresh Basil

The Dressing:

In a food processor add the following:

6 Sundried Tomatoes

5 Cloves of fresh Garlic

2 Teas Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper

6Tbs of the oil from the Sundried Tomatoes

3 Tbs Red Wine Vinegar

1/2 Cup pitted Kalamata Olives

Huge bunch of fresh Basil leaves

80g packet of shelled Pistachio's

Process until fine.

Mix everything together and DIG IN!!!!

Homemade Lasagne Sheets and Fettucine..

Nothing like the taste of freshly made pasta. I  have 2 recipes that I use regularly.

The basic ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Plain FlourSift

2 Eggs

Sea Salt

Water

"or"

350g Plain Flour

60ml of Sunflour Oil

3 Eggs

Both recipes are fantastic. In these photos I have made a flavoured pasta with some homemade basil and walnut pesto.  You can make it by hand but it is much simpler using a the dough hook on your kitchen mixer, or the dough setting on your bread maker. Sift the flour into a bowl and season with sea salt. Add the eggs and mix on low until the flour and egg combines and forms a dough, add a splash of water at a time and mix until the dough is smooth and elastic. If you are making flavoured pasta add your pesto in place of the water. A decent teaspoon is sufficient.  Use the same method with the other recipe. Flour the dough lightly and roll through the pasta maker starting with the largest setting and keep rolling it through until you get to the thinnest setting. You should be able to see through the pasta. Once all of your sheets have been rolled, lay on a clean tea towel and let it partially dry before you roll it through the fettuccine cutter. When your pasta has dried completely store it in an airtight container until you are ready to cook it.

No Fuss, Quick & Easy Pasta for 2!

Throw together this quick and easy pasta after a long day at work when you don't feel like cooking!

Ingredients:

2 Ripe fresh tomatos finely chopped/quick wizz with the barmix

2 Rashers of bacon chopped

1/2 Onion diced

2 Large button mushrooms sliced 

1 Garlic Clove crushed

3 Tbs Tomato Paste

1 Tbs mixed Italian herbs

1/2 Cup water

Splash of Balsamic Vinegar

Fresh fettucine 

Freshly grated Reggiano Parma/Parmesan

What to do:

Boil some water and when boiling add some sea salt and cook your pasta. In a pan saute the onion, garlic, bacon and mushrooms until soft. Add the tomato and cook for a few minutes. Add the splash of balsamic, italian herbs, tomato paste and water. Season with Sea salt and cracked pepper. Simmer until your pasta is cooking. Drain the fresh pasta and mix through the sauce. Serve with a few tbs Reggiano Parma or Parmesan. Literally a meal in minutes!

Lj's Cannelloni with Homemade Ricotta, Tuna & English spinach

Lj's Cannelloni with Homemade Ricotta, Tuna & English spinach

Ingredients

425g Can Tuna in Springwater drained
50g Baby Spinach torn into 1/4's
1/2 Lge Red Onion finely chopped
1/4 Red Capsicum finely chopped
6 Button Mushrooms finely chopped
1 Egg
1/2 Batch of Homemade Ricotta (If you buy the Ricotta around 300g should be enough)
Fresh Lasagne sheets or Cannelloni tubes

Homemade Tomato, Red wine and herbs Pasta Sauce (to cut down your cooking time you can use bottled sauce)

What to do

Heat a frypan and add the Onion, Capsicum and Mushrooms and saute for a few minutes until soft. In a bowl add the Tuna, Spinach and crumbed Ricotta. Add the veg once cooled a little and mix through the egg to help bind it all together. Season with some fresh ground pepper and rock salt. I use lasagne sheets instead of the Cannelloni tubes basically because the fresher the pasta the nicer the dish. Add a few table spoons of the mix to the end of the lasagne sheet and roll it over to make a tube and seal in the mixture. Place into a greased baking dish. Keep making the tubes and place in a row into the baking dish until you have used up all your mixture. Cover the tubes with your favourite pasta sauce and top with grated tasty cheese and a little parmesan. This time we used a tomato based pasta sauce but a creamy sauce is also really yummy!