Love Heart Pasta with Sausage, Pancetta and Peas

I hope everyone is enjoying their week :) The weather has gone pretty cold again so needed something warm and hearty for dinner so this dish is perfect, would also be great for some summer alfresco dining...it really is absolutely delicious :)

Love Hearts Pasta with Sausage, Pancetta and Peas
(amore cuori con salsiccia, pancetta e piselli)

1 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion (chopped)
4 Sausages (cut into chunks)
65g Pancetta
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 Tinned tomatoes
1/4 cup heavy cream
A good handful of Frozen Peas (cooked through either in microwave or on the hob)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Half a teaspoon of sugar
200g-250g shaped Pasta (we used love hearts but feel free to use any pasta you want)

Heat the butter and oil together in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and stir until lightly golden and soft. Raise the heat to medium/high, add the sausage and pancetta, and cook, stirring and breaking up the sausage with a wooden spoon, until the sausage has a golden brown color.
Add the wine and stir until almost all of it has evaporated. Add the tinned tomatoes and cream and season with salt and pepper and add the sugar. As soon as the sauce comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until it has a medium-thick consistency, about 10 minutes. Stir in the peas.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta and cook until the pasta is tender but still firm to the bite (al dente)
Drain the pasta and place in the pan with the sauce and mix until the pasta and sauce are well combined.
Serve and sprinkle with Parmigiano if desired.

A half term treat

I promised to bring you some more easy kid friendly recipes and these two are just that...No Bake Cheesecake and No Churn Vanilla Ice Cream! Both the recipes are very simple and are perfect for little ones, no hot oven involved although waiting is essential...sorry I couldn't avoid that :(

No Bake Cheesecake

150g Digestive Biscuits
80g Butter (melted)

250g Mascarpone
150ml Double Cream
2tsl Vanilla Extract
100g Icing Sugar

Place the digestive biscuits in a food processor and blitz, add the melted butter and blitz again. Pour this into a 20cm springform cake tin and press down. (You can of course break the biscuits up in a bag and mix the butter and biscuit in a bowl). Put in the fridge while you make the cream mixture
Pour the double cream into a bowl and whisk until you get stiff peaks.
Mix the mascarpone and icing sugar together until fully incorporated and add the vanilla extract and mix in.
Add the whipped double cream to the mascarpone mix and fold in gently.
Pour the mixture onto the biscuit base and smooth over.
Place in the fridge for a few hours or if like me, place in the freezer for an hour to quicken the setting process hahahaha :))

Lovely served with:

No churn ice cream

1 can (14 ounces) Condensed milk
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 cups (475ml) Double Cream

In a bowl, stir together condensed milk and vanilla extract. In another bowl, whisk the double cream until you get stiff peaks (easier using an electric whisk) With a rubber spatula, gently fold whipped cream into condensed milk mixture. Pour into a large tupperware tub and freeze until firm, usually about 6 hours and enjoy :)

Fun recipe for the half term holiday :)

It's half term for most next week and a great way to spend time together is with cooking and baking! It's so much fun for the kids, even if they don't do the preparation, the decorating is even more fun...granted my son just eats most of it before it even makes it to the cookie or cupcake but that's the fun part :) Rather than just a basic cookie or cupcake, why not try something a little different. A while ago we made some mini iced buns, the preparation is lengthy so better for older kids learning to cook but also a great starter to bread making, the kneading part is fun for all ages. The decorating is the best part so make sure you have lots of sprinkles and decorations to hand.

Mini Iced Buns

500g strong white bread flour
10g fast action yeast
50g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
40g butter
140ml warmed milk
140ml tepid water (this can vary)

Icing sugar and water for icing
Hundreds and thousands, sprinkles

Add the flour, salt, sugar and yeast to a bowl (making sure not to put the salt and yeast together as the salt can kill the yeast)
Pour the milk into a pan and add the butter, heat gently until warmed through and butter has melted, it shouldn't be too hot (warm enough that you can put your fingers in comfortably...be very careful) if it is too hot, allow to cool.
Add the egg and the milk/butter mixture to the flour mixture and start to mix, incorporate the water until a dough forms (not too sticky) it may need more or less of the water.
Knead the dough on a floured work surface for 5-10 minutes. (This is great for kids, just push the dough away from you from the top and fold over, turn the dough round 45 degrees and repeat for the kneading duration)
Place in an oiled bowl and leave to rest in a warm place until doubled in size.
Turn out onto a flour worktop and knock back the dough by squashing with your hands. Divide into about 20 small balls or more depending on the size you want as they will get bigger and make them into a oval shape (of course you can leave them as balls if you prefer.
Place on a lined baking sheet, allowing some room next to each one. Cover with oiled cling film and allow to prove again (doubled in size) normally about 2 hours.
Pre heat oven to 200/180 degrees and place in the oven for about 8 minutes until golden in colour.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Once cooled, make the icing by mixing icing sugar and water together, feel free to add food colouring to make them pretty and make sure you have plenty of sprinkles and decorations at the ready and now decorate to your hearts content :))

Of course if time is short then make these up without the kids and have them just decorate them...the best part :))

If you don't feel comfortable making the dough from scratch feel free to use a white bread mix from the supermarket and just add the sugar, 1 egg and 250-300ml of water and prove until doubled in size, divide the dough and prove again and bake...and decorate :))

A valentines special

For valentines day i cooked a lovely meal for my hubby, son and our friends and for pudding I wanted to make something light and sweet and these ticked the boxes. So simple to make yet extremely moreish, you may be tempted to make more....I did hehehe :)

Italian Doughnut recipe

200g Ricotta
2 Eggs
80g Plain Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp Caster Sugar
Zest of half an Orange
Vegetable oil for deep frying

Combine the ricotta and egg and mix thoroughly.
Add the flour, baking powder, sugar, zest and mix well.
Heat the oil in a deep pan, when it gets hot enough, spoon small amounts of the batter into the hot oil using a teaspoon. They will turn golden quite quickly and some will turn over by themself but keep and eye on them and turn them over if needed. Allow them to go golden on the other side and using a slotted spoon remove them and place on some kitchen paper.
Transfer to a plate and dust with icing sugar and serve and enjoy :)

(Recipe based on a nigella lawson recipe)

Simple Tortilla Wraps

I'm a big fan of simple and quick recipes and although I love making bread it is time consuming so if I need to whip up something for lunch then this is the perfect recipe. Tortilla Wraps, they really are so simple to make and take about half an hour...who would have thought! Everyone that has tried my tortilla wraps have all said they are better than shop bought ones...and with only 5 ingredients, all of which you have in your cupboards they are fantastic.

Tortilla Wraps

Ingredients


1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup Butter

1/2 cup Boiling water


Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Add butter and work into flour mixture using your hands until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Pour in the hot water. Work flour and water mixture together with a fork and transfer to a cutting board.
Knead the dough until a smooth, about 3 minutes.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover the bowl with cling film, and leave to rest for 15 minutes.
Divide dough into 6 equal parts.
Flour tour worktop lightly and roll out balls of dough with a rolling pin, quite thin.
Heat a dry frying pan over high heat. Place the flattened dough into the frying pan and cook until it begins to bubble, about 1 minute. Flip tortilla over and cook for an additional minute. They don't take long but try not to cook them for too long as they will go hard. Place on a plate and cover with cling film or a teatowel to keep them from drying out.Repeat with remaining dough.

A sweet valentine swirl

As its almost valentines day, I must of course add a little something sweet :) my son had his friends coming over for a play date and tea so we decided to make some mini valentine cookies for them and of course they needed to be fun and different so we went for some sweet valentine swirls pops....must say they were a huge hit :) Very simple to make but so effective!
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons brandy, or milk (I prefer milk, surprisingly enough)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; mix until light and fluffy. With mixer running, add egg, brandy or milk, and vanilla; mix until well combined. With the mixer on low, slowly add reserved flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
Here is where we shake it up to make our swirl cookies.
Transfer half of dough to a work surface. in a bowl add 1/8 teaspoon of food coloring. Mix until just evenly distributed, try not to overmix.
Place your white dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll into a rectangle as best you can. Repeat with the colored dough. Place on a baking sheet and put it in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge and peel the paper off of one side of the colored dough. Lightly flour your work surface and flip the dough over onto it, then peel off the paper from the other side.
Lightly brush the top of the colored dough with water.
Peel the paper off of one side of your white dough. Place it dough side down on top of the colored dough, trying to align the two rectangles of dough as well as possible. Then peel the paper from the other side.
Use a sharp knife to trim the edges of your rectangle so they are straight and even. Save the scraps and use to make other cookies such as marbled cookie shapes (rolling two colours together and cutting them out)
Start to gently roll the dough and Continue until it is all rolled up.
You might see some gaps if you look at the side of the dough. You don’t want those so gently roll the dough with two hands until the gaps disappear.
In a pan, empty your sprinkles or whatever cookie decoration you like. We used hundred and thousands.
Brush the dough with water, then gently roll in the toppings, pushing the toppings gently into the dough so they stick.
Wrap with cling film and Place in the fridge for one hour to firm up.
Preheat oven to 180/170 fan/350 degrees. Remove dough from the fridge and trim the ends of the dough flat.
Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Evenly slice the roll to about 1/4″ thickness.
Place on the baking tray, at this point you can insert some lollipop sticks to create lollipop cookies and Bake until lightly golden, about ten minutes; do not allow to brown.
Enjoy :)))

Caramel, Cream, Raspberry and Chocolate Crepe Cake

What a busy weekend I've had, so much cooking and baking. We've had friends over on both Saturday and Sunday and made feasts both days. I made a Spanish feast on Saturday which I promise to share the recipes but I will save those for another day. Sunday of course had to be a roast, it's cold outside and it was well overdue. For pudding I decided that as it was almost pancake day I would try something a little different so decided on a crepe cake, now just to figure out what to fill it with...much simpler than I thought...everything hahaha :) Caramel, Cream, Raspberry and Chocolate Crepe Cake....you can thank me later :) it truly is amazing...heavenly and out of this world! Okay the pancake making is time consuming but once that's done, your laughing, I promise you won't regret it.

Caramel, Cream, Raspberry and Chocolate Crepe cake

Pancakes -
240g plain flour
4 eggs
600ml semi-skimmed milk
2 tbsp sunflower oil or vegetable, plus extra for frying
pinch salt

Dulce de leche or any other caramel sauce (you can of course make this yourself but if time is short you can buy it already made)

Cream filling
200g mascarpone
300ml double cream
2tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Tub Raspberries

Bar of milk chocolate

Put the flour and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Crack the eggs into the middle, then pour in about 50ml milk and 2 tbsp oil. Start whisking from the centre, gradually drawing the flour into the eggs, milk and oil. Once all the flour is incorporated, beat until you have a smooth, thick paste. Add a little more milk if it is too stiff to beat.
Finishing the batter: Add a good splash of milk and whisk to loosen the thick batter. While still whisking, pour in a steady stream of the remaining milk. Continue pouring and whisking until you have a batter that is the consistency of slightly thick single cream. There's no need to let it stand, this is a myth. Make up your pancakes in a frying pan and put onto a plate and leave to cool.

Cream filling
Whisk the double cream until firm and holds it shape
In a separate bowl mix the mascarpone with the caster sugar until soft and smooth
Add the mascarpone mixture to the double cream and mix well then add the 1 tbsp vanilla extract and mix.

To make the crepe cake
Place one of the pancakes onto a plate and spoon some of the cream mixture onto the pancake and smooth all over
Spoon a small amount of the dulce de leche and spread lightly over the cream
Take another pancake and lay that on top.
Spoon some of the cream onto the pancake and then add some of the raspberries
Keep repeating this until all the pancakes are used and top with the final pancake
Top off with more raspberries
Melt the chocolate and pour this over the cake
And now it's time to enjoy :)