Pasta Curls with Chilli Salsiccia Fresca

Ingredients

• 500g pasta curls
• 600g Salssicia Fresca
• 100mL of pure olive oil, I acutally used a blend of sunflower and extra virgin olive oil with about 1 tablespoon of extra virgin and 4-5 of sunflower.
• 2 medium onions
• 2 teaspoons of dried chilli flakes
• 6 small green jalapeno chillies
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 large capsicum, roasted
• 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 4 tablespoons of tomatoe paste
• 2 cups of sweet red wine, Lambrusco from a cask will do just nicely
• 1 425g can of diced tomatoes
• 1 800ml bottle of pulped tomatoes
• 6 large button mushrooms

Steps

1. Dice the roast capsicum and onions, the onions should be diced fairly large whilst the capsicum should be a finer dice.
2. Chop the garlic into pieces that are coarser than minced.
3. Slice the mushrooms, if the slices are large cut the slices in half.
4. Slice the jalapenos thinly.
5. Slice the salsiccia in half and remove the casing.
6. Dice the salsiccia into medium chunks, as big as the onions at most.
7. Heat the oil on high heat and fry the onions for 2 minutes.
8. Add the chilli flakes and continue frying for 2-3 minutes until the onions become translucent and acquire a slight golden tinge.
9. Add the jalapeno chillies and fry for another minute.
10. Add the garlic and fry for another 2 minutes.
11. Add the smoked paprika, cumin and cloves and fry for another 2 minutes.
12. Stir the tomato paste in and fry for another 2 minutes.
13. Mix in the can of tomatoes including the juice and stir for another minute.
14. Blend in the bottle of pulped tomatoes and reduce to a medium simmer for 15 minutes.
15. Add the mushrooms to the sauce and simmer for at least another 5 minutes until the mushrooms are tender.
16. Serve with the cooked pasta, blending the more liquid parts of the sauce with the pasta and spooning the chunkier parts on top.
17. If desired top with pepper and a grana cheese, I used pecorino pepato which as the name suggests has flecks of pepper thereby using just the one condiment.

Skate Fillets with Capers

For a while now I've spotted skate, a.k.a. stingray, fillets at the fish shops with their interesting texture and rather low prices. Apparently they taste like scallops, have no problems with mercury levels unlike other cartilaginous fish and are great value. It has been suggested that the fillets should be left to sit in the fridge for a day or two after purchase to make the flesh more tender. Here's an Australiana fact: stingray fillets were the first recorded European meal eaten in Australia.

With all that in mind I finally took the plunge, bought some skate fillets and pan fried them in butter. The strands of the fillet tear off easily and have a meltingly delicate texture and not at all tough as can be the case with flake. Whilst my taste buds didn't yell out scallops, the flavour was deliciously delicate with a sweet hint of scallop enhanced by cooking in butter. Overall a lovely meat and ridiculously great value, a great culinary secret but don't tell too many people!

Ingredients:
Skate fillets
Milk
Plain flour
Butter
Capers, whole

Steps:
1. Chop the skate fillets into good serving portions and rinse them with salt and water three times. This helps with the tenderness of the fillets and dissipates any ammonia smell from them.
2. Rinse the capers, repeating several times if necessary, to reduce the harsh saltiness and acidity.
3. Dip the fillets in milk such that the entire surface is covered.
4. Coat the wet fillets in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.
5. Melt some butter in a pan over a medium high heat so that it bubbles, making sure the heat is not too high that the butter burns.
6. Fry the dusted fillets on one side for 2-4 minutes depending upon the area and thickness of the fillets.
6. Turn the fillets, add the capers to the pan and cook for a further 2-4 minutes. Stir the capers to ensure they don't overcook and stick to the pan. Note that capers add a nice tang to the fillets but aren't really necessary as the cooked fillets have a lovely delicate buttery flavour.

Lemon Cheesecake

Cheesecake and botrytis wine is a combination made in heaven. The Volunteer's Cafe at the Flinders Medical Centre sells a delicious one. I haven't tried this recipe yet but it seems fairly straightforward.

Ingredients:
2 cups milk powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup boiling water
6 tbs butter
150g wholemeal sweet biscuits, crushed
1 large packet cream cheese (250g Philadelphia)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
seasonal fruit

Steps:
1. Mix milk powder, sugar and boiling water in a blender. Pour mixture into a bowl then add cream cheese and lemon juice. Whisk until thoroughly mixed.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and mix in the crushed biscuits. Press into a pie plate or a spring-loaded non-stick cake pan. Pour the cream cheese mixture over the top.
3. Chill for an hour and then decorate with seasonal fruit.

Recipe Source: http://www.uq.net.au/hyperlinked/recipes/taracake.htm

Spirali Calabrese

Here's a dish I cooked up on Sunday night, I'm not sure if it really is what most people think of as Calabrese but it seemed the closest match. Anyway this is something I came up with inspired by the spirali calabrese at Fasta Pasta. Fasta Pasta's always good for decent Italian food, better than most cafes and without their pretensions. Ingredients: 500g spirali pasta 700mL tomato puree 200g salami 1 medium red onion 1 garlic clove 2 medium capsicums 12 kalamata olives 4 tbs tomato paste Steps: 1. Cut capsicum into pieces that can lie down flat, rub olive oil on the skin and place under a hot grill until the skin gets all charred. 2. Place the capsicum in cold water and remove the skin then chop into slices. 3. Chop the salami into bite sized wedges, standard supermarket bought salami slices should be quartered. 3. Fry the onion in oil and add the garlic when the onions begin to turn translucent, continue frying just before they turn brown. 4. Add the salami and keep frying until the salami has slightly sweated. 5. Add the capsicum and continue frying if necessary until they achieve the desired tenderness. 6. Stir in the tomato paste and briefly fry until the paste has blended well into the other ingredients. 7. Add the tomatoe puree and reduce the heat to a simmer. 8. Simmer for 15 minutes, adding salt and sugar according to taste. 9. Add the olives and continue simmering for another 5 minutes then serve with pasta cooked according to instructions. Serves: 4