American style 'Breakfast' Pancakes

My family, like many others, love pancakes. We eat so many kinds of them from Finnish oven style to traditional French crepes. American style pancakes are a great breakfast, they are thicker than traditional French crepes and use baking powder in them which makes them fluffy. Serving them with bacon, eggs and syrup is a wonderful combination that twists sweet and salty together on a light, fluffy cloud.

This is enough to make to 4/5 pancakes:-

125g flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
250ml whole milk
1 egg
1 tbsp melted butter

Put all together in a bowl and mix until a nice thick smooth batter. Then put in a fridge for at least 30 minutes to chill and settle.

Put a small frying pan on a medium heat and add a small amount of oil in it. Ladle in some of the mixture and fry until bubble form on the surface. Turn over and cook for another minute and then serve.

Goes well with bacon, all kinds of eat and syrup.

Orange and white chocolate mousse

Mousse is one of those desserts that has a massive range of varieties and is super easy to do whilst impressing your family/guests. It is a great beginners dessert and with some practise you can make a wide range of flavours with no hassle involved.

This is one of the more popular ones in my family. The rich white chocolate gives the mousse a creamy texture and the orange leaves a refreshing tangy taste.

For 6 people:-

150g white chocolate
200ml double cream
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 sheet of gelatine
(Chocolate to serve)

Start by soaking your gelatine in some water. Melt your chocolate in a ban marie (or microwave) and put to one side to cool down. Then move onto your cream and whip up to a medium peek (this is when the peek gently folds over but still stands). In another bowl whip up the sugar and egg yolks until light and doubled in size. Add the gelatine to the orange juice and melt in a pan and then add to the chocolate. Now fold your chocolate into the cream gently. Finally fold in the egg mixture and then spoon into whatever dishes you want to serve in and place into the fridge for at least an hour.

When serving I like to slice some chocolate for sprinkling on top.

This is a light, rich, creamy dessert is a great ending to a family feast or special dinner.

Rye Tagliatelle alla Suomi

So my final Pasta dish for our pasta month is a Finland inspired one. I hope you have enjoyed these recipes and are inspired to make your own pasta and get experimenting. I have enjoyed it and I know my family and friends have enjoyed eating it.

This pasta is inspired by my experience of Finland (Suomi being the Finnish word for Finland). I chose to make the pasta using some rye flour. Finland produces around 76,000 tons of Rye every year, most of it being consumed by the populace. Rye is very well suited to Finland's harsh climate and it can be made into long term breads like crisp bread. I attempted to try and make a half and half ratio of durum and rye flour but it wouldn't work, too dry and flaky. I settled on a 3:1 ratio instead. I also used gherkin because pickling is another popular thing in Finland (and other Nordic countries), these countries have many varieties of pickled herring and salmon, as well as cucumbers and beetroot. This has roots in Finland's history where the winters are long and so storing food available in the spring and summer was essential to survival. I used reindeer as my meat content, Reindeer is a very lean, nutritious meat that really gives this dish a unique Finnish touch.  The final touch to my Finland inspired dish is smoked cheese, smoking is another tradition used in Finland to help preserve food. Finland has many smoked hams, cheeses and fish. When I put these flavours together they worked beautifully, the smoked reindeer combines with the gherkin and gives a crunchy slightly sweet taste whilst the smoked cheese sauce gives it a wonderful smoky creamy texture.

To make enough for 4 you will need:-

300g Durum Flour
100g Rye Flour
4 eggs
2 tbsp olive oil
50g butter
300g smoked reindeer, cut into slices
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
125g gherkin, cubed
200g smoked cheese
100g parmesan
300ml double cream
seasoning

We shall start by making the pasta.Combine the flours in a bowl and make a well, add the eggs, olive oil and some seasoning. Use a fork and beat the eggs and start incorporating the flour until all is mixed. Then take out of the bowl and start kneading on a clean surface. You want it to become smooth. Once you reach that stage wrap well in clingfilm and put into the fridge.

Now we can start on the sauce. Add your butter to a pan over a medium heat, once melted add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, add the reindeer and gherkin and sauté for another minute. Pour in the cream and cheeses and simmer until all the cheese is melted. Add seasoning if require and then take of the heat.

Put a pan of  salted water on the stove and bring to a boil. While the pan is coming to the boil we can get the pasta ready. Take your dough out of the fridge and cut into four pieces. Like with the Fresh pasta recipe, flatten out your piece and start rolling through the machine on the 0 setting, fold it over and run through a couple of more times. Then start reducing the number, rolling it through each time until you reach number 5. Any more will start ripping the pasta because of the coarser rye grain. Now run it through your tagliatelle cutter and set aside. Repeat with the other three pieces.

Your water should be boiling so add the pasta and cook for 3-4 minutes. Warm your sauce back up and then place on your table. Drain the pasta and place in a bowl and also place on your table. Set out the plates and get everyone around the table. Eat and enjoy a true taste of Finland.

Absolutely Morish Lasagne

Everyone knows lasagne (or lasagna), almost every family has their own take on it, as well as each restaurant. I have made over a dozen different kinds of 'classic' lasagne. This one is the latest version I have come up with and I think it is one of the best I have ever done. It incorporates all the versions I have done before as well as a few experiments.

Lasagne is actually just the flat, wide pasta sheets but has taken to mean the dish itself. It can be traced back to city of Naples in the 14th Century and is considered one of the oldest types of pasta.

This is a great family dish that can be made in bulk the day before and reheated or even frozen in portions and used for your weekly lunches. It goes great with salad and garlic bread but you can serve it with anything. Most British pubs serve it with some kind of potatoes (carb overload).

Although this is a 'classic' style lasagne, you can produce many different varieties using the same principal.

This will feed up to 10 people:-

700g Beef Mince
1 large onion, finely diced
1 large carrot, grated
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tins (400g) whole tomatoes
250ml water
1 beef stock cube
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
seasoning
5 Fresh Pasta
1 litre whole milk
1 tbsp nutmeg
150g flour
150ml oil
100g parmesan cheese
200g Edam cheese
100g Swiss cheese

Put the butter and olive oil to a fairly large pan and put over a medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the mince and brown off. Now you can put the whole tomatoes, water, stock cube, basil, parsley, oregano and seasoning in. Cover and allow to simmer for an hour.

While your ragu is reducing, time to start the bechamel sauce. In another pan add the milk, nutmeg and some seasoning. Place it over a medium heat and bring slowly up to a simmer. Once it is simmering mix together the oil and flour together and whisk into the milk. It will thicken up quickly and then leave it to cook out for a couple of minutes and take of the heat. Stir in the parmesan and taste.

With your pasta cut it into 10 pieces and roll it out to about 5/6 on your machine. Put the sheets to one side and cover with a slightly damp cloth.

Check your ragu, correct the seasoning if needed. If all good, now we can assemble. Preheat your oven to 175C.

Grease up a pyrex dish and put a layer of your bechamel on the bottom. Add some cheese and then place a sheet of lasagne on top. Spoon some of the ragu on top of the pasta and spread out thinly, put a spoon or two of the bechamel and spread out too. Spread some cheese on top and add another pasta sheet. Repeat until you have 4 layers. For the last layer add the remaining bechamel and cheese.

Place your assembled lasgane into the oven and cook for around 40-45 minutes until it is nicely golden on top.

Serve immediately and watch the dish magically clean itself. This will become a family favourite and you'll never want to use dried pasta sheets again.

Beef Ravioli with Arrabiata sauce

Another ravioli, this one being more 'traditional'. I find the beef ravioli goes well with tomato based sauces like the arrabiata one in this recipe. Arrabiata sauce literally means angry in Italian and it is probably named this because of the heat produced by the chilli peppers used in the production. It is very often served with Penne pasta but works just as well here.

I made this dish with the help of the Sister Missionaries. I had invited them over to be the first guests to eat in our new home (which we moved to in March) as a thank you for their help in the moving. They seemed to enjoy the making of pasta and chowed down hungrily once it was all done.

To make enough for 4 you will need:-

300g Beef mince
1 medium carrot, chopped small
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 small onion, finely diced
50g parmesan cheese
50g butter
seasoning
4 Fresh pasta
1x 400g tin peeled plum tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, finely diced
2 red chillies, deseeded
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp sugar
olive oil

First we'll start on the ravioli filling. Put a frying pan on the stove over a medium heat and add the butter. Add the onions,garlic and carrot to it and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the mince and brown off. Add the cheese and cook for 10 minutes. Once all is cooked put it in a food processor until fully blended. Put in the fridge to cool down.

 Put some olive oil in a pan and sweat the onions and garlic together for about 3 minutes, stirring continuously. Then add the chillies and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, sugar and a little water and cook for 30 minutes. When finished cooking add the basil leaves.

While the sauce is cooking out let's roll of the pasta. Cut your pasta block into four pieces and then roll each piece out flat. Cut in half place one half in a greased ravioli tray (if you don't have one don't worry, I will get to that in a bit). Place a teaspoon of your mince mixture into each ravioli well, once all done place the other half on top and roll a pin over the top to cut them. Repeat with the other pieces.

Bring a pot of salted water to boil.  Now it is time to add your ravioli to the boiling water, place in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, take out and serve straight away with your arrabiata sauce and grated parmesan.

Salmon Ravioli with a Thyme brown butter sauce

This week I want to look at ravioli. Ravioli is a stuffing mix between two thin layers of pasta dough, it is normally served with a sauce or in a broth. They were made popular throughout the world due to the Italian Army tinning them in tomato sauce during WW1 which then was picked up by the Heinz company.

Ravioli can be as simple or as complex as one desires but I think simple works better as it involves less time and experimentation. The one here is a case of using some leftover ingredients with a simple sauce.

To make enough for four people you will need:-

200g roasted salmon
150g mash potato
1 red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
4 Fresh pasta
150g butter
seasoning
1tbsp fresh thyme leave
100g parmesan cheese

You want to start by sweating the onion and garlic in a pan with some olive oil, this will take about 5 minutes. Put your sweated onions in a bowl and add the salmon, mash potato and some seasoning into it. Mix together until well mixed, put to one side.

Cut your pasta block into four pieces and then roll each piece out flat. Cut in half place one half in a greased ravioli tray (if you don't have one don't worry, I will get to that in a bit). Place a teaspoon of your salmon mixture into each ravioli well, once all done place the other half on top and roll a pin over the top to cut them. Repeat with the other pieces.

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. While this is happening put your butter in a small pan over a medium heat. Stir the melting butter until it browns, about 5 minutes, then take off the heat. Stir in some seasoning and fresh thyme leaves. Now it is time to add your ravioli to the boiling water, place in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, take out and serve straight away with your butter sauce and grated parmesan.

This is a great lunch meal.

Fettuccine Alfredo

Our first dish using the fresh pasta recipe is Fettuccine Alfredo.

This is one of the simplest and oldest forms of pasta, dating back to the 15th century. It was written in a book called Libro de arte coquinaria by Martino da Como and it was called 'Maccheroni romaneschi' or Maccheroni the Roman way. The name today comes from Italian Restauranteur, Alfredo Di Leilo I, who opened many restaurants in the Rome throughout the early 20th century.

It is only Fettuccine tossed with butter and Parmesan cheese, which, as the cheese melts, forms a smooth rich coating on the pasta. It is really that simple, just three ingredients. It has become very popular in America where it has evolved to use eggs as a thickener (like Carbonara), broccoli, seafood, chicken and garlic as additions.

So to make this, you will need per person:-

1  serving of Fresh Pasta cut into Fettuccine ribbons
50g Parmesan Cheese
50g  Salted Butter, diced

Start by boiling your pasta.While it is cooking, place the butter into the bottom of a bowl and once the pasta is done drain and add to it. Now sprinkle the Parmesan on top and toss it all together. Once it has all formed together just serve.

You can add some salt and pepper if you feel like it.

This is a great lunch/snack dish that takes so little time to do.