From the kitchen

Simple Salad of Greens

Walk around the vegie beds - early morning is best. Pick the young leaves from beetroot, unformed lettuce hearts, spinach and the like. Also grab a small handful of parsley and the tips of other herbs such as basil, oregano, thyme - a little bit goes a long way in terms of flavour hits when the herbs are grown hard (don't molly coddle them or overwater - it dilutes the intensity). Rinse and spin the leaves - it reduces the likelihood of finding half a grub on the plate mid-lunch. To crisp up paddock warmed leaves, place the washed and dried greens in a sealed container and place in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.

When ready to serve, toss the greens and arrange on a plate. Add some protein such as sliced boiled eggs, cooked salmon and capers, grilled halloumi cheese, or sliced leftover meats.  Sprinkle with a dressing made from olive oil and a good balsamic vinegar or lemon juice and a pinch of mineral salt (pink). The ratio of 4 parts oil to 1 part vinegar/acid seems to work really well - adjust seasonings for taste.

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Fill a try with sliced and slashed tomatoes - try to make the pieces fairly even in terms of overall size. Romas are the most suitable shape and moisture content but cherry tomatoes work just as well. Drizzle with olive oil and splash with balsamic vinegar. A small sprinkle of pink salt doesn't go astray. Bake in an oven at 140 to 150 degrees C for an hour or so - check and shake the tray once during the cooking process. Once cooled, store in a container in the refrigerator. Consume within a few days.

Home and hand made pasta

Take 200g of hard flour (use 00 if you can, failing that use plain flour) and 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk. Sift flour into a bowl and add eggs to well in centre of flour. Mix with a fork to start with until it all comes together - about a minute or so. Then gently knead in the bowl or on a bench until you have a smooth round ball. This takes somewhere between 3-6 minutes. Place the ball in a container or air proof bag and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Set up the pasta machine (we use a manual roller system that in the first part, flattens and lengthens the dough, then in the second phase, cuts the dough into spaghetti or tagliatelle shapes). You will need something to flatten and lengthen the dough into strips. You don't really need a fancy cutting implement!
Cut the rested dough (rather than pull it) into 4 or 5 equal pieces. Work the dough through the pasta machine. Widest setting first - then fold the piece in half and go again, feeding the folds first. Keep on the widest setting and keep folding in half until there is a magical "pop" sound. From there, adjust the setting to the next and feed the dough through once. Each time change the setting and feed through until the right thickness is achieved. We go right through to 9.

If the dough gets sticky rub some flour over it - literally rub rather than add more lumps to the mix. Once the dough is stretched and flattened, cut into required strips - we use fine semolina spread on the bench and on the pasta sheets to prevent sticking while we cut. Or put through the cutting blades on the machine. The cut pasta needs to be hung to dry for a while - we put clean tea towels over the back of the dining chairs.  Leave to dry - sometimes the pasta is ready to cook in 15 minutes, other times you can leave it a few hours.   To cook, place in a great big pot of salted, boiling water and boil for 2-3 minutes. Drain and serve.

Dessert cheese filled crepes

Hang natural, pot set yoghurt (Greek is always excellent) through a sterilised cloth for 12-24 hours until a curd cheese is formed. Halfway through the time, unwrap and cut in half with a knife and turn the centre to the outside, sprinkle with a little salt and re-hang. In the meantime, make some crepe batter and allow to rest for 2 hours in the frig.  Make crepes but cook them on one side only. I use just under a 1/4 cup of batter in a pan and swirls it around to make a crepe that is 15 - 18 cm/6 - 8 inch in diameter. Stack half-cooked crepes on a plate.

Take about a cup of the curd cheese and mix with one egg yolk and two tablespoons of caster sugar. Mix well. On the cooked side of a crepe, place a teaspoon of the cheese mix in the centre and fold the uncooked crepe around the curd to form a pillow (fold in left side, then right side over cheese, then fold down top end and fold up bottom end of crepe).

Place the little pillow in a non-stick frypan with a smidge of butter and cook a few minutes before flipping (I start with the folded side then flip onto the top).  When cooked, place on a plate and dust with icing sugar. Serve with a teaspoon of homemade jam. Ice-cream optional.