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I need a bit of help! I'm not particularly a dab hand when it comes to cooking in the kitchen. Be assured, I can russle up a mean beans on toast (topped with cheese for special occasions! 
) and I can use the full potential of the microwave/local take-away! However my g/f is coming down for a few days and I have said that I will cook something Italian for her ... So far I'm thinking penne pasta and fresh spinach in a tomato sauce, but can anyone else come up with a few suggestions with ingredients/methods/links for cooking!
The dish cannot have any meat, pesto or basil in!
What you do think?
) and I can use the full potential of the microwave/local take-away! However my g/f is coming down for a few days and I have said that I will cook something Italian for her ... So far I'm thinking penne pasta and fresh spinach in a tomato sauce, but can anyone else come up with a few suggestions with ingredients/methods/links for cooking!The dish cannot have any meat, pesto or basil in!
What you do think?
fastfreddy said:
Ikemi said:
The dish cannot have any meat, pesto or basil in!
What you do think?
Er, that does narrow it down a bit if you want to cook Italian.What you do think?
She is OK with garlic I hope? What about olives and anchovies?
Ikemi said:
I need a bit of help! I'm not particularly a dab hand when it comes to cooking in the kitchen. Be assured, I can russle up a mean beans on toast (topped with cheese for special occasions! ) and I can use the full potential of the microwave/local take-away! However my g/f is coming down for a few days and I have said that I will cook something Italian for her ... So far I'm thinking penne pasta and fresh spinach in a tomato sauce, but can anyone else come up with a few suggestions with ingredients/methods/links for cooking!
The dish cannot have any meat, pesto or basil in!
What you do think?
Honestly?) and I can use the full potential of the microwave/local take-away! However my g/f is coming down for a few days and I have said that I will cook something Italian for her ... So far I'm thinking penne pasta and fresh spinach in a tomato sauce, but can anyone else come up with a few suggestions with ingredients/methods/links for cooking!The dish cannot have any meat, pesto or basil in!
What you do think?
If you are going to cook Italian you are seriously limiting your options without the pesto and basil.
Ikemi said:
fresh spinach in a tomato sauce
don't put spinach in a sauce, it will go gloopy and taste horridwhen is she down?
your best bet would be to go to an italian deli and buy some freshly made pasta (or make some yourself if you have a pasta rolling machine and can find some 00 flour) and make a sauce
3 tablespoons of olive oil
add 2 finely sliced cloves of garlic, a small handful of parsley and 2 sticks of finely chopped celery
then add 2 finely chopped/diced onions
once browned pour into a stock pot with 250ml of veg stock and a glass of red wine (the heavier the better)
add a 400g tin of plum tomatoes and a good squeeze of passata (napolina or ciro if you can get them)
add 4 bay leaves, more parsley and some basil (porcini or finely chopped fresh chilli if you want)
a grind of salt and pepper and half a tea spoon of sugar (the sugar just loses any acidity in the toms)
leave to simmer for at least 2 hours
Edited by sleep envy on Friday 22 August 00:50
Dead quick one,
Little slug of olive oil in a saucepan, lowish heat.
Sweat off some diced onion, not browned just softened.
Add chunky red and yellow pepper(never green, bitter as hell)
Let that cook down a little, gently. Add fine diced garlic, soften,then a good sqwidge of tom puree.
Add chunky courgettes, a tin of plum toms, slug of red wine, herb de Provence, salt and pepper.
Cook till courgettes are softened.
Serve with pasta, microwave rice or posh couscous.
Little slug of olive oil in a saucepan, lowish heat.
Sweat off some diced onion, not browned just softened.
Add chunky red and yellow pepper(never green, bitter as hell)
Let that cook down a little, gently. Add fine diced garlic, soften,then a good sqwidge of tom puree.
Add chunky courgettes, a tin of plum toms, slug of red wine, herb de Provence, salt and pepper.
Cook till courgettes are softened.
Serve with pasta, microwave rice or posh couscous.
Edited by Fishtigua on Friday 22 August 01:19
I always found Channel 4's food site full of good ideas. Most can be altered to suit your needs.
Italian food
Italian food
Did a nice pasta bake the other day.
Diced some onions and fried them off with lots of garlic and a couple of bayleaves and seasoned with salt, pepper and a little chilli powder.
Added some mushrooms and allowed them to cook off in their own liquid. Finally I added a pot of cream, splash of milk, a glug of olive oil and a few chunks of butter.
I then seasoned this with lots of chopped basil (in your case I would suggest trying fresh thyme leaves instead), some grated nutmeg and a bit more salt and pepper. Oh and a spoon of english mustard, although do this to taste as I was cooking for quite a few people. Finally bring it to the boil and then simmer for a few mins.
Add this to the pre-boiled tagglieteli or papperdell pasta. Fresh pasta is better and if you want a bake then I think the taglieteli will be better and if you want to eat it normally then the papperdell would be better imo.
Also at this point add in some spinach leaves so they just wilt and mix in some roasted pine nuts. For the nuts you should just chuck them in a dry heated frying pan and be careful not to burn them, pine nuts are available in my local Tescos and I'd imagine most supermarkets stock them.
Diced some onions and fried them off with lots of garlic and a couple of bayleaves and seasoned with salt, pepper and a little chilli powder.
Added some mushrooms and allowed them to cook off in their own liquid. Finally I added a pot of cream, splash of milk, a glug of olive oil and a few chunks of butter.
I then seasoned this with lots of chopped basil (in your case I would suggest trying fresh thyme leaves instead), some grated nutmeg and a bit more salt and pepper. Oh and a spoon of english mustard, although do this to taste as I was cooking for quite a few people. Finally bring it to the boil and then simmer for a few mins.
Add this to the pre-boiled tagglieteli or papperdell pasta. Fresh pasta is better and if you want a bake then I think the taglieteli will be better and if you want to eat it normally then the papperdell would be better imo.
Also at this point add in some spinach leaves so they just wilt and mix in some roasted pine nuts. For the nuts you should just chuck them in a dry heated frying pan and be careful not to burn them, pine nuts are available in my local Tescos and I'd imagine most supermarkets stock them.
Ikemi said:
I need a bit of help! I'm not particularly a dab hand when it comes to cooking in the kitchen. Be assured, I can russle up a mean beans on toast (topped with cheese for special occasions! ) and I can use the full potential of the microwave/local take-away! However my g/f is coming down for a few days and I have said that I will cook something Italian for her ... So far I'm thinking penne pasta and fresh spinach in a tomato sauce, but can anyone else come up with a few suggestions with ingredients/methods/links for cooking!
The dish cannot have any meat, pesto or basil in!
What you do think?
What you're looking for is carbonara. Very simple, no wacky ingredients and it takes 10 minutes to cook. ) and I can use the full potential of the microwave/local take-away! However my g/f is coming down for a few days and I have said that I will cook something Italian for her ... So far I'm thinking penne pasta and fresh spinach in a tomato sauce, but can anyone else come up with a few suggestions with ingredients/methods/links for cooking!The dish cannot have any meat, pesto or basil in!
What you do think?
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