Blog – Page 27 – The Food Wife

Pasta alla Vodka

31st July 20212nd August 2021
by thefoodwife

Serves 3-4

This is an unbelievably rich and tasty sauce. Itâ€™s relatively simple to make but can be taken up a notch by using homemade pasta. The result will be even more delicious though.

Using tomato purÃ©e results in a beautifully smooth and rich sauce, whilst the seasoning comes from the chilli flakes and parmesan.

Once youâ€™ve made the sauce it will be very thick but remember that you will be using some of the pasta water to thin it a little allowing it to easily coat your pasta.

This recipe is easy to double.

Ingredients:
15g butter
2 shallots, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pinch chilli flakes
140g tomato purÃ©e
150ml double cream
50ml vodka
30g Parmesan, finely grated
Pasta, (gluten-free if required) 75-100g a person, cooked until al dente (reserve a little of the water)

Step 1: Melt the butter over a medium low heat and then soften the finely diced shallot, which will take a few minutes.

Step 2: Once soft (it shouldnâ€™t be coloured) add the garlic and chilli and stir for a couple more minutes.

Step 3: Add the tomato purÃ©e and cook out, moving it about the pan for a couple of minutes, then add the cream, vodka and parmesan. Cool for a few minutes, stirring often to stop it from catching.

Step 4: At this stage it is ready to have the cooked pasta added. If you the pasta is not yet ready, switch off the heat on the sauce until a minute before you want to add the pasta.

Step 5: Add the pasta along with a little of the pasta cooking water and stir until you have a silky smooth sauce coating every piece of pasta. Serve immediately, with extra Parmesan if required.

Creamy Pesto Potato Salad

3rd July 20214th July 2021
by thefoodwife

Serves 4

The kids were having some pesto pasta the other evening and I was in the middle of boiling some potatoes for a potato salad for my supper later on. I decided to add a couple of tea spoons of pesto to the dressing and the result was a creamy pesto dressing for my potato salad. This would be perfect for a picnic or BBQ spread.

Ingredients:

500g potatoes, cooked (you can use small salad potatoes, or large potatoes, peeled and cut into equal chunks)

2 heaped tbsp mayonnaise

2 heaped tbsp plain yogurt

2 heaped tsp pesto

Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Mix the mayonnaise, yogurt and pesto together and season to taste.

Star 2: Stir through the cooked potatoes and serve.

Can be eaten warm or cold.

Italian-inspired Slaw

29th June 20214th July 2021
by thefoodwife

Serves 8

Whilst I love using red cabbage in my usual slaw recipe, this Italian-inspired slaw works excellently with a white cabbage. Shred it finely and allow it to sit in the dressing an hour or two before serving. Delicious.

Ingredients:

1 small head of white cabbage, core removed and finely shredded

Dressing:

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp fennel seeds

2 tsp garlic powder or 2 minced cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp fine salt

Large pinch of ground white pepper

7 glugs of extra virgin olive oil

7 glugs of cider or white wine vinegar

Juice of half a lemon

Step 1: Combine all the dressing ingredients together.

Step 2: Thoroughly toss the dressing through the shredded cabbage. Allow to marinade for an hour or two before serving.

Any leftovers can be covered and kept in the fridge for the next day.

Satay Marinade

14th June 202128th June 2021
by thefoodwife

As soon as the sun is shining this satay recipe is perfect for marinating some meat and cooking on the bbq. This quantity is enough to marinate two large chicken breasts, cut into strips. It is easily scaled up and works excellently with pork too. I love skewering the marinated pork with alternates pieces of fresh pineapple and then barbecuing.

Ingredients:
1 heaped tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1 tsp soy sauce (gluten-free if required)
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
Juice of 1 lime
2 lime leaves, roughly chopped (or use the zest of the lime)
1 lemon grass, bruised with the back of a knife and then finely chopped
1 inch of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

Combine all ingredients together. Coat the meat and allow to marinate.
Aim to do this the night before for ultimate flavour and then skewer and cook the next day.

Burnt Basque Cheesecake (gluten-free)

11th June 202111th June 2021
by thefoodwife

Serves 12

Everything here needs to be at room temperature before you start. This will give you a beautifully smooth cheesecake, so make sure you take your cream cheese and cream out of the fridge half an hour before you start. There is no crust or biscuit base to this, there is also no water bath, it is incredibly easy and the result is a striking dessert that it is oh-so delicious.

The good news is that you can make this ahead of time. Ideally, make it the day before, although itâ€™ll be ok for a good few days in the fridge. And even better, as long as securely wrapped, it freezes so well.

The dramatic burnt top of the cheesecake gives this its signature look, but there should be no real burnt taste. Just yummy, creamy cheesecake.

Ingredients:

800g full fat cream cheese
200g caster sugar
360ml double cream
5 large/6 medium free range eggs
Large pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
40g (gluten-free if required) plain flour

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 200c (fan) and line a 9 inch spring release cake tin with baking paper.

Step 2: Using an electric mixer beat the cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla together until smooth. Add each egg, beating after each addition followed by the cream. Finally add the flour. The mixture should be completely smooth with no lumps.

Step 3: Pour carefully into the lined cake tin and bake for 45 minutes then push the temperate up to 220c for a final
15 minutes to achieve your burnt top.

Step 4: Remove and allow to fully cool
Before refrigerating overnight.

I like to serve slices with a raspberry coulis poured over the top.