The Thing That Lurks At The Back

Everyone has something that lurks at the back of the cupboard.  That thing, that big bulky thing, the gadget, the bowl, the thing that never gets used because to get it out means getting down onto your hands and knees, emptying the cupboard to get to the thing, dragging it out and putting everything back in the cupboard.

Then you use the thing, you wash or clean it, and then it sits there for a week or so because you can't face getting back down on your hands and knees, emptying the cupboard, putting the thing back and refilling the cupboard.

My "thing" is a pasta machine.  I love pasta, couldn't live without it, I love homemade proper fresh pasta, I even find making it quite therapeutic as opposed to a faff.  It's just that to make it I have to go through the rigmarole of getting the pasta machine out, then having to look at it sat there reproachfully for days till I summon up the inclination to put it away again.

Anyway the effort was worth it.  I use Jamie Olivers method of bunging it all in a food processor and then bringing it together by hand then kneading.

1 egg to every 100g of type 00 flour.

After making the dough I did suddenly spy that the best before date on the packet of flour was sometime in 2010 though.  Which shows how long it takes me to work up to unearthing the pasta machine!  And as I'd used the last three eggs in the house I just hastily shoved the packet back in the cupboard and forgot all about it!  We are still here this morning, I did check to see if there were any little eebie jeebies.

 








Sausage & Fennel Sauce - From TasteItalia

2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
2 tsp fennel seeds
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 Italian sausages, skin removed - I just used our ordinary pork sausages, just under 1lb
1 tbsp thyme leaves, chopped
100ml red wine
400g tin chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper
grated parmesan to serve

Using a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic and fennel seeds with a pinch of salt.

Heat the oil and cook the onion for a few minutes over a low heat to soften.  Turn the heat up and add the sausages, breaking them up and lightly browning.

Add the garlic, fennel and thyme and season, remembering there is already some salt in there.  Because I was just using plain pork sausages I added some dried oregano too.

Add the wine and allow to reduce slightly then add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 mins.  My sauce was quite thick so I added some of the pasta water.  I also stirred in some fresh parsley

The recipe says to serve with rigatoni but obviously we had it with the pasta above, cooked for about 3 mins.