Tues: Passover at Suncoast

Wed: Passover at Chancellor

Thurs: Slow cooked Chilli Con Carne. (I’ll just be modifying this recipe by putting it in the slow cooker)

Fri: Passover meal with my family, so I’ll be cooking Moroccan Lamb Shanks with cous cous.

Sat: Mousakka (Combo of Bonnie‘s recipe and the WW one)

Sun: TBA

Mon: Mushroom Risotto

Tues: Paneer Koftas

Wed: Pasta and vegies

Thurs: 40 clove chicken

Fri: Mac and Cheese

Sat: TBA

Sun: TBA

M&D send me to a cooking class for my birthday this year. While my actual b’day was a while ago now, I just went to the class this last weekend. It was a FANTASTIC day. LOTS of fun! The place is called “On The Ridge“, and as you can see from the picture, it’s set in the beautiful area of Kureelpa, up near Montville.

The Amazing View

One of my favourite things to do was make pasta. I’ve made pasta before, but Tonya gave us some really good tips that I didn’t know before. On Tuesday night I made some pasta dough (100g flour to 1 egg and some oil) after home group, and last night Luke and I had some pasta with the pesto I made as well (I got the recipe for that from the class).

Pasta we made drying on clothes rack!

At the cooking class we split into groups to cook the various things- there were a LOT of different dishes (we got to eat them ALL at the end!). One group made Veal ‘Olives’ with mushroom, sage and proscuitto. Isn’t it nice to cook them out on the deck?!

Is there anything much better then cooking on the deck?

I would 100% recommend going to one of Tonya’s cooking classes. It was a fantastic day filled with learning and cooking in a BEAUTIFUL location. Lots of wine and food afterwards. We ate for SEVERAL hours after we’d finished cooking!! Rachel and I think this would be great for Carmy’s hens day as well- but we’ll see what happens with that- it could be a little too expensive for everyone, but I would go back in an instant! If you love food and cooking then I would definitely recommend this cooking school!

This was an Italian day, but there are lots of others themes as well. Check out their website for more details and FREE recipes!!

My group made the pesto for the pasta. Delish!

I made fresh pasta last night. I am not much of a measurements girl,  but I’ll give it a go telling you all how I made it.

400g Flour

4 eggs

A bit of oil…

So you can either put the flour in a mound on the table, make a well in the center, put the eggs into it, and then use your finger to gradually pull the flour into the egg mix. Once it’s all mixed together kneed it for a good 10 minutes. You will know when it’s ready because it will look silky.

Now, you really don’t want to make this without a pasta maker, but you can if you wish. Put it on the highest setting (7 on mine) and push the pasta through. Then fold it into thirds, and repeat. Do this about 4 or 5 times. This helps to kneed the dough further, and to get it really extra silky and smooth.

Then push it through at each level indicated on the side. I never really do this- I can’t be bothered to put it through 7 times!! I usually just do settings 7, 5, 3 then 1.  Sometimes I just leave it on 2 or 3, and that leaves me with a slightly thicker, easier to use pasta. Particularly good if you like pasta, and make lasagna with it.

When I’m on about setting 5, I usually cut my really long sheet in half. I’ve found that doing that really makes my pasta better, because it doesn’t curl up at the bottom. And covering the pasta generously on both sides with flour after that setting 5 roll will help a lot as well.

Cover it again with flour on both sides when you’re finished. This means it won’t stick together. You can either slice up the pasta yourself now for fettuccine, or spaghetti, or you can leave it flat for lasagna or cannelloni, or tortellini or ravioli. Or you can use the cutters that already come with it (most of the time), and make the pasta with that (like in the picture)!