Gourmet on a Shoestring

Prep time: 20 min Cooking time: 35 min Serves 6

This rich Italian dish is another of my favourites and is also great comfort food. Just the thought makes my stomach groan in hunger! This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart, and I find bacon bits is easier to find in your supermarket deli, cheaper and just as yummy.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
283g Pancetta, sliced into small rectangles (or 300g of bacon bits)
1 tablespoon Garlic (or two cloves)
500g Spaghetti
1 cup Thickened Cream
3-4 large Egg yolks
1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Black pepper

Method

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Cook spaghetti in boiling water until al dente, about 8 minute. While spaghetti is cooking, whisk cream, egg yolks, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper in a medium bowl until well combined.
3. In a pan over medium heat fry the garlic and olive oil for a few minutes, then add pancetta (or bacon bits) and cook until browned. Drain on paper towel.
4. Drain pasta, and return to pot. Immediately stir in egg/cheese mixture until well combined
5. Add warm pancetta/bacon. Toss well.
6. Thin sauce with additional cream, if necessary. Serve immediately with more Parmesan cheese as a garnish.

(Alternative: substitute parmesan with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano – more expensive)

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Serves 5

A delicious, thick and hearty soup. So creamy and filling, but won’t leave you with a heavy feeling afterward, like so many other meals.

Ingredients

• 6 medium Potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 5 cups Chicken Stock
• 2 Leeks, chopped finely
• 2 teaspoons Butter
• 1 cup thickened Cream
• 1 Onion, chopped finely
• ½ teaspoon of Garlic
• 3 slices of Panchetta, chopped coarsely(or a handful of Bacon Bits – cheaper!)
• Salt and Cracked Pepper to taste
• 1 slice of thick bread in 1cm cubes (optional)

Method

1. In a medium pot over medium heat, combine the potatoes and stock and allow to simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
2. Meanwhile, if using bread bits, heat half the butter in a saucepan; sauté bread until browned and crisp. Put to the side. Then fry pancetta (or bacon) in a the same hot saucepan until crisp, and set aside.
3. Turn the heat down to medium, and add the leeks, garlic and onion to the saucepan with the remaining butter for 5 to 10 minutes, or until tender (should look bright green and transparent).
4. Meanwhile, mash the potatoes in the pot they were cooking in.
5. Add the leeks, cream, and panchetta/bacon to the potatoes, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Ingredients

• ½ Kent Pumpkin
• 1½  blocks of low-fat Australian Feta
• 50g Pine Nuts
• 1 Spanish Onion
• 1 bunch of Coriander (leaves only, chopped)
• Honey
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Chop pumpkin into bite-sized cubes, drizzle with oil, honey, and season with salt and pepper. Put in oven at 200 for 40mins.
2. Chop onion in thin strips and pan fry until soft
3. Add onion to pumpkin in oven when pumpkin is half done to crisp up.
4. Toast pine nuts lightly in pan.
5. Chop feta into small cubes and add pine nuts and coriander.
6. When pumpkin is browned, take out and combine with the rest of the ingredients. Add a bit of honey (to taste) over the whole mixture and gently mix.

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Easy, delicious and healthy finger food, suitable from 9 months old and right up to adult! I make this as a quick portable lunch for my baby (no teeth), the kids and myself. You can add any vegetables you like, zucchini is a great one too.

Makes 15 small pikelets.

Ingredients

• 100g Flour
• ¼ teaspoon Bi-carb Soda
• 150ml Milk
• 1 Egg
• 75g finely grated Carrot (approx. 1 carrot)
• 4 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan Cheese
• Butter for frying

Method

• Sift flour and bi-carb into a mixing bowl, along with the egg and milk. Whisk thoroughly.
• Add grated carrot and parmesan, and mix well.
• Heat the butter in the pan until hot and then add small spoonfuls of pikelet mix into the pan.
• When bubbles form in the pikelets, flip over.

Place cooked pikelets onto a paper towel until ready to eat! Can be served with a cheesy dipping sauce (see Béchamel sauce recipe) or some sweet chilli and mayonnaise.

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Makes 2 cups

My kids go crazy for this really healthy, simple and fun snack or dinner dish. There is always a fight for the last carrot!

Ingredients

• 30g Butter, chopped
• 1/6 cup plain Flour
• 2 cups Milk
• 40g Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
• Small pinch of Salt
• Small pinch of ground Nutmeg

Method

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until foaming.
2. Add flour. Cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes or until bubbling.
3. Remove from heat. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly, until mixture is smooth. Return to heat.
4. Cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 5 minutes or until sauce comes to the boil, thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
5. Remove from heat. Stir in parmesan, salt and nutmeg.
6. Lightly boil veggies that are easy for little hands to hold like carrot sticks, broccoli, cauliflower and beans, and serve with little pots of the cheesy sauce on each plate for dipping!

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