Tasty Tomato and Mushroom Pasta

Pasta with a tomato based sauce made from scratch is one of the most economical dinners around. It's also a classic example of simple Italian flavours making a deeply satisfying meal. Today I made one with mushrooms and anchovies, other great combinations include sopressa & red capsicum, tuna & capers, zucchini & eggplant or olives, sun dried tomatoes & bacon. A rich twist with a dash of cream makes a rosé sauce, which is extra fattening and delicious.

The secret to a great tomato pasta sauce is patience. You need to simmer the sauce for an hour, it makes a world of difference. I don't know why, it just does.

I tend to add some combination of anchovies and vegetables, if you don't like anchovies, I recommend you try adding just one or two. You won't even taste them and it adds a depth of flavour that is hard to match.

Fresh basil at the end is always good, although it's still early spring and pretty expensive in the shops so I didn't use any today
 

Tasty Tomato and Mushroom Pasta - serves 2

 

4 cloves garlic

1 tin tomatoes

olive oil
 

8 mushrooms sliced
6 Anchovy fillets
 

250gm wholemeal pasta

Parmesan cheese and spring onion to garnish

 

Start by frying 6 anchovy fillets (or your fatty meat of choice e.g. bacon/sopressa/pepperoni) and 4 cloves of roughly chopped garlic on a low heat until the anchovy breaks up and the garlic softens.

 

Add the mushrooms and sauté for about 5 minutes

 

Add one tin of tomatoes and 1 cup of water, bring to boil and then simmer for an hour.

 

 

The sauce will be become rich and thick, add a little water from the pasta to thin it out if needed

 

Taste the sauce for pepper, salt and sugar.

 

Because the tinned tomatoes I use aren't very sweet I usually end up adding about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of sugar.



 

Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and stir through

 

 

A sprinkle of spring onion, parmesan cheese and olive oil finishes this nicely

Tuna, Brown Rice & Green Lentil Salad

This post is a variation on a theme, salad of grains/pulses + fresh vegetables + onion + herbs, therefore it looks pretty similar to my couscous salad and chickpea salad recipes, but just different enough to keep things interesting as well as healthy! This recipe makes a pretty big salad, enough to keep you going for lunches at work for the week, or to take to a BBQ at a friends place. When I make it for lunches I make it really lean, no dressing or oil, that way it lasts longer and when I pack my lunch for the day I can either keep it super lean or put a blob of mayonnaise/dash of olive oil on it.

 

The rate determining step in this salad is cooking the brown rice and lentils. Both medium grain brown rice and French/Puy green lentils take 30 minutes to boil - so I put them in the same pot. I might be committing some kind of terrible lentil sin doing this, but it seems to work perfectly every time. Yesterday I bought some green lentils and the miss-informed sign about the bulk bin said you must soak overnight before cooking-total rubbish!

 

Tuna, brown rice and green lentil salad

 

1/2 cup uncooked brown rice

1/2 cup uncooked french green lentils

3 sticks of celery
3 spring onions
1/2 a red onion
1 red capsicum
2 tomatoes (seeds removed)
1/2 a zucchini

large bunch of parsley
20 mint leaves
small handful of coriander leaves
large tin of tuna

Place the lentils and brown rice into a saucepan with cold water,bring to boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Testing the brown rice to confirm when it is cooked

While the lentils and rice are cooking, it's time for your meson plus!

Finely dice the onions, vegetables and herbs.

 

then add the drained tuna, I buy SAFCOL "responsibly fished, pole and line caught tuna" based on the 2011 Canned Tuna Greenpeace Guide.

 

 

Once the rice and lentils are cooked, drain and rinse with cold water. Allow to cool then add to the rest of the salad.

 

 

And you're done

 

 

Today's lunch, tuna, brown rice & lentil salad with a boiled egg, some black olives and capers!

 

A Tasty Tuna Sandwich

It's lunchtime on Sunday, the fridge is a little bare, but with a little effort and the help of a well stocked pantry (you'd think I believed the apocalypse was imminent), I manage to put together a pretty nice sandwich. It's based on the classic flavour combination of dill (from the pickle), tuna and mayonnaise. If I had fresh dill I would use it, but unfortunately it is not very popular in Australia and typically hard to find.

The main point I'm trying to make in this post is that I think you should always make an effort, even if it's just to make a sandwich, you owe it to the food and to the people who grew, caught, made, killed or transported it for you. Food is so central to our lives and so often we consume it without even thinking... This was quick, easy and delicious!

A Tasty Tuna Sandwich - enough filling for two

1 x 95gm tin tuna 

(for what it's worth I buy SAFCOL responsibly fished tuna)

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

chopped parsley

about 1- 2 tsp finely diced white onion

1 tsp capers

2 tsp mayonnaise

1 diced polski ogorki dill cucumber pickle (I buy "always fresh")

I added a little grated carrot, sliced cucumber and diced red capsicum

then put it all together between two slices of grainy bread, which I toasted because it was a little stale making it crunchy and delicious!

Tuna Coleslaw

I apologise for my silence... I'm in the middle of a rather early midlife crisis - I'm feeling super excited about my new path - just struggling to organise my life how I'd like it to be. I have been taking a few photos of my dinners and tonight I'm featuring my tuna coleslaw I made last week. It's funny, because I make up these dishes, usually while walking around the supermarket and even during the cooking, only to google them and discover that I'm not so original after all... oh well, I guess there are some basic food pairings like tuna and mayonnaise that many people love to play around with. So this recipe is a mixture of three of my favourite things, coleslaw + waldorf salad +  tuna! I LOVE my mandolin slicer/grater kit. I recommend them to anyone who likes salads, stir fry's and sliced potatoes on the BBQ. They make salads super quick and easy. I bought mine from a display in a shopping centre - best $35 I ever spent on a kitchen appliance

Salad

1 carrot thinly grated

shredded cabbage equal to carrot volume

1/2 an apple julienned green apples are nice, but I used a sundowner

 (to cut the apple I use the thin slicer on my mandolin then cut them into thin strips)

2 sticks young celery

1/4 red onion cut with same method to apple

2 handfuls of toasted walnuts

Tin of tuna (in spring water for the health conscious)

small handful of sultanas

mint to garnish

It might takes really nice with way more mint - perhaps next time

dressing

1 tsp mayonnaise

1/2 tsp dion mustard

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp apple cider vinegar/lemon juice

to be honest those dressing quantities are entirely made up, But the ratios are pretty spot on for how I like it. If you are watching your weight omit the olive oil and 1/2 the mayo. I go easy on dressing because I hate to drown my coleslaw. I prefer to eat small amounts of full fat as opposed to more of low fat/diet options. So I eat real egg mayo, which is like 80% fat, but I just don't eat a lot of it. Fat free mayo freaks me out, I can't understand how they can make something that is supposed to be made from egg yolk and oil - 97% fat free. I think they shouldn't be allowed to call it mayonnaise the same way you can't call butter/oil blended spreads "butter" they are called "spread". true story.