(serves 2)
There is something just wonderful about the simple pleasure of having time.
Today i had a day off (self-prescribed lol) as i was recovering from the marathon yesterday, figured i'd be pretty useless anyway, and it was the best. Not only did i get to have a lazy brunch with one of my favourite people in the world followed by an amazing massage... the best thing was really just this sense of freedom and relief. I remember when i started my Masters i had a lot of days like this where i could take my time, not always be rushing somewhere or have something i need to do, somewhere i need to be, training to wake up for, seems like so long ago now! This year is passing so quickly and the last few months have been so full on, today was exactly what i needed before the next few crazy months...
And of course, the best way to end my perfect day was to have some time for slow cooking and fresh pasta! How i have missed being able to take my time to cook, and apparently, authentic italian cooking is all about the labour of love!
Prep time: 20 min
Cooking time: 2-3 hrs, depending on how long you have
Ingredients:
1 brown onion
3 cloves garlic
250g beef mince
250g pork and veal mince
1 eggplant
1 x 400g can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 x 700mL bottle passata
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp dried oregano
2 cloves parsley, finely chopped
10g pecorino, shaved
Fresh pasta:
200g (approx 1 1/4 C) "00" flour
2 eggs, preferably room temp
extra flour
Special equipment: Pasta maker
Method:
1. Finely slice the brown onion and peel the garlic.
2. Heat a large pot on medium heat with olive oil, then add the onion and the garlic and stir until onions are soft.
3. Add the two types of mince into the pot and stir to break it up. Continue cooking until about half the meat is browned.
4. Add in the can of peeled tomatoes and the passata and bring to the boil.
5. Meanwhile, dice the eggplant into 1.5cm x 1.5cm cubes.
6. Heat a frypan with olive oil on medium-high heat and place the eggplant in and cook for 3-4 minutes on one side, drizzle with olive oil and salt then turn the eggplant for a grilled look.
NB. If you have a large eggplant, you may need to do this in 2 batches as you need it in a single layer to ensure it cooks well. Also, you will need to be a little generous with the olive oil to make sure it has that delicious soaked char-grill look and taste.
7. Add the eggplant to the tomato sauce and put on simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally and seasoning with sugar, oregano, salt, pepper and a couple of swigs of olive oil.
NB. This will start off quite watery, but as it simmers it will start to thicken as the flavour soaks into the eggplant and the meat, and will start to smell more meat-y and scrumptious!
8. To make fresh pasta, you can look on a previous blogpost, Nothing like Fresh Pasta
But essentially, the key is to make sure the well is deep enough for the eggs, otherwise you won't mix the flour in evenly and it won't have the right texture. The pasta dough should be soft and bounce back when you push with a finger! Remember to leave it covered for 20-30 minutes to let it rest.
9. Then comes the fun part where you can decide what shape you want to make your pasta, usually i love to make thick pappardelle strips, but thought i'd try these triangular strips for variety (well, as well as the strips). Cut and flour them whilst you wait until cooking time!
10. When the ragu is ready, you can cook the pasta! In a pot of boiling salted water, place the pasta in piece by piece to make sure it doesn't stick, the quickly stir around. It should take 2-3 minutes to cook until al dente (or until it floats). Quickly drain and mix in with the ragu.
11. To serve, plate it up, add some extra ragu on top and sprinkle the parsley and pecorino on top!
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| Classic Pappardelle Strips |
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| Pappardelle triangles |
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