My first attempt in my challenge was the cover recipe from Simple Dinners by Donna Hay. It's my newest acquisition in terms of cookbooks. Here's what I needed:
basil leaves
chorizo, thinly sliced
cherry tomatoes
pappardelle
olive oil
finely grated lemon rind (about 1 lemon)
clove garlic, crushed
buffalo mozzarella, torn
finely grated parmesan
I loved the look of all the fresh ingredients laying out on the bench together. It was a bit exciting!
The basil leaves had to be fried in a saucepan with vegetable oil. It spat like nothing else so be careful if you give it a try! A few turned black right away and then I got the hang of it. Then I put the chorizo and tomatoes to roast in the oven. About 10 mins in the 15-20 min cooking time I realised I was meant to slice them so had to take them out (I really should read the whole recipe first).
Then I put the pappardelle on (YUM!) to boil. When that and the chorizo was ready I lightly pan fried the lemon rind, garlic and olive oil for a few minutes (the smell was intoxicatingly yummy). Then to the pan I added the tomatoes, chorizo, and pasta and tossed together off the heat. To finish it off, the parmesan, sprinkled with crushed basil leaves and a few pieces of the mozzarella.
The Hubs response was "yes, I like this. I want to eat this again" (that man of mine is very wordy, i'm lucky if I can get a word in sometimes) and I concur!
I definitely recommend getting this book. The recipes are easy to follow (when you read them unlike moi!), you can't go past Donna Hay's food styling and photographing for inspiration...I mean seriously, even things like seafood (bleh, I hate seafood) get my mouth watering in this book (and all her magazines). You can get Simple Dinners here or in most major retailers (mine came under the christmas tree, i know Santa gets me).
