Expanding our food interests - more food adventures.

We have had a busy week this week trying out some new recipes and trying to tempt the children to try some new tastes. These are some of the recipes we have tried.

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Homemade Pasta 

Having watched a program called Simply Italian on channel 4 we decided to give making our own homemade pasta a go. It was surprisingly easy although next time I  need to make them a little bit thinner.

The link for the recipe is :-

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/simply-italian-recipes/basic-egg-pasta-dough-recipe

Our raw pasta bows.

Cooked with basil pesto and parmesan - delicious.

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Mexicana Salad

We also had a mexican dinner with tacos and guacamole etc. Looking for something new to add we decided to make a mexicana salad.

Ingredients

1 tin red kidney beans drained and boiled for 3 minutes

500g sweet potato diced and boiled until tender.

1 red onion diced

1 green pepper diced

2-3 tomatoes , diced

a handful of basil leaves chopped

Dressing:

1 clove garlic crushed

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix all the ingredients and dress with the salad dressing. Very delicious and went very well with the tacos, guacamole and sour cream.

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Homemade Bagels

Having watched The Great British Bake-Off on BBC 1 a few weeks back and seeing them make bagels we decided to challenge ourselves and see if we could do it.

Using our bread maker we made a dough with:-

1 cup water - tepid

4 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups of breadflour

1 1/2 teaspoons yeast.

When the dough was made we divided it into 10 bits and rolled them into sausages about 20 cm long. Then you join the ends to make a ring, making sure the join is pinched together to seal. Place them on a greased tray and over with cling film and leave to prove for 20-25 minutes.

When they have proved , bring a large pot of water to the boil and add 20g caster sugar to it. When boiling gently place the bagels in the water about 2 or 3 at a time and cook them for about 1 or 2 minutes turning them gently half way through. Gently lift out with a slotted spoon and drain off excess water then placed back on the baking tray. Glaze with egg yolk mixed with a little water.

Bake them in a preheated oven ( 200 degress celsius) for 15-20 minutes till golden . Transfer to a rack when cooked and leave to cool.

This is the end result.

Lunch - a tuna, sweetcorn and guacamole bagel.