recipes

Italy's version of Maggi 2 minute noodles, by Nico & Marty

Nico and Marty are a couple from Northern Italy who lived with us in
Paddington for 6 weeks or so. They told me that 'everybody in Italy
knows how to make this' and said that it is something that is made as
a light snack. SERVES 2

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
2 garlic cloves, chopped fairly chunky
Sprinkle of chili flakes
1 tblsp salt
1 packet of Penne pasta

Method

Boil some water and add 1 tblsp of salt to boiling water. Add penne and cook til aldente (or however you like it).

In a small frypan, combine the olive oil and chopped garlic and heat on medium (make sure you only cook on a medium to low heat otherwise the garlic will burn and ruin it), add chili flakes and take off stove.

Drain the penne pasta and add to the frypan, mix well and serve, sprinkle parmesan over the top, benissimo!!

Taze Fasulye, by Captain Raki in Turkey

Captain Raki was the nickname of the guy who owned the 72 foot
yacht that took me and 21 other Aussies and Kiwis around
Mediterranean Turkey. Raki is the Aussie equivalent to Sambucca.
The cook on the yacht (Tos Tos was his name) cooked this for us for
lunch one day and it was delicious! Before we left I asked Tos Tos for
the recipe and he told Captain Raki to write it down for me. So here it
is, in his words....SERVES 2

Ingredients

2 large handfuls of green beens
1 onion
1 clove of garlic, chopped fine
1 shot glass of olive oil
Green pepper (capsicum)
1 tblsp tomato paste
1 large carrot, chopped in sticks
2 glasses water
1 tomato
Half a packet of spaghetti

Method

Add the spaghetti to salted boiling water and cook.

Add oil to saucepan, when hot add the onion, beans, green pepper, carrot, tomato and tomato paste, stir. Add garlic and water and simmer gently for 30 - 40 minutes. Once cooked, dish it out over the spaghetti.

Fasolakia, by Mary Theodore

I first met Mary when I went and did some temp work at
Estee Lauder in London, she is a Greek / Australian
and I used to go over to her place and she'd whip up
this Greek dish and it was the best! This is my favourite
dish by far but I actually haven't completely stuck to
Mary's recipe because Mary also adds black eye beans
to hers but that seems to take a lot longer so I've taken
that out (sorry Mary!!) SERVES 4

Ingredients

1 onion
2 zucchinis (courgettes)
3-4 potatoes
2 handfuls of green beens
1/4 olive oil
Parsley
2 - 3 large ripe red juicy tomatoes
2 - 3 cups water
1 packet of cous cous

Method

Quarter the onion, chop beans in half, cut potatoes (quite chunky) chop zuchinni's (also very chunky), and chop up the tomatoes fine to medium (keep all juice that runs out of them). In a large saucepan, place the olive oil and when hot, add the onion and cook until slightly brown, add the potatoes, beans and zucchini's and stir for 3-4 minutes so olive oil goes through all the vegetables, add the tomatoes and stir for a minute or so, then add water and parsley. Place the lid on saucepan and turn down to a low heat and simmer for approximately 40 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

Whilst simmering, make your cous cous (instructions will be on the packet of your cous cous). Serve mixture on a bed of cous cous....delicious!! And virtually fat free!!