Pear Salad

Because it's autumn here and this was just the thing for a lovely, sunny, bright and breezy day :)

Ingredients (per person)

A large double handful of baby spinach leaves, torn
1 beurre bosc pear (or one with similar soft texture), cubed
50g of soft feta (more or less), crumbled
1T pecans, roughly crushed
1T black cherry vinegar*
1 med-large strawberry
Salt and pepper to taste


Method

Finely chop or puree strawberry with vinegar. Let steep. Meanwhile, combine all other ingredients and gently toss. Pour over vinegar, season and consume :)


Alternatives

* Good quality balsamic vinegar should be a passable substitute for black cherry vinegar.
Try walnuts instead of pecans, apples instead of pears, or parmesan instead of feta.

Butter-based Mushroom/Capsicum/Baby Spinach Pasta Sauce

I got home at nearly half past nine tonight craving something tasty and wanting more than anything to crash into bed. I'd already planned to make pasta, and lacking a brain to think of a satisfying alternative, pasta is what I went with.

What I didn't expect was for it to be SO INSANELY TASTY!!

So. Recipe. Be warned: this is not a skinny recipe :D

Serves 3.

About 100g of butter
About 2t fresh majoram
8 mushrooms, sliced
1/4 small red capsicum (pepper), diced
Tarragon
Almost 1/4 carton sour cream (er, 100g??)
Nearly 1 block feta cheese (250g?)
1 handful baby spinach/rocket mix

Cook sufficient pasta according to directions. Melt butter in a saucepan with majoram. Add mushrooms and capsicum. Saute until mushies are nearly cooked then add tarragon and salt to taste (4 grinds). Add sour cream and melt. Add feta; stir through until heated. Add spinach/rocket and stir through until just wilted.

Serve with a few fresh leaves on top and a sprinkling of parmesan.

Yum!

Pesto and Pumpkin Seed Pasta

Tonight I had a fantastic reminder that good food, tasty food, needn't necessarily be slow food. The last few months I've been in a cooking slump; I'm not interested, I'm not motivated, I don't want to think about what to cook, and I don't want to be stuck in the kitchen.

However, after a week away with decidedly average cooking, and a day in which 10-12 years olds participated in a My Kitchen Rules style cooking challenge and TOTALLY ROCKED (dude, twelve year olds who know how to make risotto and truffles? HEAVEN!), I knew tonight I needed to eat Good Food.

We went shopping last night, so we had fresh mushrooms, a new bottle of basil pesto, and for the first time, some roasted pumpkin seeds. Liana uses these as snack material, so I decided to give them a try. They're great, but this particular brand is a little too salty for my liking - hence, cooking with them!

The Recipe - serves 2

2 large cloves garlic
olive oil
about 10 smallish mushrooms, sliced
2 rings of red capsicum/pepper, diced
1 tablespoon chopped pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons basil pesto
100g sour cream
2 small handfuls shredded baby spinach
Grated parmesan, for garnishing

Crush garlic. Fry in oil until golden. Add mushrooms. When partially sauted, add capsicum and seeds. When mushrooms are fully cooked, add pesto and sour cream. Stir through until heated. Serve over hot pasta and top with shredded baby spinach and parmesan.

Mmm.

See? Good food. Pretty tasty food. And it wasn't complicated to prepare. Woo hoo!