Many of you may have noticed from social media that my entertaining menu follows a pretty predictable routine... but hey, when you're onto a good thing! A big bowl of hearty pasta, a fresh green salad with my best-ever salad dressing (recipe in this book) and a loaf of bread fresh out of the oven (my favourite thermie bread recipes here!). That's it! Simple, but it works every time. I change up the pasta sauce and salad ingredients based on what's in season (and what I've got growing in my garden!), and pick the bread recipe depending on what I feel like.
I love having people over for dinner (way more than I like going to restaurants!); it's more intimate, more fun, way cheaper and there's no two-hour sittings 😂. But if I make too much of a song and dance over the menu then it becomes exhausting. And that's the last thing I want - it should be enjoyable! So I keep it simple and satisfying. With a little bit of careful planning the day before, I can have (almost!) the entire meal cooked in an hour while I enjoy a glass of wine and my favourite playlist. I don't provide starters or entrees (other than my famous dirty martinis made with homegrown olives!), and these days I usually don't bother with dessert (although there's always homemade ice creams in my freezer!). A single course means I can serve the entire meal when guests arrive and then sit down and enjoy it with them... no jumping up to go back to the kitchen.
Now onto today's new free recipe! This is one I've made a couple of times when entertaining recently with rave reviews - it's an incredibly rich porcini ragu that tastes like it's been slowly simmering all day on the stove, when in reality it cooks for only 13 minutes 😂! You know I'm the queen of quick and easy, without any flavour sacrifice. So lets get cooking…
Serves 2
(but can easily doubled or tripled, just scale up the ingredients and keep the method the same)
+ vegetarian
+ nut free
+ soy free
+ refined-sugar free
+ egg free
+ dairy free (option)
+ vegan (option)
+ gluten free
Ingredients
40g dried porcini mushrooms
200g boiling water
250g dried pasta (we used penne)*
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 red chilli, fresh or dried (or more!)
40g extra virgin olive oil
50g tomato paste
1 tsp alyce’s flavour bomb salt (or regular salt, but it’s much better with flavour bomb!)
50g cream**
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
Method
- Place mushrooms in a shallow bowl. Cover with 200g boiling water and set aside.
- Boil a big pot of salted water on the stove and cook pasta according to package instructions.
- Meanwhile, pace garlic and chilli in TC bowl, chop for 5 seconds, speed 5. Scrape down sides using silicone spatula.
- Add oil, sauté for 5 minutes, 100C, speed 1.
- Add mushrooms and all remaining soaking water (the mushrooms will have absorbed a lot of the water), chop for 5 seconds, speed 8.
- Add tomato paste and salt, cook for 8 minutes, 100C, speed 1.
- Add cream, mix for 5 seconds, speed 3.
Toss creamy mushroom ragu through your freshly-cooked pasta. Top generously with parsley - this is not just a garnish, go heavy handed! Sit down with a glass of red and enjoy.
*use gluten-free pasta for a gluten-free option. We like buckwheat spirals best!
**we tried this recipe with a purchased oat-based cream and it was just as delicious as the dairy version, making it an easy swap to vegan and dairy free!
