Penne Melanzane

This pasta dish epitomises the five years I spent living in inner Sydney as a single girl. House sharing, working to live and having a whole heap of fun. With a great group of friends in one of the most exciting cities you can live.
 When I cooked something for myself, I wanted it to be tasty, comforting, affordable and fast. This recipe was all of those things, and I must have cooked it once a week.
It is also all about my beautiful cousin and close friend Susie who was the first to start making versions of this sauce.  She re-created a favourite meal of ours that we both enjoyed at a land mark restaurant on Norton street, Leichhardt called 'Bar Italia'.
 This is my version of this pasta dish and it is still a big favourite. It will always bring back memories of  Susie's support of me, her amazing comfort cooking, and so many fun times at good old 'Bar Italia'.

Ingredients:

Olive oil spray
2 small - medium eggplants, thinly sliced length ways
1/4 of a cup of olive oil
4 medium garlic cloves, sliced
160 grams of Kalamata olives (approximately 30 large olives), pits removed
30 grams of capers, rinsed
4 cans of peeled tomatoes, pureed
Salt
500 grams of penne pasta
fetta cheese, to taste

Method:

Spray each side of the eggplant slices with the olive oil spray and fry on a hot fry pan or skillet until eggplant slices are softened and charred. It's also really great to do this step on a BBQ.
Once eggplants are softened, place on a cutting board and roughly chop into chunky pieces.

Place a heavy based saucepan on medium heat and add olive oil, heat slightly and add garlic. Stir for about a minute just to flavour the oil and soften the garlic, but do not let the garlic brown.
Next add the olives and capers and fry for five minutes over the medium heat. Add the eggplant and stir through making sure all of the ingredients are mixed together well, then pour in the pureed tomatoes.
Stir through and add salt to taste, a teaspoon at a time.

Put lid on saucepan and turn up heat, bring to the boil making sure to stir it to avoid sticking. Once boiling turn down heat and simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes with lid slightly ajar, or until the sauce has thickened and the flavours have amalgamated.

While sauce is simmering bring a pot of water to the boil and then add a heaped teasoon of salt and the penne pasta. Cook until aldented or according to packet instructions.

When pasta is cooked, drain and return pasta to pot. Stir some of the sauce through the pasta  to avoid it from sticking together.

Serve with extra finished sauce and crumble fetta over the top.

Serves 4 - 6

Willow's Carrot Slice with vanilla icing

This slice is dedicated to my little girl Willow because she always helps me make it. She would do the whole thing and then dive into the batter with both hands if I let her, but she is learning to be patient and add each ingredient as I hand it to her. Her favourite part is when I pour the glistening bright orange grated carrot into the bowl and then she stirs it all in. It's so much FUN!

Ingredients:
oil spray to grease tin

1 cup of self-raising flour
1/2 a cup of plain flour
1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/2 a cup of brown sugar
3/4 of a cup of vegetable oil
1/2 a cup of golden syrup
3 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla extract
300 grams of coarsely grated carrots (approximately 4 average sized carrots)

250 grams of spreadable cream cheese
1/2 a cup of icing sugar
1 tsp of vanilla extract

Method
Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
Spray a 37cm x 27cm rectangular baking tin with the oil spray and line tin with non-stick baking paper.

 Sift the two flours, the bicarbonate of soda and the cinnamon into a large bowl.

Combine brown sugar, vegetable oil, golden syrup, eggs and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer, use a balloon whisk to get a smooth consistency.

Pour liquid mixture into dry mixture and gently fold through to combine. Stir through the grated carrot and pour into prepared tin.

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Let cool in the tin. When completely cooled, use baking paper to remove from tin.

Next make the icing by combining the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla in a bowl and mixing until you get a spreadable smooth consistency.

 Spread vanilla icing over the slice and cut into squares to serve.

Fried Potatoes

This style of cooking potatoes is relatively new to me but has become one of my favourite methods of preparing them. I think it is a particularly perfect accompaniment to my 'Beef pot roast, with French style aromatics'. The texture of this style of potato is a very good contrast to the roast.

Ingredients:

4 Large Sebago potatoes or similar, skin on and scrubbed
Olive oil
Vegetable oil
Salt

Method:

Par - Boil potatoes for 15 - 25 minutes either in a microwave safe container filled with water in a microwave or in a pot of water on the stove. Make sure Potatoes are completely covered with the water as they boil. The time it takes to get the potatoes par - boiled will depend on the size of the potatoes and the heat source. So after 15 minutes of boiling, insert a sharp knife into the center of a potato. You need to be able to insert the knife through the flesh easily, but still have a slight bit of resistance. This will ensure your potatoes will be cooked but not fall apart when you fry them. If potatoes need more cooking keep boiling them and check them in 5 minute increments. I used quite large Sebago potatoes and it took 25 minutes in my microwave.

When ready, drain potatoes from the water and leave to cool. When cool enough, carefully peel away the skin. Using a sharp knife, slice potatoes into 1/2 cm slices.

Use an even amount of olive oil and vegetable oil, just enough to cover the bottom of a fry pan. Get oil hot but not smoking. Using a mixture of the two oils helps the olive oil not to burn too quickly. Fry potatoes on each side until golden and crisp and drain on paper towel. Salt each potato to taste.

Serves 4-6 depending on size of potatoes