Rigatoni with Italian Sausage

10 cherry tomatoes
2 tsp plus 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
560g pack Coles Italian style pork sausages (or just your fave flavour of sausage - from where-ever you shop)
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley
500g rigatoni pasta


Preheat oven to 375 degrees . (My oven only goes to 25o, but seemed to do the trick) Place tomatoes on a small baking tray and drizzle with 2 teaspoons of oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast tomatoes in oven for about 8 minutes, or until the skin begins to split. Remove tomatoes from the oven.


Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. While water is heating, place the remaining 1tbsp of oil in a large heavy saute pan over medium heat.


Add sausages and cook over moderate heat for 7-8 minutes, or until almost cooked through. Remove sausages from pan and allow to cool. Slice sausages into 3cm discs. Place garlic in the pan and saute for 1 minute or until tender. Add the tomatoes and sausages and saute for 3 minutes. Add the olives and toss gently. Bring the mixture to a simmer and add the parsley.


Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the salted boiling water for 8 minutes or until al dente. Drain the pasta and toss in the pan with the sauce. Seas the past a to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer the pasta to plates and serve.


SERVES 4

Mushroom Lasagna

1 packet fresh lasagna sheets or instant lasagna sheets
500 g mince
1 large onion
1 small tin mushrooms
1 tin tomatoes
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tbsp butter
1 cup water
pinch salt and pepper


SAUCE
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup plain flour
2 cups milk


Cook chopped onion in melted butter. Add mince and stir til mince is browning. Add tomatoes, mushrooms, water, herbs and salt and pepper and cook for about 1 hour.


Melt butter, add flour and stir to a paste. Add milk, cook and stir til the sauce thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.


Grease large oven dish and put a think layer of hot mince. Cover with lasagna sheets. Put the rest of the mince and cover again with more lasagna sheets. Pout over the sauce and sprinkle liberally with grated cheese. Brown in a fairly hot oven - 200C for approximately 30 minutes.

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tbs butter

250g  ski lemon meringue yoghurt

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 egg

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp lemon rind

2 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 170C. Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper cups.
In a large bowl, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon. Stir in the yoghurt, blueberries, egg, lemon juice and zest.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stin just to combine, but do not overmix - the batter is supposed to be lumpy.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake until the muffins are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, 13-16mins. Turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool.
Store in an airtight container at room temp for 2 days or wrap individually and freeze for up to a month.

To be a bit sneaky and make them healthy for the kiddies....
1/2 cup yellow squash puree can be added to step 2.

Play Dough

2 1/2 cup plain flour
2/3 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 1/3 cup water
food colourings


Mix the flour, salt and cream of tartar in a bowl. Add oil and water to the bowl.
Stir contents until dough is firm.
Turn out dough and knead until smooth.
Divide dough into 4 portions and add a few drops of colouring to each portion. Knead until colours mix through.
Store in airtight containers in the fridge.

Herb and Bean Falafels

Falafel
2 x 400g cannelloni beans
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup parsley
1 cup mint leaves
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
rock salt and black peppercorns - freshly ground
1 1/2 cup besan flour
700ml vegetable oil for deep frying


Yoghurt Sauce
1 small lemon
1 cup mint leaves
1 cup greek style yoghurt
1 tsp cumin


Drain the beans thoroughly. Transfer to a large bowl and roughly mash.
Finely chop the onion, add to the bowl with the garlic that has been minced/ crushed.
Finely chop the parsley. Add to bowl.
Finely chop the mint. Add to bowl.
Stir in spices, freshly ground salt and pepper and 1/2 cup of Besan flour. Combine well, then form into small balls (1 flat tablespoon amounts) with your hands that have been lightly floured with the remaining flour.
Heat the oil until hot. Cook falafels in batches of 4-5 for about 3 minutes or until a dark golden brown colour. Remove from hot oil and drain on paper towels.


To make the yoghurt sauce, finely grate the lemon rind. Chop mint to a desired consistency.
Combine lemon rind, mint, yoghurt and cumin. Season with salt and pepper and serve with falafels.


Notes:
Cannelloni beans can be substituted with any other white bean.
Besan flour is available from health food and asian food stores. It binds the falafels and doesn't make them gluggy.






Chef's idea:
My husband made these the other night (YES! He was in the kitchen!). He didn't use the mint leaves, used only ordinary plain flour, and put enough oil in a deep fry pan to cook. Still tasted good!! We ate these with just greek yoghurt, and it was delish!