​I watched a video of Marion making this and immediately knew it was something I wanted to try. It looked so easy to make, with so few ingredients, yet it's supposed to be a flavour explosion. I'm so glad I did, it is delicious.

She calls it emergency pasta-an emergency being when you need to make dinner, you don't want to go to the shop, you have to cook with what is in your pantry.
​
This recipe I have made three times to get it how my family loves it. So I have nicknamed it 'The Three Bears' pasta. First time I made it, the flavour was too intense, it had potential, we liked it, but it had too much flavour. The second time I added too much pasta to fix the too intense problem and now it did not have enough flavour. The third time it was just right. You can see the colour difference in the photos, it really does  represent the amount of flavour.

​Now if your on a diet, this is not for you. My son calls this the fat, salt and carb pasta. But it's sometimes food, and sometimes it's okay. We laugh that the spring onions make it healthy.

​You can substitute spaghetti for linguine.

Usually my emergency dinner is Spaghetti Puttanesca, now I have a new one to spice things up a bit.

​Recipe adapted from www.marionskitchen.com/

​Serves 3-4

375g linguine
75g unsalted butter
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
2½ tablespoons soy sauce
2½ tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoons finely grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons finely sliced spring onions

Garlic oil:
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 garlic cloves, finely sliced


To make the garlic oil, place the oil and the garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once the garlic is sizzling, cook for 2-3 minutes or until the garlic is just starting to turn golden at the edges. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl and set aside for later (the garlic will continue cooking and turn evenly golden in the bowl).

Heat a large pot of salted water over high heat. When boiling rapidly, add the pasta and cook until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, add the butter, garlic and chilli flakes into a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook stirring until the butter is just melted (you want the garlic to soften but not colour), then add the soy sauce and oyster sauce. Simmer for a minute and then take off the heat until the pasta is cooked.

When the pasta is al dente, reserve a cup of pasta cooking liquid in case you need it later. Place the butter sauce back on the heat and add the pasta straight into the pan. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed by the pasta and everything is looking super glossy and thick. Toss through the parmesan cheese (add a little pasta cooking water here if necessary).

Divide among serving plates. Top with a drizzle of garlic oil and some garlic chips. Sprinkle with spring onion.

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​This one looks amazing and tastes great to.

Use champagne, prosecco or sparkling wine.

Great for Halloween.

​Recipe adapted from the Family Circle 'Cocktails and Party Drinks' Cookbook

Makes 1 large drink

Crushed Ice
30ml Malibu
30ml Midori
15ml blue curacao
90ml pineapple juice
dash lemon juice
Champagne
Dash grenadine
​

Fill a large goblet with ice. 

Pour over the Malibu, Midori, blue curaca and pineapple and lemon juices.

Top with champagne and a dash of grenadine.

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The food I have tried has been delicious and my family have loved our visit to San Marino.

A very important part of any trip around the world for me is discovering new foods and people, and getting a glimpse of local traditions. My family discuss the country, what they eat, how they eat. Who their neighbours are, where is the country, what continent. It's a great way to discover the world, even though we don't really go there.

As San Marino is situated in Italy, surrounded by the regions Emilia Romagna and Marche, the food is very similar to Italian food of those regions. 
​
This is what I made:
Erbazzone
​Piadina or Piada
Stracciatella
Bolognese Ragu
Nidi di Rondine
Passatelli
Fagioli con le cotiche-Bean and Pork Rind Soup
Pasta e ceci-A Chickpea and Noodle Soup
Pasta and Bean Soup
Apple and Fig Polenta Torta-Bustrengo
Ciambella
Torta tre Monti
Zuppa di Ciliegie

If the recipe is not below, just click on the name of the recipe that you want and it will take you to the recipe page.

Erbazzone Reggiano:  This is delicious, a silverbeet pie filling surrounded by a beautifully light, thin pastry. I add cheese to it, not traditional, but I love it. This I love to make when I have silverbeet growing in my garden.

Piadina or Piada: Oh how excited I am to bring you this recipe, this is the reason I love this eating around the world adventure. This bread is so easy to make and is the softest most delicious flat bread I have ever made. My family have gone nuts about this bread, it is their favourite, and I have made it so many times recently because it really is that good. The bread once cooked is steaming hot and soft and fluffy and absolutely fabulous. The fillings can be anything you love to eat.

Stracciatella: This one we do in Croatia also. This is also know as an Egg Drop Soup, as the 'noodles' in the soup is just beaten eggs (and cheese). We loved this. It is great when you don't have noodles in the house, easy substitution.

​Here is how I made it:

1 litre chicken soup
4 eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups baby spinach

Bring chicken stock to a simmer in a medium-size saucepan.

Whisk together the eggs, Parmesan, parsley, and salt. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the stock while stirring. Continue to stir until the eggs are set, about 1 minute. Add baby spinach and stir to wilt. Serve immediately.

Bolognese Ragu: I am yet to find a bolognese that is quick to cook that has a great flavour to me. The slow cooking process of a bolognese is absolutely needed if you want it to be great. This one is lovely, my family loved it, would definitely make it again.
​
Here is how I made it:

Serves 6-8

2 tablespoon olive oil
100g butter
2 medium onions, finely diced
2 large carrots, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
200g pancetta, diced
500g beef mince
500g pork mince
400ml red wine
4 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups (1 litre) chicken stock
1 sprig rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme

TO SERVE
500g tagliatelle
parmesan cheese, grated

Heat olive oil and butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, and pancetta. Cook for around 10 minutes until the onions start to look translucent.

Add the minced meats and brown all over, ensure the meat is fully broken up and no large chunks remain.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Increase the heat, add the wine, and allow to evaporate for around 2-3 minutes.

In a large jug, dilute the tomato puree into the chicken stock and add to the pan, stir well. Add the rosemary, oregano and thyme.

Reduce to a low heat, then cover and simmer for 2 hours. Check from time to time to ensure the sauce is not drying out. If this occurs, add a small amount of stock.

Cook desired pasta and toss in the bolognese. Top with parmesan cheese and serve.

Nidi di Rondine:  which translates to Swallows Nests, is a traditional dish in San Marino. It is home made pasta filled with ham, cheese and mushrooms and cooked with a Bechamel Sauce. The flavours were lovely, my pasta needed to be a little thinner though. This was a labour intensive recipe, but one we really enjoyed.

Recipe with a video can be found here: ricette.giallozafferano.it/Nidi-di-rondine.html the video is in Italian, but it's great to watch it. 

Here is the recipe:

Makes 20 nests

​For the pasta:
200g 00 flour
2 eggs, at room temperature

For the Bechamel:
550g full cream milk
40g 00 flour
50g butter
pinch of salt, to taste
pinch of grated nutmeg, to taste

For the filling:
150g button mushrooms
140g sliced ham
140g emmentaler cheese
50g grated parmesan cheese

Make the pasta: In a bowl or on your bench, add the flour, keep some of the flour aside as you may not need it all. Add the eggs. Start by mixing with a fork, then continue with your hands, when a dough is starting to form, continue to knead well until the dough is smooth and homogeneous, add the flour you set aside as needed. Wrap the ball in cling film and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, make the bechamel: In a saucepan, heat 500g of milk and grate in the nutmeg. In another saucepan, melt the butter and when it is melted add the flour and mix with a whisk, cooking for a couple of minutes, you will get the thickening base called roux. Add in the hot milk and whisk until the sauce has reached a boil and has thickened. Transfer everything to a clean bowl and cover with cling film, the cling film needs to touch the surface of the bechamel, and let it cool to room temperature. 

Prepare your filling: start by cleaning mushrooms. First remove the stem, then with a brush scrape all the soil present, and finally slice ​​thinly. 

Back the dough: roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured bench, you will have to obtain a rectangle of 50cm x 30cm with a thickness of about 1-2mm, trim edges, if needed. Transfer the dough to a sheet of baking paper.

On the pasta sheet, distribute 2-3 generous spoonfuls of béchamel spreading it carefully over the entire surface and leaving a couple of centimetres from the edges. Then start filling, arrange the slices of ham, mushrooms and sprinkle with grated Parmesan (keeping a little aside) together with a pinch of salt. Finally, lay the sliced ​​Emmentaler. Wet the edges with a little water, so as to make them sticky and finally roll the dough with the help of baking paper.

Wrap the roll in the paper and place it on a tray, placing everything in the freezer for about 20 minutes. This procedure is essential to keep the shape perfectly when cut. 

Meanwhile, pour a few more spoonfuls of béchamel into a 30cm x 20cm oven proof dish and carefully distribute over the entire surface.
​
Now dilute the remaining béchamel with the remaining 50g of milk, so as to make it much softer and keep it aside: it will be used to later. Once the dough is form, take the roll back and slice it obtaining 20 scrolls, each about 2cm thick. Then arrange the scrolls in the dish, by laying them one on top of the other, slightly overlapping and tilted.

Sprinkle the surface with the diluted béchamel, sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/160°C for about 40 minutes. Your swallow's nests are ready to be served and enjoyed.

Passatelli: This was an interesting one, making pasta from fine breadcrumbs. I had never known this was even possible, but it is. This is why I love this eating around the world adventure. How many times I've made soup, but I've forgotten to buy soup noodles. This was a great substitute. I loved it.

In the picture you can see noodles, I added them as I had more soup than suggested in the recipe.

Here is how I made it:

100g parmesan cheese, grated
100g dried breadcrumbs
3 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 litres chicken or beef soup

Place the bread crumbs, parmesan and the lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and carefully mix together with your hands until it forms a soft dough-like consistency. The mixture should be like a wet dough, barely holding together.
If it seems too stiff, add 1 tablespoon water or stock. If it’s too soft, add more breadcrumbs and Parmesan.
Allow the dough to rest for approximately 20 minutes in a cool place.

Once ready, put the dough in a ricer. Press to create short noodles (like little worms).
Bring the soup to a boil and add the pasta. Once the passatelli have risen to the surface, they are ready to eat.
Serve immediately.

​Fagioli con le cotiche-Bean and Pork Rind Soup: This soup makes me laugh. When I served it it was nice, a bit light in flavour, but nice, I quite liked it, simple, but tasty. I told my kids it was simple 'peasant' food, what poorer people would eat, a little meat with beans as the filler. My youngest looks up at me and says, 'but we are not poor, add more meat next time', obviously he felt it lacked flavour. I won't make this recipe again, but I like the idea of the recipe. The link to the recipe is here, it is in Italian, just use translate to English option.

Pasta e Ceci: I love this, it is a cross between a soup and a pasta. The first bowl you have is a thick delicious hearty soup, when you go back for more it has thickened into a delicious pasta. This is a simple dish, but it is delicious.

Pasta and Bean Soup: This is a cross between a soup and a pasta, just like the pasta e ceci. This is hearty, comforting and delicious. 

​Here is how I made it:

(500g) dried borlotti beans
1 potato, peeled
2 bay leaves
75-100g pancetta or speck
2 cloves garlic, peeled
salt flakes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 celery stick, diced
1-2 sprigs rosemary
1 small piece parmigiano or pecorino rind
2 x 400g tins crushed tomatoes
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
chilli oil or freshly ground black pepper
200g broken up dried egg pappardelle

freshly grated parmesan, to serve

Soak the dried borlotti beans in water overnight, changing the water once or twice. Drain.
Place the beans, potato, bay leaves, pancetta and 1 clove garlic in a large saucepan of water, bring to a simmer and cook for 1–1½ hours or until the beans are tender and cooked through. Season with salt.
Transfer the potato, garlic, one-third of the beans and a few tablespoons of the stewing liquid to a food processor and blend until smooth. Return the pureed mixture to the pan.
​Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the celery and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the rosemary and remaining garlic clove and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the cheese rind and crushed tomatoes and simmer over low–medium heat for 20 minutes or until reduced slightly. Season with salt.
Add the tomato sauce to the bean mixture, then add the stock and more salt if needed. Bring to the boil. Drop the pasta straight into the soup and boil until cooked. The starch in the pasta will make the soup deliciously thick.
Serve piping hot, finished with a drizzle of chilli oil or a grinding of pepper, and a handful of grated parmesan.

Note: taste the pancetta, if you like it after it's cooked, dice it up and add it back into the sauce with the tomato sauce.

​Apple and Fig Polenta Torta-Bustrengo: Let me start with saying, I really don't love dried fruit cakes, so making this was more about my husband than me, as he loves dried fruit. Having said that, I actually didn't mind the flavour of this cake. Would I make it again soon, not really, but will I make it again one day, yes, as it was quite pleasant and my husband did enjoy it. The original recipe can be found here.

​Here is how I made it:

Serves 12

150g yellow polenta
150g plain flour
150g dried breadcrumbs
100g caster sugar
15g salt
7g ground cinnamon
3 large eggs beaten
60ml olive oil
60ml honey
500ml whole milk
225g dried figs woody stems removed and chopped,reserve a few for topping
115g raisins, reserve a few for topping
2 large apples peeled, cored, and diced
zest of 2 oranges
zest of 2 lemons

Grease and dust with flour a 25cm springform pan and set aside. Chop apples and figs and set them aside.

Preheat the oven to 175C/155C fan forced.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients (polenta, flour, breadcrumbs, sugar, salt, and cinnamon).

In a separate bowl, mix the milk, eggs, oil, and honey. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir to form a smooth batter. The batter is quite prone to create lumps, so keep stirring with a whisk until you have a smooth mixture.

Finally, stir in the sliced figs, raisins (reserving a small amount of figs and raisins for topping), chopped apples, orange and lemon zests. Combine well. Pour into prepared pan, and then top with fig reserved slices, being careful not to push them into the batter. Sprinkle with reserved raisins.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until browned and set. Let cool for 30 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and loosen. Remove cake to a serving platter and sprinkle generously with powdered sugar right before serving.​

Ciambella: This is a simple, yet delicious lemon cake. I love making it and just having it in the house. I served this to my dad, and although he is from Croatia, his island was under Italian rule in the past and this cake made it's way there, he actually said it reminded him of his childhood. I love how food can do that.

Torta Tre Monti: a layered wafer cake, with the edge covered with chocolate. Okay so this one was very difficult to get hold of a recipe for, but it is traditional to San Marino and I really wanted to make it. After much reading, it sounded very similar to a slice my mum makes, just without the chocolate and using hazelnuts instead of walnuts. So I made it and although we loved it. I would prefer to serve it like my mum does, as a slice, with maybe, just a little chocolate on the edge.

Here is how I made it:

3 x 395g tins sweetened condensed milk
2 1/2 teaspoons Croatian Rum
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
600g ground hazelnuts 
200g dark chocolate, melted Old Gold brand
5 large rectangle wafers (round wafers if making it traditional to San Marino)
plus extra melted chocolate for the sides

In a bowl add the sweetened condensed milk, rum, vanilla, hazelnuts and melted chocolate, mix to combine well.

Now working quickly, evenly distribute this mix onto 4 of the wafers. Spread it out quickly and evenly, place one of the chocolate coated wafers onto a board, and place the other chocolate coated wafers one on top of the other, finishing with the 5th wafer that does not have any chocolate mix on it. Press down. Place another board on top and add some weights onto it, like tins of tomatoes. This will help the layers all stick together. Refrigerate for 3-4 days. Now in San Marino you would cover the rim of the cake with the extra melted dark chocolate, but I prefer to slice it up into 'biscuits'. You could still dip one edge if you like in the melted dark chocolate.

Zuppa di Ciliegie: cherries stewed in sweetened red wine, a cherry compote, delicious served over vanilla ice cream.

Here is the recipe:

Serves 4

800g fresh cherries, pitted
100g caster sugar
60g unsalted butter
375ml red wine
1 tablespoon cornflour
1 tablespoon cherry liqueur, I used a Croatian one
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, to taste

Melt the butter in a large frying pan, over low-medium heat, add the cherries and sugar. Stir for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium sized saucepan, over a low heat, add the wine and cinnamon.

Put the cherries and any sauce from the pan into the saucepan with the wine. Simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes.

Remove the cherries from the liquid, and place in a serving dish. In a small bowl whisk together the cornflour and cherry liqueur, add it to the cherry sauce, whisk for 3 minutes or until your sauce has thickened. Pour over your cherries.

​Serve warm or at room temperature over vanilla ice cream. 

​​Now to add another sticker to my world map.

Next Stop: Poland

​This is delicious, a silverbeet filling surrounded by a beautifully light, thin pastry.

I love making pastry, I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I'm happy to try. This pastry has been so easy to make every single time I have made this. 

As we grow silverbeet in our garden, I always try and find new ways to cook it. This filling is delicious.

The addition of ricotta cheese is my doing as I like it, and I add it when I have it at home, as it lightens the intensity of it just being a silverbeet flavour. Sometimes I add crumbled feta also.

Now the original recipe says to start the recipe a day ahead, I never do and it turns out perfect. But if you want to make the dough the day before, you can. 

Here is something I love to make on the weekend, hope you give it a try.

​Recipe adapted from www.gourmettraveller.com.au/

Serves 6-8

250g silverbeet leaves (from about 2 bunches silverbeet)
150g finely grated parmesan
1½ tablespoons finely chopped oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 golden shallots, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300g ricotta cheese, optional

For brushing: eggwash
To serve: lemon wedges

Olive oil pastry
​400g (2⅔ cups) plain flour
60g butter, coarsely chopped
60ml (¼ cup) extra-virgin olive oil 
​
​For olive oil pastry, process flour and a large pinch of salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter and process to combine. Add oil and 110ml cold water (or enough to just bring dough together), process until dough just comes together, turn onto a work surface and knead until smooth. Halve dough, wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or overnight to rest.

​Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced. Blanch silverbeet until tender (3-5 minutes). Drain, refresh, then squeeze out as much water as possible in a sieve. Wrap silverbeet in a tea towel and squeeze out all remaining water, then finely chop, transfer to a bowl, add parmesan and oregano and refrigerate until required.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a small frying pan over high heat, add shallot and garlic and stir occasionally until tender (5-10 minutes). Add to silverbeet mixture, stir to combine, season to taste and set aside to cool. Stir through the ricotta, if using.

​Working quickly with one half of pastry (and keeping remainder refrigerated), roll to a 33cm round. Place on an oiled 30cm pizza tray, letting sides overhang. Spread silverbeet mixture over pastry and set aside. Roll remaining pastry to a 33cm round, brush edges of base pastry with eggwash, then place rolled pastry on top and curl up sides, pinching edges to seal. Score the top to allow steam to escape. 

​Brush top with eggwash, then bake until golden and cooked through (20-30 minutes).

​​Slice and serve with lemon wedges.

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​I love this dish, it is one of my favourite things to eat. My son also loves this and the more I make it, the more the rest of my family is starting to feel the same way. 

Now I have put this in my soups categories, but it really is a cross between a soup and a pasta. Once cooked the first bowl you have, will be like a thick hearty soup, by the time you go for seconds, it has thickened up and is now a pasta. 

Don't make this if you don't have parmesan cheese or pecorino cheese rinds in your fridge, as it won't be the same, the amount of flavour the cheese rinds add is amazing. Some delis now sell rinds, but I tend to always have them in my freezer.

​Use any pasta shape you love, broken pappardelle is in the recipe, but I use any pasta shape that I feel like or have in my house at the time.

This is simple pantry cooking, but there is nothing simple about the flavour. 

​This is something I love, hope you do to.

​Recipe adapted from www.sbs.com.au/ 

Serves 4

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
100g piece smoked pancetta or speck, cut into small pieces
1 large French shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, smashed
2-3 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
2 x 400g cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 piece of parmesan cheese or pecorino rind
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 
500ml (2 cups) passata 
200g dried egg pappardelle, coarsely broken with your hands (or any pasta shape)
1 small bunch cavolo nero, leaves stripped and coarsely chopped
grated pecorino, to serve
chilli oil (optional) or extra virgin olive oil, to serve 
​
Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook until it starts to caramelise. Add the shallot, garlic and thyme and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas and cheese rind and season with a little salt. Add the passata and 400 ml water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until slightly reduced. 
Add 2 cups of boiling water to the pan to ensure there’s enough liquid to cook the pasta straight in with the chickpeas. Bring to the boil, add the broken pappardelle and stir well so the pasta doesn’t stick. Cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes. Add the cavolo nero and simmer until the pasta is cooked. You will notice that the soup thickens as the pasta cooks. Adjust the seasoning to your liking.

Let the soup stand for a few minutes before serving to allow the starch from the pasta to thicken it a little or eat it straight away if you like it a bit soupier. A generous sprinkling of grated pecorino cheese and drizzle of chili oil (or extra virgin olive oil) is highly recommended.

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This is one of my favourite things to eat, something I make for my husband and myself on a lazy Sunday. 

​This can be breakfast, lunch or dinner in our house. ​

Serves 3-4

2-3 tablespoons Sunflower oil
500g chicken livers
2 large brown onions, peeled
1/3 cup white wine
1 shallot, sliced to decorate, optional
2-3 tablespoons Sunflower oil


Wash the livers, get rid of the fat if it has and cut them into smaller bite size pieces, not too small though.

Cut the onions in half and slice them.

Take a large frying pan, over medium heat add the oil to the pan and the onions and fry until softened and just golden, takes about 6-8 minutes.

Add the livers, stir it around. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring once during this time. Check the livers, stir, now add the wine. Cook for a further 2 minutes, covered, then remove the lid increase the heat a little and cook another 2 minutes uncovered to allow the wine to reduce and thicken into a sauce, and the livers are cooked through, but not overcooked. I would rather have a runny sauce than overcooked livers.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
​
Sprinkle with shallots, if using.

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​​Strawberry Layer: Place the strawberries, rum, and pineapple juice into a blender and blend until smooth. I never get it perfectly smooth, but I like the bits of strawberry, just make sure you get it smooth enough to go through a straw.
Pour it into the bottom of 2 glasses. Clean out the blender.

Place the pineapple chunks, rum, pineapple juice, and cream of coconut into the blender and blend until smooth. This makes the pineapple coconut layer, pour it or spoon it over the strawberry layer in both glasses.

​Garnish with pineapples and strawberries if desired.

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​This is one of my sons favourite soups. It's light, yet beefy, it's aromatic, yet subtle. It's just one delicious soup.

For this recipe you make a soup from scratch, don't be tempted to use store bought stock, it won't be the same. Then once the soup is cooked, in a bowl you add cooked noodles, top it with some of the cooked meat and some raw meat. Then you pour over the hot soup, add coriander, bean sprouts, lime and sriracha, the heat from the soup cooks the raw meat and reheats the cooked meat and they are both so tender and delicious and the soup is absolutely amazing.

Warning, you do need a very large pot to make this pho. I tend to start this the day before, as the stock takes a while to cook, plus by chilling in the refrigerator overnight, you can remove some of the fat in the soup as it solidifies on the surface. This is a great soup to make on a Sunday, then on Monday after work, dinner is just reheat, add in the toppings and enjoy.

This soup uses a lot of bones, having a dog comes in handy here, you have the soup, he gets to play with bones. No waste. Now if you don't have a dog, I take as much of the meat off of the bones as possible, then add it to the other leftover meat. Recipe tin eats has a recipe of what to do with the leftover meat, which my son also enjoys. Here is the link to her Caramelised Vietnamese Shredded Beef.

Now the original recipe uses beef brisket, I just don't like it, so I used chuck steak (I just adjusted the recipe and take it out earlier, to ensure it doesn't fall apart). Meaty bones can be found in supermarkets or butchers, same for marrow bones. I do get the butcher to cut the marrow bone in half, so it will fit in my pot.

Now the original recipe uses 10 star anise, I just can't do that as I don't like it that strong. So when you make this adjust things to your taste. The original recipe also suggests thai basil and hoisin sauce as toppings, I don't add them, but if you like them, add them.

The step of charring the onion and ginger adds extra flavour to the soup, my mum has been doing this for years when making Croatian soups. Definitely toast the spices to. 

I think it helps to watch recipe tin eats video for this recipe, as it will show how simple and how beautiful this soup is. Click here to watch it.

This a simple yet delicious to soup to make when you have time and you feel like something special to eat.

Recipe adapted from www.recipetineats.com/ 

Serves 6

For the soup:
2 large onions, halved
150g ginger, sliced down the centre
3-4 star anise
4 cinnamon quills
3 cloves, the spice clove
1.5 tablespoons coriander seeds
1.5kg beef chuck steak
1kg meaty beef bones
1kg marrow bones, cut to reveal marrow
3.5 litres (15 cups) water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon salt
​
40 ml/2 tablespoons fish sauce

NOODLE SOUP:
300g dried rice sticks
180g beef rump steak, raw, very thinly sliced
18-24 chuck steak slices, cooked meat from the soup

TOPPINGS:
Beansprouts, handful per bowl
Coriander leaves, to taste
Mint leaves, to taste
Lime wedges, to taste
Finely sliced red chilli, to taste
Sriracha, for added spice


Heat a heavy based frying pan over high heat (no oil) until smoking.

Place onion and ginger in pan cut side down. Cook for a few minutes until it's charred, then turn. Remove and set aside.

Toast star anise, cinnamon, cloves and coriander seeds lightly in a dry frying pan over medium high heat for 3 minutes. 
​
Rinse bones & chuck steak, then cover with water in large stock pot. Boil for 5 minutes, then drain.
Rinse each bone and chuck steak under tap water.

For the Soup: Wipe pot clean, bring 3.5 litres water to boil. Add bones and chuck steak, onion, ginger, spices, sugar and salt, water should just barely cover everything. Cover with a lid, simmer for 2 hours. 

Remove chuck steak (it should be fall-apart tender), cool then refrigerate for later.

Simmer remaining soup covered for another 1 hour and uncovered for a further 40 minutes.

Strain broth into another pot, discard bones and spices. Should be about 2.5 litres, if loads more, reduce.

Add fish sauce, adjust salt and sugar if needed. Broth should be beefy, fragrant with spices, savoury and barely sweet.

Prepare rice noodles per packet, just prior to serving. Place noodles in bowl. Top with raw beef and brisket.

Ladle over about 400ml hot broth-will cook beef to medium rare.

Serve with Toppings on the side.

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​Simple, yet delicious.

​​Recipe adapted from the Family Circle 'Cocktails and Party Drinks' Cookbook

Makes 1

Ice
45ml Gin
15ml Lime Cordial
30-​40ml soda water, to taste
​
Half fill a large tumbler with ice.

Pour in gin and lime cordial. Top with soda water.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/gimlet.html 
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​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

Here's a new flavour I've added to my margarita collection. This ones a bit sweeter, it's fun, it's delicious.

The salt on the rim is optional, some add sugar instead, some have it with neither, make it however you like it. ​

​Recipe adapted from dinnersdishesanddesserts.com/

Makes 1

​60ml pineapple juice
30ml tequila
15ml lime juice
15ml triple sec
7.5ml simple syrup, or to taste
ice
sea salt, to serve, optional


Place your cocktail glass in the fridge to chill.

​Combine the pineapple juice, tequila, lime juice, triple sec, simple syrup and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake well to chill.

If using salt on rim of glass. Spread salt onto a sheet of baking paper or on a plate. Using the limes that you squeezed rub a little lime onto the rim of your glass, dip the rim of the glass into the salt .

Fill glass with your pineapple margarita mix.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/pineapple-margarita.html 
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​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella