​When you want to make cevapi for dinner, you have to make the perfect bread to go with it and that is lepinje.

These Lepinje are so good, they are light and fluffy, yet strong enough to hold the cevapi and sides together in sandwiches. These are so much better than store bought similar breads.

They take a little effort, nothing too strenuous, time does most of the work, but they are absolutely worth the effort.

Now although they are served traditionally with cevape, they are really good sandwich breads for any filling. 

Traditionally cooked in a wood fired furnace, these are made in a hot oven and the results will not disappoint.

I prefer to make this with a free standing mixer as I don't have to add too much flour this way. If making it by hand kneading, only add enough flour where it is no longer too sticky.

​These flatbreads are light, fluffy and delicious, you need to give these a go.

Recipe adapted from Andrea Pisac's cookbook Croatian Classics

Makes 4

​500g plain flour, plus more for kneading and shaping
375ml warm water
7g dry yeast
4 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
​
Make the yeast starter: In a bowl add the yeast, sugar, half of the water and 1 tablespoon of the flour from the overall amount. Leave the mixture to stand for about 20 minutes, until it turns bubbly and doubles in volume.

In a large bowl of a free standing mixer add in the flour and whisk in the salt. Add your yeast starter to the flour. Pour in the rest of the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil. Bring the dough together with a wooden spoon first. Then switch to you mixer, using a dough hook, and work the dough for 5-6 minutes on medium speed.

Cover with a clean tea towel and leave it to stand in a warm place for about 1 hour, until it doubles in size.
​
When the dough has risen, deflate it by pushing your fingers in. Pour in the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and work the oil into the dough by kneading it inside the bowl.

Turn the dough out on a well floured surface. Shape it into a log, then divide the log into four equal dough balls.

Knead the dough ball by going around and folding the outer side of the dough over itself and towards the centre.

Line a baking tray with baking paper.  Gently turn the dough over and place it on your prepared tray seam side down, spacing them out evenly so none are touching.

Sprinkle with a pinch of flour and leave to stand for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 250C/230C fan forced.

Pat the dough flat with your hands and carve shallow lattice shapes with a knife into each roll. Leave them to stand 10 minutes more.

Bake for 10-11 minutes, until the flatbreads rise and turn just slightly golden.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/croatian-flatbread-lepinje.html 
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​My mother always calls me to tell me about food she sees that she says my kids would like, nearly every day, and this is one of those recipes. So I watched the video, as I do like Sasha's food, and I made it.

This is delicious. The pastry is crispy and the filling so flavourful.

​This is really easy to make and quick to.

Here is the video to the original recipe so you can watch it, I love his stuff. Now I feel he uses proper burek dough, which I find very hard to find where I live so I use filo dough. He also says it's 500g dough, I think that dough weighs more than filo. Just make sure you have at least 12 sheets of dough.

You can use just beef mince, but I prefer the pork and beef mix.

​I have made this with plain tap water and it was delicious to. I also don't use up all of the water, as the filo I use is very thin and would fall apart.

If by chance your pan wasn't hot enough and your meat releases liquid, increase the heat and cook it out, you don't want the liquid.

I also lay one pastry sheet at a time on my bench, as if you stack them and you spill water on the sheets below, they can stick together. I also wipe up my bench frequently so no excess water is lying about. 

This is a crazy easy idea that honestly tastes great and would be great for parties or just as a snack. It could be dinner to.

​Recipe adapted from sasina-kuhinja.com/ 

Makes 20-24 pieces

500g pork and beef mince
1 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon vegeta, to taste
pepper, to taste
2 onions, finely diced
12 sheets filo pastry
350ml mineral water
30ml sunflower oil
​
Add oil to a large frying pan, place over a medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add the mince, cook for 5 minutes, breaking up the mince as it cooks, you don't want any large pieces. Season with salt, pepper and vegeta, to taste.

Add the onion, sauté on medium heat, for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes.

In a bowl mix together the mineral water and oil.

Preheat your oven to 220C/200C fan forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Roll up your pastry sheets and cut the roll in half, so you now have 24 strips of pastry.

Lay one sheet of pastry on your work surface, with one short side closest to you. Use a soup spoon, down the centre of your pastry drizzle some of the water mixture, not too much, you don't want soggy pastry, you just want to dampen the pastry, spread it out.

Scatter over a small amount of the mince mixture, don't add too much, and leave about 5cm from the furthest end from you meat free.

​Now grab a chopstick or skewer and start rolling up the pastry.

Now using both hands, push the pastry inwards to scrunch it up. ​

Slide it off the chopstick and place on your prepared tray. Repeat until all the mince is used. ​

Now get a pastry brush and gently dab on some of the water mix on your mini bureks. Just to dampen, not soak.

Place in your preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until browned and crisp.

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​One of my absolute favourite things to eat is a salad of rocket, prosciutto and figs, this to me is happiness on a plate, it's just a fabulous flavour combination.

Because of this salad, my husband grows rocket in the garden for me, and only me, as no one in my house loves rocket but me (he has also planted a fig tree).

When I have a rocket build up, this pesto happens, I love it (and my kids will eat it also, as it's not too 'rockety').

Pesto is so easy to make, and this recipe should be used as a guide, if you like more cheese, add more cheese, if you like more lemon, add more lemon etc. I've made this pesto with walnuts and with pine nuts, we prefer pine nuts, but when I have walnuts to use up, I will use them here, as it's still very, very good. I've also made it pecorino cheese, when I have that in my fridge.

To toast the pine nuts or walnuts, I just put them in a dry frying pan over medium heat and stir around for a few minutes until you see them start to colour and you can smell that they are toasted. Allow to cool completely.

Pesto also freezes really well, Once I make pesto, I just put it in snap lock bags and straight in the freezer, then when I need it, just pull it out and defreeze and it's like it was freshly made. It's especially great on nights I don't want to cook, as it's great with pasta, all you have to do is boil up some pasta and stir it through. If you want to add a little effort, add some roasted cherry tomatoes through the pasta to. That's not 'real' cooking either as minimal effort is involved.

It also keeps well in the fridge for up to 5 days. I just put it in jars, then as I use it, what's left I smooth the surface in the jar, then top with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, to keep it fresh. 

Now this lunch idea came from the idea of a caprese salad, tomato, cheese and basil. But I thought why not make it like an open sandwich and add this pesto instead. It was brilliant. Use crunchy Italian bread here, it's the best for it. The cheese, I use Baby Bocconcini or fresh Mozzarella or Stracciatella or Burrata, any of those fresh cheeses work. You could even use Ricotta and Stracciatella I would spread on the bread though, then top with pesto and tomatoes. The tomatoes, just make sure they are ripe. If not homegrown, I like the baby grape tomatoes, they have a great flavour. Drizzle over the best extra virgin olive oil you can afford (watch out for sales) and lunch is amazing.

You could make small versions of this as bruschetta for parties.

This is a simple lunch, but it's packed full of flavour, one of my favourite things to eat.

​Pesto recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens cookbook 'Meal Planning'

​Rocket Pesto:
250g-300g rocket leaves
50g basil leaves
2-3 cloves garlic, I put 3
160g pine nuts or walnuts, toasted, cooled completely
20g freshly grated parmesan cheese
2½ tablespoons lemon juice, to taste
2/3-3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and white pepper, to taste
​
Make the pesto: Add the rocket, basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil. Season with a little salt and pepper. Blitz to combine. Taste, add another 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, add more lemon, if you like, blitz until smooth and creamy. Keep adding oil until it has the consistency that you like.  

​Toast some sliced ciabatta bread, if it is a roll, slice it in half.

Spread pesto on the base, top with bocconcini and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil and add on some baby basil leaves, to garnish.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/tomato-bocconcini-and-rocket-pesto-bruschetta.html 
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​One of my favourite drinks is the mojito. It's refreshing, it's delicious.

Raspberries can replace the strawberries if you like.

​Recipe adapted from Lorraine Pascale's cookbook 'Fast, Fresh and Easy Food

Makes 4

3 limes
8 tablespoons caster sugar, to taste
12 strawberries
400g crushed ice
small handful fresh mint
250ml white rum
250ml soda water
​

Cut the limes into quarters lengthways and put three pieces in the bottom of each of four 350ml serving glasses. Make sure the glasses are wide enough to fit the end of a rolling pin.

Add two tablespoons of sugar to each one. Then using the end of a rolling pin, squash everything together to squeeze the lime juice out and mix it with the sugar (you can now keep the lime pieces in the glass or discard them).

Hull the strawberries and add three to each glass. Then gently crush them a bit to.

Fill the glasses almost to the top with ice. Pick and reserve four nice mint sprigs from the bunch, set aside, then rip the remaining leaves off the stalks and scatter them onto the ice.

Divide the rum evenly between the glasses and then top with the soda water.

Mix everything with a spoon, then add a sprig of mint to each glass and serve immediately with a straw.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/strawberry-and-mint-mojito.html 
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​My husband bought a whole goat home from the butchers one day, as one does, it's not uncommon for him, he'll regularly buy meat or seafood and then I have to figure out what to do with it. He asked if I could make a curry. Now I've never made an Indian curry before, but I said okay. So off I go researching curry recipes, trying to figure out which one I will go with. This one felt traditional, it was a family recipe, so I went with it in faith.

My husband said it's fricken amazing, he loved it. The goat was super soft and delicious, the sauce was spicy and flavourful. My kids all loved it to, even my daughter who doesn't love Indian flavours normally.

This curry is a yoghurt based one with a few different spices added to it. It's very easy to make, nothing different to a stew really, just a different flavour base.

Now with curries I had to make naan bread, also something I had never tried, but I went with a recipe from a site I trusted and it was perfect.

​My husband also requested 'fluffy rice', so I put some basmati rice in a rice cooker and it turned out perfectly. Rice really went nicely with this curry.

There are differences in curry recipes from different regions in India in terms of the selection of spices, herbs and the cooking techniques. For example north Indian or Punjabi goat curry will use spices like coriander & garam masala and yogurt, but a south Indian goat curry might use curry leaves, coconut or coconut milk. When we get to India in Our Eating Around the World Adventure I look forward to exploring these.


Don't cook cold, straight out of the refrigerator meat. I usually pull the meat out 1 hour before cooking it. And use meat with bones in, it adds so much flavour to your curry. We used an assortment of meat cuts, my husband used clean 'meat only' garden shears to cut up the meat into smaller pieces. But you could just use leg or shoulder meat. 

Goat is quite lean, but if you were to try this with lamb or beef, make sure to trim off all fat, it will be oily.

You don't need to marinate the meat in advance, however, if you wish you can marinate the goat meat for a few hours prior to cooking it.

Slow cooked curries take a lot of time and patience. Don't rush it. You need the slow cooking for the meat to soften and for the flavours to develop.

Use green cardamom pods if you do not have black cardamom, I used green. The two are not a substitute for each other. Green cardamom adds a sweetish lemony aroma versus the woody smoky aroma that black cardamom.

Variation: You can add 1 large diced potato when you add the garam marsala, and cook it until cooked through.

Variation: you could add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste if you wish when you add the marinated meat to the pot. You can also add 1-2 medium fresh tomatoes. Add the fresh tomatoes after the onions have browned and soften them a bit. Then add the marinated meat

​This is a great curry, it's not hard, and it was absolutely delicious, try it soon.

Recipe adapted from sinfullyspicy.com/ 

​Serves 8-10

2kg goat meat 
2 cups plain Greek yogurt

​Marinade:
3 tablespoons coriander powder
3/4 tablespoon cayenne pepper, to taste
4½ teaspoon kashmiri chilli powder or paprika (for color)
3/4 tablespoon cumin powder
1½ teaspoons turmeric powder
3 teaspoons salt

For The Curry Sauce:
9 tablespoons sunflower oil
375g onions, sliced
9 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1½ inch piece of ginger, peeled, grated

Whole Spices:
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon mace
3 black cardamom pods or 6 green cardamom pods
1 1/4 cinnamon sticks
22 black peppercorns
6 cloves

2 1/4 tablespoons ghee
2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 cup fresh coriander, chopped

extra fresh coriander, to serve
naan bread, to serve
basmati rice, to serve 


Make sure that the goat meat is at room temperature before you begin to cook. Take it out of the fridge at least one hour before needed. 

In a large bowl (that the goat will easily fit in) place all your marinade ingredients.

Add the yogurt and goat to your marinade spices. Mix using hands to rub and coat the meat thoroughly. Set aside until needed.

Place all your whole spices on a plate.
​​
Place a heavy bottom Dutch oven or large pot on low-medium flame. 

Add the oil and let warm on medium heat. 

Take the pot off the heat. Wait for few seconds and then add the whole spices, not the mace. Spices will sizzle and swell in hot oil. Stir for a few seconds and return the pot to stove.

Immediately, add the sliced onions and mace. Cook the onions to golden brown, do not burn them, it takes about 12-14 minutes on low-medium flame. Take your time to brown the onions and don't stir too much (else instead of browning they start steaming).

Next, add the ginger and garlic along with little of water, about 2 tablespoons. Stir for 10-15 seconds. You will smell a wonderful aroma. 
 
Add the goat meat along with all the marinade. Give it a good stir to mix the goat with the browned onions. Keep stirring frequently, you can reduce the heat, if needed, and let the meat warm up. In about 7-8 minutes, you will see bubbles of the water from yogurt being released. Don't add any water at this stage. Since we are using a large quantity of meat, the juices from meat and the water from yogurt will be enough to cook the meat for the first hour or two.

Cover the pot with a lid. Reduce the heat to low. For the next hour keep and eye and stir frequently to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of pot. After about 1 hour, you will need to add a splash of hot water, I didn't as their was enough liquid from the yoghurt and goat at the one hour mark, I added the hot water at the two hour mark. It all depends on how much water the meat releases, we want it to cook in its own juices for as long as possible for great flavour.

Cook the curry for 3 hours in total, then add the garam masala, ghee and coriander.  Now if it is too thin, cook it uncovered for 30 minutes or until thickened to your liking. If you want it thinner just add some more water and cook for about 10 minutes.

Rest the curry for at least 20 minutes before serving. You can fry the naan bread at this time.

Serve with naan bread or rice and with extra fresh coriander.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/indian-goat-curry.html 
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​My husband asked if I could make a goat curry one day, so I figured I should make some naan bread to go with it. After several searches I decided on this recipe.

These were perfect-light, fluffy and delicious.

They are quite easy to make, no real skills needed, just follow the recipe.

I don't have a tandoor oven, how they would traditionally be cooked, but this stove top method worked just fine.

If you are not going to eat them all in one sitting, don't garlic butter them all. Leave the ones not eaten the same day unbuttered, and store them in a zip lock bag for 2 days, 4 days if you refrigerate them.

​Serve with Indian curries. You can also use them as wraps.

Once you've made these, you will make them again and again.

Recipe adapted from cafedelites.com/

Makes 10

​1/4 cup warm water
​2 teaspoons caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast or instant
3/4 cup warm milk
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt or natural plain yogurt
1/4 cup vegetable oil plus 2 tablespoons extra for cooking
2 cloves garlic minced
560g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Garlic Butter Topping:
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh chopped cilantro or parsley, optional
​
​
Combine the water, sugar and yeast. Let sit for 5-10 minutes or until the mixture begins to bubble on top.
​Add in the milk, yogurt, oil, minced garlic, flour baking powder and salt. Mix until the dough comes together with your hands.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Use floured hands to knead the dough until smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes. Only add flour if it's too sticky.

Lightly grease the same mixing bowl with a small spray of cooking oil. Transfer dough to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest at room temperature for about an hour until doubled in size.

When ready to cook, divide the dough into 10 equal pieces. Roll into balls, then use a rolling pin to roll each piece of dough into a large round or oval (or whatever shape you get), roll them about 3mm thick. Repeat with remaining dough.

Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Brush oil into frying pan with some of the extra extra oil.

Place one piece of the naan on the oiled hot pan and cook until bubbles form on top, about 1-2 minutes. While cooking, brush the top with a little oil.

Flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until large golden spots appear on the bottom.

Remove from the skillet and wrap in a clean kitchen towel. Repeat with the remaining naan (keep them wrapped in a towel while you work).

For the garlic butter: Combine melted butter and minced garlic together in a bowl. Brush each naan with the garlic butter and top with the fresh herb of your choosing.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/naan-bread.html 
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I may never buy bread again, honestly, I don't need to anymore. Recently I have been interested in bread making, why, because I hate going to the shops just for bread. 

I have been trying so many recipes, trying to find the bread my family will love. 

This one is amazing. This one has a softer crust, not like the crunchy artisan ones, but it's delicious, still crunchy when hot, but softer, thinner. The centre crumb is light and fluffy. It is amazing hot, it is amazing cold, it is still amazing the next day, perfect for school lunches. My son recently said it was the best bread he has ever used making a toastie in a sandwich press.

The video to this recipe can be found here. It's not my video, but I wanted to share it as I think she's fabulous. Plus you can see how easy it is to make. She calls it peasant bread as her mum did. 

If it's cold outside, I turn on an empty clothes dryer for a minute. Then turn it off and place the dough inside to rise in there with the door shut.

If you don't have kitchen scales, buy some, they are invaluable in the kitchen.

I have tried using oil to grease the bowls, it failed, I could not get the baked bread out of the bowl. I have used baking paper which I greased with oil or butter, and although the bread was great, it didn't quite get the crisp outside like you would without it, but it was still fabulous, so I would still do it again. Today I buttered the bowl liberally as per recipe I'll let you know how I go. It worked perfectly, it popped right out of the bowl.

You can turn this bread into artisan crusty bread to. Preheat a Dutch Oven (lid to) for 45 minutes at 230C/220C fan forced. Dust a clean work surface with flour. After the first rise, turn the dough out onto the floured surface and shape it into a ball: I like to fold it envelope style from top to bottom, then side to side; then I flip it over and use the pinkie edges of my hands to pinch the dough underneath and create some tension. Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper dusted with fine semolina. Let rest for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, transfer the dough, parchment paper and all to the Dutch oven. Put the lid on. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover. Bake 15 minutes more. 

I Haven't tried baking it is a loaf pan, but I will soon. You can also make rolls in muffin trays, something I will try soon also. You can add bagel mix to the outside, you can add polenta or other flours, you can bake it like a focaccia. I can't wait to play with this recipe.

If you have never baked bread, this recipe is the perfect one to start with. ​

​Recipe adapted from alexandracooks.com/ 

Makes 2 small loaves

512g bread flour
10g salt
454g lukewarm water
8g caster sugar
8g instant yeast

room temperature butter, about 2 tablespoons
​

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Add the water. Mix until the flour is absorbed. 

Cover bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for at least an hour. (If the weather is cold it can take up to two hours).

Preheat oven to 220C/200C fan forced.​ 

Grease two 1 litre or 1.4 litre oven-safe bowls with about a tablespoon of butter each. They need to be well greased. Do not use oil, it does not work.

Release the dough from the side of the bowl, using a damp hand. This will deflate it.
Perform a set of stretch and folds on the dough. To do this, wet your hands, then take a section of the dough furthest from you and stretch it up and fold it onto itself towards you. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat the process. You need to do a total of 8 stretch and folds. You will get the dough roughly shaped like a ball.

Then, take two forks and divide the dough into two equal portions—eye the centre of the mass of dough, and starting from the centre and working out, pull the dough apart with the two forks. Then scoop up each half and place into your prepared bowls. This part can be a little messy as the dough is very wet and will slip all over the place. It’s best to scoop it up fast and plop it in the bowl in one fell swoop.

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​This recipe came about because I always have ricotta in my fridge. I can't buy the ones in tubs in supermarkets, I think they are horrible, so I am always buying the ones in strainers that are fresh and delicious. Two problems with that, I have to buy a minimum of 1kg of ricotta, when I may only need 300g, and two I cannot tell you how many strainers I own, in various colours and sizes. I just can't throw them out. So one day my children will inherit strainers as will my grandchildren. There really needs to be a place to return them to the cheesemakers.

Well with my leftover ricotta today, I didn't feel like making something savoury, so I went searching for something sweet and I came across this recipe. No mixer needed, quick and easy to make and a sweet ricotta filling, I had to make it.

It was delicious and it truly is quick and easy to make. It's not too sweet, which I like, so although it's a dessert, I enjoy it for breakfast or as a midday snack with a coffee.

For the crumble, you can use a food processor, which makes things super fast. I don't as I hate the washing up involved. I just place the ingredients in a large bowl and just use a pastry cutter, to cut in the cold butter, then I change to just using my fingers towards the end. Now there can be small chunks of butter here once you are done, it does not need to be super well blended.

From start to finish this cakes one hour. I like it cold personally, so once cooled I refrigerate it for at least an hour, but you may like it at room temperature.

The original recipe uses orange zest, I use lemon, as I love lemons and there is always lemons in my fruit bowl.

This is also a great make ahead cake, as it keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

So if you are like me and you have ricotta in your fridge this is something you should try.

Recipe adapted from www.cookingwithmanuela.com/ 

Serves 8

For the crumble:
300g all-purpose flour
100g caster sugar
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
175g unsalted butter, cold and cut in small cubes

For the filling:
​450g full cream ricotta, well drained
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 lemon, zest (you can use orange)
1 large egg
powdered sugar, to sprinkle on top (optional)


In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, 1 egg, and butter (cold from the refrigerator and cut in small cubes).

Cut the butter into the other ingredients with a pastry cutter or with your fingers until you get a crumbly dough. You can use a food processor.  Store in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes while you prepare the filling.

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

In a large bowl, add the ricotta (well drained), sugar, egg, vanilla extract and finely grated zest of 1 lemon. Mix well.

Grease and line with baking paper a 23cm springform round baking pan.

Add about 2/3 of the crumble dough, cover the bottom of the pan and press down gently.

Pour the ricotta filling in and level.

Top with the remaining dough. pinching it in pieces between your fingers, to give a crumbled effect.

Bake for about 45 minutes until lightly golden on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy.

​You can eat it at room temperature, but I prefer it cold so I refrigerate it once it's cooled for at least an hour, even overnight.

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​Recipe adapted from Nikica Gamulina Games cookbook 'Hrvatska Kuharica'

Serves 5-6

500g pasta flour
3 eggs
20ml olive oil
5g salt
50ml water


Place the flour on a board or on your kitchen bench and make a well in the centre.

Crack the eggs into the well, add the oil, a pinch of salt and the water, then with a fork or your fingers, mix the wet ingredients into the flour as much as possible so it’s not sticky. Don’t worry if there are lumps in the dough. Keep mixing and then when crumbs form put it on a flat surface and knead together.

Once it is all combined, knead until you have a silky, smooth, elastic dough. You are aiming to achieve a playdough texture. If your dough is crumbly (too dry) add a teaspoon of water. If the dough sticks to your hands (too wet) add a little extra flour.

Cover with cling film and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
​
When using a pasta roller, take a tennis ball-sized amount of dough, squash it flat with your fingers (remember to keep the rest of your dough covered with the cling film so it doesn’t go dry and crusty) push it through the pasta roller on the widest setting. Fold into thirds, then repeat 3 times. Once you have a rough square shape, start working it through the machine, taking it down one setting at a time, until the thinnest setting. If your pasta is too sticky, it won’t go through smoothly, so add a little flour to each side before you put it through the roller. Try to avoid too much flour – the less you use, the better otherwise your pasta can start to feel heavy and claggy when cooked. 

I do prefer the pasta machine as I like the dough quite thin, but you can also roll the dough by hand using a rolling pin, but make sure you get it as thin as possible.

You will end up with long rectangular sheets of pasta approximately 8-10cm wide and about the thickness of two playing cards. Lightly dust a flat surface with fine semolina and lay out the pasta sheets.

Cut the pasta sheets into three pieces lengthways, now horizontally, cut out squares, your squares will be around 3cm x 3cm. If you have hand rolled the pasta you can go as large as 4cm x 4cm.​

​Now pick up a square of pasta and join two opposite ends, press to seal. There are three ways I do this, one way is to wrap the two ends over a finger and press the join onto your finger, then slide the pasta off. Second way is to do it over a chopstick, these two methods give your fuzi that look like the top picture. The third way is you grab a square and bring the two opposite ends together but have the ends pointing upwards and you squeeze the ends together, this gives you the shape like in the bottom picture. 

Cook in boiling salted water for about a minute or two. It really does not take long. Serve with a tomato sauce, a creamy mushroom sauce or a ragu.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/istarski-fuzi.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

​I love focaccia bread, it's amazing. Recently I have been watching video after video on how to make it like they do on Instagram, where it puffs up and it just looks divine.

I have nailed it, truly, and it's so easy to make. So after getting my basic focaccia perfect, you can find that recipe here I had to venture and try more, what else can I do with focaccia.

So my kids have got me doing meatless Mondays, which we love, but unless there is a pasta or a bread involved, they tend to be hungry soon after dinner. One day I had sugar snap peas that I needed to use up, and as I didn't feel like doing a stir fry, I decided to try a new way of cooking them and made Italian Roasted Sugar Snap Peas, now I had to come up with something to go with it. Then I stumbled upon this recipe. 

This was delicious, the dough light and fluffy, the ends had a beautiful crispness to it and the sauce absolutely delicious. Now I have to mention that I was tempted to cook the sauce first as I did not think adding a fresh sauce on top would work, but work it did.

This is like a deep pan pizza with minimal effort with maximum return.

With the price of pizzas today, when your kids have friends over, this is a great snack/lunch/dinner for them.

This is something you need to try.

​Recipe adapted from mumsfoodies on instagram

​Makes 1 pizza

​375g bread flour
7g dried yeast
½ tablespoon salt
345g lukewarm water
40-60ml oil for top and greasing

​Pizza Sauce
1 x 400g tin tomatoes
4 x garlic cloves, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1 cup grated Mozzarella
110g Bocconcini
8-10 Basil leaves, to taste

Extra basil leaves, for topping


​Mix all the dough ingredients together well, it will be sticky, cover for 20 minutes.

Release the dough from the side of the bowl, using a damp hand. This will deflate it.
Perform a set of stretch and folds on the dough. To do this, wet your hands, then take a section of the dough furthest from you and stretch it up and fold it onto itself towards you. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat the process. You need to do a total of 12 stretch and folds. You will get the dough roughly shaped like a ball. Cover for 45 minutes. (You can place it in the fridge now for up to 12 hours, but remove 45 minutes at room temperature before you continue).

Line a 22cm x 33cm pan with baking paper. Oil it well, about 1½ tablespoons, also oil hands.

Pour the dough in the dish, fold twice, you kind of get a rectangle shape, rotate the dough 90 degrees, so the long ends of the dough match the long ends of your baking tray, then flip over, you need the fold side down, stretch out slightly from underneath and cover for 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 220C/200C fan forced.

Meanwhile make the pizza sauce. Using a hand blender, blend the tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper until smooth. Add basil, to taste.

After 45 minutes, drizzle the rest of the oil oil over dough, dimple dough, add tomato sauce, dimple dough again.
Bake at bottom of oven for 18 minutes and then add the cheese, grated first, then fresh bocconcini, bake again in middle now for 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes, take out of tray and slice.

To save the recipe to your favourites go to www.whatscookingella.com/easy-focaccia-pizza.html 
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