​When I first saw this recipe I thought it would be something my family loved, what I didn't expect was that they would love it as much as they did. This is a simple pasta, but it has a lot of flavour.

Once my family started eating this, they couldn't stop, even my husband who I didn't really think would love it, did. Even leftovers were done by the end of the night, my son kept going back to the fridge throughout the night.

With the capsicums, you can use two red capsicums if yellow is not available, the yellow would only be for colour really.

I found the basil and oregano Italian tin diced tomatoes in Aldi, if you can't find it, just add a 1/2 teaspoon each dried basil and dried oregano to regular diced tomatoes.

A truly easy mid week meal idea my family loved, hope yours does to.

Recipe adapted from www.sprinklesandsprouts.com/ 

Serves 6

150 g chorizo, about 2 chorizo, sliced into 1/2cm discs
1 onion, diced
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
1 yellow capsicum, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 chicken thigh fillets, around 500g, sliced into thin strips
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 x 400g tin basil and oregano Italian diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
White pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
300ml thickened cream
1 cup fresh baby spinach

500g penne pasta

Freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve
Heat the olive oil a large frying pan over high heat, add the chorizo and cook for 2 minutes.

Reduce the heat to medium-high. Add the chopped onion and capsicums, and cook for another 2–3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
​
Add the chicken and garlic to the pan and stir around in the oil for 1-2 minutes until lightly golden. 

Add the tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. I rinse the tomato tin with about 1/3 cup water and add it to the sauce. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, simmer for about 20-30 minutes, until the sauce thickens a bit, and your chicken is cooked through, and your capsicums have softened.

Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Add a tablespoon of salt, add pasta, cook as per packet instructions.

Whilst your pasta is cooking, add the cream to the sauce, stir through, and let it get hot, but not boil. 

Once the pasta is cooked, reserve 1/2 a cup of the pasta cooking liquid then drain the pasta. Return the pasta to the pot it was cooked in, add the spinach on top, then add the creamy tomato sauce on top and stir through. The residual heat of the pasta and sauce will wilt the spinach. Only add the pasta water if your sauce is too thick and needs thinning. Once the spinach has wilted, it's ready to serve.

Serve immediately with parmesan.

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/creamy-tomato-chicken-and-chorizo-pasta.html 
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​Recipe adapted from ​www.taste.com.au/ 

Serves 6-8

2 tablespoon light soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry
4 teaspoons cornflour
1kg beef rump steak, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons peanut oil
6cm-piece fresh ginger, peeled, cut into thin matchsticks
2 long fresh red chillies, halved, deseeded, coarsely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
300g snow peas, trimmed, halved
125ml (1/2 cup) chicken style liquid stock
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 teaspoons caster sugar
​
Steamed white rice, to serve
​Combine the soy sauce, sherry and cornflour in a bowl. Add the beef and toss to coat. Set aside for 20 minutes to marinate.

Heat a wok over high heat. Add half the oil and heat until just smoking. Swirl to coat. Stir-fry the beef in batches for 2 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining oil and beef, reheating wok between batches. You may need to wipe the wok with a wet paper towel every now and then to remove any build up of marinade in the wok base.

Stir-fry the ginger, chilli and garlic in the wok for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add the snow peas and stock. Stir-fry for 2 minutes or until the snow peas are bright green and tender crisp. Stir in the beef, oyster sauce and sugar. Taste for seasoning, I like to add white pepper and salt, if needed.

​Serve with rice.

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/chinese-beef-and-snow-pea-stir-fry.html 
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​This is something I recently made for my kids for lunch and they loved it. It's easy to make and is filling.

You can slice the frittata in the pan if easier. The first slice is generally the hardest to get out, but after that, it's easy enough.

With kids home at the moment more than ever, it's dishes like these that keeps them fed and happy.

So far I have made it only with spinach as my kids love it with spinach, but as I love rocket, I will need to try it with rocket to.

My family loved this, hope yours does to.

Recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook 'Light'

Serves 8

5 large (1.5kg) potatoes, unpeeled
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 (450g) cured chorizo sausages, sliced thinly
1 large (200g) brown onion, sliced thinly
50g baby rocket leaves or baby spinach leaves, chopped coarsely
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
1 cup (120g) grated cheddar
12 eggs
300ml pouring cream
lemon wedges and extra rocket, to serve


Boil, steam or microwave potatoes until just tender. When cool enough to handle, peel skins, then cut flesh into 1cm cubes.
​
​Preheat oven to 160°C (140°C fan forced). Grease a deep 24cm x 35cm baking pan, line base and sides with baking paper, extending paper 7cm above sides.
​
Meanwhile, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add chorizo and onion, cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until chorizo is browned. Cool 10 minutes.

Combine potatoes, half the chorizo mixture, rocket (or spinach), parsley and cheese in baking pan.
​
Whisk eggs and cream together in a medium bowl, season to taste. Pour over potato mixture, top with remaining chorizo mixture. Bake, in oven, 35 minutes or until set. (To check, insert a skewer; no wet egg mixture should be visible.) Cool in pan.

Lift frittata out of the pan onto a chopping board, trim edges. Cut into 3.5cm x 4.5cm pieces. Serve topped with extra rocket and accompany with lemon wedges.

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/chorizo-potato-and-herb-frittata.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

​2020 is a year where two of my kids, who are 18 and 19 should be going to university and going out. Instead it has been a year of studying at home and going out, sometimes. So with that in mind, I try to find interesting lunch ideas for them (so that at least the time spent at home is made a little better with food). 

This dish was loved by all my kids (I also have a 13 year old that goes to school). It has a fresh flavour, different to my cumin based Mexican style dishes. I did consider adding cumin, but then decided I didn't want to make all my Mexican dishes taste the same.

This is quick to make and tastes really nice, my family loved it, hope yours does to.

​Recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook 'Light'

Serves 4
​
1 tablespoon olive oil500g pork mince
1 medium red onion (170g), chopped finely
4 clove garlic, crushed
1 fresh long green chilli, chopped
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 x 400g cans diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon lime juice
8 x 20cm flour tortillas
2 cup coarsely grated cheddar
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves
4 lime wedges, to serve


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

Heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Cook pork, onion, garlic, chilli and paprika, stirring, for 5 minutes or until browned. Add 1 can of tomatoes; cook for 5 minutes. Add lime juice; season to taste.

Spread tortillas flat on a work surface. Spoon mince mixture equally onto the centre of each tortilla, sprinkle 1 cup cheddar equally over mince mixture; fold tortillas to enclose filling. Place, join-side down, in a single layer, in a 20cm x 30cm shallow ovenproof dish. Spoon over remaining can of tomatoes, leaving the ends of the tortilla exposed, sprinkle with remaining cheddar.

​Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Sprinkle enchiladas with coriander; serve with lime wedges.

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/paprika-and-lime-pork-enchiladas.html 
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​My family love an all in one kind of salad, where you add meat to your salad. This one was absolutely delicious. The cashew nam jim was perfect with the beef and the asian greens.

Now I cooked my beef rare, just cook yours longer if you prefer it cooked more.

​This is a great dish, it looks amazing and it's fresh flavour leaves a delicious taste in your mouth with every bite.

My family loved this, hope your does to.

Recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook 'Light'

Serves 4

800g thick-cut beef rump steak
1 tablespoon peanut oil
350g gai lan
270g baby pak choy or bok choy, trimmed, quartered
100g snow peas
4 green onions, sliced thinly
1/4 cup (40g) unsalted roasted cashews, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh coriander sprigs
​
Cashew Nam Jim:
2 shallots (50g), chopped
2 clove garlic
3 fresh long green chillies, seeded, chopped
2 fresh coriander roots, chopped
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoon grated dark palm sugar
1/3 cup (50g) unsalted roasted cashews
1/3 cup (80ml) lime juice, approximately
1 tablespoon fish sauce, approximately


​Make cashew nam jim: Blend shallots, garlic, chilli, coriander root, ginger, sugar and cashews (or pound with a mortar and pestle) until mixture forms a paste. Transfer to a small bowl; stir in juice and fish sauce to taste.​

​Trim fat from beef; rub beef with oil, season to taste. Cook beef on a heated oiled grill plate (or grill or barbecue) over medium-high heat for 4 minutes each side for medium or until cooked to your liking. Remove from heat; rest, covered, for 5 minutes, then slice thickly.
​
Meanwhile, trim gai lan stalks; cut stalks from leaves. Steam stalks, in a single layer, in a large steamer over a wok or large saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute. Place separated pak choy on top; steam (or boil) for a further 2 minutes. Add snow peas and gai lan leaves; steam  (or boil) for a further 2 minutes or until vegetables are just tender.

Place vegetables on a platter, top with beef; drizzle with beef resting juices. Spoon nam jim on beef; top with green onion, cashews and coriander.

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/beef-with-cashew-nam-jim-and-asian-greens.html 
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Cocktail Sausage Mummies: These were easy and look great on a Halloween table.

Frankfurt Fingers: There is no recipe here, just cook some frankfurts, then try and ,ake them look like bloody fingers.

Pumpkin Soup: It is the time of the year where pumpkins are everywhere, so I have to make a soup.

Hags Fingers: Simply crumb chicken breasts that are cut into finger shapes with with breadcrumbs or polenta. Use egg to 'stick' on a flaked almond as a nail. Then pan fry or oven bake them until cooked through.

Halloween Chocolate Mousse: This chocolate mousse is creamy and smooth and absolutely delicious. 

Gingerbread Men: This was my daughter's idea as she loves gingerbread men for Christmas, these Halloween gingerbread men turned out great.

Red Velvet Cupcakes: I haven't posted the red velvet cupcake recipe yet, but if you have one just decorate them in a halloween theme.

Jelly Custard Cups: Another fun one where you make the custard look like brains in the glass. The red colour looks great, but I can't resist all the colours.

Spiders: These are simply just fun. 

Kids Party Punch: If you buy halloween ice trays, this is a great addition to your halloween table.

So there you have it, a few easy Halloweem Party ideas. 

​Recently we were told about an absolutely delicious Thai Duck Salad from a local restaurant Bangkok Bites in Bondi by one of our family friends. It was delicious, actually everything we ordered was delicious. But as I am who I am, I wanted to see if I could find a recipe that was similar to the salad that we ate and this is my answer to it.

This salad is delicious, it has such a lovely fresh flavour to it.

I added salad leaves to it, to bulk up the meal, and there is definitely enough dressing to do so.

As for the dressing, if you find it sweet, add more lime, add more curry paste if you like. The recipe is great, just adjust it to how you would like it. 

If you prefer you can start to cook the duck in a frying pan, but once you turn it over, you can finish cooking it in a 180C preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. I do both methods, you achieve crispier skin in the oven, I just sometimes don't feel like using my oven.

I doubled the original recipe, so just halve it if you need to make less.

This is a salad my family loves, hope yours does to.

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

Serves 6-8

4 duck breasts, skin on, scored
4 Lebanese cucumber, halved, sliced on the diagonal
300g snow peas, stringed, thinly sliced
400g cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups bean sprouts
2 long red chillies, deseeded, finely sliced
1 cup coriander leaves
3-4 handfuls washed salad leaves

Dressing:
1 cup coconut milk
6 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2-3 teaspoons Thai red curry paste (to your taste)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
Fried Asian shallots and lime wedges, to serve


Place the duck, skin-side down, into a cold frying pan. Start the cooking process on a low heat and gradually bring the heat up to medium-high. Once you start to here a sizzle, cook for 6-7 minutes skin side down (your aim is to render the fat and form a crispy golden skin) then turn over. Cook for a further 6-7 minutes or until cooked to your liking. Transfer to a plate and rest for 5 minutes. Thinly slice duck.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl place the cucumber, snow peas, cherry tomatoes, bean sprouts, chilli, and coriander.

To make the dressing, place all ingredients in a screw top jar and shake well to combine, adjust the taste if needed. Drizzle salad with half the dressing and toss to coat.

Top salad with sliced duck, drizzle with remaining dressing and garnish with fried shallots and lime wedges, to serve.

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/thai-duck-salad.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

​My family love duck, it is one of those things I cook that everyone is looking forward to dinner once I mention I am cooking duck.

This ragu is delicious. It is very easy to make and has a lovely flavour to it.

​Duck marylands are legs and thighs joined together. If you can't find duck marylands, you can buy two whole ducks. I will share recipes on how to use up the whole duck. It is actually far cheaper to do this than buy a duck jointed.

Homemade pasta is far superior to packet pasta, it does involve a little effort, but if you have the time, try making it. If you don't have time, buy pappardelle, there are many great brands out there today, it will still taste great.

So if you are looking at trying something new, try this ragu, it's simple and tasty and one my family love, hope yours does to.

Recipe adapted from www.foodnetwork.com/ 

Duck Ragu:
4 duck marylands, skin removed
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium Spanish onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, diced
240ml red wine
400g tin diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
30g dried porcini mushrooms

Pasta:
Find my fresh egg pasta recipe here the quantity I make for this sauce is for 4-5 people 
​
​
Make your pasta dough now, let it rest for 30 minutes, while you start the sauce. All instructions are in the link above.

Place dried mushrooms in a heatproof bowl. Add enough boiling water to just cover the mushrooms. Leave to soak while you get on with the recipe, about 20 minutes is needed.

In a thick bottomed saucepan or cast iron pot, heat olive oil until hot. Add duck marylands and cook until brown on all sides, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from pot, set aside until needed.

Add onion, carrot, garlic and celery, cook, stirring, until softened, about 5-6 minutes. Add wine, tomatoes, chicken stock and dried mushrooms and the soaking liquid, bring to the boil. Add duck marylands and return to the boil, lower heat, cover, and allow to simmer for 1 hour.

Roll out your pasta now. Cut into pappardelle shape. 

Remove duck marylands and allow to cool, until cool enough to touch. Pull off all the meat from the bones and return the meat to the pot, discard bones. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until the sauce is quick thick. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Cook the pasta: Fill a large pot with water, add 2 tablespoons salt and bring to the boil. Boil pappardelle until cooked, about 1 minute and drain well. Put hot pappardelle into hot ragu and toss well. Serve immediately.

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/duck-ragu-with-pappardelle.html 
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​Chocolate Coconut Brownies-a new family favourite dessert. Think bounty chocolates but in a brownie form.

Super easy to make and do not last long once made.

My family love these, hope yours does to.

​Recipe adapted from cookingwithmanuela.blogspot.com/

Makes 16-20 pieces
​
For the brownie layer:
100g (1/2 cup, packed) brown sugar
50g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
70g (1/2 cup) plain flour 
25g (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
60g unsalted butter
40g (1/3 cup) dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

For the coconut layer:
250g (3 cups) shredded coconut
1 x 395ml can sweetened condensed milk

Chocolate Ganache:
60ml (1/4 cup) thickened cream
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips


Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C. Line a 22cm x 22cm square baking pan with baking paper.

Make the brownie layer: In a large bowl add the brown sugar, caster sugar, flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, add the butter cut in pieces and the chocolate chips. Place bowl over a pan of simmering water making sure the water does not touch your bowl.

Add the melted chocolate, with the eggs and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Pour onto the prepare pan and flatten it out with a spatula.
​
Make the coconut layer: In a separate bowl, stir the coconut with the sweetened condensed milk. Mix to combine.

Add spoonfuls of the coconut mix on top of the chocolate layer. Gently spread and make a full layer.

Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until set. It needs to feel set, but not hard, as it will harden on cooling. Let cool.
​
Make the Ganache: ​Melt the chocolate chips with the thickened cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until smooth  and completely melted.

Drizzle on top of the coconut layer.

Place it in the refrigerator for at least half hour to set and cut into 16 small squares.

Decorate with more shredded coconut if you like. 

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/chocolate-coconut-brownies.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

Today I'm going to give you two recipes for making grated pasta dough for soup. One is with flour, semolina and egg, the other will be just using flour and egg. Both are great, so I just figured I'd share both, and then you can make which ever one you want.

Grated pasta dough in Croatia goes by many names. My mum calls them tarce, I found recipes calling it tarana za juhu, some call it ribana kasica.

Your dough needs to be firmer than your normal pasta dough as you need to grate it, so it is a labour of love kneading this dough. But as my family absolutely love this, I am happy to make it for them.

If you make more than needed, just allow the grated dough to dry out completely, then you can store them in a container for another day. Dried dough will need to cook longer than the fresh dough.

You can see in the picture below that there are a few larger balls of dough, that is my daughters doing, she loves a few random larger balls of dough. Just eat them on the first day as they will be hard to dry and if they do dry, they would take forever to cook.

I love cooking things my mum says she had when she was little, so this is something I make for my family to keep traditional food memories going on.

This is something I serve with clear broth type soups, either chicken. duck, beef or lamb soup. ​

​Serves 6

Tarce using flour and egg:

1 x 60g egg
3/4 cup pasta flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Put egg, 1/2 cup flour and salt into a food processor. Add the remaining flour spoon by spoon, it should look like couscous. Turn the mixture out onto your kitchen bench.

If you don't have a food processor add all of the flour and salt onto your kitchen bench, mix the egg into the flour using a fork or your fingers, until the mixture starts to come together.

For both methods now, knead by hand to form a ball, the dough must be hard. If it is too crumbly, you can add a teaspoon of water, only add enough water where the dough can come together. Remember the dough needs to be hard.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30 minutes before grating.

Grate pasta dough on a box grater, using the larger holes. Scatter over a tablecloth or baking paper. If you are going to use freshly grated dough, allow let it to dry for one hour before adding it to soup, so they don't stick.

For later use dry them overnight, when it has dried, store in an airtight container.


Serves 12-you can halve the recipe

Tarce using flour, semolina and egg:

300g pasta flour
200g semolina
1 teaspoon salt
4 x 60g eggs

​Add the flour, semolina and salt onto your kitchen bench, mix together to combine the flour and semolina. Mix in the egg into the flour mixture using a fork or your fingers, until the mixture starts to come together.

Knead by hand to form a ball, the dough must be hard. If it is too crumbly, you can add a teaspoon of water, only add enough water where the dough can come together. Remember the dough needs to be hard.

Grate pasta dough on a box grater, using the larger holes, you can cut the dough into 4 smaller pieces to make it easier to grate. Scatter over a tablecloth or baking paper. If you are going to use freshly grated dough, allow let it to dry for one hour before adding it to soup, so they don't stick.

For later use dry them overnight, when it has dried, store in an airtight container.

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/grated-pasta-dough-for-soup.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