Everybody Counts has put out a video about the NDIS. Watch it.
This New Favourite is a little different from the normal musical ones, but a must watch all the same.
The budget is around the corner. There’s going to be a $12bn deficit – or something like that. Ructions are growing about how something like the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be funded.
This isn’t about propping up a failing industry or pouring more good money after bad into a flawed and failing asylum seeker policy – situations where money is simply found, no questions asked.
I’m so done with people being self-centred and scared. Let’s be brave, let’s be daring, let’s do what is right.
The perfect recipe to make you slow down and enjoy the process. There’s a recipe for the pasta and for the spinach and ricotta filling.
Spinach ricotta ravioli with burnt butter & sage
My brain’s not been playing fair lately, racing here and there, dwelling in the shadows, lurking. It’s been nasty, spiteful and mean. Mainly to me. To others I seem fine, my dear friends Eleanor and Mary said I looked “beautiful and serene” when they saw me on Friday night. Currently my favourites. I have a good game face. On the inside it’s a poisonous self-sabotaging dog fight.
Food is my ultimate joy and arch nemesis. I am my happiest in the kitchen. Feeding other people makes me infinitely happy. There is enough subtext in those three sentences to keep me in therapy until my deathbed. And beyond. I’ve been told that at the moment I’m investing heavily in my food currency and while on some levels that gives great dividends I need to broaden my investment portfolio.
A financial analogy. I don’t even know who I am anymore.
But it’s true and quite indicative of me. I am a fine example of putting all the eggs in one basket so I’m currently trying other currencies to reduce my stress – or at least make me forget the stressors for a while – and find enjoyment from areas that don’t trigger an avalanche of binge eating and self-loathing. Good times!
In the meantime I am still cooking and forcing my racing brain to slow down, to enjoy the process as much as the end result. There’s been some pretty nice outcomes including making pasta for the first time in more than 10 years. Not only did I make it I hand rolled it. Funnily enough, working with the dough was the most enjoyable part. I’ve learnt to stop worrying and fearing about something not working and to just listen to my gut – add a little more flour, a little water, work it some more, it will be fine. Learning that for pastry making was a complete revelation. Just go with it.
Spinach and Ricotta ravioli
From Giorgio Locatelli, Made in Italy: Food & Stories
For the filling
400g ricotta
90g cooked spinach* (about 250g raw)
3tbsp grated parmesan
1 egg
salt and pepper freshly ground
* I sauteed the spinach in some chilli-infused oil and a clove of finely sliced garlic. Let it cool a little and then squeeze as much water as you can from it and very finely chop.
Mix it all together, taste and ensure it’s well seasoned then set aside while you make the pasta. (Or make the dough then make the filling while you’re letting the dough rest.)
For the dough
500g strong flour
3 large eggs and 2 egg yolks
pinch of salt
Have a bowl of water on your bench and put you flour in a mound on a clean work surface and make a well in the middle
Crack the eggs into the well and then move your fingers in a circular motion slowly incorporating the flour until it all gets incorporated into a bit of a shaggy mess
Start working the dough by pushing the heel of your hand into it and pushing it away from you, turn it clockwise and push it away from you again with the heel of your hand and keep doing so for about 10 minutes.
If it’s too dry (which it probably will be) wet your hands and keep working it. Eventually the dough feels springy but quite firm and will become quite difficult to work with. Giorgio tells us not to worry if the dough feels hard, after it has rested it’ll be good to go – and it is!
Divide the dough into 2 balls, wrap each in a damp tea-towel and rest for about an hour.
To make the ravioli
Dust your bench with some flour and semolina. Take the dough and roll it out in a rectangular shape. Always roll the dough away from you and turn 90 degrees after each roll. This has something to do with making the pasta stronger – similar to how when you use a pasta machine you roll it, fold it, turn it, roll it again.
Once you have it very thin – so you can see light through it is ideal – fold the dough in half and then open out again.
On one half brush with a beaten egg then place teaspoons of the ricotta mix in a row about 4cm between each pile.
Fold the other side over the top and then press down around the filling ensuring you’ve got no air pockets around the filling. Don’t get too worked up about it, when you cut them out you can double check there’s no air pockets.
Cut them out. Now if you’re going to get all fancy, using a teeny rolling pin or your hands and press the sides of the ravioli until it’s the thickness of the dough covering the filling. I do a half-arsed attempt at this because quite frankly life’s too short.
If you want to make pretty shapes (ie use a fluted cutter) then go for your life – there’s not meant to be that much pasta around the stuffing but I like that because I’m a heathen, clearly.
If you’re making them ahead of time, keep them in a container on sheets of baking paper dusted with semolina.
Bring a pot of water to the boil, salt generously, then drop in the ravioli and cook for 3-4 minutes.
Serve with a simple tomato sauce or butter you’ve melted until it’s nut brown with fresh sage leaves.
A delicious version of cheese and bacon (or ham) rolls where you’ll produce an entire batch for about the cost of two in the shops.
The bread renaissance is still in full flight over here and this is the pinnacle. I use grated cheddar cheese and thick strips of ham (I buy it like that from the deli, you can get the cubes if you so wish) in equal quantities and learnt quickly to pile it on top of the bread – too little and it doesn’t produce the best result. I’ve made it with the beer no knead bread and the straight no knead variety.
No knead cheese and bacon rolls
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 cups water (and a splash more)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dry yeast
Mix it all together until a shaggy mess (don’t try and make it look pretty, just make sure it’s all combined) then cover and leave for 8 to 18 hours (I’ve left it as long as 24 and it still works a treat)
Turn it out onto a floured bench and turn it in on itself about 8 times – as in look at the dough on the bench, bring the top of the dough to the middle, the bottom up to the middle, the sides into the middle and then do it again.
Break the dough into as many rolls as you like – 8 big ones if you want to replicate those of certain bread chains, 12 if you want a more reasonable number and 18 if you want delicious 3 bite wonders.
Shape them into nice round balls and place on a baking paper lined tray and cover loosely with either a damp tea-towel or glad wrap and set aside for 2 hours.
Preheat your oven to 220C and mix together 220g grated cheddar cheese and shredded or cubed ham – I use this quantity over 18 rolls. I suspect you wouldn’t need so much if you’re doing big rolls
Take a big pinch of the cheese and ham mix and press it into the tops of each of the rolls. Don’t worry about fall off, that makes the yummy crunchy bits around the base of the roll. And then, once you’ve done each roll, spread any left overs as you see fit.
Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. You want some darker charred bits, golden crunchy bits and melty goodness.
