Enough for seconds: Rigatoni al ragu

I'm like Dr Frankenstein in the kitchen it seems. Eloise can't get enough of cooking with me and always is asking 'what are we making next Mummy?' and some of the time in the interest of speed or safety I have to say 'not today'.  I don't want to dampen her spirits though and so have promised a meal/cooking session each week.

So this was one such recipe and I'll apologise in advance.  When you have a very enthusiastic and active sous chef in the kitchen it starts to get a bit blurry - in the photos that is.

First of all I set up a little station with all the chopped ingredients ready to go.  I set a plastic bowl next to it so she can fetch ingredients and put them into the bowl and bring to the stove.

The results are amazing - full of flavour and all the frills asked for seconds.  Hubby told Eloise she was a brilliant chef and she could make it again next week - she was as you could imagine greatly encouraged (ecstatic!) by this..!

Ingredients:
1 onion, finely diced
1 medium carrot, finely diced
1 stalk celery finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely sliced
4 slices proscuitto, finely diced
2 tb butter
3 tb olive oil
500g veal and pork mince
3 tb tomato paste
1 cup dry white
1 cup milk
400g tin of diced tomatoes
1 cup beef stock

500g rigatoni, dried


Method:
In a large saucepan, stockpot or frying pan melt butter with the olive oil and add the garlic, onions, carrots and celery, stir until the onion becomes translucent

Add the proscuitto and keep stirring until cooked

Add the mince and brown well.

Add the tomato paste and combine well

Add white wine, milk, tinned tomatoes and stock, turn to a medium heat for about 45 minutes-1 hour until the sauce reduces and becomes thick.

Prepare your rigatoni and drain well, add to the sauce and grate some fresh parmesan on top.

Psst - as promised - extra opportunity to spoil yourself with $250 Coles Myer Voucher PLUS $250 basket of Lindt TODAY ONLY (to those with Australian postal addresses)  I'm going to count an entry before 2pm and one after 2pm until midnight tonight (so two entries) if you tweet on twitter:

"I'm going #spoilmyself by winning a $250 Myer voucher and $250 basket of @LindtAustralia goodies!  http://bit.ly/koP7Qz"

Luxurious breakfast, fun lunch or easy dinner: Oven baked scotch eggs

What a friendly fellow huh?  This is Eloise's new favourite dinner with requests coming in every other night since we first had it.  I'm sure it's got something to do with fun face - but she does love hardboiled eggs so maybe there's something in that too.

You can use whatever mince you like - as a kid my Mum used to use sausage mince and lace it in white pepper... I actually love them like that but it's not really as healthy as this one.  If I was making this for breakfast that's what I'd do - it's a different take on sausages and eggs on toast right?

Ingredients:  (Makes 5)

5 hardboiled eggs

500g veal and pork mix

1 cup bread crumbs (I used 2 pieces of bread and processed them)

1 carrot, grated (or finely processed)

continental parsley, finely chopped or processed

Canola spray

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees c.  Peel your eggs.

Process your breadcrumbs, then your carrot and parsley

In a large bowl mix your mince, 1/4 of your breadcrumbs, egg and carrots and parsley.

Wrap the egg in the mince.  

Then roll in the remaining breadcrumbs.

Place in greased muffin tins and spray over the top with canola spray.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until cooked through and golden brown.

Serve with a smile!

Low Fat Friday with Lucy: Veal Stroganoff - not spiky!

Hi everyone!  Today I have the lovely Lucy from Diminishing Lucy here to give us a low fat Friday option - I'm very sure I'll be giving it a go myself.  Lucy who lives in Adelaide is someone I became 'twitter mates' with about a year or so ago and we just 'clicked'.  We have a very similar approach to blogging, and our kids are of a similar age - and she has an Olivia. We finally met a few weekends ago and it was one of those times where someone is exactly how you expect them, and our online life easily transitioned to a 'real life' friendship.  Whilst swapping kiddy pics on our phones we were very shocked to discover that her Lexie and my Olivia look like identical twins, seriously!   We'll be catching up again over the Christmas holidays with the kids - will be great to see how they measure up in real life!

Liss has a number of stroganoff recipes, so I wondered at the benefit of another. But then we both realised that everyone loves a strog, especially as the seasons change and the slow cooker comes out.

And this version is a very easy, very low fat, very child friendly stroganoff.

My children (Olivia who is 7, Charlie who is 5 and Lexie who is 4) are all enamoured with it, and it was at their request that I cooked it this week.

It is mild but still has a little zing to it. My children like spicy food. They eat mild curries and chillis and mustard and if a dish is spicy, Lexie tells me "it tastes SPIKEY Mumma...I luff it."  I use veal as it is naturally leaner and lower in fat than beef.  Instead of sour cream, I use natural yogurt - it contains a fraction of the fat and a much higher protein value. The carrots add colour and sweetness.

It is far removed from a traditional stroganoff, but delicious and comforting and creamy and entirely guilt free.

Low and Slow Veal Stroganoff

500g lean veal strips or cubes
1 onion, chopped into chunks
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup of beef stock
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon of smoked paprika
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 cup button mushrooms, cut into quarters

200g tub of low fat natural set yogurt

1. Place the veal, the onions and the carrots in the slow cooker

2. Combine tomato paste, beef stock, cornflour, garlic, praprikas and mustard in a jug and mix well to combine
3. Pour this liquid over the meat and veggies in the slow cooker, stir to combine.

4. Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 7 hours.
5. 30 minutes before serving, add the mushrooms and combine.

6. Stir in the yogurt to combine and warm through.

7. Whilst you cook some pasta, the mushrooms will soften and take on the paprika flavour, and the yogurt will dissolve to give the strog a divine but healthy creaminess.

Enjoy!