Mushroom, Feta & Tomato Pasta Salad

I nearly didn't post this recipe as it's so simple and just a basic staple in my house that I figured it would be of no benefit to anyone. But because it's a basic I think it's an even better idea to share.

Now that I am home and chasing after my toddler son I often forget to eat lunch or by the time I feel hungry I feel too tired to make anything really tasty so will often just eat toast or biscuits.

This pasta salad saves me lots of time and is also tasty. I usually make it on a Monday and eat it for lunch for the next 3-4 days. My son will eat it for lunch or dinner too, although I usually vary the recipe slightly for him.

The best part about it is that you can exclude/include any ingredient you like.

Ingredients

Here's what you need:
1 packet Farfalle pasta (or whichever you prefer)
1 small punnet mushrooms, washed and sliced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (I use cherry tomatoes cut in 1/2  for my son's version)
6 strips of thinly sliced bacon, rind removed & chopped small
1/4 cup pine-nuts
3/4 cup  pesto
feta cheese
1/2 cup croutons (I used packet ones but easy to make yourself too)

Here's what you do:

Cook all the pasta in a large pan of salted water for about 12minutes or to packet instructions. You don't want the pasta to go too soft. When cooked, drain a couple of times and pour cold water over the pasta so it won't stick together. Place in a large bowl, cover with cling wrap and let cool. I often put mine in the fridge to speed up the process.

When you're ready, put a little bit of olive oil in a fry pan and cook the bacon for a couple of minutes. Add all the mushroom and cook for a further 4-5minutes or until the mushroom is soft. I use a lot of mushroom because they shrink quite small and I love them. Add the sun-dried tomatoes at the end for about 1 minute only.

Stir through carefully

Remove the ingredients from pan and drain on sorbent paper. Add the pine-nuts to the hot pan and toss continually to brown them, this won't take long. Take the cooled pasta from the fridge and drizzle a little bit of olive oil and stir through (to unstick the pasta). Add all the cooked ingredients, plus the pesto, and gently stir through, turning the pasta over. Make sure to bring the pasta from the bottom to the top. I usually add more pesto at this stage if I think it's not enough.

You can eat the salad like this but I add crumbled feta and croutons. Today I added blue cheese but it was a bit too salty. When my son has this for dinner I use cherry tomatoes instead of sundried.

Enjoy!

Breakfast Bacon & Egg *Pie*

Perfect breakfast treat

I've said this before but I love Donna Hay and her Fast, Fresh, Simple cookbook. It's just beautiful to look at plus the recipes are super easy to make. It makes a perfect gift or just a treat for yourself. One of the first recipes I bookmarked to try was the Bacon & Egg Pie. Now, it's not a pie. There is no pastry, but you can cook it in a pie tin and it stays together like a pie. I've made this previously for a Sunday breakfast and today I made it to welcome my husband's parents who are visiting us here in Thailand for the week. This is child and adult friendly and seriously easy and delicious!

*apologies about the photos, my main camera ran out of battery.

Ingredients

Here's what you need: (will make 4 *pies*)
6 rashes thinly sliced bacon. Take off the rind.
6 eggs
1 cup (240g) of creme fraiche (or sour cream)
2 tablespoons of flat parsley leaf (I used chives this time)






Here's what you do: 

Get all your ingredients out ready and turn the oven on to 180C. Use butter or spray to grease 4 pie tins or ramekin dishes. I used ceramic ramekin dishes as that's what I have in my cupboards. I also found that the pies pop straight of the ceramic dishes but stuck to the sides of my glass ramekin dish.

Ready to pop in the oven

Line the ramekin dish with the bacon strips (1.5 rashes fits around nicely) and gently push the bacon to the edges to keep it in place. Put the eggs, creme fraiche, parsley in a bowl and use a whisk to mix together. Keep whisking until all lumps from the creme fraiche disappear. Share out the mix evenly between your 4 dishes and then bake in the oven for 25minutes. The mix will rise quite high and look fluffy.

Take them out of the oven and using a table knife run along the edges to loosen any egg or bacon attached to the sides. If you used a ceramic dish or pie tin they should just pop out. If not, carefully work them out of the dish with the knife. Use an oven glove as the dish will be hot.

I served them on top of half a toasted english muffin and added a few strawberries. Enjoy!