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!

Cornflake & Herb Crusted Fish

Dinner!

Being Good Friday and all I decided to cook fish for dinner. I always love fish served on a bed of mash and decided to use up my fridge supplies to make a pumpkin & potato mash plus the standard 3 steamed vegetables: carrot, cauliflower, brocoli.  To make the meal more exciting I went on the hunt for an interesting fish recipe and allrecipes.com.au came to the rescue. This crust mixture is just perfect. While eating dinner I brainstormed other uses for the crust: to stuff a portobello mushroom or tomato or on a grilled chicken breast. I seriously loved it and love the fact that one of the main ingredients are cornflakes! Definitely child friendly and you could substitute some of the ingredients for simpler ones if needed. 

So with the menu organised I invited some friends around, had a couple of bottle of wines and a perfect start to the Easter weekend. 

Here's what you need:

1 cup of cornflakes, crushed. I put them in a ziploc bag and crushed them up small with my hands

1 tablespoon chopped Italian basil

2 tablespoons grated parmesan (you could try cheddar cheese or another type)

1 tablespoon of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped up small (you could use standard tomatoes diced)

1 whole lemon zest

Olive oil

Fish - as I live in Thailand I am always cautious of the fish I buy. I used Dory fillets in this recipe.

*Any vegetables you want to cook to serve on the side

Here's what you do: (very easy)

Preheat your oven to 180c. Add your crush cornflakes and all other ingredients to a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Place your fish on a foil lined oven tray and drizzle some olive oil lightly over the fish pieces. Use your hands to press the mixture all over the top layer of the fisher. Drizzle again slightly with olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 12mins. That's it!

* recipe would cover 2 large fish fillets

** I served Crispy Chocolate Wontons for dessert