* This post is part of the Royal Selangor Jellyriffic Competition where ten bloggers from around the world compete by posting recipes each day for 30 days in the month of October 2011 to raise awareness and support for breast cancer. *
UPDATE:
Follow our progress and download our recipes in the “Cuisines of the World” by clicking the image below:
~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~
Italian food has truly become one of the great cuisines of the world and it is no exception with the vibrant Italian community here in Australia.
We are indeed lucky to be able to embrace such passion in food culture and we are always in awe whenever we dine in a good Italian restaurant or cafe here in Sydney.
From the more hearty and traditional takes of bolognaise and carbonara, Sydneysiders are also embracing the modern elegance of more subtle flavours from such a rich Italian culture and history. We indeed have to be thankful to the passion shown by generations of Italian migrants to our shores. From “little Italy” in Leichhardt in the inner west to Paddington in the east and Neutral Bay in the north, every suburb in Sydney is dotted with its neighbourhood Italian cafe and pizzeria that dishes up hearty pasta, pizza and an entire spectrum of Italian style grilled seafood, meats and salads.
Therefore, we pay homage today to one of the classic meat and carb recipes, and indeed one of our favourites among the meat and carb equivalent of so many other culture.
We have great pleasure in presenting to you, our first main course for the competition:
Day 4 – Main: Fusilli bolognaise with cherry tomato salad
As we have many friends who are of Italian heritage, we sincerely hope our interpretation can live up to the expectations of this iconic dish of the world.
Fusilli bolognaise with cherry tomato salad Ingredients 1 bottle of passata / pasta sauce Method 1. Diced carrots finely and sliced mushrooms and tomatoes. 2. Add EVOO to cooking pot and sautee diced onion gently, adding salt and freshly cracked black pepper immediately to draw out the flavours of the onions. 3. Then add the carrots to sautee with the diced onions. 4. Stir carrots and diced onions to one side of the pot. 5. Turn up the heat and add the minced meat and sear and seal the meat on all sides. For this particular spag bol, I have used 70% beef / veal and 30% pork mince. I have also tried 50% each of beef and pork mince and the result was superb – tender morsels of chunky meat with a delectable sauce. Once brown on all sides, break up mince and mix with carrots and diced onions. Tip 1: Using a mixture of mince is essential in making your spag bol more flavoursome and tender than using beef mince alone Tip 2: Resist breaking up the mince so that it can sear to a nice golden brown on all sides to add colour and texture. 6. Add a 600ml bottle of passata to fresh and canned tomatoes. 7. When the sauce is simmering, stir in 2 generous tablespoon of dried mixed herbs and a splash of good red wine. (By this, I mean wine that you would want to drink rather than “wine for cooking”). Tip 3: Fresh herbs such as basil, oregano and thyme are great for spag bol. But I find dried herbs to be no less intense and flavoursome if cooking a sauce as opposed to using fresh herbs for say, a fresh salad. 8. When carrots are soft, add the mushrooms as they don’t need much cooking. Stir in the mushroom and the sauce should simmer for another 10 minutes before serving. 9. Meanwhile, cook fusilli in boiling water until al dente and add 2 tablespoon of salt into the boiling water. Once cooked, rinse spaghetti in cold water to stop the cooking. Then drizzle with EVOO and mix for a smooth and silky pasta. For traditional / presentation For the Royal Selangor pewter jelly mould presentation This recipe is adapted from our Spaghetti Bolognaise recipe which has been a winter favourite of our for many years.
1 can of peeled tomatoes
2 fresh ripened tomatoes
15 – 20 cherry tomatoes
2 carrots
1 large onion
10 white mushrooms
1 bunch continental parsley
1 kg of mixed beef, veal and pork mince (depending on your ratio preference)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon dried herbs
Grated reggiano parmesan cheese
Splash of dry red wine
Fusilli pasta for 4 persons
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
This is truly one of our all time favourites pasta recipes despite it being an old classic. Like they say, it’s a classic and it’s here to stay!
*Note to readers:
You can support and help raise the awareness of breast cancer by the following ways:
- Share our recipes with family and friends on Facebook or Twitter.
- Like chopinandmysaucepan on Facebook.
- Follow chopinandmysaucepan on Twitter.
- Suggest to us any recipe, jelly or otherwise that you may like us to cook using the mould. Recipes do not necessarily need to incorporate gelatin and participants are encouraged to be as creative as possible. We need all the help we can get and would welcome any creative ideas and recipes from our readers.
- Purchase a jelly mould from Royal Selangor. Remember, all sales proceeds will go towards improving the lives of women affected by breast cancer.
Win an Olympus VG-110 camera
To encourage readers to support the cause for breast cancer awareness, we will give away an Olympus VG-110 camera to one lucky reader. All you have to do over the next thirty days is to provide your comments, feedback, suggestions or any recipes and you will be in the running to receive this camera.
This prize is open to any and all readers.
If you enjoy our daily posts throughout October 2011, do consider helping the cause for breast cancer by participating in any or all the the ways mentioned above.
We wish you good health and happy cooking!
Chopinand & Mysaucepan
~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~
Related posts:
Love this-such a pretty presentation!
Smart use of the mould! Love it!
What a pretty presentation and it looks soooo yummy 😀
Very nice! I always like to style my pasta and now this cone can bring them to the next level. Italian cuisine is definitely embraced internationally, even everyone seems to take a different twist towards it. Ours have chili sauce in them. Lots of it.
Hi Jun,
We love marinating birds’ eye chillies in EVOO with some good sea salt flakes and they are awesome with pastas!
Looks tasty! I wonder if you could balance a meatball on top of that… (just don’t sneeze 😉 )
Hi, your blog is BEAUTIFUL!! I didn’t realise you were taking part in the Jelly Competition for Breast Cancer as well. So selfless of you! You’re doing a lot of good for a lot of ppl. Btw I love your jelly creations and the backdrops is stunning!! You must have a beautiful home =) Looking forward to your new ideas each day! Good luck!!
Hi Winston,
Thanks for your kind comments.
What fun presentation! I’ve been following your posts these last few days, really love the what you’re doing for breast cancer research!
This is such a cute way to plate up pasta!
I *just* caught up reading on all of your challenges so far. Amazing! I’m just impressed with all the creations so far. Good luck and I can’t wait to see next!
This one is totally unexpected and totally wonderful! I am really having so much fun looking at the cone shape changing like in a kaleidoscope. Different colours, flavours, ethnic cuisines, aromas… Only the shape stays the same.
Gosh the fusilli really looked so pretty. I wonder if the tri-coloured ones would turned out looking prettier
This is so pretty….. the cone shaped spag just stands out amongst the brightly coloured sauce. Very innovative!
SO SO PRETTY! Love it!
Brilliant!
What is not to like in this recipe?
It is lovely- has all of my favorite foods- I love carbs!
And – it plates up spectacularly!
Definitely I like savory dishes/food served in a pyramid (using a mould originally developed for sweet jellies!)
Awesome presentation.
That is wild looking! A cone of pasta. Who would have thunk? 😉
so simple and looks so elegant!
Awesome recipe. I shall try it this weekend. I was just reading a recipe on growing my own tomatoes so this is another recipe I can use them in. http://www.wascene.com/home-garden/grow-your-own-tomatoes/
Thanks for sharing,
Sara
I LOVE this!! What a fantastic cause too. Now I want pasta…