Pasta Disaster

So I attempted to make Maggie Beer’s Chestnut, mushroom and mascarpone ravioli. It was all going well, the filling was nice, the pasta was right, the raviolis might have been too big … but it was all fine and I gave myself a pat on the back for a good first attempt. Then disaster struck...

Since I wasn’t going to eat it until later that evening and it had cheese in it, I put it in a bowl and stuck it in the fridge for a few hours. After all I’ve dusted each ravioli to prevent it from sticking.

I started to get a pot of water going and looked at my bowl of ravioli. To my absolute horror the raviolis were all stuck together! After much cursing I managed to unstuck half the bowl and cooked those. Half of the salvaged raviolis had holes in them so the filling was floating all over the water. The remainder in the bowl had amalgamated into one giant ball of ravioli. As they would say on Masterchef “I came to a low point in my cooking career.” err, yes what career? haha.

But there was light at the end of the ravioli tunnel. I’ve managed to turn the ball of ravioli into …fettuccini! I had some filling left over and made it into a sauce, added some chicken and ta da … chestnut, mushroom and mascarpone fettuccini!


LHS: Mushrooms with sage. RHS: Chestnuts in chicken stock with thyme



Going well...



Still going well ...

****Disaster!****


Chestnut, mushroom and mascarpone fettuccini

Chicken, Mushroom and Pea Pie

It's cold, it's rainy and I want pie! Hmm .. I wonder what's in the fridge.

Mmm ... the warm glow of the TV

Chicken, Mushroom and Pea Pie

Ingredients

1 chicken breast diced

1 cup peas

1 cup button mushroom, quartered

1/2 an onion, chopped finely

1 sprig rosemary

2 tbsp plain flour

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

1 cup chicken stock

1 small can of light evaporated milk

25g butter

salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. In a large pot, brown the chicken. Set aside.

2. In the same pot on a low heat, add butter and onion. When the onion is transparent (don't brown them) very quickly add flour and stir vigorously until the mixture forms a ball. Cook, stirring for another 2 mins. Add the chicken stock little by little stirring quickly each time and until the flour mixture is Incorporated in each addition. You will notice the mixture will become thick (that's what you want). Stir in the evaporated milk and add rosemary. Turn the heat to medium and simmer for 5 mins.

Err side on view..

3. Add mushrooms, peas and chicken. Keep on stirring until to boil and it thickens (approx 10mins). Season to taste and remove rosemary.

4. Pour mixture into a baking dish and cover with puff pastry ensure you prick the pastry with a fork. Trim the edges and decorate as desired. Bake in a 180c oven for 30-40mins or until pastry is golden.