The Recycled Cook

The Recycled Cook Penne, Chicken and Mushroom Cacciatori   Nothing quite as satisfying as a good pasta dish, for this one I used Penne pasta or quills due to their pen like shape. Cacciatori means hunter so this is basically hunter's chicken and mushroom although you  could leave out the chicken and have it as a vegetarian dish. This sauce will work with any kind of pasta but Penne was what I had readily available. Although I prefer fresh pasta or home made egg pasta I try and keep some dried pasta available too. As always these dishes it is down  what you have left over in the fridge and freezer. I found a chicken  breast  in the freezer, some mushrooms, celery, spring onions half a yellow pepper and some baby tomatoes in the fridge so built the dish around those. The first thing to do was to defrost the chicken breast thoroughly, season it well with salt, black pepper and dried oregano, rub with garlic...

The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman Pasta Bolognese (Ragu) Bake Did you ever make Pasta Bolognese and end up with a lot of the Bolognese (Ragu) sauce left over? Well here is a nice idea for an oven baked dish that will let you turn that first dish into another, even tastier one. Left over pasta doesn't really work well next day so you will probably need to cook of some fresh pasta for this dish. It doesn't matter what pasta you use but a smallish  shape suits this well as it is easier to mix into the sauce.  I used Orzo (Barley) pasta as it is not only nice and small but has a distinct flavour. You can find this in most good supermarkets or your local Deli but Penne, Farfalinne, Fusilli or Orecchiette (Little Ears) will do just as well. This is a useful list of pasta shapes for you  http://pastafits.org/pasta-dictionary/ Simply mix the left over sauce in a large mixing bowl with the pre-cooked pasta and add some finely chopped leftover vegetables. I fried o...

The Recycled Cook Mushroom Risotto The first thing you need for a good Risotto is a decent  stock  you can use  what we made previously or one of the wide range available in supermarkets.   There are of course many variation on Risotto, it is a great way to use up any combination of leftover vegetables and meat or simply keep it vegetarian. pre-cook any raw ingredients if you think they will not cook through in the risotto itself, particularly any raw meat.  To start we will make  basic Risotto Blanco, the base for all Risotto. To start with you will need to fry off what the Italians call a "Sofrito" , a mix of finely chopped carrot, celery, onion and garlic. I substituted Parsnip for carrot as I had no carrots this time. Olive oil will do nicely but to really bring out the flavour of the mushrooms use truffle oil. Once you have fried off the "Sofrito" add the rice and fry until it starts to look clear. At this point yo...