Dolcelatte Pasta and Rise of the Apes (Mon 15 Aug)
You know sometimes you get a bee in your bonnet and it just has to be exorcised. Well 15 August was all about bees in bonnets.
Lauren was going for a sleepover at Ma and Danda's so we went for a quick swim, a nice economic activity during August as children are free. It was the busiest it had been all holiday but Lauren still loved it, she is getting to be a right little fish!
We popped to Asda for lunch, once of Lauren's bizarre "likes" - having lunch in supermarkets! I had a wholemeal egg sandwich which was very tasty and Lauren had a kids lunch box, such good value I thought for £2 - she got a little activity pack, a ham sandwich, a bag of Asda crisps, a pot of sausages (she ummed and aahed over cherry tomatoes), a bag of Cadburys Animals, some strawberry water and a banana - there was loads of choice of little bags of fruit etc. She ate all the sandwich, she had some Asda cheese puffs and kept asking me why they didn't taste of cheese! She said the sausages were disgusting (and she was right - they tasted of lard- ugh) and then the strawberry water was fizzy and she doesn't like fizzy, so then when I considered a very small ham sandwich, some animal biscuits and a banana for £2 - it didn't seem like such good value!
I dropped her off later and then dashed back home for a rare occurrence, tea and the pictures with Tony. This is where the bees and bonnets come in...first - I like Dolcelatte cheese, but I only have it on holiday and at Christmas. I had a thing about making a pasta sauce out of it, it just had to be done, so a bit of googling and a bit of note taking and a bit of scrabbling through the cupboards and I came up with a recipe. Next - Rise of the Apes. I am getting on a bit now and can fondly remember Sunday afternoons in the 70's watching one or other of the Planet of the Apes films, Roddy McDowell as the doddering Cornelius...so when Tony said, I'll leave it up to you, either "Super 8" or "Rise of the Apes", there was only ever going to be one choice.
The dolcelatte pasta (recipe below) surprised us. It absolutely stunk when I was making it, I mean a really strong blue cheese smell, I had visions of it all going in the bin and I could see Tony pulling disapproving faces as he passed through the kitchen, but thankfully it didn't taste like it smelled, it was really subtle and the sweet and creamy taste of the cheese went really well with the salty taste of the bacon.
As for Rise of the Apes, I really enjoyed it, the worst things about the film were that the baby chimp, effects wise, was not a patch on the amazing grown up chimp and Malfoy's lousy American accent - it was a reverse Dick Van Dyke situation! The good things, it had a strong, interesting, thought provoking story, the action parts took up just enough time. There were links to the previous stories, which I presume will lead to sequels for example a Mars Mission took off near the beginning which must have been Taylor's mission from the original films and Tony pointed out that the young chimp was playing with a Statue of Liberty one of the striking images from the early films was when they discover the statue sticking out of the sand. I think you would enjoy the film whether or not you remember the original, as long as you are not expecting 2 hours of solid action.
Dolcelatte Pasta
Set a pan of salted, boiling water and cook enough spaghetti for two.
In the supermarket you can buy little duo packs called "Cubetti di pancetti", little cubes of chunky pancetta. You can find them with the cooked meats, they are not the lardons that you get near the bacon. Anyway, you need half a pack, one little module. You don't need any additional oil, just heat a frying pan and start cooking the bacon, along with 2 chopped cloves of garlic. Once the pancetta has started to release some of it's oil add 225g of diced chicken breast and a small pack of button mushrooms. Fry until your chicken is just about cooked and the mushrooms are getting tender. Season with salt and pepper and add a teaspoon of paprika, mix well. Next add a splash of white wine, bring to the boil to burn off the alcohol and then turn back down to a simmer. Break in 100g of dolcelatte and stir until the cheese has melted and formed a creamy sauce, you can add a drop of cream (optional) at this point. When the chicken is cooked through and the mushrooms are to your liking, add the drained spaghetti to the sauce and mix well. Serve in warm bowls.
Lauren was going for a sleepover at Ma and Danda's so we went for a quick swim, a nice economic activity during August as children are free. It was the busiest it had been all holiday but Lauren still loved it, she is getting to be a right little fish!
We popped to Asda for lunch, once of Lauren's bizarre "likes" - having lunch in supermarkets! I had a wholemeal egg sandwich which was very tasty and Lauren had a kids lunch box, such good value I thought for £2 - she got a little activity pack, a ham sandwich, a bag of Asda crisps, a pot of sausages (she ummed and aahed over cherry tomatoes), a bag of Cadburys Animals, some strawberry water and a banana - there was loads of choice of little bags of fruit etc. She ate all the sandwich, she had some Asda cheese puffs and kept asking me why they didn't taste of cheese! She said the sausages were disgusting (and she was right - they tasted of lard- ugh) and then the strawberry water was fizzy and she doesn't like fizzy, so then when I considered a very small ham sandwich, some animal biscuits and a banana for £2 - it didn't seem like such good value!
I dropped her off later and then dashed back home for a rare occurrence, tea and the pictures with Tony. This is where the bees and bonnets come in...first - I like Dolcelatte cheese, but I only have it on holiday and at Christmas. I had a thing about making a pasta sauce out of it, it just had to be done, so a bit of googling and a bit of note taking and a bit of scrabbling through the cupboards and I came up with a recipe. Next - Rise of the Apes. I am getting on a bit now and can fondly remember Sunday afternoons in the 70's watching one or other of the Planet of the Apes films, Roddy McDowell as the doddering Cornelius...so when Tony said, I'll leave it up to you, either "Super 8" or "Rise of the Apes", there was only ever going to be one choice.
The dolcelatte pasta (recipe below) surprised us. It absolutely stunk when I was making it, I mean a really strong blue cheese smell, I had visions of it all going in the bin and I could see Tony pulling disapproving faces as he passed through the kitchen, but thankfully it didn't taste like it smelled, it was really subtle and the sweet and creamy taste of the cheese went really well with the salty taste of the bacon.
As for Rise of the Apes, I really enjoyed it, the worst things about the film were that the baby chimp, effects wise, was not a patch on the amazing grown up chimp and Malfoy's lousy American accent - it was a reverse Dick Van Dyke situation! The good things, it had a strong, interesting, thought provoking story, the action parts took up just enough time. There were links to the previous stories, which I presume will lead to sequels for example a Mars Mission took off near the beginning which must have been Taylor's mission from the original films and Tony pointed out that the young chimp was playing with a Statue of Liberty one of the striking images from the early films was when they discover the statue sticking out of the sand. I think you would enjoy the film whether or not you remember the original, as long as you are not expecting 2 hours of solid action.
Dolcelatte Pasta
 |
| I'll never get on Master Chef with that presentation!! |
In the supermarket you can buy little duo packs called "Cubetti di pancetti", little cubes of chunky pancetta. You can find them with the cooked meats, they are not the lardons that you get near the bacon. Anyway, you need half a pack, one little module. You don't need any additional oil, just heat a frying pan and start cooking the bacon, along with 2 chopped cloves of garlic. Once the pancetta has started to release some of it's oil add 225g of diced chicken breast and a small pack of button mushrooms. Fry until your chicken is just about cooked and the mushrooms are getting tender. Season with salt and pepper and add a teaspoon of paprika, mix well. Next add a splash of white wine, bring to the boil to burn off the alcohol and then turn back down to a simmer. Break in 100g of dolcelatte and stir until the cheese has melted and formed a creamy sauce, you can add a drop of cream (optional) at this point. When the chicken is cooked through and the mushrooms are to your liking, add the drained spaghetti to the sauce and mix well. Serve in warm bowls.
Comments
Post a Comment
Please leave a message, would love to hear your feedback and opinions