garlic, lime and chili mussels with spelt pasta

It's like a ghost town on this blog a the moment.. and not for any other reason than the fact that I am down and out with the flu.

I am truly miserable right now, coughing, sneezing, moaning and carrying around roll of toilet paper to blown my nose. I feel like I'm suffering the 'man-flu'.

Joel has been great, bringing me cups of peppermint tea first thing in the morning and offering to get me anything I need. I am so glad my husband works from home.

Enough of my misery. I haven't been adventurous in the kitchen recently, as you can imagine. However, as they say on the cooking shows - here is something I prepared earlier.

Ingredients

(serves 2)

70g wholemeal spelt pasta

1kg organic live mussels (in shell)

1 tblsp olive oil

1/2 garlic sprig, minced

1 lime, finely grated rind and juiced

1/2 small red hot chili, finely sliced

1/4 c dry sherry

2 handfuls of green peas, roughly chopped

1/4 c finely chopped parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Bring a medium sized pot of water to the boil and add pasta, cook until al-dente then drain and set aside.

As the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a saucepan/wok and add garlic, chili, sherry and lime rind - cook until fragrant and sherry has mostly evaporated.

Turn off heat and stir through the peas.

Bring a large pot/saucepan of salted water to the boil and add the mussels.

Boil for about 5-7 minutes until the mussels have opened.

With two-thirds of the mussels, remove the flesh out of the shell and add to the garlic mix - keeping the remaining mussels in the shell for decoration.

Re-heat the saucepan/wok and add in the pasta, parsley and lime juice tossing and heating through for a minute or two.

Serve and decorate with the mussels in shell.

homemade beetroot pasta with pine-nuts and zesty greens

So, it's Joel's birthday today.

I dedicate this post to him.

I know what you're thinking; why am I blogging on such an important day, when I should be spending time with my husband.

Answer: he's playing Legos right now.

Joel is a Lego collector.

I bought him 10 kg of Lego for Christmas last year and it was the beginning of the end as he's found any excuse to add to the collection ever since.

Anyways, we spent the day together - starting out with some delicious wholemeal pancakes (chocolate chips for Joel) topped with fresh jam and almond cashew nut butter. 

Then on to the toy store.. yep, the toy store.

He needed to add to his Lego collection.

We got home late afternoon and while Joel tore open and constructed his new toys, I started on dinner.

Whenever I ask Joel what he feels like for dinner, the never ending 'pa-sta, pa-sta, pa-sta' chant begins.

I'm not such a fan of pasta, so these days I just say 'you have two options for dinner; this or that'.

But today is his birthday after all, so this is a blog post about my pink pasta for the birthday boy.

And by 'pink' I mean beetroot.

Also, I wanted to incorporate some kale, basil and lemon from my garden. 

That's when I decided on a zesty topping.

If you have a pasta machine, now is the time to dust it off and bust it out. 

If not, no problem, just use a rolling pin!

Ingredients

(serves 4)

Pasta

1 c flour + some

1 organic free-range egg

1 tblsp beetroot puree

1tblsp water

pinch of salt

Combine the above ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until well combined.

Turn mixture on to a floured surface and knead for 5-10 mins.

Put dough aside and rest for 20 mins.

Cut into 8  even portions.

Pasta machine

Feed through rollers until level 8, flouring the individual portions after each level.

Finally feed through the 'spaghetti' setting on the machine.

or

Rolling pin

Roll each portion as thin as possible.

Then using a sharp knife, slice into desired lengths.

Heat a large pot of salted water and drop spaghetti slowly into the water.

*Boil for 1 minute or until the pasta has risen to the top.

Using a slotted spoon, remove pasta from water, drain and place in a large bowl.

*Tip: you may find it easier to boil small portions.

Flavouring

2 medium zucchini, shredded

1 tblsp lemon zest

1 large lemon juiced

1/4 c pine-nuts

8-10 italian basil leaves

1 tsp of salt

1 bunch of kale, roughly chopped

quality olive oil

salt and pepper to serve

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.

Toss the mixture through the warm pasta and serve.

Drizzle with oil and serve with a pinch of salt and a turn of cracked pepper.

I love my husband and am so happy to be by his side forever. I will always be there to cook him pasta as he celebrates his future birthdays.

Love to my lover xoxo