We had a fabulous Christmas dinner of roast beef & the works. But we cooked enough for 8 and there was only 2 of us! Naturally, we had a week of leftovers!! But gradually, we worked through all of it. Here is Part 1 of what we did to use up the leftover gravy & vegetables.
The results were stunningly delicious! The main takeaway here is learning to make the pasta.
Marie's Tip 1:
Formula for making pasta
1 egg : 100 grams flour
Once you have made pasta often enough, you can actually reduce the flour by 1/4. This makes the pasta more silky smooth.
Ingredients (Serves 3)
280g flour (plus alittle if needed)
3 eggs
pinch of salt
drizzle of olive oil
Method
Add the flour, salt in a bowl. Make a well & crack the eggs in the well.
Using a fork, whisk the egg gently, incorportating more flour as you whisk.
When the egg mixture is thickened enough by the flour, you can use your fingers to fold the flour in.
Knead the dough till it comes together, adding more flour if the dough is still sticking to your fingers. Break the dough in half, if the dough is still sticky then, more flour is needed.
You want the dough to be alittle tacky but not sticky. Keep kneading for 15 minutes till smooth.
Wrap in clingfilm and leave to set aside for at least an hour, the longer the better.
Divide the dough into 3 parts, dust with cornflour and roll out in the pasta roller.
Run the pasta through the pasta roller starting from the thickest setting. Fold the pasta in 3, then turn the pasta 90 deg and run it through the roller.
Cut the pasta into noodles and set aside on a towel on a tray to dry for 30 mins before cooking.
Marie's Tip 2:
Gravy + some tomato chunks cooked together = tomato sauce for pasta
Ingredients
Leftover gravy
handful of mushrooms sliced
1/2 an aubergine diced
1/2 a carrot diced
2 tomatoes diced
(any leftover vegetable)
1 clove garlic
olive oil
Method
Stir-fry the garlic & vegetables in olive oil, before adding the gravy and leave to simmer for a few minutes. Your sauce is ready!
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water and add the sauce. Garnish with basil and grated parmesan then serve up.
Marie's Tip 3:
How to make Parmesan Tuille Garnish (to add a restaurant style touch to your pasta meal) Grate some parmesan onto a non stick frying pan. Put it on a low medium heat and watch as the cheese melts and becomes golden. Flip it over when its ready and turn off the stove. The residual heat in the pan will melt the other half of the cheese. Once it has cooled, it will crisp up. You can place it on your pasta as a garnish.
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