Haloween in the Kitchen Part 2

I have a spanking new copy of Rachel Allen's Home Cooking and it is gorgeous. I actually think I want to make everything in it. 

However, I stopped at making the Butternut Ravioli, although I changed it a bit, I used our own recipe for pasta, and added ground coriander to the Butternut filling. I also made the Chocolate fudge pudding with orange. Both were delicious and I will be definitely making them again

Robyn enjoyed making the pasta. Pasta is indestructible and kids love making it, it's like playdough.

We have a pasta machine, I bought it about 13 years ago and it has been a great investment. So long as you explain to the kids how to use it, they are a great source of serf labour in the kitchen.

The pasta is 300g of '00 flour or strong white with a bit of semolina in it, to 4 whole eggs. You can mix it in a mixer with a dough hook or use your hand.

You can knead to your hearts content, it helps it get silky and go easily through the pasta machine.

Then Robyn put it through the machine, talking to it as she did. (I could listen to her muttering under her breath all day!) It takes a few passes, getting thinner as you adjust the rollers on the machine. 

The pasta sheets need to stay covered until you are ready to use them. 

The filling is placed in teaspoon heaps sandwiched between sheets of pasta using egg wash as a glue.

I love this repetitive, methodical process. You need plenty of time for this. It is not something you do an hour before your guests arrive. You can do it up to a day in advance and leave it on trays in the fridge, tossed in semolina so they don't stick and covered in cling film or a teatowel.

I made a chorizo stew for main course. It was made and sitting in the pot to be heated up, so it needed no work while people were there. I served it with bread. The kids didn't eat this, was a bit spicy for their tastes so I made a dinner sized portion of ravioli for them. 

Dessert had to be made fresh on the spot, so I left the ingredients out and ready and made it between starter and main, and popped them in the oven.

I also satisfied a childhood desire and made Toffee Apples. They worked out great. Declan got thick wooden skewers from the butchers for the apples, far better than lollipop sticks. 

I would not advise allowing the kids to go anywhere near the Toffee making. It is just too hot. They skewered the apples and put the ingredients in the pot, that as far as I would let them go. 

They were lovely though, tricky to eat, but festive and cheery looking.

Was a lovely night.