Stuff it!

Thus far my forays into baked pasta have been limited to the odd pasta bake (you know the sort of thing: tomatoey sauce, cheddar on top) and macaroni cheese. This week I decided to get sophisticated and make stuffed and baked ricotta shells. Times are currently hard in Kirkstall (in part owing to my handbag-buying habit), and this recipe featured in the seven meals for £35 section in Olive. I picked this recipe as courgettes were a main ingredient and the gentleman of the house likes them very much, and I thought it'd make a good photo for the blog.

This dish is economical: as our store is well stocked, I was able to buy everything we needed for £6.07 (including a re-stock of olive oil). I did make some alterations to this recipe--I thought that a tomato sauce consisting of just tinned tomatoes, a clove of garlic and oil was miserable, so I chucked in a pinch of sugar, some balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper (obviously) and stirred through some basil that was hanging about. (Olive could suggest all of the above, bar the basil: there isn't anything there that might not be in one's store.) ANYWAY, this is not a fast dish to make, as grating three courgettes takes a while--however, it is a nice comforting dish, and the pasta stays firm, although the filling could perhaps do with a little less lemon. And I think it photographs very well for the blog.

Next on the list for this week is an accidentally delicious cake. I'd seen a feature in Olive, in the July issue, on Matcha green tea powder, and there was an accompanying recipe for a green tea loaf. I don't like green tea as a drink, but I thought that a note of green tea in a loaf might make a nice sophisticated dessert for a dinner party--in the way that fish sauce is foul but can make a dish delicious. The only Matcha powder I could find in Leeds city centre cost £25 from Harvey Nichols. Such is my dedication to this blog I was looking at it and thinking about buying, when it was removed from my hands and I was removed from the store by Sam who couldn't believe I was even countenancing it. (Neither can I, with hindsight.) Anyway my solution to the tea problem was to make some strong green tea and add that to the loaf mix whilst also dying the cake green to get the required visual effect.

The green tea was utterly undetectable. There's no other way of putting it. However, as the cake had almonds in it, I thought it would go well with caramel, and I just happened to have a can of dulche de leche in. I served it in large chunks with a bowl of dulche de leche on the table. In the words of one of our guests, W, it was green for no reason, but it was delicious.

Now onto the recipe I tweeted my way through this morning: lemon sorbet. This will be served as a desert to follow a raclette party tonight. Much as I love raclette, it doesn't leave much room--or desire--for a pudding, but I thought that a sorbet might be nice to clear palates and make us all feel a bit less dirty after all the cheese. I've had a teaspoon of it for sampling purposes and it is delicious, very refreshing. I think it'll work a treat tonight.