My favourite Carbonara recipe 😋 Putting the homemade pasta to the test 😬

Get that bacon & chorizo firing in a pan ❤️❤️❤️

Generous shavings of Parmesan & 2 eggs. Whisk it up

Pasta water, don’t forgot the salt. Found it took around 10 mins to cook from fresh.

Move the pasta into the pan, with some generous use of the pasta water & let it simmer

Remove from the heat and pour over the Parmesan & egg mix. Stir through, do your thing….just make sure it doesn’t turn to scrambled egg 🥚

More Parmesan on top….take an photo of course. Done.

Sunday Funday. First ever attempt at making pasta 👀

Now, I just purchased this bad boy off amazon for £25 made by kitchen craft. Didn’t really take the time to read the reviews 🙄 I kinda just bought it because it yellow and it looks cool. Sucked right in 💯

Before I play, let’s start with the pasta dough. I’m told this is a straight forward one through my research 😂

No idea how much pasta this will make, but here goes….

400g of all purpose flour (I’m told the Italian OO is the best, but where am I getting hold of that right now?)

4 eggs 🥚

Knead it for a few minutes. Then wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 mins

Now while that’s doing it’s thing, it’s time to get the machine ready. Like most things these days, there’s a YouTube video for everything, so I’ve done my research that way 😂

Now I’ve cleaned and floured up the machine and got it set to it widest setting. Here goes nothing…..

Screwed it and realised it needed clamping down 🤦‍♂️ Definitely make sure you clamp it down…..other it goes flying 😂

Start on the widest setting, which is my case was numbered ‘1’

Now time for the cutting. Going for a tagliatelle 😋

Then to finish off, I pretended like I’m artsy, grabbed a clothes hanger and left it do it’s thing. Pretty happy with the first ever attempt, the real test is in the taste which I’ll find out later on this evening 😋

That’s all for now folks 👋

JOE FRIED CHICKEN 🍗

Fried chicken. The ultimate in comfort food. No takeaways right now….no problem. Do it yourself at home, with this really simple straight forward recipe….and my secret spices.

Certainly no secret, that buttermilk might be the greatest creation. Buttermilk is only slightly acidic, it is capable of tenderising chicken without toughening up the meat like stronger marinating acids (lemon and vinegar etc). The enzymes present in buttermilk also help in breaking down the protein in the chicken, resulting in tender, flavorful fried chicken.

I’d done mine for in buttermilk for 24 hours. Grabbed some drumsticks and some thighs….skin on, bone in, just makes for extra juicy chicken at the end. Dry is not good.

Pop into a sealed bag and leave in the fridge over night.

Now for those secret spices 👁

My recipes not that much of secret….it’s just a jazzed up flour mix.

I used plain flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chicken stock, dried parsley and a dash of turmeric. That worked great for me.

Now get your oven ready at 180 degrees

Take your butter-milked chicken 🍗 and coat them in the flour mix. Make sure they’re all completely covered.

Using a deep fat fryer or with a pan of hot oil on the stove….whatever you have access too. Place the floured chicken into the hot oil. Allow it to fry in the oil for 5 mins. Untill the colour starts to turn nice a golden brown ✅

Now remove from the oil. Your chicken won’t be cooked yet. If you follow the whole cooking process in the oil, you will burn and over do the outside before it’s cooked. This gives a really nasty taste to the chicken when you eat it.

Now place the chicken on a lined baking tray. Salt, pepper and some fresh Thyme are perfect additions at this point 👌 use abit more olive oil on on top of the chicken and put into the oven for another 10 mins.

Load up with fresh thyme before placing in the oven for the final stint.

Now serve that up with some fresh slaw and some french fries 🍟 the ultimate treat. This ones extra special ❤️❤️❤️ enjoy.

Pancetta. Spicy sausage. Buffalo mozzarella. Fresh basil. Capers. Fresh Tomatoes. Handmade fresh pizza dough. Really, its the yeast I could do.

This simple guide, will hopefully help you create the most perfect homemade pizza 🍕 Its time consuming in parts but the reward is massive. It’s cheap as chips to make 🍟 Don’t settle for wasting money on expensive take aways or frozen supermarket pizza. This will change your opinion forever 😍

1. The Dough.

Knead for 5-10 mins. Get those arms working, it’s been a while since we all saw the inside of a gym.

Follow my easy steps to create the perfect pizza dough. That flexible, you won’t even really need a rolling pin. This is seriously fun and a great way to kill a few hours in the afternoon ❤️

Ingredients.

775g of Strong 00 bread flour

10g of Dried yeast

2 tsp of Salt

25ml Olive Oil

50ml Warm milk

320ml Warm water

This recipe will create 4 large pizza bases.

Method:

Add the flour, dried yeast & salt into a large mixing bowl.

Stir in the olive oil with the warm milk

Gradually 100ml at a time, add in the warm water & mix into a soft dough

Flour up your work surface and remove the dough from the bowl.

Knead your dough for 5-10 mins until it is no longer sticky and its smooth with an elastic texture
Place into a lightly oiled bowl (anything will do) cover with a tea bowl and leave to prove for 2 hours. Let it rise!!

TIME TO RISE AND SHINE.

Now that’s so satisfying to see 😇

Once you’ve finished the first prove, its now time to knock it back. Bang all the air out and start the process all over again. This is time consuming and requires patience, but don’t jump the gun and make sure you do the second prove. It’s all worth it in the end ☺️

Place back on the work surface and knead it for another few minutes. The dough should be feeling extremely flexible and elastic.

Now its time to portion up for those perfect bases 🍕

Grab your scales and weigh out 250g balls of your pizza dough. You should get 4 round balls. This may leave you with a small amount left over. Make an amazing flatbread with it by rolling it out and banging it onto a hot frying pan. Don’t let anything go to waste.

Place the balls onto a tray and allow them one hour for a second prove. They will double in size.

Second prove, into portioned balls- 1 hour

From this point on, if you’re not planning on making pizza on the same day, pop the risen balls into the fridge. They stay perfect for 3-5 days, so you can use them later in the week. Just remember to take them out the fridge and let them get to room temperature before using them again.

Now its time to start rolling your pizza dough. I personally like to avoid using a rolling pin as much has possible. It’s more fun that way.

Start by using your hands to flatten the ball into a disc.

Start to carefully hand stretch the dough. I find using your fists as a great way to hand stretch out the dough, saves accidentally poking your fingers through. Work the rolling pin in at points if you want to speed up the process. The dough should be so easy to work with that it barely requires much effort. Take it really thin for that classic Italian thin crust, or leave more thickness around the edges for that puffy texture.

Now for the fun….

Now pizza can be quite hard to achieve in home domestic oven. The heat required, means this can be challenging without the correct tools. I want to offer up two alternative ways to get perfect pizza 🍕 for those who don’t have all the kit.

Method:

Take yourself a good old frying pan and place your pizza base inside. No need for oil or anything like that. Load up with the toppings of your choice. I went for a chilli infused tomato & basil passata, fresh basil, buffalo mozzarella, spicy sausage, pancetta & capers.

Now get your oven ready (240 degrees)

Place the pan on the stove for 5 minutes on a medium heat. This will just allow the base of the pizza to cook through properly & crisp up, then place the pan straight into the hot oven for another 8-10 minutes to finish off the rest.

If you don’t have a pizza tray, you won’t achieve a nice bottom, by just going straight into the oven on a regular baking tray. The frying pan method is a great and simple way to achieve that perfectly cooked bottom with a great crisp that’s not soggy 🚿

If you have a pizza tray/steaming tray then no need for this method. Just place bass on tray, load up and cook at 240 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Much more content to come, this lockdown period as been a great opportunity to finally start producing some content. Keep eyes peeled.