pots & vans

When we first moved to the northern suburbs of Melbourne in the mid 80s, we fell in love with Lygon St. The seemingly endless rows of restaurants seemed to offer a boundless supply of Italian cuisine options. But the one that became our family go-to was a trattoria called Papa Ginos that was opened back in 1973 and is still run by the same family that started it. Papa Ginos is known for its generous portions and informality ... at the time we lived on a tight budget so it suited us just fine. I took friends there and we sat in the dim light feasting on good food and wine without the expensive tab. And whenever we found ourselves with the privilege of eating out in those early days, we'd gravitate back to the complementary bowls of bread and more-than-enough entree size bowls of hearty deliciousness. The first dish I ever ordered there was fettuccine alla matriciana. I loved it so much that for many years, whenever we were lucky enough to be dining out in an Italian restaurant, the ...

One evening, and long time ago at home, Maria decided she wanted pasta, but something fresh and light ... so what we refer to as 'pasta with greens' was born. At home we eat it almost weekly, but until tonight, it hasn't been done in our little kitchen in the van. It's uncomplicated. Green veggies, with the classic flavours of olive oil, garlic, pepper and lemon, and then we break up some Meredith  marinated goat cheese over the top. Easy, quick, tasty ... what's not to like? Servings 2  Time about 30mins  Equipment saucepan for boiling pasta pan for sautéing greens knife and chopping board colander for draining pasta Ingredients Oil 2x garlic cloves, diced chopped green veggies: we used 5x kale leaves, 1 x zucchini, 1 flower of broccoli  juice of ½ lemon  Pepper 2 squares of goats cheese 200g penne pasta Method Bring (at least) 1½ litre of water to the boil Heat oil a few glugs of oil in the pan and add the garlic (careful not to burn it) Add the veggies, the c...

Pasta with a tomato based sauce can be comfort food, but for us it is more. It is more like centring food. We don't have pasta when we can't think of anything else, we have it when we need it. Maria will say, "I think I feel like pasta tonight," which is code for saying, let's have food that reminds us who we are. When we left Barwon Heads over two months ago we loaded the van freezer with some goodies from our chest freezer at home, which included some pork mince from Koallah Farm  from where we regularly order meat. Yesterday at the Mullum Farmers' Market, Maria spotted a stall with some good looking fresh tomatoes, so the pieces came together ... In our delineation of duties in our relationship, tomato based pasta is Maria's portfolio :-). Servings 6 (for the sauce, 2 for now and 4 to freeze or give away) Time about 2 hours.  Equipment I used (main) Pan Chopping boards and knife Saucepan for pasta Wooden spoon, tongs for serving Grater (for parmesan) In...

We had been exploring the coastline between Ballina and Evan Head by driving along the beach. It was going to be late afternoon by the time we got home so we needed something simple and quick for dinner. We knew there was some ocean trout in the fridge and we also had a packet of fresh lasagna sheets, so we figured if we called into the IGA on the way back for some cherry tomatoes we'd be set. It was a winner. Servings 2 Time Really quick, a few minutes to prepare and then once the water is boiling, less than 5 minutes to cook. Equipment (main) Deep pan Large saucepan (for pasta) Colander  Chopping boards and knife Tongs (I find tongs are the best utensil to manage pasta such as spaghetti, linguini etc.) Ingredients Pasta (instead of tagliatelle, I cut the lasagna sheets into strips. Rule of thumb is 100g of pasta per person, the lasagna packet was 375g so I used half and saved the rest for another meal.) Salt (for pasta water) Oil, a generous glug (for sautéing tomatoes) Half a pu...