Daring Cooks Challenge August

May I present this month's Daring Cook's challenge; pierogi.



Bear with me here. I know they don't look that tasty.

Pierogi are basically a heavier version of stuffed pasta as far as I can tell, although they were described in the recipe as a dumpling. They seem to be a Polish thing. The filling was a free choice but was meant to reflect your locality. I went for garlic, basil, goats cheese and whizzed up courgette. It may be tenuous, but we have a lot of basil in the garden right now and courgettes seem to be in season. The stuffing mix was a bit too liquid really but just about manageable.

Given how like a heavier stuffed tortellini pasta this was, I made a tomato sauce and toasted some pinenuts to sprinkle over the top.


I think I'll experiment with other fillings. I have a hunch that roast squash, garlic and pancetta would be a good combo.

The really good thing about this dinner was that the work could be done in advance leaving just boiling the pierogi for when you are ready to eat.

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Recreating that holiday feeling...

When we were in Italy last autumnn Dan and I treated ourselves to a wonderful meal on the last night of our holiday.



The restaurant was down on the shores of Lake Garda, tucked away under Malcesine Castle. It was still just warm enough to sit outside in the evening, but no longer high season, so it wasn't crowded.



We gorged ourselves on lovely wine and several beautiful courses of Italian food. The courgette-stuffed tortelloni with ham and pinenut sauce sticks in the memory, as does Dan's dessert of semifreddo with peach compote.



This week I decided to take the flavours of the pasta dish and make something a little bit similar (although not as delicate, silky or delicious!). My version was a much more rustic and hearty. A quick and easy pasta bake, though not a refined culinary masterpiece!

Here's the method.

Courgette and Goats Chees pasta bake with bacon and pinenuts

Enough pasta for 2 people
2 small courgettes
1 or 2 garlic cloves
A handful basil leaves
50g goats cheese
salt and pepper
4 rashers smoked bacon
15-20g pinenuts

Put the oven on to heat up to 180C
Put the pasta on to cook in salted water.
Meanwhile whizz up the courgettes with the basil leaves, garlic and soft goats cheese. Season it.
Check if the pasta is cooked, drain in if it is and rinse in cold water.
Mix with the courgette mix. Turn into an oven proof dish and place in oven to bake for 20 minutes. Check regularly so that it doesn't scorch. Cover it if its browning at at the edges.
After about 10 minutes dry fry the pinenuts in a hot pan.
Then fry or grill the bacon. Cut the rind off and chop it into bite-size pieces.
Take the pasta out of the oven. Scoop it onto plates or into bowls.
Scatter bacon and pinenuts over the top.
Serve.