Alessandra Zecchini: Easy silver beet baked pasta

Eating in: easy!

Brrrrr it is so cold now! I am baking almost every day, so most of my dishes seem to end up in the oven. This spent most of its life on the stove though: first I washed two big bunches of silver beet and cook them. I boiled the white stalks first, and then the green leaves. To do this I put the stalks in a big pot with a little water, and a pinch of salt, then after 5 min of boiling I added the leaves but no more water: the steam is enough to cook the leaves.?

Then I made a thick besciamelle: I melted 100 g salted butter, took the pan off the stove and quickly mixed in 100 g flour, then back on the stove and slowly added 1 l milk. Stirred well until thick and then added salt to taste, white pepper and freshly grated nutmeg.

In the meantime I cooked 500 g of pasta, I drained it and dressed it with a couple of tbsp of besciamelle, then placed it in a lasagna dish. I placed the silver beet stalks on top first, and then green leaves as a third layer. I covered everything with the remaining besciamelle. A super generous dusting of grated parmesan cheese on top, and straight into the oven until the crust was golden. This baked pasta cuts like a dream and it is super easy!

Eating out: am I unlucky?

I never do restaurant reviews on this blog, unless I am traveling and I like to show the food ... but I wouldn't call it a review. And if I don't really like a place I don't talk about it, full stop. But I was dying to write this :-). Last Saturday I went to the opera to see Rigoletto with a group of friends, so we meet before for a drink here. Fancy that, we were sitting at the same long table as Peter Gordon! (No I didn't take a photo or tried to chat with him, he was talking with some friends and I don't think that it is polite to barge in!). The bar was nice and buzzing, the staff was lovely, and there were a few tapas available that everybody said were very good. Unfortunately I was the unlucky one, I ordered crema catalana and it wasn't... right. But I will go back again happily... and maybe just stay away from the desserts :-).

A final note to show a bit of Autumn colours in West Auckland: Arantxa has joined the photography club at her school, and as a good Mum I think that she is super-talented!

Happy weekend!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini and Arantxa Zecchini Dowling??

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