One of the recipes Justine Schofield (a finalist in the first MasterChef series) will be demonstrating next Saturday at the Campsie Food Festival.

To make the sauce: heat the oil in a large heavy based saucepan. On medium low heat fry the onion, garlic and anchovies until soft. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves and soften slightly. Add the white wine and cook off for 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper. Add the passata.  Fill the empty jar half way up with water and add to the tomato sauce. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a low heat. Simmer for 1 hour.
For the polpettine: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and soften onion, chilli and garlic. Remove from pan a cool slightly. In a medium bowl, mix veal and pork mince with beaten eggs, ricotta, parmesan, parsley, thyme, tomato paste, the onion mixture and salt and pepper. With your hands combine well.
Form the mixture into small balls. Drizzle oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the small meatballs until golden.  Add to the tomato sauce. Cook on low heat for another 40 minutes.
Serve with penne pasta.

The Campsie Food Festival is a celebration of all things multicultural and delicious. The main street (Beamish Street) is closed to traffic as people sample dishes from Korea,  Japan, Thailand, Hungary, Turkey, Fiji, China, Indonesia and more.
More info  www.canterbury.nsw.gov.au/www/html/2012-campsie-food-festival.asp

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“Here’s a quick and easy way to dress pasta with huge flavour,” says chef Guy Grossi.  “It uses fresh ripe tomatoes bursting with flavour.  When heated, the tomatoes release their juices forming a luscious coating for the pasta. The pasta has a little ‘chew’ to it which creates texture and depth”.

Wash and core the tomatoes and cut into 1cm cubes. Boil pasta (recipe below), and as it nears its cooking time, heat the olive oil in a pan at high flame and add the garlic. As the garlic starts to brown add the tomatoes and crush with a fork. Add the basil, oregano and parsley, season to taste and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes.
Drain the scilatelli (or penne or spaghetti), and then toss in the pan with the sauce. Serve immediately with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and extra freshly chopped parsley.

To Make the Scilatelli:
Sift and blend flours, make a well and add the eggs, olive oil and a pinch of salt. Mix together to make dough and add water as needed. Knead for 10 minutes, until dough is soft and elastic but not sticky.
Roll out into 1cm thick logs and cut 0.5 cm pieces at a 45degree angle, then place a skewer in the middle of each piece and roll on bench so that pasta is wrapped around the skewer then gently pull out the skewer leaving a hole through the middle of the pasta.

A tasty flavoursome dish otherwise knowns as “whore’s spaghetti” – but to understand how it got its name would take a lengthy explanation! One thing is for certain – all the ingredients can be found in an Italian pantry.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water until ‘al dente’. Drain.
In a frying pan, heat the oil, add the garlic and anchovies and cook until anchovies have melted, stirring frequently. Add the tomatoes, olives and capers and season with pepper – taste for salt, but go lightly because the olives, anchovies and capers are all salty. Leave to simmer for 10 – 15 minutes. Remove and toss evenly through the pasta. Garnish with the parsley.

This is a lovely light springtime pasta dish using fresh asparagus, smoked salmon,  dill and chives.  Great for lunch on the deck or light supper. It works well with fresh egg pasta or with spaghetti or linguini from the supermarket. For a richer dish, you can add the flesh of an avocado, cut in crescent shapes.

Serves 2

Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water.  Three minutes before end of cooking time, throw in the asparagus pieces.  Remove from heat and drain well.
While pasta cooks, combine the garlic and olive oil in a serving bowl.  Stir in the hot pasta and asparagus, tossing well to coat with oil.
Toss through the remaining ingredients, check seasoning,  and serve immediately.

Tip: If using fresh egg pasta, try it with different flavourings eg. red capsicum or saffron.  Flavoured olive oils are available at gourmet food stores, or use lemon myrtle -infused macadamia oil.

I found this recipe in a recent TIME magazine where top American chefs were asked for their favourite SPAM recipes.  This one is courtesy of Chef Kerry Simon of Simon(Los Angeles and Las Vegas) who also gave one for SPAM sushi.  Apparently Hawaiians  love SPAM and one of their favourite ways to eat it is in the form of musubi (pronounced moo-soo-bee) which is a fried slice of spam on rice pressed together to form a small block, then wrapped in seaweed.

Serves 4

500g  packet of spaghetti
2 litres water

Tomato Sauce:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2  cans peeled diced tomatoes
2 dried bay leaves
2 tablespoon  chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped  fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Spamballs:
1 can of Spam

Bring a  large pot of salted water  to the boil for the pasta. Before cooking the pasta, prepare the tomato sauce.
In a frying pan over medium heat saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add salt and pepper.
Once onions have become soft and translucent, 2 – 3 minutes, add tomatoes and herbs and simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes.
Using a large melon baller, scoop out balls of spam. Add to a medium-hot saute pan and toss until golden brown. Once browned, pour sauce over balls and place on low heat.
Add pasta to water and cook to al dente.  Strain pasta, add to sauce, combine well  and serve.

English cookery writer Diane Seed has lived in Rome for over 25 years and runs a cookery school there from her home adjacent to the magnificent Doria Pamphilj Palace. This tasty pasta dish is one she throws together for impromptu guests using dried pasta and tinned tuna.

Serves 3 – 4

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small dried red chilli, crushed
200g tin tuna in olive oil, drained and flaked
400g linguine
1 – 1 ½ cups (30g – 45g) rocket leaves, coarsely chopped
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt to taste
Freshly cracked pepper

In a large pan, heat the oil and gently cook the garlic and chilli. As the garlic changes colour, add the tuna and stir. Remove and keep warm.
Meanwhile cook the pasta in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water. Drain the pasta into a large serving bowl.
Stir the rocket leaves through the tuna mixture and squeeze over the lemon juice. Spoon tuna and rocket mixture over pasta and toss to combine. Season with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Serve immediately.

Tip: use flat leaf parsley if rocket is unavailable. A few sliced small black olives (nicoise or ligurian) are a nice addition.

This elegant entrée is best served at room temperature. The inspiration comes from a recipe of restaurateur and chef Steve Manfredi.

Serves 6 as an entree

500g best quality spaghetti
120ml extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch chives, finely snipped
1 avocado, peeled, halved and diced
Juice of half a lemon
150g Tasmanian ocean trout roe or salmon roe
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente. It is important that it is not over-cooked so that there is some texture in it. Refresh under cold water until it has cooled. Drain well.
Drizzle lemon juice over the avocado.
In a large serving bowl, toss together the hot drained spaghetti, olive oil and chives, seasoning to taste. Top with the diced avocado and ocean trout roe. Toss gently to combine, being careful not to damage the avocado.