Dominique Rizzo

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Nonna’s Baked Pasta with Pork & Pea Ragu & Cheesy Béchamel

6 - 8

Easy

Prep 15 min Cook 20 min

I wanted to contribute to this cook book to bring our attention back to one of the most shocking humanitarian disaster that seems to be growing higher and higher in numbers every year. Amongst our global pandemic of Covid 19 and our current the climate crisis which has captured the headlines for so long, we do not want people to forget the  42 million people around the world either on the edge of starvation and or faced with crisis levels of food insecurity.

It is so shocking that with the enormous food wastage problem across the world, that this unbelievable number of people are still facing starvation or food scarcity.

Creating a recipe for $14 dollars was not as easy as it use to be with the current rising food prices, I was absolutely shocked to see how little $14 actually buys you in today’s supermarkets , and that was choosing the cheaper brand ingredients and making a very simple Italian dish.

I chose Nonna’s Baked Pasta with Pork & Pea Ragu & Cheesy Béchamel , it’s a classic recipe I use to have with my Italian family, its cheap, delicious and feeds a crowd.  The reason why I chose this dish and these ingredients as they are flexible in the way you can use the ingredients in different recipes if you were to purchase the ingredients in a weekly shop the recipe makes a large baking dish thus giving at least two nights of food for a family of 4-6 which when you break it down makes a very economical, filling and tasty dinner and left overs for lunch.

Download your free copy of the cook book “Hunger Bites” here and help support the end of child hunger.

Ingredients

Ingredient                                                           Cost

500g pork mince                                               $5.00

500g frozen peas                                              $1.60

150g grated cheese                                           $3.25

600ml full cream milk                                     $1.10

2 x 400g diced tin

tomatoes with basil onion and garlic          $1.60

500g penne pasta                                            $.80c

4 tbsp flour    (pantry)

Salt and pepper ( pantry )

Recipe Steps

  1. Preheat oven 180c
  2. 1. Heat a non stick pan over a moderate temperature and cook the pork mince until done, drain off the juices into a separate saucepan and set aside.

    2. Add the two tins of diced peeled tomatoes to the pork mince and half fill one tin with water and add this to the pork and tomatoes, season with salt and pepper.  Bring the pork Raghu to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.

    3. Meanwhile whisk 4 tblsp of plain flour into the milk and add this into the saucepan with the pork juices. Stir over a moderate heat until the mixture thickens to the consistency of custard, season with salt and pepper and stir through half the grated cheese.  Set the béchamel aside.

    4. Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the side of a pack. Drain and mix the pasta with ¾ of the pork ragu sauce and ½ the béchamel sauce.

    5. Pour the pasta mix into a baking dish and top with the remaining sauce, béchamel and grated cheese.

    6. Bake the pasta for 20 minutes or until the cheese is golden and melted.

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Antipasto Salad with Torn Rosemary Croutons

6 - 8

Easy

Prep 15 min Cook 20 min

An easy entertaining idea has always been a quick Italian inspired antipasto platter. This recipe brings your platter to life turning it into a fresh salad leaves with crunchy rosemary baked croutons. With a fantastic salad like this you can do wonders, swap the lettuce with cold pasta, cooked rice, quinoa or cous cous add a squeeze of lemon or drizzle of balsamic for another easy salad idea.

Another great idea for a take anywhere dish is cut the top off a crusty cob loaf and hollow out the centre alternately layering it with a mixture of antipasto ingredients, lettuce or spinach and slices of tomato, shaved parmesan and leaving it to sit in the fridge pressed down for at least 20 minutes, place the lid on and slice to serve.  For a delicious tart, lay down a sheet of puff pastry, scatter over the combined antipasto mix and then fold up the edges baking the pastry in a hot over of 200c for 25 minutes until puffed and golden, slice to serve.

For a party favourite, make a basic bread dough,  rolling it out  and scattering it with a mixed assortment of antipasto ingredients, roll it up like a roulade and slice it in the round baking it on the oven for a take on the pinwheel

When plating up ingredients for an antipasto platter here are a couple of tips –

·         consider having the items in small decorative dishes so that the oils and flavours don’t all mix together

·         roll a thin slice of prosciutto around a bocconcini ball and fasten it with a tooth pick; drizzle these with olive oil a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt

·         wrap pieces of marinated eggplant around a piece of sundried tomato and a slice of parmesan cheese and a leaf of fresh basil

·         open up olives remove the seeds and stuff them with whipped fetta, closing them back up and wrapping them with a basil leaf and fasten with a toothpick

·         chop together deseeded olives, sundried tomatoes and marinated capsicum with a handful of parsley leaves and serve this onto toasted French stick as a bruschetta topping.

Antipasto salad

Ingredients

  • 1 loaf of crusty bread, torn into 4-5cm pieces
  • 1/3 cup virgin olive oil
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2 heads of curly leaf lettuce or 1 x 200g bag of salad mix
  • 700g antipasto ingredients including sun dried tomatoes, olives, roasted capsicum, artichokes, roasted eggplant, baby bocconcini
  • 6 slices of thinly sliced prosciutto
  • 100g thinly sliced chorizo sausage
  • 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
  • 1 long cucumber, sliced
  • ½ bunch of parsley, leaves picked
  • 100g block of parmesan cheese

Recipe Steps

Preheat the oven to 180c.

    1. Place the chunks of bread into a bowl, combine the olive oil, rosemary leaves, garlic and salt and pepper in a food processor and blend to combine, tip this over the bread and with your hands toss the bread with the rosemary oil and the sliced chorizo. Place the bread onto a tray and bake until golden brown about 15 minutes.
    2. Wash and drain the lettuce and place it into a large serving bowl, scatter over the antipasto mix, prosciutto, the salami, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber and with a peeler shave the parmesan scattering this over the top.
    3. Top this with the chunky rosemary croutons and the parsley and serve.

Email me the receipe

Antipasto Salad with Torn Rosemary Croutons

6 - 8

Easy

Prep 15 min Cook 20 min

An easy entertaining idea has always been a quick Italian inspired antipasto platter. This recipe brings your platter to life turning it into a fresh salad leaves with crunchy rosemary baked croutons. With a fantastic salad like this you can do wonders, swap the lettuce with cold pasta, cooked rice, quinoa or cous cous add a squeeze of lemon or drizzle of balsamic for another easy salad idea.

Another great idea for a take anywhere dish is cut the top off a crusty cob loaf and hollow out the centre alternately layering it with a mixture of antipasto ingredients, lettuce or spinach and slices of tomato, shaved parmesan and leaving it to sit in the fridge pressed down for at least 20 minutes, place the lid on and slice to serve.  For a delicious tart, lay down a sheet of puff pastry, scatter over the combined antipasto mix and then fold up the edges baking the pastry in a hot over of 200c for 25 minutes until puffed and golden, slice to serve.

For a party favourite, make a basic bread dough,  rolling it out  and scattering it with a mixed assortment of antipasto ingredients, roll it up like a roulade and slice it in the round baking it on the oven for a take on the pinwheel

When plating up ingredients for an antipasto platter here are a couple of tips –

·         consider having the items in small decorative dishes so that the oils and flavours don’t all mix together

·         roll a thin slice of prosciutto around a bocconcini ball and fasten it with a tooth pick; drizzle these with olive oil a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt

·         wrap pieces of marinated eggplant around a piece of sundried tomato and a slice of parmesan cheese and a leaf of fresh basil

·         open up olives remove the seeds and stuff them with whipped fetta, closing them back up and wrapping them with a basil leaf and fasten with a toothpick

·         chop together deseeded olives, sundried tomatoes and marinated capsicum with a handful of parsley leaves and serve this onto toasted French stick as a bruschetta topping.

Antipasto salad

Ingredients

  • 1 loaf of crusty bread, torn into 4-5cm pieces
  • 1/3 cup virgin olive oil
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2 heads of curly leaf lettuce or 1 x 200g bag of salad mix
  • 700g antipasto ingredients including sun dried tomatoes, olives, roasted capsicum, artichokes, roasted eggplant, baby bocconcini
  • 6 slices of thinly sliced prosciutto
  • 100g thinly sliced chorizo sausage
  • 1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
  • 1 long cucumber, sliced
  • ½ bunch of parsley, leaves picked
  • 100g block of parmesan cheese

Recipe Steps

Preheat the oven to 180c.

    1. Place the chunks of bread into a bowl, combine the olive oil, rosemary leaves, garlic and salt and pepper in a food processor and blend to combine, tip this over the bread and with your hands toss the bread with the rosemary oil and the sliced chorizo. Place the bread onto a tray and bake until golden brown about 15 minutes.
    2. Wash and drain the lettuce and place it into a large serving bowl, scatter over the antipasto mix, prosciutto, the salami, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber and with a peeler shave the parmesan scattering this over the top.
    3. Top this with the chunky rosemary croutons and the parsley and serve.

Email me the receipe

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