Gourmet Italian, the Neurotic Hummingbird Way

I am a little bit of a foodie....curtailed drastically by time and financial restraints but I try my best. I want to share this little pleasure with you all as a 'home remedy to craving Italian food'. There, it still fits the criteria of the blog...hehe.

First, you gather all your ingredients....in my case...as many as possible from the 'home brand' ranges! The only thing not in the picture is the olives...cos' I took the photo after I'd already tipped them in (eat one row of white cooking chocolate) and moved the container.....oh well, we can't all be organised!

salami, parmesan, fresh tomatoes, tinned tomatoes, tomato paste, minced garlic semidried tomatoes, spaghetti, onion,  olive oil and green olives (both not pictured)



This next step may occur at any point during the process, depending on your patience, their whinginess and the timeframe required to get dinner on the table before bed time! Distraction time with Daddy:

                                              ♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫    (love)

Step 3-ish:

Slice and dice (eat 3 more pieces of chocolate) the following: salami, olives, fresh and semidried tomatoes, onions, (you could totally put mushrooms in too if you wanted to). Heat olive oil and toss it all and minced garlic into a very expensive, awesome, non stick frypan (or a $13 dollar job from the supermarket in my case!)

Sizzle.... for about five minutes...until the fresh tomato is starting to look a bit sad and sorry

and then (step 4) tip in tinned tomatoes, tomato paste and about 2 handfuls of torn fresh basil leaves (I used 2 tins of tomatoes and about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste)

Step 5 should also be happening in amongst all the other stuff...so I guess we'll rename to Step When it Should be Done. Put the pasta in boiling water....tip - so as not to overcook pasta, only cook it in pot until it's ALMOST done, cos' once you're at that point, you drain and continue cooking it a little more in the pot with the sauce mix anyways.



Serve, topped with some shaved (or grated in our case cos' it's quicker!) parmesan onto your finest china - two Dora plastic bowls for messy children, 1 Elmo melamine plate chosen for portion controlling for Mum and whatever random china plate you can find in the odds and ends in the plate cupboard for Dad.

                            I served it on a boring, old table...with this on it, just to be contrary.

Last but not certainly not least, do it on a night that it is your partner/husband's turn to wash dishes.

La famiglia! La pasta! La-verly....it doesn't have to be posh and precise to be perfect. Life is messy, and sometimes a little disorder goes a long way to easing the pressure!

Nighty night....from the less neurotic than usual Hummingbird