WITH HEART
“THIS BOOK IS MY FIRST step into writing. Cooking is familiar and comforting, and I am learning how to translate what has taken years to discover into words on a page. What I hope to convey is that food and cooking should be big parts of our lives, and time should be made for them. I also want to share a few cooking projects. I’m talking about bread, pastry, fresh cheese, yoghurt, terrines and pickles. I have included them for the younger me, who searched for this information in one place in endless books. For the other recipes, once you know the basic technique and flavour, adjust to your taste, use different ingredients – I won’t be offended.” This is an edited extract from Always Add Lemon by Danielle Alvarez (Hardie Grant, $50). Photography © Benito Martin and Jess Johnson.
@daniellemariealvarez
GREEN PASTA WITH ZUCCHINI, SAGE AND PEAS
SERVES 4-6
Begin this recipe at least 2 hours ahead.
200g zucchini
50g thinly sliced onion 2 garlic cloves
40g butter
3 tbs olive oil
50g picked sage leaves
200g podded fresh peas Juice of 1 lemon Parmesan, to serve
PASTA DOUGH
11/2 cups (30g) picked flat-leaf parsley leaves
100g baby spinach
2 eggs, plus 3-4 egg yolks or more to equal to 170g
3 cups (500g) 00 flour
2 tsp olive oil
For the pasta dough, start by puréeing the parsley and spinach with the eggs and yolks in a blender. Tip the flour onto your bench in a mound with a ‘crater’ in the middle. Add the puréed greens and oil to the crater with 1 tbs water. Using a fork, slowly incorporate some of the flour from inside the crater then move further out until almost all the flour has been incorporated, then start kneading with your hands. This is a dry dough that gives a great chew, so don’t add any more water. Knead for 3-4 minutes. This dough won’t come together silky smooth like other doughs you might have seen. After kneading, it may still look a bit dry and crumbly but that’s OK. Just bunch it back together as
