Free Pasta and Manicure Recipes

There are so many ways you can be creative. Art is just one way.... however, I like to paint walls and my nails too, and I love cooking. So for something completely different a recipe and a instructions for a manicure. :-)

Food first...

Spinach Squares Pasta with Potatoes and Sage Butter

This is one of my families favouite recipes and a good bet for birthdays and special occasions. It is one of the few pastas that can be rolled if you don't have a pasta machine.

Ingredients (for 4 people) 

Pasta
300g pasta flour (don't use normal flour it won't work properly)
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of nutmeg
150g fresh spinach leaves

1 large baking potato (or otherwise floury potato) per person

Sauce
100g butter
2 table spoons of olive oil
3 table spoons of finely chopped sage leaves

100g parmesan

1. Throw everything for the pasta dough in the food processor (using a blade) and mix until the dough forms into a ball.Wrap the ball in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for an hour.
2. Melt the butter, sage and olive oil and leave in a warm place - do not brown the butter.
3. Finely grate the parmesan.
4. Peel the potatoes, cut them into 1inch cubes and boil them in salted water until they're cooked all the way through. Steam them at the end so they're fluffy on the outside. Keep warm.
5. Take the pasta dough from the fridge and divide into four.
6. Take each quarter and either use a pasta machine and roll (upt to setting 4) or use a rolling pin and roll until it's no more than 1 1/2 to 2 mm thick. Use a pastry cutter wheel or a knife to cut into 1 inch squares.
7. Leave the squares to dry for 10 minutes, then cook in batches in salted boiling water. Each batch for about 2 minutes or until the water is rapidly boiling again and the pasta squares are swimming up to the top. Taste one to check if you're unsure. Take each batch out with a slotted spoon.
8. Layer the pasta as you cook it with the  potatoes, some of the sage butter and the parmesan. Season each layer with pepper and finish with a layer of parmesan and butter.
9. When finished warm it through at a low oven 160C normal oven 140C fan assisted for about 5 - 10 minutes (depends on how quick you are layering and cooking the pasta).
10. Serve with a salad and a nice glass of cold wine.

You can probably make a vegetarian version of this - experiment with the pasta using water instead of eggs or adding more spinach. Vegetarian parmesan is readily available and you could use a mix of olive and sunflower oil instead of the butter.

Ice Cream Manicure

What you need:

• I've used a pale green and pale yellow nail varnish, both from Models Own (Jade Stone and Lemon Meringue). You could use any other very opaque pastel colours you like, even a chocolate brown. 
• I've also used a French manicure white tips colour (from Rimmel but a nail art pen in white or similar would work just as well). 
• Finally you will need a clear base/top coat varnish.

1. Rub your nails with nail varnish remove to ensure they are perfectly clean and grease free.
2. Paint with clear base coat and leave to dry.
3. Paint with the darker colour, Jade Stone in my case and leave to dry completely.
4. Paint the tips only with the white colour, again, leave to dry completely.
5. Paint the tips with the 2nd lighter colour directly over the white tips you painted in the previous step. Leave to dry again,
6. Finally, paint over the whole nail with the top coat.

Voilà, ice cream manicure! Pistachio and banana anyone?