Comfort Food

With Winter fast approaching, nothing beats a nice home cooked hearty meal to dig into after a hard day's work. I decided to surprise my boyfriend Jayce and cook him a lovely dinner, something I enjoy doing every so often when I get the chance.

Being of an Italian background, I'm used to growing up eating different varieties of pastas, and find that they are so easy to throw together yet the end experience is so rewarding. Almost anything in the pantry can be put into a saucepan to make a yummy sauce.

I decided to make a pasta with chorizo sausage, one of my favorites. When it comes to pasta, I prefer to not follow any recipes but rather include what I feel it needs. To the pan I added a few tins of diced tomatos, chilli flakes, black olives, chorizo sausage, eggplant and threw in some spinach leaves and parmesan towards the end. The aroma of the sauce cooking was mouth-watering, and the end result was a tasty and heart-warming pasta with just a little bit of a kick from the chilli.

The pasta sure did hit the spot, and although we were full as googs, I went ahead and made dessert as planned. What better end to the night then a home-made hot chocolate fudge sundae? I went all out with the contents of the sundae, and to the below recipe I added slices of warm banana, chocolate bits, and wafer biscuits. Food coma??!

Hot chocolate fudge sundae

• 2 1/2 tbs (50ml) chocolate sauce, plus extra to decorate the glass (see related recipe)
• 1 tbs chopped peanuts, plus extra to decorate the glass
• 2 small scoops chocolate ice-cream
• 2 small scoops vanilla ice-cream

Dip the rim of the sundae glass in the chocolate sauce, then dip in the chopped nuts. Place 1 scoop of each ice-cream into the glass, then add 1 tablespoon each of chocolate sauce and peanut butter sauce. Sprinkle over half the nuts, then repeat layers. Drizzle with the remaining chocolate and peanut sauces, top with whipped cream and decorate with chocolate flakes

ENJOY!