New Italian pasta from the Gold Coast

Pastificio Fellini has unlocked the secrets of good Italian pasta in a new range available from their newly refurbished fresh pasta outlet at Marina Mirage, Main Beach on the Gold Coast. Owned and managed by award-winning Italian restaurateurs the Percuoco family and partners Raffaele Di Benedetto and Richard Burt, Pastificio Fellini produce artisan-style pasta in the best Italian traditions.

Narelle says the Fellini pasta cooks up quickly and holds together well. The fine angel hair pasta cooks in 5 - 10 minutes, so it's good for a quick meal. It also seems to be lighter than some traditional Italian pastas and not as starchy.

Customers at the Marina Mirage store can even see the pasta being made. The secret to the success of this pasta is the minimum of 18 hours drying period which sees the pasta dried from the inside out. Varieties include squid ink fettuccini, saffron fettuccine, spinach linguini, saffron angel hair and just plain. Find it at Tognini's Milton and Spring Hill in Brisbane.

It's wild at Togninis

Enjoy the taste of wild venison from the Granite Belt, now on the menu at Tognini’s Spring Hill.

Chris Cameron of Granite Belt Game is a fully licensed operator who is reviving the almost lost art of harvesting and processing wild game according to traditional methods.

Fallow deer are an introduced pest species in the Granite Belt and harvesting them for meat reduces the stress they cause on the native environment. The deer graze on natural forage and wild mountain herbs making the meat tender and flavoursome. The animal has no abattoir or transport stress which is better for the animal and better for taste.

The animal is traditionally hung to promote a milder flavour while tenderising the meat, resulting in tender, flavoursome game.

Tognini’s purchase the whole animal and serve it in many forms from wild venison ragu with pappardelle (currently on the Spring Hill menu), pan fried venison scallopini with rocket and osso bucco venison shanks with risotto milanese. Find it in the fridge in take home packs of venison ragu and also venison stock. The venison stock is a perfect combo with Tognini’s new duck ravioli.

Venison is a long standing Tognini family favourite. Mark has relatives who live in the alpine village of Bormio (Winter Olympics fame) in far northern Italy nearing the Swiss border. They cure their own wild venison bresola and store it in their cantena (under the house) with home made salamis and cheeses where the average temperature in summer 6 deg!

5 cookies

Ever been caught without a snack for way too long? If you need to eat regularly, you'll know that it can mean problems to go without even the smallest refuel along the way.

Charlie's 5 cookies are the perfect hand bag saver. They come in this cute tube - about the same height as a regular mobile phone - and will rattle around in the bottom of your handbag until you need them.

They'd also be great for travellers or as a mini treat for children. Each cookie is about the size of a 10 cent piece and a couple of centimetres high. They are fresh, moist and taste great.

Flavours include raspberries + cream, cookies + cream, chocolate mud and sprinkles.

Ultimate chocolate brownies

This recipe uses our fantastic range of NoMu chocolate products to create brownies that you'll fall asleep dreaming about!

Ultimate Chocolate Brownies
160g NoMU hot chocolate chunks
125g butter
160g caster sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp NoMU vanilla extract
80g flour
40g NoMU coco powder
¼ teaspoon salt
100g dates, pitted and chopped (optional)
100g pecan nuts, chopped (optional)

Method Preheat oven to 190 Celsius. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir in the caster sugar and set aside to cool. Lightly beat the eggs and vanilla extract and add to the cooled chocolate mixture, stirring constantly. Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in the dates and nuts and pour into a baking tin (approximately 27 x17 x5cm), lined with baking paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Do not overcook! The centre should be wet and gooey. Allow to cool in the tin before removing and slicing into squares. Sprinkle with icing sugar or cocoa powder and serve.

Karinda's super sauces

Karinda’s super range of sauces are all you need to brighten up a salad, add zing to your steak or turn a humble sambo into a gourmet delight.

They are made in Victoria, and all gluten free.

Choose from -

• Smokey Cajun BBQ
• Coriander & Lemongrass Mayonnaise
• Coriander, Lime and Chilli Mayonnaise
• Spicy Mango Salad Dressing,
• Dill and Mustard Mayonnaise
• Cabernet Pepper Steak Sauce
• Avocado with Coriander & Garlic Salad Dressing.

New truffle cheese

If you’ve developed a love for the distinctive aroma and taste of truffles, you’ll be seduced by the latest addition to the Tognini’s Cheese Room, Moliterno Black Truffle Pecorino.

This raw sheep's milk cheese with black truffles comes from the Italian island of Sardinia. Unlike most truffled cheeses, the truffle paste is infused after Moliterno has been aged so that the cheese develops its own character before the truffles are injected. Though the truffles are only visible in the ‘veins’, the truffle flavour permeates throughout the entire paste of this amazing cheese.

During the aging process, oil and vinegar are applied to the cheese's rind to prevent weight loss. Once cut, the dark paste oozes out of the crevices of the cheese like trickles of water from a craggy cliff. Both delicious and intriguing visually, this cheese is a show-stopper.

Mark says enjoy this pecorino with a big, earthy Italian red with enough muscle to stand up to the truffles. Narelle says serve it on its own or shaved over fresh pasta with butter tossed through. Also try it over scrambled eggs for breakfast or add to some rocket and drizzle with raspberry vinaigrette.

Try the cheese on the lunch menu at Tognini’s Spring Hill with Grilled asparagus with leek mash, roasted capsicum and truffle pecorino cheese.

According to Mark’s sister Yolanda, who has a degree in Italian language, technically translated 'pecorino' means 'little sheep'. So authentic pecorino cheese should be made from sheep milk – as it is in Italy.

Sweet peppers with a bite!

Filled with lightly sweetened mascarpone and other secret ingredients, these stunning red South African Bell Peppers are a real mouthful of flavour.

The slight touch of chilli is perfectly balanced by the sweetness of the filling. Mark says try them with some of the Spanish jamon in store now and feel your taste buds dance.

They are busy in Tognini’s kitchen filling these red surprises with another mixture as well. This one combines mushrooms with truffle oil and the smell is amazing! Add them to a platter with some crisp bread and you have another taste treat that would make a great drinks nibble or entrée.

For a really unusual touch, add some Innes Rosales Sweet Olive Oil Tortas into the mix. These individually wrapped rounds are crisp, light and sprinkled with sugar. The sweetness is great foil for a slice of jamon! Mmm… have to try that again!