A taste of Ballarat with Craig's Royal Hotel's Scott Alsop

Craig’s Royal Hotel head chef Scott Alsop describes himself as an "English chef loving life and living the dream in Australia".

Today he has shared with Visit Ballarat two recipes from his collection – goat's cheese tortellini and pancakes.

Goat’s cheese tortellini  

Makes approximately 12 tortellini 

Pasta dough ingredients

290g ‘00’ flour or plain flour 
2 eggs 
4 yolks 
Pinch of salt 
Olive oil 

Method

1. Put flour and salt into mixing bowl and form a well in the centre. 

2. Crack eggs and yolks into well and whisk with a fork to break down the eggs. Gradually work flour into the eggs with fingertips to form a dough.  

3. Knead the dough for approximately 7-8 minutes or until it becomes a nice smooth, elastic dough. Cling film and refrigerate until required. 

 

Remaining ingredients

Semi-dried tomatoes 
300g cherry tomatoes/ 3 tomatoes cut into 1/6 
2 cloves sliced garlic 
Chopped fresh/dried thyme or rosemary or oregano 
Olive oil 
Salt and pepper  

1/2 quantity of pasta dough (see above) 
300g goat’s cheese 
1 egg yolk 
Chopped parsley 
Black pepper 

50g butter 
1 chorizo or similar sausage/salami or prosciutto 
100g diced roasted butternut pumpkin 
Chopped parsley 
Lemon juice 

Method

1. For the semi-dried tomatoes, heat oven to 100C. Cut in half or 1/6 (depending on what tomatoes you use) and place in mixing bowl. 

2. Season with salt and pepper, add a glug of olive oil to coat tomatoes, toss in sliced garlic and a pinch of chopped/dry herbs.  

3. Place on rack or baking paper on a tray and dry out in the oven for approximately 1 hour, until they have started to dry and shrivel.  

4. Turn off oven and allow to cool. Cover in olive oil and store in airtight container in the fridge. 
 

5. Crumble goat’s cheese into a bowl, whisk in the egg yolk, chopped parsley and season with pepper and place in fridge. 

6. Work half the pasta through a pasta machine onto a lightly floured surface. Starting from the thickest setting, take down three levels, then fold and start again from the thickest setting.  

7. Work the pasta through each setting down to the second last. If you don’t have a pasta machine, roll out to as thin as possible. Cut in half, repeat with rest of pasta.  

8. Using an 8-10cm pastry cutter, cut out circles, use 3-4 at a time and cover the rest with a damp cloth until ready to use. 

9. Roll the goats cheese into 15g balls, place a ball into the centre of each pasta disc, moisten the edges with clean cold water and fold into a semi-circle, forcing all the air out. Gently press around the edges. 

10. Moisten the two corners and bring them together around your small finger along the straight edge and press to join and shape, place on floured tray and repeat with rest of the pasta. 

11. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil and blanche for 30 seconds, remove, and drizzle with olive oil and cool for later use.
 

12. Heat another pan on a high heat, add butter and (once foaming) add sausage and butternut and caramelise. 

13. Finish with tomatoes, chopped parsley and lemon juice. Season and serve with shaved parmesan. 

 

Pancakes 

Ingredients

1 egg 
70g sugar 
200g self-raising flour 
Vanilla extract 
250ml milk 

Method 

1. Put all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, and whisk in egg and milk to form a smooth batter. 

2. Heat a non-stick pan on a medium heat, add a glug of oil and a knob of butter.  

3. When the butter starts to foam, add pancake mix and cook for 2-3 minutes each side until a golden brown. Note, you can spoon the pancake mixture straight into the pan or use a greased mould to get a higher, fluffier pancake. 

4. Serve warm with fruit and ice cream or maple syrup and bacon.