Pasta puttanesca

pasta puttanesca

After a weekend of stuffing our faces courtesy of the generous hospitality of our friends we felt Monday should be a ‘rehab’ day and we ate fairly lightly. A simple green salad with a little chopped cheese and ham  for lunch and pasta for dinner. Nothing creamy or heavy, just a light, but tasty, tomato based pasta. We decided on puttanesca – that never fail to please, simple, but oh so complex, classic example of cucina povera. Easily put together from store cupboard basics so that we didn’t even need to venture out to the shops in the wet and wild day that raged outside. The classic pasta to use is probably spaghetti but we decided on farfalle – really you can use whatever you fancy or happen to have to hand.

serves 2 – easily doubled

• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 400g tomatoes from a good quality tin, chopped
• 2 tbsp capers, chopped
• 2 anchovies, drained and chopped
• handful black olives, pitted and sliced
• large pinch dried chilli flakes
• 175g spaghetti or other pasta
• small bunch flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Heat a little oil in a wide frying pan and cook the shallot until soft but not browned. Add the garlic, capers, anchovies, olives and chilli flakes and cook gently for a few minutes until the anchovies have dissolved. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook until slightly reduced, about 10 minutes. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed – you may not need either with the anchovies, olives and chilli flakes. It may need a pinch of sugar if the tomatoes are on the acid side.

Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain, add to the sauce with the parsley, toss to combine and serve.

TIP:-

It is often useful to add a little of the pasta cooking water to thin the sauce if it is too thick or to stop the pasta being too ‘gooey’ if it is very absorbent and a recipe will tell you to “retain some of the cooking water”. Instead of trying to catch some of it when you drain the pasta simply take a teacup and fish out a cupful just before you drain the pasta. You can then thin the sauce/ pasta with this water which is much easier.

Roast Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagna

We hosted a movie night at our place and we stuck to a menu of fun favourites that you can prepare in advance and require little attention.   Along with the crumble we did a vegetarian lasagna.  We had a few small tubs of roasted vegetables in the freezer from our summer harvest that we combined with a fresh marinara sauce.  You roughly chop any combination of onion, courgette, aubergine, bell pepper, fennel and tomato–then drizzle with olive oil and season with some crushed garlic and some basil, thyme and parsley.  Give it all a good grind of salt and pepper, toss and pop the roasting tray in the oven at it’s highest heat for 40min to an hour.  Make sure you give it a stir about half way through.  There should be caramelized bits when you take it out.

Combine your veggies with the marinara sauce and add a small tub of ricotta and let that simmer together for about 10min.  Now all you need to do is make a béchamel sauce.  We made it the day before.  Layer pasta sheets with sauce and cheese of your choice (parmesan, gruyere, emmenthal in this case) and top with a layer of béchamel and some more cheese.  Bake at 190C covered for about 20min then uncovered for another 20-30.  It should come out just like that stunning photo.  Yum.

Pasta with Chick Peas and Onion

Tuesday we made a run for the Spanish border.  The supermarkets down there offer us a few particular goodies that we cannot now live without, most notably their black pudding.  It is one of the best we’ve ever tasted.  While there (with our friends) we tend to stop for lunch so dinner at home later ends up a light affair and this pasta dish is both fast and light without sacrificing flavour.   John’s mother takes credit for this recipe.

Thinly slice a large onion and fry gently in a generous amount of olive oil with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar for about 10 min.  We start it off covered and let it sweat for the first five minutes.  This process softens and flavours the onion to new heights.  It should start catching a little and go brown.  That’s ok.  In fact, it’s a virtue.  Just stir it regularly.  Put your pasta on to boil.   Tip a tin of drained chick peas into the frying onions as well as a few tbsp of the boiling pasta water.  Once the sauce hits the simmer again it should be ready.  Toss the cooked pasta with the sauce.  Simplicity at it’s best.

Minestrone soup with pearl barley

Yesterday continued with the cold, damp weather so for lunch we cooked a large pot of this warming, sustaining soup. We had bought a pack of barley we spotted in the organic shop – it’s not something you normally see in french supermarkets – and decided to use it in the soup rather than pasta.

Pearl barley is a lot more than just a cheap filler. As a wholegrain it retains substantial amounts of fibre and like oats contains the soluble fibre beta-glucan, useful for lowering cholesterol and giving a slow release of energy. A 100g portion of cooked barley will also provide about an eight of your daily does of vitamin B3 which is essential for energy and a healthy nervous system. Lots to recommend it then and we just need to find ways to include it in recipes.

There are some quick cook varieties of barley on the market but otherwise you need to cook it separately and then add it to the soup. Put it in a roomy saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to a boil removing the scum that will rise to the surface, then simmer until tender – about 50 minutes.

We’ve given a recipe for minestrone before and we encourage you to experiment with whatever vegetables you have to hand or are in season (a great opportunity to use all those remnants in the bottom of the fridge too) and don’t forget the convenience of frozen veg or canned beans. If you have some red wine to hand a splash at the beginning does add a great depth of flavour.

Penne alla Vodka

Friday we decided to do a little homage to the beloved food of Italy for some family and friends. The dessert, familiar to us all was tiramisu and the main course was another dish we’ve posted before, the breaded chicken thigh.  For our starter we decided to try something different.  Our friends have a weak spot for penne with a vodka sauce so we gave that dish a go.  Here is how we did it…

Dice a shallot or two and a couple of cloves of garlic.  You’ll also need some vodka, white wine, tomato puree, tin of tomatoes and some creme fraiche.  Fry your shallots gently for a couple of minutes in some oil, add the garlic and turn up the heat.  Pour in a good glug or two of vodka and let that bubble away for a minute or flambé it if you fancy some fireworks.  Add a good splash of white wine too and let simmer for another minute.  At this point you can add some chili flakes if you want some more firework, add a tbsp of tomato puree and stir it through.  Now pour in your tin of chopped tomatoes, season and let simmer for about 30min.  You can add a pinch of sugar if the tomato isn’t sweet enough but once it is tasty and you are ready to cook your pasta you can stir in a couple of heaped tbsp of creme fraiche and let it simmer for a few minutes.  We added some grated parmesan directly to the sauce as well as on the plate when serving.  A table full of empty plates confirmed the fact that it’s a fun little recipe to try.

Cheat’s ricotta gnocchi with sage butter

This recipe is from Donna Hay and we guess that she calls it ‘cheats’ because normally gnocchi are made from semolina or potatoes and take a reasonable amount of time and effort to make whereas these are very quick and easy. Is that cheating just because you cut out the hard work? They turn out to be light and delicious so where’s the problem with ‘cheating’?

She suggests using a crumbly pressed ricotta but we can only buy the normal ricotta so that is what we used. We found the mixture too soft and sticky to roll so started making quenelles with two spoons but they were really too soft to handle. Our friend Bob, who was visiting, decided to just work in a little more flour and this made it possible to make the rolls and cut them into pieces. They are still very soft and delicate but once into the boiling water they cook to perfection and are very light and delicious. We ate them with sage butter as suggested in the recipe but John thinks a nice tomato sauce and some parmesan would be good too.

serves 4

• 500g ricotta
• 40g parmesan, finely grated plus extra to serve
• 2 medium free-range eggs, beaten
• 150g plain flour, sifted
• semolina or flour for dusting
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 40g butter
• 32 sage leaves

Melt the 40g of butter in a saucepan, add the sage leaves and then cook for about 1 minute until the leaves are crispy (take care not to burn the butter). Set aside.

Put the ricotta, parmesan, eggs, flour and salt in a bowl and mix well (you may need to add more flour to achieve a soft dough). Divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll each one on a lightly floured surface into 30cm x 2cm lengths. Cut into 3 cm pieces and set aside. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the gnocchi in small batches until they float to the surface and then cook for another 20 seconds before removing with a slotted draining spoon. Keep warm while you cook the remainder. Divide between serving plates, top with the sage leaves and butter. Give each one a dusting of grated parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.

eating the fridge, again

We haven’t travelled much since we came to live in France – we haven’t really felt the need to. But, oh boy, are we making up for it this year. Having been to Canada to visit John’s family and just back from England for Derek’s son’s wedding we are leaving today for a 4 week trip to South Africa. Dutch friends who were planning the trip very kindly asked if we would like to join them – well, how could you say no?

So this week we have been trying to get ourselves organized and eating the fridge; Monday lunch an Italian salad of Parma ham and mozzarella, dinner was pasta puttanesca, Tuesday lunch we ate the remains of the goulash for lunch and were invited to friends for dinner. Yesterday for lunch we made a vegetable and lentil soup with the veg we had left in the fridge and  for dinner had chicken kiev which is the perfect panné recipe stuffed with ham and cheese.

There you have it dear friends and readers. We will be back just after the 5 December so au revoir until then.

Tuscan bean and pasta soup with rosemary

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We love the different seasons and the change they bring to your eating habits. Autumn, with shorter, cooler days, seems to demand more sustaining and ‘comfort’ food. This recipe, which is from Delia Smith’s Vegetarian Collection, fits the bill admirably. And it is amazingly good for so few and so simple ingredients. The recipe calls for borlotti beans but we can’t buy them here so used haricot blanc – any white bean will do. It is necessary to use dried – tinned just doesn’t seem to give the same result (sorry, Our Adventure in Croatia) but it’s no sweat apart from remembering to put them to soak the night before since once it is cooking you can go away and leave it to do its thing while you get on with something else.

One other detail, do chop the rosemary as finely as you can because then they will just cook into the soup. Large pieces of leaf won’t and they aren’t pleasant in the mouth – we know, been there, done it, got the T-shirt!

• 225g borlotti beans
• 110g short-cut macaroni
• 1 heaped tbsp fresh rosemary, very finely chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
• salt and black pepper
• freshly grated parmesan, to serve

The night before, put the beans in a large bowl and cover with about 4 pints (2.25 litres) cold water. Next day, drain the beans. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the chopped onion. Cook gently, covered with a lid, until soft but not coloured – about 10 minutes. Stir in the chopped garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the chopped rosemary and the tomato paste, stir into the onion mixture and cook for another minute. Add the beans and 1.75 litres (3 pints) of water, bring to a simmer, partially cover with a lid and cook until the beans are tender, about 1 hour but it will depend on the type of bean you are using and their age. At this stage do not add any seasoning as the salt will toughen the skins of the beans.

When the beans are tender, add seasoning. Take out half the soup and either in a blender or using a stick blender purée until smooth. Return to the pan and check the consistency – you may need to add some more water. Check the seasoning. Bring to a simmer and add the macaroni and cook until tender, according to the time stated on the packet, stirring from time to time. Serve in bowls with freshly grated parmesan.

This was lunch yesterday and the evening we went out to dinner with friends.

Butternut Squash Risotto

We harvested a grand total of 5 butternut squash from 4 plants this year.  A bit sad, we know.  They may not be much but they’re ours and tis the season for earthy flavours.  We also love the colour of the squash, candy orange and there is a definite bit of sweetness that comes out with cooking which works in soups, roasted and in a risotto.  We prefer just a few simple and perfectly matched flavours in a risotto and in our butternut squash version we use rosemary and finish with some ricotta cheese to create an unctuous, autumnal treat.  Off we go…

For 2:

• 1 small or 1/2 medium butternut squash peeled and diced into 1-2cm cubes
• several branches of rosemary, picked and chopped and a bay leaf
• 1 celery branch, diced
• 1 leek, shredded
• olive oil and butter
• 2 minced cloves of garlic
• 180g risotto rice
• 700ml vegetable or chicken stock (we used chicken this time)
• 250ml white wine
• 100g ricotta cheese with some parmesan and pepper beaten in

Melt some butter with a glug of oil in a saucepan and add the squash with half the rosemary and the bay leaf.  Allow the squash to gently fry for 5-7min or until slightly softened.  Next add the celery and leek with some seasoning and give it a few more minutes frying.  Tip your rice in now and add the garlic and a bit more chopped rosemary.  Stir and fry to toast the rice a little, about 2min.  It should be making some crackly frying sounds by now so add the wine and keep stirring slowly and continuously.  Once that liquid is mostly absorbed you can start ladling in the hot stock, one at a time till mostly absorbed.  Never let it go dry and don’t put all the stock in at once, these are the simple rules of success…oh and keep stirring!!  After about 20min taste your rice and when it is al dente (i.e. properly cooked) add no more stock but season lightly and add a good dusting of parmesan along with the ricotta.  Give it a stir then put a lid on the pan, off the heat and let it rest for about 5 min before you serve.  Don’t worry, the residual heat will still keep it piping hot.  A stunning plate of food awaits you.

When all else fails…

…just have some pasta.

We got back from England on Tuesday and wanted something fairly fast that evening for dinner which usually means some kind of pasta dish.  We had some bell peppers to harvest (almost November!!) and there is usually a few sausages in the freezer (either Toulouse or chorizo) so that was that.  Fry the sausage in chunks with chopped peppers and onion.  When the edges take on some colour add a mix of chopped sage, rosemary and parsley as well as a minced clove of garlic and a few chili flakes.  Add a splash of wine and a tin of tomatoes and you have yourself a great sauce simmering for your pasta.

Lunch the next day was the rest of our sweet potato soup we made the other day  and in the evening we struggled to be inspired by anything other than pasta once again.  Derek was having back problems and John was trying to shake off a cold so we opted for something very fast.   Earlier that day we bought some tasty, fresh tortellini filled with spinach and ricotta and popped open a jar of good pesto.  Hassle free and tasty.

Is there anything pasta can’t do?