chestnut gnocchi

Posted by Gary in chestnuts, food, gnocchi, marsala, mushroom, parmesan, stock May 16, 2012

I absolutely love Two Greedy Italians. Not only are Gennaro Contaldo and Antonio Carluccio the most avuncular and affable guys on TV, joshing and fondly trading insults, they also serve up some jaw-droppingly good Italian food. In the series where they tour Italy, revisiting places of their youth and being tourists everywhere else the former colleagues eat their way through just about every culinary region of the Old Boot.

In this episode traversing the Alps, they went to a region where they historically couldn’t grow wheat so used chestnuts for all their flour. Gennaro then used this to make a delicious chestnut gnocchi with mushrooms. I had to give it a go myself, but all my previous attempts to make gnocchi have been messy, hideous and not worth the effort. The recipe also isn’t listed on the site. So I bought shop-made gnocchi and improvised a sauce. This was fab, I’m definitely doing it again and I hope I’ve paid enough tribute to Gennaro’s original recipe. Watch the sweetness, you will probably need a good dose of salt to balance it out.

The recipe is probably in Two Greedy Italians Eat Italy, but I don’t have it so no guarantees!

Chestnut gnocchi (serves 2):

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

100ml Marsala

300ml beef stock

200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced

1 tablespoon chestnut puree

1 pack of potato gnocchi

Handful of parsley, roughly chopped

Parmesan shavings to serve

In a small saucepan heat some oil over a medium heat. Add the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, a pinch each of salt and sugar and cover the pan. Cook for 3-4 mins, stirring regularly until the garlic is starting to brown. Add the Marsala and allow to reduce by half. Then add the beef stock and reduce this by half. Add the chestnut puree and check for seasoning. Keep warm while you do everything else.

Into a frying pan add a knob of butter and the mushrooms. Fry for 8-10 mins until the mushrooms are browning, then add a good whack of black pepper. While the mushrooms sizzle, cook the gnocchi for 2-3mins in salted boiling water until floating at the top. Drain until needed.

When the mushrooms are ready, add the sauce and gnocchi to the pan and toss vigorously to combine. Give it a final check for seasoning and top with parsley and parmesan for serving.

heston blumenthal’s macaroni cheese

Posted by Gary in cheese, food, parmesan, pasta, truffle oil, wine and tagged with heston blumenthal February 6, 2012

Yes eagle-eyes, you’re right: that’s not macaroni in the picture. But this recipe is full of substitutions. What it tells me is this recipe has a great base from which to build on.

This is Heston’s recipe for macaroni cheese from How To Cook Like Heston, and is predictably very, very tasty. Like most people I usually kick cheese sauces off with a roux, but this approach melts cheese into reduced wine and stock. I’m amazed it works. I think I let the cheese cook a tiny bit too long and it started to split on me, but just about caught it in time. I also veered off from the recipe as I didn’t have a posh cheddar, nor cream cheese in the house but instead let it down with pasta water. That’s another bonkers bit – in the original recipe the pasta is cooked in a very shallow amount of water but I didn’t quite have the attention to monitor that one today. I boiled it in the usual way and it worked just fine.

I’ll definitely be making cheese sauces from this base in future – no more floury rouxs for me.

The original recipe is here, and you can find it in Heston Blumenthal At Home (as “truffle macaroni”) as well.

Heston Blumenthal’s macaroni cheese (serves 4):

300g fusilli

300ml white wine

300ml chicken stock

140g cheddar, grated

1 heaped teaspoon cornflour

A few drops of truffle oil

A little grated parmesan

Get the pasta on to boil in a large saucepan of salted water and cook according to the packet instructions.

In a separate pan reduce the wine down to “30ml” (I have no idea how you can easily tell what level you’re down to without a lot of faff so eyeball it and trust your gut). Add the stock to this wine reduction.

Preheat the grill. Toss the cheese with the cornflour and add to the winey stock. Turn the heat right down low, add some black pepper and stir until thoroughly combined. As soon as it’s smooth turn the heat off.

Drain the pasta and reserve some of the water. Trickle over a tiny amount of truffle oil, toss and add to the sauce, then transfer to a baking dish. Top with the parmesan and pop under the grill until bubbling.

sausage and broccoli penne

Posted by Gary in bacon, broccoli, cream, fennel, food, parmesan, sausages and tagged with jamie oliver, theo randall December 4, 2011

This is one that swilled around my head for a while until coming together. It’s a hybrid of ideas from a recent appearance of Theo Randall on Saturday Kitchen and a Jamie Oliver 30 minute meal.

The most satisfying part of this is using the part of the broccoli you usually throw away, the stalk. Whizzed up and fried it’s as tasty as it’s flowery florets. Mixed with sausage and cream it’s almost rich. Whouda thunk it, broccoli being rich?! Make sure you’re generous with the chilli to balance it all out.

While I ate it I thought pine nuts would be great with this – must try it next time.

Sausage & broccoli penne (serves 2):

2 rashers bacon, sliced

1 head of broccoli

4 sausages, skinned

1 anchovy

Big pinch of chilli flakes

2 cloves garlic

200g penne

50ml double cream

Handful of parmesan

Heat a little oil in a pan and add the bacon. Get a large pot of water on to boil.

In a food processor blitz the broccoli to crumbs with the anchovy. Drop in the sausages and add a trickle of olive oil to make a paste.

Add the paste to the bacon in the pan and stir fry for a few minutes. Crush in the garlic and get the pasta on to boil.

After the pasta has cooked for about 5 minutes, add the broccoli florets and cook for 5 minutes more.

Turn the heat down low and add the cream and parmesan, stirring well to combine. Add the drained pasta and broccoli and if necessary let it down with a little of the pasta water. When mixed nicely and all slick and creamy, check seasoning and serve with more parmesan.

parmesan and parma ham polenta cakes

Posted by Gary in parma ham, parmesan, polenta and tagged with lesley waters April 1, 2011

I was forwarded this recipe by Riona Mary PR and invited to give them a go as a Mother’s Day treat. These lovely little scones are packed with briliant ingredients, making great use of PDO (Protected Destination of Origin) products. I’m a fan of local produce but if you’re going to import why not use the very best produce that can only be made in a certain way to a consistent level of quality? I adore Italian cuisine, and revel in any chance to use Parmesan Reggiano and Parma ham.

You can read more about PDO products at the Discover the Origin website.

I made some cakes for my Mum, and they went down a treat. They’re very savoury, almost scone-like, and give little bursts of different flavours in every mouthful. Give them a try and treat someone in your life!

You can see a video of Lesley Waters making them here.

Parmesan and Parma ham polenta cakes (makes 8):

175g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

115g instant polenta

75g Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated

200ml milk

2 medium eggs

90g Parma ham, finely chopped

85g sunblush tomatoes, drained, finely chopped

300ml crème fraiche

Preheat the oven to 190C, Gas 5. Lightly grease 8 deep muffin tins.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the polenta and 55g of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Season well with freshly ground black pepper.

In a measuring jug mix together the milk, eggs, Parma ham and sunblush tomatoes.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dried taking care not to over mix.

Spoon the mixture evenly between the prepared muffin wells. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes until golden. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano with the crème fraiche and set to one side.

Allow the Parma ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese polenta cakes to cool in the tin for 2 minutes. Carefully, with a flat bladed knife remove from muffin wells.

Cut each cake whilst still warm in half on the diagonal. Fill each with a little of the Parmigiano-Reggiano cream.

stuffed focaccia

Posted by Gary in bread, celeriac, olives, parmesan, parsley, peppers and tagged with jamie oliver February 20, 2011

OK, OK, so it’s not a focaccia. But the idea’s there. It’s actually a boule de campagne but serving the same purpose. Reminds me a lot of a muffuleta. (Obviously the sandwich in the pic is missing it’s lid). It’s a stunning feast from Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals.

I bloomin’ love sandwiches like this, every mouthful’s different. A deli in a bap! The remoulade is tangy and fun too, I’d recommend that alongside some barbecued meat on its own.

Jamie also served this with some mozzarella dressed with pesto and followed it with a grapefruit granita, but the two parts here are brill as they are.

Stuffed focaccia (serves 4):

For the focaccia:

1 large boule de campagne

450g jar of peppers

1 teaspoon capers, drained

Handful of sun-dried tomatoes

Handful mixed olives

A few cherry tomatoes, halved

3 or 4 cornichons

Small bunch of parsley

Half a lemon

Sprinkle of parmesan

For the remoulade:

600g celeriac

1 pear

Handful of parsley

1 teaspoon French mustard

1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Get your food processor out and whack in the coarse grater. Peel and quarter the celeriac, then pass this, the pear and the parsley through the grater (you may have to do it in stages if the bowl fills up). Mix together the mustards and vinegar with some extra virgin olive oil and pour this all over the grated veg. Taste for seasoning and leave to marry together while you make your sandwich.

Pop the bread in a low oven just to gently warm through and get a lovely crust while you prepare the filling. Pop all the ingredients on a large chopping board and run through the lot several times with your longest knife. Keep going until everything is roughly thumb-sized – any bigger and it lollops out of the bap while you’re eating. Squeeze over a lemon and pour over a little extra virgin olive oil, and spread the filling over your warmed loaf. Grate over some parmesan and serve with the remoulade.

cheese, leek and ham pasta

Posted by Gary in bacon, cheese, leeks, parmesan November 21, 2010

“I bet I could make that.”

I was referring to a guilty pleasure of mine, Pasta ‘n’ Sauce. Packed with rubbish yet oh-so-moreish on a cold day, I can get real cravings for this horrendous muck. Can’t help it though. I was trying the cheese, leek and ham one and thought I’d have a go at my own version. It ended up tasting not like it at all, but still a very tasty lunch. It is fast though – about as quick as the packet version. And you know where everything comes from.

Cheese, leek and ham pasta ‘n’ sauce:

2 leeks, halved and sliced

100g bacon lardons

50g grated parmesan

250ml creme fraiche

300g penne

Get the pasta on to boil in plenty of salted, boiling water. Cook according to the packet instructions (irony!).

Fry the lardons in some garlic oil, or just regular olive oil if you haven’t got that. When browned on one side add the leeks.

Mix the creme fraiche and parmesan together and when the leeks are tender and the bacon cooked, chuck this in the pan with a few scoops of the pasta water to loosen it. Check for seasoning and toss with the pasta until well combined.

pesto pizza

Posted by Gary in basil, parmesan, pesto, pine nuts, pizza November 1, 2010

I was set a challenge by Domino’s to come up with a home-made alternative to the newest addition to their online pizza menu – the Double Decadence Basil Burst. Their creation is a crazy double-decker affair of pesto-style sauce sandwich between two bases, then tomato sauce on top with the usual toppings. Layers and layers of complexity. Bonkers.

My response is to go the other way and pull it right back as simple as possible: a lovely chewy, crusty pizza base and a punchy pesto straight from the food processor. By mixing polenta in with the flour you get a pleasing honeyed colour to the dough and a sweet flavour too. The pesto is made in seconds and of course can be pushed in any direction you fancy on a given night.

It’s hearty and tasty, and pretty cheap too. Try it out!

Pesto pizza:

For the base (enough for 2 x 30cm pizzas – dough freezes well after first proving):

500g strong bread flour

100g fine polenta

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

7g dry yeast

4 tablespoons olive oil

300ml lukewarm water

For the pesto:

Bunch of basil, leaves and stalks

75g pine nuts

50g parmesan

Zest of ½ a lemon

Extra virgin olive oil

In a jug mix the yeast, oil, water and sugar together and leave for a few minutes while you get on with the other dry ingredients.

For the pizza base, bring the flour, polenta and salt together in a bowl. I use a food mixer which makes the next stage dead easy.

Pour the wet mix into the dry and let a dough hook do its work for about 5-6 minutes. If you’re doing it by hand push and knead it together until smooth and elastic. Cover the dough with a damp teatowel and leave somewhere warm for an hour – it should double in size.

When the dough has risen, pre-heat the oven as high as it will go. If you have a pizza stone, get it in now. Otherwise a cheap but conductive metal tray will work.

Push the dough into a thin, round shape on a floured surface. Go as thin as you can. When it’s ready take it to the oven – you may want to drape this over a rolling pin to help transfer it. The pizza will bake for anywhere between 8 – 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your base and the temperature of your oven. (Quicker is better).

While the dough cooks, make the pesto. I do mine in a food processor, but a pestle and mortar works great. Chuck the basil in first and whizz up, then throw in the pine nuts. Add the cheese and keep on blending. When you have a lovely rubbly paste, scoop into a bowl and add enough olive oil to make it a smooth slush. Stir in the lemon zest and check for seasoning – add salt and pepper til it takes awesome.

When your pizza base is ready, spread the pesto over and leave for 1 minute to let the sauce warm slightly and soak into the dough. Grate over a touch more fresh parmesan and serve.

broad bean and artichoke salad

Posted by Gary in artichoke, bread, broad beans, food, lettuce, parmesan July 14, 2010

Felt like something quick, easy and wholesome for dinner tonight. I found this recipe on Merchant Gourmet’s site and had a bash. It was very filling and had lots of earthy flavours going on, but I didn’t feel the mint added anything and yet there was still something missing. A really sticky-sweet balsamic dressing might do the trick, or perhaps a little grated apple.

Not a bad start, but needs some work.

Broad bean and artichoke salad:

6 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil

100g parmesan shavings

1 ciabatta loaf

400g grilled artichokes

finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

300g frozen broad beans

1 little gem lettuce, finely shredded

handful fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

Boil the broad beans for 4-5 mins until tender. While draining add a little pumpkin oil and lemon juice, tossing around to coat.

Lightly brush the cut sides of the ciabatta with 4 tbsp of the Pumpkin Seed Oil and place cut side up on the grill pan and scatter with salt flakes. Lightly grill for 1-2 minutes until pale golden and crisp.

Meanwhile place the artichoke hearts into a bowl with the lemon rind and juice, remaining Pumpkin Seed Oil, broad beans, little gem, mint and parmesan and toss together. Season generously with a little salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper and toss again.

Serve the salad on the warm toasted ciabatta.

polenta sliders

Posted by Gary in beef, food, mozzarella, parmesan, polenta May 4, 2010

Merchant Gourmet have recently been kind enough to send me some of their instant polenta. It’s got a rapid cooking time so you don’t have to spend 45 minutes beating a volcanic pot of yellow. The freebie came with a caveat however; come up with an interesting recipe for them.

I originally thought of crumbing halloumi cubes and frying them, but it didn’t seem inventive enough. I then went through a lasagne-style tower with polenta substituting for the pasta, but struggled to think of a timely way to retain the shape while melting the mozzarella. I then hit on keeping the mince but forming it into patties and making über-cute sliders instead; mini-burgers that are currently all the rage.

To make a nice neat slider the size of it all comes down to your mozzarella. Whatever width slices you can carve out of your cheese, make your mince and polenta rounds roughly the same size.

The great thing about this recipe is you can adapt the mince part to your taste and whatever you have in the cupboard. I’ve gone for an Italian-style flavouring to reinforce the heritage of polenta. A slice of tomato works well in there too, providing sweet juiciness. Give them a try!

Polenta sliders (makes 8 sliders):

50g quick-cook polenta

200ml beef stock plus a couple of extra tablespoons

2 tablespoons grated parmesan

400g beef mince

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon breadcrumbs

1 garlic clove, grated

1 tablespoon olive oil

150g ball mozzarella, cut into 8 thick slices

Green salad, to serve

Preheat the grill to high.

To make the polenta, bring 200ml beef stock to the boil and slowly pour in the polenta, whisking all the time. Turn the heat down low and continue to stir for another 2 minutes. Spread on to a baking sheet to a thickness of about 5mm. Sprinkle with parmesan and pop under the grill. Keep an eye on it while you make the burgers – you are looking for it to form a crisp crust.

Combine the beef, puree, oregano, breadcrumbs and garlic in a bowl and season well. Form into golf-ball sized chunks and flatten to form patties (you may find it easy to do this with damp hands, it prevents the meat from sticking).

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat and fry the burgers for 3 minutes on each side (this will cook them medium-rare, cook slightly longer if you prefer). As they finish spoon over a little leftover beef stock to keep them moist.

Your polenta should be out of the grill now; put this to one side. Top the burgers with a slice of mozzarella and pop them under the grill so the mozzarella just starts to melt (this should only take a minute).

Cut out rounds of polenta to roughly the same size as your meat (I used a circular pastry cutter). Put a slice of polenta on the plate, meat & cheese on that, and top with a final slice of polenta. Serve with a green salad.

chicken parmesan burger

Posted by Gary in burger, chicken, food, mozzarella, parmesan March 25, 2010

I am an RSS addict. When bookmarking first appeared the idea was sound but I knew I would never actually revisit that site to read it again. Then RSS became popular and lazy forgetful types like me were able to not bother hitting F5 again. I’m a subscriber to the very American Epicurious.com, and there’s often very interesting articles in there. This recipe flew in this week and I was interested straight away. Chicken and cheese? Ta.

I made it according to the recipe below, but couldn’t help feeling it was missing something. There’s too much onion for the chicken – it becomes acidic – and there’s one big flavour lacking. Perhaps paprika, but definitely more parmesan. I’d do it again, but with tweaks.

Original recipe found at Epicurious.com.

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