Category Archives: pasta

heston blumenthal’s macaroni cheese

Posted by Gary in cheese, food, parmesan, pasta, truffle oil, wine and tagged with

heston blumenthal's macaroni cheese

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

  1. Get the pasta on to boil in a large saucepan of salted water and cook according to the packet instructions.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

baked penne with bacon and porcini

Posted by Gary in bacon, cheese, mushroom, pasta, porcini, roux and tagged with

baked penne with bacon and porcini

I’d heard excited whispers on Twitter about a new BBC programme from Simon Hopkinson called The Good Cook. His name was only distantly familiar to me; I wasn’t directly aware of him.

So I sat down to watch it with little expectation. I became an instant convert. Simple, honest food that is achievable, excellent and done with love.

Just about everything featured is worth cooking, in a programme refreshingly devoid of format, gimmick or travelogue. Only the tiniest scraps of production remain: incessant overuse of funky chart hits, just because the BBC can; and occasional 30 second jaunts to far-flung places showing stock footage of people making cheese.

These are minor quibbles against the brilliance of Simon’s own natural easy going charm and obvious skill. His effortless style makes everything look easy and worth trying. So I’ve started with this, a luscious and rich pasta bake with a few small changes down to what I had lurking around waiting to be used up. It’s absolutely tremendous and really easy. It even encourages the all-in-one roux method which works like a dream to produce a silky and slurpable sauce. Please run to your storecupboards and try it now. You must have some of those dried mushrooms in there somewhere, right?

Simon’s original recipe can be found here.

Baked penne with bacon and porcini (serves 2):

500ml milk

20g dried porcini mushrooms

40g butter

25g flour

140g penne

6 rashers streaky bacon, diced

A couple of tablespoons grated parmesan

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Pop the mushrooms and milk in a pan and bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile make the sauce. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour. Keep it moving about for a minute to cook out the floury taste. Sieve off the milk then add it to the roux in one go whisking all the time. When smooth keep on a gentle heat for 10 minutes, whisking occasionally and allowing to thicken. Check for seasoning towards the end of the cooking time.
  3. Get the pasta on to cook according to the packet instructions. When done, throw the pasta, mushrooms, bacon and a third of the parmesan into the sauce and toss really well to get everything coated. Turn out into a baking dish, add another third of parmesan and bake for 30 mins until bubbling. Top with the remaining parmesan to serve.

turkey & bean pasta

Posted by Gary in bacon, beans, paprika, pasta, tomato, turkey

turkey and bean pasta

I’m a get-your-shopping-delivered kind-of-guy. In a family where both parents work someone carrying the shopping to your door just makes sense. It has it blips, when some things aren’t available, or maybe you can’t quite figure out what 350g of leeks look like so you over-order on purpose, but generally speaking there’s palpable relief when you shut the door on full cupboards without having left the house.

At the moment Sainsbury’s are running a “5 meals for £20″ in a planner format. No ready meals, all recipe-led stuff. Naturally it’s not incredible gourmet food but homely, economic grub. I’ve been trying them out this week including turkey & bean pasta.

I substituted the chilli for paprika just for the hell of it. This should be as plain as you like but against expectation it’s jolly filling and jolly tasty. I froze some for another day, and will be looking forward to it.

Turkey and bean pasta (serves 4):

200g bacon lardons

500g turkey thigh mince

1 tin red kidney beans, drained

4 carrots, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 cloves garlic

300ml vegetable stock

1 tin tomatoes

350g pasta (e.g. fusilli)

  1. Get a frying pan on a high heat and add a splash of olive oil. Add the bacon and fry for a minute or two, until the bacon is coloured all over.
  2. Add the turkey and carrots and continue to stir fry for a couple more minutes until the turkey is browned. Add the puree, paprika and cumin and continue to fry for another minute, mixing well.
  3. Add the garlic, stock and tinned tomatoes. When it comes to the boil reduce to a simmer for ten minutes.
  4. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the pack instructions. When it’s done take a splash of the pasta water into the turkey stew then toss together with the drained pasta. Serve with garlic bread.

cauliflower macaroni cheese

Posted by Gary in breadcrumbs, cauliflower, cheese, macaroni, pancetta, pasta and tagged with

image

Not quite a 30 minute meal. It’s simpler than that. It’s yanked from Jamie’s 30 minute cauliflower macaroni, chicory salad with insane dressing, and lovely stewed fruit. But I only fancied the cauliflower macaroni bit.

I loused up the recipe a bit – I somehow ended up blitzing the cheese with the lovely breadcrumbs, which meant the topping was cheesy but the sauce too bland. Stupid spud. I still feel like the whole thing could use a little more seasoning though.

Cauliflower macaroni:

8 rasher of pancetta

1 head of cauliflower, quartered

300g macaroni

Large sprig of rosemary, leaves picked

200g cheddar

2 thick slices of bread

2 cloves of garlic

150g creme fraiche

  1. Get the oven on 220°C. Lay the pancetta in a baking tray ready to take the finished dish and pop in the oven while you carry on.
  2. Put the cauliflower and the macaroni in a large pot and fill with boiling salted water, and keep on the simmer.
  3. Get the food processor out with the chopping blade. Get the pancetta out of the oven and whizz this up with the bread, rosemary and a dash of olive oil.
  4. Drain off the cauliflower & pasta and reserve some of the water. Tip the veg/mac into the roasting tray you used for the pancetta and put on a low heat. Pour in a little water, crush in the garlic and mix in the creme fraiche and cheddar. Mix everything right up, adding more water and seasoning as necessary to get a smooth, silky sauce. Spread out evenly, top with the breadcrumbs and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until bubbling.

rigas’s lamb

Posted by Gary in lamb, mint, onion, pasta, tomato and tagged with

rigas's lamb

Another slice of pure joy from Leon 2. This Greek-inspired family recipe is a delight, and I particularly enjoy the use of macaroni as a carb. The tiny pasta tubes bring out the kid in me. The original recipe called for dried mint but I tend not to use it and went for the mostly authentic dried oregano instead. And we haven’t even mentioned the lamb: rich, soft and sweet. Try instead of a roast one week, it’s almost zero maintenance. I served mine with some steamed Savoy cabbage and it was wonderful.

PS. I recommend not falling asleep halfway through cooking – it does need the occasional baste…

Rigas’s lamb:

1 onion, diced

1 shoulder of lamb

5 cloves garlic, peeled

A few mint leaves

2 tins of tomatoes

250g macaroni

1 tablespoon dried oregano

Get the oven on about 150°C.

  1. Put the onions in a baking tray and mix with the tomatoes. Fill one of the tomato tins with water and slosh that in too. Poke the lamb all over with the tip of a sharp knife. Break the garlic into bits and stuff into the holes, then cram some torn mint on top. Pop this on top of the tomato mix, season like billy-o and slam in the oven.
  2. Cook for about 3 – 4 hours, or until the lamb is tender. Baste frequently to make a lovely cakey crust on the lamb, and you may need to add water from time to time to stop the whole thing drying out.
  3. About 20 mins before the end of cooking, throw in the macaroni and oregano, stir about and put back in the oven. Continue to add water through this cooking time as necessary.
  4. Serve by hacking the lamb into chunks with a big scoop of tomatoey onion pasta.

seriously good pasta bake

Posted by Gary in balsamic vinegar, basil, chorizo, courgettes, pasta, tomato and tagged with

seriously good cherry tomato and balsamic vinegar pasta bake

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you might notice I do a lot of things “from scratch” (I really hate that phrase, like a badge of snobbish one-upmanship), because I enjoy it and I like knowing what goes into my dinner. In my time of course I’ve used pasta sauces and the like, and they range from OK to pretty good to truly vomit-inducing (usually ones that involve mascarpone).

seriously good pasta sauceI wouldn’t usually blog about such a jar but I happened to use a Seriously Good pasta sauce. These are Gordon Ramsay-devised with a 10p donation to Comic Relief for each jar sold. And no, Gordon doesn’t get a penny. There’s a bunch of flavours, and the one I used happened to be cherry tomato & balsamic. Peering over the ingredients list on the label is very surprising: you can pronounce everything. And I can buy all of them in any supermarket. That’s very reassuring.

I chucked it in a pasta bake with some chorizo and courgette, and it was lovely. Well worth a try – certainly if you find it on promotion, as it was in my local Sainsbury’s. At least bask in the glow of making a small donation to a good cause :-)

Seriously good pasta bake (serves 4):

400g fusilli

100g chorizo, roughly diced

2 large courgettes

1 jar Seriously Good cherry tomato and balsamic sauce

Cheddar cheese

Some basil leaves, shredded

Splash of balsamic vinegar

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
  2. Get a pan of salted water on to boil and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Get on with the rest of the recipe and when ready, drain until needed.
  3. In a large oven-proof pan, heat a little oil and add the chorizo. Cook briefly until it starts to colour on all sides, then add the courgette.
  4. Continue to fry for 3-4 minutes, tossing frequently so the courgette gets coated in the rich chorizo juices and is starting to turn tender.
  5. Add the sauce, then refill the jar half-full with water. Sloosh it around to gather up the dregs of the sauce and pour into the pan. Bring up to the boil and then add the drained pasta. Make sure everything is well-mixed and pop into an oven for ten minutes, or until the tops of the pasta sticking out are starting to turn dark-brown.
  6. Scatter the basil over the top, grate some cheddar over and sprinkle with balsamic. Grind a little black pepper on top and a swirl of your best extra virgin olive oil, then return to the oven for a further minute or two, until the cheese has melted. Serve piping hot.

tagliatelle with mushrooms and asparagus

Posted by Gary in asparagus, food, mushroom, pasta and tagged with

tagliatelle with mushrooms and asparagus

Well lookee here, another Ottolenghi recipe. And yes, it’s from Plenty, since you ask. It’s one of those kind of throw-it-in pasta recipes that I like, where the sauce is made in the same time as the pasta boils. In Ottolenghi’s original recipe it’s not explicit but you work out that you need four pans going at once which is a little mean. I’ve simplified mine down so you have a far-more-acceptable 1 frying pan + 1 saucepan combo. The crunch provided by the breadcrumb topping is a winner, I will certainly use it elsewhere.

Based on Yotam Ottolenghi’s crunchy pappardelle recipe.

Tagliatelle with mushrooms and asparagus (serves 2):

Handful of breadcrumbs

Zest of 1 lemon

1 garlic clove, grated

4 tagliatelle nests

Small bundle of asparagus, chopped into pieces

250g chestnut mushrooms, quartered

3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked

100ml white wine

150ml double cream

A tablespoon of chopped parsley

  1. Combine the breadcrumbs, garlic and lemon and fry in a hot, dry pan until the breadcrumbs are browned and toasted. Toss often to ensure they don’t catch on one side. Remove from the pan to one side and wipe it down with kitchen towel.
  2. In the same pan, add a little olive oil and fry the mushrooms and thyme until they start to soften. When tender add the white wine and bubble hard until this reduces by half.
  3. Boil the pasta according to the packet instructions. When there’s 4 minutes to go, chuck in the asparagus pieces. Drain the lot together but reserve a little cooking water.
  4. Back in the pan, add the cream and allow to come to a simmer. Check for seasoning and add a splash of pasta water, then stir the lot together thoroughly so the sauce coats the pasta and asparagus. Chuck on some parsley and serve topped with the crispy breadcrumbs.

ottolenghi’s sagnarelli with broad beans and lemon

Posted by Gary in broad beans, food, lemon, pasta and tagged with

sagnarelli with broad beans and lemon

I’ve read an awful lot about Ottolenghi from various food bloggers (EssexEating seems to mention them a lot, especially their cookbook) with nothing but gushing praise. I follow them on Twitter, and they posted rather intriguingly “Exclusive to twitter: a scrumptuous recipe that didn’t make it to Plenty. http://tweetphoto.com/18283142” with a follow-up challenge of first to post a photo of the completed dish gets a prize. How could I turn that down?

I couldn’t quite manage to get the sagnarelli (a flatter, less fluted pasta) but as suggested I hoped farfalle would do the job. Therefore purists may wish to edit the name of this post!

It’s a fairly simple affair – pasta and broad beans in a shallot-infused lemon, wine and pink peppercorn sauce – but there’s a bright summery burst of flavour in every mouthful. Earthy beans, pasta with bite, being zinged with lemon, tempered with salty cheese and as everything fades away you’re left with a gentle tickle of heat from the peppercorns. It was very tasty.

It’s a great starter recipe, though the carnivore in me wanted a little bite of meat every now and then. I’d try it again, definitely, perhaps with a little less parmesan and pop in some diced pancetta instead. I might substitute the broad bean for another bitey veg as well, such as courgette or possibly purple sprouting broccoli. And simply because I love the taste – maybe a blast of garlic too. I enjoyed it a great deal and will give it a whirl another time.

Farfalle with lemon and broad bean (serves 2):

4 shallots, finely diced

25g butter

200ml white wine

250g farfalle pasta

250g broad beans

2 teaspoons pink peppercorns, coarsely crushed

2 tablespoons olive oil

Zest and juice of a lemon

Grated pecorino

  1. Fry the shallots in butter for a few minutes, until browned. Add the wine with a pinch each of sugar, salt and pepper and reduce vigorously until there is about a tablespoon of liquid left in the pan. Take it off the heat and check for seasoning.
  2. Meanwhile cook the pasta as per packet instructions, and cook the broad beans until al dente. Transfer both to the winey liquor along with the olive oil and lemon zest, tossing well. Taste for seasoning and add as much lemon juice and cheese as you think it needs.

spaghetti bolognese

Posted by Gary in beef, food, pasta, tomato
spaghetti bolognese

the remains of spaghetti bolognese

I fancied meaty, tomatoey and deep flavour so threw together a bolognese first thing in the morning for the slow cooker. Ten hours later a rich stew awaits me. YUM.

Spaghetti bolognese for the slow cooker:

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 carrot, diced

1 celery stick, diced

500g beef mince

1 tablespoon flour

1 tin tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato puree

A little bay, thyme and oregano

100ml red wine

100ml beef stock

  1. Cook the veg in a frying pan for a couple of minutes. Add the mince and brown, then add the flour and cook for a minute.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring everything to the simmer then add to the slow cooker. Leave for at least 8 hours, and serve with pasta, shredded basil leaves and grated cheese.

tagliatelle carbonara

Posted by Gary in cream, egg, food, pancetta, parmesan, pasta
tagliatelle carbonara

tagliatelle carbonara

I have a version of carbonara I like to use when I need to keep the calorie- or egg-count low for this classic Italian pasta dish, but sometimes I need to bust out the real deal. The recipe often comes up for fervent debate, but I think most can agree that pancetta, eggs, cream and parmesan play a part in there somewhere. I love the sweet pungency of garlic, so I also chuck a clove in there for fragrance. For me it’s best when the pasta is really al dente, the sauce slick with no lumpy egg bits, big punches of salty pancetta, with a tiny tingle of black pepper at the end.

Tagliatelle carbonara (serves 2):

4 tagliatelle nests

100g pancetta, diced

1 garlic clove, peeled but whole

50ml single cream

2 egg yolks

Large handful of parmesan

  1. Beat the egg yolks, cream and parmesan together with plenty of black pepper and set aside.
  2. Boil the tagliatelle until al dente. While you do this fry the pancetta and garlic together in a little oil until the meat starts to crisp. Discard the garlic at this point.
  3. Ladle a big splash of the pasta liquor into the pan with the pancetta, drain the pasta off and add this into the same pan.
  4. Turn the heat off, and working very quickly add the sauce mixture into the pan. Shake the pan vigorously and beat with a wooden spoon to make the sauce stick to the pasta. Removing the pan from the heat, and the vigorous motion will stop the egg from scrambling. After about 45 seconds check for seasoning, then serve immediately.