Category: parmesan

Categories
bacon broccoli cream fennel food parmesan sausages

sausage and broccoli penne

penne with sausage and broccoli

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

  1. Heat a little oil in a pan and add the bacon. Get a large pot of water on to boil.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. After the pasta has cooked for about 5 minutes, add the broccoli florets and cook for 5 minutes more.
  5. 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.
Categories
parma ham parmesan polenta

parmesan and parma ham polenta cakes

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 190C, Gas 5. Lightly grease 8 deep muffin tins.
  2. 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.
  3. In a measuring jug mix together the milk, eggs, Parma ham and sunblush tomatoes.
  4. Fold the wet ingredients into the dried taking care not to over mix.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. Cut each cake whilst still warm in half on the diagonal. Fill each with a little of the Parmigiano-Reggiano cream.
Categories
bread celeriac olives parmesan parsley peppers

stuffed focaccia

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
Categories
bacon cheese leeks parmesan

cheese, leek and ham pasta

“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

  1. Get the pasta on to boil in plenty of salted, boiling water. Cook according to the packet instructions (irony!).
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
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