Simple Suppers for Two

One of the best things about this time of year is the evenings getting incrementally longer until the Summer solstice. Somehow it's difficult to turn my attention to things like housework or even cooking, when I could be wandering around the garden with a cup of coffee, talking to veggie seedlings and trying to figure out what the heck is living in the compost bin. Over the past few weeks, since the clocks went forward I've realized that it's almost past dinner time and my tummy is grumbling. The best thing to do in those situations is a quick fridge and store cupboard inventory and throw together a meal I can get on the table with minimal fuss.
This dish only takes as long as it takes to boil a pan of salted water and cook the pasta and is made from a few simple bits, which could easily be substituted with whatever else you might have sitting in the fridge.
I've used unsmoked bacon here, and while you could use smoked, I think that it would rather overpower the rest of the flavours. If you can't get unsmoked bacon, blanch the smoked stuff in a pan of boiling water for five minutes to dampen the smoky flavour a little, then dry it and cook as below.

Linguine with Bacon, Taleggio Cheese and Green Leaves
Serves 2, Takes roughly 20 minutes.

200g dried linguine
3 slices, un-smoked, dry-cured back bacon (skin on if you can get it) cut into thin strips
2 large handfuls, spinach
1 large handful, rocket (arugula)
2 cloves, garlic, crushed
8 kalamata olives, pitted and roughly quartered
1 courgette (zucchini) quartered length-wise, core removed, sliced diagonally
3 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded (pulp and seeds reserved) and diced
50g (1.75 oz) taleggio cheese, diced about 1 cm (1/2)
2 tbsp nice E.V. olive oil

Pop a pan of salted water on to boil for your pasta and do your prep. Heat the olive over a moderate heat in a medium saute pan and add your bacon. Fry for a few minutes until it begins to colour, then stir in the garlic.
Put the pasta on to cook, testing for doneness by biting when close to the indicated cooking time on the package, then drain and set aside for a sec.
Cook the bacon for a further minute until the garlic begins to smell nutty and fragrant, but not brown, then stir in the chopped tomatoes and simmer for 4-5 minutes, adding a little of the pasta cooking water if it becomes too dry. Pass the pulp and seeds from the tomatoes through a sieve to get all the juices into the sauce, discard the seeds.
Stir in the courgette and cook for a couple of minutes, then stir in the spinach and rocket. Cook for less than a minute and turn off the heat, then add the olives and taleggio. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss well enough to combine, but try not to mix so well that the cheese disperses too well into the sauce.

Serve with chilli flakes and a wedge of lemon.

Spring Linguine

Layers of Love

Yesterday was bloody brilliant. My cousin Simon, his wife Sharon brought their baby daughter Poppy and my Aunt Jane for lunch. Basically, I was having a dinner party on a Monday afternoon, so my perception of time and date is completely thrown off now.
I made a lasagne, partly because my stepson requested it and because I'm a big fan of making food that I can prepare ahead and pop in the oven when my guests arrive. I'm not a pleasant person when I'm stressed out, and so stress-free dinner parties are the goal.

Because I am a child of the '70s, I hold a special place in my heart for profiteroles (and prawn cocktails) and since they're so super easy to make, I decided on those for dessert. I also gave sourdough another try and had similarly good results to the other day, so YAY for that.

I call this 5-Hour lasagne, because I simmer my meat sauce for 3 1/2 hours at least and take a little time over my bechamel. I make the bechamel the way my Mum taught me, which was taught to her before I was born by her old friend Peter Bertorelli, veteran Italian restaurateur.

I make my sauce with half lamb and half beef mince, as I had it that way once in a gorgeous little trattoria in San Diego and I loved it. That place was also the only place in the States that I had lasagne made with bechamel instead of ricotta cheese, which also scored big points from me, as I've never understood the appeal of ricotta in lasagne.

I served this with a big garden salad, a loaf of freshly baked crusty bread and some red wine. The food was lovely, but it would have been nothing without the brilliant company. After lunch and several glasses of wine, the guys turned on the Xbox and Simon got his Call of Duty arse handed to him by a 14 year old boy (only because Simon was used to playing Modern Warfare on the PS3 and the controls are different!) Uh huh.

5-Hour Lasagne Alla Bolognese
serves 6, takes 4 1/2 -5 hours

2/3 batch of bolognese sauce, made either to this recipe, or with 1/2 lamb, 1/2 beef.

1 package died lasagne noodles
300g (10.5 oz) fresh ball mozzerella, sliced or torn
handful fresh basil leaves
handful freshly grated parmesan cheese

For the bechamel sauce:
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 litre (2.2 pints) whole milk
2 bay leaves
1 stalk, celery, thickly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and thickly sliced
1 medium onion, peeled and thickly sliced
salt to taste
4-5 rasps of fresh nutmeg
4 peppercorns
2 tbsp grated parmesan

Get your meat sauce cooking for about an hour and a half before starting the bechamel sauce.

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, peppercorns, salt, bay leaves, carrot, celery and onion to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for five minutes before turning off the heat and allowing the flavours of the aromatics to infuse the milk for an hour or so. When cooled, strain the milk.

In a medium, heat the olive oil over a medium-low heat and add the flour, stirring well to form a thick paste. When you can smell the flour starting to cook, stir the infused milk in a little at a time. stir quickly to avoid lumps forming, but don't worry, if you do get lumps, you can use an immersion (stick) blender to smooth it out. Once all the milk has been incorporated, bring to a low simmer and stir in the parmesan and nutmeg. You want the sauce to have a consistency similar to a thick custard, if too thick, add a little more milk. If the sauce is too thin, mix 1 tsp corn flour with a little cold milk and drizzle into the simmering sauce, stirring constantly.

Turn the oven to 200C (400F) and pour yourself a large glass of red wine, sip throughout.

In a large baking dish, put a layer of uncooked lasagne noodles, then a thick layer of the meat sauce. Top with the bechamel sauce and then repeat these layers twice more, so that you have three of each.
Top the lasagne with the whole basil leaves, then the mozzerella and finally with an even scattering of grated parmesan. Bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to sit at room temp for ten minutes to make cutting and serving a little easier.


Baked Lasagne

Back Breaking Work.

I was all excited this morning when I got up, eager to go out and do some serious vegetable gardening. I had a bunch of seeds and garlic cloves that need to go into the ground and Jerusalem artichokes and a few varieties of potatoes to plant in potato bags.
So after breakfast, on went the wellies and the dogs and I ventured out to the veggie patch. The plan was this: Fill the grow bags with soil and compost (and tubers!) and then start on pretty little rows of radishes, beets, carrots, peas, beans.....and on and on. I was planning to save the greenhouse projects like tomatoes and chillies for the afternoon, when it was supposed to rain.

As it turns out, I should probably done some stretches before flinging shovels-full of dirt, because half way through carrying the filled grow bags my back went out. It felt rather like a massive rubber band running across my back had snapped and raveled back on itself. It was frightening!

I can only imagine what the neighbours thought if they heard the noises I was making. Perhaps that I had Tiger Woods or John Terry over?

I waddled, doubled over back to the house, feeling embarrassed about my shocking physical condition and worrying that I'd slipped a disc or something.

By the time it was time to make dinner, I'd taken a super-hot bath, some arnica and some (lots) codeine and was feeling considerably better, although in no way up to an hour or more of vigourous cookery. I had made a ball of pasta dough yesterday, as I was planning to make these simple tortellini. As with things like samosas, pasties and some other stuffed pastry dishes, there's a little time taken stuffing/folding etc, but it's a rather zen activity and rather relaxing as long as you're not in a hurry.

This was my first attempt at making pasta, which is weird because I like to make as much as possible from scratch but we usually eat noodles like spaghetti or tagliatelle rather than stuffed pastas like this. I don't yet have a pasta machine, but it's on my Amazon wish list (Are you reading Daddy?) so hopefully I'll have one by my next birthday.

I used Raymond Blanc's pasta dough recipe, which worked well I thought. I think I could have rolled the dough out a little thinner so I will next time but otherwise it was a really lovely dish.

Pork and Arugula Tortellini with a Simple Tomato Sauce
serves 2, takes approx 1 hour- 75 mins

200g (7 oz) tipo 00 flour
2 large free range eggs

100g (3.5 oz) minced pork
100g (3.5 oz) pancetta, chopped quite small.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
large handful rocket (arugula) roughly chopped
2 tbsp freshly grated parmesan
salt and pepper

3 large, ripe tomatoes
1 more clove garlic, crushed
2 sprigs basil, leaves picked and cut into chiffonade
2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt
pinch crushed red chilli

In a food processor, tip the flour and the eggs and pulse for a minute to bring the two together into a dough. Add a few drops of water if the mixture is too dry- you want it to come together in a ball without being sticky. When well mixed, put your ball on a piece of cling film, flatten into a disc about half an inch thick, then wrap and refrigerate for half an hour.

While your pasta is chilling, make your filling. In the food processor, add the pork, pancetta, garlic, fennel seeds, parmesan, rocket and a little salt and fresh black pepper. Pulse a few times to bring the mixture together well but be careful not to turn it into a paste, as you want to retain the texture of the meat.

When the dough has rested, roll it out on a well floured worktop to a thickness of about 2mm (1/8") then use a 7cm (2.5-3") circular cutter to cut out round pieces and dust off any excess flour. Put about a teaspoonful of the meat mixture in the centre of the pasta rounds and wet one half of the circle, then fold the edges together into a semi circle, being sure to push any air out as you go. If you have air trapped inside, it could expand and burst the pasta shells when you cook them, making a nasty mess. Now, bring the two corners together, overlapping the two points, sticking together with a little water to make little closed crescent shapes.

Put a large pot of water on to boil with some salt.
Add your pasta to the boiling water and cook for about 10-12 minutes while you make your sauce.

Blanch the tomatoes first, by cutting a shallow X in the skin and plunging into boiling water for fifteen seconds. The skins should peel off quite easily now.
Halve the tomatoes and scrape out all the seeds and pulp, reserving them in a small bowl. Dice the tomatoes.

Heat the olive oil in a sautee pan over a low-med heat and gently fry the garlic without letting it brown. Add the tomatoes to the pan with a few good pinches of olive oil and run the reserved tomato seeds and pulp through a sieve into the pan. That soft jellyish bit inside the tomato is rich in umami, and so is important to the sauce. Add your pinch of chilli and allow the sauce to cook for a couple of minutes until the tomatoes have broken down and have lost their raw smell. Stir through the basil and remove from the heat.

Your pasta should be cooked at about the same time as your sauce, so drain it well and add to the sauce. Toss well to coat and serve with plenty of fresh parmesan.

Tortellini

Seriously The Best Bolognese Sauce EVER.

I know, this is pretty controversial. Claiming to have the best recipe for spaghetti Bolognese is like claiming to have the best apple pie or roast potato recipe. The automatic response is "What? No, my mother makes the best spag bol (As it's known here in the UK)!" I mean, besides chicken tikka masala and fish and chips, spag bol is practically our national dish, served regularly at pretty much every dining table the country over.
This recipe makes three batches, so that you can freeze enough for a couple of other dinners for subsequent weeks without any more work. It takes a long, slow cook and has some ingredients that might surprise you, but the final result is rich, authentic and multi-layered. You will never ever touch another jar of pre-made sauce again, especially as this comes in at a few pennies over £1 per person!
Also ridiculously good in lasagne.

The BEST Bolognese Pasta Sauce
Serves 4 x 3 batches, takes 3 1/2 hours
450g/1lb beef mince
450g/1lb free range pork mince*
450g/1lb British rose veal mince**
2-400 tins crushed tomatoes
140 tin tomato puree
3 large onions, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, finely diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 bay leaves
Lg bunch basil, finely chopped
8 large garlic cloves,
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2-tomato tins full of milk
1 tbsp sea salt (or to taste)
4 tbsp olive oil

To serve- big hunk of parmesan or peccorino romano

Heat half of the olive oil over a high heat in a large, deep frying pan or dutch oven. Fry the beef, then the veal, then the pork in batches, moving each to a bowl off the heat once browned well.
Put the remaining oil in the pan and add the sliced onions, frying gently until soft and starting to go gold before stirring through the celery and carrot.
Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer, then lower the heat to low and cover tightly with a lid.
Cook for 3 hours, stirring every so often and checking liquid levels. Serve over your favourite pasta with freshly grated parm and a leafy garden salad.

Cook's Notes:
* Use free range pork if you can. Aside from the obvious ethical reasons, the difference in flavour in outdoor reared pork is huuuuge.

**If you live outside the UK or can't find free range veal, substitute with either more pork, more beef or even minced lamb, which is a brilliant alternative.
Spaghetti Sauce

The Crowd Pleaser/Veggie Lasagne

I call this dish the crowd pleaser because it is a brilliant dish to serve a large group of people and makes the cook just as happy as the guests because it's really simple to make and it's inexpensive.
It's vegetarian, so if you have veggie diners, you don't have to worry about cooking them a separate dish, because it's every bit as 'meaty' as the meat version. It's at least as good re-heated the next day, so you can prepare ahead if you like. Serve with a garden salad dressed with balsamic vinaigrette.
Robust Vegetarian Lasagne
Feeds 6 Takes 1 hour

1 medium-sized aubergine (eggplant)
2 courgettes (zucchini)
7-8 large closed cup mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 400g tin crushed tomatoes
1 package spinach lasagne noodles
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
3 tsp salt
300ml good veg stock (or chicken stock if you're not vegetarian)
400ml milk
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
large handful freshly grated parmesan
300g fresh buffalo mozerella
2 large, ripe tomatoes
2 sprigs fresh basil
2 tbsp olive oil

Start by cutting the aubergine into batons approximately 1 1/2 cm square by 6 cm long. (slice length-wise, then cut those slices into strips, then cut those strips in half) Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan, and when hot, add the aubergine pieces, turning them in the oil until all coated. While these begin to sizzle, dice the mushrooms into pieces approximately 2-3 cm and halve, then slice the courgettes. When the aubergines have been cooking for a few minutes and are beginning to colour, add the mushrooms, courgettes and the salt. Stir to combine and then allow to cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until all the veg are tender and most of the moisture that has bled out has cooked away. Stir in the tomatoes and garlic and cook for a further ten or so minutes.
Turn the oven on to 180 C/ 375 F
Meanwhile, make what I call 'Cheats Bechamel' It's far quicker than a normal bechamel because you don't have to steep the milk with the veg and herbs, but the flavour is just as lovely.
In a small sauce pan, melt the butter until gently bubbling, then tip in the flour and stir. You should have a thick paste-like mixture, which you want to cook for a few minutes, stirring periodically until it smells slightly nutty and is a little darker in colour. Stir in the stock, about a third at a time, bringing the pan to a simmer each time and beating out any lumps before adding the next lot in. When all of the stock has been added, add the bay leaves and begin with the milk, adding/warming/stirring until you have a smooth sauce the consistency of pourable custard. Grate in the nutmeg and stir in the parmesan, mixing through evenly.
Set aside for a few minutes until ready to use.
Slice the balls of mozzerella about 5mm thick and the tomato as thin as you can and prepare to assemble the dish.

In a lasagne dish, layer : 1 layer uncooked noodles, then 1/2 the veg mixture, then 1/3 of the bechamel, then another layer of noodles. Top with the remaining veg mixture, 1/3 of the bechamel, more noodles, and then the remaining bechamel. Evenly scatter the whole basil leaves across the top, then lay out the slices of mozzerella and finish with the slices of tomato. If you like, a smattering of crushed red chillies is also very tasty.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until golden and bubbly, then let it rest at room temp for fifteen minutes before cutting into and serving.
Vegetarian Lasagne Recipe