Category: Pasta

Minestrone soup at Wimbledon?

June 25, 2013

That time of year is upon us yet again… “Wimbledon”!! 

  I love this time of year as for all foodies and vegetable growers in the UK, this week brings such joy.  It is as if everything starts to come alive when Wimbledon starts.  My first thought whilst I was watching Wimbledon for its first day was of course about the great British strawberry.  I could’nt get it out of my head…Still can’t! 
 Yesterday and today has been a real inspiration and I have fantastic ideas to conquer, which I will dissclose at a later date.

  As I look outside I can see my little peas growing fast, Salads and herbs galore! Even my Courgettes have had a burst of growth (at about 5-6 inches now) I cannot wait to eat the flowers aswell.
 So…What did I make for lunch yesterday…MINESTRONE SOUP!…** Screeching of a record player sounds** …
 MINESTRONE SOUP? I asked myself where on earth that came from?, thus having all these other ideas floating around my Foodie brain? Well at about 2.30pm it came. It was  after watching Keith Floyd again yesterday morning, I apparantly couldn’t get that out of my brain either! That man does it yet again for me. I didn’t do entirly his recipe as I like to have a few differences.  But it was a lovely, fresh, hearty but yet light, late Lunch.
So there we have it… Minestrone soup at Wimbledon!














Minestrone soup

Recipe: (Serves 2-3 ish)

Olive oil.
1 onion finely diced.
1 large Carrot diced small.
1 large stick of celery chopped finely also.
2 cloves of Garlic or 1 large clove chopped very fine.
level tsp of  dried oregano.
Fresh Chopped tomatoes (The better quality the better) really red and juicy.Approx 250g
Roughly 700ml of water.
I used 1/4 cube of veg stock and 1/4 of chicken stock. You can use veg or chicken or both in my case.
1 tbsp of tomato puree
A bouquet garni of fresh thyme and rosemary. (tied together).
Spaghetti broken to 1 inch in length or very small shaped pasta.
100g of Butter beans or cannellini beans rinsed off with water (Tinned)
A handfull of fresh baby Spinach. Ripped roughly.
Cracked black pepper and salt if needed.
Chopped Basil and grated parmesan to serve.

Fry off in the olive oil the onion, carrot and celery for a few minutes. Then add the garlic, oregano, tomatoes and tomato puree. You may need to add a little more olive oil at this stage. Then top up with the water and stock.  Add the Bouquet garni and cook for about 20 minutes.
  In that 20 minutes is a perfect time to have a glass of wine in the sun 🙂

 After the 20 minutes, You may need to add a little more water to this as you are adding the spaghetti and beans next. If you do add water, taste to see if you need more stock or tomato puree or even seasoning etc…
 Cook the spaghetti and beans for no more than 10 minutes. Should be done after 8 minutes. After 8 minutes add the spinach.

 Scatter the chopped basil and grated parmesan (don’t be shy now) and serve with crusty ciabatta and of course your second large glass of Red wine, preferably a Chianti. 










Ragu Tagliatelle and National Butchers Week

March 14, 2013

Between The 4th and 10th of March was National Butchers week.  I am such  a Lover and very Passionate about using our Local shops and keeping that Tradition going in the Uk.  I.E Keep our Butchers, Grocers, Bakers going!! etc etc… 
  Anyway…So What could I produce from my local Butcher, Something I hadn’t ever done before.  My first thought into my mind was a traditional Ragu.  Now I know that doesn’t sound very adventurous but in fact, In the Past I had cooked a ragu sauce before but not a “PROPER” one.  One where if Antonio Carluccio Or Giorgio Locatelli walked into my kitchen, they would be proud! 
 So I thought of these two great Chefs and wondered what their take on a “Ragu” was.  Well I found that They had quite different recipes and of course I couldn’t decide which to use? “Right then”, I said to my Partner.  “I do My own.”  “Actually no, I will do Both theirs and a few of my added touches in with it.”  As Carluccio does more of a tomato based with no herbs and pancetta.  Whereas Locatelli Uses more in depth ingredients such as more Red wine and hardy herbs.  Now at the time, I thought I was doing the right thing, all getting excited but unbeknown to myself, I was doing what I have still always done with the Ragu and complicating it…

  My Partner loved the outcome, but For me I hadn’t achieved my goal.  But as all us Chefs/Cooks will know,  sometimes Recipes take time… Anyway Well here Is the Recipe that I used and the outcome.  

Ragu Tagliatelle ( Thanks to Antonio Carluccio and Giorgio Locatelli) 

Recipe:


250g of Pork mince
250g of Beef mince
100g of Chicken Livers
Olive Oil
1 Carrot finely diced
1 Celery stick finely diced
2 cloves of Garlic finely chopped
very small sprigs of Rosemary , Sage and Thyme tied together,
150 ml of  white wine (pinot grigio)
1/2 a bottle of red wine ( I used a good chianti) 
2 tablespoons of tomato puree/paste
500ml of very good Organic Passata
Very small amount of chicken stock just added when
the sauce was getting dry.
Seasoning if needed.
Parmesan for serving.
Tagliatelle pasta (I used dried this time “shock horror”! next time I will do fresh) !

Method:

Heat up your pan with the Olive oil and Fry off the Onions, Celery, Carrot and Garlic for roughly 10 mins.  Then Add the Meat, not livers yet though, and cook until browned.  Add the white wine so that the alcohol evaporates into the meat. Add 250 ml of Red wine, The tomato paste and passata and simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours. However long you do it for, add the chicken livers half an hour before the finish time and add the stock and rest of red wine if the sauce becomes dry. My Dish took 3 hours but that’s probably due to my sciatica! 
 Before the sauce is almost ready, cook the pasta for no more than 10 minutes, you need it “Al dente” (bit of a bite still to it).  Drain the pasta off add a little olive oil to coat.  Then I just took some of the sauce into another frying pan and added the right amount of pasta to it to coat ( as you can see from the pictures ), as this depends on how many people, how much people like to eat etc… you know how it is people?! 

So My outcome to this dish is that I felt I over complicated it. My Partner loved it, I know it needs working on.  But I have learnt from my mistake and will do Both their versions again and adapt to what I like I feel my taste is. However one thing I do know is that I will never go back to what I did before.  Thank you to, two, Great Italian Chefs.