Before cooking; white pizza with normal dough, olive oil, sea salt, cherry tomatoes patted dry and young artichokes cleaned and sliced thinly.
Prosciutto added after cooking, simple, but tasty
For the filling:
A huge bunch of spinach
2 tubs ricotta (or equivalent of fresh if you can get it! – Giselle!!!)
2 Lemons, juice and rind
Plenty of Grated Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
1 bag pine nuts toasted
Parmesan
A few chilli flakes
2 beaten eggs
For the sauce:
70 g butter
30 g all-purpose flour
1 litre milk
pinch salt
freshly grated nutmeg
black pepper
Oven-proof dish 30 / 20 cms approx.
To make the pasta:
1. In a bowl, sieve the flour and make a well in the centre.
2. Crack in the eggs and incorporate by hand
3. Knead for 5 minutes until dough is soft and silky (this can be done by hand or in mixer or bread machine)
4. Place in fridge, covered for 1/2 hour to relax the dough
5. Cut dough into manageable pieces (6)
6. Roll very thinly (the thinner the better) using a pasta machine or rolling pin
7. Cut into oblong strips to fit your lasagne dish and hang up to slightly dry out
To make the filling:
1. Blanch spinach very briefly in boiling salted water and drain well. Cool
2. Drain ricotta well to remove any excess liquid
3. Add ricotta, lemon juice and rind, nutmeg, salt, pepper, pine nuts, parmesan,chilli and eggs to spinach and mix well
To make the sauce:
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Once melted, stir in the flour until smooth. Continue stirring as the flour cooks to a light, golden, sandy color, about 7 minutes.
3. Increase heat to medium-high and slowly whisk in milk until thickened by the roux.
4. Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce heat to low and continue simmering until the flour has softened and not longer tastes ‘floury’, 10 to 20 minutes, then season with salt and nutmeg.
Heat oven to 165oC
Now layer the ingredients into your dish, starting with a layer of white sauce, then a layer of pasta, then the spinach mix. Keep going until your dish is full to the top.
Bake on 165oC for 40 – 50 minutes until golden brown and bubbly on top.
Eat with a crisp green salad.
PS The recipe makes quite a lot of pasta and spinach filling so we had plenty left to make ravioli for our next meal – yummy!
One thing, my husband was devastated I wasn’t planning on frying the zucchini flowers so I fried him a few in a basic pastella (made with flour and carbonated water-hence the “garnish”)
Preparation:
I generally use one part quinoa to two parts water, but in any event, follow the instructions on your package of quinoa. Cook the quinoa in vegetable broth (once the boils, turn down the heat to simmer it) until it fluffs up, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
While the quinoa is cooking, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Cool the quinoa a bit and toss with the vegetables and olive oil/lemon juice mix, stirring to combine well. Chill before serving.
Broccoli, pasta, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and parmigiano cheese.
Roast Pine nuts then add olive oil and garlic in heavy bottom pan. Boil the broccoli in salted water and when al dente, scoop out of pot with slotted spoon and put into frying pan. Cook the pasta in the broccoli water and when cooked, add to frying pan with broccoli. Toss together then add as much cheese as you like and serve. Easy light meal!!!
4.5 cups of broth (vegetable or chicken)
2 large or 3 small leeks, washed and sliced thin
1 large shallot, sliced thin
1 tsp of finely chopped rosemary (optional)
Zest of one small lemon or half of a large lemon
White wine
400 grams of Carnaroli Rice
Olive Oil
Small knob of butter
70-100 grams of parmigiano
S and P, Q.B.!!
Saute leeks until tender about 10 minutes in a bit of oil. If pan dries out too much or leeks start to color, add broth.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan large enough to cook 400 grams of risotto. Saute shallots until tender. Add rice and toast until rice starts to turn transparent. Add wine (about one turn around the pan) and cook off. And add 2 cups of hot broth and continue stirring. When liquid is almost gone, add 1.5 cups of broth, rosemary if using, cooked leeks, and lemon zest and continue cooking and adding broth as necessary. Add salt as necessary keeping in mind whether your broth is salted! When rice is cooked, turn off the heat. Add a small knob of butter and all of the cheese. Let sit for a few minutes before serving.
Classic, but simple, better with homegrown, but hey, you guys forced me. BLTC sandwich with homemade Pugliese bread.
Toast the bread both sides with a stovetop grill pan and after one side is toasted put on the cheese of your choice: I used Corno d’Abruzzo, Cook the pancetta, thinly sliced until crisp and add them then the tomatoes (hothouse tomatoes are a bit better with a pizzicato di sale) and the lettuce and mayonnaise for lubrication. Buono!
I know there are many different variations on “Trapanese” sauce – sometimes it’s more like an almond pesto with a few cherry tomatoes added in while this is a tomato-based sauce with a bit of basil thrown in – but this is one my in-laws learned on the island of Marettimo when they used to spend summer vacations there. It’s an original recipe, and reminds me of summer. Excuse the unappetizing photo. I’m no food photographer.
Ingredients for four people:
About 400 grams of pasta (I like casarecce siciliane, shells or penne for this recipe)
About 500 grams of cherry tomatoes (we make it very “sauce-y” but you could use less)
Peeled whole almonds (a large handful – about 25)
1-2 garlic cloves you can regulate it depending on your tastes.
Olive oil
A handful of basil leaves
Salt
Clean and pierce each of the cherry tomatoes and squeeze out the little seeds in the sink. Put the squeezed cherry tomatoes aside in a large bowl. In the meantime, using a hand mixer/processor, chop up the almonds and garlic cloves with about 1/2 cup of olive oil. You may need to add more oil. Don’t blend too much – it should be a very thick oil with plenty of chopped almond bits in it and NOT have the consistency of creamy peanut butter. Add the almond-garlic-oil mixture to the tomatoes. Here you’ve got two options. You can try to smash it all together by hand with something, such as a pestle, or you can take your hand mixer and quickly blend (maybe two or three short pulses) but making sure to maintain the form of most of the cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes should not be pulverized but should maintain a general smashed cherry-tomato shape. Cut up your basil leaves into small slivers and add the basil to the sauce. Add salt and more oil to taste. Cook your pasta in salted water. When it’s ready add the pasta to the sauce. The pasta and sauce mixture does not get heated up over the flame. The sauce goes on cold. It’s a somewhat lukewarm pasta dish nice for a spring or summer day. The sauce is even better if made a few hours before making the pasta and let sit.
500 grams fresh tagliatelle (can be made with dry as well, but watch quantity)
800 grams of canned, whole tomatoes (much better with fresh) crushed by hand or with blender
Handful of basil, torn, or cut into ribbons
100 grams of prosciutto cotto or ham
200 grams of fresh mozzarella
50 grams of grated parmigiano
2-3 large or 4 small cloves of garlic
Salt, pepper, hot red pepper, sugar to taste.
Olive oil for sautéing
Put a pot of water on to boil. Heat oil in a pan large enough to hold 500 grams of fresh pasta. Saute garlic and hot pepper if using until golden and add tomatoes. Bring to boil and add salt and sugar TO TASTE. (I did not use sugar this time but you should never use more than a pinch.) Continue cooking until cooked through-about 20 minutes. (add basil about half way through.)
In the mean time, chop prosciutto into squares or slivers. And cut mozzarella into tiny pieces. Grate parmigiano.
Prep is done.
Boil pasta and drain completely. Add to tomato sauce. Completely coat. Add prosciutto and mozzarella and thoroughly combine. Mozzarella will start to melt. Add parmigiano to taste.
I’ve been making this for years, it’s a stock pasta sauce in our house and I love it!
I think, originally I saw this uber-simple sauce in Antonio Carluccio’s cook book – Passion for Pasta … Then I added the basil, puree, wine and pepper cos I think it adds something to it. However, without these, it’s still a stunning sauce!
The amounts are rough, I don’t check anymore!
You will need
glug of olive oil
half a white onion finely chopped
(best) Guanciale, (next best) cubes of pancetta (when nothing else) Bacon! In small cubes or in the case of bacon, strips. To taste – I think I use either a blister pack of pancetta or a similar amount of guanciale when I have it. (a couple or three slices)
1 small chilli, seeds removed and finely minced or some dried chilli flakes to taste.
1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes or same of passata (your own would be the best) Depends on whether you want it smooth or not.
1 scant tablespoon tomato puree (concentrate)
half a dozen basil leaves ripped up.
glug of red wine if the sauce gets too thick.
Bit of fresh ground pepper no salt.
Bucatini spaghetti (The one with the hole through the middle)
Grated hard cheese.
What to do
Put the water on for the spaghetti.
Heat some oil in a non-stick saucepan. Add the onion and guanciale (or whatever you’re using)
Add the chilli.
Stir and keep gently cooking until the onion is translucent and guanciale has gone thru the translucent stage and is starting to colour. Try not to let the onion caramelise.
Add the chopped tomatoes or passata, stir.
Add the tomato puree, stir.
After a few minutes add the basil.
Season with the pepper.
Simmer for as long as you want – usually for the time it takes to make it until the bucatini is ready.
Add the drained bucatini to the sauce and stir through thoroughly.
