Pasta with Mushrooms, Cream and Purple Sprouting

4 02 2010

The snow appears to have destroyed the purple sprouting on the allotment. Last year the pigeons ate most of it so this year I grew it under netting. Now it snakes across the allotment floor looking distinctly sorry for itself and unable to raise itself from the ground. Good job then that Riverford delivered a nice big bag of the stuff to my door yesterday. I love the stuff, but how do you convince three teenagers to eat it? The answer….smother it is cream and cheese

This serves 6 or so hungry people

2 tablespoons olive oil
knob of butter
1 small onion – finely chopped
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
5 large field mushrooms – cut into chunks
2 tablespoons green pesto
170ml single cream
bunch of purple sprouting
Pasta shapes – about 400g
1 tablespoon capers – drained
125 mozarella
handful of pine nuts

Bring a pan of water to the boil and cook the pruple sprouting until tender. Drain and leave to one side.

Bring another pan of water to the boil, cook the pasta till al dente, drain and combine with the purple sprouting.

Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan. When hot fry the onion and garlic until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft then remove from heat and combine with the pasta.

Add the pesto, capers and cream then place in a shallow oven proof dish. Top with torn mozarella and a handful of pine nuts then place in the oven at 190C for about 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and everything is hot.

Serve with grated parmesan and chopped red chili


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Spaghetti with Peas, Asparagus and Mushrooms

21 05 2009

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Simple, quick and summery, but probably didn’t really need the mushrooms as they made it a little heavy.

3-4 tablespoons olive oil
250g asparagus – chopped into chunks
about a teacup full of frozen peas
8 mushrooms – chopped
1 dried red chili – crushed
1 clove garlic – finely chopped
Parmesan cheese
Spaghetti

Bring a pan of water to the boil then throw in the peas and asparagus and boill briefly until just tender. Drain and rinse with cold water to prevent them overcooking.

Cook the spaghetti as per the instructions on the pack. I haven’t put the quantity here as it depends how many you are cooking for and how hungry they are!

While the spaghetti it cooking, heat a large frying pan. Add the oil, garlic, chili and mushrooms. Fry until mushrooms tender, then add the peas and asparagus. Fry on a high heat for a couple of minutes.

Drain the spaghetti, return to the warm pan then add the vegetables from the frying pan. Stir and serve with grated Parmesan.


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Courgette Balls with Tomato Sauce and Spaghetti

8 04 2009

I had more courgettes than I knew what to do with last summer so tried inventing a few new recipes. This one went down well with the whole family, even the meat eater. Probably due to the deep deep frying element of the recipe. I based this on a courgette kofta Indian recipe, putting an Italian slant on things by replacing the Indian herbs and spices with something a little more Mediterranean.

Start by making the tomato sauce
2x400g tins chopped tomatoes
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic – finely chopped

Heat 6 tablespoons of olive oil in a pan. Add the chopped garlic. As soon as the garlic sizzles add the tomatoes, bring to the boil and simmer with the lid off for 20 minutes until nice and thick. Remove from heat.

Now for the balls
3 courgettes – grated and squeezed through muslin or a tea towel to get as much water out as possible
1 small onion finely chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 egg – beaten
Salt and pepper
50-100g grated cheddar
Plain flour
Sunflower oil for deep frying

In a small frying pan heat a little more olive oil and fry the onion with the dried herbs until soft. Add this to the grated courgettes, grated cheese and mix. Add the egg, mix again then add plain flour to dry it out a little. Season with salt and black pepper. Mix well then divide the mixture into small balls – each slightly smaller than a golf ball.

Heat the sunflower oil in a deep pan and fry the balls in the hot oil until golden and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper to remove some of the excess oil.

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Transfer the fried balls to an ovenproof dish, cover with the tomato sauce and bake at 180C for 20 minutes. While the balls are baking, cook the spaghetti as per the instructions on the packet.

Serve the balls on a bed of spaghetti topped with shavings of fresh parmesan cheese.

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Piatto del Giorno: Cannelloni

1 04 2009

Being a busy household with people constantly coming and going, needing lifts to sports clubs, matches, music lessons, shops and everything else imaginable, it leaves only three options when it comes to feeding the family. Get a takeaway, get a microwaveable heat up or plan in advance and prepare something. I had a little time last night to knock up a dish of spinach and ricotta cannelloni, ready for heating up tonight. It took all of 15 minutes to prepare and needs around 25-30 minutes in the oven to heat through. The quantity below should feed 4-5 people depending on how hungry or greedy they are.

Start with the tomato sauce as this needs a little time to reduce and thicken.
Olive oil – 2-3 tablespoons
2 cloves garlic
2x400g tins of chopped tomatoes
a few fresh basil leaves – dried will do too
salt
pepper

Heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the chopped garlic and as soon as it starts to sizzle, add the tomatoes and basil. Stir then simmer with the lid off for 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat.

While the sauce is simmering, start on the Cannelloni
250g pack of Spinach – if using the ready washed type simply make some holes in the bag and microwave for 2 minutes on full power, then chop roughly
1 red onion – it doesn’t have to be red (chopped)
olive oil – about 2 tablespoons
salt and pepper
a dusting of nutmeg
1 teaspoon dried oregano
handful of pine nuts – or sunflower or pumpkin seeds
250g ricotta cheese – you could use any cream cheese
1 red chili – deseeded and finely chopped
1 pack (12 sheets) fresh lasagne

Put the overn on to 190C, then heat the oil in a pan then add the pine nuts (or seeds), onion and chili and fry until softened, then add the spinach and cook over a high heat to drive out the liquid.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add all the other ingredients except of the lasagne sheets. Mix well.
Lay the sheets of lasagne out and spread a tablespoon or so of the mixture over each, dividing the mixture equally. Roll each sheet up and lay in a lightly greased oven proof dish. Cover with the tomato sauce and bake in the oven until everything is bubbling.

Serve with a green salad, garlic bread if you like your carbs and shavings of parmesan cheese.

cannelloni

cannelloni


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Butternut Squash Lasagne

9 03 2009

I needed something quick last night to feed 5 without too much effort. Came up with this which 4 out of 5 of us enjoyed.

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1 butternut squash – peeled, seeds removed and chopped into ½cm cubes
1 onion – chopped
1 yellow pepper – cut into ½cm pieces
2 tomatoes – chopped
splash of olive oil
salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano (I think thyme might work well here too)
6 sheets of dried lasagne
large knob of butter
2 tablespoons plain flour
milk – about 350ml I think
cheddar – 100g should do it, but use more if you like it very cheesy

Turn oven on to 190C.

Place the butternut, tomatoes, onion and pepper in a dish. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and place in oven for about an hour until everything soft and starting to char a little.

Remove from oven, add oregano and set to one side.

Now make the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a pan, then add the flour. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes then slowly, little by little, add the milk, stirring all the time to remove lumps. As the sauce starts to thicken add the cheese and stir until melted and the sauce is creamy and thick. Remove from heat.

Take a large ovenproof dish. Place half the vegetable mixture on the bottom, cover with three sheets of lasagne, then another layer of vegetables, then the other three sheets of lasagne. Cover with the cheese sauce and bake for 30 minutes until brown on top and bubbling.

Serve with green salad or with finely shredded spring cabbage, boiled for five minutes then dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.


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