Tomato, sausage and fennel seed ragu with gnocchi

Recently my thoughts have been turning even more than usual towards Italy, Tuscany in particular (see here if you haven't heard why). The recipe below uses a typical combination of fennel seeds and pork. The recipe is simple to prepare and delicious to eat. It is from a great book I got for Christmas, The Italian cookery course. This book is fast becoming one of my favorite cookbooks. So far I have cooked a winter minestrone soup from it (which was the best I've tasted) and this delicious tomato, sausage and fennel seed ragu with gnocchi. I can't wait to find more time to cook more of the recipes. I also look forward to finding time to read this book cover to cover. The book includes lots of information on the ingredients used and traditional cooking in Italy and all it diverse regions. There are also lots of useful masterclasses on everything from breads, fresh pasta and risotto to stuffing a leg of lamb and how to bone a chicken or rabbit. To anyone who loves Italian food as much as I do this is 500 pages of wonderful writing, stunning photos of Italy and the food, lots of masterclasses and helpful techniques, not to mention several hundred delicious recipes. I am especially looking forward to spending some time trying out the bread recipes and masterclasses and also fresh pasta.

Back to the sausage ragu. I love the combination of fennel seeds and pork and this ragu works well with gnocchi as suggested in the book but I believe it would work equally as well with a pasta such as penne. I have only recently discovered gnocchi, its a nice change to pasta and very simple to cook (I love the way it floats to the top of the pan when it is ready). I really must find time to have a go at making my own gnocchi sometime soon. This recipe serves 6-8 and freezes well.

Tomato, sausage and fennel seed ragu with gnocchi
Serves 6-8

12 lean best-quality pork sausages
olive oil
4 whole garlic cloves, lightly crushed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
4 bay leaves
250ml red wine
800g Italian tinned plum tomatoes
6 heaped teaspoons tomato puree
grated Parmesan to serve
Packed of gnocchi to serve 6-8

Remove the sausage meat from the skins and chop up the meat to break it up.
Put the olive oil in a large frying pan (I used a cast iron casserole pot) over a medium heat and add the garlic, salt and pepper. Fry for about 2 minutes until the garlic becomes light gold.
Add the onion and fry for a few minutes, until translucent.
Stir in the fennel seeds and bay leaves.
Add the meat and fry for 6-7 minutes or until cooked through. Use a wood spoon to break up the mince and stop it sticking to the pan.
Add the wine and allow to reduce for a couple of minutes, then add the tinned tomatoes and tomato puree and stir well.
Leave the ragu to simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook the ragu according to the packet instructions.
Once cooked, drain the gnocchi and toss in the ragu.
Serve with Parmesan scattered over the top.

Authentic spaghetti carbonara

Until a few years ago I used to love the rich, creamy carbonara sauces most Italian restaurants serve. Ok so it's not the healthiest dish on the menu but it was a very occasional treat. Then suddenly I started to find the dish too rich for my tastes and stopped ordering it when in Italian restaurants. Maybe my tastes had changed or maybe I had had one too many rubbish carbonara's. Then as I started to get more and more in to cooking I discovered that true Italian carbonara's don't include cream at all! At this point I started to consider the idea of making a carbonara myself.

I discovered Italian Foodies sometime last year and have been following the blog since then (and also working my way through the posts/recipes from before I discovered it). It has to be up there as one of my favorite blogs. It is full of mouth watering pictures and deliciously simple recipes (mostly Italian - my favorite kind). You might have noticed that I have a list in my side bar called 'recipes I want to try'. I have been using this list to keep track of some of the recipes other blogs post that I want to try myself. Italian foodies authentic carbonara has been sat there for quiet sometime waiting for me to find the time to try it.

At the weekend we visited The Hollies farm shop in Cheshire. They were hosting a Great British food feast, with lots of local suppliers showcasing their produce and lots of food to sample. There was also a delicious hog roast and a showcase of 1000's of pumpkins (the advertising said 4000 but I didn't count them!). One of the products that caught our eye was their bacon. So armed with a packet of local bacon I decided to try my hand at a real authentic (cream free!) carbonara. I wasn't disappointed. The carbonara was simple to make and turned out fantastic, I didn't miss the cream and it really allowed the quality and taste of the bacon to shine. I wanted to share this recipe with you all and also book mark it here so I can make it again in the future. For the recipe and step by step photos see here.

Cook book review - Easy tasty Italian - Laura Santtini

Another great Italian cook book! I know I have only just reviewed Antonio Carluccio's simple cooking but what can I say I love cook books and I love Italian food. However this cook book is completely different to Antonio Carluccio's so there is room on my bookshelf and in my kitchen for both! This book is completely different to any cook book (Italian or otherwise) I have browsed through before. Its very unique in style and a little bit quirky too. This book claims that after reading this book your cooking will never be the same again! Quite a big statement perhaps but I suspect it maybe true. I've read my fair share of Italian cook books but I can definitely say I have learnt a thing or two already from this book (which has only been in my possession a couple of days). It's much more than a collection of recipes, this book aims to teach you how to create flavour bombs that make even simple food sensational.





























The secret - umami. This is the fifth taste, discovered by the Japanese in 1908 but only recently accepted by Western scientists. Umami means deliciousness and refers to intensely savoury tastes. Laura has christened umami in the Italian kitchen 'u-mamma!'. Classic umami flavours in the Italian larder include tomatoes, Parmesan, white truffles and balsamic vinegar to name just a few. Reading this chapter on umami helped me understand why dishes as simple as Antonio Carluccio's cart driver spaghetti can taste so delicious (porcini mushrooms are another Italian umami flavour) and why the soffritto base (onions, carrot and celery) are such a key component of Italian cooking.

As well as the umami larder, there are details of the typical Italian larder (a comprehensive list of typical ingredients like beans and pulses, pastas, cheeses and seasonings) and of the alchemic larder. This alchemic larder suggests adding edible metals, dried flowers, nuts and seeds and many other ingredients designed to add magic to dishes.

The next chapter has basic recipes and procedures to prepare flavour bombs, "using ingredients as a writer uses words and an artist uses paints". These include flavoured mayonnaise's, pestos, flavoured butters and pastes as well as marinades. There are serving suggestions for each flavour enhancer. For example she suggests adding chilli, chocolate, wine paste to rich stews, marinading red meat in red u-mamma! marinade, serving sweet and sour carrots with honey & thyme as a side dish or stirring a spoonful of basic basil pesto in to minestrone soup.

The second section of the book contains the main recipes which are divided in to 4 sections Air 'I am raw', Water 'I was cooked', Fire 'I was burned' and Earth 'I am tasty'. Each chapter describes different techniques used in Italian cooking and has a selection of recipes with suggestions for variations and which taste bombs can be added.

Air uses only raw ingredients. So this chapter covers antipasti, carpaccio, ceviche & tartare and dips. Recipes include wild mushroom trifolata, crab salad with pomegranate and mint, tuna and orange carpaccio and aubergine and lavender dip.

Water covers the techniques of boiling, absorption and reduction (risottos), poaching and bagno-maria (gentle cooking in water that is merely hot). There are recipes for sweet potato soup which can be enhanced in several ways including the addition of the flavour bomb of tomato, pepper, orange and cinnamon paste. Pasta is of course included with notes on cooking pasta, making pasta sauces and recipes for the top 10 classic pasta sauces of all time. Risotto is also included, teaching the basic method and lots of tasty ways to transform the basic recipe. Other recipes include sea bass santini and u-mamma! meatloaf.
Fire covers grilling, frying and hob stews with a step by step guide to good grilling, suggestions for rubs and seasoning and recipes including a delicious looking lamb chops with u-mamma! grapes and no-fuss roasted sea bream.

Earth is all about creating delicious food through slow cooking including tender and moist looking rib of beef al barolo and leg-over lamb. There are also recipes for the top 10 Italian vegetable dishes and 12 quick and easy desserts.

This book is bursting with delicious looking and sounding recipes but more than I believe that Laura Santtini is right when she says it can transform your life in the kitchen. I already feel inspired to not only try some of the recipes in the book but also to try out the pastes and butters etc in dishes I already cook to give them the u-mamma! deliciousness they deserve.

Its not out in the shops until the 2nd October but I would recommend to anyone who enjoys cooking Italian food even if you thought you had all the Italian cookbooks you needed.

Thank you to Quadrille publishing for sending me this great book to review and tell you all about.

Further information:
Easy tasty Italian - Laura Santtini
Published by Quadrille publishing 2nd October 2009
Hardback, full colour photography, 192 pages
ISBN 978 184400 755 4
£20

Cookbook review -- Antonio Carluccio's simple cooking

I'm sure any regular readers of this blog will be well aware I am a huge fan of Italian cooking, so it will come as no surprise that I love the latest cook book by Antonio Carluccio. In this book Antonio Carluccio is pulling together all the 'secrets' he has learned from over 50 years of professional experience. In his introduction to the book he describes his love of Italian food and the principles of using the best ingredients possible, cooking them simply and not letting anything go to waste. These principles are evident through out the book. Most recipe contains ideas on how to make them more special or how to use up left overs. All the recipes are simple, usually no more than a page each including the a brief introduction to each dish, an ingredients lists, the method and any variations and tips.

The book has chapters on starters and salads, soups, pasta, gnocchi, polenta and rice, meat, fish, vegetables and deserts. Each chapter has a brief introduction and the recipes then follow, most of them illustrated with stunning photos. Extra information is also provided on cooking pasta, polenta and rice and there is also a good section on pasta sauces and the best type of pasta to pair with them.

Beetroot salad with mint is simplicity at its best and looks stunning and delicious. Pasta and bean soup, cep and cannellini bean veloute and simple fish soup are just a few of the soups that I look forward to cooking this autumn/winter. All the pasta recipes look stunningly simple, as do the risottos. Neapolitan beef olive stew, chicken baked with rosemary and garlic and tiramisu all look delicious and simple.

I tried my first recipe from the book one night last week after work - Cart-driver's spaghetti. It was incredibly simple and quick to cook and tasted fantastic. It's a simple pasta dish of tomatoes, tinned tuna and dried porcini. As I was cooking the recipe I wondered if it would be tasty as there were no herbs etc in it but I needn't of worried as it was delicious (my review of Easy tasty Italian coming up tomorrow will explain how a dish this simple can taste so much better than expected). UK readers may have seen Antonio Carluccio cook this recipe last night on Market kitchen where you will have seen just how simple it is to prepare. Great as a simple, week night supper and the recipe is included at the end of this post.

This book is a great, simple cook book for those new to cooking with an interest in Italian cuisine. It is also good for any Italian cooking enthusiasts (like myself) will also appreciate the simplicity of all the dishes and Antonio Carluccio's fantastic knowledge and passion for Italian food and cooking.

Cart-driver spaghetti
Serves 2

200g spaghetti
salt and pepper

Sauce
1 small onion, peeled and finely sliced
4 tbsp olive oil
2 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
25g dried porcini (ceps), rehydrated and finely sliced
100g canned tuna in oil, drained

For the sauce, fry the onion in a pan with the olive oil until soft, about 5-6 minutes, then add the tomatoes and fry for 15 minutes. Add the sliced porcini and some of the liquid, along with the tuna and some salt and pepper to taste.

Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente, about 5-6 minutes. Drain, mix with the sauce and serve immediately.

Thanks to Quadrille publishing for sending me this book to review.

Further information:
Antonio Carluccio's Simple cooking
Published by Quadrille publishing in 2009.
Hardback, full colour photographs, 176 pages.
ISBN 978 184400 734 9
Price £20
Available to buy now.

Garlic butter

Last week I was asked to come up with a recipe using Kerrymaid garlic butter which is new to the market. Easy I thought, who doesn't like garlic butter? I personally love the smell of just baked garlic bread and it tastes delicious too. I sometimes make my own garlic butter (its simple to make and freezes well), sometimes I cheat and buy it and sometimes I use an extra virgin olive oil with garlic (a great store cupboard cheat to have a round).

So I started to think up ideas for a recipe using Kerrymaid garlic butter. Garlic bread - too simple and obvious! (I've included a recipe and pictures any way at the end), or what about rubbing it under the skin of a chicken before roasting it (again possible too simple as a recipe but I bet it would be delicious). Finally I decided on using it to flavour and cook mushrooms to combine with spaghetti. This is a dish based on a recipe for pasta with portobello mushrooms and mascapone I made earlier in the year. I adapted the recipe not long after I blogged it to make it healthier, so I omitted the mascapone and played around with the flavours a bit. I usually cook the mushrooms in olive oil with a couple of cloves of garlic but garlic butter works well as a bit of a cheat. I also think that mushrooms cooked in this way would make a delicious topping for bruschetta.

Spaghetti with mushrooms cooked with garlic, lemon and thyme
Serves 2

200g mushrooms (I use portobello or chestnut but I imagine other varieties would work too), sliced
200g dried spaghetti
Dried thyme (fresh would have been good but I didn't have any).
1-2 sachets of Kerrymaid garlic butter, (plus a splash of olive oil to stop the butter burning)
good splash of white wine
Salt and pepper
zest and juice of half a lemon
Parmesan to serve

Tip: Use a soft toothbrush to brush away any dirt from the mushrooms before slicing them.

• Put a large pan of water on to boil and once it reaches a fast boil add your pasta.
• Meanwhile heat the butter with a splash of olive oil in a large frying pan, sprinkle in a good pinch of dried thyme and the lemon zest.
• Once the frying pan is hot (I cook mushrooms on a high heat so they don't release all their water) add the mushrooms, stir frequently.
• Add a good splash of white wine to the mushrooms shortly after adding them to the pan.
  
• Once the pasta is almost cooked, add the lemon juice to the mushrooms, stir to mix well and season to taste. Then add the pasta to the frying pan.
• Stir to coat the pasta well in the sauce and add pasta water as required to form the desired consistency.Cook for a couple of minutes so the pasta absorbs the flavours.
  
• Serve with grated Parmesan on top.

Garlic bread

I made a simple white bread dough:
250g white bread flour
3g dried yeast
4g salt
about half a tablespoon of olive oil
160ml warm water.

Mixed and kneaded it (for 5 minutes) in my KitchenAid and then left it to rise until doubled in size.
I then halved the dough, made each piece in to an oval shape, pricked all over with a folk and then topped with a couple of knobs of garlic butter on each. Bake for 15 minutes (or until golden) in a 200C oven.
Eat whilst still warm.

Able and Cole - Summer range

This month I have a selection of food including dips and spreads from the new Able and Cole summer range to tell you about. I will start off completely up front and say I received these free of charge in return for a blog post review of them.

I received the following items:

Black Olive Houmous, Abel & Cole (200g)
White Cornish Crab, Seafood and Eat it (100g)
Riserva Prosciutto (55g)
Taleggio (250g)
Roast Pepper and Feta Quiche (340g)

First off we had a quick Sunday night meal of quiche with the black olive houmous spread on homemade bread. Both were delicious! Black olives were a nice addition to an otherwise very tasty houmous and something I would eat again and perhaps even have a go at making myself.

The houmous had just the right balance of flavours and worked really well with my seeded, wholemeal loaf. The quiche its self was also really tasty. I love feta in quiches but would not normally choose anything with peppers in but I actually quiet enjoyed this combination and the sweetness due to the pepper being roasted first.I had never eaten crab before I received this so I can't compare the quality of this product to anything I have previously bought but it was absolutely delicious! I did a bit of searching on the Internet and found a recipe for crab linguine. The resulting dish was delicious. The chilli, lemon and garlic really enhanced the crabs flavours. The crab didn't go in to the dish until near the end but I decided to try some without the additional flavours and loved it so it was lucky there was any left by the time it was needed!

That just leaves the prosciutto and the taleggio. Taleggio was completely new to me, never heard of it, let alone tried it. After some research on the Internet I discovered it was a good melting cheese as well as being delicious spread on bread. I tried it both spread on bread (tasty but a little too strong in flavour for me) and I tested out its melting properties in two dishes. The first also used the prosciutto (which had a very nice flavour and seemed very good quality to me) and was my version of stuffed courgettes. I started by scooping out the flesh of two courgettes. I then gently sauteed a small onion, a clove of garlic and the courgette flesh in a little oil. I tore up the Prosciutto and layered it with the onion/courgette mixture in the courgette skin 'boats' and topped it off with the taleggio before baking in the oven. Boy does this cheese melt well!! There was almost more on the baking tray than left on the courgettes! I did prefer the taste when it was melted and it combined well with the Prosciutto.
The final dish was more of an accident than planned. One evening I decided to make pizza certain I had a ball of mozzarella sat in the fridge just waiting to be used. However after rolling out the pizza dough and covering it with tomato sauce I went to the fridge and couldn't find any mozzarella. I was faced with the choice of cheddar, taleggio or feta. As much as I love cheddar I'm not a big fan of it on pizzas and I wanted something that melted more than feta so I decided to try the taleggio. I first put tinned tuna on the pizza followed by grated courgette and finally topped off with the taleggio. The end result was delicious.
All in all I was very pleased with the quality of the items Able and Cole sent me and with the delivery and packaging of the items.

Balsamic courgettes with pasta

I will start by confessing that courgettes aren't one of my favorite vegetables. However I discovered this recipe last summer from Able and Cole's recipe page and it has become a firm favorite in our house. Tasty (the vinegar give the dish a delicious, tangy flavour), healthy and quick and simply enough to prepare after work (and more importantly minimal washing up!) what more can you ask for. One word of warning though, if you don't like balsamic vinegar this is not the recipe for you. This is not the most sophisticated looking dish and taking a photo to do it justice is not easy. The above is a photo of the courgettes just before assembling the final dish.

Balsamic courgettes with pine nuts and pasta.
Serves 2

3tbsp pine nuts
5 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, finely diced
2 courgettes (small to medium ones)
2 tbsp water
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
200g tagliattelli (Never weighed mine so hope this is correct)
freshly grated parmesan

1. Wash the courgettes and then finely slice into batons (roughly 2 inch long).
2. Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Stir frequently and cook for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned. Transfer the pine nuts to a dish.
3. Add the remaining oil to the pan. Add the garlic and onion and sweat slowly until translucent and slightly brown.
4. Add the courgettes and increase the heat.
5. Cook for approximately 4 minutes until they just begin to brown. Stir frequently.
6. Add the water and balsamic vinegar to the courgettes. Cover the pan and cook for approximately 10 minutes. Take the lid off and stir occasionally to stop the courgettes sticking to the pan and burning. Remove from the heat. return the pine nuts to the pan, mix and serve with tagliattelli and top with parmesan.

Enjoy!

Pasta with portobello mushrooms and mascarpone

Here is another quick and simple pasta dish I made tonight. I had some mascarpone left in the fridge from making the carrot cake frosting on Saturday that needed using up and thought it would make a tasty pasta sauce with portobello mushrooms. I did a bit of an Internet search as well as looking through my cookbooks and recipe file but drew a blank on an actual recipe that I had all the ingredients for. I decided to go with my instincts of what flavours would work well together. I used dried thyme, and garlic which I had in my store cupboard, a grating of lemon zest added with the mascarpone would have been nice but I didn't have any lemons in. Luckily for us this dish turned out to be really tasty and quick so I'm blogging it for future reference and to share with anyone reading this. This dish was some what of a treat for us, as I normally do not cook creamy pasta sauces.

Pasta with portobello mushrooms and mascarpone
Serves 2

2 Portobello mushrooms, sliced
Pasta of your choice, enough for 2
Dried thyme (fresh would have been good but I didn't have any).
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced.
good splash of white wine (or 2-3 ice cubes in my case)
2 heaped tablespoons of mascarpone cheese
Parmesan to serve

Tip: Use a soft toothbrush to brush away any dirt from the mushrooms before slicing them.

• Put a large pan of water on to boil and once it reaches a fast boil add your pasta.
• Meanwhile heat a splash of olive oil in a large frying pan, sprinkle in a good pinch of dried thyme.
• Once the frying pan is hot (I cook mushrooms on a high heat so they don't release all their water) add the mushrooms, stir frequently.
• After a few minutes add the garlic to the mushrooms and continue to stir at regular intervals.
• Once the pasta is almost cooked, add a couple of ice cubes of white wine (from the freezer, or add a good splash of white wine if you have some to hand) and a couple of tablespoons of mascarpone to the mushrooms and stir to form a sauce. Don't worry if it is a little thick as you can add some of the cooking water from the pasta to thin it.
• Drain the pasta and add to the mushroom sauce. Stir to coat the pasta well in the sauce and add pasta water as required to form the desired consistency.
• Serve with a little grated Parmesan on top.

Enjoy!

Pasta with slow braised leeks

This has to be one of my favorite pasta dishes. It's reasonably simple to cook and tastes fantastic! Cooking the leeks in this way makes them so unbelievably tender and sweet that I have a hard time convincing myself to cook them any other way!

This is a simplification of a Jamie at Home recipe. The original uses fresh pappardelle (which I make to go with it when I have time but dried tagliatelle or tripolline, as used above, is a good substitute when time is short) he also usually finishes his off with a mushroom pangrattato. The original recipe is great and as he suggests would make a great dinner party dish but we really enjoy this modified version as well.

Pasta with slow braised leeks
Serves 2
2 leeks, trimmed, cleaned and sliced into 1cm thick semi circles.
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely sliced (more or less as you prefer)
sprig of thyme (or 1/2 an tsp dried thyme - not sure Jamie would approve but that's what I often use.)
good splash of white wine
salt and pepper
250ml veg or chicken stock
4 slices Parma ham
Parmesan
Pasta of your choice

Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan. Once hot add the thyme, garlic and leeks. Stir to coat the leeks well, then add the wine, stock and season with pepper (and salt if you wish but I always think there is enough in the stock). Cover the top of the leeks with the Parma ham slices and the pan lid. You are aiming to try and keep as much of the steam in as possible so try to ensure there are as few gaps as possible between the slices of ham. I also usually cut a circle of baking paper with a diameter a few centimeters larger than my frying pan and place this on top of the leeks and ham. Reduce the heat to medium and allow to slowly cook for 20-30 minutes (by which points the leeks will be tender and sweet).

The picture below is after the leeks are cooked.Once cooked remove the ham, slice it up and return to the pan of leeks. Mix well. At this stage you can season if necessary, add a couple of small knobs of butter and a handful of Parmesan into the sauce and allow to mix together.Add the pasta to the sauce and a little of the cooking water. Stir well.
Serve with a sprinkling of parmesan.
Enjoy!

Pasta with Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Anchovies and Breaedcrumbs

This is a first for me and this blog in several ways - My first seasonal recipe, the first recipe I have tried from my "Recipes I want to try" section and the first time I have tried purple sprouting broccoli! You'll have to excuse the photo it was the best one from the bunch I took but I'm not happy with it - don't let it put you off this dish.

This is a recipe I found whilst putting together this months whats in season post. I bookmarked it and added it to my "Recipes I want to try" and less than a week later I'm eating it. The recipe is from Silvernutmeg a Lancashire based website selling professional cookware I can only dream of owning. Here is the original recipe and below is the recipe with my minor tweaks. I was a bit apprehensive of whether I would like this dish (mainly as I hate broccoli) but decided to give it a go anyway. I'm glad I did! Every mouthful tastes different, with hints of lemon, chili and salty anchovies coating the breadcrumbs mixed in with the pasta and broccoli.

Serves 2 (go to the original recipe for a recipe for 4 people)

• 150g purple sprouting broccoli, trimmed into heads and stems of around 1-2cm.
• Enough pasta for two, shape of your choice (I used wholemeal penne).
• 35g wholemeal breadcrumbs, toasted in a dry frying pan.
• 1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped.
• 1 dried chili, roughly chopped.
• 2 anchovy fillets,
• squeeze of lemon juice,
• Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil to serve.

1. Boil or steam the broccoli until cooked (the original recipe recommended boiling for 10 minutes but I reduced this to 5-7 minutes).
2. Boil the pasta in another pan until al dente.
3. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan. Once hot add the garlic, anchovies and chili. stir until the anchovies breakdown and a paste forms.
4. Add the breadcrumbs and cook until crisp (you may need to add a little more oil).
5. Drain the broccoli when cooked and add to the bread crumbs mixing well.
6. Drain the pasta and add to the broccoli/breadcrumbs. Add a good squeeze of lemon juice a handful of grated Parmesan and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Stir through. Serve with extra Parmesan to top the dish.

Enjoy