Tag: parmesan

Spaghetti & Meatballs #3

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Spaghetti & Meatballs #3

Serves:8 – 10

When we asked Oliver what he wanted to eat for dinner on his 9th birthday, I’d hoped he would say a veritable Greek feast complete with a BBQed leg of lamb, marinated in red wine, lemon juice, oregano and olive oil; or Zha Jiang Mian, a dish otherwise known as Chinese Bolognese with a touch of salt or sweet.

Or a burger he had never tried, a salmon Wellington, a bowl of coco pops, a more interesting take on meatballs.

Anything… but spaghetti and meatballs.

Because it isn’t that I don’t love a good spaghetti and meatballs.

It is just that this is the third recipe I have typed up on account of spaghetti and meatballs being his favourite dish. And on account that I am always wanting to try new recipes.

Dilemma, though the kid wants meatballs, then meatballs he will have.

This is another great recipe, tried and tested on Oliver and his brother Thomas who gave it a glowing review. They prefer shaved cheddar to Parmesan and hold the parsley, though otherwise, this hit the birthday-dinner spot and is definitely a comfort-food, no-friends-lost dinner you should try.

Plenty of time for lobster tet-a-tet on the weekend I guess. When it is meatballs time, best do them right.

Ingredients

Meatballs

8 good-quality pork sausages
1 kg beef mince
1 onion, finely chopped
½ a large bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
85gm Parmesan, grated
100gm fresh breadcrumbs
2 eggs, beaten with a fork

Olive oil
Spaghetto to serve

Sauce

3 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 x 400gm cans chopped tomato
125ml red wine
3 tbsp caster sugar
½ a large bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
A few basil leaves

Method

Meatballs

  1. Heat the oven to 200c.
  2. Split the sausage skins and squeeze out the meat into a large bowl. Add the mince, onion, parsley, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, beaten eggs and season well. Mix together well.
  3. Roll the mince mixture into golf-balls. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread out the meatballs. Drizzle with a little olive oil, shake to coat and roast for about 20 – 30 minutes until browned.

Sauce

  1. Cook the spaghetti.
  2. Heat the oil in a large sauce pan. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two.
  3. Stir in the tomatoes, wine, sugar, parsley and season well. Simmer for 20 minutes or more until the sauce is thickened. Stir in the basil leaves.
  4. Spoon the sauce over the spaghetti, combine slowly and add extra Parmesan and basil leaves.

Spaghetti with Smothered’ Onions and Parmesan

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

This is a fantastic pasta.

I cooked it a few years back for dinner with a friend and despite almost an hour and a half of ribbing that I was cooking a vegetarian dinner – and one primary around onions at that – the ribbing pretty quickly wrapped up after plating.

The flavours are just beautiful. The simplicity, depth, warmth and completeness of it all is just so comforting. The sweetness and texture of the onions after almost one and half hours of cooking. The parmesan. The pasta. I’m excited just thinking about it!

Read those ingredients and then the method and seriously tell me you aren’t thinking how good this dish would be!

(I think I have no choice but to cook this again this weekend!)

Ingredients

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 large onions (700gm in all), using a combination of white and red, very thinly sliced
2 fresh bay leaves
2 rosemary sprigs
⅔ cup (160ml) dry white wine
2 tbs chopped flat leaf parsley
500gm spaghetti
⅓ cup freshly grated parmesan

Method

  1. Place the oil, onion, bay leaves and rosemary in a large frypan. Cover and place over a very low heat. Gently cook, stirring occasionally for at least 45 minutes until the onion is extremely soft.
  2. Uncover, increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, for another 20 minutes or until onion is a deep golden colour. Any liquid should have evaporated by now.
  3. Season well with salt and pepper (to balance the sweetness of the onion).
  4. Add the wine, increase the heat to high and cook for 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until the wine has evaporated. Stir in the parsley, cover and keep warm.
  5. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in salted water according to instructions and al dente. Drain then add to the pan with the onions and toss over medium heat to combine well.
  6. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl, top with parmesan then toss thoroughly and serve.

Anne Burrell’s Gnocchi

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 6

This is an exceptional dish.

Visually beautiful, restaurant quality.

My mother gave me the recipe and we cooked it last weekend; my mother said it was the best gnocchi I would ever cook and hands down, she was right.

An essential key to it is the gnocchi, where instead of mixing through the flour when the gnocchi is hot, in this recipe, you allow the gnocchi to cool completely. The result is a light and fluffy gnocchi, completely unlike the hard, floury gnocchi we are so used to eating.

It is almost as if they are not there.

The sauce is fabulous; rich, warm, filling.

With some shaved pecorino to serve, this is a dinner party keeper where everyone will ask you for the recipe only a few bites in. It just comes together.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

5 large baking or mashing potatoes
2 eggs
Grated parmesan
2+ cups flour
Salt and pepper
1½ cups frozen peas, defrosted
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
Pinch of chili flakes
125gm prosciutto, cut into lardons
2 cups Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
1 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
½ bunch chives, chopped

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 C and bake the potatoes for 1 hour or until tender.
  2. While the potatoes are still hot peel and pass them through a ricer or food mill on to an oven tray lined with baking paper, and then refrigerate until very cold.
  3. Beat together the eggs, ¾ cup grated Parmesan and 1+ tbsp salt and pour on to the potatoes. Cover the potatoes with 2+ cups flour and mix all together with fingers until the dough is homogeneous and slightly moist, adding more flour (and salt) if necessary.
  4. Form the dough into long ropes about 3cm thick, cut into 2 cm lengths, cover generously with flour, place in a single layer on paper dusted with flour and either use or freeze immediately.  [NB: once frozen the gnocchi can be stored in plastic bags indefinitely, and can go directly from the freezer into salted boiling water.]
  5. Sauté the garlic and chilli flakes in some olive oil and then discard the garlic when it becomes golden brown.
  6. Add the prosciutto and sauté until it begins to become crispy.
  7. Add the mushrooms, sauté, and season with salt and pepper.
  8. Add the stock and simmer until it has reduced by half.
  9. Add the butter and peas and correct the seasoning.
  10. Drop half the gnocchi into boiling salted water and cook until they float and become puffy. Drain the gnocchi and add to the sauce.
  11. Add 4 tbsp grated parmesan and the chives, and serve with more grated parmesan or pecorino if you have it.

Italian-style Zucchini and Parmesan Soup

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

Wow this is a good soup!

Like, wow.

Neil Perry of course and reasonable quick to whip up, Nat and I cooked this for a Saturday lunch as part of a weekend of cooking and we were blown away.

We used a very good and aged parmesan and shaved it in; not the yellow stuff you get in the supermarket. Some warmed, crusty bread and wow.

We were warm and completely satisfied for the entire afternoon.

You must do this!

Ingredients

750gm green zucchini, cut into 1cm-thick pieces
Extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bunch basil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
1½ liters chicken stock
125ml pure cream
40gm unsalted butter
40gm parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve

Method

  1. Heat a little olive oil in a heavy-based sauce pan over a medium heat and add the zucchini, garlic, basil and a good pinch of sea salt. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the zucchini starts to soften.
  2. Add the stock, bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 8 minutes.
  3. Pour the soup into the blender and pulse until well pureed though still with a bit of texture; not completely smooth.
  4. Return to the saucepan and stir in the cream, butter and the parmesan.
  5. Serve with a sprinkle of grated parmesan and a good ground of fresh pepper.

Beef carpaccio with mustard & parmesan sauce

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 8 as a shared starter

This dish is a real winner.

It’s stylish, it is easy to prepare and it looks the bomb. I served this up as part of a really elegant Easter feast: think porchetta, parmesan polenta, parsnip cream etc etc etc. I served this on thinly sliced and toasted baguette, though you could of course serve this as a more traditional carpaccio or in any number of combinations.

I promise you’ll love this and will be a hero for cooking it.

Ingredients

Beef fillet or whole rump
6-8 tsp Capers
60 ml – Olive oil
2 tbsp  lemon juice
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp Parmesan cheese, finely grated
Small bunch of chives, thinly sliced
Pinch salt and pepper

Thinly sliced toasts (if serving on toasts)
Small bunch of rocket leaves (if serving traditionally)

Method

  1. Wrap the fillet in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30-60 minutes. Remove the beef from the freezer and slice immediately as thinly as possible across the grain of the meat.
  2. Place the slices between sheets of cling film and use a rolling pin to carefully flatten evenly into wafer-thin slices. Cover and chill until required.
  3. If serving traditionally, arrange the beef slices on a plate/platter, slightly overlapping, then place rinsed rocket on top.
  4. If serving on toasts, roughly fold and create a shape of the sliced beef on each taost
  5. For the sauce: place the oil, lemon juice, mustard, parmesan and seasoning in a glass jar, screw lid on and shake until well mixed. Season and drizzle over the beef; place a few chives on top.

Roast Fillet of Veal in Parmesean Crust

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Serves 4

This is a really special dish.

I found it in Delicious magazine; the recipe is by Orlando Murrin, a British cook and food writer who spent years in south-west France running a guest house and cooking.

I served the veal with Pommes Dauphinoise, and it was the wicked combination of the veal itself, the veal stock and wild mushrooms and the amazing baked potatoes that pushed the meal into the memory category. I just love veal, and the crust kept it moist and beautifully tender right through to serving.

At the time of cooking this, I had only very rarely cooked with veal stock and hours before starting, I ran into a culinary wall – I certainly hadn’t made my own veal stock, I couldn’t find any at the butchers I visited and all I had was Veal Glaze, a serious reduction of veal stock, with nothing of the consistency of the stock I needed.

My good friend and chef Benjamin came through and I provide the following advice, if only because the web is surprisingly murky on the ropic of veal glaze, and in fact several people said it was not possible to reverse the glaze into stock!

On the basis I needed 425ml stock, I made a cup (250ml) of half beef, half chicken stock and the rest, glaze; around half stock, half glaze. Ben was completely right; the glaze doesn’t overpower despite what you might think, and really just softens the beef stock.

I’ll probably make veal stock next time; everyone online raves about it, and apparently Thomas Keller (of The French Laundry restaurant fame) does an extraordinary interpretation worth every hour it takes.

Ingredients

For the veal

750g fillet of veal
1 egg, beaten
2 anchovy fillets, mashed
1 garlic clove, crushes
1 2/3 cups (120g) fine fresh breadcrumbs
1/3 cup (25g) grated parmesean

Wild Mushroom Sauce

175g mixed mushrooms (such as Swiss brown, chestnut and field) – I roughly chopped them
175g chilled, unsalted butter, chopped plus 20g to cook mushrooms
1 eschalot, finely chopped
100ml white wine
425ml veal stock

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 200c.
  2. The veal should be a tubular shape, and if necessary, pin flaps and so forth with skewers. Season well.
  3. Mix egg, anchovy and garlic and brush all over the veal.
  4. Mix crumbs and cheese and press over the veal to completely cover.
  5. Put on a rack in a roasting pan and allow to come to room temperature.
  6. Roast veal for 25 – 30 minutes, turning once until the meat is medium rare and the temperature taken in the thickest part is 52c.
  7. Rest for 10 – 15 minutes, loosely tented with foil; this will prevent the crumbs from softening.
  8. For the sauce, fry the mushrooms in a knob of butter over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until brown.
  9. Add eschalot and lightly brown for 1-2 minutes, then stir in the wine and stock. Bring to the boil then strain into a clean saucepan, reserving the mushrooms.
  10. Boil the stock for 18 – 20 minutes over medium-high heat to reduce to 150ml.
  11. When ready to serve, keep the sauce at a low simmer and gradually beat in the butter until thick and glossy. Add the mushrooms and heat through.
  12. Carve the veal into thin slices, then serve with the sauce.