Tag: pesto

Paul Ainsworth’s Cornish Cod Loin with Spaghetti, Wild Garlic Pesto, Crispy Pancetta and Pangrattato

.Reading time 5 minutes.

Serves: 4

It’s been a while since my last post, though this one is worth it. (We’ve been super busy with work and also travel – India and Fiji for four and a half weeks!).

Nat first cooked this pasta as part of a pasta-cook-off during Covid.

Judged by Nat’s sister Court and husband Greg, I was confident my pasta – Gordon Ramsay’s Lobster Ravioli with Lemongrass Veloute – was a shoe-in.

I almost felt sorry for Nat.

White fish piece perched on top of spaghetti. I of course urged her on, preparing myself for the accolades and retention of my crown in the kitchen.

It didn’t go to plan.

Court and Greg looked at each other and then me. We knew.

My abdication had in fact occurred years prior, though like that 46-year old guy still partying at Ibiza, I thought my old moves might reconquer. (46-year old RobbyDog should know by now he is on the wrong side of the slope.)

My pasta was excellent. A fine dining Gordon Ramsay recipe from his book ‘3 Star Chef’.

The only problem being the book was written in the 90s. (About the time I should have been in Ibiza).

I was bringing a 24 year old dish to a knife fight.

Nat’s dish – this pasta – was just so youthful in comparison. Subtle, fun, real 1-hat if not 2-hat cooking. It is sublime.

Nat can’t cook omelettes (something Gordon Ramsay uses as his baseline test of cooking) so maybe there is hope.

Truth is, I know Nat can cook omelettes. She is just humouring me.

(Nat just cooked this for a second time for a late Sunday lunch and wow – it’s still a complete winner!)

Ingredients

Cod Loin

600gm cod loin, cut into 4 equal portions
400gm of spaghetti
100gm of pancetta
200ml of fish stock (or vegetable stock)
60gm of pine nuts, toasted
1 lemon, juiced
100gm of crème fraîche
20gm of basil, chopped
20gm of parsley, chopped
20gm of wild garlic, chopped
50gm of butter, plus extra for greasing
25ml of vegetable oil

Wild Garlic Pesto

30gm of basil
30gm of wild garlic
100gm of pine nuts, toasted
10ml of lemon juice
30gm of Parmesan, grated
100ml of olive oil
Salt, to taste

Pangrattato

250gm of sourdough bread, broken into pieces
4 garlic cloves, finely grated
20gm of thyme leaves
1 lemon, zested
Salt, to taste
50gm of butter

Method

  1. To begin, make the pesto. Place the basil, garlic and pine nuts in a pestle, grind to a coarse paste then gradually grind in the rest of the ingredients until you reach a pesto consistency.
  2. To make the pangrattato, add all of the ingredients to a food processor and blitz until broken into fine breadcrumbs.
  3. Place a pan over a medium heat, add the butter and once foaming, add the breadcrumb mixture. Roast until the breadcrumbs are golden brown and have a nice crunch. Place on a tray and set aside.
  4. Preheat the oven to 180c.
  5. Place a large pan of salted water over a high heat and bring to the boil.
  6. When ready to cook, lightly season the cod loin and place on a buttered baking tray. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to rest in a warm place.**
  7. Cook the pasta. Meanwhile, add the vegetable oil to a heavy based pan and fry the pancetta until crispy and brown. Add the butter for an extra crisp finish, then deglaze with the stock. Allow to reduce slightly, then add 300gm of the pesto, the pine nuts, lemon juice and crème fraîche.
  8. Add the fresh herbs to the sauce. Drain the spaghetti, tip into the sauce and stir until everything is well coated.
  9. To serve, divide the spaghetti between plates and top with the baked cod. Add an even layer of pangrattato to the cod.

* You can’t really buy this in Australia. It’s widely regarded as a weed and banned in some States. Substitute garlic.

** Nat pan fried with a fish weight to get the skin super crispy.

The Tuscan Burger

.Reading time 2 minutes.

My last meal? A hamburger of course.

With this Tuscan Burger, read down the ingredients and you can almost taste the pesto with the chargrilled beef and melted bocconcini, the mayonaise and the chargrilled buns.

Hopefully this isn’t your last meal and as my mother is known to say, the recipe shouldn’t kill anyone. But if it does, not a bad way to go.

As always, go for the best, freshest piece of chuck steak you can and get your butcher to mince it on the coarsest cut.

Ingredients

600g freshly ground chuck steak
100g pancetta, rind removed, chopped
1/3 cup (90g) basil pesto
2 small red onions, thickly sliced
2 tbs olive oil
2 small vine-ripened tomatoes, thickly sliced
1/2 cup (150g) whole-egg mayonnaise
3-4 bocconcini, sliced
4 Italian bread rolls, split
50g baby rocket leaves

Method

  1. Place beef, pancetta and 2 tablespoons pesto in a processor. Season with salt and pepper. Pulse until just combined (do not overprocess). Form mixture into 4 patties and chill while you cook the vegetables.
  2. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
  3. Heat a chargrill pan or barbecue over medium heat. Toss onion in a little oil and grill for 1 minute each side or until just cooked. Place in the oven to keep warm.
  4. Brush tomatoes with a little oil and season, then grill for 1 minute each side. Place in the oven to keep warm.
  5. Brush both sides of patties with oil. Cook on chargrill for 2-3 minutes each side until cooked through. Chargrill the bread rolls.
  6. Mix remaining pesto with mayonnaise.
  7. Top patties with cheese and place in oven for 1 minute or until cheese melts.
  8. Spread bread-roll bases with some of the mayonnaise mixture. Top with rocket, patties, onion and tomato. Drizzle with remaining mayonnaise mixture and top with remaining bread-roll halves

Coriander pesto

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

Serves: Plenty as a dip

Not much to say here except that rather than using this for a pasta, as a dip with crackers or bread, it is so moorish, it will be the first thing to disappear. And I can vouch that it is particularly kid friendly.

Start here for your next party,.

Ingredients

2 c coriander leaves
½ c pine nuts, toasted
½ c grated Parmesan
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp lemon juice
¼ c extra virgin olive oil 

Method

  1. In a food processor, process together the coriander, pine nuts, Parmesan, garlic and lemon juice and with the machine running, add the olive oil.

Spaghetti with prawns, basil and pistachios

.Reading time 1 minute.

With a glass of cold white wine and some bread and salad, you've set up Saturday afternoon as a win.
With a glass of cold white wine and some bread and salad, you’ve set up Saturday afternoon as a win.

Serves 4

Another simple and successful Neil Perry dish.

And yes, it is essentially pesto through no, it tastes nothing like the stuff in the jar. It is much lighter and fresher and really clean. A great Saturday lunch with a big glass of white.

Ingredients

1 clove garlic
½ tsp salt
¼ bunch basil leaves
¼ bunch parsley leaves
¼ bunch mint leaves
½ c toasted unsalted pistachios
1 tbsp finely grated parmesan
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
Freshly ground pepper
400g dried spaghetti
1kg green king prawns, peeled with tails intact

Method

  1. Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and salt. Add the herbs and continue to pound until a thick paste is formed and the herbs broken down.
  2. Add half the pistachios and continue to pound until the paste is a creamy consistency.
  3. Chop the remaining pistachios and stir through the paste, also adding the parmesan, 2 tbsp oil and lemon juice. Season with more salt as necessary, and a pinch of pepper.
  4. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti until al dente and set aside keeping warm.
  5. In a large pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil over a high heat and pan fry the prawns quickly; around two minutes. Sprinkle with a little salt.

Mix the pesto with the pasta, stir in the prawns and serve.