Category: Pasta

Potato gnocchi

Published on by Hanna3 Comments

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I have thinking about making my own gnocchi for quite some time, as I find even the fresh store-bought varieties rather unappetizing. They are either rubbery or to squidgy when what I want are fluffy little pillows.

This recipe from the fabulous book, The Geometry of Pasta, produces just that. But compared to homemade pasta these are SO filling. Fluffy yet dense might be a good description.

I served my lovely little dumplings with the sauce I meant to eat them with all along; the creamy tomato sauce with sage and it was delicious!

Potato gnocchi, serves 2 (at least)

Adapted from The Geometry of Pasta.

1-2 large floury potatoes (400g)  

50 g plain or 00-flour

1 large egg

grated nutmeg

a pinch of salt

Boil the potato/es whole with the skin on until cooked all the way through. Drain and leave to cool slightly. Pierce with a fork and peel off the skin with a small knife. Put the potato through a ricer and measure up 300 g of the riced potato. Place in a bowl and add the other ingredients. Work into a smooth dough, but don’t handle it more than necessary.

Divide the dough into sections and roll each piece into a finger-thick roll on a floured surface. Cut into little pillows and press with a fork if you like them to have a pattern. 

Add to boiling water and cook for 2 minutes from the time they have reached the surface. Drain and serve straight away with sauce and grated parmesan. 

Creamy tomato sauce with sage

Published on by Hanna2 Comments

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I’m really struggling with the weather at the moment, and all the jokes about a Swedish person being used to the cold are so getting old. Fact is, I am not. In fact, most Swedish people (at least from my end of the country) hate the cold. And even though the winters are long and cold, the well-insulated houses help a lot!

Anyway, those cold windy days when life feels utterly miserable there are a few things that could cheer you up. Friends, wine and food. All three together is of course the best combination, but any of the three on its own can help too.

One evening when I actually had planned to make potato gnocchi but ran out of steam after walking home in the freezing wind from the tube, I settled for what I would have served my gnocchis with; a creamy, warming tomato sauce.

We all know that a great flavour combination is tomato and basil, but with sub-zero temperatures outside that felt way too summery. Instead I opted for another herb that feels just as Italian – sage.

I see this as my winter version of tomato sauce. And that splash of cream feels necessary to fight the cold too.

Creamy tomato sauce with sage, serves 3-4 

1 tin (ca 400 g) good quality chopped tomatoes 

1/2 tin water

ca 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp soft brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp dried sage (or about 1 tbsp fresh, chopped)

1/2 tsp each of oregano, rosemary and lovage

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1 garlic clove, grated

salt, black pepper

50 ml single cream

Pour tomatoes and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Let it reduce and thicken. Add vinegar, herbs, garlic and sugar. Cook until it feels thick enough. Add the cream. Season to taste with salt, sugar and black pepper. 

Serve with spaghetti and plenty of grated Parmesan or Pecorino.

Homemade tagliatelle with mushrooms, garlic and parsley

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

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On Sunday my visiting friend Carina helped me make pasta, and it was a lot easier to have someone helping me roll it out on the pasta machine.

We were both tired and wanted something satisfying but not heavy, so instead of a creamy mushroom sauce I opted for fried mushrooms with quite a lot of butter (instead of a sauce), garlic, parsley and truffle oil served with grated pecorino.

This is a very simple dish, yet absolutely delicious. This certainly proves (yet again) that good produce is all you need to make good food.

Homemade tagliatelle with mushrooms, garlic and parsley, serves 2-3 

double batch pasta (made form 200 g flour and 2 eggs)

150 g fresh mini portobello mushrooms, sliced

1 handful mixed dried mushrooms (girolles, black trumpet and cepe), soaked in water and drained, kept whole

2-3 tbsp salted butter

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 handful parsley, chopped

salt, black pepper

truffle oil

grated pecorino

Make the pasta and cut into tagliatelle. Scatter on a platter or tray with polenta so it can dry out a little without sticking together. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. 

Melt half the butter in a frying pan and fry all the mushrooms on high heat. Add the garlic towards the end. Season and add the parsley. Keep warm. 

Cook the pasta for 1-2 minutes. Drain and return to pan. Add the mushrooms. Melt the remaining butter and add that too along with a few drops of truffle oil. Mix well and plate. Serve with grated pecorino. 

Butternut squash and ricotta ravioli with lemon and nutmeg

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

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When I went to school back in Sweden I was a very fussy eater when it came to school dinners. The food was just so far away from the made from scratch kind of food my mother and grandmothers cooked.

I remember my mother being very concerned, and on a school visit she made sure she had lunch with me. I was so glad that it was ravioli that day – one of my least favourite dishes, so my mother could see why I was so fussy. And she too, struggled to eat it. And from then on she always made sure to send lots of buns, crisp breads and fruit with me to school, just in case I didn’t like the lunch.

Nowadays I don’t think I am considered a fussy eater, but I still don’t eat ‘bad’ food, like those school dinners. They put me off things like lasagne and ravioli for years.

This ravioli however, is as far away as possible from the school version. Instead it is light and fresh with the sweet butternut marrying the earthy nutmeg and sharp lemon. The ricotta I think, add balance to the flavours.

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Butternut squash and ricotta ravioli with lemon and nutmeg,  serves 4

Pasta dough:

200 g 00-flour

2 eggs

Filling:

1/2 butternut squash

plenty of freshly grated nutmeg

approx 125 g ricotta

ca 1 tsp lemon zest

salt, black pepper

Sage butter:

50 g salted butter

5 large sage leaves, more to decorate

Cut the butternut squash in half and remove the seeds. Place skinside down on a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season. Roast until soft, about 40 mins, 180C. Scrape out the soft flesh and place it in a bowl. Mush it up with a spoon or a stick blender. Add nutmeg and seasoning. Leave to cool completely. 

Weigh up the flour in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the eggs. Knead into a dough. If too dry, add a tsp of olive oil, if too sticky add more flour. Shape into a ball and cover with cling. Let it rest for 30 minutes.

Mix the butternut squash mash with roughly the same amount of ricotta. Add the lemon zest, season to taste and if you like, add some more nutmeg.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces and roll it out using a pasta machine. Let the dough go through the widest setting three times while folding in between, then once on each setting until as thin as you prefer. I stopped at setting 7. 

Place the thin pasta sheets on a floured surface.  Place a teaspoonful of the filling on one of the pasta sheets with the same space in between the dollops. Brush the pasta with water all around the fillings. Cover with another pasta sheet, non-floured side down. Start at one end and flatten the pasta sheet on top of the other using your hand to protect the filling and to avoid air bubbles. Either cut into ravioli with a knife or use a ravioli cutter. If any excess dough is left over just roll it out again. 

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add plenty of salt to it. Add the pasta pieces 8-1o at the time. Remove with a slotted spoon once the pasta pillows have surfaced. This takes about a minute. 

In the meantime melt the butter in a pan and add the sage leaves. 

To serve, place 6-8 ravioli on each plate. Drizzle with the sage butter, add a sage leaf as decoration and serve with plenty of grated parmesan.

Homemade pasta!

Published on by Hanna3 Comments

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Monday last week was a historic day. It was the day when I finally made my own pasta.

I used a recipe from Simply Italian, a series that really inspired me to try it. Michaela in the show just make it seem so easy. And it was!

I will definitely make use of my handsome pasta maker on a regular basis. There are so many things I would like to try.

But for that first time last Monday, I stuck to what I knew; the amazing tagliatelle with browned butter, truffle oil and heaps of grated parmesan.

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Homemade pasta, basic recipe

This is just a basic recipe that you can double, quadruple etcetera depending on how much you want to make.

100 g 00 flour

1egg

polenta

Pour the flour into a bowl or place in a heap on a surface. Make a dent in the flour and crack the egg. Combine with your hands or a wooden fork and knead into an elastic dough. If it is too crumbly, add 1 tsp olive oil, if too sticky add some more flour. Shape into a ball, wrap with cling and leave to rest for 30 minutes. 

Divide the dough into three pieces and flatted. While working with one, make sure the other two are covered with cling as not to dry out. Run the dough piece through the pasta machine, 3 times on the widest setting, then 1-2 times per setting as working your way down to the thickness you prefer. Repeat with the other dough pieces and cut into tagliatelle using the machine. Place on a plate and sprinkle with polenta (to stop them sticking to each other) and leave to uncovered to dry for 5 minutes. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add salt. Add the pasta and let it cook for about a minute. When the strands surface they’re done. Drain and serve. 

Pasta with lemon ricotta and roasted vegetables

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I had some leftover ricotta in the fridge one day and rather than repeating what I used it for, I tried to come up with a new (and simple) dish.

This is a perfect warming (and rather healthy) meal for a regular weekday when you’re lacking energy. The ricotta is mixed with parmesan for more flavour, and lemon zest for a fresh kick. The roasted vegetables are kept quite plain but because they’re roasted they have a deep sweet flavour.

Pasta with lemon ricotta and roasted vegetables, serves 2

 250 g pasta of your choice

2 sweet potatoes, diced

1 courgette, in half circles

1 yellow pepper, diced 

olive oil

120 g ricotta

1 tbsp grated parmesan (more to serve)

the zest from 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper

Mix the diced vegetabled in a roasting tray and toss with olive oil. Add salt and pepper. Roast in a 200C oven for about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet. 

Mix ricotta with lemon zest and parmesan, salt and pepper. Once the vegetables are done, mix the drained pasta with a spoonful ricotta in a bowl. Top with vegetables and another dollop of ricotta. Sprinkle over parmesan.

Rice noodles with aubergine and spinach

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At this time of year all I want to eat is comfort food. And by comfort food I mean anything with melted cheese or copious amounts of cream. Lovely to eat, but not necessarily healthy. Luckily there are some dishes without cream and cheese that still hit the spot, and this is definitely one out of that category.

Imagine cubes of aubergine crispy on the outside but moist and full of absorbed olive oil within, paired with garlic, wilted spinach and rice noodles. All embraced by a light sauce of lime juice, fish sauce and sesame oil. Yu-um!

Rice noodles with aubergine and spinach, serves 2

1 aubergine

a lot of olive oil

1 garlic clove

2 handfuls spinach

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 lime, zest and juice

2 tbsp fish sauce

2-3 tsp sesame oil

90-100 g vermicelli rice noodles

Bring some water to the boil. Put the noodles in a bowl and cover with the just boiled water, Peel and dice the aubergine. Wilt the spinach in olive oil. Remove to a bowl while frying the aubergine dices on high heat and in a lot of oil in the same pan. 

Once the aubergine pieces have got some colour, add the spinach to the pan, press in the garlic and and add the lime zest and juice, sesame oil and cayenne pepper. Let it sizzle for a few minutes, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Drain the noodles and add them to the pan. Toss and serve. 

Dijon mac ‘n cheese with panko topping

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Last night my flat was transformed into a haunted house, thanks to the creativity of my flatmates. They had organised a proper Halloween party and apart from serving their guests worms, eyeballs and the likes, they also had some mac ‘n cheese. Well, as rather large amount of mac ‘n cheese actually, that I helped cook the day before.

And that reminded me of this slightly different version of mac ‘n cheese I made a couple of weeks ago. This version is flavoured with dijon mustard (works really well) and is topped with both panko (Asian breadcrumbs) and knobs of butter as well as some cheese.

Dijon mac ‘n cheese with panko topping, serves 4-5

250 g macaroni

200 ml creme fraiche

50 ml single cream

50 ml milk (or substitute for more creme fraiche) 

100 g grated cheddar

3 tsp dijon mustard

salt, pepper

1 handful panko or other breadcrumbs

2 tbsp butter

grated cheese

Cook the pasta al dente. Bring creme fraicge, cream and milk to the boil in a saucepan. Add the cheese to melt. Season to taste with mustard, salt and pepper. Add the drained pasta to the sauce and stir. Pour into a greased ovenproof dish. Top with cheese, panko and butter. Bake for 30 minutes in 180-200C until crispy on the top.

Tagliatelle with girolles, white wine and balsamico

Published on by Hanna1 Comment

There are quite a few speedy pasta recipes in the archive, and that is exactly what I like with pasta – the speedy element. As long as you use good wuality pasta and don’t cook it to mush, you don’t need many ingredients to throw together a quick and delicious meal.

I had some girolles left in my freezer that I added white wine, balsamic vinegar, creme fraiche, parmesan and garlic too. Most important while making a pasta sauce is to use strong flavours. As it gets mixed in with the pasta it will have just enough flavour, but if you start off bland it will only get blander when you add the pasta. I prefer a smallish amount of sauce to pasta, it should only coat and dress the pasta, not let it swim in it.

Tagliatelle with girolles, white wine and balsamico, 1-2 portioner

200-250 g tagliatelle

1 large handful girolles

butter for frying

1 garlic clove, pressed

2 tbsp white wine

100 ml creme fraiche

2 tbsp balsamico

parmesan shavings

chopped parsley or persillade

Cook the pasta according to the packet. Melt the butter in a frying pan or sauteuse. Fry the mushrooms on medium-high heat. Lower the heat a bit and add the pressed garlic. After a minute or so, add the wine and let most of it evaporate befpre adding the creme fraiche. Add the balsamic, let the mixture thicken and season to taste.

Drain the pasta but put some of the cooking water to the side. Add the drained pasta to the pan and toss with the sauce. Add some pasta water if you want the mixture to be thinner. Plate and add parmesan and either chopped parsley or some persillade.

 

Pig’s cheek ragu with white wine and sage

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When you have friends staying over the slowcooker becomes your best friend. It feels a lot safer leaving that on the oven (plus it uses way less energy) and it is so nice to let dinner cook itself when you’re busy socialising with friends.

While we had a day out in Canterbury, the slowcooker made this lovely pork cheek ragu with white wine and sage for us. All you need to do when you get home is to reduce and season the sauce, shred the meat and mix it with the sauce and cook some pasta.

Pig’s cheek ragu with white wine and sage, serves 4-6

spaghetti or tagliatelle, cooked al dente

The ragu – step 1:

1 kg pig’s cheeks

400 g chopped tomatoes

150 ml water

3 stems sage

1 garlic clove

150 ml dry white wine

The ragu – step 2:

salt, black pepper

pinch of sugar

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

To serve:

grated parmesan

Place all ingredients for step 1 in the slowcooker, turn on low heat and leave for approx 8 hours. Remove the meat from the pot and reduce the sauce to half and season with the ingredients for step 2. Pull the meat apart and mix with the sauce. Serve.