Category: Pasta

Gnocchi bake with pancetta

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This is my second version of gnocchi bake (you find the first version here). I think gnocchi is a nice substitute for pasta. Ok, yes, technically it IS pasta, but both texture and taste is different because of the added potatoes.

Next up I want to make my own gnocchi, but lackling the time or patience, I recommend the brand Del Ugo. It is fresh gnocchi, that doesn’t need to be cooked before added to the bake.

This dish is rich and creamy, and some days call for nothing less than creamy indulgence. The recipe is very simple, but the pancetta gives the gratin all the flavour it needs. Sometimes there is no need to complicate matters.

Gnocchi bake with pancetta, serves 4

500 g fresh gnocchi

100 g pancetta cubes

200 ml creme fraiche

100 ml cream

chopped parsley

1 handful grated cheese

Fry the pancetta crispy. Drain on kitchen towel. Grease an oven dish. Add gnocchi (uncooked) and the pancetta. Mix creme fraiche and cream (+ salt and pepper) and pour into the dish.  Scatter the parsley and top with the cheese. Bake in 200C 20-30 min. 

Farfalle with smoked salmon, broad beans and chives

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Although I love cooking, I don’t particulary enjoy to cook for only myself. If I need to I want something that’s quick, but still enjoyable. There are other times when that type of cooking is required too. Like when Christopher is working late and not home until 10pm.

This dish is for such occasions. Apart from podding the beans it will only take the same amount of time as it does for the pasta to cook. In my case that was 12 minutes. And the result was summery and lovely.

Farfalle with smoked salmon, broad beans and chives, serves 2

250 g farfalle or other pasta

400 g fresh broad beans in their pods

150 g cold-smoked salmon

100 ml Philadelphia

juice from 1/2 lemon

chives

salt

white pepper

Pod the beans. Cook the pasta. Fry the beans in butter until soft. Add some lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix the Philadelphia with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Drain the pasta. Top with smoked salmon, beans and cut chives. Perhaps add some freshly ground black pepper and dig in. 

Chicken cannelloni with bacon and mushrooms

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Yesterday my dear friends Malin and Martin arrived from Sweden, and they are staying with us until Sunday.

They arrived quite late in the evening, so I had prepared dinner so we wouldn’t eat around midnight. I made the chicken cannelloni I like so much, but I realise I have changed so much in the recipe that it needs to be written down again, because this is the best version. Just make sure you have enough sauce to cover everything in your gratin dish and then some. The pasta tubes soak up a lot of the liquid, and you don’t want this dry.

I also season the ricottamixture quite well, it should almost be too much persillade, so that you can taste it when it is cooked.

Try this guys, and you can prepare everything but pouring on the sauce in advance, which is great because stuffing the tubes is time consuming. You can roll your own cannelloni with fresh lasagna sheets, but the result won’t be as good, believe me – I’ve tried.

Chicken cannelloni with bacon and mushrooms, serves 4 (large portions)

425 g chicken fillets, diced

8 slices bacon, in pieces

150 g button mushrooms, in quarters

400g ricotta

2-3 tbsp persillade

salt

white pepper

1 packet (250 g) cannelloni tubes (De Cecco)

300 ml creme fraiche

300 ml cream

a handful grated cheese

Fry bacon, chicken and mushrooms in different pans or after each other. Leave to cool. Mix ricotta with persillade, salt and pepper. Add the bacon, chicken and mushrooms. Fill the pasta tubes with the filling (I find it easiest to use a teaspoon, but it is time consuming). Place the tubes in a greased gratin dish approx 20 x 30 cm. Mix cream and creme fraiche and pour into the dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in 180-200C fir 25-30 mins. Serve with a nice salad.

The best pasta with prawns

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This recipe is from one of my favourite Swedish food blogs, called Smaskens. This pasta dish is fabulous although it is quite easy to make. The secret is good stock, and it is very easy to make your own prawn stock.

Since I made it the first time, I never throw prawn shells away, instead I freeze them and use them for stock.

Luxorious pasta with prawns, serves 4

linguini or spaghetti for 4 people

50 ml white wine

100 ml homemade prawn stock

200 ml creme fraiche

2 garlic cloves, pressed

nutmeg after taste

sea salt after taste

300 g Icelandic prawns

Cook the pasta and keep some of the water if you need it for the sauce. Mix wine, stoc, creme fraiche and garlic in a pan. Bring to the boil and reduce until creamy. Add nutmeg, salt and prawns. Throw in the drained pasta and some of the pasta water if needed. Serve with black pepper and parmesan.

Fabulous aubergine lasagne

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I was so proud of myself last night, because I had managed to fix my laptop that wasn’t working all by myself. And, more importantly, I made this amazing lasagne.

I know it doesn’t sound very humble to say that, but I would be lying if I didn’t tell you how great this dish was. It is easy to make, no bèchamel involved, melts in your mouth, and the flavours work so well together. Balsamic vinegar in the tomato sauce with plenty of Italian herbs and a pinch of brown sugar work so well together, giving it depth. The aubergine, soft after a little oil bath in the frying pan is nice and smooth, the pasta gives it texture and the icing on the cake is the creme fraiche, cream and cheese layer on the top. I say no more.

So try this, ok? At once, please!

Aubergine lasagne, serves 3 (maybe 4, but it is easy to have seconds and thirds of this)

2 aubergines

olive oil

400 g passata or chopped tomatoes (I always use Cirio – they’re the best)

4 tbsp water

1,5 tsp concentrated vegetabe stock

1 tbsp Heinz chilli sauce or other mild chilli sauce

a pinch of brown sugar

2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Italian herb seasoning

salt & pepper

1 packet fresh lasagne sheets

150 g Philadelphia cheese

100 ml creme fraiche

50 ml cream

100 ml grated cheese (I used Emmenthal)

Peel the aubergines and cut them into 1/2 cm thick slices. Fry these soft in plenty of olive oil on high heat. Meanwhile make the tomato sauce. Add tomatoes, water, stock, vinegar and sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to the boil and let it thicken for 5-10 minutes while stiring. Season to taste with Italian herbs, salt and pepper.

When the sauce and aubergines are ready, start layering the lasagne. Start with tomato sauce in the bottom of an ovenproof dish, then lasagne sheets, some more tomato sauce, aubergines, dollops of Philadelphia cheese. Start again with lasagne sheets for the next layer. Finish the lasagne off with lasagne sheets and some tomato sauce if left over. Mix cream and creme fraiche, salt and pepper and spread it on top to cover the dish. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in 200C for about 30 minutes. Enjoy – you certainly will! 

Mezze: amazing lamb scewers and Damascene lentil salad

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Another recipe courtesy of the carismathic Syrian chef is this phenomenal lentil salad with pasta. Unfortunately my stomach does not allow me to eat lentils, but I still wanted to make this for my friends.

Pasta is actually quite common in the Middle East among with other Italian influences such as pizza. This dish requires lasagne sheets, but I couldn’t find any egg-free lasagne sheets (to make it vegan) in the shops near work so I used fusilli instead. It worked well but I used a little bit too much pasta to get the perfect pasta-lentils ratio, so do use the measurements below. It was still a very tasty dish and this is great buffet food. (And cheap too.)

Damascene lentil salad (Harra s’bao), serves 4

230 ml lentils

2 lasagne sheets, semi-cooked, cut in finger-sized strips

1,4 l water

2 tsp salt

4 lonions, finely chopped

1/2 bunch coriander, chopped

4 garlic cloves, pressed

juice from 2 lemons

3-4 tbsp pomegranate molasses

240 ml olive oil

250 ml pomegranate seeds

Arabic croûtons

Bring the water to the boil in a large saucepan. Add salt, lentils and 1 tbsp olive oil. Cook for 2o mins, covered, stirring occasionally.

Add the pasta after 20 minutes and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally until the pasta is cooked.

While the lentils are cooking, fry the onion brown in a frying pan, transfer to a bowl. In the same pan, fry the coriander for a minute (until wilted), add the garlic and fry on low heat. Place with the onions.

When the lentils are done, add olive oil and the rest of the ingredients. Top with Arabic croûtons and pomegranate seeds. 

As I told you earlier, everything was vegan apart from one meat dish, and that is the lamb scewers above. It might not be strictly Middle Eastern influences in this recipe, but it has the chilli and the cumin, and besides, it was too nice not to try!

And if you will be barbecuing just one thing this summer, make sure it is these scewers! The recipe is courtesy of the lovely Rejina at Gastrogeek and you find the recipe here.

I marinated the meat for 2 days to cram in as much flavour as possible, but since we don’t have a barbecue (or a garden, sob) I cooked them in the oven for 15 minutes or so and a few minutes under the grill at the end.

Green pasta salad with bacon

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On Monday when it was a bank holiday here, me and some friends tried to make the most of the extra day off, and met up for a picnic. It was very windy unfortuately, so we had to hold onto our didposable plates. But it is always nice to get together, drink rosé and eat nice food.

I contributed with this pasta salad. It is easy to make, and really nice on its own or with chicken.

Green pasta salad with bacon, serves 4 or 6-8 on a picnic

300 g fusilli pasta

3 tbsp pesto

3 msk olivolja

1 courgette

1 packet smoked bacon

a few handfuls baby spinach

Cook the pasta, drain and rinse in cold water to get rid of the starch. Slice the courgette and cut the slices in half. Fry in olive oil on medium heat until soft. Leave to cool.  Fry the bacon in small pieces until crispy. Drain from excess fat on kitchen towel. Mix pesto and oil in a large bowl. Add the pasta and mix thoroughly. Add courgette, bacon and spinach. Mix again. 

Simple pasta

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I really like fresh filled pasta such as ravioli and tortellini, but I always end up disappointed when I buy some from the supermarket. However, Italian brands found in delicatessens are great. We found this lovely mushroom tortellini at Partridge’s and together with some fried pancetta, freshly grated parmesan and some truffle oil it is an instant hit. So simple, yet lovely!

Nigella’s sesame peanut noodles

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It is very probable that I am repeating myself, but I think the cokbook Nigella Express gets better and better everytime I pick it up. It contains plenty of weekday recipes, which  is great. And this recipe is from that book. I have made it many times, and you can eat it as it is or have maybe some chicken scewers with it. And it is perfect for the lunch box the next day.

Sesame peanut noodles, serves 4

Dressing: 

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp garlic oil (or regular olive oil)

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

100 g peanutbutter

2 tbsp lime juice

Salad:

125g mange tout

150 g beansprouts

1 red pepper, sliced

2 spring onions, sliced

550 g cooked cool egg noodles

20g sesame seeds

4 tbsp chopped coriander

Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a bowl. Add everything but sesame seeds and coriander. Mix throughly. Add extra olive oil if it feels to dry. Add sesame seeds and coriander just before serving. 

Gnocchi gratin with spinach and smoked ham

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I love my iPhone for lots of reasons, but one is that it is so easy to write down notes. I have lots of to-do-lists there and quite a few recipes. This recipe, or the ingredients list rather, I found on there. But I hadn’t written where I found it or how to cook this. And because I’m me, I of course made a few changes to the ingredients list anyway, but I only added things, mind you.

So whoever the creator(s) of this recipe were, it was truly great! Perfect for a weekday supper. It takes no time at all to whip it up, and it tastes amazing. So try this at home! 🙂

Gnocchi gratin with spinach and smoked ham, serves 3

500 g gnocchi

250 g fresh spinach

butter

olive oil

1 schallot

1 clove garlic, pressed

4 sage leaves

150 ml sour cream / creme fraiche

50 ml cream

75 g grated parmesan

grated nutmeg

concentrated vegetable stock

salt, white pepper

4 slices smoked ham, chopped

50 ml grated cheese

Cook the gnocchi al dente according to the instructions on the packet. Heat up butter in a pan and wilt the spinach. Transfer to a bowl. In the same or a different pan, heat up some olive oil, andd the chopped shallot, garlic and sage and let it sweat for a few minutes. Add sour cream, cream and parmesan. Bring to the boil and let it thicken slightly. Season with salt, pepper, stock and nutmeg. Butter a gratin dish, sqeeze the water out of the spinach and place half at the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle half the ham on top. Add the drained gnocchi, then another layer of spinach and ham. Pour in the sauce. Sprinkle grated cheese on top. Put in the oven, 200C, for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.