spaghetti – Scandelights

Recipe: Creamy Langoustine Pasta with Garlic Butter Langoustines on the Shell

Published on October 7, 2021 by Hanna2 Comments

This summer, which I mainly spent in Norfolk, was heaven. Apart from the weather. But we had lots of barbecues and ate a lot of lovely local seafood.

But one day at the fishmongers, while also buying local crab, I couldn’t resist the beautiful looking Scottish langoustines. And that night I turned them into this stunning pasta dish with wine, tomatoes, cream and of course lots of langoustine meat.

I was quite generous with three each; half of the meat went into the sauce and the other half I kept in their shells, covered with garlic and parsley butter and put under the grill before placing them on top of the silky pasta. It was creamy, buttery and pure heaven to eat.

If I had had more time I would have made a quick stock from the shells to use in the pasta sauce but it wasn’t actually needed. Instead I put them in the freezer and made langoustine soup a few days later using a quick stock, a splash of wine and cream. Delicious!

Creamy langoustine pasta with garlic butter langoustines on the shell, serves 2

6 langoustines

1/2 shallot, finely chopped

1 tbsp butter

100 g cherry tomatoes, washed and halved

a small pinch of sugar

3 tbsp dry white wine

150 ml cream

salt and pepper

250 g spaghetti

4 tbsp salted butter, softened

1 small garlic clove, finely chopped

1 small bunch of parsley, finely chopped

Start with the langoustines. Cut them all in half lengthways and get rid of the vein. Keep six halves in their shells but take the meat out of two of the claws, keep four as they are. Pick all the meat out of the remaining six half and cut into 1 cm pieces. Set aside.

Cook the pasta al dente according to the packet. Then start the sauce by placing a large frying pan on medium heat and add the butter. Cook the onions for a few minutes until soft and translucent. Add the cherry tomatoes and cook until soft. Add the wine and let it bubble away. Add sugar. Then add the cream and let it thicken slightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Mix together the butter with garlic and parsley. Place the six langoustines halves shell on in an oven-proof dish. Spread with plenty of butter and place under a hot grill (250C) until bubbling and hot, it only takes a minute or two.

Heat up the sauce, add the langoustine meat, the drained pasta and a splash of pasta water and cook for a minute or so in the sauce while moving the pasta around the whole time. Once it is coating every strand of pasta in a satisfying manner, divide the pasta between two bowls. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper, then place the shell on langoustine halves on top, three in each bowl. Add two claws to each bowl and serve.

Recipe: spaghetti with tomato, burrata and crispy parma ham

Published on May 29, 2019 by HannaLeave a comment

Who else loveeees burrata? I’m a huge fan and I think it’s easier to find decent burrata than mozzarella in the supermarket these days. That makes me a little sad, as I think good quality buffalo mozzarella should be readily available but as I love burrata, I’m glad it has become more accessible. Still, get the best you can find as even though the supermarket version is decent there are better ones out there!

My favourite pairing with burrata is definitely tomatoes, as the natural acidity and sweetness in them just works so well with the creaminess of the cheese. I love a caprese style salad with burrata and that’s where I got the inspiration for this dish. With the addition of crispy parma ham for texture.

Adding the tiniest amount of cream to the tomato sauce, like I’ve done here, really changes the flavours of it and I think it goes even better with the burrata this way. But only use a small amount of cream, as I think the tomatoes should still be prominent.

Spaghetti with tomato, burrata and crispy parma ham, serves 3

400 g spaghetti

6 slices parma ham

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 tbsp light olive oil

270 g cherry tomatoes, halved

100 ml white wine

chopped basil

2 tsp caster sugar

salt, black pepper

6 tbsp tomato sauce

1 tsp herbs de provence

2 tbsp double cream

To serve:

1 burrata, at room temperature

grated parmesan

more chopped basil

Pre-heat the oven to 200C fan. Place the ham slices on parchment covered baking tray and put it in the oven for 7 minutes or until crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Cook the spaghetti al dente according to the instructions on the packet. In the meantime, make the tomato sauce. Add oil to a medium sauce pan and put it on medium heat. Add the garlic and shortly after the cherry tomatoes. Let them soften and caramelise. Once mushy add the wine and basil and stir occasionally. Add sugar to taste.

For more sauciness, add 6 tbsp tomato sauce and the herb de Provence. Add the cream and lower the heat while the sauce is thickening a little. Season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar.

Drain the pasta and add it to the saucepan. Mix throughly and divide between bowls. Top with the burrata torn into smaller pieces. Finish off with grated parmesan, chopped basil and the crispy ham.

Recipe: proper spaghetti carbonara

Published on June 28, 2018June 28, 2018 by Hanna2 Comments

Recipes are not protected by copyright law, probably as they are evolving all the time. And as much as I like to keep to tradition when it comes to certain dishes I love to experiment with others.

When it comes to pasta there is no reason to always stick to the traditional recipes, but I think it’s good to try to master them first.

Growing up in Sweden in the 1980s and 1990s, we had a lot of traditional Scandinavian dishes, usually including meat and potatoes. Italian dishes then, when the world seemed a bigger place, were often (very) bastardised versions of the real thing, and therefore not of great inspiration to me. Because I only had the school dinner version of lasagne to sample I thought for a long time I didn’t like the dish. But it turned out it was just that terrible (yes, terrible) version I didn’t like. It was the same with ravioli (and other non-Italian dishes); my reference points were bad. Whereas everything my mother (or grandmothers) cooked was always delicious, but more Scandinavian in heritage.

Now my relationship with Italian food is quite different. I have been to Italy a few times and tried the real thing, and also cooked proper Italian dishes at home. And the emulsion of water and Parmesan keeps fascinating me. First of all, it’s DELICIOUS, but also, once you get the hang of it, it’s not difficult at all as this recipe proves. And once and for all, you do not need cream to make a creamy carbonara, just a little patience and using the method below. But I must admit I added one tablespoon of it during my first attempt, although it’s not needed. As always Gennaro Contaldo’s recipes are spot on. Grazie.

Spaghetti Carbonara, serves 2

Adapted from Gennaro Contaldo’s for Jamie Oliver recipe.

3 large free-range egg yolks

40g Parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve

150g good quality pancetta, diced

200g dried good quality spaghetti

1 clove of garlic

extra virgin olive oil

black pepper

Put the egg yolks into a bowl, finely grate in the Parmesan, season with pepper, then mix well with a fork and put to one side. Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente.

Fry the pancetta in a little oil over medium-high heat. Peel the garlic and crush it and add it to the pan for flavour – remove if it browns or when finished cooking. Reserve some cooking water and drain the pasta and add it to the pancetta pan. Toss well over the heat so it really soaks up all that lovely flavour, then remove the pan from the heat. Transfer the pasta back to the spaghetti pan, season and add a splash of the cooking water, then pour in the egg mixture (the pan will help to cook the egg gently, rather than scrambling it). Toss well, adding more cooking water until it’s lovely and glossy. Serve with a grating of Parmesan and extra pepper.

Recipe: fabulous lemon spaghetti

Published on May 17, 2018May 17, 2018 by HannaLeave a comment

Right now we have normal Spring weather in London (as one would expect in May), but when I made this lemony pasta for the book club girls we had summer temperatures in April (!). If it hadn’t been so windy, I would have liked to eat outside but indoors had to do.

Because of the nice weather I wanted to make something summery, but more filling than a salad, so when my colleague suggested this River Café recipe I had a hunch it would be perfect.

And it was!

Looking at the ingredients list it might seem like a heavy dish but the acidity from the lemon makes it appear as light as air (well almost). It’s so fresh and really tastes of summer. So much so that it’s easy to dream of Mediterranean holidays…

But back to London and reality. The pasta went down a treat (everybody had seconds) and Mary-Louise even asked for the recipe. She has since reported back that she made it twice in one weekend and that it works just as well with the pasta shape bucatini. Thank you M-L!

Lemon spaghetti with Parmesan and basil, serves 6

Adapted from River Café’s recipe.

250 g spaghetti

juice of 3-4 lemons, preferably Amalfi lemons

150 ml olive oil

150 g Parmesan, freshly grated

2 handfuls of fresh basil, leaves picked and finely chopped

finely grated lemon zest

Cook the spaghetti in a generous amount of boiling salted water, then drain thoroughly and return to the saucepan.

Meanwhile, whisk the lemon juice with the olive oil, then stir in the Parmesan; it will melt into the mixture, making it thick and creamy. Season with sea salt and black pepper and add more lemon juice to taste.

Add the sauce to the spaghetti and shake the pan so that each strand of pasta is coated with the cheese. Finally, stir in the chopped basil and some grated lemon zest.

Recipe: Cacio e pepe

Published on March 22, 2017March 22, 2017 by HannaLeave a comment

Cacio e pepe, this heavenly dish consisting only of pasta, pecorino and black pepper (and a little cooking water from the pasta) has always seemed so daunting to make. I have enjoyed it cooked to perfection in Rome (it’s a Roman dish) but I never thought I could recreate it at home. But then I read Felicity Cloake’s article about the perfect cacio e pepe and decided to have a go as she made it seem so easy. And it turns out, with her guidance, it actually was!

The receipt is perfect. I didn’t change a thing and it worked perfectly the first time. If you’re a cacio e pepe novice like I was I highly recommend reading the article beforehand just to understand the elements of the dish better. And I can’t stress enough how important the quality of the ingredients are; buy some good dried pasta (I love de Cecco) and some really nice pecorino ( I got mine from Natoora) and your finished dish will be just as nice as the one you had in Rome on your holiday.

Cacio e pepe, serves 2

Adapted from Felicity Cloake’s recipe.

2 tsp black peppercorns

200 g spaghetti

80 g pecorino romano, at room temperature, finely grated

Toast the peppercorns in a very hot, dry pan then roughly crush with a pestle and mortar.

Bring a wide shallow pan of well-salted water to the boil, then add the pasta; it should be covered but not by much. Stir occasionally during cooking and, five minutes into the cooking time, scoop out 250 ml water into a wide bowl to allow it to cool slightly.

Drain the pasta and leave it to cool for a minute. Meanwhile, put the cheese and most of the pepper in a large, heavy bowl or pan and beat in some of the pasta water very gradually to make first a paste, and then a sauce the consistency of bechamel. Add the pasta and toss furiously while adding enough of the water to make a sauce that coats each strand of spaghetti.

Divide between warm bowls, sprinkle over a little more pepper, and serve immediately.

Wild garlic pesto

Published on May 20, 2015 by Hanna7 Comments

When I was in Sweden last my mother gave me a large bag of wild garlic she picked for me, so back in London I made a batch of lovely pesto that I’ve been eating lately. The same day I made it I just had it with spaghetti and (more) grated parmesan as a light lunch. Delicious!

Wild garlic pesto, approx 250 ml pesto

ca 50-70 g wild garlic (about a bunch as stick as a small banana)

30 g almonds

40 g parmesan

1/2 lemon, juice only

mild oil, approx 100-150 ml

salt & pepper

Mix wild garlic, almonds, lemon juice and parmesan with a bit of oil to a paste in a food processor or with a stick blender. Keep adding oil until you have the consistency you like. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keeps in the fridge for 5-7 days.

Spaghetti with courgette and smoked salmon

Published on June 9, 2014 by HannaLeave a comment

When work is busy I usually cook pasta for dinner. It’s quick and easy yet satisfying. This version with creamy spaghetti, courgette and cold-smoked salmon feels fresh after a long day at the office. If you cook two portions it allows for a packed lunch for the following day too. Bonus.

Spaghetti with courgette and smoked salmon, serves 2

2 portions spaghetti (I prefer de Cecco)

120 g cold-smoked salmon

1/2 courgette, thinly sliced

50 ml white wine

a dash of concentrated fish stock

50 ml cream

chopped chives to serve

Cook the spaghetti al dente. Slice the salmon. Pour the wine into a small saucepan and let the alcohol evaporate and the liquid to reduce a little. Add cream and stock, let reduce a bit further and season. Add the courgette slices and let them soften in the liquid. Drain the pasta and mix with the sauce and salmon. Serve with chives.

Spaghetti with girolles, dijon and cognac

Published on August 25, 2011 by HannaLeave a comment

When a friend gives you three tubs of handpicked girolles (by himself) you feel the responsibility. To not disappoint I paired the lovely mushrooms with shallots, dijon mustard, some creme fraiche and cream and some cognac and served it with nice spaghetti (from De Cecco, my favourite pasta brand).

This saue is rather sharp on its own, but perfectly balanced when served with pasta. Feel free to add some black pepper or parmesan when serving, but it is really good without it too.

Spaghetti with girolles, dijon and cognac, serves 2

300 g spaghetti

1 large shallot

ca 100 g fresh or frozen girolles

1 garlic clove

butter, oil

50 ml creme fraiche

100 ml cream

2 tsp dijon

3-4 tbsp cognac

persillade, salt, white pepper

Cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water according to the instructions on the packet. Chop the shallot and fry in oil and butter until soft. Remove to a bowl. Chop the mushrooms roughly, fry in plenty of butter and oil on high heat for about 5 minutes. Lower the heat and add the pressed garlic. Add also the fried onion. Pour 2-3 tbsp of cognac into the pan and let it bubble away. Add cream, creme fraiche and mustard and let it thicken. If you fancy a stronger cognac taste, add 1-2 tbsp more. Season to taste with salt, white pepper and persillade. Drain the pasta and place in bowls. Top with the sauce and sigh of happiness.