Open Table

SAUSAGE PAPPARDELLE

Last night three of my best friends popped over for a very relaxed girly supper.  

It was so nice to see them after a slightly frustrating day spent trying to convince my two year old to put his nappy back on ... 

He has seen his sister using the loo and is not interested in baby nappies any more, its ‘big boy knickers like Thea or nuffing!’  He has spent the day running into the next door room (where he thinks i am not watching) removing his nappy and getting his sister to help him put on his big boy knickers ... called knickers because that is what his sister calls them and he copies everything she does.  

This would be fine if he actually got the concept of telling me he needed a wee ... unfortunately he tends to tell me after he has wet himself.  The joys of a child who wants to potty train themselves ... I think he is trying to tell me something, were are going to officially start on monday.

So after the trials and tribulations of not quite potty training we relaxed with a glass of wine and a bowl of pasta.  This is one of my favorite dishes ... it is perfect for feeding hungry friends on cold days.

My friend Thea (whose name I pinched for my daughter) gave me the recipe for the sauce a few years ago.  I decided to serve it with pappardelle rather than a thinner pasta as I feel the rich sauce works well with thick pasta.  I threw in the peas for a bit of freshness ... it also means you don’t need to cook a side dishes ... 

SAUSAGE PAPPARDELLE - Serves 4

Ingredients 

6 Fresh Italian Sausages, 1 Large onion, 1 Clove of grated garlic, 1/2 Teaspoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary, 1/2 Teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage, 200g of vine tomatoes, 300ml Cream Fraiche, 1/4 Teaspoon of dried chilli flakes, 150g Frozen petit pois peas, 100g Parmesan, 400g of Pappardelle pasta, Olive oil, Salt and pepper

• Cut the skins off the sausages and mash the sausage meat in a bowl with a fork so the meat looks more like mince
• Chop the tomatoes into small 1/2 cm chucks and place in a bowl ready to use shortly
• Slice the onions and place in a frying pan on a low heat with a some olive oil until they are soft.  
• Once soft add the sausage meat to the pan.  Using a wooden spoon break up any large lumps of sausage meat while it is cooking.  After a couple of minutes grate in a clove of garlic and add the rosemary, sage and chilli.  
• Keep stirring the dish, breaking up the sausage meat until the meat has cooked through.
• Once it has cooked through turn off the heat and start cooking the pasta as per the instructions
• Once the pasta is a couple of minutes away from being cooked, reheat the sauce, add the tomatoes and peas stir for a minute then mix in the creme fraiche and half the parmesan.  When the sauce has heated through, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat
• Drain pasta and add the sausage mixture to the pasta, stir thoroughly and serve with rest of parmesan

Cooking notes

Don’t worry if the sausage meat is very lumpy when you start cooking ... it will break up

Adapting

If you can not find Italian sausages then just use plain sausage meat and add 2 cloves of garlic and and additional half a Teaspoon of rosemary and sage.

 

 

 

CHILDREN'S RED PASTA SAUCE

My son is such a monkey.  Over the past few months he has smeared choc ices into my sofa, taken his nappy off and weed in various places, thrown food when he thinks I am not looking ... the list goes on .. 

However naughty he is he has a knack of saying the right thing at the right moment and all is forgiven ... Today he decided to decorate his hair and quite a bit of my kitchen with the left over tomato sauce from lunch ... It was on the side ready to go in the fridge when he pushed a chair over, climbed up and and got to work ...

After their bathtime I changed ... I am not looking my best ... tracky bums, hair that needs a wash, no make up ... definite bags under the eyes from two late nights ... I think you get the picture.

A now clean Charlie ran up to me, in his clean pj's, demanded a hug and said “your beautiful mummy” ...  bliss ... all is forgiven.  

Here is the sauce I made ... it is great for children's lunch or tea ...

CHILDREN'S RED PASTA SAUCE - Makes approx 1 litre

Ingredients for sauce

1 Medium onion, 2 Cloves of garlic (finely grated), 800g Chopped tinned tomatoes, 1 Teaspoon of sugar, 1/2 Teaspoon of Vegetable stock (bouillon powder), 3 Handfuls of petit pois frozen peas, 6-8 Large basil leaves, 2 Tablespoons of Ricotta, 25g Grated Cheddar, Salt and pepper

• Chop the onion and place in saucepan with some olive oil, cook for a couple of minutes on medium heat till the onion is soft
• Add the garlic and stir for a minute
• Pour in the tinned tomatoes and add the sugar and vegtable stock.  
• Simmer for 10 minutes
• Stir in the peas and cook for a further two minutes then add the basil
• After you have mixed in the basil blend the sauce, i use a hand held blender and blend in the saucepan, once blended mix in the Ricotta and Cheddar
• Stir the sauce into pasta and sprinkle with more Cheddar

Cooking notes

You need to blend this sauce throughly.

I would serve about 150ml of the sauce on a small child size (my children and 2-3) portion of pasta ... so this should feed about 6-8 children ... because I make this for young children it is not as strong as other pasta sauces ... if you like strong flavors you might find this a little bland.

Adapting

You can change the cheese to what you have in the fridge.  Cream Fraiche also works really well in place of the Ricotta.

 

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA

I had a fantastic evening last night with very old friends.  We are all very different characters with different lives so it is wonderful to catch up and hear what everyone has been up to.

Seven of us met as children, Rob had an accident in Thailand on his gap year and is sadly no longer with us.  The remaining six have all married people we adore and we try and see each other as much as our busy lives and a few Continients allow ...

Over the years there has been sailing, weekends away, babies, films written, films made, books published, companies run, clothes designed and baftas won ... to mention a few snapshots of our busy lives ...

This business is what has inspired my recipe today.  I mentioned my blog ... (which Tobes and Miriam suggested I write last November ... it took me a while but I got there in the end ... a big thank you) and became very aware that I am incredibly lucky to be at home with all this time to cook.

So todays recipe is my version of spaghetti carbonara.  It tastes delicious and will feed two quickly when your busy life has rather taken over:

 

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA - Serves 2

Ingredients

200g Spaghetti, 1 Large red onion, 2 eggs, 2 Cloves of Garlic, 70g Pancetta, 50g Grated parmesan, Olive oil, Salt and Pepper

• Slice the onions and place in a frying pan on a low heat with a generous slug of olive oil.  Allow to cook for ten minutes, stirring every couple of minutes.  While cooking boil the kettle, grab yourself a drink and lay the table
• After ten minutes put the spaghetti on to cook
• Once the spaghetti is on, add the pancetta to the onions and peel the cloves of garlic.  Once peeled add them straight into the pan with the onions and pancetta, don’t worry about grating it ... this is a quick version. 
• Crack one egg (it should be room temperature) into a mixing bowl, season with salt and pepper and beat.  Seperate the other egg, at the yolk to the bowl and put the white aside, you do not use it in this recipe.
• Once the spaghetti has cooked, drain it and throw on top of the eggs and mix throughly for 20 seconds.  The eggs will cook in the heat from the pasta and create a sauce
• The pancetta and onions should now be cooked and starting to slightly crisp, remove the cloves of garlic and mix the onion and pancetta and all the oil into the pasta with 3/4 of the Parmesan
• Stir the pasta again and serve
• The remaining parmesan can be sprinkled over the pasta once served

Cooking notes

This recipe uses spaghetti that takes 9-10 minutes to cook.  If you use quick cook you will need to wait slightly before cooking it.

The eggs need to be room temperature when you make this so you are not having to bring them up to temperature and then cook them using the heat from the pasta.  You use the extra egg yolk to add richness to the sauce.  You can make a small batch of Meringue with the white or frezze it and wait till you have a couple more whites to make a large batch of Meringue.

If you are concerned about partially cooked eggs in this dish please read my comments in the notes section of my blog.

Adapting

You can play around with the ingredients in this dish.  I use red onions for their colour, if you don’t have them use regular onions.  If you don’t have pancetta bacon will do and Parmesan can be replaced with Gruyere.  

 

Pancetta Macaroni

I landed this morning and went to pick up the children from school.  After five days of no Mummy I was expecting lots of hugs and excitement.  They came running towards me shouting Mummy, saw Daddy, did a quick divert and Daddy got the hug ... that will teach me to go away.

We went home for present opening, luckily the strawberry shortcake doll was better than the requested ballerina that could not be found in any of the four toy shops we tried in Toronto.  

We had a family conference to decide what we all fancied to eat ... their was a unanimous "PASTA" ... which was just what I fancied after a long flight, we had Pancetta Macaroni which I watched my friend Dee make a few years ago and love, love love:  

PANCETTA MACARONI - Serves 6

Ingredients 

500g Macaroni pasta, 2 Medium onions, 2 Cloves of garlic, 2/3 sprigs of thyme or a teaspoon of dried thyme, 150g Diced Pancetta, 300g Grated Gruyere cheese, Olive oil, Salt and pepper

• Put the macaroni on to cook
• Placed the sliced onion in a frying pan on a medium heat and cook for a couple of minutes so the slices start to go soft
• Add the pancetta cook for a few minutes until the it is crispy and the onions are soft and started to caramelise, at this point grate in the garlic and add the thyme and cook for another minute
• Drain the pasta
• Pour the onion and bacon mixture over the pasta
• Add 1/3 of the cheese and a generous slug of olive oil
• Mix together and place half the pasta in an oven proof dish
• Sprinkle half of the remaining cheese on to the pasta, top with the rest of the pasta and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top.  
• When you are ready to serve turn the oven to 200 and cook for 20/25 minutes till it is cooked through and the top of the pasta has gone golden and crispy

Cooking notes

This makes quite a dry Macaroni, if you prefer lots of cheese sauce this might not be for you.  If you like your pasta very crispy then you will love it.

The thyme leaves should be removed from the sprigs, you should have just over a tablespoon of leaves.

The Oven proof dish I use for this is 34 cm x 28 cm x 5cm deep.

Adapting

If you can not find Gruyere then use Emmental cheese instead

 

PESTO

My husband was at work today.  As it is a bank holiday we thought we would take the children in to see him so they could see what Daddy does all day.  

I realised Daddy had some big shoes to fill when on the way our daughter talked me through what everyone in Daddy Pig's office did, colouring being the highlight.  She then went on to ask if there might be smoke or ladders at Daddy's work... apparently Mr Incredible has a computer but also is a super hero.

We had to agree to disagree that daddy was not a super hero, her logic was if she was a super hero (she showed me her Elastic girl arms) then Daddy was defiantly one and there would be smoke and ladders.

Luckily the office, without ladders or smoke, was a great sucess.  The headset his colleague had was perfect for pretending to be Dora the Explorer.  

We finally got home after remembering a little too late that the Notting Hill Carnival was on and having to tube, bus, bus and then walk our way round it we were all tried and I did not fancy cooking.

I reached the the magimix, it would have to be Pesto ... I put it on brown pasta and threw in some peas to make myself feel it was healthy.

PESTO - 10 Servings

Ingredients 

80g Fresh basil, 60g Grated parmesan, 40g Pine nuts, 1 Grated clove of garlic, 125mil Extra virgin olive oil, Salt and pepper, 1/4 lemon

• Put the basil, parmesan, 30g of the pine nuts (hold back 10g for later) and garlic into the food processor
• Blend for 20 seconds and squeeze in the le 
  mon juice
• Now you slowly add in the oil.  Turn the processor on again and slowly pour the oil into the spout of the food processor, once combined taste
• Add salt and pepper if required and the remaining pin nuts and blitz for 3 seconds (this will give a nutty texture to the pesto) and place in jar in fridge.  It may separate slightly while in fridge so stir before eating

Cooking notes: This recipie makes enough for ten serving spoons for pesto.  I tend to cook 100g of pasta per person and combine the 100g with 2 tablespoons of pesto (this amount will feed two children).  If you don’t use it all at once don’t worry, it tastes better on the second day and will last in the fridge for at least a week.  If you are not going to use it for a day or two add a thin layer of olive oil to the top of the pesto which will seal it.

Adapting: Add in some whole toasted pine nuts and halved cherry tomatoes for a bit of extra flavour and texture.