Pasta with Seafood Sauce
19 Oct 2010 1 Comment
in Fish, Pasta Tags: Italian, Italy, mussels, Pasta, prawns, ravioli, seafood, Waitrose ravioli, Waitrose Seafood Selection
One of the tastiest dishes we had in Italy recently was ravioli with ricotta and a seafood sauce. I’ve come up with a really quick and easy version of the sauce …..and as I’ve cheated and used a packet of Waitrose ravioli you can have dinner on the table in about half an hour!! Just serve with a fresh green salad. (no parmesan – it doesn’t go with seafood!)
Serves 2
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tbs fennel, finely chopped
1 tbs roast red pepper, finely chopped
1 tsp jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
75ml white wine
200ml passata
½ a fish stock cube
100g mixed seafood (Waitrose Seafood Selection, thawed. I used mostly the prawns and mussels and only a few bits of squid.)
olive oil
250g pack of spinach and ricotta ravioli (or any other pasta you fancy!)
Fry the onion gently in a little olive oil until soft. Add the fennel and peppers and cook 1 minute. Pour in the white wine and cook until reduced by half. Stir in the stock cube and passata and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the seafood and cook for 5 minutes. Blitz the sauce with a hand blender for a few seconds.
Cook the pasta and serve with the sauce poured over.
Pasta with parmesan & courgette sauce
24 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in From the veg patch, Pasta, Veggie Tags: courgette, Pasta
The glut of courgettes has started slightly early this year! Time to go through my recipes for interesting ways to cook them – fritters, sauted with pine nuts, or ’agradolce’ with onion, garlic, olives, anchovies and raisins. Tonight I’m going for an old favourite – a parmesan courgette sauce with pasta.
serves 4
225-325g wholewheat pasta
75g parmesan, grated
450g courgettes, cut into julienne strips
1tbs oil
50g butter
2tbs oil
1 tbs flour
250 ml milk
6 fresh basil leaves or 1tsp dried basil
Cook the pasta as per instructions.
Heat 1 tbs oil and cook courgettes until golden brown.
In a separate pan heat the 2tbs oil and butter. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk and cook until thickened. Stir in the courgettes, parmesan and basil. Add salt to taste.
Stir the sauce into the pasta and serve.
Gnocchi with a Tasty Sauce (2)
25 Feb 2010 1 Comment
in Pasta, Veggie Tags: gnocchi, mushrooms
This is a variation on my first gnocchi sauce….and even tastier!
½ pack gnocchi
1 small onion,
½ a red pepper, skinned and chopped,
1 clove garlic, crushed
1tsp capers, chopped
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
½ tin tomatoes, pureed
2 ‘pellets’ of frozen spinach*
1 tsp dried basil or some chopped fresh basil
Fry the onion , add the garlic, & pepper and fry a few minutes. Add the capers and anchovy and fry a few more minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, spinach and basil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Cook the gnocchi as per instructions on pack. Mix into the sauce. Serve with some parmesan sprinkled on top.
* I keep a packet of Waitrose frozen organic spinach in the freezer – easy to just add a ‘pellet’ or two to a recipe.
As this is such a light dish I sauted 4 big mushrooms in olive oil and garlic and served them on top of grilled french bread.
Salmon Pasta
16 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in Fish, Pasta Tags: cream, lemon zest, Pasta, saffron, salmon
This is a really quick and easy supper dish….hardly any washing up either!
2 salmon fillets
150g penne
Small pot double cream
Zest of 1 lemon
Pinch of saffron
1 medium sized tomato, deseeded and chopped
Cook the pasta as per instructions on packet.
Steam the salmon on top of the pasta.
Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Flake the salmon into the pasta, mix the cream, lemon, saffron & tomato together, add to the pan and heat through gently.
Gnocchi with a Tasty Sauce
06 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
This is a quick supper recipe for two. You can vary the ingredients depending on what you have – maybe squash instead of courgette, ham instead of bacon (or leave it out for a veggie meal) Perhaps add some chilli if you want it hotter!
½ pack gnocchi
1 small onion, chopped
2 rashers smoked bacon, chopped
1 courgette, diced
6 mushrooms, chopped
½ a red pepper, skinned and chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ tin tomatoes, pureed
1 tsp dried basil or some chopped fresh basil
Fry the onion and bacon, add the garlic, pepper and courgette and fry a few minutes. Add the mushrooms and fry a few more minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and basil and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Cook the gnocchi as per instructions on pack. Mix into the sauce.
Serve with some parmesan sprinkled on top.
Best ever Bolognese Sauce
07 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in Beef, Pasta Tags: bolognese sauce, Nigel Slater, Pasta, spaghetti
This is just so good that I always make batches of sauce for the freezer. Thaw out a portion and cook some spaghetti…..dinner in 15 minutes!
It’s a Nigel Slater recipe – one of the ’proper’ cooks around that I really admire.
Sausage Pasta
28 Sep 2009 Leave a Comment
in Pasta, Pork or Ham Tags: Pasta, sausages
Packet of Rankin sausages in the fridge so I’m going to make a speedy pasta sauce. Fry a chopped onion with a crushed garlic clove, add a pinch of nutmeg, a teaspoon of dried rosemary, a bay leaf and a teaspoon of lazy* chillis. Skin and chop up the sausages and add them to the pan. Fry until browned, breaking up the pieces as they cook. Add a tin of pureed tomatoes and simmer for a while. Finish of with a good dollop of cream stirred in along with some grated parmesan. Mix into cooked pasta of your choice and sprinkle with more parmesan…..will go well with a bottle of Papavero!
*see ‘These are a few of my favourite things’
