winter couscous

 

another cavolo nero recipe – i told you i’m obsessed!

this was a make-do version of a moro east recipe for cabbage and bulgar wheat pilaf – obviously using cavolo nero in place of the cabbage was intentional but i hadn’t realised i was out of bulgar wheat so had to substitute couscous. which was actually a good thing as it’s added a new way of making couscous to my repertoire and the result if very different from the light summery versions which is usually do, spiked with herbs and lemon.

the key top success in this dish is using a lot of butter, in which spring onions, cavolo nero and pine nuts are cooked slowly. the lemony flavours in this come from sumac, which gives a much more subtle flavour than the fresh fruit. an alternative would be a bit of chopped preserved lemon.

the resulting couscous is rich and delicious and well worth a try if you usually only have couscous in the summer. we ate this with sliced pork tenderloin which was marinated with olive oil, lemon juice, grated shallots, grated garlic, turmeric, cumin, coriander and parsley and then stir fried, with a squeeze of lemon juice added at the end. this was another recipe from moro east and went really well with the couscous. sadly it was completely unphotogenic!

Click to read more ...

autumn pasta with borlotti beans, cavolo nero, girolles and crispy pancetta

i’ve been a bit lackadaisical recently, when it came to food shopping and tracking down exciting seasonal foodie bits. this is very unlike me but has been due to trying to use stuff up (it took me months to work my way through the freezer but it is now done, has been defrosted and is again stuffed to the gills) and general busyness. however, this weekend i have got my act together and have lots of lovely exciting things in – fresh pasta and gnocchi, burrata, fresh borlotti beans, cavolo nero, various types of wild mushroom plus figs, amalfi lemons, wet walnuts and cobnuts.

last night’s supper was inspired by a description in a the donna hay magazine – for a quick winter pasta, toss sautéed garlic, wilted kale, borlotti beans, crispy proscuitto and pecorino through cooked fettucine. drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice to serve.

sounds delicious, non? i added some fresh girolles plus thyme to the mix, omitting the lemon juice and embracing the mild earthiness of the dish. fresh pasta too. it was delicious – a thoughtful combination of ingredients and a nice way to return to mindful cooking.

Click to read more ...

savoy, porcini and pancetta penne

one of my weekly treats is reading the ft weekend magazine, which includes a couple of food and drink themed articles, including a regular column by rowley leigh. his writing is always thoughtful and even if the recipe doesn’t appeal i often learn something or am sent on a foodie journey, using his writing as inspiration. 

a recent article extolled the virtues of dried mushrooms and their “dense rich flavour from the opening salvo” which means they are a wonderful store cupboard ingredient especially at this time of year when root vegetables have lost their appeal but spring vegetables are not yet in sight.  

david is not a big fan of mushrooms which means they often slip to the back of my mind or are just used in a  default and mindless way (usually to oomph up lentil dishes),  but this article combined with an evening home alone, prompted me to give rowley’s recipe – pennette with ceps*, cabbage and bacon – a try.

needless to say i adapted the recipe but the one thing i clung to was a desire to make the dried mushrooms the star of the dish. it works really well and is a good variation on my existing repertoire of cabbage-based pasta dishes – with pancetta and mozzarella or sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts. just make sure you use a flavoursome cabbage – savoy is a good default choice – which can stand up to the mushrooms and the pancetta. if you want to make a vegetarian version, use strips of sundried tomatoes instead of the pancetta. 

*ceps = porcini – they are the same thing; ceps is the french name, porcini the italian 

Click to read more ...

black pudding-ish pasta

 

a friend recommended the black pudding and apple sausages which waitrose sell on their deli counters. i picked up four earlier in the week and adapted the jamie oliver bloke’s pasta recipe to create a super-delish supper.

the sausages don’t have a high black pudding content but you can definitely taste its presence. i didn’t notice the apple. i added cavolo nero and cherry tomatoes for extra vegetable oomph. i also added a glug of cream as the chilli i used was hotter than i expected, which added an extra layer of richness which balanced really well with the freshness of the lemon and parsley.

Click to read more ...

more cabbage... more pasta...

having had such success with the cabbage, thyme and mozzarella pasta dish i made last week to use up some of my excess cabbage purchase i decided to try another cabbage and pasta recipe and called on dennis cotter for inspiration.

this dish is a little more austere than the previous one and having made it twice, once with a pointed cabbage and once with a savoy cabbage, i think it’s important to use a cabbage with as much flavour as you can find (the pointed cabbage was not great, dennis calls for the use of an abyssinian cabbage but i’ve not managed to track that down yet) and don’t skimp on the chilli, sundried tomatoes, cheese and pine nuts, all of which add interest.

Click to read more ...