roasted tomato risotto

we’re about to go away for a week on a scottish jaunt – glasgow, fort william and the isle of skye – so menu planning is all about using things up.

we had a big bowl of tomatoes, fresh from the garden, which needed to be finished so i decided it was time to get over the mental block i have when it comes to tomato risotto.

as there were so many tomatoes i halved and roasted them a la skye (gyngell, not the island) and then stirred them into a simple risotto, along with some double-podded broad beans. my garnish of crispy pancetta worked wonderfully with the risotto but sadly didn’t do much to make the photo look appealing.

trust me though, it is a terrific way to get through a glut of tomatoes. 

prawn and pancetta linguine

 

david and i are just back from a much-needed holiday in boston and new york. i’ll write up the foodie highlights later in the week but thought i’d share this prawn and pancetta linguine with you in the meantime.

this was our first meal back at home and served the very valuable dual purposes of being exceedingly simple (jetlag cooking after a no-sleep fight is never gonna be a good idea) and kinda healthy (we over-ate whilst away, what a suprise).

it was all pulled together in a sleepy haze but tasted both fresh (the lemon and basil) and comforting (the smoky pancetta and large amounts of slow cooked garlic). give it a try and let me know what you think.

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pancetta, savoy and mozzarella linguine

three savoy cabbages... what’s a gal to do?

thankfully a friend of mine had one particularly lovely suggestion – add pancetta, pinenuts, pasta and, very excitingly, melting mozzarella. what a fab idea!

this recipe works really well – a hint of austerity and health from the cabbage (packed full of flavour as a result of it being savoy), mouth-watering moments courtesy of the pancetta and parmesan plus a rich soothing comfort and indulgence factor thanks to the soft, melting, oozing mozzarella. it’s quick and easy to pull together too.

the only downer is that it only uses ½ a cabbage...

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broccoli and bacon orecchiette

this isn’t much of a recipe if you already make the more traditional broccoli and anchovy orecchiette (or the vegetarian version which i mention) as it requires no change other than to swap the anchovies for a handful of bacon or pancetta lardons. it is a change worth making however, especially if you have a broccoli glut and fancy a change.

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pancetta, radicchio and lemon linguine

i have dozens of cookery books but still love nothing more than having the opportunity to root around someone else’s collection. ideally i have a piece of paper to hand and i’ll make notes about recipes or ingredient combinations which i want to try.

i recently had the opportunity to do this with sarah raven’s garden cookbook which my friend julia has, and i now have a small piece of notepaper with a dozen different ideas scribbled on it. there are no quantities listed but hopefully that won’t be a problem!

the first dish i tried was her radicchio and lemon linguine. radicchio is something i love raw as part of a salad, but have not had much success with i’ve tried to cook it – braising in stock resulted in a bitter inedible dish which was binned rather than eaten.

the linguine was much more successful so i am sending it over to ruth at once upon a feast for the 100^th round of presto pasta nights! happy 100^th ruth!

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