Carbonara

The classic carbonara - no cream in sight! 

Ingredients

• 225g of Pancetta as a 1cm slice or thick cut Bacon
• 4 cloves of Garlic
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 4 tbsp of dry White Wine
• 2 large Eggs
• 4 tbsp of freshy grated Romano Cheese
• 50g of freshly grated Parmigiano-reggiano Cheese
• freshy ground Black Pepper
• 2 tbsp of chopped flat lead Parsley
• 550g of pasta

Serves 6

Method

Cut the bacon or pancetta into strips just over half a centimeter wide. 

Bash the garlic lightly to loosen the skin which you discard. Sauté in the olive oil gently until it is a golden brown. Do not allow it to burn or it will taste bitter. 

Remove the garlic and discard.

Now cook the bacon/pancetta in the garlic infused oil until it just begins to crisp. Add the wine and cook for two minutes before turning off the heat.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl and then stir in the cheeses, the pepper and the parsley.

Once the mixture is thoroughly incorporated add the hot, cooked, pasta and toss rapidly. Make sure the mixture coats the pasta evenly. The latant heat of the pasta will cook the egg.

Warm the pancetta/bacon quickly on a high heat and then mix with the pasta.

Toss throughly and serve with more grated Parmesan. 

Spaghetti Carbonara

Pasta with a Ham, Broccoli and a Creamy Mustard Sauce

Another quick recipe, I suppose that is the point of this blog... Serve with garlic bread for a filling meal.

Ingredients

• Your Pasta of choice - Fresh or Dried
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• Half a head of Broccoli cut into small florets
• 300ml of Double Cream
• 2 tablespoons of English Mustard
• 4 slices of thick Ham
• 1 onion
• 140g of Cheddar Cheese - grated
• Salt and Pepper

Serves 4

Method

Take the broccoli and add it to a pan of boiling water. Simmer for four minutes. Drain and put to one side.

Start the dried pasta cooking (if using). If you are using fresh then get your big pan of water boiling in readiness.

Saute the onions for five minutes. Add the crushed garlic and continue cooking for a further minute. 

Start the fresh pasta cooking. Meanwhile, add the diced ham and cook for a minute. Finally add the cream and mustard stirring continuously. Once the mixture has almost reached the boil add the cooked pasta. Stir so that all the pasta is covered with the sauce.

Stir in the grated cheddar cheese, season and serve.

Korean style fried rice

This is an extremely quick and easy dish that you can use to get rid of odd vegetables and meat from the fridge. Considering how little is in it, the dish is very tasty.

Ingredients

• 4 Chicken breasts or beef steaks (whatever you fancy)
• 300g of Long grain, Basmati or Jasmine rice
• 1 bunch of spring onions (trimmed and sliced)
• Beansprouts
• Mushrooms (sliced)
• 2 tablespoons of Soy Sauce
• 1 tablespoon of chilli sauce (plus some for drizzling)
• 3 cloves of Garlic (crushed)
• 4 free range Eggs
• Toasted Sesame oil

Serves 4

Method

Cook the rice as per the associated cooking instructions and drain.

Griddle, grill or shallow fry the meat until cooked to your liking. Meanwhile, fry the mushrooms for 2 minutes in the sesame oil. Add the garlic, spring onions and beansprouts and fry for a couple more minutes. Add the chilli sauce and soy sauce then fry for a further minute. 

Start the egg frying in a seperate pan.

Stir the cooked rice into the sauce/veg mixture and warm for a few minutes.

Serve the rice in a bowl topped with sliced meat and the fried egg then drizzle with a little chilli sauce.

They key to this recipe is getting everything ready at the same time - it's just a case of playing it by ear.

I forgot to get a picture for this dish so have stolen one from the internet -
the dish looks like this but with the slided meat next to the egg.

Homemade Beefburger

Making a beefburger is ridiculously simple and does not require extensive use of herbs/spices/fillers and the like that many recipes seem to think is necessary. Seconds to make and not that long to cook - why would you buy ready made ones? This recipe is pretty much stolen with pride from the Ocado website - does the job nicely.

Ingredients

• 400g minced (ground) lean beef
• 2 tbsp Peroni Nastro Azzurro or similar beer
• 1 pinch Salt and pepper
• 1 dash Tabasco
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Recipe

Put the beef in a bowl and mix with the beer (it's probably easiest to use your hands)

Mix in the salt, pepper and the tabasco sauce.

Turn it out onto a chopping board and form into four burger shaped rounds. You can also use silicone egg rings as a mould if you want them to be perfectly circular. On cooking the diameter shrinks a bit so it is probably worth making them slightly larger than the width of the bun.

Put the oil in a frying pan or griddle on a medium heat and cook, turning occasionally, until done (See Resources Pages for temperature charts for how well done the meat is).

Serve on a bun with whatever you fancy; cheese, onions, coleslaw...

Picture taken from the Ocado Website

Shepherds Pie (Beef)

A good and wholesome dish, especially good in the winter to warm you up. Pretty versatile too as you can put any veg you fancy in.

Ingredients

• 500g Beef Steak Mince
• 500g sliced Carrots
• 250g of sliced Onion
• 50g of sliced Mushrooms
• 125g of Celery
• a pinch of Thyme
• 125g of White Wine
• 125g of Beef Stock
• 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp of Tomato Puree
• 500g of Potatoes
• 2 Egg Yolks
• 120g of Butter
• Canola/Rapeseed Oil
• Seasoning

I forgot to take a photo so have 'borrowed' this one from lovefood.com looks pretty similar to me!

Method

Peel and cut the potatoes into chunks. Put them in cold salted water then bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or so. This will depend upon the potato - I find UK potatoes a lot harder than the ones I use in Spain so take a lot longer to become soft, Once soft mash them with a potato masher - they need to be soft enough to mash to a smooth paste so that you can pipe it in an artistic stylee onto the mince. If you cook them too long the potatoes will become a starchy mush (or go to lob as it is known around here). Add the butter and mix until the butter has melted and has combined evenly with the potato. Put to one side while you deal with the meat.

Fry the mince in a couple of tablespoonfuls of oil until it is browned. Drain off excess water/oil and then add the vegetables. Continue cooking for a further five minutes before adding the wine (I used Sherry last time as I don't tend to have white wine in). Cook until the vegetables are beginning to soften but still have a bit of texture. Pay special attention to the carrots as you don't want them to be hard.

Add the stock, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and simmer until there is very little free liquid. You don't want it dry though. Season and put in your casserole dish.

Mix two egg yolks into the mash and then put the potato in a piping bag. Pipe the potato onto the mash in whatever artistic way you feel like. Alternatively, if you can't be bothered to pipe it, spoon it on, smooth it with a spoon then make little peaks with a fork, 

Cook in the oven at 200°C (180°C Fan) for 30 minutes.

Dead easy!

Sausage and Bean Casserole

This will warm you up nicely! The recipe below is for cooking in the oven but you could cook it in the slow cooker just as easily - I would reduce the amount of stock though to take into account the reduced water loss. 

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp of Rapeseed/Vegetable Oil
• 6 Sausages (I used sausages with Bramley Apple last time).
• 2 Onions, sliced
• 2 Garlic cloves, bashed and chopped
• 1/2 tsp of Smoked Paprika
• 1/2 tsp of hot Chilli powder
• 400g of tinned chopped Tomatoes
• 2 or 3 carrots, cut into batons
• 250ml of Chicken stock
• 2 tbsp of Tomato Puree/Tomato Paste
• 1 tsp of dried Mixed Herbs
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 100ml of Red Wine/White Wine/Sherry
• 400g tin of Cannelini Beans
• Salt and Black Pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C (fan). 

Shallow fry the sausages in the oil until they start to look nicely browned.

Add the onions and and sautee for two or three minutes before adding the carrots, sautéed for a few minutes more then add the garlic. Sautee for a couple more minutes. 

Stir in the paprika and chilli powder. Then add the tomatoes, chicken stock, tomato puree and herbs. 

Add the wine and stir. 

Next rinse the beans under cold running water and add to the pan. Raise the temperature until the mixture just begins to simmer at this point transfer to a casserole dish. Season with salt and pepper then put the lid on and put in the oven for 45 minutes. 

Serve with poatoes, veg... whatever you fancy. It is particularly good in a giant yorkshire pudding!

Sausasge and Bean Casserole

Stuffed Courgettes

This dish is made with courgettes but you can easily fill other things such as bell peppers, aubergines or beef tomatoes with the mixture. The Missus likes courgettes though so that it what I tend to cook,,,

Ingredients

• 4 large Courgettes
• 150g long-grain Rice
• 2 firm Tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten
• 375g lean minced Beef
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 2 Garlic cloves, crushed
• 250g Passata
• 1 tsp chopped fresh Rosemary or 1/2 tsp dried
• 4 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan
• Salt and freshly ground Black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Cut each courgette in half lengthways. Scoop out the middle so you get a canoe shape and reseve the scoopings. I found the handle end of a teaspoon worked nicely as it wasn't too wide to risk breaking through your canoe wall. You should end up with a wall about 1cm thick. Chop up the removed courgette pulp.

Courgette/Zuchini

Place the canoes on a baking tray, cover with foil and bake for twenty minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

While the courgettes are cooking you can take the opportunity to cook the rice. Cook it as per the packet instructions; basmati would be simmered for about 10 - 12 minutes in lightly salted water. You want the rice to be on the just cooked side so that it does not go mushy when you bake it later. Drain the rice and allow to cool for five minutes.

Mix the rice with the chopped tomatoes, egg and black pepper and set aside.

Fry the mince in a shallow pan or wok until browned all over. Stir in the onion and garlic then gently fry for five more minutes. Next add the passata, the reserved courgette pulp and rosemary; simmer gently for 10 minutes before adding the rice mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the canoes and sprinkle with parmesan. Finally bake for 15 minutes. The cheese should look golden and crispy.