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Tagliatelle with Bolognese Ragu

Posted: 08 March '10 by Niall

Last weekend I thought I’d make one of my favourite dishes, Bolognese.. A really simple meal that has a million and one recipes for it.

This is the best recipe for Bolognese that I know of and it produces a very tasty, authentic Italian meal. You’ll be surprised by a few of the ingredients – minced pork for instance, and milk too – and by the absence of garlic. The dish is delicious though, and much more flavoursome than the basic spag bol I would make during the week.

One of the most important things to remember is that a lot of Italian dishes start with the same three ingredients: celery, onion, and carrot. I think that the carrot gives a slight sweetness to the dish but, other than this, you won’t notice any discernible flavour from the basic ingredients – they just help to make a more robust and mouth-watering sauce.

The recipe also calls for Tagliatelle rather than Spaghetti. Depending on where you are in Italy, this is either complete blasphemy or the proper way to make Bolognese. For me, I have to say that I prefer the Tagliatelle – it feels much more authentic as it lends itself to the “mix the sauce through the pasta” approach and holds more of the sauce than Spaghetti would.

Making Bolognese Ragu really is a weekend job though as it takes over three hours to cook – but it’s worth every minute.

You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 400g minced beef
• 400g minced pork
• 100g pancetta, roughly chopped
• 100g onion, finely chopped
• 100g carrot, finely chopped
• 100g celery, finely chopped
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 1 glass of dry white wine
• 500ml fresh milk
• 200ml of chicken stock
• 3 bay leaves
• Pepper and salt
• 500g Tagliatelle

Method:

1. Place the pancetta in a large, deep saucepan with some olive oil on a low heat until the fat has melted and the pancetta has a nice golden colour.
2. Add the onion, stirring until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the carrot and celery and the bay leaves and keep cooking until the vegetables start to soften and get some colour.
4. Place the minced meat in a bowl and add some seasoning. Mix the meat together with your hands.
5. Increase the heat to just above medium and add the minced meat. Keep cooking and stirring the mixture until the meat has browned.
6. Pour in the white wine and stir through the mixture, cooking the ingredients until the wine has evaporated.
7. Reduce the heat and add the chopped tomatoes, mixing them through the meat.
8. Leave the mixture on the heat for at least 2 hours. Check your sauce regularly during this time – if the tomatoes reduce too much just add some beef stock. By the end of the two hours you should have an intense, thick tomato sauce.
9. Now, add the milk and some chicken stock, stirring them through your sauce. Leave this mixture over a low heat for another hour.
10. Remove the sauce from the heat, season to taste, and leave to rest.
11. In a separate saucepan, add some water and a good pinch of salt and bring to the boil.
12. Add your tagliatelle and cook until the pasta has softened.
13. Drain your pasta and add several spoonfuls of your Bolognese Ragu, mixing the sauce through the pasta.
14. Serve with some grated parmesan.

Enjoy!

Tags: italian food, pasta, recipe

Categories: Beef > Featured Post > Italian Food > Main Course > Recipes

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Pasta al forno with tomatoes and mozzarella

Posted: 29 January '10 by Niall

Pasta al forno means “pasta from the oven” and is a popular dish in Italy.

The method for making Pasta al forno is fairly simple and similar to those for lasange but you’ll see that it is much easier to make and needs far less cooking time.

This recipe for making this Pasta al Form con Pomodorino e Mozzarella is taken from “Jamie Oliver’s Italy” – although his was made with “orecchiette” pasta (“little ears”), we found this type fairly difficult to come by at last minutes’ notice, so we made ours with “conchiglie”, which resemble small sea-shells.

There’s a real rustic feel to this dish and it’s surprising hearty. I think it’s important to get the best mozzarella that you can lay your hands on – the “Taste the Difference” mozza that we tried was worth the extra cost and was a tasty, chewy treat amongst the tomato and pasta.

We served ours with a small rocket salad and home-made garlic bread made with ciabatta – delicious!

You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 500g of conchiglie pasta
• 8 fresh, large pomodorino tomatoes
• Some tomato puree
• 3 balls of mozzarella, sliced
• A wedge of parmesan, grated
• A handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper for taste

You also need a large bowl and a kettle full of hot water.

Method

1. Cook the conchiglie in a large saucepan of salted water and drain thoroughly when done.
2. Place a large saucepan over a low heat, add some olive oil, and add the garlic and onions, sweating them until they are soft and translucent.
3. Half-fill the large bowl with the boiling water and add the tomatoes for a couple of minutes.
4. Remove the tomatoes one at a time and run a finger firmly down the flesh – you should notice that the skin peels away easily. Remove all of the skin and set the tomatoes aside.
5. When all of the tomatoes have been peeled squeeze them into the onion and garlic mixture, adding the soft flesh but disgarding the woody core.
6. Reduce the tomato mixture and fully soften the tomato pieces.
7. Squeeze some tomato puree into the tomato mixture and stir thoroughly.
8. Add salt, pepper and fresh basil and remove from the heat.
9. Preheat oven to 180°C.
10. Empty the sauce into the drained pasta and mix thoroughly.
11. Place some of the pasta into a casserole dish to form a layer of pasta that reaches half-way up the sides.
12. Take some of your mozzarella and lay them on top of the pasta to form another layer.
13. Place the rest of the pasta on top of this again.
14. Complete the dish by laying the remaining mozzarella on top of the pasta, grating a good amount of parmesan on top of this again, and drizzling the top with good olive oil.
15. Place the casserole dish in the oven and cook until the top has formed a golden crust.
16. Once you’ve spooned out the portions grate a little more parmesan over the top (can you ever have enough?) and drizzle with olive oil.

Enjoy!

Tags: pasta, recipe, recipes

Categories: Featured Post > Italian Food > Main Course > Pasta > Recipes

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Comforting beef casserole with mashed potatoes

Posted: 22 January '10 by Ciara

I am really excited about this new recipe. I tried it for the first time this evening and we all loved it. It is packed with flavour and was the perfect thing to eat on a cold snowy evening. Sophie has been quite run down recently, so i am a bit paranoid that she should be getting as much goodness into her as possible,  and i was delighted that she loved this.

Please note that I cut my vegetables quite small and also the carrots were grated quite finely too as Sophie doesn’t really like a lot of lumps in her food, so feel free to cut up your veggies to your own liking.

The recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s “Nigella Feasts” programme.

Serves 5

You can see more photos here.

Ingredients

Ingredients: Beef Casserole

• 3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots sliced or grated
• 2 celery stalks sliced thinly or 1 inch thick
• 3 cloves of garlic grated
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2lbs of beef fillet stewing meat
• 1/4 cup flour
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine or beef stock (i obviously used beef stock for Sophie)
• 1 large can whole plum tomatoes (i also blend these for Cor, who hates lumps of tomatoes in his food)
• peel of half an orange

Ingredients: Mashed Potatoes

• 6 maris piper potatoes
• 4 knobs of butter
• 30ml full fat milk

Method

Method: Beef Casserole

1. Heat oil and over a medium heat fry onion, carrots, celery, garlic, bay leaves and thyme for 5-10 minutes until onion turns translucent. Remove veggies to a bowl leaving as much oil in the pot as you can.
2. Meanwhile, place flour and salt and pepper in a plastic bag along with meat. Shake until meat is coated. Place into the pot which you have just removed veggies from and cook until pieces are well browned.
3. When this is done add the wine or beef stock then add veggies, tomatoes and orange peel.
4. Bring to a simmer and then reduce to a low and cook for 3 hours. Remove bay leaves, thyme sprigs and orange peel and serve with mashed potatoes.

Method: Mashed potatoes

1. Boil potatoes for 20-25 minutes
2. Drain and mash
3. Meanwhile heat butter and milk together
4. Add slowly to potatoes continuously mashing

Enjoy!

Tags: recipe, recipes

Categories: Beef > English Food > Featured Post > Main Course > Recipes

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Beef casserole with suet dumplings

Posted: 12 January '10 by Niall

With the bitter Winter wind whistling around outside and the garden covered in a thick carpet of white snow, I thought that it was high time to make one of my favourite Winter dishes – beef casserole with dumplings.

A beef casserole is made using Chuck Steak (also called braising steak), one of the cheapest cuts of beef there is. Taken from the shoulders of the beef, the meat demands a long, slow cooking process – anything less than a couple of hours will just produce tough, stringy, and almost inedible meat – take the time and you’ll be rewarded with a tenderness that rivals a far more expensive cut. Slow-cooking the casserole will also perform an almost magical transformation, changing the watery gravy into a thick, rich, meaty sauce.

The dumplings are a great addition, and really make an already thrifty meal go that bit further. I rarely see dumplings on restaurant menus these days, but they always remind me of Mum’s cooking when I was younger. Be warned though – if losing a few pounds was one of your New Years’ resolutions, suet dumplings are certainly not going to help! Suet is the fat from around the kidneys and loins in beef and sheep and is traditionally used in dumplings and puddings to produce a bready, dense pastry. I like to add some seasoning to the dumpling mixture to provide even more flavour to the casserole – sage, in particular, works very well with red meat.

Here’s our recipe for a real rib-sticking, filling dish. When you’re in need of some comfort and warmth this Winter, I think that you should give it a go.

You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7Image 7Image 9Image 10

Ingredients

Beef Casserole

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions – chopped roughly
• 450g /1lb diced beef – braising/chuck etc.
• 2 carrots -chopped roughly
• 11/2 pints stock
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce or Worcester sauce
• Seasoning (the usual salt and pepper)
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried herbs – maybe sage, oregano, rosemary or thyme
• A glass of red wine (optional)

Dumplings

• 75g / 3 oz suet
• 150g / 6 oz self raising flour
• 150 ml water
• Some dried sage to flavour
• Seasoning

Method

1. Heat the oil over a low heat in a very large sauce pan.
2. Cook of the onions and carrots until the onions are soft and translucent.
3. Increase the heat to medium and add the beef, stirring the cubes to seal until the meat has browned.
4. If you wish to add a glass of red wine, do so now – it will de-glaze the saucepan, removing all of those encrusted, tasty morsels from the bottom of the pan as well as adding a deeper richness to your gravy.
5. Add the stock, seasoning, herbs, and soy sauce, bringing the contents to the boil.
6. Transfer the casserole to an ovenproof dish and cover with a lid or tin foil. Slow cook in a preheated oven gas 4/5 / 190-200*c / 350-400*f for 2 hours.
7. With around 30 minutes before the casserole has finished cooking you should start to prepare the dumplings. Mix the dumpling ingredients together in a large bowl to create a sticky dough.
8. With wet hands break off golf-ball sized pieces of dough, rolling the dough around to form the dumplings, setting each dough-ball aside until all of the dough has been used.
9. Take out the beef casserole and place the dumplings on top of the casserole and leave the casserole uncovered to bake for the last 20 minutes (or until the dumplings have become crisp and have turned a golden brown colour), turning the heat up to gas 6/ 220*c/ 450*f.
10. Spoon the casserole onto the plates, making sure that everyone gets a dumpling or two.

Enjoy.

Tags: recipe, recipes

Categories: Beef > English Food > Featured Post > Main Course > Recipes

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Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni

Posted: 09 December '09 by Niall

Here’s the recipe for one of our favourite Italian dishes: spinach and ricotta cannelloni (or is that “canneloni”?). Given that the recipe is suitable for vegetarians, it just shows you that bechamel with melted cheese can overcome all obstacles to enjoyment!

The recipe does take a little bit of effort – stuffing the pasta tubes with the spinach and ricotta mixture requires some patience – but it’s all worth it in the end. The canneloni is also great for mid-week dinners, as it invariably lasts for two nights, and tastes even better the next day.

The dish is great by itself, but we prefer a small rocket salad and warm ciabatta alongside.

You can see more photos hereImage 1Image 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Image 7Image 8

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, peeled and minced
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 pinches of dried oregano
• 2 pinches of dried basil
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbsp red wine
• 500g spinach
• 300g ricotta
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• Freshly ground black pepper
• As many cannelloni tubes as will fill your oven dish

For the Napoli sauce

• 25g butter
• 25g flour
• 300ml milk
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 60g Cheddar cheese, grated
• 30g Parmesan cheese, grated

To finish:

• 60g Cheddar cheese, grated
• 10g Parmesan cheese, grated

You might also use: a piping bag to put the mixture into the cannelloni tubes.

Cooking Method

Cooking Method – Spinach and Ricotta

1. Place a frying pan on a low heat and add some olive oil
2. Place the spinach leaves in the pan and cook until they have wilted slightly
3. Remove the leaves from the pan and drain in a colander, using the back of a spoon to press the leaves until most of the excess liquid has drained
4. Chop the drained spinach leaves until they are quite fine
5. Allow the spinach to cool
6. Place the ricotta in a bowl and add the cooled spinach leaves, mixing thoroughly
7. If you are using a piping bag, spoon the mixture into the bag and squeeze it down to form a continuous mass, ready for squeezing
8. Taking your cannelloni tube either: squeeze the mixture into the tube until it is full; or using the back of a spoon, scoop the mixture up and place inside the tube
9. Repeat this process until all of the cannelloni has been filled, placing each filled tube into the oven dish as they are finished

Cooking Method – Napoli Sauce:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 225°C.
2. Heat the olive oil in a hot pan and sweat the garlic and onion down until they are translucent.
3. Add the basil, oregano, and black pepper and stir thoroughly.
4. Add the wine and cook off the alcohol.
5. Add the tomatoes and bay leaf, stirring well before leaving to simmer for a further 2-3 minutes.
6. Finally add the tomato puree and allow some time on the heat to reduce the sauce (it needs to be relatively thick, without any excess liquid).

Cooking Method – Bechamel:

1. In one saucepan. add the butter and place over a low heat.
2. In a second saucepan, add the milk and nutmeg, warming the milk until it is just shy of boiling point.
3. Reducing the heat completely When the butter has melted, add the flour and mix together, until you have a thick paste (similar to play-doh).
4. Add a third of the milk to the play-doh, whisking to prevent any lumps forming – then add the rest of the milk a third at a time, whisking as you go. You want to get a smooth sauce.
5. Allow the sauce to cook out for another minute before adding the Cheddar cheese. Stir and remove from the heat.

Cooking Method – Assembling the dish:

1. Spoon the sauce over the filled cannelloni.
2. Pour the bechamel on top of this, making sure that you cover the layer below.
3. Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese and parmesan over the bechamel.
4. Place the oven dish in the oven to bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown.

Wine selection

There’s only one option for me here – a robust chianti compliments the rich, tomato-based cannelloni perfectly.

Tags: pasta, recipe, recipes

Categories: Featured Post > Italian Food > Main Course > Pasta > Recipes > Vegetables

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