A very simple and quick pasta sauce but so very tasty. This is a brilliant recipe for a quick midweek meal and by varying the ingredients, say by adding chilli, using pancetta instead of chorizo and using linguine instead of penne, you will have a versatile base for many different pasta dishes. [Read more…]
Roma Pizza & Pasta Flour
Thanks to the brilliant Damien Mulley and very generous Adam in Roma Foods, myself and a number of other bloggers were recently sent a lovely parcel containing two Roma products: Pizza & Pasta Flour – Farina Tipo 00 and a lovely Limited Edition tin containing dried Penne.
I was delighted to get my hands on the flour in particular as I have found it rather difficult to find Farina Tipo 00 in many shops here, including my favorite shop in Westport, Market 57, that carries all types of lovely specialist Italian produce but sadly no Tipo 00 flour.
Farina Tipo 00 is a highly refined and very soft flour ideal for pasta and pizza making. It is also now commonly found in many bread recipes so I am delighted that a well known brand is now making this flour readily available here in Ireland (I understand it will be stocked in Dunnes and Superquinn). [Read more…]
Spaghetti Carbonara
This has to be the most simple, delicious and amazingly quick lunch or supper dish there is. If you haven’t made carbonara at home I would love you to try it yourself – it is such a handy dish to know and I haven’t met a child yet that doesn’t love it. I understand that cream is not an authentic or traditional ingredient in carbonara but I confess that I always use cream – not too much, just enough to give a silkier coating to the pasta. I do recommend that you try to use a good brand of pasta if you can as it does make a difference – I use De Cecco which is widely available. [Read more…]
Prawn and Chilli Spaghetti
This recipe is my version of Gordon Ramsay’s Lobster Spaghetti. I used frozen shell-on (but de-veined) tiger prawns and approx. 3 per person if they are very large. I used tinned chopped tomatoes because the cherry tomatoes available in local shop at the moment are rather hard and not very sweet. In the summer I will gladly substitute the tinned variety for some cherry tomatoes – and if you do this you need to put them in before the wine and give them a few minutes to soften, helping them to break down by crushing them slightly in the pan. If the chillis are not very hot then I add another half or so – I like a bit of heat in this dish. [Read more…]
Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Tonight for dinner we had one of my sons’ favourite meals – meatballs in tomato sauce. All kids seem to love meatballs. I have to say I am quite partial to them too as they are unbelievably quick, very tasty and cheap to make, especially if, like me, you keep breadcrumbs in the freezer and use the dregs of any wine you have knocking about in the fridge. I know many chefs say you shouldn’t use wine for cooking that you wouldn’t drink but I really think this is a bit OTT. For drinking I prefer a nice NZ Sauvignon but for cooking I think most bottles on ‘special’ for €5.99 in the local offie are perfectly fine for slugging into a sauce or casserole. Provided you are not a regular meths drinker or buy stuff that would strip the enamel off your teeth then I think it is fine to use a cheapie bottle of wine for cooking. You can of course leave the wine out entirely if you prefer but I think it does give a richer sauce. The quantities below serve 3 (if you are feeding my boys) or 4 normal people. [Read more…]
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