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Penne a la vodka

22 May

penne a la vodka

Penne a la vodka was all the rage when I first moved to London. After ordering it in restaurants, I had a go at making it myself.

There wasn’t an internet to refer to, but it wasn’t complicated to work out what was in it – tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli, cream… and vodka.

For some reason, I had the idea that the vodka should be set alight like the brandy on a Christmas pudding.

I’d cook down the tomato sauce, then pour the vodka over top and set a match to it. Blue flames would dance impressively across the surface and die down, after which I’d stir through the cream. Continue reading →

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Lasagne

23 Sep

lasagne

A well-made lasagne is a delightful thing. Unfortunately, the dish that passed for lasagne in my childhood did not fit this description.

According to the index card, mum got the recipe from a neighbour on our block. It calls for an entire tin of tomato paste, Kraft cheese slices, and a large tub of sour cream.

It was years before I ate lasagne again, and was happily surprised to discover how good it can be. Continue reading →

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Spaghetti aglio e olio (spaghetti with garlic and olive oil)

26 Sep

Spaghetti alio e olio

For all its simplicity, spaghetti aglio e olio is easy to mess up.

It’s really important not to overcook the garlic – no more than the faintest shade of gold, or it will taste bitter.

It’s also important to measure the salt. Too little, and the dish is insipid – too much and it’s ruined. Continue reading →

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Zaru soba (cold soba noodles with dipping sauce)

23 Jul

Soba noodles with dipping sauce

Zaru soba – or cold soba noodles with dipping sauce – is one of my favourite hot weather lunches. During the summer, I often make a batch of dipping sauce in advance and have it chilled and ready in the fridge.

I prefer to cook the noodles fresh each time I want to eat them – but as long as you rinse them very well after cooking, they should be fine in the fridge for a day or two. Continue reading →

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Spaghetti al limone

27 Apr

Simple enough to have on the table in fifteen minutes, fancy enough to serve to guests – spaghetti al limone is a great recipe to have up your sleeve.

Like most dishes with few ingredients, quality makes a difference here  – use the good olive oil, and a nice piece of Parmesan.

Having made spaghetti al limone regularly for twenty years now, my version has evolved somewhat from the original River Café recipe, and uses considerably less olive oil and cheese.

Continue reading →

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Crab linguine

3 Nov

Crab linguine

This simple, delicious crab linguine takes me back to the week we spent camping in Cornwall, at the tip of the Lizard peninsula.

Once the seven-hour drive and rigamarole of pitching camp was behind us, we spent our days cliff walking, beach lazing, and body surfing, and our nights toasting marshmallows and sipping whisky round the campfire.

Before leaving London, I’d had the brainwave of freezing a few meals in large ziplock bags. These served as ice blocks for the cooler, keeping the milk and butter cool while they slowly thawed (a system that worked surprisingly well) until I heated them up on our little gas burner.

Continue reading →

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Beef stroganoff

9 Oct

Beef stroganoff

Beef stroganoff is one of my life-long favourite meals – I can remember choosing it for my special birthday dinner.  I recently unearthed a class cookbook from first grade, and there in all its faded mimeographed glory was “Beef Stroganoff, by Andrea”.

Stroganoff was where my love affair with rosemary began. So I was genuinely stunned that in a survey of numerous beef stroganoff recipes online, not one of them included rosemary.

To my mind, rosemary is an integral part of the dish – it simply wouldn’t be stroganoff without it. (The poppy seeds on the noodles are non-negotiable as well.) Continue reading →

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Spaghetti puttanesca

30 Jul

Spaghetti puttanesca

Sugo alla puttanesca – or “whore’s sauce” – is a savoury, spicy, lip-smacking combination of tomatoes, chilli, capers, anchovies and olives. Usually served with spaghetti, I’d choose it over a bolognese sauce any day of the week.

The Neapolitan version of puttanesca doesn’t include anchovies, so I’ve listed them as optional. I love the depth of saltiness they bring to the dish (and once they’ve cooked down, the girls are blissfully unaware they’re in there) so I usually sneak some in.

Continue reading →

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Penne amatriciana

8 Apr

Penne amatriciana

Pasta amatriciana is a classic Roman dish made with guanciale (cured pork cheek), tomatoes and chilli. Traditionally made with bucatini, I prefer it with penne and seldom use another pasta.

Guanciale being thin on the ground in these parts, I make mine with pancetta or even chopped bacon. Continue reading →

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Pasta alle zucchini

6 Jun

zucchini-egg-pasta

We were introduced to pasta alle zucchini by our lovely Roman friend Mariella. She was a bit dismissive when she served it for dinner one evening, describing it as simple family fare, but we found zucchini and egg to be a winning combination. Continue reading →

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Orecchiete with broccoli

16 May

Orecchiete with broccoli and anchovies

Orecchiete means “little ears” in Italian, which gave Lyra a bit of a scare. “Are they really made from ears?” she asked – knowing it’s just about possible I would serve her a bowl of ears in the interest of reproducing some authentic regional dish.

I could see her trying to work out which poor animal’s ears they could possibly be before I set her mind at ease. Continue reading →

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Pasta cacio e pepe

12 Mar

cacio-e-pepe2

Pasta cacio e pepe is the most Roman of dishes for me. With only three ingredients – pasta, pecorino and pepper  – it sounds deceptively simple. The trick lies in successfully transforming the grated cheese and pasta water into a creamy sauce. Continue reading →

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Spaghetti bolognese

10 Jan

spaghetti bolognese

Spaghetti bolognese is one of those family meals I make so regularly that I no longer follow a recipe. I always start with a soffrito of onion, carrot and celery – sautéed in olive oil with a couple of cloves of  garlic.  Continue reading →

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Spaghetti carbonara

13 Nov

Spaghetti carbonara

Carbonara is one of those recipes that it’s worth doing properly – good quality ingredients, carefully cooked. It is also very rich. Instead of my usual 110-120g of dry pasta per serving, 100g per person is plenty with carbonara.

I always make spaghetti carbonara with linguine, preferring the way that the slightly thicker, flatter linguine strands become cloaked in sauce.

Continue reading →

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Spaghetti and meatballs

16 Oct

Spaghetti with meatballs

Spaghetti with meatballs is one of the girls’ favourite suppers. It’s a bit time-consuming for a weekday meal, so it doesn’t feature as often as they would like.

After trying various recipes, I’ve pretty much settled on the one in Nigella Eats. I like the simplicity of the tomato sauce, and cooking the meatballs directly in the sauce means one less pan to wash up afterwards.

Continue reading →

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Linguine with sardine pesto

25 Aug

Linguine with sardine pesto

Linguine with sardine pesto isn’t the most visually appealing dish, but it is so tasty I overlook that shortcoming. A regular tin of sardines makes enough pesto for two, so Adam and I will often have this while the girls go for the basil version. I don’t remember where I came across this recipe – I think I may have clipped it out of the newspaper way back when… Continue reading →

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Macaroni and cheese with crispy topping

17 Aug

Macaroni and cheese

Somebody gave me a copy of Annabel Karmel’s Baby and Toddler Meal Planner when Nova was born. Once I got past the freezing purées in ice cube tray stage, I moved onto her recipe for macaroni cheese. I’m pretty sure it’s the only recipe I ever made from it, and have long since given the book away.

The squirt of ketchup in the cheese sauce is something I wouldn’t have thought of myself, and the crispy topping is a nice touch. I’ve always made my macaroni cheese with a good, strong cheddar – and all the many children I’ve fed this dish to have happily scoffed it down. I eat mine with a  good dollop of Dijon mustard on the side.

Continue reading →

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Pesto pasta

17 Jul

IMG_5688

This unaccustomed spell of hot weather has my basil plants growing like they’re in Italy. And with Adam and Nova both away, I had another good reason to make Lyra’s all-time favourite supper of pesto pasta.

Fresh pesto is so much nicer than the stuff in jars, and takes only a few minutes to make. I don’t bother measuring the ingredients. If I don’t have pinenuts, I’ll use almonds or hazelnuts, and am equally happy with pecorino or parmesan cheese.

The quantities below should make enough pesto for a pasta dinner for four. If you have pesto left over, store it in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil poured over the surface to keep it from oxidising. Continue reading →

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Chickpea pasta soup

26 Apr

chickpea pasta soup

If there’s one recipe that stands out as a clear family favourite, it would definitely be chickpea pasta soup. I’ve been making this soup for years, and we haven’t tired of it yet. It’s easy to make, smells wonderful while it simmers, is delicious to eat, and tastes even better the following day.

It’s a great dinner to follow a big Sunday  lunch, but filling enough to be the main event as well. It’s vegetarian, and popular with most kids I feed it to (aside from the odd garlic hater). I clipped the original recipe from the newspaper a good ten years ago, but it’s evolved into our own version. Continue reading →

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