Gnudi with sage butter

Gnudi gnudi gnudi, it's a fun word to say and a fun thing to eat. No one seems to know what this delicious little ball of amazingness is but I am going to share it with you. They are little balls similar to gnocchi rolled in semolina and filled with ricotta and parmesan which when boiled create an unusual pasta coating, served with brown sage butter, you cut through the pasta layer and out oozes this cheesy yuminess.

I discovered it having dinner at The Spotted Pig in New York with a friend who took me there on my last week saying I couldn't leave without going. Well he was right we had the the famous Gnudi and it was oh sooo good. I have been thinking about it for a while, trying to work out how to do it when I came across a recipe in The River Cafe Classic Italian Cook Book. It makes sense that they would have a recipe since the head chef at The Spotted Pig is April Bloomfield who trained at the River Cafe before moving to NY.

I made the River Cafe version but as I write this I have just found the real Spotted Pig recipe...damn! Anyway I will try them another time and see which ones are better. So here is the recipe for the ones I made.

serves 4

500g ricotta
1/2 a nutmeg freshly grated
100g parmesan
sae salt and fresh ground pepper
500g semolina flour
extra virgin olive oil

3tbsp unsalted butter
10-12 sage leaves

The night before put a strainer over a bowl and lay a clean tea towel over the top and spoon the ricotta in, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge until needed. This takes out the extra moisture in the ricotta.

Spoon the ricotta into a bowl and beat with a fork until it becomes light and fluffy. Grate in the nutmeg and stir, then stir in the parmesan. Season the mixture generously and then put in the fridge for 30 mins.

Put half the semolina onto a flat tray so that it covers the surface. Generously dust the remaining semolina over a large, clean work surface.

Take a large spoonful of the mix and roll into a short sausage about 1.5cm thick then cut into 2 cm pieces. Gently form these pieces into balls, coat them with semolina from the work surface and place on the tray and shake well so that they are almost submerged. Put in the fridge for 24 hours.

For the sage butter, heat a pan to medium heat and melt the butter. Watch it carefully and when it begins to brown and foam add the sage and cook for a moment longer before removing or it will burn.

Cook the gnudi in a large pan of boiling salted water for 3 mins or until they rise to the surface. Very important bit is to remove them with a slotted spoon or they just fall apart and turn to mush which I found out the hard way.

Spoon them onto a warmed dish and pour over the sage butter with leaves, and enjoy probably your first gnudi experience.

The ultimate spaghetti bolognese

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe and it is just the best bolognese EVER. It's so good I quite often just have it with cheese on top and no spaghetti at all, kids go mad for it too. I normally make double the recipe so I can stick some in the freezer.

serves 4

10 slices pancetta or smoked streaky bacon sliced
1 handful rosemary, leaves picked and roughly chopped
1 large white onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
455g lean minced beef
1 wineglass of red wine
1 tsp dried oregano
2 x 400g tinned tomatoes
1 small jar sun-dried tomatoes roughly chopped

455g spaghetti
1 handful fresh basil
lots of grated cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 180˚. In a large oven proof saucepan fry the pancetta and rosemary in a little olive oil until golden. Then add the onion and garlic and fry for a further 3 mins until soft, then add the minced beef.

Stir and continue frying until the beef is a bit brown all over. Then add the wine, reduce slightly and add the oregano, all the tomatoes, sundried tomatoes and plenty of seasoning. Bring to the boil then stick a lid on and put in the oven for an hour and a half, stirring every 30 mins.

Towards the end of cooking put a saucepan of salted water onto boil and cook the spaghetti until al dente. Just before serving add the basil to the sauce and serve over the spaghetti with a good handful of cheddar on top.

Homemade pasta and pork ragù

 Pasta recipe
(from the River Café cookbook)

Makes about 1kg which serves 8
500g Tipo '00' flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp sea salt
4 large free range eggs
6 large free range egg yolks
50g fine semolina flour for dusting

Put the flour and salt into a food processor, add the eggs and egg yolks, and pulse-blend with a dough hook until the pasta comes together into a loose ball of dough. Knead the dough on a flat surface lightly dusted with semolina and a little extra flour, for about 3 mins until smooth. If it is very stiff and difficult to knead then you may have to put it back in the processor and add another egg. Cut the dough into eight pieces, briefly knead into balls, wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 20 mins.

Set your pasta machine on the widest setting. Flour the work surface and push each piece of dough through the rollers 10 times, folding the sheet into 3 each time then turning it by a quarter and pushing it through the rollers again. This introduces air into the dough and stretches it to develop the texture. After 10 folds the pasta should feel silky. Only then reduce the setting gradually down to thin, as required. You should achieve long sheets, cut them in half if they become too long to handle.

To cut tagliatelle, dust the sheets with flour and while they are still pliable fold each one loosely over and over again on itself until the whole sheet has been folded into a long, flat rectangular roll. Using a knife, cut the rolls across into ribbons, using both hands with fingers apart to lift and separate the ribbon rolls. Or if you have a cutter on your machine put your pasta through the widest setting, make sure your surface is well dusted with flour or they will stick together.

Always cook fresh pasta in a large thick bottomed saucepan three quarters full of water with 1-2 teaspoons of salt. Cooking times vary with thickness but it should take around 4 mins.

Pork ragù

This recipe is from the restaurant Maialino in New York where I spent an evening learning about Italian food and tasting most of the menu. The pork is delicious and so soft after slow cooking, it's a simple dish and as one of the girls that I had over for dinner said "mmmm it melts in your mouth"

serves 8

1 pork shoulder with bone about 7lbs

1 large white onion, chopped roughly

1 large bulb fennel, chopped roughly

2 sticks celery, chopped roughly

Fresh thyme sprigs about 4 or 5

5 tbsps unsalted butter

2 tbsps fresh lemon juice

large handful fresh chopped parsley

5 tbsps parmesan shavings 

Using a sharp knife take the skin off the top of the pork leaving a sheen of fat still covering the meat.

Preheat the oven to 160˚

Place the saucepan or le creuset over medium heat and add 2 tbsp of olive oil. gently cook off the onion, celery and fennel for about 10 mins until they are soft but not coloured.

Add the stock and thyme and bring to simmering point. Rub the pork all over with a little salt and pepper and place the pork in so that it is almost covered with the stock then put in the oven with a lid on for around 2 hours until the meat just begins to pull away from the bone.

Leave the meat and broth to cool in the pan for around 30mins to an hour or until you can touch the meat with your hands and gently pull the meat off the bone. Tear the chunks into bite size shreds and put in a large bowl.

Strain the liquid into a separate bowl and then pour the liquid over the meat, if using the next day then store in the fridge as it is.

Place a large saucepan on medium heat and add the pork and braising liquid. Bring to the boil and then turn down to gently simmer until the liquid has reduced by about half. Add the butter and stir to emulsify.

Now boil your pasta, and when it's ready add to the sauce with a splash of the pasta water. Simmer for a minute then add the lemon juice, half the cheese and parsley along with a tbsp of olive oil and some seasoning.

Serve immediately topped with rocket and the remaining cheese.

Steak and guinness pie

Mmmm I love a good pie in the winter, but not as much as my friend Nic who I have been promising to make a pie for ages. I think he is my biggest fan so it was my pleasure to bake him his very own steak and guinness pie and as you can see from the photo he was a very happy boy.

serves 6

680g stewing beef diced
2 heaped tbsps flour
1 onion peeled and roughly chopped
1 large carrot peeled and roughly chopped
4 sticks celery washed and rough chopped
2 parsnips peeled and chopped into rough chunks
1 handful of mixed herbs, rosemary, bay leaf, thyme
1 pint guinness
2 tins of tomatoes
1 pack 500g puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Season the beef generously with salt and pepper and sprinkle with the flour until lightly coated.
Heat 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy based pan and fry the beef until it's a nice golden brown. Add the onion to the pan until softened, then add the carrot, celery parsnips and herbs. Fry for about 4 mins stirring to stop the veg from catching. Add the tinned tomatoes and bring to the boil. Give it a good season and stir around, you can either simmer it gently on the hob for 2 hours or I put it in the oven at about 170˚ until the meat is tender normally around 1½ - 2hrs.
You can either serve it as a stew with mash as it is or stick it into a big pie dish, roll out the pastry with a sprinkling of flour all over to stop it from sticking to about a pound coin thick. Place over the pie dish, brush with the beaten egg, its good to have a little shoot to let the steam out so you get crispy pastry so I roll a little bit of baking paper like a cigarette and stick it in the middle of the pie. Bake in the oven for about 30mins at 190˚ until the pastry is golden all over. Yummy served with peas.

Roast Partridge with mushroom farci, braised red cabbage and wet polenta

I went home last week for a few days and as usual the fridge was empty, all my mum seems to eat during the week is hummus and cheese and the occasional leftover from the weekend.
I found some partridges in the freezer and since I hardly ever cook game I thought I would invent something. I had a look at lots of different recipes but couldn't find one that I really liked so I made this one up. It was really really delicious and an amazing wintery mixture of flavours. You could do it with any other game birds or venison would also be pretty good.

Mushroom farci
8 mushrooms any kind you like, diced into small cubes
a few sprigs of fresh thyme leaves
1 large clove of garlic finely chopped
glug white wine

Put a splash of oil and a knob of butter in a pan and when hot add the garlic and stir for a few seconds and add the mushrooms and thyme. Cook off for a few minutes and then add a splash of wine and cook until most of the liquid has been absorbed back into the mushrooms and then take off the heat and put in a bowl to cool.

Partridge

4 Partridges (1 per person)

8 slices of streaky bacon

Preheat the oven to 200˚.

Rub a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper onto and in the cavity of the partridges and then stuff the insides with the mushroom farci.

Wrap around the two pieces of bacon and tie a piece of string around so it doesn't fall off during cooking.

Heat a pan until hot with a little oil and fry the outside of the birds quickly until they have a little colour then put on a baking tray and roast in the oven for around 20 mins

When cooked cover with foil and a tea towel and let rest for 10 mins, meanwhile pour a little red wine into the patridge pan and chicken stock with a teaspoon of redcurrant jelly and reduce until you have a nice little sauce.

Red cabbage braised with bacon, apple and balsamic vinegar

olive oil
1tbsp fennel seeds
250g streaky bacon finely sliced
1 onion peeled and sliced
2 eating apples peeled and chopped into 2cm cubes
1 red cabbage sliced or chopped into chunks
150ml balsamic vinegar
a knob of butter and freshly chopped parsley to serve

Grab a heavy based ovenproof pot and glug some olive oil in. When hot add the fennel seeds and bacon and fry up until golden then add the onions and put the lid on. After a few minutes give the onions a stir and keep cooking with the lid on until the onion is soft and a bit sticky. Add the chopped apple and the cabbage and balsamic and stir in well, season and then pop in the oven at about 160˚ for about an hour stirring occasionally.
Your end result should be deliciously sweet sticky cabbage, put the knob of butter on the top until it melts and sprinkle on some parsley to serve.

Wet Polenta
250g Polenta
1 litre stock
Grated parmesan 2 big handfuls
100g butter

Bring the stock to a boil in a big pan and then let simmer, pour the polenta out of a jug in a steady stream and then immediately start whisking so you don't get lumps.
You want it wet enough to spoon onto a plate so add more stock if it gets too thick. Put a lid on it on a very low heat and keep stirring occasionally for around 45mins. It will taste bland at this point so go crazy on the salt and pepper and stir in the parmesan and butter until it's good. Also really good with chopped thyme in.

Simple Supper

I went to Whole Foods today to get a very short list of things for a pie I'm making tomorrow and managed to leave an hour!!! later. Whole Foods is not a place to go when you don't have a plan, it's a bit like Westfield where you get all overexcited with the shops, loose track of time and suddenly you leave and it's dark and you haven't bought anything.

After getting the things on my list I realised I had to get stuff for dinner too. My basket got fuller..then emptier while I chopped and changed my mind constantly finding all kinds of amazing stuff, attempting to smell sauces in jars unsuccessfully. Unfortunately Whole Foods is possibly the most expensive place to shop so I have to do a bit of maths as I go and check I'm not spending my weekly budget on one small meal.

After 45mins of indecisive supermarket heaven I eventually left with a very simple supper. Homemade fresh taglionini, some delicious looking fresh semi-dried tomato pesto made by Sapori D'Italia, prawns and a lovely bit of parmesan.

It took a whole of 5 minutes to make and the pesto was delicious, it has made me remember how easy and satisfying it is to make your own pesto so I am going to make some this weekend when I go to the market, I'm also going to get my pasta machine out and have a go at being Italian.

Peking style pork ribs with mango salsa and asian slaw

Happy New Year! I spent mine in the Swiss Alps with the most ridiculous amount of snow that we have seen in a long time, I definitely picked a bad year not to be doing another ski season.
Anyway back in London, New Year, looking for a new job and not taking on any resolutions because they never work, just making sure I have as much fun as I did in 2011.

I had some girls around last night and thought I would make the pork ribs I have had stored in the freezer. Everyone seems to be on a health kick at the moment so I decided to do them more Asian style with really good fresh clean salads to cut though the salty meatiness.

1 rack of pork belly ribs about 1kg (feeds 3 girls about 3 ribs each)
4 garlic cloves crushed flat with a knife
125ml soy sauce
100ml hoisin sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp chinese five spice

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and rub all over the ribs and leave for 10 mins or as long as you can, the longer the better. Any marinade that falls off keep aside in a small bowl to keep glazing throughout cooking.

Preheat the oven to 160˚
Place the ribs on a baking tray and when the oven is at temperature put them in. They should take about an hour and a half, every 15-20 mins brush with the extra marinade and turnover half way through.

Mango Salsa
1 ripe mango chopped into 1cm cubes
1 tbsp finely chopped red onion
about 10 cherry tomatoes cut into quarters
juice of half a lime
tbsp chopped fresh coriander
tsp finely chopped red chili
salt and pepper

Asian Slaw
Slaw is a load of raw veg grated or very finely sliced, I used the grating disc on my magimix
½  white and red cabbage
1 red pepper (won't grate or go in magimix so best to very finely slice)
3 carrots peeled and grated
½ red onion very finely sliced or grated
½ large red chili finely sliced
3cm piece of ginger grated or finely sliced into long strips
handful of fresh mint finely sliced

Dressing
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp soft brown sugar or caster

Mix all the dressing ingredients together and toss through the slaw just before serving.

Finger licking good!