Basil Gnudi

For those watching Jamie’s new ‘Comfort Food’ programme, this is an older variation of one of the more recent episodes, where he combined ricotta and sage. This basil version is equally delicious, but I would advise you to use the ingredients stated, rather than try to improvise by swapping semolina flour for whatever you have in the cupboard, for example, polenta, although it does work ok – ish!

The recipe, originally from Jamie Magazine, is easy to follow, despite being a little messy in parts.

Ingredients:

• 2 large bunches of basil, leaves picked

• 250 g fresh ricotta

• 125 g parmesan, finely grated

• 2 large free-range eggs

• 1 free-range egg yolk

• 75 g plain flour, plus a little extra

• Semolina flour, for dusting

• 15 g butter

• 1 unwaxed lemon

• 30 g grated pecorino, to serve

Method:

Pop a pan on low heat, add 2/3 of the basil leaves and a splash of water…leave until wilted. Leave to cool then squeeze out the excess water.

Put the leaves in a blender. Blitz with 75g of the ricotta. Transfer it to a large bowl and add the remaining ricotta, the parmesan and eggs. Whisk well until light and airy.

Fold the flour into the ricotta mixture. It needs to be soft and moist but add more flour if it’s too sticky!

Sprinkle a 5mm layer of semolina flour over a baking tray, and fill a piping bag with the ricotta mixture, cutting a 1.5cm opening. I use a freezer bag and cut off the corner! Pip strips down the tray leaving a small gap between each.

Once piped, sprinkle a thick layer of semolina flour over the top, cut into 2–3cm pieces, cover with Clingfilm and chill overnight.

Before cooking the next day, remove from the fridge and leave to come up to room temperature.

Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and add most of the leftover basil leaves. When the butter starts to bubble and the leaves have crisped up remove from the heat. I burnt the butter at this stage so be careful. If you do, start again – trust me, its unrescuable!. Finely grate in the zest of the lemon and season well. Set aside.

Lower the gnudi into a large pan of salted, boiling water with a slotted spoon. Once they float to the surface, they're cooked – this should take about 1 minute. I left mine a little longer.

Remove them with a slotted spoon, toss them in the lemon butter and serve with grated pecorino and the rest of the basil leaves on top.

It’s well worth the effort and phaff for a change and to try something new. It’s also a child-friendly recipe for letting those little ones help out, with lots of mixing and stirring!

Carrot, Chilli & Cashew Soup

Every week, nearly without fail, the carrots arrive in one form or another in the veg box…but what to do with so many? Well, since I also had a chicken carcass, I decided soup was the best option.

There was an interesting idea over at Abel and Cole in involving cashew nuts which sounded different from the usual soup ones. You can find the recipe here, but it’s generally very simple. It involves roasting carrots, grinding cashews till they resemble cashew-butter and adding stock and chilli powder (and/or flakes) to your taste and desired thickness. With a squeeze of lime and handful of fresh mint, this really is tasty. It also freezes well, making it perfect for those lazy Autumn Sunday evenings when you can’t be bothered to cook!

Beetroot & Carrot Burger on Goat’s Cheese Mushroom

We’ve recently signed up to Abel & Cole’s veg. boxes as a way to kick start a bit of healthy eating, ensure we have all the fruit and vegetables we should and, more importantly, so that I don’t have to traipse around the supermarket once a week! So Wednesday is always an exciting day for me as I also choose some top quality meat from them too and attempt to plan our meals. The question arises, though, what on earth do I make with it all? It seems too nice to just use a plain old veg. so I’ve been looking up some new ideas. One of the nicer ones I found was a Riverford recipe (probably A & C’s largest rival, but if I’m using the veg. surely no-one will mind?!) to use up my carrots and beetroot.

You can find the recipe via the link above but it’s a case of grating raw beetroot and carrot, mixing it with egg, oatmeal, dill, parsley and grated onions, leaving to chill, shaping, then pan frying until brown. Meanwhile, season a large mushroom. Put the burgers on one tray, the mushrooms on another and bake for 20 mins. I added a slice of goats’ cheese to the mushrooms too! Wilt some spinach, build a tower with everything and you’re done. It’s quite messy at the beginning (I suggest using a processor to do all the grating!) but really tasty, and incredibly healthy too, especially if you don’t add the cheese!

Carrot and Feta Keftedes

It’s an earlier than usual post this week as I’m heading off on a Glamping Hen Weekend tomorrow, and have made some Mini Tiffin Bites and these Carrot and Feta Keftedes to share around the campfire while we’re there!

This recipe was featured on last week’s Sunday Brunch and I thought I’d give it a try, not only to take away with us, but to share as an aperitif at home. I deep fried in a wok, rather than shallow fried, and served with a sweet chilli jam. The trick to a good flavour is to roast the carrots first, and, as usual, I found it easiest to add amounts to your taste. As long as the final mixture is sticky but not sloppy, they’ll turn out fine.

Ingredients:

• 350g carrots, roasted then grated
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 small brown onion, grated
• 150g feta, crumbled
• 50g fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp dried mint
• 50g parmesan or Kefalotyri cheese, grated (I used a little mature Cheddar instead)
• 10g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• Plain flour, to dust
• Olive oil, to fry

Method:

Clean, top and tail then roast the carrots until nearly cooked through, with some salt and pepper.

When cooled, I used a food processor to then grate the carrots and onions but you can do this by hand. Simply combine all the ingredients well, then chill for about an hour.

Form into little balls, dust in flour then fry until golden brown.

Serve with sweet chilli dip.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

Tiffin / Rocky Road - t.t.t (Tasty Toddler Treats!)

I add a large handful of mini marshmallow and another 100g of milk chocolate topping.

We have a copy of the Ella’s Kitchen Red cook book, which Frankie and I have been trying over the last few weeks. I have to say, it’s the sweet treats that she seems to enjoy the most, as do I, and this one is most definitely a favourite. The only question is, what do you call it? My husband made a version recently that he named ‘tiffin’. The teachers at nursery called it Rock Road? I’d like to see your comments underneath as to what you call it, as I’m sure there are several variations: the thing it, it still tastes gorgeous, whatever its name!

It’s a recipe where your LO can get involved every step of the way, from crushing the biscuits, to measuring out the tablespoons of gloop, stirring it all together and pouring over the chocolate. Now, I never think there’s enough of a chocolate layer on top of the ones I make so I double the given quantity, using 100g of dark AND 100g milk chocolate. I know, I know, but if you’re gong to eat it, you may as well make it worth your while. We also add a handful of baby marshmallows, just for fun!

Ingredients:

200g digestives

100g unsalted butter plus extra for greasing

3 tbs golden syrup

2 tbs cocoa powder

50g raisins

(handful baby marshmallows)

100g dark chocolate

(100g milk chocolate)

Method:

First, crush the digestives in a large bowl. Or, ask your LO to do this!

Meanwhile, put the syrup, cocoa and butter into a microwaveable bowl and put into the microwave until melted. I give it 10 seconds each time and check along the way.

Pour on top of the crushed biscuits: be careful, it will be very hot straight from the microwave so do this away from your LO. They can then join in again with mixing it all together as the heat dissipates quickly once added to the crumbs.

Add the raisins (and marshmallows) to the mixture, combine, then push into a greased tin or mould. I use a silicone one as it’s easier to get out in one piece! Pop into the fridge for ten minutes.

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave. Again, I do a few seconds at a time, giving it a swirl rather that a mix in between each one, until the lumps have melted.

Pour the melted chocolate over the cooled biscuit mixture, smooth, and return to the fridge to set hard. Don’t be tempted to get it out early, or it’ll all fall apart! Use a big knife to slice into squares.

Jamie’s 15 Minute Glazed Sizzling Lamb Chops with Sweet tomato and Asparagus Lasagnetti

Surprisingly, this really is a 15 minute recipe. Just make sure you have the ingredients out – no chopping beforehand, no packets opened, all can be done within the time! And it’s really scrummy too!

I didn’t use lamb chops as I couldn’t find the ones with the ‘stick’ on the end to hold (!), so chose a rack of lamb instead, and cut them into chops myself. Obviously, very easy and incredibly tasty.

It’s a case of seasoning the lamb then popping it into a hot pan, turning every so often so it gets a good colour. Meanwhile, chop the veg for the lasagnetti. Jamie uses spring onions, asparagus, red chilli and cherry tomatoes. Pop those in pan with some olive oil to fry off. Chop a bunch of mint and add this and some crushed garlic to the vegetables. Squash a couple more garlic cloves and, along with some rosemary springs, add to the lamb chops. Cut the fresh lasagne sheets into strips then add to the pan with some water to cook through. Reduce the heat under the lamb then toss the chops with clear honey and balsamic vinegar. Leave to rest for a few minutes while you sprinkle some parmesan over the lasagnetti, then serve everything. I poured the lasagnetti into a large bowl and the chops onto a plate so everyone could dig in a help themselves!

Watch how Jamie does it here.

Pancakes–albeit a little late!

Ok, I admit it: my pancake day was a disaster. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had a successful one. It’s not the pancakes, they seem to turn out well every time. It’s just the combination of being in a rush, never having quite the right ingredients for the topping and not thinking ahead. It sort of creeps up on me every year and I ‘make do’. This year, we happened to have some ready-made ones in the fridge, so I thought I’d top them with tartiflette for main course, then we could have Nutella for pudding. Quick and easy. Wrong.
For a start, I didn’t have any cream, or anything resembling yummy stuff, so used yoghurt – the no-fat, very healthy one – which, or course, I knew would curdle, and did. Ignoring that, I continued, heating the pancakes and spooning the mixture on top. However, once I had taken the first bite, I realised that the ready-made, oh-so-quick pancakes I had used were of the sweet, rather than savoury, variety. Not a good combination.
I skipped mains and went straight to dessert. Surely I couldn’t go wrong? Well, no, not technically. Mine were delicious, but the LO just didn’t like the pancakes, opting instead to simply lick the Nutella from the top.

So today, I had promised myself I would give things another go, if only to use my new Oxo ‘Flip and Fold’ omelette turner I had been sent to try for this purpose! Keeping things simple, I wanted to see if my LO would actually eat homemade pancakes, rather than shop-bought, and not simply scoff the chocolate! I always use Delia’s simple recipe.

After pouring the mixture into the small frying pan, I swirled it around a bit to spread it evenly, then when the edges began to crispen, used the thin edge of the flipper to loosen. Being quite a big flipper and quite a small pan, it worked really well to get under the pancake itself, and turned it easily without losing any of the mixture or crumpling the pancake. I had to wipe it clean if any mixture did get caught, as it then continued to stick, but this happened rarely. It was also brilliant for scraping all the mixture from the bowl so I wouldn’t waste any.
And the result? Perfect pancakes that even my LO approved of and ate! Hurrah!

Disclaimer: Although I was sent products to try for the purpose of this post, all views and opinions are entirely my own, truthful and honest.