Pasta Primavera with Pork

 In 1975, New York chef Sirio Maccioni flew to the Canadian summer home of Italian Baron Carlo Amato, called Shangri-La Ranch located on Robert's Island, Nova Scotia. Maccioni and his two top chefs began experimenting with game and fish, but eventually the baron and his guests wanted something different. Maccioni then mixed butter, cream and cheese, with vegetables and pasta and brought the recipe back to New York City. The fame of pasta primavera traces back to Maccioni's New York City restaurant Le Cirque, where it first appeared as an unlisted special before it was made famous through a 1977 article in the New York Times by Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey which included a recipe for the dish. The invention of the dish is contested; Le Cirque co-owner Sirio Macchioni claimed that his wife Egidiana threw it together from ingredients on hand during a trip to Nova Scotia; Ed Giobbi, an amateur cook himself, claims to have shown Macchioni and Jean Vergnes (then chef at Le Cirque) a similar dish which Vergnes then slightly modified, and chef Franco Brigandi claims to have invented it while the maitre d' at Il Gatto Pardo Ristorante in New York City and prepared it for Bob Lape on WABC television before his dish was requested to be cooked by other culinary practitioners^. All accounts agree that Vergnes refused to allow the dish to be prepared in the kitchen, so that the many requests for it had to be satisfied with a pot set up in a hallway. The combination of lightly cooked vegetables and pasta, which Claiborne and Franey hailed as "by far, the most talked-about dish in Manhattan", is widely recognized as one of the signature developments of American cuisine in the 1970s. (Wikipedia)

This is a twist on pasta primavera (with meet)

What you need

For the pork

• 2 x 200g pork chops,
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

and the marinade

• 3 tbsp tomato purée
• 1,5 tbsp soy sauce
• 1,5 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar

For the pasta

• 25g unsalted butter
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 200g beans, blanched
• 100g fresh peas or frozen
• 200g spinach
• 300g cooked tagliatelle (reserve some cooking water)
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• large handful fresh available herbs, for example mint, basil, dill and parsley, chopped
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 20g hazelnuts, toasted and lightly crushed
• parmesan
• olive oil, for drizzling

How to prepare it

For the pork

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Preheat a griddle pan until hot.
3. For the pork, rub one tablespoon of the olive oil over the pork chops, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. Place the chops onto the griddle and cook for 1-2 minutes on either side, until golden-brown griddle marks appear on both sides.
5. Meanwhile, place all the marinade ingredients into a bowl and whisk to combine. Spoon the marinade over the pork chops and transfer to the oven for 6-7 minutes, or until completely cooked through.

For the pasta

1. Heat the butter in a pan, add the garlic and fry for one minute.
2. Add thevegetables and stir fry for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the pasta and a little of the cooking water to the pan and stir to combine.
4. Stir in the lemon juice and zest and the herbs and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
5. To serve, sprinkle over the hazelnuts, the parmesan and drizzle with olive oil.

Cannelloni with spinach and ricotta

Cannelloni is Italian for "large reeds" are a cylindrical type of pasta generally served baked with a filling and covered by a sauce in Italian cuisine. Some types of cannelloni need to be boiled beforehand, while for others it is enough to use a more dilute sauce or filling. Popular stuffings include spinach and ricotta or minced beef. The sauces typically used are Napoletani underneath and besciamella sauce to cover the top. It is a typical dish of the Catalan cuisine, traditionally consumed on Christmas day. (Wikipedia)

What you need

• 300 g spinach
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• 1 clove of garlic, squashed
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400 gr)
• 1 bay leaf
• small handfull of basil leaves 
• 1/2 lemon, grated zest of lemon and juice
• 200 g ricotta
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tsp grated parmesan
• About 10 tubes of cannelloni
• 125 g mozzarella ball, sliced

 How to prepare it

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put a bit of olive oil and the spinach in a large pan over a low heat. Add the nutmeg, season with salt and pepper and cover. Stir occasionally. Place in a bowl and set to one side to cool enough to handle.
2. Heat some olive oil and gently cook the onion until soft. Add the garlic, tomatoes, bay leaf, a few basil leaves and lemon zest and let it gently simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Squeeze the moisture out of the spinach into the bowl. Chop the spinach. Return the spinach to the liquid in the bowl. Stir in the ricotta, beaten egg and parmesan. Season to taste.
4. Fill the mixture into the cannelloni tubes and lay them in an oven dish.
5. Spread the tomato sauce over the cannelloni. Lay the mozzarella slices on top, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and season. 
6. Place in the oven and cook untill the top is golden (about 40 minutes).
7. Remove from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes before serving.
8. Enjoy!!!

Roasted Goose - tender and soft

Take a goose and keep the neck, heart and gizzard

What you need:

• 1 liter water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1/4 nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp black pepper 
• salt to taste
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 3 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
• 2 apples (peeled, cored and chopped)
• 250 grams wild rice (cooked)
• 70 grams roasted hazelnuts
• 1,5 tbsp flour

How to prepare it:

1. Mix the cooked rice, hazlenuts, apples, chopped onion, parsley, cinnamon, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, pepper and salt.
2. Wash the goose and pat it dry.
3. Fill the goose with the mixture.
4. Skewer the cavity and close it tightly.
5. Season the goose with salt and pepper on all sides.
6. Put the goose in a preheated oven on 170 degrees Celcius on a roasting tray above for 1,5 hours.
7. Meanwhile you cook the water and add the neck, heart and gizzard and cook for a few hours, or until half of the sauce is left.
8. Strain the sauce and add some salt to taste.
9. Periodically get rid of the fat while the goose roasts.
10. Turn the goose after 1,5 hour and roast for another 1,5 hour.
11. Then take the goose from the oven and let it rest.
12. Meanwhile take the oventray, get rid off most of the fat and add the flour.
13. Mix well and add the sauce and wishk with the brown crusts.
14. Remove the stuffing form the goose and put on the plates.
15. Serve the goose with the warm sauce and stuffings.

ENJOY the soft and tender goose!

Creamy Prawn Curry

To keep them soft and tender take care not to overcook the prawns.

What you need

500 gr tiger prawns
1,5 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
5 cm cinnamon stick
4 cloves
7 cardamon pods
4 bay leaves
2 cm of ginger, grated
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp chilli powder
180 ml creamy coconut milk (I prefer a block of coconut, mixed with warm water)

How to prepare it

1. Peel, devein and clean the prawns. Leave the tail on. Put them in a bowl and mix with the lemon juice. Leave them for ten minutes and rince them under cold water. Dry the prawns with a (paper) towel.
2. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the onion until lightly browned. add the tumeric, cinnamon, bay leaves, cloves, cardamon, ginger and garlic. Fry for 1 minute.
3. Add the chilli powder, creamy cocomut and salt (to taste). Slowly bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the prawns are cooked through and the sauce is thick (for about 5 minutes).
4. Enjoy with some basmati rice and garlic naan.

Garden fresh vegetable risotto

This is a lovely dish to make from your own garden vegetables.

  

What you need

- 350g fresh runner beans, cut into long thin strips
- 50g butter
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint leaves
- 1 onion, very finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3-4 sprigs fresh thyne
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 bay leaf
- 300g risotto rice
- 200ml dry white wine
- 800ml hot vegetable stock
- 200g peas
- 100g fresh fava beans
- 3 small zucchinis, cut in small peaces
- 200g feta cheese, drained and crumbled into small pieces
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- parmesan cheese

How to prepare it

1. Fill a saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the runner beans and return to the boil. Cook for one minute then drain in a colander under running water until cold.
2. Mix the mint with two tablespoons of the olive oil and set aside.
3. Melt 25g of the butter with the remaining oil in a large non-stick saucepan and fry the onion and garlic for five minutes until softened, but not coloured. Stir in the thyme, lemon zest, bay leaf and risotto rice and cook for a few seconds more until the rice is glistening. 
4. Pour the wine in to the pan and boil over a medium heat until the liquid has reduced by half. Slowly start adding the stock, stirring well between each addition. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until the liquid has almost all been absorbed before adding more. Cook until the rice is tender.
5. Remove the thyme from the rice and add the fresh peas, fava beans and zucchinis 5 minutes befor finishing.
6. Remove from the heat and stir in the feta. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cover with a lid and set aside.
7. Add the remaining butter to the risotto and stir. Spoon into deep plates sprinkle with the minted olive oil. Top with the runner beans and parmesan and serve immediately.