Nigel Slater, who I consider to be somewhat of a paternal figure to me in the kitchen, once said, ‘Whatever the xenophobic meat-‘n’-two-veggists say, pasta is now our national dish. The family no longer unites over a joint of beef. It unites over a bowl of pasta’. I’m sure the meat-‘n’-two-veggists reading this will be … Continue reading CRUSHED PEA, PRESERVED LEMON & PISTACHIO PASTA
Mussels are just that thing, aren’t they? One of those things that look like a hell of a lot more posh than they actually are. Yet people are still infinitely frightened of them. Those that like cooking think they’re hard to cook and those that hate themselves hate the way they taste. How can you … Continue reading VERMOUTH & GARLIC BUTTER MUSSELS
Whenever I am away from my Kitchen for an extended period, I always start missing it like a family member. I start feeling like I’ve neglected it. Like it’s pining for me. Like it’s waiting for me to respond to a text that I’ve left on two passive aggressive blue ticks. I’ve had a manic … Continue reading SCRATCH BREADCRUMB & BACON PASTA
When I make pasta, I cannot stop myself from making enough to feed an army. There’s nothing like the buttery taste of pasta and I am very proud of myself in the quantity of pasta I can eat in one sitting. As I told you before, I impressed an Italian chef who has been working … Continue reading CARROT & HAZELNUT PESTO
“There is no such thing as Italian cooking”. This was the first thing my mentor Marcella told me as we sat down for my first cookery lesson in Florence. Sat between two bookcases of thick cookbooks (some of which were her own) and cradling an espresso in her hands, Marcella told me that Italian cooking … Continue reading FLORENTINE RAGÙ
So I’ve developed a love affair with courgettes and I feel okay about it. I know a lot of people get real freaked out by courgettes – maybe it’s a textural thing – but when they’re laced in smoky, slick chorizo juices and run through long, generous strands of linguine, it’s a party. Some sort … Continue reading SMOKED SALT CHORIZO & COURGETTE PASTA
Florence changed me. If you read my recipe from last week that detailed the wonder of Coffee Steeped Pasta you’ll know that one of my favourite classes when I was studying in Italy was flavoured pasta. Right besides the coffee infused pasta streaks was some thin strands of freshly snipped linguine that was as dark … Continue reading BLACK INK LINGUINE WITH LEMON & CHILLI PRAWNS
When I was in Florence learning how to cook at Giglio’s Cookery School, my mentor and all around kitchen genius Marcella gave me a course on flavoured pastas. Of the flavoured pastas (which included squid ink!) my personal favourite was the coffee pasta. We made long, pillowy strands of tagliatelle which was infused with freshly … Continue reading COFFEE STEEPED MUSHROOM & HAZELNUT LINGUINE
I’ve said before on this blog that nobody – and I mean nobody – does simplicity in food like the Italians. I’ve mentioned it before in my Venetian Bigoli recipe, Italians will take very few ingredients that all sing together harmoniously and utilise them in the simplest yet most effective way. In fact, looking at … Continue reading TOMATO & ROCKET FUSILLI WITH LEMON
The simplest pasta dishes are often times the best. Nobody can deny the siren call of a big bowl of wobbly pasta and the damn thing is even more tempting when the sauce takes less time to cook than the pasta does. So this whole thing is pan to mouth in under 10 minutes. What … Continue reading SUNDRIED TOMATO & ANCHOVY PENNE
