Category Archives: Pasta / Rice

Mushroom, Leek and Spinach Lasagne

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MUSHROOM, LEEK AND SPINACH LASAGNE

Mushroom, Leek and Spinach Lasagne

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 leeks, thinly sliced
  • 400g fresh mushrooms
  • Packet frozen mushrooms, thawed and drained to keep the liquid
  • 300g baby spinach
  • 20 sheets lasagne
  • Salt and pepper
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Extra grated parmesan

MUSHROOM BECHAMEL:

  • Milk
  • Liquid from frozen mushrooms
  • 100g grated parmesan
  • 100g butter
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 small onion, cut in half
  • 2 bayleaves

METHOD

  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
  2. Prepare the lasagne according to instructions.
  3. Heat some oil and butter in a frying pan.
  4. Fry the onion, garlic, leek and mushrooms for 5-10 minutes until soft.
  5. Add the spinach, cover and cook until it has wilted down.
  6. Turn up the heat slightly to boil off most of the liquid.
  7. Season with salt and pepper.

MAKE THE BECHAMEL:

  1. Mix together the mushroom liquid and milk to make 750ml.
  2. Heat this gently in a pan, adding the onion and bayleaves for 5 minutes.
  3. Heat the butter in a saucepan.
  4. Stir in the flour and mix well, heating gently to thicken.
  5. Gradually add the liquid to the roux, stirring all the time until the sauce has thickened.
  6. Season with salt and pepper. You can always add more milk if necessary to obtain a thick white sauce.
  7. Turn down the heat and cook gently for another 5-10 minutes.
  8. Stir in the grated parmesan.

COMPLETE THE DISH:

  1. Oil the base and sides of a casserole or lasagne dish.
  2. Pour half of the bechamel sauce into the vegetable mixture and mix well.
  3. Place a layer of lasagne sheets on the base of the dish.
  4. Spoon over half of the vegetable mixture and top with another layer of lasagne.
  5. Repeat.
  6. Pour over the remaining bechamel sauce, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with grated parmesan.
  7. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.

Chicken and Chorizo Paella

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Chicken and Chorizo Paella

I’m not getting into an argument about whether chorizo belongs in a paella or not – I like to add some cubes of chorizo and think that this improves the flavour. END OF.

The paella is cooked over the flames shortly after the fire is lit. The idea is to use the heat from the flames to fry the onions, meat and other ingredients, before adding the rice and the stock and then cooking over a more constant heat once the fire has died down a bit.

We lit the fire at 13:00 and the paella was ready at 14:00.

One of the secrets to making a good paella is to get a beautiful layer of the caramelised socarrat on the bottom of the pan. You can see how much liquid is left and by cooking the paella for a final 10 minutes on a gentle flame when there is not much liquid left, you should get the socarrat of your dreams.

 

CHICKEN PAELLA

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 green pepper, finely chopped and 1 red pepper, sliced
  • 3 or 4 tomatoes, coarsely grated
  • pinch of saffron
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 cup of green beans
  • 1 cup of garrofones (large, flat butter beans)
  • 1 cup of frozen baby artichokes
  • 20cm stick chorizo, cubed
  • chicken stock
  • 60g paella rice per person
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil extra virgin
  • water

METHOD

  1. In a pestle and mortar, grind the saffron, garlic and a pinch of salt. Add a tablespoon or so of water and leave to infuse.
  2. Heat some olive oil in the paella pan.
  3. Add the onion and quickly fry over the flame for a minute or so.
  4. Add the green pepper and the red pepper and fry quickly.
  5. Add the chopped chorizo and fry.
  6. Add the grated tomatoes and fry for a further minute.
  7. Add the green beans, garrofones and artichokes.
  8. Sprinkle in the rice and stir well.
  9. Stir in the saffron/garlic mixture.
  10. Add the stock and the white and green beans and mix well.
  11. The rice will take about 40 minutes to cook. It is important to make sure that it has enough liquid for the first 30 minutes or so, so sprinkle over more water as required. You can always cover with a lid to ensure that the rice cooks properly.
  12. The socarrat will caramelise during the last 10-15 minutes of the cooking time so you want to ensure that the paella is moist enough by now and not add any more water than necessary.
  13. When the rice is cooked, you can leave covered for 10 minutes so that all the liquid is absorbed.
  14. Serve.

Sausage Pasta

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This is a recipe for sausage pasta.

SAUSAGE PASTA

INGREDIENTS

    • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
    • 2 stalks of celery, finely diced
    • 1 carrot, diced
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 500g pork sausage meat, split into small pieces
    • 1/2 cup of white wine
    • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
    • 1 teaspoon ground fennel
    • a pinch chilli
    • 1 can tomatoes
    • 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
    • pasta
    • parsley
    • Parmesan cheese

METHOD

  1. Heat the olive oil in a stainless steel frying pan.
  2. Gently fry the onion, garlic, carrot and celery until soft, seasoning with salt and pepper.
  3. Transfer the vegetables to a dish.
  4. Fry the sausage pieces until golden brown.
  5. Add the fennel, bay leaf and wine.
  6. Add the vegetables, can of tomatoes and tomato sauce and cook for 15-20 minutes.
  7. Meanwhile, cook the pasta.
  8. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with Parmesan cheese.

Prawn and Garlic Pasta

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prawn garlic pasta

 

PRAWN AND GARLIC PASTA

This prawn and garlic pasta dish is easy to prepare and takes about 15 minutes to make.

prawn and garlic pasta

INGREDIENTS

  • spaghetti or linguine
  • 360g frozen prawns
  • 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • a bunch of parsley with the leaves and stalks, finely chopped
  • 1 small tin of anchovies, finely chopped
  • a pinch of chilli powder
  • a can of tomatoes or 500g cherry tomatoes
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 glass of white wine
  • 2 tablespoons tomato sauce

METHOD

  1. Heat the water for the pasta in a large saucepan with a teaspoon of salt.
  2. Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large, deep frying pan.
  3. Add the garlic, parsley and anchovies and grind in some black pepper.
  4. Fry for a couple of minutes and then add the tomatoes and tomato sauce and mash well to break up the tomatoes.
  5. Add the prawns, a splash of white wine and a knob of butter and mix well.
  6. When the pasta is cooked, transfer to a colander, saving back some of the cooking liquid.
  7. Put the pasta into the frying pan and mix well.
  8. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Cooking Long-Grain Brown Rice in a Pressure Cooker

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USING A PRESSURE COOKER

I don’t normally like talking about nutrition on this blog but it is generally accepted that wholegrain brown rice is better for you than white rice thanks to the extra nutrients, protein and fibre that it contains.

Cooking it, on the other hand, can be quite tricky and if you’re not lucky, it can turn into a sticky, stodgy mess.

The idea behind this post is to describe a fail-safe method for cooking brown rice using a pressure cooker with times that can be relied on to produce consistently perfect results.

RECIPE

FOR 2 PEOPLE

  • Boil some water in a kettle.
  • Put 1 cup of brown rice in a pressure cooker with 1/2 teaspoon salt.
  • Add 2 cups of boiling water.
  • Stir well and close the pressure cooker.
  • Bring to pressure.
  • Time 25 minutes.
  • Remove the pressure cooker from the heat and time an additional 5 minutes.
  • Quick release the pressure by placing the pressure cooker in the sink and running cold water over the lid.
  • Test the rice.
  • If it is done, leave the lid off for a few minutes for the steam to escape.
  • If it not done, cover with the lid and leave for another 5 minutes before checking again.

NOTES
If I’m cooking rice, I normally allow 1/3 cup of white rice per person but 1/2 cup of brown rice per person.