Tag: pasta

Weekend cooking

Beautiful weekend with our normal activities… it seems like it hasn’t happened in such a long time… probably two months or even more with all the traveling in March and April and the visitors in May, plus some bad weather…  it means playing tennis, gardening, going to the seaside, and it also means some nice cooking, bread making and pasta. I made two breads: a large muesli and rye bread for breakfast, with a little addition of sugar to obtain a very savory bread, and a classic focaccia, always a success. With the temperatures rising it is so much easier to prepare bread. The risong is do much easier than in the winter. This time for the pasta, instead of making ravioli I made lasagna with my classic pasta recipe, rolled with my pasta machine, some salmon (it’s not often that there is some nice Hokkaido salmon! But recently I found some) and some fresh baby spinach, just add a bit of cream, bake and it’s ready. Really simpler than making the ravioli because you don’t have to dry the filling and wait for it to cool down and it is super delicious.

I wish you a great week ahead! 

Muesli bread
Muesli bread

Salmon spinach ravioli

Ravioli, in particular jumbo ones, are one of my favorite dish, both to eat and prepare. Or may be I just enjoy making them because I enjoy eating them so much!!! 

This time I made spinach and salmon ravioli, a king of classic I guess, but so very delicious! 

The pasta is always the same for two as a whole meal: 100g of semolina or manitoba, 1 egg, 2tbs of olive oil, a bit of salt. For the filling I used 1 filet of fresh salmon and a bouquet of fresh spinach. In a small pan with 1cm of water I add the salmon and the washed spinach. I cook first under cover, then I dry the mixture at low heat after squeezing it into rough purée, add some black pepper. Once it is dry enough I put it too cool down. Roll the dough and male the ravioli. Finally just boil them and serve with cream, butter or olive oil, as you like!

Recovery food

As I was telling you on Monday, I was pretty down with pollen allergy and vertigos. I am very rarely feeling bad so I am not used to it and it annoys me a lot to be reduced in any of my activities.  Because of the vertigos I could only eat industrial butter rolls, the one sold in all the combinis, and drink coca-cola. What a diet for me!!! So as soon as thing got better I prepared a very simple recovery recipe with fresh vegetables and little star pasta. I prepared two versions of it, a dry one and a soup one. In the dry version I use 1 new carrot and a bundle of mizuna, a bit of olive oil, that’s it. I cooked it until all the water was gone. In the soup version I added 2 little sweet potatoes, a few snap peas and curcuma. Very easy to prepare, very easy to eat! A perfect dish to recover!

Dry version of the recipe
Dry version of the recipe

Kumquat and mackerel pasta

This recipe is inspired by my Sicilian cookbook and I wanted to make it auite sometime ago but I couldn’t find the proper fresh fish. Not the right season. But I finally got it!!! The recipe works with anchovies, sardines or little mackerels (what I got). I used fish prepared for sashimi so it’s very easy to make. The original recipe used some chapelure (dry bread crumbs, or panko) but instead I used hazelnut powder. The spinach and pasta are my addition too. 

Kumquat and makerel rolls: 

– 5 to 10 anchovies, sardines or little mackerels (鯵-アジ)  depending on the size

– 10 wooden toothpicks  

– 4 tbs of hazelnut powder

– olive oil for the cooking

Wash the kumquats and cut the stem and bottom. Wash and prepare the fish in filets. Roll the filets around the kumquats and fix with a toothpick. Depending on the size of the filets you may need 1 or 2 to wrap the whole fruit. Put the hazelnut powder in a small dish and roll the fish in. In a heated and olive oil greased frypan cook until almost golden. Serve like this, or as I did with pasta, spinach…

Friday evening pasta

It’s late, we’re tired and the house is cold. A nice plate of colorful pasta or gnocchi is my favorite dish in that situation!! I had some snap peas, some cherry tomatoes and a bit of bacon left, together with olive oil and pepper, it made a great sauce for short pasta. I choose conchiglie, but orrechiete or penne would work good too as they would get soaked in the sauce and become little recipients which would  bring all the flavors and consistency at once in the mouth. Another simply delicious recipe. 

Japanese style pasta

And here we are with a new recipe of Japanese pasta. Honestly I didn’t think I would like this combination so much but in the end I prepare some more than often after the one with pickled cabbage. So this time I prepared a vegan  base with new onion, canola, snap peas, fried tofu, to which you can add some bonito flakes. Served with spaghetti or liguine, and a few drops of soya sauce. Simple and delicious! Have a nice weekend!

Kumquat-shiitake-pork pasta

A new video testing with the preparation of a a singular recipe: pasta with a sauce made with shiitake, kumquats and thin slices of pork. A very nice and surprising combination that puts a bit of warmth and colors in a gloomy rainy day. Tell me how you like the video or what you would like to see. I’m testing several options.

Ricotta-basil-prosciutto ravioli

I can’t help making ravioli. And even more when I have fresh ricotta. But because A. doesn’t like cheese too much I added prosciutto to the basic ricotta-basil filling. And I prepared a tomato-basil-prosciutto sauce to go with it. It was a very simple dinner to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary enjoyed in our country house after a very intense week. 

For the ravioli pasta, same recipe as usual (100g of flour, 1egg, a bit of salt and olive oil), for the filling I used a pack of fresh ricotta, 3 branches of fresh basil, a few slices of prosciutto. In a bowl mix the ricotta, the basil washed and cut, salt and pepper. After making the pasta and setting one layer in the ravioli shapes, I put a few pieces of prosciutto in each ravioli then cover with the ricotta mix. Add the second layer of pasta and finish the ravioli. Boil in a large amount of water. Fresh pasta takes only a few minutes to be ready, once they float remove and drain. Serve immediately.

For the sauce I used 2 tomatoes, 2 branches of fresh basil, a few slices of prosciutto. Wash and cut the tomatoes and the basil. In a heated frypan or a pan, add some olive oil, the tomatoes, salt and pepper, stir until most of the juice is gone. Then the basil. In the very last minute of cooking add the prosciutto, you don’t want to cook to much. Use to top the ravioli. 

 

Japanese style pasta

In Japan there are plenty of Italian restaurants but many serve not a genuine Italian company cuisine, but rather pasta, or more spaghetti, with a strong Japanese touch. The much classic would be mentaiko – 明太子, some kind of poutargue, or spucy fish eggs, with nori. But it goes much beyond that. At first it is a bit strange to eat spaghetti with Japanese flavours, but there are some really nice combinations. In particular, I find that the nori goes very well with pasta. So I prepared some Japanese style pasta for lunch. I didn’t have spaghetti, so I used penne. And because I had some pickled Chinese cabbage to finish, I prepared some tomato sauce and serve the whole thing together. Deliciously confusing!

Penne Japanese style: 

– 200 of penne

– 3 tomatoes very ripe

– 1/8 of pickled Chinese cabbage, if not pickled, you will need a little of white vinegar of your choice in addition, and a pinch of salt 

– 1tbs of rice oil, or vegetal snd neutral oil

– 1 handfull of thinly cut nori

– black pepper  

Boil water for the pasta, in the meantime in a saucer set the tomatoes diced. Cook at medium heat until it reduces. Cut the cabbage in bite size and add to the tomatoes. If you are using non-pickled Chinese cabbage do the same but add 1tsp oc vinegar and a pinch of salt. Add the ground black pepper to your liking. Once the penne are cooked, deain and serve in the plates. Add the tomatoes-cabbage sauce and complete with a topping of nori. Serve immediately.

 

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