Fresh vegetables and pasta call for spring recipes!

It’s almost the weekend! Are you ready to go shopping and to pack your fridge with the best of the products London can offer?

Will you go to a market, to your usual shops or to your favourite delis?

If you didn’t knew it yet or if it’s a long time you don’t pass by Chelsea, maybe it’s time to comeback there and have a look to the new fruit and vegetables Chelsea’s provider: Andreas (4 Cale Street, SW3 3QU)

“We established our family-run greengrocers in Chiswick in 1994.  Eighteen years later we opened our second store, in Chelsea.  Both our stores are complemented by having other excellent food retailers nearby giving our customers an unrivalled opportunity to buy top quality, delicious food.”

This is his mission: “Our mission is to provide the finest flavours’ to our customers. Our philosophy is to provide the best or nothing at all. Our goal is to provide the quality that discerning cooks at home require to excel.”

And it’s not all: with his great ingredients and knowledge and passion for his fresh and genuine products, he sell also our pasta Pastificio dei Campi in the most famous shapes: Spaghetti, Linguine, Paccheri e Orecchiette!

So are you keen to cook this weekend? Andreas just told me Mr and Mrs Jolly's finest Asparagus are now in shops courtesy of the Hill Boys, so here is an easy quick and gorgeous recipe to cheers to the new shop and the new products now available for you:

Linguine with Asparagi, Pecorino cheese and pine nuts

- 600 gr Linguine Pastificio dei Campi
- 300 g asparagus
- 600 gr shrimps
- ½ cup of white wine
- olive oil, a pinch of salt, pepper and a garlic clove

       
Wash and cut the asparagus into small pieces and place in a pan some olive oil with the garlic clove. When hot, place in there the asparagus and let them cook adding some water if needed. In the meantime cook the pasta in boiling water.
After ten minutes, add the peeled shrimp to the pan and cook for some minutes on high flame. Then finish the cook with some pepper and the white wine.
When the linguine are ready, drain them and toss it in the pan with all the rest of the ingredients.

Serve them with some grated pecorino cheese and some pine nuts on top.

Enjoy your dish and your weekend.

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The right recipe for these rainy days

Rain rain and more rain!
It was a long time that I wasn’t complaining about the weather, but I have to say that now it’s a bit too much. It’s almost one month that rains without stop and also if it’s not too much cold, for sure this is not the weather you expect in spring.
Thanks God, last saturday when I went to the market the sun decided to appear for few hours and I could enjoy a nice stroll and some shopping. I could see already some english asparagus between the amount of colorful vegetables , but I didn’t feel like cooking something with that yet.

I was actually more interested in something hot, and comfy, maybe baked... And here it was ... A nice cauliflower! I have read in fact that this is the best month for them in UK and so the shopping was done and the recipe came just after: "I will do a typical english dish revisited in an italian way.... With pasta of course!"

Here is the recipe for my Cauliflower cheese baked pasta and the ingredients for 4 people:

320 gr of Mezze Maniche Rigate Pastificio dei Campi

200 gr cauliflower florets

80 gr of shelled hazelnuts 

30 gr of grated parmesan

120gr of grated mature cheddar cheese

30 gr of butter

salt, pepper and a bit of chilli too

Cook the cauliflower florets in boiling salted water for 7-8 minutes, then drain them maintaining the water to cook the pasta. Mash them a bit in a pan where you have previously put some olive oil and a garlic clove. Smash the hazelnuts in little pieces but don't make a powder.

Cook the pasta in the cauliflower water adding salted water. Drain when al dente and pour into the pan with the cauliflower florets, add the hazelnuts, some pepper and chilli, the grated cheddar cheese and a bit of grated parmesan and stir until the cheese is melted.

Pour the preparation into a greased baking dish with the butter, sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and cook in oven at 180 ° C for 30 minutes. Serve piping hot and enjoy!

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Some recipes to enjoy this great ingredient and our pasta

I admit it: I love artichokes but has always been a bit difficult for me to clean and cook them properly. I want them but I'm always a bit too lazy to actually buy them often.

Today, with the official beginning of the spring season I decided that it's time to beat my enemy and shake a  bit my diet welcoming this great ingredient.

I then started to look here and there for interesting recipes and this is what inspired me. They really are pretty easy, so maybe is the time to go shopping soon.

Just few days ago in twitter @donalde asked me about the Pecorino cream. I didn't know what it was, because very local and typical of Sardinia, but it seems you can find it in London at Melograno Deli with the Provola cheese too. So here some recipes to enjoy them and the artichokes!

Fusilli with artichokes, goat cheese, pecorino and almonds or Mezzi Rigatoni with artichokes and provola cheese (smoked or not).

If you like goat cheese go for Fusilli, that are better with saucy cream, while if you prefer Provala Cheese (you can find it in Melograno deli) go for the Mezzi Rigatoni.

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An English ingredient used in an Italian way.

The celeriac in Italy is not very famous so I started to know this ingredient here, first from a chef friend of mine, who made it mash in a dinner we had some time ago, and then I tried a celeriac soup again in a restaurant in Ireland and it was delicious!

So it’s all the winter that I was waiting to have a little experiment with it, but I realized it’s not very common in shops. If the sweet potatoes, the swede and the other type of vegetables were there in January, my celeriac wasn’t and when I was asking for it everyone was giving me celery! ARGH! :(

Finally on the 29^th of February, leap day,  going some shopping I found it in front of my eyes and that was it: the dinner was sorted! 

Here the recipe I used for my Celeriac Pasta Soup. If the soup alone was great, this soup with the pasta it's amazing! I hope you will enjoyed it and ... don't wait another Leap day to try it :)

Ingredients for 4 people

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, finely sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 big celeriac, peeled, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 vegetable stock

1 chilli

Lots of nutmeg and ½ large potato, peeled, chopped if you like

300 gr of pasta Mista Corta Pastificio dei Campi

Peal the celeriac and cut it in pieces. Then heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the onion and fry over a gentle heat until softened. Add the garlic and cook for one minute.

Add the celeriac (and the potato if you want) to the pan, some hot water and season, to taste, with salt, freshly ground black pepper, nutmeg and the sliced chili.

Add the stock and cook until the celeriac have softened. At this point add the 250-300gr of pasta and let it cook all together.

I don’t normally blend the celeriac or potatoes because I like the chunky beat in the pasta soup, but you can if you want, before to put the pasta in it. When the pasta is cooked and the soup is thick, you can serve it!

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...alle cime di rapa or "broccoli rabe"

Let's comeback to the healthy diet and let's cook something at home!
This is a great recipes even for children who maybe don't like vegetables, because I think no one can resist to this dish.

This is a typical south italian recipe but I love it so much because the consistency of Orecchiette with the bitter taste of the vegetable enriched by the chili, the garlic and the nice taste of the anchovies... it's unique!

It's one of this pasta dishes that base all its taste on the real ingredients and the olive oil... No cheeses to combine the ingredients or to give the last touch. So healthy and fulfilling you can be sure a portion of this can just do good to yourself. I hope you will trust me!
 
The ingredients for 4 people are:

400gr Orecchiette Pastificio dei Campi
6 fillets of anchovies
2 garlic cloves Broccoli rape?(already clean) 600 g
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
and some chili and salt

Take the broccoli rabe already clean, remove the largest leaves or the hardest parts of the stem, taking precisely the more tender parts. Cut all into pieces, and wash them and [place them to boil for some minutes in some salty water.
 
In the meantime in a pan place some olive oil, the 2 garlic cloves, the pepper cut in little rings and with the chopped anchovies.
When the broccoli leaves are ready, drain them but keep aside the cooking water, to boil the orecchiette.
 
When the garlic is browned and the anchovies almost melted, add the turnip greens and let them take all the flavors for a few minutes. When also the orecchiette will be al dente, drain them and  add them to the pan.
Toss everything for some minutes and add some more oil or cooking water and then enjoy!

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To recover from the festivities

Are you  trying to comeback to a normal eating regime, after all you had during this month?
It's known that after all these days of food and drinks you will fell hungry often: doctors says it's useless to do a severe post Christmas detox diet. You will still be hungry and you won't loose so much weight, because the body will feel the need to keep energy and the fat accumulated.

The solution is to have regular and light meals that can keep you fulfilled for longer. Some days ago was even published an article about a Swedish study: Mediterranean diet gives longer life… and we are speaking about 2-3 years more! A diet that sees prevailing vegetables and carbohydrates ensures a long and healthy life, as it helps maintain a healthy weight and reduces the chances of developing cardiovascular disease.

So have a look at this vegetarian pasta: replacing cream with a light cheese like ricotta it’s my secret to have a lighter but tasty dish.

Ingredients for 2 persons:
- 200 gr Spaghetti Pastificio dei Campi
- 100 gr. raw spinach
- a handful of pine nuts
- 100 gr. of ricotta
- 50 gr of smoked cheese (the bavarian one is quite good on this pasta )
- olive oil - salt and pepper
- 1 clove of garlic

Toast the pine nuts in a frying pan. In another pan heat some oil and brown the clove of a garlic, add the spinach, some pepper and let cook a couple of minutes. In a bowl mix the ricotta with a spoon of hot water from the pasta, mix well.

Cook the pasta, drain and pour into the pan, add the pine nuts and ricotta with salt and toss it all. Grate some smoked cheese on top, mix a minute and serve it on a plate.

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An amazing mix of flavors to enjoy this funny night

Do you fancy a nice cozy dish for Halloween? If you are going to give a party at home, or going out fancy dressed and full of make up or if you are just ready to wait the children at home for they sweets or tricks, why don't treat yourself with a nice Halloween pasta soup?
 
And if you are carving a pumpkin for your Halloween this is the perfect recipe for you!

For 3 people you will need few simple ingredients:

• 200gr lentils
• 150 gr of pumpking (I prefer butternut squash)
• 200 gr pasta Mista Corta Pastificio Dei Campi
• 1/2 carrot
• 1 celery
• 1/2 onion
• Oil, salt and rosemary

Start preparing a “soffritto” cutting finely the onion, the carot and the celery and fry them in a sauce pan with some olive oil. Then add the lentils (already soaked) and around a litre of water.  Here I added some fresh rosemary  and salt.

Let the lentils cook for some minutes and in the meantime peal the pumpking and cut it in little cubes. Add the pumpking to the rest and let everything cook other 10-20 minutes at least.

When you think it’s everything almost ready, add some more hot water and the pasta. Let it cook with the lentils and the pumpkin but check always the time.

If you didn’t add to much water, this will be evaporated leaving a dense soup after around 10 minutes, time for the pasta to be cooked too. If you want the soup less dense just add more water.

Now the pasta soup is  ready and you can serve it with some fresh rosemary and olive oil.

Enjoy your Halloween night!

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