kwokj, posts by tag: pasta - LiveJournal

I made this for dinner last night. It's from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Italy which my aunt gave me for Christmas a couple of Christmases ago.

I've made it twice now, so from memory:

Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 small onions, finely diced
1 fennel bulb, herby fronds removed and reserved, bulb and stalks finely diced
1 heaping table spoon fennel seeds bashed up or ground
some quantity of hot chili which I didn't use because I am wussy
1 lb 6 oz. sardine fillets (don't ask me why the extra 6 oz. He means fresh, but I've used canned in water both times and it was still delicious.)
4 tbsp pine nuts (I like more)
2 tbsp raisins (I like lots more of this, too
1 glass white wine
salt+pepper to taste
a lemon or two for juice and zest
1 lb of some kind of noodle like bucatini, gemelli or whatever you can get. Gemelli is my new favourite pasta shape.

Method:
Heat ~6 tbsp of olive oil in a medium sauce pan and add the onion, fennel bulb-and-stalk, a few shakes of salt and the fennel seed. Cook gently with the lid ajar for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

At this point, add the raisins, pine nuts and about half the sardines (reserve half or less of the nicer looking fillets to be laid on top of each plate of pasta when serving.) Allow to gook gently with the lid on for 10 minutes, bashing up the fish.

Add a glass of white wine and a glass of water and turn the heat up and cook with the lid off until the liquid is reduced by about half. At the same time, start boiling your pasta cooking water. Cook according to package directions when it comes to a boil.

Once the liquid is reduced, turn the heat back down and lay the remaining fillets on top to cook with the lid on for 7 or so minutes.

Once the pasta is done cooking, drain well. When the fillets are done, remove them from the pot, and add the pasta and combine. Add some parmesan cheese and ground pepper. To serve, put some pasta on each plate and lay two or three fillets on top, give it a light squeeze of lemon juice and a dusting of grated rind. Scatter some of of the fennel frond on top and serve with more parmesan.

I'd have taken a picture, but Ka Lun threw out the fennel fronds while we were cleaning up, and without it, it's a rather grey looking dish.

I made pasta con sarde (pasta with sardines) from Jamie's Italy that I got second last Christmas. It is said to be a Sicilian classic.

Anyway, here's the recipe from memory, so it's basically the same, though probably less verbose and charming than Jamie Oliver.

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 large bulb fennel
2 small onions
some chili (flakes or a few small fresh ones minced, according to desired taste)
1 heaped teaspoon fennel seed, bashed or coarsely ground
1 lb sardines fillets (I'm sure they meant fresh, but I used canned and it was still delicious)
1/4 cup raisins (I'd like to try more)
1/2 cup pine nuts (I'd like to try more of this too)
1 glass dry white wine
1 glass water or light broth
salt
pepper
1 lb dry pasta (I used gemelli, but spaghetti will do. other specialty shapes like bucatini or pici would be great, too.)
1 lemon, juice and rind of (I forgot this. oh well.)
grated parmesan, or fried breadcrumbs, aka poor man's parmesan

Method:
1. Pick off and set aside herby fronds from fennel.
2. Finely chop fennel bulb and onions.
3. Heat ~ 6 tbsp olive oil and add fennel bulb, onion, chili and fennel seed. Stir to combine and cook very gently with the lid ajar for 20 minutes.
4. Add half of sardines, raisins, pine nuts and gently cook for another 10 minutes, stirring periodically and mashing up the fish.
6. Add wine and water, stir, and turn up the heat and cook uncovered until the liquid is reduced by half. Taste and adjust salt and pepper, then turn down to a simmer.
7. Lay remaining fillets on top and cover to cook (or just to heat them up, if it was canned.)
8. Cook pasta according to directions.
9. By the time the pasta is done, the fillets should be cooked. Put them aside, drain your pasta and stir the pasta into the sauce.
10. Plate your pasta, putting a few fillets on top, some of the herby fronds from the fennel, some of the grated lemon rind and a squeeze of juice. Serve with grated parmesan.

I should have taken a picture, but I didn't think of it until the fennel fronds were gone, and after that, it's predominantly grey and not the most photogenic.

I made spinach ricotta cannelloni yesterday. The secret is to stir fry the spinach instead of boiling to wilt. Gives a much better texture.

The quantities don't have to be exact, and I'm not sure of them anyway, but it's something like this.

1 small onion
1 tub ricotta (about 2 cups)
1 bag spinach (like the bags you get in the prewashed salad section)
1 egg
1 package pasta (fresh sheets of lasagna cut to size, or large wonton wrappers, or cooked from dry cannelloni tubes)
tomato sauce

Prepare a batch of your favourite tomato sauce.

For the filling, finely mince and onion. Saute with salt and reserve. Rinse and pick through spinach. Briefly wilt in the microwave to reduce bulk, then stir fry with salt. When cool enough to handle, chop and squeeze out excess liquid. Mix chopped spinach, onion and ricotta. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Beat an egg and mix into cheese mixture.

Spread a layer of sauce at the bottom of a baking dish.

If using lasagna sheets, it helps to soak them in cold water to make them more flexible.

Fill pasta tubes, or roll in sheets of cut lasagna, and place on sauce in baking dish. When dish is filled, pour on the remaining sauce, covering all the cannelloni (if using raw fresh lasagna sheets, they won't cook if not wet with sauce.) Bake at 400° F for about 35 minutes.