Category: pasta

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An attempt at spaghetti carbonara

Having recently tried the La Famiglia Rana Spaghetti Carbonara and been a little disappointed, I decided I would make my own. I realised that though I have made creamy pasta a lot, I hadn’t made a carbonara for some time. Most of the time when making creamy pasta, I would use crème fraîche, though of course a true carbonara uses eggs and has no cream. 

I recently looked up the “proper” recipe for carbonara and decided I would have a go at making one.

I got some pecorino cheese and parmesan. Usually when I make pasta I use pancetta, but a true carbonara uses guanciale.

I cooked the guanciale in a hot pan, when it was browned, I added the cooked spaghetti, then added two beaten eggs and the cheese. I mixed the eggs, cheese, and spaghetti. Adding some of the pasta water, to make more of a sauce, and then seasoned with black pepper.

However, it didn’t quite go to plan and the sauce split.

spaghetti carbonara

It was nice, but wasn’t wow!

I might have to try again…

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Pasta from La Panza

La Panza

I have been to La Panza a couple of times now. It is close to my office in Bristol and is an Italian restaurant. They have a £10 lunch deal which consists of pasta, focaccia, and a drink. 

I hadn’t planned to go to La Panza, after enjoying the beef brisket from the Little Smoker recently I thought I would head to St Nick’s and get some beef brisket from Low & Slow. As it was a Monday there wasn’t any street food markets at Finzel Reach or Temple Quay, the only real choice for street food is St Nick’s. However upon arrival I found that though Low & Slow had their pulled pork and chicken, they had no beef brisket. I did think about getting some pasta from Grano Pasta Bar. Then I thought to myself, well for the same kind of money I can go to La Panza and have some pasta, but sit down, get served, have a glass of wine, and a slice of focaccia.

So, that’s when I found myself heading back to La Panza for lunch.

In the £10 lunch deal you get the pasta of the day, a slice of focaccia and a drink. There isn’t a choice when it comes to the pasta, but there is a wider menu if you want something different. Or, another choice is the sandwich, a pastry, and a drink for the same £10.

On the day I was there, the pasta of the day was bucatini with a puttanesca sauce. It wasn’t long before my plate of pasta arrived at the table, garnished with freshly grated parmesan.

Pasta from La Panza

If you are looking for a huge bowl of pasta, then this isn’t the place for that. This was a perfectly sized portion of pasta for lunch. The pasta was cooked well and the sauce was delicious. I don’t know if the sauce was homemade, but it did not taste as though it was out of a jar, it was fresh and tasty.

This was a lovely plate of pasta, which I enjoyed a lot.

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Charlie Bigham’s Lasagne

I have been eating a few Charlie Bigham ready meals recently. Partly as I managed to get a couple reduced at Waitrose, but others have been on special offer. Not sure how “special” they actually are, but the ones I have tried I have enjoyed.

I do quite like lasagne, but the quality of supermarket prepared ready meal lasagne does vary. The lasagne at M&S has usually been very good, whereas the lasagne from Lidl was quite flavourless in comparison. 

I know I really should make my own, but it is to be honest a bit of a faff, and a ready made lasagne is quite a good choice for quick dinner when I am either late back from work or doing something.

Charlie Bigham’s Lasagne is described as slow-cooked beef & pork ragù with red wine & oregano, layered with egg pasta & topped with our creamy béchamel sauce. The website also states:

We take pride in testing our recipes until they’re just right. That’s how we found the perfect balance of pork and beef for our slow-cooked ragù, and how we discovered the exact red wine that with a dash of balsamic vinegar of Modena, makes this dish delicious. With an extra layer of creamy béchamel hidden amongst the five layers of egg pasta, there’s a lot that goes into our much-loved Lasagne.

It takes thirty minutes in the oven and one thing I did like was how easy it was to remove from the wooden tray it is cooked in. 

I did really like the flavour of the lasagne and the sauce was nice and rich. The pasta  did have bite and the browned cheese béchamel added to the tastiness of the dish.

It certainly costs a lot more than most supermarket lasagne, I was lucky that I got mine on special offer. However, I probably would get it again, even at full price.

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Orecchiette pasta with mushrooms and spinach

I like eating Orecchiette pasta since eating it in London a few years back at the now sadly closed Paesan restaurant close to Exmouth Market. Orecchiette are a pasta typical of the Apulia region of Italy. 

I cooked the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. I then in a large frying pan cooked off some pancetta. To this I added some finely chopped red onion (would have probably used brown onion, but I didn’t have any). Once the onion was soft I added some chopped mushrooms.

Once the mushrooms were cooked, I added a splash of white wine. I reduced the wine and then mixed in some crème fraîche. I added the cooked pasta and served with some freshly grated parmesan and toasted pine nuts.

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Crab Spaghetti

Crab Spaghetti

Had spaghetti with crab for my tea. I had picked up some dressed crab from Aldi and had been thinking about using it. My original plan was to have a crab salad, but in the end, I thought I would have a crab pasta dish.

I looked over a few recipes and, in the end, I did the following, mainly based on what I had in the fridge. I cooked some spaghetti and whilst that was cooking in a large frying pan, I added some olive oil and some finely chopped red onion. When the red onion was cooked, I then added half a glass of white wine. Drinking the rest of the glass I mixed the onion, oil and wine. I then removed the pan from the heat and added the brown crab meat which I stirred into the contents of the pan. Once the pasta was cooked, I put the sauce back on the heat, I drained the spaghetti and added it to the pan and ensured the spaghetti was fully coated with the sauce. I removed the pan from the heat and added the white crab meat. I added freshly chopped parsley and seasoned with black pepper, upon tasting I also added some salt.

Now I was quite impressed with myself on the look of the dish, however I was less impressed with the taste. The pasta was great, but the crab sauce was underwhelming and a little too grainy for me. Glad I cooked it, but not sure I would cook it again.

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La Famiglia Rana Spaghetti Carbonara

I bought the pack of La Famiglia Rana Spaghetti Carbonara as a stand by meal.

When I cooked the spaghetti carbonara ready meal from Rana I had in the fridge. I have to say I was not that impressed. It was really quick and easy to cook, cook off the pancetta, and then add the sauce mix before adding the fresh spaghetti and cooking for four more minutes. Serve with the provided grated parmesan.

It tasted alright, but it wasn’t really anything special. Not even sure I would call it a carbonara. I think it’s probably easier to cook it myself from scratch.

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Seafood Pasta at the Airport

EasyJet aeroplane at Glasgow

Occasionally I find myself in Glasgow with a 9pm flight home, most times I end up at the Airport wondering why I am eating there, as it is too often over-priced and not very good. In the past I have stayed in the heart of Glasgow and eaten there. Over the years various outlets have come and gone, changed names, or closed entirely.

I had looked at the airport website before I flew from there and saw that Frankie & Benny’s had closed and there was pretty much a lookalike restaurant in its place. Also new, was an Italian place, Primo Volo.

Join us in our gorgeous new restaurant where you’ll find deliziosa food from our Italian inspired menu, which will make you feel as if you’re sat around nonnas table. ‘Primo Volo’ means ‘First Flight’ in our Italian mother tongue – and we really will look after you from the very first flight which passes through our terminal until the very last; welcoming our guests in to our modern, minimalist and sophisticated restaurant, inspired by Northern Italian piazzas, with some award winning hospitality before their onward journey. 

It had an interesting menu, but also (for an Airport) quite reasonable priced.

I was on my way back from a conference and myself and a couple of colleagues were on late flights back from Glasgow, and we made a decision to eat there.

For the pasta dishes you choose your pasta and then choose your sauce. I went with the seafood pasta, which was calamari and prawns with spicy tomato sauce, courgette and basil nut pesto. I thought this was good value at £16.50. I chose to have rigatoni pasta, I would have preferred linguine, but thought that might be a little messy to eat with company.

The pasta arrived and I was rather impressed, it looked great.

seafood pasta

There was a good portion of prawns and calamari in the dish, and I really liked the courgette ribbons. The sauce was tasty as well.  Overall I really liked the dish, and was probably one of the better plates of food I have had at an airport. Yes, I would do back there again, if was once more at Glasgow Airport.

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Orecchiette pasta

Cooked pasta for tea. I like eating Orecchiette pasta since eating it in London a few years back at the now sadly closed Paesan restaurant close to Exmouth Market. Orecchiette are a pasta typical of the Apulia region of Italy.

I cooked the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. I then in a large frying pan cooked off some pancetta. To this I added some crème fraîche, a portion of Laughing Cow cheese  and some freshly chopped parsley. I didn’t have any mushrooms. I added the cooked pasta and served with some freshly grated parmesan.

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Ravioli al Tartufo

Delft

You would think that if I was in the Netherlands that really I should be eating Dutch food. The challenge I sometimes have when I am travelling abroad for work, is finding places to eat, but also finding places to eat that are within budget. Not that I sometimes mind paying more for excellent food, sometimes I do mind.

The last time I was in the Netherlands was in October 2022 when I visited Amsterdam for a conference. This time I was attending a conference in Delft and attending meetings in Utrecht as well. 

Upon my arrival in Delft, I did have a chance to explore the city and looking around there were some nice looking places for dinner, but they all seemed out of budget. In the end I went to an Italian restaurant, Pavarotti, which is situated in what was the old railway station. It certainly doesn’t look like a station from the inside any more.

They had an extensive menu, but I decided I would have the ravioli al tartufo. This was filled pasta with wild mushrooms, cream sauce, truffle tapenade, mushrooms and arugula (rocket).

The pasta was well cooked and still had a bite. The sauce was nice and you could taste the truffle. The sauce did contain mushrooms, think I would I like to have had some wild mushrooms in there. Not sure how much the arugula added to the dish, but it was nice to have some greenery in the dish. I enjoyed the pasta.

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Tagliatelle with prosciutto and mushroom

pasta dish

I was recently in Brighton for a conference Myself and some colleagues went to the Donatello restaurant in the Lanes. I had tagliatelle with prosciutto and mushroom. It was a nice pasta dish, nothing special though.