Orecchiette Pasta with Courgette, Mushrooms and Pancetta

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 before adding some sliced baby courgette and sliced mushrooms. When the pasta was virtually cooked I added some crème fraîche to the pan. The pasta was drained and then added to the pan and mixed in with the sauce. I plated the pasta before garnishing with freshly chopped parsley and grated parmesan cheese.

Unearthed Iberico Pork with Pasta

Unearthed Iberico Pork with Pasta

Once when I was staying in an apartment in London I had tried the Unearthed Iberico Pork, and had enjoyed it. Didn’t write about it though.

The ultimate pork meat which delivers an intense flavour! This award winning free range Iberico pork is from South West Spain. This ancient breed roams freely and forages for food. Iberico is widely revered as one of the best meats in the world due to its rich delicious flavour. Ibérico Presa Roaming freely in the dehesas, sparsely wooded pasturelands of quercus trees that can only be found in the south-west of Spain, this ancient grazing breed is perfectly adapted to this environment. Ibérico pigs are able to store large amounts of fat which makes the meat especially succulent and tender. The constant exercise and natural source of feed also mean that the meat is delicious! 

I recently bought a pack from Waitrose, 

I followed the instructions on the pack, cooking the steaks for three minutes each side, basting in butter. I let the meat rest and then sliced and served on a bed of butternut squash and sage tortellini.

The meat was very tender and full of flavour. I really enjoyed it.

Spaghetti Bolognaise

This is my go to recipe when making bolognaise. It has an intense flavours of beef and tomato. One thing I have found is that when using tinned tomatoes and tomato purée that not all are equal and some have better flavour than others. I have to say that my experience with own brand versions haven’t passed the taste test. More recently I have been using Mutti finely chopped tomatoes when cooking this dish.

It has the consistency and intensity of flavour I like when cooking bolognaise.

This serves four people.

500g minced beef, I try and get 5% fat mince, otherwise the end result can be a bit greasy. If you do buy the mince with the higher fat content, I would suggest after browning the mince to drain some of the excess fat or oil from the pan before adding the vegetables.

Splash of olive oil

One onion, diced

One red pepper, diced, I prefer the pointed peppers for this recipe

Handful of mushrooms, chopped

Splash of balsamic vinegar

Knorr chicken stock pot

Beef stock cube

Tin of Mutti finely chopped tomatoes

Mutti tomato purée

Garlic purée

I usually use a large pan with a lid, for cooking this dish. I heat the pan add the splash of olive oil and then brown off the mince until it is all done. If you have excess fat in the pan then drain the cooked mince and discard the excess oil and fat, then add the mince back to the pan.

Add the onion and pepper. 

After a few minutes add the mushrooms.

Once the onion is soft and cooked, add the tin of tomatoes, the stock pot and stock cube, the tomato purée and the balsamic vinegar.

Cook for at least 30 minutes on a low heat. The plan is for all the flavours to infuse and for the beef mince to be cooked and tender.

Serve with spaghetti or a pasta of your choice. Add freshly grated Parmesan to taste, garnish with freshly topped parsley.

I used gluten free spaghetti, Rummo Spaghetti No 3 for this dish.  I was really impressed with this spaghetti; it has a great texture and flavour.

Certainly, the best gluten free spaghetti I have cooked with. It isn’t the cheapest pasta on the shelf, but I think it’s worth the extra cost.

The last time I made this bolognaise, it was not as good as my previous versions. This one though was back on form.

Rummo Spaghetti No 3

With a coeliac in the house, we virtually cook with gluten free pasta all the time. Generally I am quite happy with the texture and consistency of gluten free pasta, and I have no problems cooking and eating gluten free pasta.

I have though had a few issues with cooking gluten free spaghetti, and have not been enamoured with the various types I have used. As well as clumping together, I wasn’t that impressed with the flavour and texture.

On a recent visit to Sainsbury’s I saw they were stocking a new Italian brand of gluten free spaghetti, Rummo Spaghetti No 3. I decided I would buy a pack and ut it in the cupboard.

On the Sainsbury’s website the description says:

I always wanted to create a gluten-free pasta that could give you all the pleasure and texture of the classic one. We select brown rice, yellow and white corn, strictly GMO free, then we blend them with a natural and ancient element stream. Thanks to our Laverazione al Vapore Method (Steam processing), we slowly obtain a soft, balanced dough that we extrude through bronze dies so that our pasta is more rough and bonds perfectly with the sauce. The result is Rummo Gluten Free with an incomparable consistency.

So, the other day when cooking a beef bolognaise, I decided I would use the Rummo Spaghetti No 3. I followed the instructions and cooked the spaghetti in boiling water for ten minutes. It did feel quite thin when it as uncooked, but after cooking for the proscribed time, it had expanded, and more importantly hadn’t clumped together.

I was really impressed with the spaghetti; it had a great texture and flavour. Certainly, the best gluten free spaghetti I have cooked with. So, impressed, the next time I was in Sainsbury’s I picked up another pack. It isn’t the cheapest pasta on the shelf, but I think it’s worth the extra cost.

Pumpkin Ravioli

A favourite spot I frequent in London is the Drayton Court Hotel in Ealing. It’s been my go-to for years now. Compared to central London, it’s much easier on the wallet, and the Elizabeth Line makes getting downtown a snap. West Ealing Station, just a short walk away, offers trains that zip you into central London in under 20 minutes.

They have an ever changing menu and they have a specials menu. One of the specials was a roasted pumpkin & sage ravioli with maple roasted prince pumpkin, herb pesto, creme fraiche & toasted seeds.

This vegetarian dish sounded interesting, so I had it for dinner.

Pumpkin Ravioli

It wasn’t the most appetising looking dish I have had at Drayton Court. I think a swirl of creme fraiche would have enhanced this dish. The menu description said creme fraiche, but I am not sure if either it was missed off, or mixed in with the pesto.

The ravioli was cooked well, too easy to overcook filled pasta, but this was still al dente. I liked the deep fried sage which added flavour and texture to the dish, as did the toasted pumpkin seeds. I enjoyed the chunks of maple roasted prince pumpkin which were quite tasty. Overall it was an interesting dish, not sure I would order it again though.

Pasta Bolognaise

pasta
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

This is my go to quick dinner recipe. Well, I say quick, it does take some time. 

When writing this I did wonder if I had written up the recipe before. Well, I hadn’t written my recent bolognaise cooking, but had published a recipe back in March 2008. Looking at this post I realised I had posted a bolognese (note the different spelling) recipe in November 2022.

Those two recipes are very similar, but I have changed how I cook bolognaise, so here is my recent version of the bolognaise.

This serves four people.

      • 500g minced beef, I try and get 5% fat mince, otherwise the end result can be a bit greasy. If you do buy the mince with the higher fat content, I would suggest after browning the mince to drain some of the excess fat or oil from the pan before adding the vegetables.
      • Splash of olive oil
      • One onion, diced
      • One carrot finely diced. The carrot is there to add some veg to the dish as well as flavour.
      • One red pepper, diced, sometimes I only use half a red pepper.
      • Handful of mushrooms, chopped.
      • Splash of balsamic vinegar
      • Knorr chicken stock pot, sometimes I use the beef stock pot.
      • Beef stock cube.
      • Dried Italian herbs
      • Tin of tomatoes, puréed, sometimes I use a jar of passata.
      • Tomato purée.
      • Garlic purée

I usually use a large pan with a lid, for cooking this dish. I heat the pan add the splash of olive oil and then brown off the mince until it is all done. If you have excess fat in the pan then drain the cooked mince and discard the excess oil and fat, then add the mince back to the pan.

Add the onion, carrot, and pepper. You can add extra vegetables at this point, or extra pepper. I have sometimes added courgettes or sweet potato. If you really like it, you could add celery I guess, I wouldn’t.

After a few minutes add the mushrooms.

Once the onion is soft and cooked, add the tin of tomatoes, the herbs, the tomato purée and the balsamic vinegar.

Cook for at least 30 minutes on a low heat. The plan is for all the flavours to infuse and for the beef mince to be cooked and tender.

Serve with spaghetti or a pasta of your choice. Add freshly grated Parmesan to taste, garnish with freshly topped parsley.

I did a variation adding a topping of pan fried pancetta and mushrooms to my dish. Just to be different!

Mushroom Tagliatelle

I was in Norwich for a workshop and staying at The Georgian Townhouse on Unthank Road close to the city centre. It is a really nice hotel, part of small chain of boutique hotels with three hotels in Norfolk, one in Mumbles, Wales, and one in London. The rooms are a real nice mix of modern and old. 

I went down to the restaurant, which has all the character of a lovely old pub, I had eaten a nice plate of food the day before, so was looking forward to my second visit to the restaurant. 

I had enjoyed my starter, the pan-fried scallop and crispy pork belly, which was delicious.

For my main I went with the garlic roasted Portobello mushroom tagliatelle with a creamy plant based mushroom and truffle sauce, pumpkin seed pangratatta. I had been tempted by the Pumpkin ravioli, sage butter, roasted pumpkins, sautéed wild mushroom, crispy shallot & pumpkin seeds, however I didn’t want to have pasta for my starter and my main course. I did think about asking if they would do it as a main, but I didn’t want to make a fuss.

Whilst writing this I checked and I saw on the menu of one of the other hotels in the chain, they do offer the pumpkin ravioli as a main option as well as a starter. Maybe I need to stay there next time!

Though I went with the Portobello mushroom tagliatelle, I was a little concerned, as in Leamington Spa I once had a mushroom pasta dish which I wasn’t enamoured with, actually disliked it entirely, sent it back in the end. So, I wasn’t 100% sure that this was going to be the best choice for my dinner. However I do like mushroom pasta, and I think the Leamington Spa experience was just a one off bad experience. I had a little trepidation as I awaited my dish. Having had an excellent starter though, I did have quite high expectations. The pasta dish arrived, and it looked delicious.

bowl of pasta

The pasta was cooked well, and the mushrooms were tasty. I did think the sauce needed a more powerful punch of truffle in there, but it was nice. I liked the pumpkin seed pangratatta which gave some nice crunch to the dish. I enjoyed the dish.

Truffle & Pancetta Carbonara

Kings College Chapel

I was over in Cambridge doing some work stuff and was looking for a place for lunch. I had another voucher for free main course at Zizzi, having used one recently in Bristol on a rustica pizza.

There are two branches of Zizzi in Cambridge, one on Regent Street, next to Parker’s Piece, the other on Bene’t Street. The Bene’t Street branch use to be a bank, and before that (as in before 1917) a wine merchants. It’s an impressive building with lovely ceilings and decorative walls.

I was given a warm welcome and allowed to choose a table. I looked over the menu and decided that I would have something different to pizza. In the end I chose the  Fresh Creste di Gallo pasta with wild mushrooms in a rich pancetta, pecorino & truffle-infused carbonara sauce. I have a thing for wild mushrooms and I do like fresh pasta. I checked that my voucher was valid, having had an issue with my previous experience. All was fine and dandy. No problems there then. Placed my order and waited for my food.

I wasn’t that impressed with the look of the dish, but then again it was fundamentally past in a carbonara sauce.

I did enjoy the pasta dish, but felt it lacked the depth of flavour of mushrooms and truffle I was expecting.

Overall a really pleasant place to eat, good service and nice food.

Gluten Free Pasta Salad

gluten free pasta salad

This is a dish I make on a regular basis.

Firstly I cook the gluten free pasta according to the instructions on the box.

In a separate pan I cook off the onion, peppers, and mushrooms. I prefer to have cooked onion in the salad, but of course you could just add raw diced onions and pepper. Sometimes I add pancetta to the salad. Once cooked I let it cool. I usually do this by removing it from the pan and placing it on a cold plate.

Separately I dice some cucumber and place this in a bowl.

Once the pasta is cooked I drain and then rinse the pasta in cold water to stop it cooking and cool it down.

I then combine the ingredients and dress the salad with salt, pepper, olive oil, and white wine vinegar.

The only downside I have found, is that the gluten free pasta generally doesn’t last, and goes somewhat chewy and tough if you leave it until the next day. I certainly didn’t have this issue when I made pasta salads using wheat based pasta.

Crab and Mussel Pasta

Staying at the Drayton Court Hotel I went for dinner. Despite not being available the last time I had dinner at the hotel, this time the special, crab and mussel tagliolini was available. I thought it was a starter, but the staff behind the bar didn’t think it was. It was described on the menu as crab and mussel tagliolini with razor clams, brown shrimp, glazed old Winchester cheese, purple sprouting broccoli, and chive.

When it arrived, it was obviously a starter portion and it wasn’t tagliolini, it was tagliatelle again. Tagliolini is a type of ribbon pasta, long like spaghetti, roughly 2–3 mm wide, similar to tagliatelle, but thin like capellini.

It was an interesting dish, the pasta was well cooked, I could taste and see some of the seafood, but it didn’t feel that individual seafood stood out very much. I think the purple sprouting broccoli was either missing or heavily ground down! 

Overall, it was a nice starter, but I do think it was rather overpriced for what it was.