food, reviews and of course coffee
If you are looking for an interesting pasta starter than the basil & pine nut margherite fresh pasta from Sainsbury’s Taste the difference range could be a good choice.
The egg and spinach flower shaped filled pasta is stuffed with a basil and pine nut filling (a bit like pesto).
Cooking in just a few minutes I served mine with a quick sauce made from creme frache and parmesan cheese, then adding some freshly ground black pepper.
After not eating pizza, I did cook pasta.
Hot pan, add a drizzle of olive oil. Add onions, mushroom, peppers, aubergine, courgette and cook until softened.
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes.
Add some sliced cooked green beans.
Simmer.
In another large pan of boiling water, add the pasta and cook until al dente. I don’t add salt and I certainly don’t add oil.
Once pasta is cooked, toss with the sauce.
Serve with freshly grated parmesan.
Needed a quick supper tonight, so cooked some really nice linguine pasta. Once it was cooked I tossed it in olive oil and added a couple of teaspoons of pesto. Tossed again and served with some freshly grated parmesan.
Simple, quick, yet delicious.
You know why they call it Pizza Hut… because they sell pizza.
Just don’t order the pasta!
For the first time in ages (actually maybe the first time ever) on a family visit to Pizza Hut I made the mistake of ordering a pasta dish.
Before we get to the pasta course, it might be worthwhile trying to explain what I was doing in Pizza Hut. Well though my first choice of place to eat pizza is in the Veneto region of Italy, it’s not that convenient! In the UK I will go out of my way to choose Pizza Express, I have enjoyed the pizza there. I have also enjoyed pizza at Bella Italia and I have had nice pasta dishes there too. However locally there is very little choice and sometimes for a bit of fun (and well lowered expectations) we as a family visit Pizza Hut. Knowing what is available and what to expect, means that I am sometimes disappointed, but at the end of the day more often then not I get what I expect and that’s that!
In recent memory, most times I have been to Pizza Hut I have eaten pizza, I had one of their new Tuscani pizzas, which to be honest was one of the better pizzas I have had at there. I had the Pollo Portobello which had chicken, mushrooms and a light pesto and cream base sauce.
So what about the pasta?
Well I didn’t fancy pizza so went for a pasta dish, ordered the Arrabiata dish. Which comprised according to the menu ‘large pasta spirals in a deliciously spicy chilli, garlic and tomato sauce with prawns & crayfish tails’.
So what did I get?
Well I did get that, however it wasn’t quite what I expected.
Firstly though the pasta itself was cooked, it was cold. The sauce was warm, but not hot throughout. Scattered through the dish were the prawns and crayfish. If looked and tasted like they took some spicy tomato sauce, heated it up in the microwave and poured over cold cooked pasta and threw in a handful of prawns and crayfish tails.
I did complain it was cold, they took it back to the kitchen and (I guess) must have sent it through their pizza conveyor belt oven. When it came back it was hot, however the prawns were now double cooked, so were shrunk and tough.
Overall a disappointing pasta dish and I won’t make the mistake of eating pasta at pizza hut again, I will stick to pizza!
Though I eat pasta a fair bit, I do like to try different things, though more often then not it is a variation on a theme as is the case with this dish.
I cooked the steak in a hot pan, generally in the same way I cook any steak. Hot pan, no oil in the pan, but oil the steak with a good olive oil and season with black pepper (but no salt, as the pancetta used later has more than enough salt to season the dish).
I cook the steak and leave to rest.
While the steak is cooking, cook the pasta of your choice, I used a specialty air dried pasta from the Taste the Difference range from Sainsburys.
After removing the steak from the pan, add some diced onion and pancetta. When the onion has softened and the pancetta cooked, add some button mushrooms. When the mushrooms have cooked add some freshly chopped parsley, a few spoonfuls of creme frache and the steak which should be sliced.
Place the pasta on the plate and spoon the steak and sauce onto the top of the pasta.
Serve.
I was recently up in London and stayed at the Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury. Staying with friends we had the Christmas dinner at the Number Twelve attached restaurant. I started off with the Chestnut Pasta and had the Ribeye steak for my mains.
The home made chestnut pasta was served with seasonal wild mushrooms and a white butter sauce. I did enjoy this dish, the pasta was cooked well and nice selection of mushrooms.
For my mains I had ribeye of 28 day Donald Russell beef, served with celeriac, braised red onion, wild mushrooms and roast potatoes.
The steak was not the best I’ve had, slightly tough and was certainly not full of flavour compared to others I have eaten. The celeriac was nice as was the onions and mushrooms.
Overall I did enjoy both the started and the main course.
Most people probably think pasta is pasta isn’t it?
Well sorry no it isn’t. Cheap pasta is cheap and nasty. Good pasta makes a huge difference to the taste of a pasta dish.
Part of it is the flour which used, another key is the dies used the “form” the pasta.
If all you ever eat is cheap pasta, treat yourself and get some decent good pasta and see if you can tell the difference.
This is a nice pasta dish that is quick and easy to make.
In a large frying pan, fry off some pancetta and half a finely chopped onion.
Then add some mushrooms and freshly chopped parsley.
When nearly cooked, add half a tub of creme frache.
For the pasta used a fresh egg and spinach linguine.
It only takes a couple of minutes to cook, mix with the sauce and then serve with a sprinkling of grated parmesan and ground black pepper.
I do like a nice pasta salad, especially as it can be eaten instead of bread and adds some substance to a salad based meal.
The problem I have with some you can buy is that they are either too salty or too wet! So where possible I try and make my own.
This is a very simple recipe and you can adjust quantities to taste, how much you want, how much you have in the fridge.
Cook some pasta.
You can use any pasta, but have been using and prefer De Cecco’s Fusilli.
While the pasta is cooking, in a frying pan add some olive oil and then add onions and red pepper. After that has cooked for a while add some mushrooms.
Ensure that they are cooked through, add some freshly chopped parsley and turn off the heat.
Now you could add the pepper and mushrooms raw, but I prefer to have them cooked.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and then to stop it cooking further and to cool it down rinse well with cold water.
Put the cooked pasta in a bowl, add a splash of olive oil for flavour and to stop it sticking. Note always add oil to cooked and drained pasta to stop it sticking. Adding it the boiling water does not do this as the oil floats on the top of the water.
To the cooked pasta add some mayonnaise and some creme frache.
Then add the cooked mixture.
Stir with a spoon until the rice and cooked mixture is evenly coated. As with a lot of salads though you could serve this straight away, it will improve if you leave it in the fridge for a few hours.
Excellent.
Cooked a nice simple pasta dish tonight.
In a hot pan, cook off some pancetta, now add some diced (or sliced) pork and brown.
Now add some finely chopped red onion and add some Italian herbs.
In another hot pan, add a splash of olive oil then cook some sliced mushrooms, they will cook and taste much better than cooking them with the pork and onions.
Cook some fresh pasta in a pan of rolling boiling water.
To the mushrooms add some freshly chopped parsley.
Then add the mushrooms to the pork, add a tub of creme frache, some grated parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.
Drain the cooked pasta, and add the pork and cream mixture on top.
Add some more grated parmesan to taste.
Serve.