Tag: pancetta

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Pasta with Pork and Cream

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.

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Chicken with Lentils and Vegetables

Here is a nice supper dish for these cold and wet March nights.

Chicken with Lentils and Vegetables

Roast some chicken thighs (or half a chicken or whatever cut you like) with some pancetta on top to baste and add flavour. I did roast the chicken on a bed of veg including carrot, onions, mushrooms and red pepper.

Roast some vegetables, I roasted sweet potato slices.

Serve with puy lentils, for these I softened in a frying pan, some finely chopped onion with pancetta. When the onion was nicely soft, I added some red wine and beef stock before simmering it down. Beef stock over chicken stock just because of the colour rather than flavour. I then reduced and reduced this.

When I was happy with the sauce I whisked in some butter (with a fork as it happens rather than a whisk) and then added a tin of Epicure Organic Puy Lentils. I needed to add a bit more stock at this point.

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Avocado Salad

This is a really nice salad, and very quick to put together.

In a frying pan cook off some cubed pancetta, though any smoked bacon will do.

Slice some Romaine lettuce (or use leaves from your favourite).

Cube some avocado.

Place the lettuce in a bowl, add the avocado and drained bacon.

Dress with some white wine vinegar, olive oil and ground black pepper.

Serve.

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Bolognaise

Today I ate the bolognaise sauce I made yesterday, always helps to leave it overnight, helps the flavour no end.

I have a simple recipe which works for me.

Take some minced beef and brown it off in the pan, vital to get some browning on the mince for flavour.

The next stage will ensure you have a delicious and not a greasy bolognaise  sauce, drain the mince in a sieve and then ensure there is minimal fat left in the pan.

Now add some chopped onion, red pepper and pancetta and cook until the onions are softened. Add back the drained mince and add a tin of finely chopped tomatoes.

I then add black pepper, balsamic vinegar and some tomato puree.

Cook for at least forty five minutes.

I served mine with spaghetti and grated parmesan.

Eat with a good Italian red wine.

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Chicken and Mushrooms with a Cream Sauce

Chicken and Mushrooms with a Cream Sauce

A very simple dish which is probably either best served with rice or gnocchi.

In a large frying pan, fry off some pancetta bacon and onions. Once these are cooked, remove from the pan, turn the heat up and fry off the mushrooms.

Now add a tub of  creme frache and some cooked chicken. Add the bacon and mushrooms. Freshly ground black pepper to season.

Serve.

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Pork Medallions with Apple

This dish went down very well with the family and is quite quick and simple to make.

Pork Medallions with Apple

Take some pork medallions (slice some pork tenderloin in 1″ slices or ask your butcher) in a hot frying pan, panfry on both side and then let rest.

As you cook the pork, soften half a diced onion with some pancetta in another pan.

Once you have removed the pork, add some butter to the pan and cook some apple slices, until they are soft and brown.

Remove the apple.

Turn the heat up, add some sliced mushrooms, once they are cooked, add the cooked onions and pancetta.

Add some spoonfuls of creme frache and freshly chopped parsley to make a sauce.

Slice the pork, add to a plate with the apple.

Add the sauce and serve with rice.

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Steak and Mushrooms

Last night I cooked a very nice (and quick) meal.

I took some sirloin steak, I actually prefer ribeye but sometimes you have to have what is available and not what you want or prefer.

I heated the frying pan without oil, the steaks were oiled though and then placed in the hot pan.

In a separate pan I fried some pancetta and onions, once they were nearly cooked, I remove them, turned the heat up and added the mushrooms so they fried rather than steamed.

Once the steaks were cooked I removed them from the pan, and put them on a warm plate to rest (really important to let steaks rest for a few minutes before serving they will be a lot more tender).

I then added the onions, pancetta and mushrooms to the steak pan and a couple of large spoonfuls of creme frache.

Then in a pan of rolling boiling water I put some gnocchi.

In two minutes the sauce was ready, the gnocchi was ready, so serve.

Delicious.

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Pasta in Tomato Sauce

This is a very quick and easy dish with a lovely piquant tomato sauce.

Pasta in Tomato Sauce

In a large frying pan, cook off some pancetta, then in the same pan soften a finely chopped onion and red pepper.

When the pancetta, onions and pepper are nearly cooked, add a good splash of balsamic vinegar, then as this boils add a blended tin of tomatoes (or you could use passata if you want to). Add some tomato puree and sliced mushrooms. Leave to simmer for at least twenty minutes and preferably a little longer. Towards the end add some chopped fresh parsley.

When you are nearly ready to eat, cook the pasta. With a tomato sauce I much prefer to use a dried pasta (and use fresh pasta with a cream based sauce). With this recipe I used De Cecco Fusilli.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and toss the pasta in the sauce.

Serve with freshly grated parmesan and ground black pepper.

If you like to you could add some black olives or anchovies to the sauce, I prefer not to due to the saltiness of these ingredients.

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Pasta with Chicken and Mushrooms

In a frying pan cook off some pancetta bacon, remove from the pan. Cook the chicken, I usually use chicken thigh (bonless and skinless) cut into a size which is about the same as the pasta I am using. Cook the chicken over a relatively high heat. Remove the chicken and then add the onions, cook until softened. Now cook the mushrooms.

Whilst this chicken and mushrooms are cooking cook the pasta. I used fusilli (pasta twirls) and cooked until al dente.

Once the mushrooms are cooked, add back the pancetta and chicken, add some creme frache.

Mix the chicken mixture with the cooked pasta and a good handful of freshly grated parmesan and some freshly ground black pepper.

Serve.

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Gnocchi with chicken and mushrooms

This is a very quick meal to cook and shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes, probably even less.

Take some chicken and cut into pieces the same size as gnocchi. You can use chicken breast, personally I use chicken thigh partly because it is cheaper, more so because it has a much better flavour.

In a large hot frying pan, add a splash of olive oil,  then add the chicken.

In another pan add some pancetta. You can use the cubed pancetta, though when I cooked this I used the sliced pancetta cut into small strips.

Ensure that the chicken is cooking and remove the cooked pancetta from the other pan to the chicken. Add some freshly chopped parsley and some freshly ground black pepper.

Keep the heat up in the pancetta pan and pan fry the mushrooms in the fat from the pancetta (you may need to add a little olive oil).

In a pan of rolling boiling water add the gnocchi. Cook for two minutes.

Add the cooked mushrooms to the chicken and mushrooms and then add a couple of spoonfuls of creme frache.

Drain the cooked gnocchi, spoon over the chicken, mushroom and creme frache mixture, toss lightly.

Spoon onto plates, add freshly grated parmesan and ground black pepper to taste.