Pasta with prawns

From Knorr Recipes
Ingredients

2 Knorr Chicken Stock Pots
250g spaghetti
4tbsp olive oil
3tbsp chopped shallot
1 garlic clove, chopped
Tip of 1 chilli, very finely chopped (optional)
70ml dry white wine
30ml Knorr Chicken Stock, made from a diluted Knorr Chicken Stock Pot
4tbsp very finely chopped parsley
10-12 raw tiger prawns, shelled and de-veined

Method

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. I season my pasta water with Knorr Chicken Stock Pots; the delicate chicken flavour goes well with seafood. Add in the Knorr Chicken Stock Pots, stir until dissolved and bring back to the boil. Add in the spaghetti, bring to the boil, cover and cook until cooked to taste. I like mine al-dente, so I allow around 9 minutes. Stir the spaghetti now and then to prevent it sticking.

2. After the spaghetti had been cooking for 7 minutes, pre-heat a large, heavy-based frying pan to make it nice and hot. Add the olive oil to the frying pan, heat through briefly then add in the tiger prawns.

3. Let the tiger prawns cook briefly, then turn them over so that they cook evenly on each side. As they cook, the prawns will turn opaque and pink. It’s important not to overcook them, so keep a close eye on them. It’s attention to details like this that makes all the difference.

4. Add in the chopped shallot, then the garlic and chilli and fry briefly. Add in the white wine and cook, stirring. Add in the Knorr Chicken Stock and 2 tbsp of the chopped parsley to the prawns. Mix well as you want the olive oil, white wine and stock to blend together to form the sauce.

5. Once the spaghetti is cooked to your taste, turn off the heat under the spaghetti. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the spaghetti from its cooking water to the frying pan. This is the way my mother used to do it. Toss the frying pan, coating the spaghetti in the prawn mixture. Serve at once in two bowls, garnished with the remaining parsley. I’ve used raw prawns here, but, if you prefer, you can substitute cooked peeled prawns or a packet of seafood mix. It’s your choice.

6. Don’t waste your pasta water. It’s got the flavour from the Knorr Chicken Stock Pot in it and starch from the pasta in it, which is a natural thickener. Use it in a gravy, a soup or a stew.

Spaghetti tetrazzini

From Jamie’s Italy
Serves 6
Ingredients

20 g dried porcini mushrooms
olive oil
4 higher-welfare chicken thighs, boned, skinned and cut into bite-sized pieces
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
350 g mixed fresh mushrooms, cleaned and torn
200 ml white wine
320 g dried spaghetti
300 ml single cream
150 g Parmesan cheese, grated
1 sprig of fresh basil, leaves picked

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Put your porcini mushrooms in a bowl and pour over just enough boiling water to cover them (approx. 150ml/5½fl oz). Put to one side to soak for a few minutes. Heat a saucepan big enough to hold all the ingredients, and pour in a splash of olive oil. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and brown them gently in the oil. Strain the porcini, reserving the soaking water, and add them to the pan with the garlic and fresh mushrooms. Add the wine, with the strained porcini soaking water, and turn the heat down. Simmer gently until the chicken pieces are cooked through and the wine has reduced a little.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions and drain well. Add the cream to the pan of chicken, then bring to the boil and turn the heat off. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add the drained spaghetti to the creamy chicken sauce and toss well. Add three-quarters of the Parmesan and all of the basil and stir well. Transfer to an ovenproof baking dish or non-stick pan, sprinkle with half the remaining cheese and bake in the oven until golden brown, bubbling and crisp. Divide between your plates, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese before serving.

After one month of spending weekends in the office, and not having much energy left to do proper cooking, things have quietened down a bit (fingers crossed) and I have managed to get myself back into my cooking routine. What better way to do that than a simple pasta bake.

Recipe uses chicken but I had turkey from Tesco and so I decided to use that instead. If I am not wrong, the tacky version of this uses turkey!

Crab and rocket spaghetti

From Waitrose Recipe
Serves 4
Ingredients

300g essential Waitrose spaghetti
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1-2 red chillies, finely chopped
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
100g pack Seafood and Eat it Cornish White Crab
100g pack Seafood and Eat it Cornish Brown Crab
110g bag wild rocket
50g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

Cook the spaghetti according to pack instructions, drain and set aside. Heat the oil in the same pan and fry the chillies and lemon zest for 1 minute. Add both crab meats, lemon juice and rocket and cook for 1-2 minutes until wilted.

Stir in the reserved spaghetti and Parmigiano Reggiano and serve.

This recipe is so ridiculously easy, 15 minutes to cook, and the taste of the crab was heavenly. I added some garlic as I just thought that there must be garlic in a dish like this.

Farfalle with chicken and cherry tomatoes

Ingredients
12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 Tbs. Italian dry vermouth
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
3 1/2 oz. diced salami (optional)
2 1/2 C. dried farfalle (bow tie) pasta or pasta of your choice
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 14-oz. can cherry tomatoes
pinch of dried red chilies
salt and pepper to taste

Place the chicken pieces in a large bowl, pour in the vermouth, and sprinkle with half the chopped rosemary and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, garlic and salami, cooking over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently so garlic does not burn.

Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

Add the chicken and vermouth to the onion and salami, increase the heat to high, and cook for 3 minutes, or until the chicken is white on all sides.

Sprinkle the vinegar over the chicken. Add the cherry tomatoes and dried chilies. Stir well and simmer for a few minutes more until the chicken is cooked. Taste often and adjust seasoning.

Drain the pasta and combine it in the pan with the chicken and tomatoes. add remaining rosemary toss the pasta and sauce together.

My fridge isn’t working and so I am trying to clear my fridge of food. Had half a chorizo sausage left and so decided to make this pasta dish with chorizo as a substitute for salami (I prefer chorizo anyway).

Linguine with artichoke, ham and lemon sauce

From Bowl Food
Serves 4

500g fresh linguine
25g butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
150g marinated artichokes, drained & quartered
150g sliced leg ham, cut into strips
300ml cream
2 tsp coarsely grated lemon rind
½ cup (15g) fresh basil, torn
1/3 cup (35g) Parmesan, grated

Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling water until al dente. Drain & return to pan. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large frying pan, add the garlic & cook over medium heat for one minute, or until fragrant. Add the artichokes and ham and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the cream and lemon zest, reduce the heat simmer for 5 minutes, gently breaking up the artichokes with a wooden spoon. Pour the sauce over the pasta, then add the basil and Parmesan and toss well until the pasta is evenly coated. Divide among four serving plates and serve immediately.

Nice simple pasta dish for post basketball meal. I used ham hock with Waitrose which gave the dish extra pork depth!

Pasta Puttanesca or Working Girl’s Pasta

Jamie’s Dinners
Serves 4

Ingredients:
A handful of fresh basil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Two 8-ounce tuna steaks, chopped into bite-size chunks, or 2 cans of good-quality tuna, drained
14 ounces penne or spaghetti
8 anchovy fillets
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 handfuls of soaked capers
A handful of black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1 to 3 small dried chiles, crumbled to your taste, or 1 fresh red chile, deseeded and finely sliced
2 handfuls of really ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
Optional: a swig of white wine
A handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Smash the basil to a pulp with a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the lemon zest and juice and 2 good lugs of extra virgin olive oil. Mix this up and either rub over your chopped-up fresh tuna or mix with your broken-up canned tuna and allow to marinate.

Get a large pan of salted boiling water on and cook the pasta according to the package instructions. As soon as you put the pasta on, put 3 or 4 good lugs of extra virgin olive oil into a large frying pan and put on the heat. As the pan starts to get warm, add your anchovy fillets and allow them to fry and melt. At this point add your garlic, capers, olives, and chili and stir around for a couple of minutes. If you have used fresh tuna, add it to the pan now with all of the marinating juices and sear it on both sides. When done, add the tomatoes and a little swig of white wine if you have some. If you have used canned tuna, add it to the pan at the same time as the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer for around 5 minutes, stirring regularly with a spoon, breaking the tuna up into smaller pieces. What you don’t want to do is overcook the tuna so it goes tough. You want it to be soft and silky. Correct the seasoning carefully with salt and pepper.

The pasta should now be ready, so drain it in a colander, reserving some of the cooking liquid. Toss the hot pasta with the hot tuna sauce, add the parsley, and mix well. You may need a few more lugs of olive oil and a spoonful of cooking water to make the sauce nice and loose.

One of my go-to recipes for good wholesome seafood pasta.

Pasta primavera with parma ham

Ingredients

150g French beans
2 spring onions, chopped
40g butter
1 tsp olive oil
225g baby carrots
175g leeks, chopped
300ml single cream
1 tsp lemon juice
25g parmesan cheese, grated
3 tbsp freshly chopped basil
6 slices of parma ham, chopped

Trim and halve the French beans. Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil for 4-5 minutes. Drain the beans and briefly rinse under cold running water.

Heat the butter and oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the parma ham and cook for 2 minutes. Add the baby carrots and cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the leeks and spring onions and cook for 10 minutes stirring, until the vegetables are almost tender.

Stir the cream and lemon juice into the vegetables and bubble over a gentle heat until the sauce is slightly reduced and the vegetables are cooked.

Add the beans, parmesan cheese and basil to the sauce. Stir for 30 seconds or until the cheese has melted and the vegetables are hot. Add the sauce to cooked pasta, then toss gently to mix and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve.

Wanted something relatively light to eat after a dim sum at Royal China (although it’s odd that I started getting hungry at around 17:00 despite eating a fair bit of dim sum. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have breakfast). So I decided to make this pasta dish, full of vegetables, nutrients and fibre to balance the unhealthiness of dim sum. Didn’t have any parma ham, and used bacon instead.

I love the taste of this dish; the creaminess of the bacon sauce, the sweetness of the vegetables, and the crunchiness of the carrots and long beans.

Lainey: are you fine with farfelle?:P

Macaroni cheese with pancetta

I went to a Blink 182 concert at the 02 arena, and for dinner I had baked chicken pasta with spinach and bacon at Zizzi. For some strange reason, my pasta was sweet, and that annoyed me and made me want to make and eat proper cheesy pasta. So with that in mind, I went back to this mac and cheese recipe. Variation this time is that to add a layer of cheddar cheese on top and to bake it in the oven at 200 degrees until it’s nice and crispy, and then to serve it on a bed of spinach. Yums. My mac and cheese definitely beats the pasta at Zizzi I had yesterday.

Taken from Bowl Food

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups macaroni
75g pancetta (or bacon)
2 cups cream
1 cup grated Cheddar
2 cups grated Gruyere
1 cup grated parmesan
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
2 tbsp snipped fresh chives

Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the macaroni and cook until al dente. Drain, cover and keep warm.

Meanwhile, place the pancetta in a large saucepan and cook over high heat, stirring for 4 minutes, or until well browned and slightly crisp. Drain on paper towels. Reduce the heat to medium, stir in the cream and simmer. Add the cheeses, garlic, mustard and paprika, and stir for 5 minutes, or until the cheeses have melted and the sauce has thickened. Season.

Add the macaroni and pancetta and stir for 1 minute, or until heated through. Stir in the chives, garnish with the extra chives and serve.

Lainey sniffed when I told her I was going to cook Mac and Cheese until I gave her more details of the recipe. She then proclaimed that it’s Gourmet Mac and Cheese. Why, I am not too sure because I have never tried the American version of Mac and Cheese that she spoke of. I should try it one day when I go to the US

Feel free to adjust the portions of the cheese. To be honest, I didn’t bother with gruyere I just used lots of cheddar and parmesan and it turned out just fine.

Pork fillet stroganoff

From Gordon Ramsay Cooking for Friends
Serves 4

500g pork fillet
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika, plus an extra pinch
4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
splash of brandy
150ml sour cream or double cream
squeeze of lemon juice
handful of fresh parsley, leaves chopped

Trim off any fat or sinew from the pork fillet and slice thinly. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a tsp of paprika.

Heat half the oil in a wide frying pan until hot. Add the onion onion and fry over medium heat for 6-8 minutes until soft and translucent, about six to eight minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and mushrooms and increase the heat slightly. Fry for another three to four minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Tip contents of pan onto a plate and set aside.

Add remaining oil to the pan and fry the pork fillet over high heat. Fry the meat for 1 1/2-2 minutes until golden brown. Return the onions, garlic and mushrooms to the pan. Add a splash of brandy and let it boil or flambe until almost all reduced. Stir in the cream and bring to a gentle simmer. Adjust the seasoning with a little more salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Throw in the chopped parsley and remove the pan from the heat. Serve immediately, sprinkled with a pinch of paprika.

I know this is common dish for people to make with a packet mix. But i think i honestly don’t think the recipe is so difficult that you require any help from a packet.

Saucy salmon and pasta bake

From Let’s Cook Italian and Pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients

450g salmon fillets, skinned
2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
4 rashers smoked streaky bacon, rind removed and chopped
150g baby button mushrooms
2 celery sticks trimmed and thinly sliced
2 small courgettes halved lengthwise and sliced
400g can chopped tomatoes
100ml fish stock or white wine
1 tbsp freshly chopped tarragon
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pasta Topping:
225-275g pasta shells
25g butter
4 tbsp plain flour
450ml milk

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees before cooking. Cut the salmon into bite sized pieces and reserve.

Heat the sunflower oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and bacon and cook for 7-8 minutes. Add the mushrooms and celery and cook for 5 minutes or until fairly soft.

Add the courgettes and tomatoes to the bacon mixture and pour in the fish stock or wine. Bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered for 5 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from the heat and stir in the salmon pieces and the tarragon. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then spoon into a large oiled baking dish.

Meanwhile, bring a large pan of lightly salted water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta shell and cook according to the packet instructions.

For the topping place the butter and flour in a sauce pan and pour in the milk. Bring to the boil slowly whisking until thickened and smooth.

Drain the pasta thoroughly and stir into the white sauce. Spoon carefully over the fish and vegetables. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and bubbling.

I like the crunchy pasta bits!