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

Farfelle pork with brandy sauce

Ingredients

4 pork fillets, each weighing about 175g
1 tbsp freshly chopped rosemary
4 slices of parma ham
6 tbsp brandy
300ml chicken stock
200ml cream
350g farfelle
1-2 tsp butter

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Using a sharp knife, cut two slits in each pork fillet then stuff each slit with chopped rosemary. Season well with salt and pepper and wrap each fillet with a slice of Parma ham

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the wrapped pork fillets and cook, turning once, for 1-2 minutes, or until the Parma ham is golden brown. Transfer to a roasting tin and cook in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes.

Return the frying pan to the heat and add the brandy, scraping the bottom of the pan with a spoon to release all the flavours. Boil for 1 minutes, then pour in the chicken stock. Boil for a further 2 minutes then pour in the cream and boil again for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Season the brandy sauce to taste.

Bring a large pan of lightly salted water to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the packet instructions, or until al dente. Drain the pasta thoroughly and return to the pan. Add the butter and toss together. Keep the pasta warm.

Remove the pork from the oven and pour any juices into the brandy sauce. Pile the pasta on individual plates, season with pepper, spoon over the brandy sauce and serve immediately with the pork fillets.

Brandy sauce rocks! Damn, I have no more brandy left…

Parma ham wrapped chicken with a rich tomato sauce

First cut chicken breasts (4) into 3 pieces. Wrap each piece in a slice of parma ham. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the chicken for 12-15 minutes till it’s cooked. Remove from the pan. Add 1 finely chopped garlic and 3 spring onions chopped diagonally and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in a can of tomatoes, 1 tsp of lemon juice and creme fraiche. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer covered for 3 minutes. Stir in 3 tbsp of parsley and a pinch of sugar. Season to taste. Return the chicken to the pan. Heat for 2-3 minutes. Serve with cooked pasta, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

I tried reducing the amount of lemon juice from 1 lemon, to 1/2 a lemon but it’s still not enough as the sourness of it, is simply too overpowering. That said. I love the combined taste of the parma ham and the chicken. I think with less lemon juice. this would be much better

Stuffed chicken breast wrapped in sage and parma ham

From Gordon Ramsay’s Healthy Appetite

Ingredients 

chicken breasts
sage leaves
5 heaped tbsp ricotta or feta cheese
parma ham slices
thyme sprigs

Cut a deep slit along one side of each chicken breast, without slicing right through, then open it out like a book. On a clean chopping board, finely chop 4 sage leaves, then mix into the ricotta and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lay two parma ham slices on the board, overlapping them slightly. Put a sage leave in the middle and lay an open chicken breast on top. Spoon a quarter of the ricotta mixture onto the middle of the chicken, then fold the sides together again, to enclose the filling. Now wrap the Parma ham slices around the stuffed chicken breast. Wrap in cling film. Repeat with the rest of the chicken breasts and chill for 1-2 hours to firm up slightly.

Heat the oven to 180 degrees and place a roasting pan in the oven to heat up. Heat a heavy-based frying pan and add the olive oil. When hot, fry the Parma-wrapped chicken, in batches, if necessary, for 2 minutes on each side until browned. Lay a few thyme sprigs on each chicken breast, then place in the hot roasting pan. Cook in the oven for 12-15 minutes, depending on size

Roasted trout wrapped with parma ham

Ingredients

2 trout fillets
three slices of parma ham
400g of cherry tomatoes
dill

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Season the fish with sea salt and black pepper

Place one fillet in an ovenproof dish and drizzle olive oil over it. Cover with the second fillet. Lay the ham over the fish overlapping the slices to cover the fish in an even layer. Tuck the ends of the ham under the fish.

Add the cherry tomatoes. Drizzle the tomatoes and ham with olive oil and season lightly. Roast for 20 minutes until the tomatoes are lightly coloured and the fish is cooked through.

Another ridiculously easy recipe to cook fish. I love how the taste of the fish blends in with the sharpness of the parma ham and the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes as it bursts in your mouth. Not to mention, the sea salt that’s sealed between the ham and the fish. Serve with warm foccacia and it’s an excellent Sunday lunch