Chorizo Stew

Pulses are one of the most satisfying and comforting ingredients to cook and eat. What could be better on a cold evening than a lovely hot bowl of stew flecked with chickpeas or cannellini beans? Couple this with the wonderful aroma of fresh rosemary and the intensity of chorizo and you really have something. There is little else to say about this dish: it really is just an amalgamation of some delicious ingredients to create a heartwarming supper. The recipe as you see it below comes directly from my kitchen scrapbook notes that I scribbled out whilst happily creating the final dish, a little snapshot into our kitchen antics.

Chorizo Stew

Serves 2 with leftovers

Ingredients

2 shallots, 1 finely chopped and 1 sliced
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 pepper, sliced into long strips
200 g raw chorizo sausage, diced
a generous splash of red wine
1 tsp finely chopped parsley stalks 

1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, drained
1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika

pinch of cinnamon

1 tsp tomato purée
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
chopped parsley
salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar
oil

Notes: Use any colour pepper you like, I used an orange one as that's what I had in the fridge at the time. The chopped parsley stalks are optional but I used them because I had them and didn't want them to go to waste. Feel free to substitute any of your favourite beans for the chickpeas - cannellini or butter beans would be excellent.

Method

1. Heat a large frying pan and dry-fry the chorizo until it has lightly coloured and given up some of its oils. Remove and set aside.

2. Add a splash of olive or rapeseed oil along with the diced shallot and a pinch of salt. Soften the shallots for a couple of minutes before adding the garlic, remaining shallots, peppers and parsley stalks if using. Keep cooking over a medium heat for around 5 minutes until soft.

3. Add back the chorizo with the hot smoked paprika and a pinch of cinnamon and fry for 1 minute.

4. Splash in some red wine (say about 60 ml or 1/4 cup) along with the bay leaf and rosemary sprigs and cook until the wine has reduced down.

5. Add the chickpeas, chopped tomatoes and tomato purée. Fill the empty tomato can with water, capturing any remaining tomato juice and add to the pan. Season to taste with salt, pepper and a good pinch of sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. Bring to the boil then simmer over a low heat until the vegetables soften and the flavours develop and mingle.

6. Once cooked, finish with fresh parsley and serve with cous cous, bulgur wheat or crusty bread.

Sasha

Making Pasta...

Making pasta... is possibly one of life's most satisfying skills that any foodie must acquire in the kitchen... The simple combination of two ingredients, flour and eggs is transformed into the most versatile ingredient that can be used for a simple dish such as this... to filled ravioli...

The flour used to make pasta is special, it's a Type or Tipo '00' grade flour which is extremely fine, high gluten flour. Fresh pasta is made with eggs which makes it more tender than dried and it takes less than half the time to cook. 

This post is designed to give a step by step guide to the simple process to produce a fine product which can be used in your cooking. You can choose to use a variety of flours to alter the texture and utilise other ingredients such as spinach, beetroot or squid ink to make things a bit more interesting.

There is no recipe for this or list of ingredients, the simple rule of pasta is that you use 1 egg per 100 g of flour, if the mixture is a little dry add a little bit of water. The key behind pasta making is to play with it and learn it, by doing. You feel when the dough has been worked enough to make it smooth therefore it's ready, allow to rest, then go and be inventive at what you choose to put with it! We hope this is easier to follow than the recipe we posted previously, so you can see the process from start to finish. 

1. Pour flour onto a sturdy surface, make a well, crack an egg into it.
2. Beat your egg with your fingers and bring the flour in from the edges to combine
3 & 4. The pasta will slowly come together as you work it

5-8. Work until fully combined and smooth, chill for at least 15 minutes.

9. Flatten with your palm until about 1 cm thick.
10. Feed through your pasta machine on the thickest setting (1) or use a rolling pin if you don't have a machine.

11. Lay your oblong of pasta out ensuring it is floured nicely. This next step is laminating.
12. Fold in the right side a third of the way in.
13. Fold the left side in a third over the top of the other fold. (3 layers)
14. Twist 90 degrees and press flat.

15. Feed into your machine still on thickest setting, open edge first. 

16. Repeat 12 and 13 to get 3 layers again.

17. Flour to ensure the pasta doesn't stick in your machine

18. Repeat steps 14 and 15. Roll twice through this setting.

19-20. Work your pasta sheet through each of the settings ensuring you flour your pasta between each rolling until you reach the thickness you desire.

  

Vietnamese Pho Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup

Having been to Vietnam, I've tasted the crème de la crème of phos (Vietnamese: phở pronounced [fəː˧˩˧] listen). It is a classic street dish which I ate regularly whilst on my travels there, even for breakfast. It was a complete delight, consisting of rice noodles, broth, vegetables and meat. There were plenty of variants; it depended on the chef, but the purists would claim it has to consist of white rice noodles (the dishes I ate were made with a thinner version of shahe fen), a clear beef broth, finely sliced beef and a few herbs. I've seen the Vietnamese create this dish by placing all the raw ingredients into the bowl and pouring the scorching hot broth over, which essentially cooks the finely sliced raw meat and blanches any vegetables ensuring pure fresh components to the dish without overcooking, an incredible experience which will stay with me forever. If you ever get out to Vietnam, it would be a crime to leave the country without eating a bowl of pho.

This dish is inspired by what I ate, but I will say now I do not believe it is Vietnamese, it is just a take on the variations I ate on my travels with what ingredients I had on the day I made it - it varies each time I make it. This recipe can be adjusted to whatever you have in the fridge, or prefer, it is possibly for want of a better way to describe it the best chicken noodle soup you could ever have if you were also nursing a cold.

Vietnamese Pho Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup

Serves 2 (easily increased)

Ingredients

1 litre of homemade chicken stock
2 nests of noodles - egg is used above, rice if you have it
1 large chicken breast - sliced into thin strips
1 red chilli - finely grated and a few slices for garnish
2 large garlic cloves - finely grated
1 tbsp fresh ginger - finely grated
zest and juice of 1/2 a lime
2 spring onions - julienned
6 pak choi leaves - split into sizable pieces (can substitute with little gem or cos lettuce leaves)
2 eggs
1 tbsp groundnut oil

Note - Experimentation! Give everything a go! You can use a variety of vegetables to bulk this out if you wish; finely sliced carrots, mange tout, sugar snap peas etc, the eggs can be optional, adapt the main ingredients to what you enjoy/have, though you must have the noodles, chilli, garlic and ginger. You can also omit the meat altogether and use vegetable stock to make it vegetarian. Read through the recipe first and it is best to prepare everything before cooking because it comes together very quickly, not really time to prep and cook at same time. 

Method

1. Heat your stock until hot but don't boil it. Marinate your chicken strips in the chilli, garlic, ginger, lime zest and juice. Meanwhile prepare your vegetables and whisk your eggs in a mug and season well.

2. Heat a wok very hot, add your groundnut oil and fry your chicken strips quickly, they will be cooked through in less than a minute (you will be pouring scorching hot stock over them later which will definitely cook them through more if you are worried - what you don't want is tough dry chicken). Once fried set aside.

3. Cook your noodles following package instructions. Meanwhile, fry your vegetables for 30-60 seconds and set aside.

4. Add your whisked egg to the wok and tilt around to make an "omelette" shape, cook through and then chop up with your spatula to make large chunky scrambled eggs. Basically you don't want tiny bits of egg, you're aiming for big chunks/strips. Set aside.

5. Place all your ingredients back into the wok and toss together to evenly distribute them within the noodles. Serve evenly into bowls and pour your scorching hot stock over it all, garnish with julienned spring onion and fresh chilli slices.

Enjoy experimenting!

Jacob

Homemade Fettuccine with a Basil and Pistachio Pesto

Since we recently came by a pasta machine we have been practicing our pasta-making skills and we're really getting a great hang of it now. Such a simple combination as flour and eggs and the use of your own hands makes you never want to have shop-bought dried pasta again! Why would you when it's so simple to make and it transforms a dish from standard to incredible? We've personally never really been fussed with pasta dishes, finding them a bit boring. However, having dabbled at making our own pasta in the past it opened our eyes to the difference in taste and flavour available and what we had been missing out on.

Here is a simple delicate but impressive dish which will leave you satisfied but dying for more. A slight twist on the usual pesto we chose to use toasted pistachio nuts which adds such a definitive texture and taste you will be impressed. We must also add, that as pesto is so simple to make, it is pretty much sacrilege to get shop-bought which has no texture and lacks the intense freshness of making your own. You will not ever regret making your own pesto and this dish is testament to that - in fact to making as much as you can from scratch. So here we present a recipe which is completely from scratch and will make your taste buds dance with delight.

In retrospect it would have been logical to take photos of the pasta making process, it is not as complicated as it seems below. Watch this space - there will be a step by step pasta making post soon. 

Homemade Fettuccine with a Basil and Pistachio Pesto
 
Serves 2

Ingredients

For the pasta
200 g Tipo '00' pasta grade flour
2 large eggs

For the pesto
60 g fresh basil
30 g shelled pistachio nuts (toasted in a frying pan)
30 g mature cheddar cheese (such as Davidstow)
1 garlic clove
125 ml extra virgin oil

Method

1. Pour the flour onto a solid work top surface and make a well in the centre. Crack your eggs into the centre and then using two fingers mix the eggs together with the flour working from the centre to the outside, working together until you have a soft dough. If it is a little dry add a few drops of water to help you along. Flatten your dough ball into a rectangular shape with your palm, wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile make your pesto by blitzing the garlic clove and cheddar together in a food processor with the toasted pistachio nuts. Add your basil and blitz, then pour in your oil and combine with a few pulses. If you need a little more oil to loosen it, do so. Season to taste, if required.

3. If you don't have a pasta machine, you can still do this, it will just take a little longer and you might not get it to the desired thickness before giving up. Same thing applies for both ways, first you need to laminate your pasta by rolling it out to a oblong shape using the thickest setting on the machine (1). Fold a third of your oblong in onto itself from the right side then the other end over the folded section so you get a 3 layered square, press gently together and twist 90 degrees and roll through the machine, open edge first. Another oblong will be formed, repeat the above to laminate a second time.

4. Once laminated, ensuring pasta is floured between each rolling setting, work down the settings until you reach the desired thickness. We felt that the thinnest setting for fettuccine was too thin (best for filled pasta we reckon) and that setting 8 was sufficient for this recipe. You may want to cut your pasta into manageable pieces to feed through your machine unless you want monster long pasta.

5. Attach your cutter and use the fettuccine roller to slice your well-floured pasta into strips and flour your pasta again after cutting to keep the strips separate.

6. Bring a large pan with plenty of hot water to the boil, salted extremely well. As Anna del Conte would say, it should be as salty as the Mediterranean. So we chucked a tablespoon of salt in there. It really does make a difference to the end product. (Do not be alarmed, you will not be eating this salt!)

7. Boil your pasta for 2-3 minutes or until cooked al dente. Drain, reserving some of the pasta water. Add your pesto (the pesto recipe will make enough to have leftovers unless you choose to add it all) to the pasta in your pan and toss throughout, loosening with a little of the reserved water. Serve with a light grating of cheese and freshly torn basil.

Apologies for the long method, it is so easy to do, we will be posting a pasta-making post soon to make it clearer than written word.