Tag: pasta

Red Bell Pepper Paste

23 March 2023

Sweet, smokey, mild, umami: red bell pepper paste is a great condiment when you’re making a pasta sauce with tomatoes, marinating pork or chicken for a stew or looking for a basis for a spread or dip. Very popular in the Portuguese kitchen (Pasta de Pimiento Rojo).

You could make the paste with red bell peppers only; you could add a pinch of salt or perhaps some garlic. Our alternative has a deeper colour and more intense flavours, thanks to the shallot, garlic and red wine. 

Red Bell Pepper Paste keeps very well in the refrigerator, especially when you store it in a jar under olive oil.

What You Need

  • Red Bell Peppers
  • Optional: Salt, Garlic

What You Do

Clean the bell peppers, remove the seeds and the veins; cut in 4. Transfer to the oven and grill or roast for 10 minutes or until well charred. When still hot, put the bell peppers in a plastic container and close it. After one hour it’s easy to remove the skin of the bell pepper. Chop and blender until smooth and thick. You could add a pinch of salt or some grated garlic.

What You Need (Alternative)

  • Red Bell Peppers
  • Shallot
  • Garlic
  • Red wine
  • Olive Oil

What You Do

Clean the bell peppers, remove the seeds and the veins; cut in 4. Transfer to the oven and grill or roast for 10 minutes or until well charred. When still hot, put the bell peppers in a plastic container and close it. After one hour it’s easy to remove the skin of the bell pepper. Chop the shallot, the bell pepper and the garlic. Add olive oil to a pan, glaze the shallot. Add the garlic. After a few minutes add the chopped red bell pepper and any remaining liquid. Add some red wine and reduce. Repeat this step two or three times. Transfer the content to the food processor and blend until smooth and thick.

PS

We used our red bell pepper paste for a pasta dish with tomato confit.

Pasta with Redd Bell Pepper Paste ©caddy
Red Bell Peppers ©cadwu

Spaghetti Carbonara with Guanciale

9 March 2023

This must be one of the tastiest dishes from the Italian cuisine. Creamy, rich, moist, salty, aromatic, delicious and not difficult to prepare. It’s also not difficult to ruin the dish, that’s why Antonio Carluccio recorded a video showing you exactly how to prepare it and how to make sure your Carbonara is creamy.

About the ingredients: If possible, use guanciale, cured pork cheek. It’s also used for another delicious recipe from the same Italian region: Bucatini all’amatriciana. The pork meat is rubbed with salt, pepper and various herbs and cured for a number of weeks. Guanciale is not smoked and therefore its taste is very different from bacon. Pancetta (made from pork belly) could be an alternative, provided it’s not smoked.

As emphasised by Carluccio, most certainly no cream. And no garlic, basil, parsley, onion or white wine we would like to add.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our Spaghetti Carbonara with a glass of Bardolino 2022, produced by Monte del Frà from Italy. The wine has a beautiful deep red colour and the aromas made us think of red fruit and perhaps pepper. The wine is medium bodied with some acidity and fruitiness. In general, you’re looking for a fruity red wine with a touch of acidity, for example Chianti Classico, Montepulciano or Barbera. If you prefer a white wine, then a Pinot Grigio or Soave is a good choice.

What You Need

  • 125 grams of Guanciale
  • Spaghetti
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • 2 organic Eggs
  • Olive Oil
  • Black Pepper

What You Do

Cut of the cured edge of the guanciale. Dice the meat. Heat a pan, add olive oil and reduce the heat to medium. Fry the guanciale. In parallel cook the spaghetti al dente, this will take some 10 minutes. Whisk the eggs, add some freshly grated Parmesan cheese and whisk again. When the pasta is ready, remove the pan from the heat and add the spaghetti straight from the water to the pan. Combine and make sure the spaghetti is nicely coated with the fat and juices from the meat. Now it’s time to create your creamy carbonara! Check if the spaghetti and the pan are not too hot. If so, better wait a minute. Add the egg mixture, combine, keep moving the spaghetti, add some freshly grated black pepper, keep stirring and then serve immediately on a warm plate with some extra Parmesan cheese.

Guanciale ©cadwu
Spaghetti Carbonara ©cadwu

Pasta with Tomatoes and Octopus

2 January 2023

Happy New Year! Let’s start 2023 with a flavourful pasta dish, inspired by the Portuguese cuisine. A cuisine that is all about food with great flavours, such as bacalhau, Caldo Verde, octopus, cuttlefish, and the well known chicken piri-piri and pastel de nata. Octopus is very tasty and it comes with a great texture. The suction cups may be a bit unappealing, but don’t worry, the taste will make up for it.
In this case we use Orecchiette, small ear shaped pasta. The mixture of tomato and octopus is not like a sauce, so the paste should function as a carrier (a mini spoon) of the mixture. Enjoy quality pasta with slightly acidic tomatoes, rich octopus and refreshing parsley.

Wine Pairing

A Portuguese white wine will be a great idea, for instance a Vinho Verde. You could also go for a Spanish Verdejo from Rueda. Look for characteristics like fresh, fruity, clear acidity, subtle bitterness, minerality and full bodied. We enjoyed a glass of Pazo das Tapias Finca os Cobatos, from Monterrei in Spain made with Godello grapes.

What You Need

  • 2 Octopus Tentacles (cooked)
  • 2 Large Tomatoes
  • 2 Gloves of Fresh Garlic
  • Parsley
  • Jerez Vinegar
  • Black Pepper
  • Olive Oil
  • Pasta (Orecchiette)

What You do

Quarter the tomatoes, slice the garlic (not too small) and fry gently in a warm pan with olive oil. Set to low heat. In parallel heat a heavy iron skillet. Remove the gelatinous substance from the tentacles, dry them, coat with olive oil and fry. Cook the orecchiette according to the pack. With only 5 minutes to go for the pasta, slice the octopus in small chunks (depending on the size of the pasta), add the octopus to the tomato mixture and add half of the chopped parsley. Just before serving the dish, add some Jerez vinegar to the mixture. Add the remaining parsley and black pepper. Drain the pasta, keep some of the cooking liquid and add the pasta to the mixture. Combine, decide if you want to add some cooking liquid or perhaps some olive oil. Serve immediately on a hot plate.

Pasta with Tomatoes and Octopus ©cadwu
Pasta with Tomatoes and Octopus ©cadwu

Ragù Napoletano

17 October 2022

Ragù Napoletano is all about beef and tomatoes. Combining these two creates umami, one of the five tastes, because the tomatoes contain amino acid glutamate and the beef inosinate. 
Whereas Ragù Bolognese is made with finely chopped meat, Ragù Napoletano is prepared with whole cuts of beef, seasoned and rolled up. Best is to use Blade Steak (or Top Blade), Rump Cap or Top Rump. Our butcher suggested using Knuckle Side Roast (or Knuckle Plate Muscle) which is rather lean so a touch dry after simmering for many hours. On the other hand, it kept its structure and flavours very well. Best is to ask your butcher for advice.
Many recipes suggest adding pork ribs to the dish, but we wanted to focus on the combination of beef and tomato. We did however add a bit of fatty bacon.
Tomato-wise you need lots of tomatoes: fresh ones, passata, puree and/or canned.
Best to prepare one day ahead.

Wine Pairing

A red, full bodied wine from Italy made with Sangiovese grapes will be a great accompaniment for both the starter and the main dish. We opened a bottle of Les Petits Rigolos, a red wine from the Tolosan region in south western France made with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. A round wine with notes of strawberry and blackcurrant. A touch spicy, which worked very well with the rich flavours of the Ragù Napoletano.

What You Need

  • For the Beef
    • 2 slices of Beef
    • Parmesan Cheese
    • Raisins
    • Fresh Parsley
    • Fresh Oregano
    • 1 small Garlic Clove
    • Optional: Pine Nuts
    • Olive Oil
  • For the Sauce
    • Small Onion or Shallot
    • Olive Oil
    • Bacon (or better: Lardo)
    • 250 ml of White Wine
    • Fresh Tomatoes
    • Tomato puree
    • ½ can of Tomatoes
    • Passata
  • For the Starter
    • Rigatoni
    • Parmesan Cheese
  • For the Main Course
    • Vegetables

What You Do

Soak the raisins in water for an hour. Drain. Chop parsley, oregano, raisins and garlic. In a bowl, combine raisins, garlic, oregano, parsley and freshly grated cheese. Flatten the meat if it’s difficult to roll up. Scatter the mixture over the meat, roll the meat up and tie with two strings of kitchen twine.
If using fresh tomatoes, peel and seed them. Chop coarsely. Chop the onion and slice the bacon. Heat a large saucepan, add olive oil, add onion and bacon. Leave on low heat for some 10 minutes or until the onion is glazed. Add the two rolls and fry them on all sides until evenly golden brown. Take you time to do this. Add the wine, let the alcohol evaporate and reduce. Add the tomatoes, the passata and the puree. Leave the stew on low heat and turn the meat occasionally. This stage is about stewing the meat as gently as possible and reducing the sauce. If you feel it’s going too fast, then put a lid on the pan, but only partially.
Once the meat is ready (this may take 4+ hours) remove the meat from the sauce, keep it warm (an oven at 50 °C or 120 °F will be perfect) and allow the sauce to reduce even more, as slowly as possible. Wait for the sauce to become dark and shiny.
For the first course: serve the sauce with pasta and freshly grated Parmesan cheese (we used Rigatoni because of the ridges).
For the second course: warm the meat in the remaining sauce, slice it and serve with sauce and vegetables.

PS

We would probably be kicked out of Naples (and Italy) with our version of Ragù Napoletano (oregano? French wine?). It is, however, a very tasty two course meal with lots of umami, as expected.

Ragù Napoletano - starter ©cadwu
Ragù Napoletano - main course ©cadwu

Pasta with Mushrooms

15 August 2022

Most historical recipes are about meat, fish and poultry, using a range of herbs and spices. Vegetables were not considered to be a healthy (slimy and wet) or were seen as food for the poor. Afterall, the recipes were to be used by cooks and chefs for the upper class and the gentry. Eating meat, drinking wine and using spices also illustrated wealth.

Today’s food culture is very different: meat is seen by many as the most important aspect of a meal, we tend to eat far too much of it and we’re not willing to pay a decent price for it. Go to your local supermarket, visit your local snack restaurant and feel sorry for the animals. From happy pig in the mud to intensive farming where the animals are kept in gestation crates.
On the other hand, hurray, we see more and more vegetarian alternatives, with lentils, beans, vegetables etcetera inspired by, for instance, traditional vegetarian cuisine from India.

We were pleasantly surprised when Manon Henzen and Jeroen Savelkouls published their Historisch Kookboek Vega, discussing historical vegetarian cuisine. The book includes 14 recipes, for instance dishes like Surprise Honey Cake and Chick Pea Soup. Plus one for Pasta with Mushrooms. Sounds very much 21st century but is actually based on a Venetian recipe from the 14th century. It’s a nice combination of homemade pasta (a bit chewy perhaps), mushrooms and spices. We tweaked it a bit. The original recipe is included in the book which is available via the webshop for €12,50 (Dutch only). On the website you will also find a range of videos, helping you to cook historical vegetarian food.

Wine Pairing

You can be flexible in this case. We enjoyed a glass of Côtes de Provence rosé with our pasta, but a glass of not too complex, red or white wine will also be fine.

What You Need

  • Dough
    • 125 grams of All Purpose Flour
    • 2 Eggs
    • 50 grams of Parmesan Cheese
  • Spices
    • Black Pepper
    • 3 Cardamom Seed Pods
    • Cinnamon Powder
    • Laos Powder
    • Nutmeg
  • Shallot
  • 150 grams of Mixed Mushrooms
  • 4 Sage Leaves
  • Parsley
  • White Wine Vinegar
  • White Wine
  • Olive Oil

What You Do

Crush and combine the spices. Add 2 teaspoons of the mixture and the grated Parmesan cheese to the flour and mix. Whisk two eggs and add these to the mixture. A bit of kneading is required to make the dough. Set aside for an hour or so.
Knead the dough a bit more, flour your hands and make finger-long, thin pasta.
Chop the shallot, glaze in a large heavy iron pan, add the sliced mushrooms and fry these gently for a few minutes. Now add half of the deveined sage leaves and roughly chopped parsley plus some white wine. You could add a splash of white wine vinegar. Cook the pasta in a pan with boiling water for 10 minutes or until done. It behaves very similar to gnocchi. Five minutes before serving add the remaining sage and parsley. Drain the pasta, add to the pan and combine. Serve with some extra Parmesan cheese.

Pasta with Mushrooms ©cadwu
Pasta with Mushrooms ©cadwu

Mushroom Cream Sauce from 1790

14 July 2022

This recipe for a rich and tasty sauce is included in Het Receptenboek van mevrouw Marselis (the recipe book of Mrs. Marselis), published in the Netherlands in 1790. The combination of mushrooms, cream and nutmeg works remarkably well. One to prepare more often!

Mrs. Marselis doesn’t mention what the sauce is supposed to accompany. In this case we decided to combine it with pasta, making it a nice vegetarian dish, but we could also imagine combining it with veal or chicken. 

Wine Pairing

We suggest drinking an excellent rosé with the sauce, one with flavour, fruit, depth and refreshing acidity. For instance Monte del Frà Bardolino Chiaretto. This is a very affordable, tasty rosé with just the right balance between serious flavours, freshness and fruitiness.

What You Need

  • Mushrooms
  • Nutmeg
  • Flour
  • Chicken Stock
  • Cream
  • One egg
  • Butter
  • Lemon
  • Spaghetti

What You Do

We used yellow chanterelles, but you could also use Champignons de Paris. Clean and chop the mushrooms (we didn’t peel them, sorry Mrs. Marselis) and glaze them in butter. When glazed, sprinkle some flour over the mushrooms and stir. After a few minutes, slowly start adding chicken stock to make the beginning of a sauce. Add cream to the pan and some freshly grated nutmeg. Leave on low heat for at least 10 minutes. Beat one egg yolk. Slowly add the mixture from the pan to the egg yolk (marrying the sauce). Then add the egg yolk and cream mixture back to the pan. Warm carefully, otherwise it will split, or you just cooked an omelette. Taste and add a drop of lemon to make the sauce a touch fresher and lighter. No need for pepper or parsley.

We served the sauce with spaghetti and used the cooking liquid to give the sauce the right consistency.

Mushrooms in a Sauce from 1790 ©cadwu
Recipes from 1790 - Mevrouw Marselis

Pasta with Mushrooms and Bell Pepper

8 April 2022

Udon is such a wonderful noodle. What better comfort food than a warm soup made with dashi, vegetables, tofu, udon and thinly sliced spring onions? Perhaps some tempura on top of the soup? Or would you prefer a very simple dish, called Mori Udon? The cold udon is served with a sauce of mirin, dashi and soy sauce on the side.
Udon is also a great alternative to Italian pasta, for instance with Caesar’s Mushrooms.

In this recipe we combine udon with roasted bell pepper and Trompettes de la Mort. We’re not sure why, but this combination works really well. Is it because of the smokey aroma of the roasted bell pepper mixed with the aromas of the mushroom? The crispy pancetta in combination with the soft textures of the other ingredients, including the udon? The overall richness and umami thanks to the Trompettes de la Mort?

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed our pasta with a glass of Bianco di Custoza, made by Monte del Frà from Italy. It is a well-balanced, dry white wine, with a fruity nose. Its colour is straw yellow, with pale green highlights. A glass of Soave, made from the Garganega grape, will also be an excellent choice. In general you’re looking for a fresh, aromatic dry white wine. 

What You Need

  • 1 Red Bell Pepper
  • 1 Bunch of Udon
  • 100 grams of Trompettes de la Mort
  • 1 Glove of cooked Garlic
  • 4 slices of Pancetta
  • Black pepper
  • Olive Oil

What You Do

Clean the bell pepper and cut in 4. Transfer to the oven and grill or roast for 10 minutes or until well charred. When still hot, put the bell pepper in a plastic container and close it. After one hour it’s easy to remove the skin of the bell pepper. Slice lengthwise to make nice strips. Set aside.
Slice the mushrooms in two and clean them with a soft brush. Check carefully for grit and other things you don’t like to eat.
Fill a large pan with water (no salt!) and bring to a boil. Add the udon and cook it according to the instruction. When nearly done, add some cooking liquid to a cup and set aside. Drain the udon.
In parallel heat a large heavy iron skillet, add olive oil and fry the mushrooms. Once they become a bit dryer, add the sliced bell pepper. Add the cooked garlic, crush it with a fork and mix. Now add the udon and continue mixing. Add cooking liquid until the pasta is sufficiently moist.
Also in parallel: grill the strips of pancetta (perhaps 5 minutes).
Add some black pepper to the pasta and serve with the grilled pancetta.

Pasta with Mushrooms and Bell Pepper ©cadwu
Pasta with Mushrooms and Bell Pepper ©cadwu

Pasta Alle Vongole

22 December 2021

This is a truly delicious and simple starter, one that will only take a few minutes to prepare. The dish comes with two challenges: you need fresh, excellent vongole and you need to resist the temptation to add shallot, tomato, chilli, wine, lemon or butter.

Hey, we can hear you thinking, no wine? Indeed, no wine. We’re not fan of the acidity that comes with the wine plus we don’t want too much liquid. Basically we’re happy with the liquid as provided by the vongole. The idea is to steam the vongole in their own juices. This requires closely monitoring the cooking process. Next time you prepare Pasta Alle Vongole, please try to forget the wine.

Another ingredient to forget: salt. No need to cook the pasta with salt because the vongole will bring enough saltiness.

Obviously the vongole need to be clean, meaning without sand. Sometimes we’re lucky and our fishmonger offers washed vongole. If not lucky, we wash the vongole a few times with salted water.

Wine Pairing

Enjoy this classic Italian dish with a Soave: a beautiful, dry, crisp white wine from Italy. We opened a bottle of Cuvée XX, Soave Classico DOC, produced by Guerrieri Rizzardi. It proved to be ideal with the clams: refreshing and dry with floral and mineral notes.

What You Need

  • 500 grams of super fresh, washed Vongole
  • 2 Gloves of Garlic
  • Parsley
  • Spaghetti
  • Olive Oil
  • Black Pepper

What You Do

Make sure you have everything ready: crushed garlic, chopped parsley, a pan with boiling water, a heavy pan (warm through and through), two warm plates. Discard vongole that are broken or damaged. Ready? Cook the pasta as mentioned on the package. Increase heat, add a generous amount of olive oil to the heavy pan, add garlic, count 30 seconds, add vongole, close the pan and cook the vongole for 3-5 minutes in total. After 1 minute (so 2-4 minutes to go) check if all is okay. If too dry, then add extra olive oil or a splash of water. When clams have opened, drain the pasta, remove the pan with the vongole from the heat, add pasta, chopped parsley and black pepper, mix and serve on two warm plates. You could remove some, but not all, of the shells to make eating the dish a bit more elegant, although it’s fun eating the vongole with your hands. Discard shells that have not opened.
PS Some recipes suggest cooking the vongole, preparing a sauce and then reheating the vongole with the pasta. If you do, the poor vongole will become rubbery, so not a good idea.

Pasta Alle Vongole ©cadwu
Pasta Alle Vongole ©cadwu
Fresh Vongole ©cadwu
Fresh Vongole ©cadwu

The Art of Sauces: Modern Tomato Sauce

17 November 2021

We love a good sauce: it supports the flavours, it adds complexity to the dish and it brings components together. Orange sauce with duck, Béarnaise with beef, Sauce Mornay on a Croque Monsieur: the sauce is the key to the dish.

Marie-Antoine Carême (1784 – 1833) was the first chef to analyse sauces and create a classification. He identified four leading (mother) sauces and described how other sauces could be derived from these four. His four leading sauces are Espagnole (made with brown roux, roasted bones and brown stock), Velouté (white roux and light (veal) stock), Béchamel and Allemande (light roux with veal stock and thickened with egg yolks and cream). If for instance you want to make a Pepper Sauce, then you start by making a Sauce Espagnole.

Auguste Escoffier (1846 – 1935) refined the classification and replaced Sauce Allemande with Sauce Tomate as leading sauce. Later Hollandaise and Mayonnaise were added to the list of main sauces.

Sauce Tomate as prepared by Carême and Escoffier is very different from the sauce we use on pizza’s and pasta’s. It’s made with salted pork, veal stock, bones, various aromatic vegetables and of course tomatoes. Among the derived sauces are Sauce Portuguese and Sauce Provençal.
Next week we will share the Classic way of cooking Sauce Tomate in detail; today we share our modern (vegetarian) recipe.
The sauce freezes very well, so ideal to make a nice quantity.

What You Need

  • 4 – 6 Excellent Ripe Tomatoes (depending on the size)
  • 1 Red Bell Pepper (preferably grilled and peeled)
  • ½ Chilli
  • 1 Onion
  • 1 Garlic Clove
  • Olive oil
  • 1 Glass of Red Wine
  • Bouquet Garni (Parsley, Thyme, Rosemary, Bay Leaf)

What You Do

Wash the tomatoes and slice in chunks. Peel the onion and chop. Add olive oil to the pan and glaze the onion for 10 minutes or so. Stir and add the sliced bell pepper and the sliced and seeded chilli. Let cook on medium heat for 5 minutes or so. Reduce heat. Add the chopped garlic clove. After 5 minutes or so add the sliced tomatoes, the red wine and the bouquet garni. Leave for 2 hours minimum to simmer. Remove the bouquet garni and blender the mixture. Pass through a sieve and leave to simmer for another 2 hours. Cool and transfer to the refrigerator or freezer.

PS Grilling a bell pepper: slice the pepper in large slices. Set your oven to grill, put a sheet of aluminium foil on the baking tray, put the slices on the foil, skin up and transfer to the oven, as close to the grill as possible. Wait for 10 minutes or until the skin is seriously burned. Transfer the slices to a plastic container and close the lid. Wait for an hour. Using your fingers and perhaps a knife, peel of the skin. Store the bell pepper and the juices in the refrigerator. The taste is deeper and sweeter compared to raw bell pepper.

  • Fresh Tomatoes ©cadwu
    Fresh Tomatoes ©cadwu
  • Beginning of Tomato Sauce ©cadwu
    Beginning of Tomato Sauce ©cadwu
  • Tomato Sauce ready to be frozen ©cadwu
    Tomato Sauce ready to be frozen ©cadwu

Lobster Mushroom with Pasta

29 September 2021

The Lobster Mushroom is, obviously, bright reddish orange like the shell of cooked lobster. Not obvious is the fact that it’s actually a parasite that grows on certain mushrooms, making the host completely invisible and even changing its structure and taste. If you slice a lobster mushroom, you’ll see a beautiful red skin, as if the host mushroom is sprayed.
The taste of the Lobster Mushroom depends on the host. The ones we bought tasted fairly bland, but nevertheless the pasta turned out to be very tasteful and uplifting, partly due to the homemade tomato confit.

Wine Pairing

Enjoy a glass of white wine with your Lobster Mushrooms. We drank a Portuguese Vinho Verde, made by Cazas Novas. It comes with floral and fruit notes, has some acidity and a medium body with a good texture and a fresh aftertaste. In general you’re looking for a wine with freshness, minerality and some acidity. A wine that will go well with the intense flavors of the tomato confit and the creamy mushroom pasta.

What You Need

  • 100 grams of Lobster Mushroom
  • Shallot
  • Garlic
  • Thyme
  • 1 Bunch of Udon
  • 10 Small Tomatoes (confit or roasted)
  • Stock (Chicken, Veal or Vegetable)
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • Olive Oil
  • Black Pepper

What You Do

Clean the Lobster Mushroom. This is a bit time consuming due to the structure of the mushroom. Slice the shallot and the garlic. Strip the leaves of the thyme. In a large iron skillet gently fry the shallot in olive oil until soft. Add the garlic. After a few minutes add the sliced lobster mushroom (chunks). Add the thyme. Leave on low heat. In parallel cook the udon for 10 minutes or until ready. Drain the udon but keep some of the cooking liquid. Add stock, just to have more liquid in the pan. Add the tomatoes, mix gently. Now add the udon to the pan, mix, making sure the tomatoes remain intact. Add cooking liquid to get the right consistency. Finish with a splash of excellent olive oil, black pepper and finely grated Parmesan Cheese.

  • Lobster Mushroom with Pasta ©cadwu
    Lobster Mushroom with Pasta ©cadwu
  • Lobster Mushroom ©cadwu
    Lobster Mushroom ©cadwu