Lasagna!

Lasagna 1, originally uploaded by Lisa Fagg.

What do you do when you have fresh lasagne pasta, tinned tomatoes, minced beef, ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella in your larder? How about making... lasagne!! So we did.

I made the meat sauce and the béchamel, chopped the tinned tomatoes very finely (alright, I used the food processor!) and flavoured it with onion and garlic (sautéed in olive oil) oregano, thyme, a bay leaf and salt and ground pepper. This cooked on a low heat (covered, for about an hour), until the oil separated from the juices from the vegetables. I tasted the sauce for seasoning and then assembled the lasagne in an oiled lasagne pan.

But not before we discussed the best sequence of layers! We finally decided on: pasta, meat sauce, béchamel, and cheese...pasta , meat sauce béchamel and cheese... ending with cheese.

The whole thing went in a 180˚C oven for about 40 minutes - until the dish looked toasted and browned on top. We took it out of the oven and let it rest on the stove-top while we prepared the salad and dressing.

It was lovely. We'll be cooking this again!

Eat. Love. Laugh. Live.

Calamari and Linguine

Calamari and Linguine, originally uploaded by Lisa Fagg.

The weariness that we feel at the end of a long week spent working and keeping the cats happy is no excuse not to cook a really great meal to celebrate the beginning of the weekend!

This afternoon I sneaked off to Market Square to do some shopping for the weekend: First stop - the fishmonger. Stephen Wright's stall is our first stop for really fresh and delicious fish in Cambridge. Recently, too, they've been undergoing something of a renaissance; the range of fish on offer has expanded and the fish seems even fresher and more delectable than it has been in the past (if that is indeed possible!) As the week before, I found myself almost overwhelmed by the rich variety of seafood on offer - in weeks to come I shall list some of them here...)

I eyed the fish and chose a beautiful wild bream for Saturday and a huge, incredibly fresh-looking squid for this evening.

Squid is an easy meal from my point of view - I only really know one way to cook it:

Squid and Linguini

First, clean the squid and slice it into thin rings.

Then, finely chop 4 cloves of garlic and a handful of flat leaf parsley and set them aside.

Heat a large pot of water to cook your pasta (we recommend linguine or buccatini). Cook your pasta before you cook the calamari and drain it while it is al dente. Chill it down with cold water before you begin cooking your squid.

Heat an iron skillet 'til very hot and add 4 tbsp olive oil, heat until nearly smoking and immediately add the chopped garlic and the calamari rings.

Stir-fry these, briskly and when the calamari start releasing their fluid, continue to stir fry until about half of the fluid has been absorbed (about 1 minute longer).

Add 150 mls of dry white wine and salt and pepper to the pan.

Stir fry for a further 2 minute then add 1tbsp butter to the calamari, and a handful of chopped parsley.

Stir and fry for an additional 1 minute. Check seasonings and....

Serve!

Rigatoni Bolognese

Rigatoni Bolognese
Originally uploaded by Lisa Fagg

Tonight we had left-overs. Bolognese over rigatoni - my current favourite pasta! It had been a long day and I was in no mood to cook - in fact, I was going to msg Steve that we should skip the whole 'dinner at home' thing altogether and give ourselves over to the convenience of eating out. Alas, I ran out of energy and enthusiasm to do even that! So I resigned myself to the tender mercies of whatever was in the fridge at home.

Ah! But I reckoned without recall of an earlier conversation with Steve, only the day before - we'd planned to savage the left-overs of the bolognese from last week. No sooner had I got home than Steve arrived and our plan was reconstituted. Talk about 'easy' - this was... well, easy! I tweaked the sauce a bit (okay, quite a bit - I just can't help it, honest!) and Steve boiled water and timed the rigatoni perfectly. I made dressing and we had a simple green salad to go with the meal.

Delicious and comforting. Mmmmm.

More later... Cook. Eat.

xx

Cavolo Nero Risotto (Black Kale Risotto)

Kale Risotto
Originally uploaded by Lisa Fagg

What! O, what - to do with cavolo nero? These organic vegetables boxes; they do try us! Okay, so today, Steve suggested this - and we also got to use some leeks from LAST week... 

Risotto With Tuscan Kale 

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
3 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 lb Tuscan kale (also called cavolo nero or lacinato kale)
1 1/4 cups finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice (10 oz)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (3/4 oz)

Preparation:

Bring broth and water to a boil with 3/4 teaspoon sea salt in a 3- to 4-quart saucepan. Meanwhile, cut stems and center ribs from kale and discard.

Stir kale into broth in batches and simmer (all of kale), stirring occasionally, until tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer kale with tongs to a large sieve set over a bowl and gently press on greens to extract more liquid. Add liquid in bowl to simmering broth and keep at a bare simmer, covered. Chop kale.

Cook onion in oil and 1 tablespoon butter with remaining 1/4 teaspoon sea salt in a wide 4-quart heavy pot, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Increase heat to moderate, then add garlic and cook, uncovered, stirring, 1 minute. Add rice and cook, stirring, 1 - 2 minutes.

Add wine and simmer briskly, stirring constantly, until absorbed. Stir in 1/2 cup simmering broth and simmer briskly, stirring constantly, until broth is absorbed. Continue simmering and adding broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding next, until rice is creamy-looking but still al dente (it should be the consistency of thick soup), 17 to 18 minutes. (There will be leftover broth.)

Stir in kale, cheese, and remaining tablespoon butter and cook, stirring, until heated through and butter is incorporated, about 1 minute. Season risotto with sea salt and pepper and, if desired, thin with some of remaining broth.

It was a fine risotto - we used this recipe (from the web - Gourmet magazine - Sept, 2002) and modified it by adding 1 sliced leek, after the onion had softened,  Later on we pureéd a portion of the kale after softening it and adding it to the risotto after it had softened a bit. That was a good idea as it prevented the risotto from becoming overwhelmed by the leafy kale and added colour to the dish, in general. The chopped kale and the rice were both 'al dente'. It was oh-so-very flavourful - and the flavours balanced very well. We had it with a salad of lettuce, radiccho and red onion.

Yum... E A T !!!
xxx L.

Polenta with Cavolo Nero and Sausage

Polenta with Cavolo Negro and Sausage
Originally uploaded by Lisa Fagg

And this week's organic vegetable box surprise was...? Cavolo Nero!! Ding-ding-ding! (What is it? "Col nero. An Italian cabbage with very dark, elongated leaves.") What to do with it?? Consult your friendly cookbook - which in my case was the River Cafe Cook Book Green.

The recipe I used was polenta con cavolo nero e salscicce (which I'll post later in the year, when time permits). The result was a (very!) green, creamy polenta that was garlic-y and cheesy without being too rich. The sausages I used went well with it - but I would probably use a more sage-y, spice sausage next time. I compensated for the lack of seasoning in the sausage by using the full amount of bay leaves recommended for 6 servings in our 1/2 recipe. I also added some smoked pancetta towards the end because I particularly like a smokey taste with such dark green cabbage-y vegetables (my Southern American roots shining through and through!). It was delicious, certainly.

The moral of the story is, as always, use your cookbook as a guide for your cooking and always (always) make your own personal mark on everything you cook.

Enjoy cooking!
xx