Spaghetti + broccoli

Sounds dull, doesn’t it? But it’s really, really not. It’s creamy and delicious and also full of goodness and I’ve eaten it two days in a row now.

I made a big bowl of this for lunch the other day to celebrate the beginning of Spring but it would of course also be perfect for a simple supper.

OK, the broccoli also looks weirdly kind of fluorescent against the lime green chopping board! I’ll take some new pics next time I make it.

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To make lunch (or dinner) for one you’ll need:

about 100g of broccoli, chopped

one clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

handful of spaghetti (about 100g)

salt and black pepper

dried chilli flakes (if liked)

Parmesan or Pecorino cheese, grated

Put a pan of water with a big pinch of salt over the heat and cover. While it’s coming to the boil chop the broccoli and when the water’s boiling, add the broccoli and boil on a medium heat for about four minutes.

And while that’s cooking, add a good slosh of olive oil, perhaps a tablespoon, to a non-stick pan and fry the garlic very gently, stirring often. Add a little splash of water from the pasta pan if it even thinks about sticking/burning.

When the broccoli has cooked, remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon and add to the frying pan with a ladle more of the pasta water so it can continue simmering.

Put the spaghetti into the same pan of water that the broccoli was in - it’ll only add more flavour and goodness to cook in the vegetable water. Cook according to pack instructions or to your taste - I did mine on a medium boil for eight minutes.

Keep stirring the simmering broccoli and it’s going to get really nice and soft. After about five minutes season with salt and pepper - and some dried chilli flakes if liked. Also add about half the cheese and stir in .

Drain the pasta when ready and add to the pan - make sure to reserve a little more of the cooking water in case you want to loosen your sauce any more. Stir, add the rest of the cheese and cook for another minute or two.

Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed and voila.

Creamy delicious nutritious broccoli spaghetti.

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Pasta with ‘posh pesto’

My friend Gemma made a huge bowl of this insanely delicious pasta with - as she called it - ‘posh pesto’ for our book club the other night.

A few things …. firstly our book club is really a ‘food and wine club’ with added (optional) book! It’s so much fun, always always a great night. The host chooses the book and we then all eat and drink and try to remember to discuss the book at some point in the evening.

If you’re interested, Gemma's book choice was as good as her food - it’s also very short and can be read in one sitting. It’s The Yellow Wallpaper and I’m just going to copy and paste from one of the editions available on Amazon UK:

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER is a story by the American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in January 1892 in The New England Magazine. It is regarded as an important early work of American feminist literature, illustrating attitudes in the 19th century toward women's health, both physical and mental.

I think we talked about this book more than we’ve talked about any book yet!

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Back to the pasta though … we had it that night with tagliatelle but I’ve since made it twice with spaghetti.

If you’d like the original recipe, you can find it HERE.

I have to say I loved it so much I asked for the recipe whilst still eating my first bowlful!

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To make this the way I did for two people, you’ll need:

200g spaghetti (every time I make spaghetti I weigh it by how it feels in my hand, I never trust it but when I then weigh it to check it is always EXACTLY the right amount!)

a pack of fresh basil (the actual recipe says 50g for two people but I only had one 15g bag and it was still delicious, so entirely up to you if you want to use more)

1 small garlic clove

a small handful of shelled pistachios (it should have been 50g but I didn’t weigh them and just guessed it might be about a small handful)

1 small red bird eye chilli (this was still quite hot, so of course adjust how much chilli to your own taste or use a milder chilli)

zest of half a lemon

juice of half - one lemon (to taste)

olive oil

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Put a pan of water on to boil and add a good big pinch of salt (maybe a teaspoon).

While it’s coming to the boil, start making the pesto by first finely chopping the basil. I did this separately to the other chopped ingredients to stop it going mushy.

Put the chopped basil into a big bowl or serving dish and then start to finely chop the garlic, pistachios, chilli and lemon zest.

This is really easy with a big flat knife, so you can squash the ingredients and then chop, but if you don’t have a cleaver-style knife then (a) put one on your next birthday list - it is SUCH a useful knife to have and (b) use any knife you like but the bigger the easier I find.

Oh! The water is probably boiling by now so add in your pasta and cook according to the pack instructions, or to your liking, or for nine minutes (as I did).

Once everything is chopped finely, add back the basil and chop it all together again, just for that last bit of fineness and also to make the basil really part of the mix.

Tip it all back into the bowl and add lemon juice - start with the juice of half a lemon but taste and add more if needed (mine did).

Add a good slug of a good olive oil and a little salt.

Stir it all together and taste again to make sure you’re happy with it or you want to make any adjustments.

When the pasta is done, remove a ladle of the pasta water into a mug, then drain the spaghetti and add to the bowl of pesto.

Stir and mix thoroughly, adding a little of that reserved pasta water if it needs loosening at all.

Serve. As is.

Personally, I don’t think this needs anything else to go with it, except for good company and a glass of red wine …

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Beautiful, easy, no-cook sauce for pasta

Like summer in a bowl, no matter what time of year.

More specifically, like a summer in Italy brought to life in a bowl.

It’s like everything you ever imagined the Mediterranean diet would be.

Actually I’m now not sure about that as I think if I had to think of the quintessential Mediterranean diet dish it might be this sauce on top of a simple grilled white fish.

If you think tuna in a sauce for a fish is too much …. well, fish … you can leave the tuna out.

In fact, you can leave the tuna out anyway, to make this a vegetarian dish - and it’s still utterly gorgeous.

This sauce, with or without the tuna (ok, now I’m singing U2 ‘With or Without Tu’) is amazing with pasta of course but also delicious with crusty bread. If you have it on bread I’d suggest leaving it a few minutes before eating so the sauce has a chance to really soak in.

Here’s what you need - but the quantities are up to you and what tastes good …

Freshly squeezed lemon juice - it’s going to be more than you think. Keep tasting but at least 1 lemon if not two

Good olive oil and lots of it

Fresh sliced fennel bulb and some of the lovely leafy fronds too if you have them

Capers, drained and chopped

Pitted black olives, drained and sliced

Salt, pepper and a pinch of dried chilli flakes

Stir it all together, mix it up and then see what tastes good to you?

What does it need? Maybe a little more lemon? A few more chilli flakes?

Make it taste perfect for YOU.

Add to this mixture

1 tin of flaked tuna, preferably in oil, but do drain it first

Mix and leave for five minutes or so, so that the flavours can really meld together.

And THEN (and literally I’m practically salivating just typing this as I want to be eating it again RIGHT NOW …. scoop it onto bread or toast, stir into cooked pasta, or spoon over that previously mentioned plain grilled white fish.

This is so delicious, I can’t wait for you to make it too.

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Summertime courgette pesto pasta

Summertime … of course just at the very word THIS is draping it’s sumptuousness into your mind right now …

You know those days when it’s so hot, so still, so languid …. that you really absolutely cannot bear the thought of the oven being on for even a second?

Today was one of those.

I did brave the hob though - just for five quick minutes mind you, to boil the fresh penne pasta.

But the delicious courgette pesto is all raw so no unnecessary over-heating going on over here at all.

This is pretty much exactly as one of my very favourite food writers, Diana Henry, shared it, but I made a couple of tiny changes to it.

Her original recipe is HERE.

And I’m also putting the link to her books HERE too as I’m a huge fan so why not share the love?

I used her recipe as a starting point but didn’t really measure what I was using, so here’s kind of what I used to make a very lovely simple summer evening dinner for two …

1 courgette, peeled (mostly) and grated using a box grater

1 small garlic clove, peeled, squashed and roughly chopped

small handful of pine nuts, perhaps around 20-30g

handful of basil leaves, torn

small green chilli, chopped (optional, totally optional, I just like a bit of chilli in things)

salt and pepper

a little slosh of olive oil

Put everything into a blender or food processor and whizz up to a lovely soft paste. I like this to be quite soupy so added a little water too.. Basically, just make it perfect for you and exactly as you like it. You might need to stop a couple of times to push the mixture down the sides and get it all mixed up together.

Pour into a shallow dish and scrape all the mixture from the sides of the food processor or blender.

Add a good handful of freshly grated parmesan and some salt and freshly ground black pepepr.

Stir this lovely fragrant mixture together.

The sauce is now there, happy waiting for the pasta - so time to make the pasta!

Fresh I think is best for this dish and mainly because it’s super-quick and won’t make us too hot on this of hottest of days.

My fresh penne needed just five minutes on a low boil, then drained it was ready to put straight into the bowl of delicious courgette pesto sauce.

I just mixed it all in together, tasted - seasoned a little more - and it was ready.

I added a little more grated parmesan, a little more black pepper, and a few basil leaves to garnish and that was it.

So simple.

So delicious.

So good for these sweltering evenings when you really want to limit having the oven or hob on!

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Lemon garlic breadcrumb spaghetti

It’s all about the simplest, most delicious, spaghetti for me this year.

In all the craziness there’s something just very grounding and nurturing about it.

I just want easy. I want simplicity. I don’t want to faff around with a million ingredients.

Yes, I still love cooking, I just want it to be simple and kind of meditative. There’s something about the simplest spaghettis that provide this for me.

I hope you love making and eating this too.

For one big portion I used:

olive oil

1/2 lemon zest, just peeled off and chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled, squashed and minced

a big handful of breadcrumbs (I just blitzed a slice or two in the food processor - by the way you can do this and keep bags of breadcrumbs in the freezer and no need to defrost before using)

a small handful of fresh chopped parsley leaves

spaghetti cooked to your liking (around 75 - 100g for one)

a little of the pasta cooking water

juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon

a pinch of dried chilli flakes

salt and pepper

grated parmesan to serve, if liked

Put a slug of olive oil into a non-stick pan and then add the lemon zest and garlic.

Stir and after a few seconds - maybe 30 - when it smells incredible, tip in the breadcrumbs.

Keep stirring and cooking until the breadcrumbs are gorgeous and toasty and crisp - and then remove from the heat.

Add the chopped parsley and stir to make a lovely garlicky, lemony, toasted breadcrumb mixture - and set to one side.

Cook your spaghetti in boiling salted water but drain it a minute or two before it’s perfect and make sure to retain half a cup or so of the water it was cooking in.

Return the pasta to the pan along with a good slosh of its cooking water, a little drizzle of olive oil, the juice of 1/2-1 lemon (to your taste and also depending on how juicy your lemon is of course) and a good pinch of dried chilli flakes.

Stir it all together over a low heat for a minute and then turn the heat off.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tip in most of the breadcrumb mixture and combine.

Pour into a bowl and top with the remaining breadcrumb mixture and some grated parmesan, if you choose (to be honest it doesn’t really need it but sometimes you do).

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Spaghetti with creamy avocado sauce

Simple, delicious and immune-boosting (vitamins A, C and E are all present in avocados).

Plus we’re adding fresh lemon juice and some gorgeous olive oil to the sauce just to up the goodness stakes.

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Here we go …

For one or for two, basically it’s up to you how runny or thick you make the sauce:

one lovely soft ripe avocado

fresh lemon juice

a glug or so of olive oil

a handful of fresh basil leaves

salt and pepper

a pinch of dried chilli flakes

a little slosh of water if needed to loosen it up or to make the sauce thinner (as you choose)

Blend the sauce ingredients first so that’s ready to go and then cook your spaghetti in a big pan of salted water.

When you drain the pasta, make sure you keep some of the cooking water behind too, just in case you need to loosen the pasta a little more.

Pour the sauce over the pasta and make sure it’s covering all of it - keep mixing!

And then add salt and pepper and grated parmesan - if liked - and some extra fresh basil to garnish.

Super simple, super good for you and super good for this time of year as we head into winter and want our immune systems to be happy and strong.

PS. Yes, it’s unnecessary to have two almost identical photos of the dish but I’m just having one of those days where I can’t decide which I prefer!

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Delicious eggy noodles

This one’s just a quick idea for an easy lunch or supper.

And yes it does look bland, but I promise it’s anything but!

In the fridge I had one raw egg plus one egg white in a bowl (from a bit of mishap earlier separating yolk from white so had to use a second egg).

The obvious thought was omelette but I just wasn’t feeling it (which is odd as I LOVE omelettes) so I made this instead.

1 clove of garlic peeled and minced and into a slosh of oil in a non-stick pan

Add a piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated on the fine side of the grater

Added in the rice noodles (already prepared as per pack instructions)

Plus a dried red chilli, crumbled (or a pinch of dried red chilli flakes)

Stir, add a few drops of water if it’s sticking, keep it moving so it’s all hot

Add a slosh of light soy sauce, stir more

Then push the noodles back to make a space in the pan, add some more oil, wait a few seconds for it to heat up and then pour in the egg/s.

I count to 10 and then start scrambling it into the noodle mixture until it’s all scrambled and lovely.

Maybe finish with a drop of toasted sesame oil if you fancy it.

I love the juxtaposition of the spicy flavour and then the soft texture of the almost creamy eggy noodles.

Garnish with some coriander or parsley leaves if you have any - it would have looked nice to have had some greenery on top!

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Summer spaghetti with courgettes

A lot of us probably have a glut of courgettes right now, trying to pick them before they seemingly overnight turn from tiny to marrow-sized monsters!

I like to peel and julienne them and have raw in a spicy Thai-style salad - they have a very similar texture to green papaya so make a great substitute when you’re craving som tam.

And last week at my sister’s in Cornwall (first time out on a train since lockdown! Seeing the sea! Seeing family!) we made a really nice lunch from a recipe I’d been reading (by Letitia Clark) and immediately wanted to try.

As the courgettes were begging to be picked and cooked, it was pretty immediate too.

That recipe is HERE and is a delicious Italian dish of slow-cooked courgettes with mint, chilli and almonds. We had it warm with crusty baguette and my favourite Roquefort cheese.

So when I arrived home a couple of nights later, yes to the sound of those begging courgettes here too, I made a kind of version of this to have with spaghetti.

I am slightly obsessed with very simple pasta recipes this year and this is now a new favourite. Cook the courgettes slowly so they’re a bit mushy and creamy and they are just perfect with the spaghetti and a good grating of fresh parmesan cheese.

Quantities are really up to you as you can make as much as you like, perhaps saving any leftover courgette sauce for lunch the next day, or just because you already know you’re going to be wanting more than one bowl of this summer lushness.

But this is what I used to make enough sauce for two:

olive oil

2 courgettes, washed, sliced lengthways and then into thin horizontal slices

1 clove of garlic, peele and squashed and finely minced (there’s two in this photo but I changed my mind and used on one - you use what feels right for you)

2 anchovies from the jar, with a little of their oil, roughly chopped (optional - just leave out if you don’t have or don’t like)

1 dried red chilli, or just a pinch of dried red chilli flakes

1 big fat spring onion, topped and tailed, any tough outer layer removed, and sliced

zest and juice of half a lemon

fresh mint and/or parsley leaves, chopped

salt and pepper to season

fresh parmesan to grate over

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OK, so firstly, I’m going to ignore the cooking of the spaghetti as I’m sure you’ll get that underway while the courgettes are cooking.

Personally I bring a big saucepan of water to the boil with a pinch of salt and when boiling add the spaghetti, stirring as it folds into the water, and then cook for - I think - ten minutes, maybe 11.

I like to do this alongside the sauce so that if the sauce needs loosening at all I can use a little of the nice hot starchy pasta water to do so.

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Anyway.

Put a good sized non-stick pan over a medium heat, add a slosh of olive oil and then courgettes and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 5-10 minutes until they start to slightly brown in places. Add a slosh of water if it looks like sticking though at any time and take it slowly and gently - maybe reduce that medium heat to a medium-low if that’s feeling more like it for you today.

Throw in the anchovies, reduce the heat to low and stir, stir, stir (gently) for a minute or two until the anchovies do their anchovy trick of just vanishing and leaving behind a full savoury slight saltiness to the dish (without tasting fishy either).

Crumble in the dried chilli and add the spring onion and a little slosh of water and cook for another ten minutes of so on a low heat with the pan covered, stirring every once in a while.

Uncover the pan, stir and taste. Add the lemon zest and juice, and the herbs, stir again and taste again before adding seasoning.

You can cook for a bit longer of course if you’d like your courgettes even creamier and mushier.

You might not need to add salt if you added the anchovies but a good grind of pepper might be good.

Tip the spaghetti into the pan of sauce to make sure it’s thoroughly coated and then put into a bowl and grate over (lots of) fresh parmesan.

So summery, so good and so good for using up those courgettes too!

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Beautiful Asian-inspired spaghetti

I’m currently, unashamedly, singularly, OBSESSED with the simplest pastas.

Which means yet again it’s pretty impossible to show in a picture just how good this is.

I’d actually wanted noodles but didn’t have any (I KNOW - outrageous, right?).

So I cooked some beautiful spaghetti. And this turned out so gorgeous I’m GLAD I was out of noodles.

I warmed oil in a pan and added garlic and spring onions and chilli and after 30 seconds or so when it smelt really good, I added a big ladle of the pasta cooking water and crumbled in 1/3 of a chicken Knorr stock cube and a slosh of light soy sauce.

Next time I make this i might add a little grated fresh ginger too at the start along with the garlic, onions and chilli.

Cooked for three minutes, simmering. Added the spaghetti that was deliberately a little under cooked and cooked for two more minutes.

Added a teaspoon or so toasted sesame oil and let it simmer for another minute. And then added just a little salt and a sprinkling of dried chilli flakes for seasoning.

Here’s the reminder of what you’ll need to make this:

Spaghetti

Olive oil

Garlic

Spring onions

One fresh red or green hot chilli

Pasta cooking water

A little Knorr chicken stock cube

Light soy sauce

Toasted sesame oil

Salt

Dried chilli flakes

This was so satisfying and so quick.

I really, really liked this.

It has so much of everything I love about it - it’s simple, classic, easy and has some of my favourite flavours.

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Blue cheese + broccoli spaghetti

This is so simple and so good.

No ingredients list needed really.

But … oh ok then … this is what I used for a big greedy portion for one person …

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spaghetti

broccoli

olive oil

garlic clove, minced

green chilli, minced

lots of blue cheese, Gorgonzola ideally

fresh basil leaves, if you have them

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I just brought a big of water to the boil with a big pinch of salt and cooked the spaghetti for eight minutes.

Added broccoli chopped into quite small bits and boiled for another three minutes.

Drained and ran cold water over so it all stopped cooking any further.

Put a big non-stick pan over a medium heat and added a a dash of oil plus one garlic clove, ;peeled and finely chopped and a green chilli, finely chopped (omit the chilli if you don’t want it spicy of course).

After maybe 30 seconds I tipped in the spaghetti and the broccoli plus some of their cooking water to keep it loose and light and easy.

Also added quite a lot of lovely chopped up Stilton cheese, but any blue cheese will do. I think Gorgonzola would be perfect … but Stilton is what I had.

Put a lid on the pan and cook on a low simmering heat for maybe three minutes more.

Remove from heat, check seasoning, add a few leaves of fresh basil if you have them.

This is a super-simple dish that is just WAY more than the sum of its parts!

Just gorgeous.

And decadent.

And quick.

What more could you ask from an easy quick supper?

NOTHING. RIEN.

It’s kinda perfect.

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Spaghetti for sick days

Spaghetti for when you’re just not feeling so good …. why this recipe?

Because it’s super-simple when you don’t want to faff about making anything more complicated.

Because it’s just perfect comfort food.

And because lots of lovely immune system boosting garlic and antioxident-rich broccoli

And because this one just feels nurturing and lovely. Treating yourself is the best idea when you’re under the weather.

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Cook wholemeal spaghetti in a big pan of boiling water with a pinch of salt for about eight minutes and throw the broccoli in for the last few minutes (approx 4-5).

And then it’s all about making the garlic sauce … the trick is not to put garlic into hot oil all sizzling and burning - no, this is about kind of infusing the olive oil with the garlic.

So the peeled and sliced garlic (one clove or two, up to you, but I’d go with two) is added to the cold pan with cold oil, heated so slowly and when just about to sizzle, remove the pan from the heat and stir again, cool down and little.

Repeat. And repeat. And ... if necessary, repeat.

When you’ve made a beautiful fragrant infused garlic olive oil ... THEN allow it to come to a sizzle and then add in 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes and a ladle full of the pasta cooking water.

Simmer for a minute or two, add the spaghetti and broccoli and keep turning in that gorgeous oil.

Add some grated Parmesan and stir through.

Remove from heat; add more cheese and some ground black pepper and that’s it.

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Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino (garlic, olive oil and chilli)

I’m just in love with the simplest food right now.

I had the most delicious grilled salmon yesterday at a Thai restaurant that I’ll be recreating at home. It was served just with al dente asparagus and a red curry sauce that you actually wanted MORE of (and not less as is so often the case).

I’m going to be trying that one at home very soon.

Last year I also recreated a sauce similar to the one they serve with their delicious grilled squid - again, another dish defined by both simplicity and flavour.

I’m reminded while cooking right now of Coco Chanel’s edict to ‘take one thing off’ before leaving the house.

It’s so tempting to add more (and more). And more.

We all do it.

And unless that is absolutely your style thing - and I’ve definitely seen and admired those who DO pull it off - most of us would benefit from a little paring down.

In our style, our look, in how we spend our time, in our food. In everything.

This recipe could not be more simple.

Yet could also not be more elegant - not just elegant in a cold way but elegant and also very sexy.

Very sensual.

It has to be when it’s just four ingredients, four perfect ingredients, cooked together to create a perfectly simple, elegant, luscious, sensual dish.

The recipe is from a very good book, Made At Home, by the wonderful Giorgio Locatelli.

He talks a little about the dish before sharing the recipe.

He also talks about ‘the sexiest scene’ in a film called Chef (that I am definitely watching as soon as I’ve posted this).

He talks about how in the film the Jon Favreau character cooks this dish for the Scarlett Johansson character and he says,

‘…. winding it round a big toasting fork and handing it to her in a little bowl, then watching her as she is totally seduced by the flavours. it is a moment of genius. The way she watches him making the spaghetti and then he watches her eat it … ‘

Such sensuality from the making and giving and receiving of the most beautiful, simplest food.

Can we ask for more from food, from anything really?

So go on then …. let’s make this.

The recipe is pretty much exactly from Giorgio Locatelli but the words here are mine.

Just four ingredients and a very different way of cooking to my usual way.

I’m usually stir frying things quickly over a high heat.

I need to use an oil with a high cooking temperature - like rapeseed or grapeseed. I need to hear things sizzle and to move them around quickly.

Not this langourous dish.

It takes its time. Well, it does just here at the start when we’re cooking that garlic to infuse the big fruity oil with the big garlic flavour before we heat them both together to form the base of the sauce.

So those four ingredients include the oil - it needs to be a virgin or extra virgin olive oil.

Usually I’d say these oils are for dressings as they cook and burn at a relatively low temperature.

But here we want that gorgeous rich fruity flavour.

And we want garlic, lots of it.

And chilli, lots of it. Scotch bonnet would be amazing and what’s recommended in the recipe - as it’s so fruity and delicious but I didn’t have any and so used bird eye.

You could also use dried chilli flakes which I have done since and have to admit I kind of prefer it - I use just about 1/2 a teaspoon as mine are really spicy!

So that’s three.

1. Olive oil

2. Garlic

3. Chillies

The fourth is the pasta itself.

Get a big pan on the heat with lots of water and a little salt - give it lots of room to breathe.

When boiling add the spaghetti and cook for ten minutes for it to be that perfect bite between al dente and soft (well, that’s what’s perfect for me).

While it’s cooking put a big non-stick pan over a low heat and add a tablespoon of the oil.

Tip in the garlic, stir for a few seconds, pull the pan away from the heat, stir and add a little more cold oil.

Return to the heat, stir into the warmth.

Just before it sizzles or starts to colour, pull the pan off the heat, stir, cool it down slightly.

Return to heat, stir and allow the oil to start to gently sizzle and the garlic to just just just just just turn colour.

Then add the chilli and cook, stirring, quickly and briefly.

Pull the pan away from the heat and add a ladleful of the pasta cooking water straight from that boiling pan to this - watch out because it might spit.

Return to the heat, turn the heat to the lowest setting and stir - keep it just there on the boil until the spaghetti has finished cooking.

Retain another ladle of the cooking water in case you need it, and drain the pasta then tip into the pan with the oil, garlic and chilli and toss thoroughly so it’s all coated.

Add a little more of the cooking water if needed.

And that is it. That simple.

You could add some lovely fresh parsley and grate in fresh parmesan - both of which would be absolutely delicious - but I had neither of these today so just had the very simplest way of eating this.

And I loved every silky full-flavoured mouthful of it.

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Cacio e pepe (spaghetti with cheese and pepper)

You know sometimes when you just keep seeing something you hadn’t noticed before and then you do and then you see it everywhere?

That’s been me and cacio e pepe over the last week or so.

I noticed it in two or three recipe books and immediately wanted to eat it, and wanted to make it.

It’s a dish or beautiful simplicity: pasta, pasta water, freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino and freshly grated black pepper. Sometimes butter too.

So I read more - I googled and read many more reviews and recipes online.

And actually it started sounding complicated! It started sounding like one of those things that is SO simple that’s it’s going to be hard to get it perfect.

I read more and more of the advice and tricks and ‘secrets’ … and then amalgamated all the bits of advice that sounded sensible to me and made my first one.

My first realisation is that no-one should have that fear that it has to be ‘perfect’ because really how wrong can you go with spaghetti and cheese and black pepper?!

It was delicious. However I wanted to make more of the cheese sauce as mine was a little thin.

I also wanted to simplify the method as I’d been swept along with these tips and tricks and so had used both olive oil and butter, a little too much pasta water and had taken the advice on board to let that mixture cool slightly before adding the cheese. Totally unnecessary, I now thought.

Second go I just followed the same basic method but omitted the oil, added less pasta water and didn’t wait before stirring in the cheese to make the sauce before adding the pasta.

Attempt number 1

Attempt number 2

Again; delicious!

But this time slightly too much and too cheesy a sauce.

I re-read the original recipe I’d seen from Giorgio Locatelli’s book ‘Made at Home’.

And I found the episode where Anthony Bourdain has it for the first time in Rome - and then it becomes his favourite pasta dish - and watched them make it in the restaurant.

SO much simpler than recipes I’d been reading online.

I discovered the classic version doesn’t even use butter … I haven’t tried that yet as I like the the butter! But I will.

For my third attempt I simplified even further and just went with what I’d now seen and what I feel would work - no more tricks and secrets; just cook the thing and do so with love and anticipation of a good meal.

No more even making the cheese sauce before adding the pasta.

No timing to cool one part before adding another or cooling the pasta slightly.

This is my favourite of the three I’ve made and definitely the simplest (not that any of them could really be called hard but oh goodness do some people like to complicate stuff - I found recipes for this online with PAGES of explanation!).

So, here’s how to make this utterly divine and nourishing and elegant and easy pasta.

If making more than a couple of portions at a time make sure you’ve got a big pan with lots of space for the pasta and the sauce to become one.

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To make a quick lunch or dinner for one, you’ll need:

a small handful of spaghetti (about 100g)

a knob of butter (maybe a couple of heaped teaspoons)

1/2 - 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

a small handful of freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

more cheese and more pepper to serve, if liked (personally I didn’t think it needed it)

serve with a big green salad to make it more of a meal

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Usually with pasta we use a big saucepan and lots of water but for this dish use a little less water than normal because we want the pasta cooking water to be good and starchy to make the sauce. So I used a slightly smaller pan than usual and a little less water but a good big pinch of salt.

Bring to the boil, add the spaghetti and when it’s back on the boil cook for eight minutes.

Get everything else ready and a couple of minutes before the pasta’s ready get a good big non-stick pan over a medium heat and add a ladleful of water taken from the spaghetti pan.

Then add the butter and stir until it’s melted and the butter/water mixture simmering. Then heat to low and add the black pepper. Add a little more pasta water if needed - you want want it loose but not too much of it.

The pasta should be done by now but don’t ever worry!

If it’s not then turn the sauce off for a minute.

If it was done before you’d finished putting the pepper in then turn the sauce off for a minute while you drain the pasta. Nothing’s a problem.

If the pasta is going to wait for a minute though I’d run cold water through it after draining so it doesn’t get sticky as it waits patiently in its sieve.

OK so now we have a little simmering sauce and we just add the pasta maybe in two batches so each gets to expand into the sauce. Add the first then stir and combine with the sauce before adding the rest of the spaghetti.

Simmer the pasta in the sauce another minute or so so that it can absorb some more liquid and then add the finely grated cheese, tossing and mixing it all together so the cheese melts and you can’t even really see it any more.

That’s it. That’s it done.

Remove pasta and sauce from pan to dish, taste, add more pepper and cheese if liked.

Eat, wonder how something so simple can be so delicious and start planning when next to make it …

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Delhi-style green beans with ginger + green chilli (and noodles)

I’ve been getting so inspired this weekend reading Madhur Jaffrey’s Curry Easy Vegetarian and really wanted to try these green beans.

It’s a side dish really but I couldn’t wait to make it as part of a bigger meal, so cooked it this morning and had with noodles for brunch … and loved it.

I think it works perfectly on it’s own like this with noodles or with rice and it’s really simple too.

I adapted slightly (eg I didn’t have any asofoetida and I was making a much smaller quantity) so if you’re just making a portion for you to have with noodles too, here’s how I made mine.

You’ll need

most of the beans from a packet (mine was 220g and I had all but a few that I want for a salad later

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

1-2 green chilies, finely chopped

2 teaspoons or so of freshly peeled and grated ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

a tablespoon or two of water

Put a pan of water on to boil whilst you top and tail the beans and cut into smaller pieces. I actually didn’t top and tail mine but just topped because I like how the little curly tails look!

When the water’s boiling drop in the beans and boil rapidly for five minutes, then strain and set aside.

Put a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, add the oil, swirl to cover the pan.

When it’s hot, drop in the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds.

Take the pan off the heat and add the chillies and ginger - this will sizzle! Stir a few times then add the beans, salt, coriander and water.

Put back on the heat and turn it down low. Cook the beans very gently for another five minutes, stirring now and then.

While the beans were cooking gently I made my noodles and then just stirred them in when the beans were done.

So simple and so good.

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Bacon + egg carbonara

I mean, the combination of bacon and egg can’t really go wrong, can it?

And combined with delicious, silky pasta …. ?

The secret to all good pasta dishes is not to have them all dried out - just reserve some of that pasta cooking water to add to give it all a little ease, a little slippery glossiness, to make it all just work so much better.

I’ve seen - and tried - my fair share of carbonara recipes …. and find so many so over-complicated.

Some mix the egg with parmesan cheese, seasoning and cream, or even tangy creme fraiche (wrong in this dish in my opinion).

Some use whole eggs, not just the yolk, some use butter.

This is my own favourite go-to quick, easy and delicious - and simple - carbonara recipe.

I made this huge pile of pasta just for me (I don’t eat pasta that often because when I do, I eat GINORMOUS portions of it!) but it would probably feed two - or definitely will do with a little tweaking.

Go with what feels good to you, this is a very instinctive sort of dish, and all the more beautiful for it I think.

You’ll need:

cooked pasta - as much as you want - spaghetti or tagliatelle is traditional, but have whatever you like

a couple of slices of bacon - streaky is good and I believe it’s more authentic to have non-smoked, but I like smoked bacon in this so I have smoked back bacon (and remove as much fat as possible)

a clove of garlic (I know I ‘should’ really squash it and add to the oil and then remove later, but I really love garlic so I crush and mince and leave it all in)

a good slosh of olive oil

a tablespoon or so of finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to serve

one egg yolk (and hurrah I now have an egg white to make lemon vodka sour cocktails later!)

a handful of spinach (if liked)

lots of freshly ground black pepper

Get everything ready, cook the pasta, dice the bacon, mince the garlic.

And then just put a slosh of olive oil into a non-stick pan and add the bacon and garlic and cook for four minutes or so, stirring all the time, until done - add a splash of water (some of the pasta cooking water you’ve reserved is ideal) if it looks like it’s going to stick or burn.

Tip in the pasta and a good spoonful or two of the cooking water and most of the grated parmesan and stir to combine until everything’s mixed and hot through.

Add the egg yolk and stir thoroughly to mix it in and combine everything together and then had a handful of baby spinach leaves if liked.

Taste and season with salt and pepper - it probably won’t need salt as bacon is salty but I do love some added freshly ground black pepper.

So simple and so very, very (very) good.

Oh and if you love the bacon and eggs combo too, you might like my ‘island-style bacon and eggs’ or to try a beautiful bacon and egg pie …

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Chow mein with cashews or with pork

It was one of those dinners, where I didn’t quite know what I felt like, but I wanted it to be soft, warming, easy and good.

And looking at what was in the cupboard and fridge - and the fact I seem to have three packets of these noodles … well, it was going to be noodle based.

Chow mein is, I believe, just ‘fried noodle’, so you can kind of add what you want.

I made it one evening with pork, and then for brunch a few days later with cashew nuts.

I also realised I had no idea where my Chinese 5 Spice was (just VANISHED from the cupboard) so I quickly pounded up some spices to make mine - but I’m intending to get another jar as soon as I can as that would make things just that little bit easier.

I’m going to be as vague as I ever have been about quantities here as it’s just all going to taste good really, so it’s entirely up to you and what you feel like and what you have.

My recipe is based on this one from the Hairy Bikers, but as I didn’t have lots of the ingredients, I made a lot of substitutions!

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Start by getting it all together, so if you have those ready-to-cook noodles (as I do today) that’s all good, and if you have dried noodles then soak them first and drain so it’s all ready to go.

For two, you’ll need:

Cooking oil

Noodles, prepared as necessary and ready to go!

1 teaspoon Chinese 5 Spice powder

Salt and pepper

A piece of pork loin or steak, around 250g, diced OR a good big handful of cashew nuts

Some sliced or diced vegetables - I have red and yellow peppers and carrot but spinach, broccoli florets, green beans, mushrooms … all good

A few spring onions, sliced (in my ingredients photo for the cashew version you’ll see I didn’t have any spring onions so used a sliced shallot instead)

A thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1 small birds-eye chilli (I don’t think chillies are traditionally in a chow mein but I just could’t help myself, so omit if you prefer)

1 garlic clove, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon corn starch

1 teaspoon demerera sugar (or plain white granulated is fine)

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

3 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Put the pork or cashews into a bowl with the Chinese 5 Spice and a good grind each of salt and pepper.

Put the vegetables together in one bowl and the ‘flavour’ ingredients in another (the spring onions, the chilli, garlic and ginger).

And mix the cornflour, sugar, soy sauce, water and sesame oil together in a little cup.

Put a non-stick pan on over a medium heat, add some oil and then the pork or cashews - cook for approx 2 minutes, stirring all the time.

I’d keep the pork on a slightly higher heat and the cashews on a little lower. You want the pork to brown properly on all sides and you want the cashews lovely and golden.

Add a tiny splash of water at any time you think it might be sticking - you want it all to be able to MOVE!

Remove the pork or nuts from the pan and put into a bowl.

Return pan to heat, add a little more oil and then the sliced/chopped vegetables - stir fry for another minute or two and then add the ‘aromatics’ and stir fry for - yes - another minute of two! Add a splash of water as needed.

Remove and tip on top of the meat or cashews.

Return the pan again to the heat and add a little more oil … then add the noodles and a slosh of the cornflour/sugar/soy/water mixture - give it another stir first before you add it.

Cook, stirring all the time, over a medium heat for another 2 minutes.

Then add back in all the lovely pork/nuts/vegetables as well as the rest of the liquid mix.

Stir fry for another minute and then we’re done.

That’s it, really.

Add some sliced radish to serve - if you have some and you like it.

This is just a super easy, warm, gentle, quick little dinner and I hope you like it too.

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Vermicelli noodle soup with minced pork

Comfort food extraordinaire!

Perfect, perfect perfect for a grey, rainy winter London day’s brunch.

Quantities are up to you really - I used one sheet of dried vermicelli noodles and one chicken breast for two, but hey - sometime’s I’m hungrier than others and would have eaten it all to myself.

So just choose how much looks and feels right to you. It’s all going to be good (and taste delicious).

For two today, I used:

1 sheet of dried rice vermicelli noodles, soaked in hot water (bring to the boil, add noodles, remove from heat) for 5 minutes

a few dried porcini mushroom, also soaked in hot water until needed - I used a ladleful of the water from the saucepan that the noodles were soaking in

pork mince, about 200 - 250g

a handful of fresh coriander leaves

white pepper

1 red birds eye chilli

1 clove of garlic

1 piece of ginger

cooking oil - I like to use a spray oil

water

about 1/3 of a Knorr chicken stock cube

fish sauce

light soy sauce

Once the noodles have soaked for about five minutes, drain, rinse with cold water and keep to one side to add at the end.

Scrunch the pork mince with about half the coriander leaves, chopped finely, and about 1/4 teaspoon white pepper and then - using wet hands - shape into small meatballs and set aside.

Mince the chilli and garlic, peel the ginger and either cut into slices or grate finely (I had slices today but tried grating it the next time and preferred that as it’s a stronger ginger flavour).

Also remove the mushrooms from their liquid (keep the liquid!) and cut into small pieces.

Put a non-stick over a medium heat with a little cooking oil (I used 20 sprays of my spray oil) and add the chilli and garlic. Add a splash of water too to stop it from sticking and then add the meatballs and cook, stirring, so they are sealed on all sides - add another splash of water if needed.

Pour in enough water to make whatever quantity of soup you want and bring to the boil.

Reduce to a simmer and throw in the ginger, crumble in the piece of stock cube and add a tablespoon of the reserved mushroom water (and now discard the rest). Also add a good slosh each of light soy sauce and of fish sauce.

Simmer until the pork is cooked - probably 6-8 minutes but do pull one of the meatballs apart to check.

Throw in the noodles and cook for another minute, stirring, to combine and ensure it’s all heated through.

That’s it! Serve topped with the rest of the fresh chopped coriander, if liked.

This is my current favourite warming winter dish - I hope you like it too.

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Steak + noodles w/ Thai green curry-ish sauce

This recipe is one of my frequent 'something from nothing' dinners - when it looks like there's nothing in the fridge, cupboards, house that will make a good dinner for two ... and then, always, there IS.

I was looking at one steak, some slightly-past-their-best vegetables and wondering what to make when I saw there was also just one layer left of the dried rice noodles - like they were signalling to me to use them as well.

So I did.

I wouldn't naturally put beef with Thai green curry flavours, which are much more usually combined with seafood or chicken .... so I was thinking what to do with red curry, but I wanted something with lime and I was just drawn to the green curry paste, so that's what I did.

And a quick word on using a paste ... IT'S FINE!

When I lived in Thailand everyone went to the market in the morning to get meat and fish and vegetables and also to stop at the curry paste stalls to buy curry paste - you add your own touches to it when you use it, but you don't have to make your own. 

I like the one in my photo of the ingredients which I buy from the local Thai supermarket but my nearest Sainsbury's now stocks it too, so it might be in your supermarket - if you don't already have a favourite curry paste - and if not, it'll be available online. They last for EVER (pretty much) in the fridge so well worth getting.

Usually I add the sauce-flavour-ingredients straight into the pan when I cook, but recently have been experimenting with combining them first - in dishes that this feels right to do of course - as with this sea bass recipe - so decided to play with that again for this.

It was quick and easy and really good .... do try!

For two people, you'll need:

1 layer of dried rice noodles, prepared according to pack instructions

1 steak - I like rump best but sirloin would work too

A few dashes of light soy sauce

1 heaped teaspoon of good Thai green curry paste *

1 generous tablespoon light soy sauce *

1 generous tablespoon fish sauce *

the juice of one good juicy lime *

1/2 teaspoon sugar *

(NOTE: if i'd had any toasted sesame oil I'd have added 1/2 a teaspoon of that too) *

some vegetables, sliced ready to stir fry - anything you like really - I had red and yellow peppers, broccoli and spring onions

Start with the noodles and prepare according to pack instructions - I usually throw them into a pan of boiling water, remove from heat and let sit for five minutes then drain and run under cold water to stop them cooking further and becoming gloopy and sticky.

And sprinkle a couple of dashes of light soy sauce over your steak so it's got a kind of marinade while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

So the noodles are already done and the steak ready to cook.

Now just chop the vegetables and we want them in quite small pieces so they'll cook quickly, and also mix also the sauce ingredients (marked in the list above with an '*') in a bowl so it's ready to add.

Cook the steak to your liking - I use a very hot griddle and like mine medium rare which is usually 3-4 minutes on one side and another 2-3 on the other then rest for a minute.

While the steak rests, put a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a tablespoon of cooking oil (not olive oil as it cooks at too low a temperature - vegetable or sunflower is good - my favourites are rapeseed or grapeseed).

When hot, add the vegetables and fry for around three minutes, stirring all the time, and adding a splash of water if it looks like it's sticking.

Then add the noodles and the sauce and mix it all together and stir fry for a minute or two more until it's all cooked and hot and the noodles and beautiful and not stuck together - and do add a splash more water if needed.

Remove from the heat, pour into a serving dish or individual bowls and top with slices of the steak.

You'll understand, this being a 'something from nothing' dinner that I didn't have a lot of fresh herbs to hand - but if I had I might have added some chopped fresh coriander and/or mint to garnish.

Oh, but I did garnish with some toasted flaked almonds - literally just seconds in a dry pan gets them toasty and delicious, well, I wanted SOME kind of garnish, final flourish!

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Chilli squid with noodles

I've been experimenting this week with how I make sauces, just simple sauces I mean, I suppose just the flavour element really - usually I'll add the flavours straight to the pan, but then I got to wondering if sometimes it would work better to have them separate.

So instead of adding the chilli, garlic, ginger etc to the sea bass I made the other night, I fried the sea bass first and then made the sauce to pour over it.

It worked so beautifully, I thought I'd next experiment with adding the sauce to the pan, but combining the flavour ingredients together first rather than adding directly one at a time.

Oh and I thought I'd also give my rice noodles a little flavour bath to infuse even more layers of flavour!

And this chilli squid with noodles dish is now my current favourite thing to make.  I know it might look a lot of ingredients, or steps, but don't be put off, because it's actually really simple.

To make a huge bowl for a greedy one, or two smaller portions perhaps to have alongside something else, you'll need:

a couple of raw squid tubes - I always have a bag of frozen ones from the supermarket in the freezer and just defrost for ten minutes or so in a bowl of cold water

FOR THE NOODLES

a layer of dried rice noodles, soaked in boiling water (off the heat) for a couple of minutes

1/4 a cup or so of boiling water

1/3 or a piece of a chicken Knorr stock cube

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

FOR THE STIR FRY SAUCE

1 tsp demerara sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tsp chilli paste in oil (if you don't have a local Asian supermarket, it's easy to make your own chilli paste)

THE STIR FRY FLAVOUR INGREDIENTS

a piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 red birds eye chilli, finely chopped (use less or more to your taste of course)

1 garlic clove, peeled and minced

THE VEGETABLE INGREDIENTS

some vegetables - I had green beans which I cut into smaller pieces and carrot, again cut into smaller pieces - but you could add red or yellow peppers or sugar snap peas or whatever you like

a few cherry tomatoes, halved - I added these just because they needed eating but I really liked them in this dish, so will definitely include in future too

PLUS ...

a few sprays of cooking oil, or a tablespoon or so of cooking oil

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Cut open the squid tubes when defrosted (if frozen) and pat dry with kitchen paper then score on both sides to create a criss-cross effect before cutting into smaller pieces - rectangles, triangles, whatever you like!

Add the boiling water, piece of stock cube and dark soy sauce to a little pan, bring to the boil, stir to make sure the stock cube is mixed in well, remove from heat and add the noodles and then just leave them to soak up additional flavour while you prepare the rest.

Add all the stir-fry-sauce ingredients to a little bowl and stir to combine so it's ready to use, and prepare the ginger, chilli, garlic and the vegetables. Keep the tomatoes separate as they'll go in last.

Put a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add the cooking oil and then the ginger, chilli and garlic. Stir and cook for about 30 seconds until it smells good - keep stirring so it doesn't stick and add a splash of water if needed.

Add the vegetables and cook for two minutes, stirring - add a little more water if needed to stop it sticking.

Then add the squid and cook for another couple of minutes - some of the pieces will roll up into tubes and they'll all look lovely where the diagonal pattern was made.

Add the stir fry sauce and the tomatoes and cook for two minutes more, then add the noodles from their 'bath' - but leave any liquid that doesn't come with them behind, you don't need all that liquid.

Cook for another minute to get the noodles hot and everything stirred together - and then just tip out into a bowl to eat! 

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Red curry with crispy pork belly + noodles

I love pork belly and have it often in a really spicy sour salad, or in this lovely soft noodle dish.

And today I thought I'd make a red curry with it ... I didn't actually mean to have this with noodles, but I'd somehow - outrageously somehow - run out of rice!

I didn't even know that was a THING, to not have rice just always there in the cupboard!

ANYWAY.

Cook the pork belly first (as much as you like - I had two slices per person) as that will take longest.

I drizzle my pork belly slices with a little light soy sauce and then cook until crispy and gorgeous - it usually takes longer than I think, anywhere from 40 - 60 minutes - and I turn them every 15 minutes or so. 

Once cooked, remove from heat and cut into chunks. I also remove some of the fat at this point as I just don't want it all, but that's just personal preference and entirely up to you. 

For a crispy pork belly Thai red curry for two, you'll also need:

rice or noodles, so cook the rice so it's ready to go, or prepare the noodles according to pack instructions

cooking oil (I use a spray oil)

a good dessertspoon of good red curry paste

1/2 - 1 tin coconut milk (I really do think full fat is better than 'light' versions)

whatever vegetables you choose, or happen to have! I had broccoli and asparagus - and I do like adding a few halved cherry tomatoes to this too

1 tsp sugar

a slosh of fish sauce

the juice of a lime

Thai sweet basil leaves if you can get them (don't use Mediterranean basil, it's totally different)

a few slices of red chilli to garnish, if liked

OK, so we've got our pork belly cooked and chopped, and our rice keeping warm in a pan with a lid on it, or - like me - soaked noodles ready to add at the end.

Next, just put a non-stick frying pan over a heat, add a few sprays of cooking oil, and then go in with the red curry paste.

Stir this just for a few seconds really, enough to start releasing the fragrance, and then pour in the coconut milk (how much is how thin or creamy you like the consistency - personally I go for half a tin for two).

When it comes to a simmer, throw in the vegetables and simmer for five or six minutes.

Then add the pork belly pieces and the noodles (if using), stir to combine well and add the sugar, a good slosh of fish sauce and squeeze in the lime juice.

Cook for another minute and then remove from heat, stirring in the Thai basil if you have it.

It would have looked nicer with the green basil, so I tried to pretty mine up a bit with a couple of slices of red chilli.

That didn't really work but what this lacks in prettiness it certainly makes up for in the most comforting deliciousness and combination of textures and flavours!

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