Yellow Spaghetti

Nigella Says

Although this recipe does not itself issue from Italy, the inspiration is entirely Italian. One of my favourite things to eat is a risotto Milanese, sometimes called “risotto giallo” – or yellow risotto – and it occurred to me that pasta cooked similarly, or at least cooked to taste similar, would be perfect, and very easy. So here it is: spaghetti in an eggy saffron-tinted, lightly cheesed and creamy sauce: it is a bowlful of golden heaven.

I Say

Again this another quick pasta dish. It was my first time using Marsala wine which I sipped to see what it was like, and it was rather like a decent sherry.

The whole receipt came together easily and as such I would say it is one to have on a weekday night like I did on Wednesday.

Personally I felt it tasted like a carbonara without the meat. Which is fine but if I do it again I either need to ensure the creamy, egg and cheese mixture is more thoroughly mixed through the pasta or I would add some bacon and maybe some mushroom to the mixture and perhaps forgo the saffron.

Ingredients

¼ Teaspoon Saffron Strands

3 x 15ml Tablespoons Marsala

200g Spaghetti

Salt for pasta water to taste

2 eggs

4 x 15ml Tablespoons grated parmesan plus more to serve

Salt and pepper to taste

1 x 15ml Tablespoon £15g) Soft Unsalted Butter

Method

1.      Put plentiful water on for the pasta and at the same time put the saffron and Marsala into the littlest saucepan you have – such as one you’d melt butter in – and when the Marsala starts bubbling, take it off the heat and leave to steep.

2.      When the pasta water comes to the boil, salt generously, then add the spaghetti and cook according to packet instructions, though start testing 2 minutes early. You want to make sure it’s al dente, as it will swell a little in the sauce later.

3.      While the spaghetti is cooking, get on with the creamy sauce, by whisking together the eggs, cheese and cream in a small bowl, adding a sprinkling of salt and grinding of pepper.

4.      Just before draining the spaghetti, remove a cupful of the starchy cooking liquid, then return the loosely drained pasta to its pan along with the butter and toss it over a low heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the pasta-cooking liquid to the saffron and Marsala in the little pan before pouring it over the pasta. Toss straightaway, working the sauce through the spaghetti, and watch the pale yellow of the spaghetti strands take on the deeper tint of the saffron; then remove the pan from the heat.

5.      Now throw the egg, cheese and cream mixture over the pasta, and toss to combine gently but thoroughly, before checking for seasoning and dividing between 2 warmed bowls or plates. Serve with more grated Parmesan on the side.

Pasta with Courgettes

Nigella Says

This is one of my favourite Pastas, but I must stat with a warning: it isn’t as easy on the eye as on the palate; this is a dish made for pleasure not a photo-op. In order for the courgettes to acquire the sweet, braised flavour they imbue the pasta with here, they are cooked to a squashy khaki.

I feel somewhat self-conscious using the French word, courgettes, here but I would feel even more so were I to dub them (outside of Italy or North America) zucchini. Whatever they’re called, this is how I prepared them: before dicing them, I peel away strips of skin, which gives them a striped look. This habit is a maternal legacy that I don’t expect you to inherit too. So peel or don’t peel, wholly or in stripes, as you see fit.

I like casarecce pasta, which for all that it means “homemade”, is produced by most good pasta manufactures and indeed is so common that I find it at mu local supermarket. Casarecce are small, loosely rolled tubes with a  gap– where the roll doesn’t quite meet up along the side – which catches every bit of flavoursome sauce. The more colourfully named strozzapreti (“priest-stranglers”) work in much the same way. Please don’t be put off making this should either of these shapes elude you. My Italian friends blithely suggest, as an alternative, either penne or farfalle.

I Say

This pasta dish like the last I cooked was so quick to cook and it works so well and has a very fresh clean flavour which I feel is a nice break from heavy rich tomato sauces or creamy pasta sauces. My wife and I loved it and added a good side salad and garlic dough balls to accompany the dish.

I used Penne Pasta and since I didn’t have any garlic oil to hand I used some garlic and olive oil in the base of the pan to add the garlic flavour. I had also forgotten the spring onions so added a small cooking onion and it all worked well. Well it would since it is such a minor tweak

This is one I’d definitely do again.

Ingredients

200g Casarecce Pasta (Or whatever you have to hand)

Salt for pasta water to taste

2 x 15ml Tablespoons Garlic Oil

4 Spring Onions finely sliced

500g Courgettes finely diced

60ml Dry White wine or vermouth

Small bunch of parsley chopped

3 x 15ml Tablespoons grated parmesan plus (optional) more for sprinkling

Salt and pepper to taste

2 teaspoons unsalted butter

Method

1.       Put a pan of water on for the pasta, salting generously (or to taste) when it comes to the boil, then add the Casarecce cooking as per packet instructions, though tasting a couple of minutes before they’re meant to be ready and get on with the sauce

2.       Put the garlic oil and chopped spring onion sin a heavy-based pan (that comes with a lid) on a medium heat and cook, stirring for 1 minute

3.       Add the diced courgettes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring every now and again

4.       Add the wine or vermouth, letting it bubble up, followed by 2 tablespoons of the chopped parsley, salt to taste, then lower the heat, cover with the lid and cook for a further 5 minutes, by which time the courgettes should be gorgeously tender

5.       Before draining the pasta, remove a cupful of starchy cooking water.

6.       Tip the drained pasta back into the pan, add the braised courgettes, or add the pasta to the pan of courgettes, along with 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan and 4 tablespoons of pasta-cooking liquid. Combine thoroughly and taste to see if you wish to add more cheese or salt or pepper or, indeed cooking liquid, then stir in the butter and most of the remaining parsley and divided between 2 warmed bowls, sprinkling with the rest of the parsley, and more Parmesan if wished, on serving

Sicilian Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic and Almonds

Nigella Comments

I have come across more than one version of “pesto Trapanese”, the Sicilian pasta sauce from Trapani that differs from the more popularly known Genoese variety in a number of ways. Chief of these is that almonds, not pine nuts, are ground into the mix a divergence whose origins (in common with a lot of Sicilian food) owe much to Arabic cooking.

Throughout Italy, eaters do not grate Parmesan over pasta sauces that contain fish (or are very garlicky), so you should consider cheese here doubly ill-advised, unless you wish to substitute 4 tablespoons grated pecorino for anchovies.

I like the use fusilli lunghi, which are like long golden ringlets, but if you can’t find them, simply substitute regulation-size fusilli (or indeed any pasta of your choice)

Since the sauce is unheated, it would be wise to warm the serving bowl first but, having said that, I absolutely adore eating this Sicilian pasta cold, should any be left over. It is so easy to make, and, being both simple and spectacular, is first on my list for a pasta dish to serve when you have people round.

My Comments

I found this a very easy dish to bring together and it produced a very nice pasta sauce. The sauce was full of flavour thanks to the anchovy and capers. Personally I’d add a little less capers and anchovy to soften the flavour a little. And as my picture below shows my version didn’t come out quite as rich in colour as Nigellas picture suggests. I was expecting a more deep red but the flavour was still there which is the main thing. But with my rather anemic looking sauce I wouldn’t perhaps serve this to friends as Nigella suggests.

Ingredients

• 500g/1lb 2oz fusilli lunghi or other pasta of your choice
• salt, to taste
• 250g/9oz cherry tomatoes
• 6 anchovy fillets
• 25g/1oz sultanas
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
• 50g/2oz blanched almonds
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• small bunch basil, leaves picked

Preparation method

1. Put abundant water on to boil for the pasta, waiting for it to come to the boil before salting it. Add the pasta and cook according to packet instructions, though start checking it a good two minutes before it’s meant to be ready.
2. While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce by putting all the remaining ingredients, bar the basil, into a processor and blitzing until you have a nubbly-textured sauce.
3. Just before draining the pasta, remove a cupful of pasta-cooking water and add two tablespoons of it down the full of the processor, pulsing as you go.
4. Tip the drained pasta into your warmed serving bowl, Pour and scrape the sauce on top, tossing to coat (add a little more pasta-cooking water if you need it) and strew with basil leaves.

Introduction

So for my 30th birthday my twin brother bought me the Nigellissima Cooking Book. Which accompanied the TV series shown on the BBC in 2012.

I loved the show and the often simple recipes shown so I was thrilled to receive the book.

But I thought why not try my own version of Julia and Julia, but with Robert and Nigella. So I have decided that I will attempt to cook every recipe from the Nigellissima book.

I have not set myself a time limit as my wife and I have only recently (11 weeks to be precise) had the joy of a new arrival in our lives, our son William.

So as you might expect time to cook following recipes and enjoying myself in the kitchen is not always going to be top of my priority list.

But I shall give it a go and report on the success's and failures (of which there will of course be few) and general pleasure I get from following the recipes and eating the food.

The first recipe I plan to do will be Sicilian Pasta with Tomatoes, Garlic and Almonds

Regards

Robert