Homemade Orecchiette with Smoked Salmon, Ricotta, and Nutmeg

Tags

orecchiette, ricotta, semolina flour, smoked salmon

I made orecchiette.  Very simple.  Just semolina flour and water – half as much warm water by weight as semolina flour.  For two people I mixed 200g fine semolina flour and about 100g warm water.  The dough was mixed, kneaded, and formed by hand.

Orecchiette is meant to be made with fresh pasta.  With dried orecchiette, by the time the thick rim of the “ear” is cooked al dente, the thin middle is overcooked.  With fresh pasta, there is already moisture in the pasta, so the pasta takes much less time to cook.

The fresh orecchiette was cooked in plenty of salted, boiling water until al dente, about 2 minutes, then drained and added back into the warm pot.

1 cup of ricotta mixed with 1 tablespoon of crème fraîche, a bit of freshly grated nutmeg, and salt & pepper to taste, was stirred through the pasta.  Finally, thin slices of smoked salmon were gently mixed through and the pasta was plated.

Trevally Poached in Butter with Buckwheat Noodles

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buckwheat noodle, butter, fish, lewis Roar creamery, poach, soba, trevally

I picked up a fresh Trevally fillet this morning.

Poached, over a very low heat in fat, fish remains incredibly tender and moist. A while back, I ran across Melissa Clark’s recipe for fish poached in butter. She suggested serving the fish with an egg pasta.

I cut fresh Trevally fillets into cubes, seasoned with rosemary, garlic, salt & pepper and poached the cubes in 3 tablespoons each of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and good quality butter (Premium Unsalted butter from Lewis Road Creamery) over a low heat (if you hear sizzling, turn the heat down!) in a cast iron pan until translucent and just cooked through, then removed the fish from the pan and reserved. Whilst the fish poached, I cooked a measure of buckwheat noodles (Soba). When the noodles were cooked, I drained them well and added them to the pan with the poaching liquid, tossed the noodles until well coated, then plated the noodles in warm serving bowls, topped with the poached fish.

I served the poached Trevally with a 2010 Villa Maria Single Vineyard Omahu Gravels Vineyard Hawke’s Bay Viognier, a simple dinner salad and thick slices of crusty bread to sop up the aromatic poaching liquid.

Conchiglie Rigate with Spinach and Andouille Sausage Ragù

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andouille sausage, conchiglie rigate, italian, pasta, ragù, sausage, spinach

Mezzi Rigatoni With Wild Boar & Serrano Chile Tomato Sauce

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chiles serrano, italian, mezzi rigatoni, pasta, sausage, the potted kitchen garden, tomato sauce, wild boar sausage

I picked up some wild boar sausage at the market. I diced a small onion and softened it in extra virgin olive oil over a gentle heat until translucent, then added a diced Serrano chile from The Potted Kitchen Garden and cooked them together until they got happy in the pan.

I removed two Wild Boar Sausages from their natural casings and crumbled them into the pan and gently sautéed until lightly browned, breaking up any larger bits of sausage as it cooked.

In a separate bowl, I hand crushed two 400g tins of tomatoes and added that to the pan with a healthy pinch of sea salt. I brought the sauce to the boil, then reduced to a gentle simmer until thickened and adjusted for salt. The tomatoes are only lightly cooked, as I wanted a light fresh tomato sauce to go with the boar.

Whilst the sauce was reducing, I cooked the Mezzi Rigatoni in salted, boiling water until al dente.

I drained the pasta and put it back in the pan with a bit of reserved pasta water and added the Wild Boar Tomato Sauce, stirring over a low heat until the pasta was well coated, and served in warm bowls with a side of garlic bread.

Spahgetti with Mushrooms and Broccoli

Tags

broccoli, mushroom, spaghetti

Sauté thickly sliced mushrooms in a bit of olive oil and butter…

Slice a head of broccoli into flowerets and caramelise…

Boil spaghetti in salted water until al dente. Drain pasta, add mushrooms, broccoli, extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper.