ribollita

the weather is only just beginning to turn in london but i’ve been making soups for a couple of weeks now.

an early bunch of cavolo nero and ribollita is what started me off. i’ve been using a sky gyngell recipe which calls for farro in place of stale bread as she prefers this version. the faro is what really appealed but when i was making the first batch i realised i didn’t have any so had to make do with broken up pieces of pasta.

having made a few batches, with both farro and pasta i’ve realised that it’s the pasta version that i like best (although i haven’t tried it with bread just yet – perhaps this weekend, given i have more cavolo nero in my fridge).

i’ve also been experimenting with stock and , if you’re not vegetarian i really recommend making this with chicken stock. it adds a wonderful extra layer of flavour and the silky texture is just unbeatable.

the final thing that you really must do is drizzle your soup with your favourite olive oil. i love planeta (c£12 a bottle so not prohibitive if you keep it for treats like this) and its fresh grassy flavour goes wonderfully with the ribollita.

i fancy trying other soups which have this same sort of feel. minestrone is an obvious one, but harira and chorba are also on my list – any t&t recipes would be very welcome!

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autumn pasta with borlotti beans, cavolo nero, girolles and crispy pancetta

i’ve been a bit lackadaisical recently, when it came to food shopping and tracking down exciting seasonal foodie bits. this is very unlike me but has been due to trying to use stuff up (it took me months to work my way through the freezer but it is now done, has been defrosted and is again stuffed to the gills) and general busyness. however, this weekend i have got my act together and have lots of lovely exciting things in – fresh pasta and gnocchi, burrata, fresh borlotti beans, cavolo nero, various types of wild mushroom plus figs, amalfi lemons, wet walnuts and cobnuts.

last night’s supper was inspired by a description in a the donna hay magazine – for a quick winter pasta, toss sautéed garlic, wilted kale, borlotti beans, crispy proscuitto and pecorino through cooked fettucine. drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice to serve.

sounds delicious, non? i added some fresh girolles plus thyme to the mix, omitting the lemon juice and embracing the mild earthiness of the dish. fresh pasta too. it was delicious – a thoughtful combination of ingredients and a nice way to return to mindful cooking.

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moro top ten: tuna with red onion, tomato and sweet vinegar

“on the “hots” section of the restaurant menu this is probably the chefs’ most popular dish to cook.”

i have all the moro cook books and moro east, the newest one, is, i am very ashamed to say, still uncooked from. well, it was until i made this, the first of my moro top dishes. 

it’s a warm salad of fresh tuna with lightly cooked tomatoes, white beans and red onions, all lifted by the tanginess of red wine vinegar, fresh oregano and crispy garlic shards.

so, how did i get on?

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spring stew with prawns

 

i wanted something light and fresh for supper earlier this week, but salad wasn’t going to cut it as i wanted some sort of comfort factor as well. i thought about a sort of stew, but for spring, full of fresh seasonal vegetable and herb flavours. i was going to cross my fingers and make something up but then remembered diana henry’s crazy water and decided to adapt this instead.

it’s very simple – a light stock is made with white wine, water, garlic chilli, tomato and herbs plus a healthy glug of olive oil. in the original recipe this is then used as a poaching broth for fish – instead i added some cooked cannellini beans and pieces of cooked asparagus (i didn’t want the asparagus flavour to be too dominant) plus raw king prawns. once i’d dished up i added a few oven-roasted tomatoes as well, to oomph up the flavours. it worked really well and i’ll try this approach again. i think mograbiah (giant couscous) or farro (barley/spelt) would be a good alternative to the beans, as would a chunky piece of toasted sour dough.

courgette, pea and bean salad

i make versions of this salad throughout the summer – i am a sucker for buying peas and beans when they are in season and find that courgette is a good balance to all their legume-y goodness.

these peas and beans were actually from the freezer and i pulled them out to get them finished – there was peas, broad beans and soya beans all mixed in – cook them separately, starting with the broad beans so you can take off their tough outer pod while cooking the rest (use a slotted spoon to remove them and you’ll be able to use the same water for all of them).

the courgettes were sliced, tossed with a little oil and then placed on a smoky hot griddle so they could receive their charred branding and makes the dish look so delicious and taste so much of summer (this is the prefect bbq dish as it captures the taste of bbq’d meat and veg perfectly). a handful of rocket and a dressing of olive oil (i used some of the oil that my oak-smoked tomatoes come in) plus lemon zest (don’t use juice, it will turn the beans from a bright and vivid green into a sludgy colour) were the finishing touches. goats cheese or feta would be lovely crumbled through at the end, if you want to make the salad a little richer.