Back to basics 3 - Ravioli

I got a pasta machine for Christmas and was very excited about cooking my own pasta.  A few people who had pasta machines told me there wasn't really much point in making pasta and that it didn't really taste much different to fresh pasta, and certainly didn't taste any better that shop bought.

Whatever they said didn't stop me from wanting to cook my own pasta.  Firstly, I judgementally thought that they couldn't be making it right if it didn't taste that good, but secondly I am obsessed with cooking things from scratch, to the point of ridiculousness.  

I would cook everything from scratch if I could, as I'm sure every foodie would.  I suppose I love it because I like to see what's going into everything I eat, and because it feels like a big achievement cooking something most people usually get from a packet.  But now there's no going back.  Now I can't buy anything from a packet if I know I can cook it.  At first it was just pesto, hummus and guacamole.  Now it's fast becoming pastry, mayonnaise, bread and...pasta.  I don't know where it will stop.  It drives Dave mad, because every night's cooking sesh turns into massive faff.  Soon I'll be rearing my own cows, churning my own butter and growing my own wheat just to make a bechamel sauce. 

The ravioli was delicious.  I filled it with a mix of smoked salmon, dill, creme fraîche and black pepper, and dressed it very simply with a few tomatoes, parsley, parmesan and olive oil.  The two don't really sound like good combination, but it worked pretty well.  I loved making the pasta. The dough was simple to make, and the rolling process was quite therapeutic.  I felt like an old washer woman drying my clothes through one of those wringer things.  It was a little thick if anything as the picture might tell, but the second attempt a few days later was much more successful.

I think I'll certainly be making ravioli from scratch from now on...   

Food faves - Linguine ai frutti di mare

Sometimes there's nothing I love more than a big bowl of pasta. I know gastronomically it's not very exciting, and I'm perfectly aware that Italian cuisine has so much more to offer, but sometimes this is all I need.   Linguine ai frutti di mare, or in Layman's terms seafood pasta, is my favourite of them all.  A gigantic bowl of this with a rocket salad, a few slices of garlic bread and a large glass of wine spells perfection for me.  Easily in my top five favourite foods.   

I'd love to tell you that I first discovered this dish while summering in Naples, in a small family restaurant down a cobbled backstreet somewhere, and the old lady who owned it told me how the recipe had been passed down through generations and the seafood had been caught locally that day by her nephew.  

I probably discovered it when I was eight in a caff on Taff street in Pontypridd, made using frozen mixed seafood from Makro (a glorified cash and carry for those of who aren't fortunate enough to have visited the Trefforest branch) and cheapo spaghetti, as a change from my usual ham, egg and chips.  When I was younger I always wanted the most exotic and most expensive thing on the menu  - and still do probably -  and whenever I went to an Italian restaurant this was always what I chose.  

Nowadays I like to think I'm a bit more discerning about where the seafood I eat comes from, as a lover of all things fresh and local, so I don't eat it all the time.  I adore seafood. If I lived near the sea I'd probably eat it all day everyday, and would probably turn into a giant clam.

Ahem, anyway...here's my take on linguine ai frutti di mare:

I am terrible at recipes, so I'm going to do this Elizabeth David style.  For two people, add enough linguine to a large saucepan of salted (and I mean salted) boiling water.  Meanwhile, put a couple of handfuls of scrubbed clams and muscles into a saucepan, add a glass of white wine, cover, and cook on a high heat for 3-4 minutes until they have opened, then set aside. In a frying pan, throw in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil (not extra virgin) and heat, then a chopped clove of garlic and a chopped red chilli to the pan.  Add two tablespoons of tomato puree and stir for a couple of minutes, then add the cooking liquor from the mussels and clams.  Bring to the boil and then simmer for a few minutes until reduced.  Add a handful of large uncooked prawns and some cherry tomatoes chopped in half and cook for a couple of minutes, until cooked through.  Then add the mussels and clams, and bunch of chopped parsley, and stir through.  Season with salt and pepper - I always like a lot of cracked black pepper in this dish.  Toss the seafood with the drained pasta - sometimes I add some of the pasta water if the sauce is looking a little dry.  Sprinkle on some shavings of parmesan cheese, serve with a salad, garlic bread and a glass of wine and yum yum yum.   

Food faves - The Ultimate Burger

Every so often on a Saturday afternoon, my Dad would make us burgers.  They weren't exactly a gourmet revelation; most often frozen burgers, american plastic cheese and burger baps from tesco (I had to have the ones without the sesame seeds on top because I didn't like them), but whenever my Dad suggested burgers for lunch I would go through the roof with excitement.  

My sister and I would draw up a questionnaire of vital and not-at-all pointless questions to quiz the family on how they wanted their burger.  It looked a little like the below - don't judge the crapness as it took me bloody ages.  It's actually a very accurate representation of what my handwriting looked like circa 1998: 

If you can actually read this, you'll see it's a very comprehensive set of questions.  I typically wanted everything and as much as I could get of it (although I didn't want my bun toasted and I hate cooked pineapple).  When it arrived at the table, I spread a ton more mayo on my bun, added more lettuce and carefully stacked everything neatly on top of each other - lettuce at the bottom, followed by one slice of cheese, bacon, burger, cheese on top, pineapple and tomato.  It was truly the ultimate burger.  It looked ginormous and far surpassed the size of anybody else's.  I grabbed my weapon of greatness, opened my mouth as widely as I could, and took a big bite, trying to get everything in at the same time.  Burger juice ran down my hands, the bun was crumbling apart in my fingers, and my family threw disgusted remarks at me.  It was bliss.

Years later and the ultimate burger still exists, although in a slightly more foodie-friendly form.  Burgers are of course made by hand, using a combination of steak mince, onion, egg, parsley, ketchup, pepper and oyster sauce (it doesn't draw out the moisture like salt does), and I make them as big as I can get them without getting disdainful looks from my fellow diners.  All the trimmings still exist, although the plastic cheese is usually substituted for cheddar or monterey jack, and the pineapple, bacon and lettuce (probably something peppery rather than good old iceberg) still remain.  If I have time I make my own mayo, and have been known to make my own burger buns, but if time is of the essence and I want one NOW, I have to make do with what's on hand.

Here's one of my recent efforts, complete with potato wedges.  That's a mighty fine burger.