Jamie's Pasta with Amazing Slow-cooked Meat

When I made the Gnocchi last weekend I had some leftover pecorino, so I went on the hunt to find a recipe worthy of such delicious cheese. I was thinking of replacing the parmesan in risotto, then I came across this recipe. I have a stack of slow-cook recipes piling up that I don't have the time for. Not that they are time consuming, I just have trouble staying at home for too long without popping out for something or other, and I'd be too worried to leave the stove unattended.

Anyway, cut a long story short, I love slow-cooked meat but rarely cook it. So this time I was determined. The recipe's pretty straightforward. S-bo gave me a hand cutting things up finely as I was cutting the time a little short. 2.30 pm and already time's running out to get dinner ready. Funny huh? There's not a whole lot to say about the initial cooking phase. I actually was planning on eating the sauce the next day, so I cooked the meat for 2 1/2 hours then left it 'til the next day. It was very liquid-y but perhaps that was 'cause I used crushed tomatoes, maybe it was meant to be whole. Also the size of my pot meant a lot of water was required to over the meat by 1 cm.

I'm not good at slow-cooking, I see little movement in the pot so I turn up the heat. But this time I finally decided to rely on past experiences and I kept it very low indeed. Still I was worried that I'd stuffed things up nevertheless, when the meat wasn't flaking off the bone so well on day 2. Turns out (I think) that I didn't have such great osso bucco. There were lines of sinew through the meat. Now I quite like fat, not afraid of it at all. I have been known to eat the whole lamb chop, fat and all, licking the bone clean as I criticise other's and their healthy ways. Fancy putting the fat to the side and not eating it. But this wasn't melt-in-your mouth fat, it was clear hard-to-cut-with-carving knife sinew. That was a little disappointing but in the end it mean I just used a sharp knife instead of 2 forks to shred the meat.

I set the shredded meat aside and boiled off some of the liquid still in the pan. It worked a treat, although I probably boiled too far.

The dish was delicious and very deserving of the pecorino. S-bo was most impressed, Flatmate enjoyed leftovers for lunch the next day and workmates looked on enviously as I ate my lunch share. Give it a shot, it beats spaghetti bolognese.

1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
800 g braising meat on the bone (such as lamb shanks or osso bucco)
Handful of fresh rosemary and thyme, leaves finely chopped, plus extra rosemary to serve
1 small red onion, finely sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 wineglasses of dry red wine
800 g canned roma tomatoes
2 tbsp pearl barley
400 g fresh or dried pappardelle or pasta of your choice
100 g unsalted butter
2 handfuls grated parmesan, plus extra to serve.

Heat the oil in a large casserole over high heat and fry meat in the oil for 3-4 min ‘til brown. Add herbs, onion, garlic, carrot and celery, then reduce heat to medium and continue to fry for 5 min ‘til veges have softened. Add wine and simmer until it has almost cooked away but left you with fantastic colour and fragrance.

Add tomatoes, barley and just enough water to cover the meat by 1 cm. make a cartouche of greaseproof paper – cut out a sheet the size of the pan, wet it under the tap, rub with a little oil, place over pan and put the lid on.

Cook over very low heat for 2-3 hours, depending on the type of meat. It’s ready when it flakes away in tender strands. Season to taste and cool slightly before removing meat from the pan. Pull apart meat with 2 forks, discarding bone, then put the meat back in pan over low heat.
Cook pappardelle in a pan of boiling, salted water. Remove sauce from heat and stir in butter and parmesan (pecorino!) with a little of the pasta cooking water – this will make it juicy and shiny. Toss together with pasta and serve immediately, sprinkled with rosemary and cheese.

Pea, Pimiento and Prosciutto Pasta

With my recent vow to cut back on fatty foods (it's a short term thing, I'm already planning my next bake-a-thon) my quest to get through my recipe clippings has fallen behind a little. Now when I cook I aim to get through at least one clipping per week. It's not really a rule, just the way it's working out.

I've had this recipe for ages. Since 2002 to be precise. I must have torn it out of the Sunday Life magazine whilst at home on university holidays. Next to the pasta are "Quick Pasta Sauce Ideas From the Deli" whilst on the opposite side is Chicken with Potatoes and Olives and Marinated Bocconcini. I tried the former last year and wasn't too impressed. Marinated bocconcini is a keeper however...maybe I'll blog about that another time.

So, the pasta. To start with, it includes one of my favourite vegetables: frozen peas (no really). I think I like frozen peas so much because it takes me back to being a child and eating them, still frozen, whilst waiting for our meat and 3 veg. The recipe calls for small pasta shapes however S-bo had recently done a bit of work at a pasta manufacturer and as a result I had some delicious fettuccini. Not entirely suited to this dish, as you want to get as many components on your fork at once, but delicious all the same.

The pimiento sauce adds a little kick although it wasn't necessarily the peppers that I used. I had some roasted red pepper strips from the supermarket leftover from something or other. They weren't terribly exciting but did need to be used up, so I combined them with some freshly bought roasted red capsicum from the deli. I think the kick might have actually come from the mustard seed floating around the supermarket variety. Anyway, long story short, there was a kick and it was pleasant.

Don't be alarmed if you make this recipe and the sauce is a little runny. I kept boiling and boiling to thicken but it really wasn't necessary.

Pea, Pimiento and Prosciutto Pasta
1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh peas
3 zucchini, sliced
100 g prosciutto, cut into strips
300 g small pasta shapes
1 1/2 cups pimiento sauce (below)
1 cup small Ligurian olives
salt and freshly ground pepper

Cook peas on boiling for 3 minutes, then drain well and keep warm. Pan-fry zucchini slices in a little oil to brown. Set aside. Pan-fry proscuitto strips until crisp.

Meanwhile, cook pasta until just tender. Drain well and toss with pimiento sauce, peas, zucchini, proscuitto and olives. Season with salt and pepper. Serves 6

Pimiento Sauce
1 cup pimientos or roasted red capsicum
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Puree half pimientos and juice with garlic and chicken stock. Thinly slice remaining pimientos.

Place puree and pimiento strips in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper. Makes 1 1/2 cups

Fettuccine with Zucchini, Lemon, Ricotta and Almonds

During its construction, this dish looked boring. I wanted something quick, easy and inexpensive yet delicious, that I could share with flatmate. I thought this little gem fitted the bill however halfway through I wasn’t so sure. There was no colour in my frying pan to lift the soggy looking zucchini and nothing screaming “eat me”.

Have I sold it to you yet? Well don’t fear, this meal was amazingly quite delicious. The subtle flavours of zucchini, lemon, ricotta and almonds combined so well that flatmate couldn’t stop assuring me it had turned out ok. I can have quite a low cooking-esteem at times and a bland looking dish when I’ve promised to cook can really get to me. I used dried fettuccine and can only imagine how sensational this would be with fresh. Italian dishes can often be so bold and rich that it’s easy to forget the effectiveness of simplicity. Just look at the best pizzas around.

I will add a humorous note and say that my quest for inexpensive nearly came undone when I took the zucchinis to the check out. They truly were mammoth, with no littlies in sight. The recipe says four medium so I thought 2 large would do the trick. When I went to leave the checkout chick informed me that “those zucchinis will be about $12, do you still want them?”. I decided it probably wasn’t necessary for two of us so I just took one. I can’t remember what the price per kilo was and whether they were particularly expensive or just so damn big.

Fettuccine with zucchini, lemon, ricotta and almonds

4 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tbsp flaked almonds
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1 cm pieces
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 cup chicken stock
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
400g dried fettuccine (500g fresh)
125g fresh ricotta
Sea salt
Black pepper
2 tbsp flatleaf parsley, chopped.

Heat half the butter and fry almonds until golden brown. Strain to remove excess butter and reserve.
In a pan gently cook the rest of the butter, oil, zucchini, garlic, stock and lemon juice and half of the zest, covered until zucchini is quite soft (recipe says about 20 minutes but it didn’t take very long at all). Put aside. Cook fettuccine and drain. Return zucchini to simmering point, add ricotta in chunks, then pasta, then season. Tip into a warmed bowl and mix through, adding parsley and remaining lemon zest, then scatter with almonds.