Bitchin Kitchen with Nadia G: Nonna's Penne al Forno

My current favourite show........cooking and comedy.  I love the recipes and can't wait to try more of them.

Here's the first one:

Nonna's Penne al Forno

Serves 6

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 red onion, minced
1 lb. ground sirloin
3 cups canned San Marzano plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1 bay leaf
1/4 tbsp raw sugar
1/2 tbsp sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. penne (approx. 1 package)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup mozzarella, finely grated
1/2 cup finely grated parmigiano

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and chili flakes, and sauté for about 1 minute, until the garlic is golden and fragrant. Add red onion and sauté for 8 to 10 minutes, until onion has some crispy edges. Add ground sirloin and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, until beef crumbles.

Pour in plum tomatoes, then add parsley, oregano, bay leaf, raw sugar, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir and simmer for 15 minutes, partially covered.

Cook penne in a large pot of boiling salted water until almost al dente, about 10 minutes. (You don't need to fully cook the pasta because you'll also be baking it.) Drain.

Preheat the oven to 180c/350 F/gas 4. Add penne to a large bowl and mix in half of the bolognese. Generously grease a baking dish with unsalted butter. Add a 1-inch layer of penne, 1/2 cup of sauce, 1/3 cup of grated mozzarella and a heaping tablespoon of grated parmigiano. Repeat this until all the pasta is used. Top it off with grated mozzarella and parmigiano cheese. Bake in oven for 30 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbling.

  

Or its in the Cookin'for Trouble recipe book.

It went down well in our house, so I reckon it will appear on the menu again.

Cod with Black Bean Noodles

Some of my favourite ingredients:

For this dish, I cooked the skinned cod in a foil parcel with a splash of dry vermouth (use white wine or water if you don't have this), slices of lemon, slivers of fresh ginger, chopped garlic and chopped chilli.  This went in the oven at 180'C for about 15-20 minutes. (I think it was in a bit long to be honest as it was falling to bits when I served it :( )

For the noodles, well, I say noodles, but I discovered I had none when I looked in the cupboard, so I improvised by using pasta vermicelli.  I cooked them first then, cooled quickly in cold water.

I stir fried finely shredded green cabbage in about 1 tbsp oil for a couple of minutes until it was wilted and then added the "noodles" and some of my favourite black bean and garlic sauce and a little water, stirring until everything was heated through.  I sprinkled a little sesame oil on and then served the cod on top of the noodles.

Preserves

I came across a link to this website in a magazine:

http://www.punkdomestics.com

There are recipes for pickles and preserved fruit and vegetables, home made cheese, pesto and many more things.

These recipes caught my eye and so I gave them a go.

Fig and Olive Tapenade

• 1 cup dried mission figs, stems removed
• 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives
• 1/4 cup dried apples or apricots
• 2 tbsp capers
• 2 tbsp good quality sweet balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves
• 1 tbsp good quality olive oil

Add all ingredients except the olive oil to a food processor and pulse until the mixture is fully blended but course. Drizzle in the olive oil and pulse one more time to stir.

Spoon mixture into two short, wide-mouth 250 ml / 8 oz canning jars. Label and refrigerate until party day. Can be made up to 3 days ahead. Serve with crackers or bread and a medium sharp cheese like cheddar or gouda.

From:  http://www.myownlabels.com/blog/olive-and-fig-tapenade/

The recipe makes just over a jam jar's worth......not very technical I know, but there it is.  I thought it was nice, but quite sweet what with the dried figs and apricots, so I added about 1/2 tsp of Psycho Monkey sauce to it, to give it an added kick.  To be honest, I think I prefer plain tapenade.

This is a very hot sauce, I bought it at a food festival/craft fair, but you can buy it online from:

http://www.spicymonkey.co.uk/#/shop/4560146274/Psycho-monkey-sauce/1165125

The second recipe I tried is this one:

Sweet Chilli, Garlic and Ginger Jam

225g chilli peppers.  Use any you like depending on how hot you want it.  I used straight forward, red chillis.  Deseed them if you want to or not if you like the extra heat.

400g red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped. (About 4 medium sized peppers)

600g onion, roughly chopped

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1500g sugar

750ml vinegar, use red or white wine vinegar or cider vinegar

60g fresh ginger

1 whole head of garlic, cloves peeled

1 tbsp sea salt

Roughly chop the chillis and peppers, add to a food processor and finely chop then added to the pan.

Roughly chop the onions, garlic and ginger and then finely chop those in the food processor.  Add to the pan.  

Add the vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir with a wooden spoon and bring to a gently boil. Simmer for 45-60 minutes until thickened. While it's cooking, skim off any scum that rises to the top.

Sterilise your jars, wash well in hot, soapy water, rinse and place on a baking tray in the oven at 180'C for 25-30 mins.

Carefully, add the hot jam to the hot jars, seal and leave to cool, before storing in a cool, dark place.

The jam is ready to eat the next day, but I ate some the same day.......couldn't wait!

Once opened store in the fridge.

This goes great with all sorts of food......cheese, sausages, burgers, ham.  I'm sure the list is endless.

It could be a contender to knock Nigella's chilli jam off the top spot!

From: http://chipbuttiesandnoodlesoup.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/how-to-make-my-ultimate-hot-and-sweet.html

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Lamb Koftas in Pitta with salad

Lamb Koftas can be made in many ways and there are loads of recipes out there.  I didn't bother with a recipe on this occasion.

I finely chopped an onion in a food processor, added some of the spice mixes I have........Turkish, Mexican and Creole........I know.....what a concoction, but believe me they were very tasty.  Mix in your mnce, I used lamb, but any mince does the trick, except maybe quorn mince, but that's a whole other tale. If you don't have spice mixes, use cumin and coriander, chilli and paprika, cinnamon, curry powder, even mint......dried or as mint sauce. These are yours to eat so add what you like.  Who says you have to be authentic?

If you want to check the seasoning before you commit, take a small piece of the mix and fry it off in a dry non-stick pan, taste and adjust the seasoning until you are happy with it.

Chill the mixture until you are ready for it.  You can form it into patties as I did here, so that they will fit nicely into your pitta bread, or wrap, or you can form them into sausage shapes and fit them on skewers as kebabs. (Remember, if you are using wooden skewers, you need to soak them first to prevent them burning when you cook the kebabs). Cook on a barbecue or in a pan until they are well cooked through, stuff your pitta, or wrap and eat.

You could form them as big burgers or small meatballs.  Stick the cooked meatballs on cocktail sticks and serve with a dip, or make a sauce to go with them and serve with rice or pasta.  Tomato sauce, chilli sauce or even a curry sauce.  

Enjoy!