Nigella's Prawn Pasta Rosa

Here's one of those great quick and easy meals that are ideal for a family dinner.

Luckily both my children love prawns, which comes in very handy as they're so quick to cook and make a nice change from chicken or pork. It's not quite a storecupboard recipe as mascarpone isn't something I always have in the fridge but with a bit of forward planning it's super quick to assemble and always goes down well.

The original recipe was for two people but I have adapted it to feed the four of us.

Prawn Pasta Rosa
(adapted from Italianissimo by Nigella Lawson)

1 1/2 tablespoons tomato puree
6 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons mascarpone
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic oil
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (I tend to leave this out)
225g raw peeled prawns (or small cooked prawns)
100ml vermouth (or white wine)
350g pasta
salt for pasta water

1) Put a pan of water on to boil, adding salt when it comes to the boil, and then cook the pasta according to the instruction on the pack.

2) Whisk together the tomato puree and milk, add the mascarpone then whisk again to combine.

3) In a large pan or wok warm the garlic oil and add the chilli flakes (if using). Stir then add the prawns and stir-fry for a minute or two (longer if frozen) until cooked through.

4) Pour in the vermouth and let it bubble up and reduce a little then add the pink sauce. Cook, stirring, until it is hot throughout, checking that the prawns are also cooked.

5) Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce, stirring to combine, before serving.

Serves two adults and two children

Chicken Paprika Casserole

As I mentioned in my previous post this is one of my favourite casseroles mainly, and this will be no surprise, because it's easy to throw together and uses ingredients that I almost always have in the house. If you have trouble finding the Tomato Frito (I have found it in the past near the tomato puree but have had less success more recently) then plain tomato passata is a perfectly good substitute. Any leftover passata freezes well or can be used in a bolognese sauce. The casserole also tastes just fine without the creme fraiche too.

Another plus is that this recipe always generates more sauce than needed which makes for a really nice pasta sauce the next day.

Finally, the method below instructs you to fry the ingredients in a pan before transferring to a casserole. This is purely because I don't possess a stove-top casserole dish (I will get my hands on a Le Creuset one day) but if you have one then the whole thing can be made in the one dish. Just transfer the chicken back to the dish when you add the peppers and garlic.

Chicken Paprika

(Adapted from a recipe found on Delia Smith's website - www.deliaonline.com)

1 medium onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 chicken thighs (or a combination of thighs and drumsticks)

6oz/175g roasted red peppers from a jar

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 x 560g jar Heinz Tomato Frito

5 fl oz/150ml dry white wine

1 level dessertspoon hot paprika or 1 level tablespoon ground paprika

2 rounded tablespoons creme fraiche

salt and pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Heat the oil in a largeish saucepan or frying and fry on all sides until golden brown all over then transfer to a casserole dish.

2) Turn the heat down and add the onions to the pan and cook on a medium heat for about 10 minutes until softened and browned at the edges. Add the peppers, garlic to the pan then pour in the tomato sauce, the wine and the paprika. Stir together and bring to a simmer before transferring it to the casserole dish.

3) Cover the dish with a lid and cook in the oven for 1 hour. Remove the dish from the oven and swirl in the creme fraiche. Sprinkle with a little more paprika and serve straight from the casserole.

Serves 2

Blue Cheese Macaroni Gratin

This recipe for Blue Cheese Macaroni Gratin comes from Jo Pratt's In the Mood for Entertaining. I love Macaroni Cheese, both the traditional version and varieties with a bit of twist. This definitely falls into the latter category with the inclusion of blue cheese, wine, roasted peppers and spinach.

In her recipe notes Jo describes this dish as not being too stodgy or rich. Hmm.....I'm not sure you can say that about any dish that includes pasta (and plenty of it), cheese and cream. Not that I'm complaining mind - if you're looking for a hearty, warming dinner then this definitely ticks all the right boxes. It provides the comforting carb-richness of your usual macaroni cheese but with an extra hit of flavour from the blue cheese and pepper and a bit of balancing greenery from the spinach. For me it didn't quite beat the 5 star fabulousness of Delia's Souffled Macaroni Cheese but I still enjoyed it very much and will definitely make it again.

Blue Cheese Macaroni Gratin

(adapted from In the Mood for Entertaining by Jo Pratt)

250g macaroni

20g butter

1 bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced

1 sprig of thyme

20g plain flour

200ml white wine

125ml single cream

150g blue cheese, such as Cashel Blue, Gorgonzola, Danish Blue or Stilton

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 roasted red pepper (from a jar), cut into strips

2 large handfuls of baby spinach leaves

olive oil, for drizzling

1) Start by cooking the macaroni until tender. While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a saucepan and add the spring onions and sprig of thyme. Cook for a couple of minutes until the spring onions are softened. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute or so, stirring most of the time so the flour doesn't burn.

2) Gradually pour in the white wine, stirring continuously. Add the cream and bring to a simmer. Cook for about 5 minutes to thicken slightly. Remove the sprig of thyme.

3) Thinly slice half the blue cheese and keep to one side. Crumble, break or chop the rest and stir into the sauce. Season with a small pinch of salt and a good twist of black pepper. Cook until the cheese has melted.

4) Drain the macaroni well and mix into the sauce. Finally, stir in the red pepper and spinach leaves. Spoon the mixture into two individual shallow gratin dishes or one larger one to share. Lay the sliced blue cheese on top, add a twist of black pepper and drizzle a little olive oil over the surface.

5) Heat the grill to the highest setting. Place the dish or dishes on a baking sheet and grill for about 5 minutes until the top is lightly golden and bubbling. Serve straight away just as it is or with a nice green salad.

This dish can be made ahead of time. Just place the dish/dishes in the fridge and when you're ready to eat, bake in the oven (180c/fan 160c/gas mark 4) for about 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden and bubbling.

Serves 2

Unloved Cookbooks Part 3 - Everyday by Bill Granger

So I'm home again with a fully functional, fabulous kitchen and I'm raring to go. Normal service has not quite resumed mind you - cupboards have to be filled, appliance manuals need to be read - but nevertheless I am VERY happy to be home.

During the recent disruption I have managed to do a little work on my unloved cookbooks project and this time I turned my attention to Everyday by Bill Granger.

This one was a definite success as I had no trouble choosing recipes and have many remaining on my to-do list. Why did I not make more use of this book before??

I suppose it's mainly due to the fact that you could say that this is quite a "healthy" book - lots of fresh ingredients, fish, salads etc whereas alot of my favourites (Nigella et al) have more of a tendency towards the "comfort food" end of the spectrum with lots of receipes for pasta bakes, chocolatey puddings and pies which always appeal to my inner piggy. I was more than happy with the three recipes I chose though and would make all of them again.

All of the recipes below are adapted from Everyday by Bill Granger.

This first recipe was an unexpected success. I didn't expect to have the flavour that it did but it was surprisingly tasty and a big hit with all the family.

Baked Tomato and Mozzarella Pasta

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 small carrot, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

1 400g tin chopped tomatoes

45g small black olives, pitted (or omit if, like me, you think these are the pinnacle of food evilry)

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

300g cooked short pasta (such as fusilli or penne)

75g fresh mozzarella cheese, torn into pieces

1) Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas 4. Heat the olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and cook the onion, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrot and celery and cook, stirring for 5 minutes more.

2) Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil, the reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the olives (if you really must), season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.

3) Stir the tomato sauce through the cooked pasta and spoon into a casserole dish. Dot with mozzarella and bake for 30 minutes until the cheese is bubbling (I cooked mine for a shorter time, maybe 15-20 minutes, as the pasta seemed to be drying out a bit).

Serves 4

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The next recipe was definitely my favourite of the three. This is a wonderfully simple recipe but bursting with flavour. Limes are one of my favourite ingredients and roasting them in the oven filled the kitchen with a mouth-watering aroma.

Lime, paprika and honey glazed chicken

2 tablespoons plain flour

2 teaspoons paprika

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

8 chicken legs (or a mix of legs and thighs)

2 red onions, cut into wedges

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 tablespoons honey

125ml/4 fl oz chicken stock

1 lime, cut into thin wedges

1) Preheat the oven to 220c/425f/gas 7. Mix the flour and paprika and season with salt and pepper. Dust the chicken pieces in the flour and then put in a large roasting tin with the onions. Drizzle with the olive oil and roast for 20 minutes, turning the chicken once during this time.

2) Mix together the ginger, garlic, honey and chicken stock. Pour over the chicken and add the lime wedges to the tin. Roast for another 10 minutes, or until the chicken is golden and glazed.

Serve with steamed rice and green. Serves 4.

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Finally, a fresh and healthy pasta dish but delicious with it. Ideal if you fancy pasta but want to avoid anything too heavy.

Spaghetti with fish, chilli and parsley

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 garlice cloves, thinly sliced

1 long red chilli, thinly sliced (I substituted with a good pinch of chilli flakes)

250ml/9 floz dry white wine

1 tablespoon butter

250g firm white fish fillets cut into small chunks

Sea salt

200g spaghetti

Small handful finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Freshly ground black pepper

1) Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium-low heat. Add the garlic and chilli and cook, stirring for 1 minute, until light golden. Add the wine and butter, increase the heat to high and boil for 5 minutes (it does seem like an awful lot of wine but believe it does reduce down considerably - in fact I think I left mine a bit too long and ended up with very little liquid).

2) Add the fish and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes until just cooked. Season with salt and remove from the heat. Cook the pasta and drain well.

3) Add the pasta to the pan with the fish and return to medium heat. Stir gently to coat the spaghetti with sauce. Stir in the parsley and season with black pepper. Serve immediately.

Serves 2.

The Creme Fraiche Challenge - Recipe No 4

Tonight's dish, Pork Medallions with chilli, lemon, chive and creme fraiche, was recommended to me and it didn't disappoint.  It's another recipe from the Delicious Magazine website and can be found here.  The most time-consuming thing about this dish was the mash I served with it - cooking the pork took just a few minutes.  I should say that I'm not a fan of fresh chillis so just used a few dried chilli flakes instead.

The only negative thing about this dish was that it wasn't particularly photogenic!  Apart from the broccoli I served with it, it was all a bit beige so I'm afraid I don't have a photo to share with you tonight.  

So, how about this one instead?

The beautiful Jersey cow, but from a slightly-less-than-beautiful angle.  

Well, I like it!

No?

You'd prefer I stuck to photos of food?

Ok...