Ragu Bolognese

A great recipe: ragù bolognese

Ragù Bolognese

Spaghetti Bolognese is a typical Britalian dish created bearing in mind the ethnic Italian origin but adapted to suit British taste. This dish doesn't exist in Italy - the original dish originates in Emilia Romagna and it's called tagliatelle alla Bolognese. The main difference is that flat ribboned pastas are used instead of spaghetti and the ragù sauce doesn't contain herbs at all.

Genuine ragù Bolognese is a combination of at least two types of meat, like lean minced beef and pork, plus oil and butter, a little wine, an onion, plump ripe tomatoes and tomato paste.


25g (1oz) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
250g (9oz) minced beef
250g (9oz) minced pork
6 tablespoons white wine
1kg (2lb) polpa di pomodoro (tomato pulp)
1 teaspoon concentrated tomato purée
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method

Heat the oil and butter in a pan and fry the chopped onion. Then add the meat and fry until golden brown. Stir in the wine, tomato pulp and tomato purée. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with a lid and leave to simmer for about 2 hours stirring from time to time.

Serve with freshly cooked tagliatelle and sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan, if desired, but purists like this dish without.

Chilli Meatballs

From Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals

Ingredients:

Bulgur wheat:

• 300g bulgur wheat
• 1 preserved lemon
• 1 cinnamon stick

Meatballs:

• 400g lean beef mince
• 1 heaped tsp garam masala
• olive oil 
• 3 jarred red peppers
• 4 spring onions
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 700g passata
• bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 x 400g tin of red kidney beans
• pinch of cumin seeds
• 4 tsp fat free natural yoghurt
• 1 lime

Grilled chillies

• 4 fresh chillies

Method

1. Put 1 cup of bulgur wheat, 2 cups of boiling water, preserved lemon and the cinnamon stick into the medium pan and cover, stirring occasionally;
2. Next scrunch the mince with salt, pepper and garam masala;
3. Shape the balls and place balls into a frying pan with oil. Toss regularly;
4. If you don't have a food processor, just finely slice the spring onions. 
5. Get another frying pan and mix together the passata, paprika powder, spring onions and half of the coriander. Add some more pepper and salt for the taste of the sauce 
6. Next grill the fresh chillies. When it has those stripes, you can remove chillies from grill. 
7. Rinse and dry the kidney beans. Add the beans to your meatballs. Next add the cumin seeds to the meat balls. 
8. Slowly add the meatballs with the beans to your  pan with sauce (Jamie advices to transfer the balls to the sauce with tongs, so you can add the beans later) 
9. Remove the cinnamon stick from your 'bulgur' pan. Mash the lemon into the bulgur wheat and serve with the meatball sauce, dollops of yoghurt, charred chilies and wedges of lime, scattered with the remaining spring onions and coriander leaves. 

Ragù alla Napoletana

Ingredients

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
500g/1lb 2oz topside of beef, chopped into medium-sized pieces
500g/1lb 2oz pork ribs
200g/7oz Italian pork sausages
2 tbsp tomato purée, diluted in 100ml/3½fl oz red wine
3 x 400g/14oz tins chopped tomatoes
handful fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
parmesan
pasta or bread, to serve

Preparation method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until softened.

2. Add the beef, ribs and sausages to the pan and continue to fry until the meat is browned all over (you may need to do this in batches).

3. Increase the heat, stir in the diluted tomato concentrate and continue to cook until the volume of the liquid is reduced by one-third.

4. Add the tomatoes, basil, and parmesan, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and stir well.  

5. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat to a simmer, cover and cook very gently for about two hours, or until the sauce is thick and silky. Stir from time to time, checking that there is enough moisture; if necessary add a little more wine or water.

6. Remove from the heat and serve with pasta as suggested above, or on its own with lots of good bread to mop up the rich tomato sauce.  Finish cooking the pasta in 3 or 4 large spoonfuls of the sauce.

Fresh Glazed Strawberry Pie

Fresh Glazed Strawberry Pie

As mentioned in the previous post, we made strawberry pie for Canada Day. Here is the recipe:

1 baked pastry shell
1 quart (or more) fresh strawberries (4-8oz cups)
3 T(ablespoons) cornstarch (cornflour in UK)
1 c(up) sugar (white)
1 T butter
1/2 c water
1 T lemon juice
whipped cream

1. Arrange the best looking berries in the cooked pie shell.

2. Crush the remaining berries.

3. Combine the cornstarch (cornflour) and sugar. Stir in crushed berries and water.

4. Cook gently till thick and clear.

5. Remove from heat, add butter and lemon juice. Cool.

6. Pour onto pie. Top with whipped cream.

Blueberry Cobbler

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
•  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  1/2 lemon, juiced
•  1 cup white sugar, or to taste
•  1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
•  1 tablespoon butter, melted
•  1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 6 tablespoons white sugar
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon

1. ·          Lightly grease an 8 inch square baking dish. Place the blueberries into the baking dish, and mix with vanilla and lemon juice. Sprinkle with 1 cup of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of flour, then stir in the tablespoon of melted butter. Set aside.
2.       In a medium bowl, stir together 1 3/4 cups of flour, baking powder, and 6 tablespoons sugar. Rub in the 5 tablespoons butter using your fingers, or cut in with a pastry blender until it is in small pieces. Make a well in the center, and quickly stir in the milk. Mix just until moistened. You should have a very thick batter, or very wet dough. You may need to add asplash more milk. Cover, and let batter rest for 10 minutes.
3.       Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spoon the batter over the blueberries, leaving only a few small holes for the berries to peek through. Mix together the cinnamon and 2 teaspoons sugar; sprinkle over the top.

·              Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top is golden brown. A knife inserted into the topping should come out clean - of course there will be blueberry syrup on the knife. Let cool until just warm before serving. This can store in the refrigerator for 2 days.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Season

Rhubarb and Strawberry season is finally here!  Hey!  So here are two recipes and they shouldn't cost you too much if you have rhubarb in the garden or know someone with far more than they need!  I would work out a trade for something you'll have lots of later in the season!

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp

(I will work out the cup measurements the next time I make this and post with this recipe.)

300g rhubarb, cut into 5-10 mm slices
300 g strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered
100 g caster sugar
finely grated zest of 1 lemon

For topping:
100 g coarse, fairly fresh white breadcrumbs
25g caster sugar
50g butter, melted

1. Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar and lemon zest in a bowl, then set aside to macerate for 30 minutes.

2. Heat the oven to 200C/390F.

3. In a bowl, combine the topping ingredients and set aside.

4. Arrange the fruit in a fairly shallow 25cm x 18 cm dish.

5. Scatter the buttery breadcrumbs on top and bake for 20 minutes, until the fruit is  bubbling and the topping is golden brown and crisp.

6. Serve with ice cream, or whipped cream.

I will definitely check for the non-metric measurements for this, including the baking dish!


Rhubarb Cake

45-45 minutes in oven
Serves 8

Ingredients

• 8 oz self raising flour

• pinch of salt

• 4 oz butter or "margarine"

• 12 oz chopped rhubarb (see note below)

• 4 oz caster sugar

• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten, just to break up the yolks

• 1 tbsp demerara sugar (optional)

Grease, line & grease again a 1lb loaf tin.

Chop the rhubarb. Use quite thin rhubarb (maximum 20mm diameter), and chop it into slices about 10 to 15mm wide. Dark pink rhubarb looks the best.

Pre-heat oven to 180C, Gas Mark 4 or 5 (depending on your oven).

Add the salt to the flour, then rub the fat into the flour in the usual way to resemble fine bread crumbs. Mix in the caster sugar, chopped rhubarb (raw), then finally the beaten eggs. The mixture will be fairly dry and heavy for a cake mixture. Put the mixture into the loaf tin, level it out and then sprinkle the top with the demerara sugar.

Bake it in the oven for about 45 to 50 minutes until it looks done (ie, light brown and cake coloured). To test for doneness, press the top lightly with your finger and if it springs back, then it is done, or you can test with a skewer. If the top gets brown before the cake is cooked through, cover the top loosely with foil to stop it from burning.

Leave the cake in the tin for 15 to 30 minutes to firm up before turning it out carefully onto a wire cooling rack. At this stage it will probably be a bit fragile and wobbly. It is nice served warm as a pudding, but the following day it will have cooled and firmed up enough to eat as cake.

(Thank you to River Cottage for this recipe.)

Hershey's Chocolate Cake, Icing and Brownies

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate"Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

2 C sugar
1 3/4 C all purpose (plain) flour
3/4 C cocoa
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 eggs
1 C milk
1/2 C vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
1 C boiling water

Oven= 350F
2-9" round cake pans, greased and floured

1. Combine dray ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
3. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
4. Pour in to pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
5. Check with a wooden pick, if it comes out clean, the cake is done.
6. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans.
7. Remove to a wire rack and cool completely before icing.

Icing

1/2 C butter
2/3 C cocoa
3 cups of icing sugar (this may be too much but was the original recipe)
1/3 C milk
1 t vanilla

1. Melt butter and then stir in the cocoa.
2. Add sugar and milk alternatively and beat on a medium speed.
3. Add more milk if necessary.
4. Stir in vanilla.

Hershey's Best Brownies

Ingredients

1 C butter
2 C sugar
2 t vanilla
4 eggs
1 C all purpose flour (plain flour)
3/4 C cocoa
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 C chopped nuts

1. Heat oven to 350F and grease and flour a 13" x 9" x 2" pan.
2. Melt butter, stir in sugar and vanilla.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with spoon after each addition.  Add flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; beat until well blended.
4. Stir in nuts and pour in to pan.
5. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan.
6. Cool completely.

Turkish Chicken Pilau

Serves 4 Cook 30 mins


Ingredients
small handful pine nuts or flaked almonds
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, halved and sliced
2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
500g chicken breast, cubed
250g basmati rice
1 chichen or vegetable stock cube
12 ready­to­eat dried apricots, or currents/raisins
handful fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
500 ml boiling water

1. Dry­ fry the pine nuts or almonds in a large pan until lightly toasted, then tip onto a plate. Add the oil to the pan, then fry the onion and cinnamon together until starting to turn golden. Turn up the heat, stir in the chicken, fry until the meat changes colour, then tip in the rice and cook for 1 min, stirring all the time.
2. Pour in 500ml boiling water, crumble in the stock cube, add the apricots, then season to taste. Turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 12 mins until the rice is tender and the stock has been absorbed. Toss in the pine nuts and mint and serve.

Turkish Bread

Ingredients:

230g strong white wheat flour
200ml warm water
½ tbs olive oil
1 tsp dried yeast
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 egg
1 tbs milk
Sesame seeds
Nigella seeds

Bulgar Wheat and Vegetables

Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: about 20-25 minutes

350 gr/ 12 oz/ 2 cups of coarse organic bulgur wheat, rinsed and drained

2 medium onions, finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, diced

15 ml / 1 tablespoon olive oil

30 ml / 2 tablespoons butter

400 gr /14 oz can of chopped tomatoes

600 ml / 1 pint / 2 1/2 cup hot vegetable or chicken stock or water

1 teaspoon salt – please adjust to your taste -

freshly ground black pepper

chopped parsley for garnish – optional-

Rinse the bulgur under cold running water, drain and set a side.

Sauté the chopped onions in olive oil and butter until soft. Add the green bell pepper and chopped tomatoes, cook for another minute. Add the stock (or water) and bring to boil.

Add the bulgur, salt and ground pepper and stir once. Cover and cook over a low heat until the bulgur has absorbed all the stock and stem holes are visible on the surface. It is important not to stir the pilaf during this time. Remove the pan from the heat. Cover the pan with a cloth or absorbent kitchen paper and the lid over the top. The bulgur will continue cooking in the steam and the cloth will absorb any excess moisture. Leave to stand covered, for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Fluff up the pilaf with a fork and serve hot, garnished with a sprinkling of chopped parsley if you would like.

Red Lentil Soup

1. 1 1/3 cup (about 8 ounces) red lentils, picked through and rinsed
2. 7 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
3. 1 large onion, diced
4. 1 large carrot, diced
5. 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6. 2 tablespoons tomato paste
7. 1 teaspoon ground cumin
8. 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
9. 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
10. Lemon wedges and chopped mint for serving (optional)

Method: 

In a large pot, combine lentils, broth, onion, carrot, garlic, tomato paste, cumin and cayenne and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, until vegetables and very tender and lentils begin to fall apart, about 25 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and use an immersion blender to quickly blend the soup until it is creamy but not completely puréed. Or, you can carefully blend about half the soup in a blender, but use caution when blending hot liquids: blend only in small batches, hold the lid down firmly with a kitchen towel, and begin blending on low speed. Add salt and serve with lemon wedges and a garnish of mint if desired.

Turkish Spinach with Potato Recipes

Spinach with Potato

(Ispanakli Patates)

Ingredients

• Half a bag of spinach (approx 200g), washed. 
• 4 medium sized potatoes peeled and cut into large sections
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 2 large tomatoes
• Tomato puree (I used sundried tomato puree)
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Add olive oil to a pan and sauté the onions and potatoes for a few minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, whizz up the tomatoes and tomato puree in a blender or food processor. 
3. Add the spinach and blended tomato mixture to the pan. Stir to combine. 
4. Put lid on the pan - the steam will cause the spinach to wilt and release extra cooking liquid to the pan. 
5. When spinach has wilted, add salt & pepper to taste, cover and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. 
6. Leave simmering until the potatoes are cooked through. 

Another Potato and Spinach Recipe

1 bunch spinach, washed and drained

7-8 yellow mini potatoes, peeled, cut in half

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium tomato, grated

1 tbsp crushed tomato, in can

50 ml extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Yogurt Sauce:

1/2 cup yogurt

1 garlic clove, mashed with salt

First cut the spinach in large pieces. Saute the onion and potatoes with olive oil for about 4-5 minutes on low heat in a medium pot. Then add the spinach, tomato, crushed tomato, salt and black pepper. Cover the lid and cook until the potatoes are tender on medium-low heat.

Serve Spinach with Potato with the Garlic Yogurt Sauce.

Ginger Fishcakes

Ingredients

4 fillets of firm white fish, skinless and boneless (720g)

• 30g dill, chopped
• 20g mint leaves, chopped
• 10g tarragon, chopped
• 15g ginger, peeled and finely grated
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 3 small garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 2 eggs
• 30g breadcrumbs
• 8 mild, long green peppers (280g net)
• 2 tsp sunflower oil
• Salt and black pepper

Preheat oven to 200C

Cut the fish into tiny dice – 1-2mm. Place in a bowl and add the fresh herbs, ginger, lemon zest, garlic, ground spices, eggs, breadcrumbs, 1½ teaspoon of salt and some black pepper. Mix well and then form into round patties weighing about 55 grams each.
Place a heavy ovenproof iron or chargrill pan on a high heat. When red hot, put the peppers inside and grill for 15 minutes, turning once, until the skin is nicely charred and blistered. Remove from the pan and set aside. Wipe the pan clean and add the 2 teaspoons of oil. Sear the fish cakes for 4 minutes, turning once, then transfer the pan to the oven for 8 minutes, until the fish cakes are cooked through.