Sheridan Rogers » Italian

Chickpea, Garlic and Tomato Soup

Sheridan — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 00:52:56 +0000

A thick, flavoursome peasant-style soup from Italy using pantry ingredients.
Heat the oil in a medium pan and add the garlic. Let it sizzle for a few minutes, then add the fresh rosemary sprigs and the tomatoes. Leave to simmer for 20 minutes – this is an important step as it gives the soup a wonderful flavour.
Drain one tin of chickpeas and wash well. Put into the food processor or blender with some of the stock and puree. Reserve.
Drain the other tin of chickepeas and wash well. Add the whole chickpeas and chickpea puree to the soup along with the remaining stock (add as much stock as you like, but remember this is meant to be a thick soup). Season to taste.
Cook the pasta in rapidly boiling salted water (8 – 10 minutes), drain and add to the soup. Stir well to combine, remove the rosemary sprigs and garlic clove, re-heat and serve immediately.

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Risotto with Sausages and Borlotti Beans

Sheridan — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 22:52:07 +0000

Flavoured with red wine and Italian sausages, this is a terrific dish to serve on a cold winter night.

Heat oil in a large heavy-based saucepan or frying pan. Add onion, celery and pancetta. Cook until vegetables are soft.
Remove sausage skins, add sausage meat to pan and cook until no longer pink. Add half the wine and boil until it has evaporated.
Stir in the rice until grains are coated with oil and translucent.
Start add simmering stock, one ladleful at a time, stirring until absorbed. Continue stirring and adding stock. Halfway through cooking, add remaining red wine and rinsed beans. Finish cooking.
Remove pan from heat, stir in butter and parmesan cheese. Season to taste. Cover with a lid and leave for a few minutes before serving on heated plates.

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Nonna’s Polpettine (Small meatballs)

Sheridan — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:31:47 +0000

One of the recipes Justine Schofield (a finalist in the first MasterChef series) will be demonstrating next Saturday at the Campsie Food Festival.

To make the sauce: heat the oil in a large heavy based saucepan. On medium low heat fry the onion, garlic and anchovies until soft. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves and soften slightly. Add the white wine and cook off for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the passata. Fill the empty jar half way up with water and add to the tomato sauce. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a low heat. Simmer for 1 hour.
For the polpettine: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan and soften onion, chilli and garlic. Remove from pan a cool slightly. In a medium bowl, mix veal and pork mince with beaten eggs, ricotta, parmesan, parsley, thyme, tomato paste, the onion mixture and salt and pepper. With your hands combine well.
Form the mixture into small balls. Drizzle oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the small meatballs until golden. Add to the tomato sauce. Cook on low heat for another 40 minutes.
Serve with penne pasta.

The Campsie Food Festival is a celebration of all things multicultural and delicious. The main street (Beamish Street) is closed to traffic as people sample dishes from Korea, Japan, Thailand, Hungary, Turkey, Fiji, China, Indonesia and more.
More info www.canterbury.nsw.gov.au/www/html/2012-campsie-food-festival.asp

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Scilatelli veloci al pomodoro e basilico (Pasta with tomatoes and basil)

Sheridan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:43:43 +0000

“Here’s a quick and easy way to dress pasta with huge flavour,” says chef Guy Grossi. “It uses fresh ripe tomatoes bursting with flavour. When heated, the tomatoes release their juices forming a luscious coating for the pasta. The pasta has a little ‘chew’ to it which creates texture and depth”.

Wash and core the tomatoes and cut into 1cm cubes. Boil pasta (recipe below), and as it nears its cooking time, heat the olive oil in a pan at high flame and add the garlic. As the garlic starts to brown add the tomatoes and crush with a fork. Add the basil, oregano and parsley, season to taste and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes.
Drain the scilatelli (or penne or spaghetti), and then toss in the pan with the sauce. Serve immediately with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and extra freshly chopped parsley.

To Make the Scilatelli:
Sift and blend flours, make a well and add the eggs, olive oil and a pinch of salt. Mix together to make dough and add water as needed. Knead for 10 minutes, until dough is soft and elastic but not sticky.
Roll out into 1cm thick logs and cut 0.5 cm pieces at a 45degree angle, then place a skewer in the middle of each piece and roll on bench so that pasta is wrapped around the skewer then gently pull out the skewer leaving a hole through the middle of the pasta.

Spaghetti alle Vongole

Sheridan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:43:48 +0000

This tasty dish which I enjoyed recently at Ostaria Da Rioba in Venice is cheap to make and makes a very satisfying meal served with a mixed green leaf salad and crusty bread. Baby clams or pippies are equally good.

Wash the clams under running water then put in a bowl covered with water and leave in the refrigerator overnight, changing the water as often as you can.
An hour before cooking, add a tablespoon of salt to the water to help them expel any sand. Drain and wash again.
In a large frying pan, heat the oil, add the garlic and chilli and toss well. When softened, add the clams and wine, cover with a lid and toss over high heat until they open. Give the pan a few good shakes to distribute the heat.
Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in a large pan of rapidly boiling salted water until “al dente”, about 7 – 8 minutes. Drain. Turn the spaghetti into a large serving bowl, add the clams and toss well, adding plenty of freshly chopped parsley and the lemon juice and zest. Season to taste.

Spaghettoni alla Puttanesca

Sheridan — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:37:40 +0000

A tasty flavoursome dish otherwise knowns as “whore’s spaghetti” – but to understand how it got its name would take a lengthy explanation! One thing is for certain – all the ingredients can be found in an Italian pantry.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water until ‘al dente’. Drain.
In a frying pan, heat the oil, add the garlic and anchovies and cook until anchovies have melted, stirring frequently. Add the tomatoes, olives and capers and season with pepper – taste for salt, but go lightly because the olives, anchovies and capers are all salty. Leave to simmer for 10 – 15 minutes. Remove and toss evenly through the pasta. Garnish with the parsley.

Spaghetti and Spamballs

Sheridan — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:20:48 +0000

I found this recipe in a recent TIME magazine where top American chefs were asked for their favourite SPAM recipes. This one is courtesy of Chef Kerry Simon of Simon(Los Angeles and Las Vegas) who also gave one for SPAM sushi. Apparently Hawaiians love SPAM and one of their favourite ways to eat it is in the form of musubi (pronounced moo-soo-bee) which is a fried slice of spam on rice pressed together to form a small block, then wrapped in seaweed.

Serves 4

500g packet of spaghetti
2 litres water

Tomato Sauce:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 small onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 cans peeled diced tomatoes
2 dried bay leaves
2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

Spamballs:
1 can of Spam

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil for the pasta. Before cooking the pasta, prepare the tomato sauce.
In a frying pan over medium heat saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add salt and pepper.
Once onions have become soft and translucent, 2 – 3 minutes, add tomatoes and herbs and simmer on medium heat for 20 minutes.
Using a large melon baller, scoop out balls of spam. Add to a medium-hot saute pan and toss until golden brown. Once browned, pour sauce over balls and place on low heat.
Add pasta to water and cook to al dente. Strain pasta, add to sauce, combine well and serve.

Minestrone

Sheridan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:08:53 +0000

A wholesome Italian vegetable soup, one of my favourites.

2 onions, finely chopped
60 – 80ml (3 – 4 tbsp) olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
60g streaky bacon or pancetta
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 zucchini, sliced
80g (1/2 cup) shelled peas
4 large ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped
2 litres chicken stock
Bouquet garni: bay leaf and parsely stalk tied together
Salt and freshly cracked pepper
75g (1/3 cup) short-grain rice
1 x 400g tin borlotti beans, drainedand rinsed
2 – 3 tbsp basil pesto and freshly grated parmesan, for serving

In a large pan, sweat the onions, garlic and bacon in the oil until onions and garlic are softened. Add the celery, carrots, potatoes, zucchini and peas and cook until vegetables are softened. Add the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaf, parsley sprig and season to taste. Bring back to simmering point and skim the surface.
Throw in the rice and simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Check seasoning.
Ladle into warm bowls, swirl through a little pesto and pass the parmesan at the table.

Linguine al Tonno, Limone e Rughetta (Linguine with Tuna, Lemon and Rocket)

Sheridan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:14:30 +0000

English cookery writer Diane Seed has lived in Rome for over 25 years and runs a cookery school there from her home adjacent to the magnificent Doria Pamphilj Palace. This tasty pasta dish is one she throws together for impromptu guests using dried pasta and tinned tuna.

Serves 3 – 4

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small dried red chilli, crushed
200g tin tuna in olive oil, drained and flaked
400g linguine
1 – 1 ½ cups (30g – 45g) rocket leaves, coarsely chopped
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt to taste
Freshly cracked pepper

In a large pan, heat the oil and gently cook the garlic and chilli. As the garlic changes colour, add the tuna and stir. Remove and keep warm.
Meanwhile cook the pasta in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water. Drain the pasta into a large serving bowl.
Stir the rocket leaves through the tuna mixture and squeeze over the lemon juice. Spoon tuna and rocket mixture over pasta and toss to combine. Season with salt and freshly cracked pepper. Serve immediately.

Tip: use flat leaf parsley if rocket is unavailable. A few sliced small black olives (nicoise or ligurian) are a nice addition.

Pesto-Tossed Green and Yellow Beans

Sheridan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:44:10 +0000

I love simple elegant dishes like this one. It goes well with roast or barbecued meats.

Serves 4

400g stringless fresh beans (mixed yellow and green) ,
topped and tailed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons good-quality pesto
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Blanch the beans in boiling salted water – keep them ‘al dente’. Drain and refresh under cold water.
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the beans and pesto and toss well to coat the beans all over with the pesto. Add the pine nuts, mix to combine and serve immediately.

Tip: you can substitute unsalted macadamias for the pine nuts. Basil pesto made with macadamias is fabulous!