One of Florek’s most beloved pasta dishes. Ask him what he wants to eat next week, while making Ocado shopping list, there is 90% chance he’ll say -carbonara.

I am, of course, aware of the controversies around making carbonara in Britain, using or not using cream ( I always have done), parmesan or pecorino? Garlic? Mushrooms, God forbid? This morning on telly Rick Stein was making his version, inspired by his stay in Sardinia. His plate of carbonara looked so beautiful, I convinced Florek that eating out last night was not what we’d do. We’d go to Whole Foods, get a chunk of smoked pancetta ( Michele told me later I need to try it with Guanciale, I certainly will have my eyes open when in Tuscany in October), a chunk of pecorino romano and we’d stay at home. We already had a bowl of fresh farm eggs and a good bottle of wine in the fridge.

So today I’ve made my carbonara without cream for the first time, I did, sadly, scramble the eggs- I feel it’s more difficult when a splash of cream is added. That pancetta, fried till crispy, was fantastic. It had the flavour of good pork, smoked and scrumptious. 2 cloves of garlic, crushed, cooked spaghetti in. Lots of fresh parsley. Grated pecorino ( unmistakable sheepy flavour, yum!), beaten eggs. We’ve finished the whole lot. When in Italy it will be a must to have a plate of carbonara prepared by some Italiano vero.  🙂

A brief strike of genius… 🙂 I defrosted that remaining pork pibil from last time and wrapped it up in all butter puff pastry,  added a bit of cheese inside and  served pork pibil empanadas with guacamole this evening. We ate the lot and enjoyed it a lot.  🙂

Much happier with it than with the scallops the other day.  I’ve made it and destroyed the whole lot, but I haven’t had the real thing as of yet, so can’t really say how authentic it was.

I used Hairy Bikers’ recipe for the sauce and only for the sauce, as they roasted the whole duck, I only pan fried the breast. Also, hasselback potatoes seemed like a nice idea to me, cooked in duck fat, they were a treat!

So the sauce; a shallot, thinly sliced, sauteed on duck fat, after a few minutes 2 tbsps of cointreau added and a good splash of white wine. Freshly squeezed orange juice, maybe half a glass. All this reduced a little.  Some orange bits to add texture to the sauce. 2 tsps of orange marmalade- that was a genius move, I loved the slight bitterness it brought in. And then finished with some cornflour to thicken it all up. Really nice. Duck breast made the usual way, all served with French beans, some broccoli and the mentioned hasselbacks. Eaten to the last bit. 🙂

Wow, my French! 🙂

I had some frozen scallops from Whole Foods, looked through GF website for some inspiration and found this, all the ingredients apart from fish stock were in the pantry, bottle of Chardonnay in the fridge, so I made it. Only for myself, as Florek is in America.  It is a nice dish, but I think I’d have enjoyed it more if it wasn’t for the current heatwave, I could feel the sweat on my back as I was munching through it.  Might try it again in autumn some time.

Goemon Ishikawa, former sushi chef in Dinings once gave me some scallop shells, so I could serve them properly today. It does make a difference, I must say.

So first, a good, buttery mash, seasoned well and spiked with a touch of nutmeg, delicious, waiting for its turn in a piping bag.  I sliced all my scallops horizontally and poached them for 2 minutes in a mixture of fish stock and chardonnay, equal quantities. Removed the scallops and reduced the stock/wine while pan frying a shallot and 2 chestnut mushrooms in some butter, a tbsp of flour added to make  a loose roux, then the stock. Finished with a splash of double cream and seasoned. I piped the mash around the scallop shells, arranged the sauce in the middle and put the scallop pieces in it( I later realized I was supposed to mix them in with the sauce and then spoon it out), some breadcrumbs on top and into the oven for about 12 minutes, 190 degrees.

Nice, creamy, rich dish. But it couldn’t even dream of topping the scallops that are served in Dinings.

Sunday, therefore fresh pasta.  Yesterday in Saturday Kitchen puttanesca was somebody’s food heaven, accompanied by fresh focaccia, so I looked it up. I looked at Nigella’s and read a nice little article comparing what Gennaro, Jamie and Angela Hartnett had to say on “whore’s pasta”.  We gave up on focaccia this evening, we decided we’re not hungry enough for both, but it might still get done mid week. While Florek The Husband was getting on with fresh spaghetti, I made the sauce. Simple, delicious, flavoursome and moreish. 4 anchovies chopped and fried on olive oil, 2 crushed garlic cloves in. Half a tsp of chili flakes in( could have taken more), a handful of chopped capers. Kalamata olives, pitted, chopped, about twice as much as the capers. And then tomatoes; I used half a can of Italian tomatoes, a tsp of tomato puree and about 15 cherry tomatoes, blanched and skinned- all blitzed together into a flavoursome passata. Nigella just recommends tinned tomatoes, I didn’t see why not use the lovely, sweet cherry tomatoes. It all reduced for a few minutes, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, some basil and that’s it.  We loved it and would have pigged more if there was more.  Fab!

As pledged ( election in the UK next month), fresh pasta on Sunday evening happened again. This time roasted coquina squash, blue cheese( St Agur), roasted garlic, shallot and pine nuts made into a filling.  Served with a simple tomato sauce and basil. Once again, rather excellent. Next fresh pasta will be spaghetti or tagliatelle. 🙂

The new pasta machine has arrived.  🙂

We’ve spent a lovely hour in the kitchen, the three of us, Florek making pasta and rolling it out, me stuffing it and cutting out, Izzie playing with flour, making mess and being happy for being included in making our dinner. Good times.

And even better result, I think I should make a 5 star category here, that really was one of the nicest pasta dishes we ever made.

Asparagus is turning up now, British, not Italian or Chilean, ours, from Cotswolds, from Evesham. Fresh, crunchy and fantastically flavoursome. I bought 2 bunches in Hayles Farm, tossed it in olive oil, seasoned lightly and chargrilled for a few minutes. The filling for ravioli was a mixture of finely chopped cup mushrooms and shallots, fried, one large cooked potato, squeezed through the ricer, some grated parmesan and some thyme from the garden, a splash of truffle oil too. Cooked ravioli I still tossed with some bacon lardons, finished with parmesan shavings, more truffle oil. Phenomenal. We might make Sundays pasta days, making it from scratch is so rewarding.

Second time I’ve ordered halibut from Ocado, very tasty, a tad expensive though. But I figure if we’re to eat fish once a week, let it be a good fish.  I saw a nice recipe which uses pesto, but I had none and no basil to make it, what I had was a jar of “truffle pesto” from Sacla.  A nice enough condiment, the amount of truffles in it rather modest, to be frank.

I seasoned my fish, covered with a thin layer of the “pesto”, then a bit of a chestnut mushroom duxelle and a few cherry tomatoes. Into the oven, 200 degrees, 15 minutes. Served with green beans and crushed new potatoes. Nice.

Ken made it last weekend, I took the recipe straight away. Had to pop out and get some red wine good enough to marinate the chicken in, but not necessary my favourite Catena cab sav, that was sitting on the rack.

I used boneless chicken thigs, so that certain people had no reason to complain. Seasoned them with salt and pepper, crushed 2 cloves of garlic and threw it all into the dish alongside some bay leaves and rosemary sprigs. Quite a lot of wine to cover the chicken, but none was wasted, as the next day we enjoyed a rich, lovely sauce. It marinated in the fridge overnight, today I took it out, drained the chicken, saving the marinade, dusted with flour and quickly pan fried together with 2 sliced cloves of garlic. Then onto the baking dish with 3 fillets of anchovy, a handful of black olives, a can of tomatoes and the marinade. Covered, baked in 180 degress for 1,5 hour filling with the house with wonderful smell.

Served with rice and asparagus( I saw British asparagus on sale already today, £4 per bunch, won’t be long now!). 🙂