Here are some recipes for you to try out at home.
These recipes are designed to be cooked at my stall, so they are simple and they use a minimal amount of equipment, so they are ideal to make when you have just got home from work and you don't want a load of dishes.
A useful piece of equipment to own is a spaghetti basket, this is a cylindrical basket that sits inside the cooking pot and you cook your pasta inside and when the pasta is ready you can just lift out that basket and let the water drain into the pot. Get yourself a large, deep metal bowl. Both these items can be got cheaply from any catering supplies store. (Try Nisbet’s)
The recipes are for one, (except the Ragu, which will serve four) so if you are cooking for more just do the math.
You can use whichever pasta shape you prefer for these dishes.
All the recipes are available to print as PDF or click each individual recipe below to expand ingredients.
Lemon, Basil and Parmesan
Ingredients
- 125g Pasta
- 40g Parmesan or Grana Padana, finely grated
- 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 10 Basil leaves, torn up
Method
- Cook pasta in boiling salted water
- While pasta is cooking, put all the other ingredients into a large metal bowl, or another large saucepan.
- When the pasta is cooked, drain, but try and keep the pasta slightly wet, toss it into the other ingredients and quickly stir. The cheese will melt into the other ingredients and will coat the pasta. If it seems to dry just add a little more of the cooking water and stir.
- Plate up.
- Sprinkle with more cheese and eat.
- The cheese should make this dish salty enough but you can add black pepper to taste
Spicy Tomato, Vodka and Cream
Ingredients
- 125g Pasta
- 2 tbsp good Tomato Sauce
- 1 tbsp cream
- Pinch chilli flakes
- 25ml Vodka
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Cook pasta in boiling salted water
- While the pasta is cooking put all the other ingredients into a metal bowl or a saucepan, if you are using a spaghetti basket you can put the bowl on top of this, just to take the chill off the sauce.
- When the pasta is ready, drain and add immediately to the sauce and stir together.
- Plate up.
- Sprinkle with cheese and eat.
Carbonara
Ingredients
- 125g Pasta
- 50g chopped cooked smoky bacon
- 1 whole egg
- 40g Parmesan or Grana
- Black pepper
Method
- Cook pasta in boiling salted water
- While pasta is cooking, crack egg into a metal bowl, add a tablespoon of the cooking water and whisk till frothy.
- When the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the bowl followed quickly by the other ingredients (it helps if the bacon is still hot) stir briskly.
- Plate up.
- Sprinkle with more cheese and eat.
Spicy Pangritata
Ingredients
- 125g Pasta
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small clove garlic
- 50g breadcrumbs (preferably ciabatta)
- pinch dried chilli
- pinch fresh thyme leaves
- Salt and pepper
Method
- Cook pasta in boiling salted water
- Fry the breadcrumbs in the olive oil for a couple of minutes, add the chilli, garlic and thyme and continue cooking until the crumbs are golden and crispy, season.
- Drain the pasta and toss into the pangritata.
- You can improvise with this dish by adding things like olives, sundried tomatoes, anchovies, salami, etc.
- Plate up and eat.
Rabbit Ragu
This stew will serve four, but feel free to make it and freeze a couple of portions. Either way you will probably only need about 100g pasta per portion.
Ingredients
- 4 Rabbit legs
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Knob of butter
- 1 small carrot, onion and a stick of celery, finely chopped
- 2 clove garlic
- 2 tsp chopped thyme and rosemary
- 1 tsp tomato puree
- 1/2 glass white wine
- 250ml chicken stock
Method
- Brown the legs in the oil and butter
- Remove from the pan and add the veg and cook for 5 mins until lightly coloured
- Add garlic and puree, cook for 2 minutes, add legs and wine, reduce for 2 minutes and add stock.
- Simmer with a loose fitting lid or a piece of foil for 45 mins.
- Remove the legs and strip the meat, discard the bones and put the meat back into the stew.
- Add some chopped parsley and serve.
