Jamie's Italian

[Yoda]

I'm well up for this thread. Can you share your recipe for bolognese?

Ragu di carne alla bolognese

60g diced pancetta
1 medium onion, 1 stalk celery, 1 carrot, all finely chopped
4 tbsp butter
300g minced beef
125g minced pork
125g italian pork sausage, peeled and crumbled
1 freshly ground clove
pinch of cinnamon
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
450g tnned tomatoes
250ml milk
sat to taste

Combine the pancetta, onion, celery and carrot in a frying pan with the butter and cook over a medium heat until the onion trns pale gold.
Add the beef, pork and sausage and cook until browned.
Sprinkle with the clove, cinnamon and pepper.
Stir in the tomatoes and cook over a medium heat for 15 minutes.
Add the milk and season with salt.
Turn the heat down to low and simmer for at least 2 1/2 hours, stirring frequently.

For my version I add:

125ml red wine
2 tbsp tomato puree

Follow as above but;
-Add the red wine at the same time as the tomatoes and simmer of an extra 30 minutes (45 in total)
-Add the tomato puree at the same time as the milk.

 

[gjh1971]

I can highly recommend the DK (Dorling Kindersly) 'Pasta' book by Eric Treuille and Anna Del Conte. It has some brilliant simple quick pasta recipes. The ones with scallops are excellent. It also has some tips on how to cook pasta and fold the ingredients in. This might seem strange but I discovered I was always over draining mine....leaving a bit more water in non-hollow pasta like spag makes a big difference.

It doesnt claim to be authentic but it is bloody good and a darn site better and quicker than so called 'convenience' food.

That would make a good birthday present

 

[Lord Bracknell]

How to cook a sauce for pasta - as taught to me by my landlady in Italy.

Chop finely a quantity of onions and a few cloves of garlic. Fry in olive oil until things start to brown. Add some ground meat. Add salt and loads of ground black pepper. Stir and fry until you can't see any pink meat and the mixture has started to cook. Add loads of oregano and stir well into everything that is cooking. Stir in the quantity of tomato pulp (or passata) that you fancy using. Cover and simmer slowly for a long time.

Adjust quantities next time, to suit your personal taste. Omit the meat entirely if you want. If you do that, though, you must still let it simmer slowly for ages (at least 40 minutes).

Do not use carrots, mushrooms or any wine or other liquid. I guess it's OK to experiment with alternative or additional herbs.

What you should aim for is a sauce that is mixed with whatever pasta you are using, not a meat dish that sits on top of a bed of pasta. What gets added at the end is more pepper and loads of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

 

[CHAPPERS]

How to cook a sauce for pasta - as taught to me by my landlady in Italy.

Chop finely a quantity of onions and a few cloves of garlic. Fry in olive oil until things start to brown. Add some ground meat. Add salt and loads of ground black pepper. Stir and fry until you can't see any pink meat and the mixture has started to cook. Add loads of oregano and stir well into everything that is cooking. Stir in the quantity of tomato pulp (or passata) that you fancy using. Cover and simmer slowly for a long time.

Adjust quantities next time, to suit your personal taste. Omit the meat entirely if you want. If you do that, though, you must still let it simmer slowly for ages (at least 40 minutes).

Do not use carrots, mushrooms or any liquid. I guess it's OK to experiment with alternative or additional herbs.

What you should aim for is a sauce that is mixed with whatever pasta you are using, not a meat dish that sits on top of a bed of pasta. What gets added at the end is more pepper and loads of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

That's more like it. I'm gonna start using passata more.

And better mince.

 

[Easy 10]

Why not just walk normally ?

 

[Yoda]

How to cook a sauce for pasta - as taught to me by my landlady in Italy.

Chop finely a quantity of onions and a few cloves of garlic. Fry in olive oil until things start to brown. Add some ground meat. Add salt and loads of ground black pepper. Stir and fry until you can't see any pink meat and the mixture has started to cook. Add loads of oregano and stir well into everything that is cooking. Stir in the quantity of tomato pulp (or passata) that you fancy using. Cover and simmer slowly for a long time.

Adjust quantities next time, to suit your personal taste. Omit the meat entirely if you want. If you do that, though, you must still let it simmer slowly for ages (at least 40 minutes).

Do not use carrots, mushrooms or any liquid. I guess it's OK to experiment with alternative or additional herbs.

What you should aim for is a sauce that is mixed with whatever pasta you are using, not a meat dish that sits on top of a bed of pasta. What gets added at the end is more pepper and loads of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

She wasn't from the south originally was she? That sounds like something my girlfriends mum used to make, they're from near Napoli.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

This is my favourite pasta dish at the mo: Scallops with garlic and crisp crumbs.

Serves 4
500g dried pasta (medium ribbons like linguine fettuccine)
8 tbsp extra virgin oil
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 tbsp parsley chopped
60g dried breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp crushed chilli flakes
12 scallops cut into quarters
salt pepper

Cook pasta as per instructions. Whilst this is cooking heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the garlic, parsley, breadcrumbs and chilli and cook over a high heat for 1 minute. Add scallops and cook until the just turn opaque..1-2 minutes. Aim to have all the stuff finished cooking at the same time. Add salt and pepper, mix it all up and serve.

Piss easy and fantastic.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

This is my favourite pasta dish at the mo: Scallops with garlic and crisp crumbs.

Serves 4
500g dried pasta (medium ribbons like linguine fettuccine)
8 tbsp extra virgin oil
2 cloves garlic chopped
2 tbsp parsley chopped
60g dried breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp crushed chilli flakes
12 scallops cut into quarters
salt pepper

Cook pasta as per instructions. Whilst this is cooking heat the oil in a large frying pan. Add the garlic, parsley, breadcrumbs and chilli and cook over a high heat for 1 minute. Add scallops and cook until the just turn opaque..1-2 minutes. Aim to have all the stuff finished cooking at the same time. Add salt and pepper, mix it all up and serve.

Piss easy and fantastic.

..and if you want the full on Guardian holier-than-though meal deal cycle down to Brighton and Newhaven Fish Sales at Shoreham Harbour to get the scallops!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

That would make a good birthday present

Most certainly would...do you know me?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

She wasn't from the south originally was she? That sounds like something my girlfriends mum used to make, they're from near Napoli.

Well spotted. Although I lived in southern Tuscany, my landlady came from Naples.

Incidentally ... the long cooking time was not only necessary to get the sauce to the right consistency, but it also used up the time that was taken to prepare the pasta - starting, of course, with a bag of flour, not a packet of anything.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Alfresco's on teh seafront last saturday...sat out after cycling along the seafront with the mrs and had Smoked Salmon with green salad. It was about £8 each but was fabulous.

Not that far off losing two stone since Feb...wooohoo.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

What is the point of the theboyOliver opening yet another Italian restaurant in a city already full of them? And last time I looked, he wasn't Italian - unlike the owners of Albion sponsors Donatello/Fratelli/Fat Leo's, and AlDuomo/Al Forno, the former hangouts of the '79 promotioon squad.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

If we're doing favourite pasta dishes this mine:

Chilli & Prawn Linguine

To serve 4 you'll need:

375g Linguine or spaghetti
15g Butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 garlic clove
2 spring onions finely chopped
2 red chillies deseeded and thinly sliced
450g frozen large peeled prawns defrosted
Juice from half a lemon
2 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves
Season to taste

Beauty of this one is that it takes little more than 10 minutes to prepare and cook .

1. Boil pasta in large saucepan
2. After about three or four minutes melt the butter with the oil in a large frying pan
3. Add garlic, spring onions and chillies and cook for 2-3 minutes
4. Add prawns and heat through
5. Add lemon juice and coriander and mix well.
6. Remove from heat
7. Drain pasta add to prawn mixture and mix well.
8. Serve immediately.

 

[Questions]

Well spotted. Although I lived in southern Tuscany, my landlady came from Naples.

Incidentally ... the long cooking time was not only necessary to get the sauce to the right consistency, but it also used up the time that was taken to prepare the pasta - starting, of course, with a bag of flour, not a packet of anything.

My mother who was Italian said only the rich would cook a Bolognese sauce. The poor folk would eat it Napolitano............. your recipe but without the meat and as a antipasta as well. (or starter to you ignorant lot)

 

[The Large One]

How 'authentic' it is, I don't know, but I am rather enamoured with Si Signore in Sydney Street.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

My mother who was Italian said only the rich would cook a Bolognese sauce. The poor folk would eat it Napolitano............. your recipe but without the meat and as a antipasta as well. (or starter to you ignorant lot)

If you want an economy meal ... there's not a lot wrong with a bowl of plain pasta, served with a knob of butter, plenty of black pepper and a sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese.

Total preparation time - something like four minutes.

 

[Questions]

If you want an economy meal ... there's not a lot wrong with a bowl of plain pasta, served with a knob of butter, plenty of black pepper and a sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese.

Total preparation time - something like four minutes.

Thats how my old mum used to do it for us when we were broke..........

I do despair of the English though when they eat in an Italian restaurant because they think that it is only pasta and pizza that Italians eat. Maybe its a price thing but there are a wealth of lovely dishes on page 3,4 and 5 of the menu but you may have to pay more than 6.95 for them.

 

[csider]

Housemate went last week and said it was ace, its just pasta though, how hard can it be?

very hard if not cooked!!!

 

[Tom Bombadil]

What is the point of the theboyOliver opening yet another Italian restaurant in a city already full of them? And last time I looked, he wasn't Italian - unlike the owners of Albion sponsors Donatello/Fratelli/Fat Leo's, and AlDuomo/Al Forno, the former hangouts of the '79 promotioon squad.

I think the pont is that Donatello is possibly the worst Italian restaurant ever.

 

[Mr Banana]

Pretty much all the stuff that can be pre-prepared is apparently, in Northampton. A guy I know said his mate (I know) went along for a chef job there and seemingly there was very little actual cooking to be done. He didn't take the job because he didn't become a chef to reheat stuff.

Obviously a load of old shit. However, I have remembered why I won't be going there now.