Ricotta Tortellini with Broad Bean, Tomato and Purple Basil Salad

I am a magpie. On my days off around Bristol I can't stop myself picking up (and buying - obviously) random shiny sparkly glistening gastronomic gems. This weeks haul was some fresh ricotta from Murray's Italian deli in Clevedon, some amazing purple basil from Stourhead farm shop and some local broad beans. Not too difficult to pull a nice summery dish together from this lot - try making something from the quince jelly, smoked sausage and cold pressed rapeseed oil that I bought from the Foodie festival last week!

I have to show you this photo of my tortellini. I was so proud to see them all lined up and ready to cook. Over the last two years my thick, clumsy, uncoordinated excuses for fingers have become adept at making really quite passable pasta. Try making your own fresh pasta, it doesn't matter if you mess it up. Tortellini are probably the most tricky to master but an easier option is just to cut circles of dough and fold over a blob of filling to make 'half moon' ravioli. Even easier, just make fettuccine and run the salad through the pasta at the end, topping with ricotta and parmesan - lets be honest, it will taste the same. A pasta machine makes life easier but don't buy one unless you plan to use it regularly, a rolling pin and some patience works almost as well. To feed four as a starter or 2 as a main:

Ingredients:

'OO' pasta flour - 400g

Free range eggs - 4

Fresh Ricotta - 250g

Grated Parmesan - large handful

Lemon, juice and zest - 1

Broad Beans - 500g

Super ripe tomato - 1 or 2

Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 50ml

Purple (or Green) Basil - small handful

Salt and Pepper

Method:

Pasta dough is very easy to make, be brave! The quantities of egg and flour are always the same: 100g flour + 1 egg (you can scale up to any quantity of dough required). Put the flour and eggs in a food processor and blitz together with a pinch of salt until a dough forms. If it is a little dry, add a splash of olive oil. Wrap in cling-film and chill for 1/2 hour.

Pod and blanch your beans and refresh in ice cold water. Remove the leathery pods once cold and set beans aside. De-seed and chop the tomato, mix in a bowl with the olive oil, the beans, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon - allow the flavours to get to know one another for 1/2 hour outside the fridge. Mix the ricotta with the parmesan, lemon zest and a little juice and season to taste.

To make the pasta using a machine - pull off 1/3 of the dough and dust with flour. Shape into a thinnish disk and begin to run through the pasta machine with the rollers set to their widest setting. Take the resulting rectangle of pasta and fold the ends into the centre. Turn the pasta square 90 degrees and run through the machine again dusting with flour as you go. Repeat 6 to 8 times until the pasta is smooth and glossy. Now start reducing the width of the rollers by one notch and run the pasta through again omitting the folding stage. Keep running it through and reducing the roller width until the pasta has been through on the thinnest setting. If you don't have a machine, knead well and use a rolling pin and try to get the dough as thin as possible.

To make tortellini, cut the rolled dough into 10cm squares and spoon a generous blob of ricotta filling into the centre of each square - to make even tortellini, make sure the filling quantity is the same each time. Using a little water and your finger, wet a semi-circle around the filling and fold the edge of the pasta nearest you, over the filling and to join the other edge furthest away from you.   Press around the filling to remove any air and seal.   Using a suitable round cutter or knife, cut around the filling leaving a 10mm edge to make 'half moon' ravioli. You can stop here if you wish? With the straight edge facing you and using your thumb, roll the filling 90 degrees away from you so that the pointy edges of the pasta are up in the air. Wet one point and pull both together into the middle and stick together.   Continue to roll the pasta away from you to release from the work surface and voila - one tortellini.   Reshape a little and place on a floured tray - repeat to make 12 in total. Fresh pasta will keep for a day or so in the fridge uncovered before it starts to discolour.   Don't worry if it dries out a bit, this is actually a good thing.

Cook the pasta for 2 mins in boiling salted water, drain and serve with the salad. Let me know how you get on - any questions happily received.

Posh Lamb Kebabs with Houmous, Roast Garlic Yoghurt, Chopped Salad & Harissa

Like all beer loving lads, there have been shady times in my culinary life when I have succumbed to a dirty kebab after a nights boozing (cue anecdote about Britain's funniest kebab shop name: 'Jason's Doner Van').   The sad thing is that kebabs don't have to be seedy, be made of some unidentifiable protein or resemble an Elephant's foot.    They can be low fat, packed with the nutritious good stuff and be very cost effective to make.   


There are a couple of cheats you can exercise here if you want to accelerate the progression of kebab from shopping basket to stomach.   No.1 - shop bought houmous is a very acceptable (if slightly more expensive) cheat.   No.2 - You may also substitute the garlic yoghurt for shop bought Tzatziki.    Cheat No.3 - shop bought flat breads are also OK.   Another option are the amazing Bristol made Abunoor pitta breads sold in the 'Better Food Company' shops in St Werburgh's and on White Ladies Road.


At the pub we had some Somerset lamb leg and pizza dough left over from the weekend - I just couldn't help myself, I had to put kebabs on the menu and very popular they are too (especially with several ice cold pints - old habits die hard!).   For four:


Ingredients:
Thick lamb leg steaks - 500g
Tinned Chickpeas, drained - 1x 400g tin
Tahini (Optional) - 2tbsp
Lemon Juice - 3 lemons worth
White Cabbage, finely shredded - 200g
Large Ripe Tomatoes, seeded and finely diced - 3
Cucumber, seeded removed and finely diced - 1/2
Red Onion, finely chopped - 1/2
Fresh Coriander, finely chopped - 1 small bunch
Fresh Mint, finely chopped - 1/2 small bunch
Harissa Paste - 1 tbsp
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 150ml
Garlic - 2 heads
Quality Greek Yoghurt (Total Brand) - 1 small tub
Strong White Flour - 500g
Dried Yeast - 1 tbsp
Salt and Pepper


Method:
The night before, season your yoghurt with salt and tip into a cloth lined sieve over a bowl.   A clean Jey cloth or tea towel works well here.   Put in the fridge and allow to drain overnight -  this makes the yoghurt much thicker.


An hour before you want to eat, remove 2 cloves of garlic from the heads, foil wrap the remainder and bake at 200c for 30 mins.    Put the flour and yeast and a pinch of salt in a bowl.   Add some blood temperature water (approx 200ml) and knead well until you have a soft elastic dough.   Cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place to prove.    Next make the houmous - tip the chickpeas, 2 cloves of garlic, the tahini, juice of 1 lemon and 100ml of the olive oil into a food processor and blend until smooth.   Season and add more lemon if required.   If the mixture is too thick add a little water.    


For the salad, mix the cabbage, tomato, coriander, mint, cucumber and onion in a bowl and refrigerate.   When the roast garlic is soft, cut through the middle of each head and squeeze out the pulp discarding the skins.   Mix into the strained yoghurt (discard the juice in the bowl) with a pinch of salt.     Last thing, mix the harissa paste with a little oil and lemon juice to make a runny oily dressing.   Right - now the cooking:


There are several ways to cook your flat bread depending on what equipment you have at home.   You can use a barbeque, griddle pan, large frying pan, grill or oven - the method is basically the same.   Knock back (knead) the doughball to remove some of the air and divide into 4.   Flour a work surface and roll out the balls to an approx 30cm circle.   Rub a little oil into both surfaces and sprinkle with salt - bake, fry or grill using a high heat for a minute or so on each side until the bread is cooked and golden in places.   Thin bread is the key to success here.


Meanwhile season and cook your lamb in a hot frying pan or on the barbeque - you want it medium really but the cooking times depend on the thickness of the lamb steaks.   Keep prodding the meat with your finger - it is medium when the outside is nicely browned but there is still a little bit of 'spring' in the middle.   Allow to rest for a few mins.     To assemble the dish, put the warm flatbread on a plate, add a spoonful of garlic yoghurt and one of houmous.   Dress the salad with lemon juice and olive oil and put a good handful on each flatbread.    Slice the warm lamb thinly and divide between the plates and dress with the fiery harissa to taste.   


The plating of this dish allows a minor experiment in behavioural science to be conducted.    The culturally evolved will tear the flat bread base into chunks and dip daintily into the houmous and yoghurt.   Others will roll up the lot and stuff into their gobs like slavering animals.   Could be an interesting test of a potential partner if you are on a first date.    Actually, what would more interesting is the type of person who would serve a kebab on a first date........Erm......I'm going to stop writing now.

Masala Dosa - South Indian Crispy Rice Pancake

A dosa is an Indian rice pancake - a common South Indian breakfast or lunch dish, but not common at all in UK curry houses.   This is a quick dish to make and very very cheap - maybe £1 per portion.   The main effort will be to find an Indian grocers to get curry leaves and Dosa mix.   It may seem like cheating to use a ready mix, but Dosa flour is a bit of an effort to make and this dish tastes so great, who cares.    I use the 'Gits' brand that I have seen in just about every Indian supermarket (for reference I got mine at Bristol Sweet Mart)

As with many things in life, the bigger your Dosa, the more your partner will be impressed.   The ones I ate in India were 50cm in diameter, but you will be limited by the size of your frying pan.   You need a really good non-stick pan to make these (see my frying pan advice on my Chang Mai noodle recipe?).   For 4 people:

Ingredients:

Floury potato such as Maris Piper - 3 to 4 large ones

Ghee, melted butter - 4 tbsp (use veg oil here if you want a vegan outcome)

Vegetable oil for frying the Dosa

Black mustard seeds - 1 tbsp

Fresh curry leaves - 1 small handful

Onion, finely diced - 1 medium

Garlic, crushed - 3 cloves

Fresh ginger, grated - a thumb sized piece

Turmeric - 1 tsp

Salt and black pepper to taste

Dosa batter, made up as per instructions - 1 packet

Method:

Microwave the potatoes until cooked, allow to cool a little and scoop out the flesh discarding the skins.   In the oil or butter, fry onion, the black mustard seeds and curry leaves until fragrant, they will pop and crackle a bit.   Toss in the garlic and fry until golden.    Add the ginger and fry for a further minute before adding in the turmeric, potato and seasoning.  Mix well mashing the potato a bit as you go.   You should end up with a lumpy yellow mash speckled with the onion and spices.   Taste and season again if necessary.

Heat you pan and add a good glug of veg oil.   Swirl around the pan to coat then add a ladle full off batter mix.   Shake the pan to evenly coat the base.    You can add more batter mix if necessary but try to get dosa as thin as possible.   Put the pan over a high heat.   Once the batter has solidified, sprinkle the dosa liberally with a more oil and continue to cook until the underside is golden brown.   Don’t be tempted to try and free the dosa until it is golden brown or it will fall to bits, it should pop off the base of the pan when it is ready.

Remove the dosa to a plate cooked side down.   Place ¼ of the potato mix off centre on the pancake and roll the pancake loosely so that the join is underneath and the weight of the potato mix holds the pancake in a roll.   It should look like a big tube with a small amount of filling in the middle and the filling should not touch the top of the tube.

This method of cooking means that you will be serving one dosa at a time.  Before you stuff and roll the dosa, you can keep the pancakes warm in the oven then stuff and serve all at once.   However you may find it difficult to roll them – just so you know, it is acceptable to just fold the dosa over the potato mix which is much easier!

Masala dosa is traditionally served with a curry gravy called a sambar, but I prefer this with a sliced onion & tomato salad and a home made chutney for which I have provided some recipes for you to try.   

Now get stuck in.   Ruin your shirt by breaking bits off the dosa and scooping up the potato curry and chutney – you are guaranteed to get it all down you!!