Experimenting with Trofie pasta ....

I didn't set out to experiment with Trofie pasta, but it just turned out that way.  I was planning the week's meals and wanted a pasta meal.  I'm a bit bored with all the "something and bacon" or "leek and something" or "something in tomato sauce" pastas that we've had lately (well, you'd know if you've been following along on the blog's Facebook page!  *wink*) when I remembered that useful substance that is pesto.

I hasten to explain, that I was also looking for an easy pasta dinner.  I am just so fed up with meals that take for EVER to cook and mean I spend the whole day - in instalments - in the kitchen thrashing around, washing up, getting over it, doing it all over again - you get the picture.

So having remembered pesto, I had a quick peek on the Asda's online shopping website to see what types were available to us and decided upon their Ricotta and Red Pepper pesto.  It sounded rather less aggressive than other red pesto (sundried tomato can be a bit caustic on the tummy) and I just didn't want to go for the green in this instance.  I noticed that the label made mention of the fact that it hailed originally from Liguria in Italy.

I knew we didn't have any pasta in the cupboard that would be suitable for pesto, so had a look - well, I was there already - on the website for something suitable to put on the shopping list.  Lo and behold, there was one which hailed originally from Liguria!  Well, it had to be done.  So now you know how come we wound up with Trofie pasta.

Trofie is very cute, being small pieces of pasta dough that have been rolled on a small dowelling to make an interesting shape that is tapered - a bit like a tiny, straight, croissant.  When they cook - and they take a bit longer than the normal 9-10 minutes - they wind up a little chewy, with the thicker part - in the middle - remaining al dente.  This is not the sort of pasta to throw down in a hurry because you have to be out soon!

Now, I had pasta, I had pesto - but pesto and pasta doth not a dinner make.  At least, not in our house.  I pondered on what meat to use and after quite a bit of consideration, decided on gammon.  I reckoned that a couple of gammon steaks, cooked in the slow cooker (easy peasy) and flaked into the pasta would work.

Hmmn, what about veggies?   Had to include some veggies - it's just not proper otherwise.  Mushrooms were a definite - lightly fry some mushrooms off while the pasta cooked.  Yup, that'd work.  No need for onion or garlic, as it's all in the pesto.  I had a half a jar of griddled red and yellow peppers that were in olive oil, so they could be sliced and added too.  Sounds like a plan!

Well, it all worked very nicely.  While the pasta was cooking, I got on with the mushrooms, then added the gammon, sliced peppers and pesto to warm through.  I added a couple of ladlefuls of the pasta water (so make sure not to over salt it!) just to let the pesto down a little and once the pasta was drained, mixed the contents of the two pans together and we were ready for the off.

Son and heir really hates olives, so I plated up his portion and threw a handful of olives into the remainder for hubby and I.  Some parmesan cheese on top finished the dish.

The verdict?  It was really rather scrummy.  I think it would go nicely with gnocchi as well as the Trofie pasta - and can see the Trofie pasta being really good with a tuna/lemon combination in the summer.

As an easy to prepare, tasty, comforting dish - it absolutely hit the spot.  Can't ask for more than that!

GAMMON, MUSHROOM & PESTO PASTA   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

550g gammon steaks
sufficient stock to cover
2 bay leaves
freshly ground black pepper
300g Trofie pasta
1-2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
5-6 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
half a jar of griddled peppers, sliced
300g red pepper & ricotta pesto
a handful of green olives, rinsed and halved (optional).

Method :

1.  Pour the stock into your slow cooker and switch to full.  Add the bay leaves and a good pinch of pepper, then lay the gammon steaks in.  Close the lid and leave to cook for 5 hours.  At the end of the cooking time, remove from the slow cooker and flake, taking care to remove all the fat.

2.  Fill a large pan with water and add a small pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil and add the pasta - cook according to packet instructions.  When cooked, drain - but retain some of the cooking water.

3.  Heat the oil in a frying pan and lightly fry the mushrooms until just softened.  Add the flaked gammon, sliced peppers and pesto.  Stir to combine - if the mixture is a bit stiff, add a ladleful of the pasta water to let it down until it becomes saucy.  Keep the mixture on a low temperature until the pasta is ready.

4.  When the pasta has been drained, return it to the saucepan and add the contents of the frying pan and the olives if you're using them.  Toss to combine and add a little more pesto if required, or a little more of the hot pasta water, depending on your preference.

5.  Serve into hot bowls and add some grated cheddar cheese or parmesan (to your preference).  Tuck in!

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Using up your leftovers - Chicken & Ham Pie

We bought a whopping great big piece of Gammon to do as a pot roast last Sunday - and it was scrummy.  I served it with gnocchi in a Carbonara sauce plus some veggies and it was very acceptable indeed as a different sort of Sunday dinner.

However, we were left with rather a lot of Gammon that needed to be found a job to do.  As I didn't think that using it as a door stop would be much good - not with the dogs around, anyway (joke!) I set my mind to what we could do with it.

Immediately, I found myself liking the idea of a pie.  It would need to be a pot pie sort of pie, with a white sauce holding it all together rather than gravy (didn't fancy a gravy pie) and it occurred to me that I had a perfectly sized piece of pastry left over from the Rhubarb & Ginger Pie (oh dear, I really must blog that!) to make a lid for a pot pie.  It also occurred to me that I had one chicken breast in the freezer, also waiting for a job to do.  Perfect!  There was certainly enough gammon there that the addition of a chicken breast would turn it very much into sufficient for a pie, so long as some veggies came along for the ride.


I knew I had a selection of veggies in the fridge that would do the trick, so there I was rummaging through the vegetable drawer, thinking "what can I use?".

The original use for the gammon - with gnocchi in Carbonara sauce

Onion was a definite, that will start off the flavour base - with some garlic to lend depth.  Then carrot for sweetness - some finely diced with will lend flavour to the sauce and some rather bigger to add interest to each bite.  Celery was a definite - again finely diced to add flavour to the sauce and some sliced bigger to add interest to the pie.  Aha!  Mushrooms - perfect, but I'd have to make sure they were well cooked before putting the pie lid on, or they'd release a heap of water into the pie which would make the sauce thin and watery.

Hmmmn ... it needed something else.  Peas?  Well yes, but I had thought to serve peas alongside and too many peas isn't good (even though I love 'em and can eat dozens of the little green lovelies).  What else is small and sweet?  Aha!  Sweetcorn.  Perfect.

Now then, what herbs to use.  I had fresh parsley and dill.  I pondered long and hard over the dill because I know it goes well with chicken - but I just wasn't convinced about how well it would go with the gammon.  I decided upon just the parsley and the dill went back into the fridge.

Now, to make a white sauce or to "cheat" and use a tin of condensed cream of chicken soup?  Well, the way my knees have been, just lately, the simple act of making the pie will be enough to upset my knees severely.  So perhaps the length of time it takes to make a white sauce would be rather more than my knees could handle, so opted for the condensed cream of chicken soup.

I have no qualms in using ingredients like a tin of soup in recipes, as I am quite sure that there are more people out there who - like me - have reasons to not spend the entire afternoon in the kitchen (nice as that may be) than there are devoted cooks who do!  Things like gravy granules - these days - are perfectly nice ingredients that have a place in everyday home cooking, in my opinion.

To reduce the strain on my knees, I made the filling for the pie during the afternoon - which gave it plenty of time to cool (and for my knees to recover) before putting the lid on and baking it.  The 35 minutes it was baking were perfect timing for preparing and steaming some vegetables and making some mash, too.

Oh and I must have a quick word about the mash!  I peeled a roughly 50/50 combination of potatoes and parsnips and simmered them until they were tender.  After draining and leaving to dry for a moment or two, I put them back into the hot pan along with a good (and I'm talking "good to big") knob of butter and a tablespoon of Creme Fraiche D'Isigny - my favourite creme fraiche.  The D'Isigny type has a lovely savouriness about it that comes from a slight hint of cheesiness - which goes so, so well with savoury dishes.  It was just beautiful in this mash, as once the potatoes were seasoned and mashed together, everyone declared it to be really tasty.  So that was a success!

As a cook's note, once baked the juices from the vegetables and meat had reduced the soup base very slightly - so do be careful to not overdo the water in the first place.  It is far, far better to have your filling - pre-baking -  be on the thicker, more gloopy side than to be a perfect degree of sauciness.  Once baked, you'll find it comes out perfectly.

I made some additional chicken gravy, as we are all gravy hounds and I knew that the sauce in the pie would be insufficient for mopping up with mashed potato - but it is entirely up to you.  If you aren't a gravy hound, then don't make additional gravy!

A note for the more health-conscious amongst us, is that Campbells have brought out a range of low fat condensed "cream of" soups.  Now I've had a peek at the ingredients list and they don't appear to contain anything terrible (such as Aspartame), so they might be worth a look for you.

I can't let the opportunity pass to make another little mention of the fabulous Essential Cuisine stocks.  I'm not joking in that obtaining these stocks has made the thorny question of "is there too much salt" in a recipe, incredibly easy to deal with.  I used the fantastic chicken stock in this recipe and the flexibility of being able to add just a little bit of water, but a lot of stock powder which ups the chicken flavour beautifully without making it too salty, is worth so much to me as a cook.  I couldn't do that with a stock cube - even the low salt stock cubes would be way too much.  The Essential Cuisine range of stock powders are so reasonably priced at £3.95 a tub (which lasts longer than its equivalent in stock cubes, as you can be so much more flexible in how much you use) and delivery is amazingly quick - I can't sing their praises enough. 

My hubby - who is notoriously particular about his pie fillings - really liked this pie.  Now I consider that a total win, without anyone else having given their approval!  However, as it was, son & heir also thoroughly enjoyed his dinner and would happily have it again.  I really liked how no two forkfuls were the same - and you ate all the way to the end of your dinner without getting fed up with eating the same old thing.  A pie that holds your interest, is a thing of beauty!  Another good point is that I ate the last piece of pie for lunch the following day and it had lost none of its flavour or its appeal.  Having been warmed up via microwave, that's quite an accolade for a leftover piece of leftovers pie!

CHICKEN & HAM PIE   (Serves 4)

Ingredients :

1-2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, halved and sliced finely
1 fat donkey carrot, half diced finely, half sliced
2 sticks celery, one diced finely, one sliced small
4-5 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced thinly
1-200g sweetcorn niblets (defrosted, if frozen)
295g tin of Campbells condensed cream of chicken soup
100ml water
a low salt chicken stock cube or 1 tsp chicken stock powder
a handful of fresh parsley, chopped finely
300-400g cooked gammon ham, broken into random bite sized pieces
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
300g (approx) short crust pastry
2 tbsp milk.

Method :

1.  In a large frying pan, heat the oil on a moderate heat and add the onion.  Cook, without browning, until transparent.  Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so.

2.  Add the carrot, celery and mushrooms and continue cooking until the mushrooms have softened and given up a certain amount of their moisture.

3.  Add the chicken pieces and cook - still on a moderate heat - until the chicken has turned a uniform white.

4.  Add the sweetcorn, soup, water and chicken stock and stir to mix well.

5.  Once well combined, add the parsley and the gammon.  Stir gently, so as not to break the gammon up.

6.  Taste for seasoning and adjust.  The very least you should need, will be a good shake of pepper.

7.  Set aside to cool.

8.  Once cool, decant into your pie dish and roll out the pastry to fit over the top of the dish.  You are aiming to keep the pastry fairly thick.

9.  Brush some milk onto the edge of the pie dish and place the pastry over the top.  Press down lightly onto the edges to make a seal and then cut off the extra with a sharp knife.

10.  Cut a small hole in the centre of the pastry to allow the steam to escape without blowing the pastry lid off, then crimp around the edges to finally seal the pastry.

11.  Paint the pastry lid with milk and place into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF/Gas 4 for 35-40 minutes.

Serve with mashed potatoes & parsnips and a selection of in season vegetables.

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It's never a meal plan? Yes - it is!

There you are, you see .....

We have been planning our meals all through the Christmas and New Year period - it's just that the meal plans have very regularly gone to pot as we've been either too poorly to make the things we've planned for, or just didn't fancy what we'd planned to have.

As a result, I've not been posting up the meal plans as it would be too confusing to try and follow what happened to various dishes that never saw light of day.

I have got to admit, though, that this situation hasn't improved much.  I reckon that for the seven meals that we plan, probably between 4-5 have been made just recently.  Last week was one of the better ones, but even then we've only managed five out of the seven!

... we have been eating - and rather well, too!

We're setting off on this week's meal plan with determination to see it through.  Whether this determination lasts, depends on whether either of us parents go down with the sore throat that is currently keeping son & heir from his studies at school.  We whisked him down to the doctor this morning, just to make sure that it wasn't tonsillitis he'd got - which it wasn't, thank goodness.  He's now all sorted out with antiseptic gargle and penicillin, so fingers crossed it won't last long.

Hence, of necessity, the meals for the beginning of the week are non-confrontational and designed to be easily swallowed.  So what's on the agenda?

Tues : Bacon & leek pasta

Weds : 2 sausage paella

Thurs : Lamb & mozzarella stuffed aubergines with a side salad

Fri : Gammon steak, cheesey champ, courgettes, mushrooms & peas

Sat : Pork, aubergine & porcini ragu with pasta

Sun : Beef & beetroot curry with rice

Mon : Chicken pie and vegetables.

The bacon & leek pasta is there because it is one of son & heir's favourite dinners - and just in case he might need some tempting.  It is very easy to eat and just slips down with the minimum of bother, so shouldn't be too challenging for a boy with a sore throat.  Fingers crossed!  Of course the fact that it is one of our favourite "go to" quick dinners doesn't hurt either.

Wednesday's 2 sausage paella is an idea borne of having the remaining half of a very nice chorizo sitting in the fridge looking for a home.  Hubby is planning on putting it together with some good pork sausages, red pepper, mushrooms etc. into a paella type rice dish.  Sounds like it will be lovely - and again, easy to eat for son & heir.

The Lamb & Mozzarella Stuffed Aubergines is a Peter Gordon recipe from the Good Food channel.  We're going through a bit of an aubergine (hubby's favourite) patch at the moment and as soon as hubby clapped eyes on this recipe, he was as keen as mustard to try it.  It uses Sumac, which is a new spice for us - but we have liked the little we've tried of it so far.  The recipe also makes use of all our favourite spices along with lamb mince (my favourite) and mozzarella cheese (son & heir's favourite), so as you can see, it just had to be done.

Friday's gammon steaks with cheesy champ (mashed potato with spring onion) is entirely down to a certain Mr Rod Tucker of the Good Food Good People Facebook page.  He recently posted a couple of photographs of his gammon steak dinners that made my mouth water so much, I just had to include gammon in this week's list.  We've a few spring onions that needed using up, so mashed potato became Champ, then migrated into Cheesey Champ - the idea of which is making me very hungry.  I'll make my creamy courgette & mushrooms which will provide some lovely moisture to the combination, along with some peas for colour.

Saturday is another of hubby's recipes, where he's planning a rich minced pork ragu using smoky griddled aubergine and soaked porcini mushrooms.  The combinations sound delicious and this should be really good.

Sunday is a curry recipe that I found in the BBC Good Food Magazine.  The sheer idea of marrying up beef with beetroot and curry spices is intriguing me and I can't wait to find out how it will be.  I can imagine it will prove to be sweet, earthy and rather gorgeous.  I may very well do a small vegetable curry to go with it, along with the rice.

Monday's chicken pie and vegetables is a meal that has (so far) been moved along from the Monday spot for three weeks in a row.  You never know, we might even get to eat it this week!

I daren't even make the tiniest suggestion of other makes or bakes - probably best not to tempt fate, don't you think?