Grim up North Heath

Tag: pasta

  • Chicken and chorizo meatballs

    Chicken and chorizo meatballs

    Oven cooked meatballs! Remember to use a big pan for the tomato sauce or the meatballs won’t fit in.

    Feeds four.

    Timings: Prep: 20 min. Cooking: 40 min Eat: 10 min

    Ingredients

    500 g chicken mince

    100 g breadcrumbs

    A good pinch of salt

    One egg

    100g chorizo

    A can of tomatoes

    Onion and garlic

    Vegetable stock cube/ stock pot

    About a teaspoon each of dried oregano, thyme and chilli flakes. Add other herbs to your liking, and black pepper.

    2 tablespoons oil (peanut, vegetable or whatever is to hand)

    Pasta – about 75 g dry weight per person.

    You’ll need two big saucepans and a baking tray. Oven to 180 C (fan), gas mark 6.

    If you can’t get chicken mince, use a blender to mash up the required amount of chicken thighs1. Use the same blender to shred the chorizo (and make the breadcrumbs, unless you want to buy them).

    Breadcrumbs and bits of chorizo in a food blender.
    Breadcrumbs and shredded chorizo in a Minimixer.

    Combine the mince, chorizo, breadcrumbs, egg, salt, herbs and spices in a bowl and mix well. You can do away with the egg if you add more salt or leave the mix for longer – overnight is best2. Form into 12 or so meatballs. Smaller ones will cook quicker, you might make 20.

    Raw meatball mix in a green bowl.
    Meatball mix. The salt and egg help to bind the meatballs.

    Distribute the raw meatballs onto a baking tray with an oiled baking sheet. Brush with a little oil and bake for 20 minutes until browned – check they are done with a meat thermometer if you have one.

    Five raw meatballs on a foiled baking tray.
    Ready to cook, raw meatballs on an oiled, foiled baking tray. The oil helps brown the meatballs and lessen sticking to the foil.

    While the meatballs are in the oven, make the tomato sauce. It would be an option to make this earlier – a couple of hours earlier – since the flavour improves with time. Depends on how busy you are.

    Fry chopped onion at a low heat for at least 5 minutes until they are translucent. If you have time, fry at a very low heat for even longer until they caramelise. Add garlic, spices and dried herbs, fry for another minute.

    Add the tin of tomatoes, rinse out with half a can of water and add this to the sauce. Add the stock cube/ stock pot and simmer.

    Boil the pasta as directed on the packet. It’s a good idea to time it so that the pasta is done about five minutes after the meatballs are come out of the oven.

    About 12 cooked chicken meatballs. They are paler than pork or beef meatballs.
    Meatballs after 20 minutes in the oven. A bit of browning adds flavour. An yes, OK, they did stick to the foil a bit.

    Once the meatballs are cooked, transfer them into the pan with the sauce. This is why you need a big saucepan and I never made the mistake of using a small saucepan. Oh no, siree, matey Bob!

    About a dozen meatballs and a tomato sauce in a pan.
    Meatballs in tomato sauce, ready to dish up.

    Garlic bread goes well with this.

    1. Chicken thigh are tastier than breast, but not as aesthetically pleasing. ↩︎
    2. I think I got this tip from Gordon Ramsey. The salt breaks down some of the protein in the meat and helps the mixture bind by creating a natural glue. ↩︎

  • Lasagne

    Mrs S asked for this for Mother’s Day. How could I refuse? (I could have said ‘no’, I suppose)

    Timings: Prep: 50 min. Cooking: 35 min Rest: 15 min Eat: 10 min

    Ingredients

    500 g beef mince (5% fat)

    One onion, diced

    4 gloves garlic, chopped

    Tin chopped tomatoes

    Herbs – using dried herbs, basil, oregano, thyme and parsley. A teaspoon of each.

    Chili flakes because we like them

    veg stock and tomato puree

    2 tablespoons oil (peanut, vegetable or whatever is to hand)

    500 ml full fat milk

    75g cheese (mix of cheddar and parmesan because that was what was in the fridge), grated.

    2 tablespoons sauce flour

    Lasagne sheets – at least 6, maybe 9, but buy a box of them.

    Sorry, no photos because I was listening to Iron Maiden while I was cooking and forgot.

    Oven to 180 C (fan).

    Meat sauce

    Brown the mince until it goes uniform brown and no red bits.

    Meanwhile, fry the chopped onions in the oil until they go translucent, then add chopped garlic and fry for another minute1. Add the dried herbs and stir these in to release the aroma.

    Add the tin of tomatoes and a squeeze of tomato puree. Add the browned mince, veg stock and stir well. Turn off the heat.

    Cheese sauce

    Pour the milk into a pan and add the sauce flour2. Heat the milk and stir constantly, chanting the mantra “this won’t work. It never does” until all the flour disappears and the sauce is thick. Add most of the cheese and stir to melt in.

    Assemble the lasagne

    Pour a thin layer of the cheese sauce into a suitable ovenproof dish. Smear the dish with butter if you like, it may reduce sticking.

    Add lasagne sheets over the cheese sauce and then one third of the meat sauce and a bit of the cheese sauce – don’t use too much for the layers. Continue to layer up until you run out of meat sauce.

    Add a final layer of lasagne, pour over the rest of the cheese sauce (about half should be left) and completely cover the top layer of pasta. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

    Shove it in the oven for 35 minutes. Check that the pasta is cooked by prodding it with a fork.

    Take out and leave to rest for 15 minutes while the garlic bread is cooking.

    OK, I lied, there is a picture. This is what was left when we’d had enough. Normally the whole thing goes, but oldest is at Uni so they weren’t around to eat it. More fool them.

    1. We got this tip about adding garlic well after the onion from the TV show ‘Pie in the Sky’ about a food-obsessed police detective (Richard Griffiths) and his crisp-mad wife (Maggie Steed (who also played Dr Hildegard Lanstrom in Red Dwarf)) ↩︎
    2. We have used sauce flour for many years and it is the best thing for thickening sauces. You can make a roux, by all means, but it’s a pain in the arse and risks burning. ↩︎
  • Chicken & pea risottata

    Chicken & pea risottata

    You can make risotto with pasta, orzo they say.

    Timings:

    Prep: 5 min. Cook: 30 min. Eat: 10 min.

    Ingredients

    250 g orzo pasta

    600 ml chicken stock

    2 large chicken breasts

    knob of butter

    half an onion, diced

    frozen peas/ petit pois

    garlic, oregano and thyme

    a good pile of grated parmesan

    Dice the chicken breasts, brown off in a frying pan. Put to one side.

    Diced chicken on a chopping board. We bought the knife in France, it’s a ceramic blade.

    In a large saucepan (the whole thing is made in this pan), add the butter and fry the onion over a low heat for 5 minutes until they’re clear. Add garlic (crushed or chopped) and give that 30 seconds frying. Add herbs and stir them in, too.

    Orzo pasta. I must have been feeling flush to buy DeCecco pasta.

    Add the orzo and toast until lightly brown. This is critical to the texture of the finished dish.

    Add the chicken pieces and half the stock. Turn up the heat and stir well to avoid anything sticking to the pan.

    Once the pasta has absorbed the liquid, add half the remainder. Keep stirring (though Nigella says not to bother. But what does she know?)

    Add the peas and the rest of the stock. Cook until the pasta has the texture you like; ideally a bit of bite should remain. You can cook until it’s all soft if you prefer.

    Chicken risottata, almost ready for dishing up.

    Stir in the grated parmesan and serve. Garlic bread would be a good addition. Maybe use smaller pieces, or add chorizo to give more variation in the texture.