Spaghetti and Meatballs

For this recipe you can have either spaghetti or another long pasta, I made mine with long strips of homemade pasta.

Spaghetti

1 onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1tsp tomato puree
1tsp fresh basil, chopped
1tsp fresh chives, chopped
1glass white wine

250g minced meat
50g breadcrumbs
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1tsp fresh chives, chopped
1tsp paprika
1 egg
plain flour
salt and pepper to season


Step 1
Add the chopped onion and garlic to a saucepan with a little oil and sweat on a low heat. When the onion becomes transluscent add half the wine and reduce on a high heat. Add the tin of tomatoes and the tomato puree, and simmer on a low heat.

Step 2
Put the meat, 1/2 an onion, chives, egg, paprika, breadcrumbs, and seasoning into a mixing bowl and use your hand to mix the ingredients well. If the mixture is a little sticky add a little plain flour to help bind it. In a deep fryingpan heat a little oil, meanwhile shape the mixture into small balls, using a little flour on your hands to prevent the mixture from sticking, and place the balls into the oil. Brown one side then turn.

Step 3
Add the tomato sauce to the frying pan with the last half a glass of wine and salt and pepper. Cook on a medium-high heat to finish cooking the meatballs and to reduce the sauce. Once reduced add the chives and basil and stir through before removing from the heat.

Step 4
Meanwhile have a large saucepan with slightly salted boiling water at the ready. If using home-made pasta add to the water when reducing the tomato sauce with the meatballs, otherwise leave sufficient time to properly cook the pasta. Once cooked serve immediately topping with the sauce and meatballs.

I used beef for the meatballs, but you can use any other meat, or even meat subsititute.Using the amounts given, and assuming a diameter of about 1 inch for the meatballs, you should be able to make about a dozen meatballs.
This dish would be enhanced with a delicious side of garlic bread, or even just a side of bread and garlic butter cooked in the oven for a few minutes until crisp, like these

Minestrone Soup

This soup is an excellent dish to make if you have lots of different vegetables to use up and can be made with most cold meats, although ham is usually used. If you've made your own pasta with the Pasta Dough you can cut it into strips and then make small diamond shapes to put into the soup instead of the dried spaghetti or pasta shapes that the recipe calls for.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 carrots, chopped
2 x 400g chopped tomatoes
1L stock, chicken or vegetable
3 celery sticks, chopped
1/2 medium cabbage, shredded
3 medium potatoes, chopped
1 leek, chopped
120g frozen peas
120g pearl barley
100g  pasta shapes or small pieces of dried spaghetti
1 bay leaf
2-3 sprigs of thyme
salt and pepper to season


Step 1
Prepare the pearl barley as instructed on the packet. In a large saucepan heat the oil then add the onion, garlic, leek, celery and carrot and cook for five minutes on a medium heat, stirring to prevent any browning.
Add the stock, tomatoes, cabbage, bay leaf, thyme and potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Step 2
Add the pasta and pearl barley and season to taste before cooking for another 5 minutes. Add the peas and simmer for a final two minutes. Throughout the cooking stir to prevent the ingredients settling at the bottom and sticking.




This soup is a real winter-warmer. You don't have to use all the vegetables stated in the ingredients list, you can swap out some for others or even add some if you like. If you make this soup after christmas you could swap out the cabbage for brussel sprouts for example, and don't be afraid to add any vegetables. The main veg to make this dish are the ones down to celery, anything else you can change. If you'e made your own pasta I highly reccomend you use it in this dish, homemade pasta makes a difference you can taste.

Pasta Dough

A staple for any aspiring chef who likes to make, or try making, everything at least once. I've only made a few batches so far, but this is the recipe i think works the best for me.

275g pasta flour
3 medium eggs

Step 1
Place the pasta flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre for the eggs. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing them into the flour with a fork. Stir the well with the fork until all the dough is smooth and shiny, adding more flour from the sides if needed.

Step 2
Using your hands, incorperate the rest of the flour until it becomes solid enough to turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic adding more flour if needed, especially f the dough becomes sticky or too pliable. Cover the dough with cling film, and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Step 3
Make 4 portions of the dough and then use the following method if you have no pasta roller. On a lightly floured surface roll out the portions of pasta until you get to your desired thickness, usually around 1mm, and cut into the desired shape.



I have used this method to make tagniatelli by cutting the rolled dough into thin strips, Ravioli by cutting into squares (though you can have them round) and filling them, and small pasta shapes for minestrone soup. This recipe can be used for ANY pasta you like, so long as you can make the shape for it. One thing you an do to add a little variety to it would be coloured pasta, which can be achieved with different foods. Drained, boiled spinach is generally used for green pasta, red pasta can be made with tomato puree, black with squid ink, or you can make a more yellow pasta with more egg yolks. All of these coloured pastas will need more flour, so be sure to adjust accordingly. Adding more egg yolks doesn't just make the flour more yellow, it enriches the pasta, and makes it richer, ideal for impressing someone.

Pasta with Three Herb Sauce

This recipe calls for spaghetti, but you can use whatever pasta you have lying around instead. it's quite a light dish, so you may want a side of something with it, perhaps a bit of garlic bread.

3 tablespoons parsley
1tablespoon taragon
2 tablespoons basil
30ml chicken stock
juice of half a lemon
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
salt and pepper to season
100g pasta per person

Step 1
Chop the herbs and add to a food processor with the oil, wine, garlic, stock and seasoning. Puree until smooth. Meanwhile boil some lightly salted water and add the pasta and cook until tender.

Step 2
Drain the pasta well and set aside, add the sauce to an empty saucepan and cook on a high heat for just about 1 minute. Add the pasta, shake or mix to coat well, and serve.

The pasta with Garlic Bread

Lemony Tomato Sauce and Bacon with Pasta

 This slight variation on the basic tomato sauce, it's delicious and has a slight tang to it.




 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 large (or 2 small) onion
salt and pepper to taste
1 clove of garlic
2tsp olive oil
2tsp fresh herbs, chopped
grated rind and juice of 1/4 of a lemon
3 pieces of streaky bacon
Pasta

Step 1
Finely chop the onion and garlic. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, and add the onion and garlic reducing the heat. Sweat on a low heat for about 5 minutes and stir with a wooden spoon until the onion goes translucent.

Step 2
Add the tomatoes to the pan add the rind and juice of the lemon, and increase the heat to bring to a simmer and reduce.Season with salt and pepper add some sugar slowly, tasting as you go making sure to keep the lemon flavour but sweetening to lessen the acidity. Take the sauce off the heat and add the herbs.

Step 3
Meanwhile boil some water for the pasta, and add the bacon to a frying pan over a low heat. Once cooked cut the bacon into strips, drain the pasta and place into a bowl first, top with the sauce and then ass the bacon strips.


With this recipe you don't need any oil for the bacon as the low heat will allow bacon to cook in its own fat. You can also add a litte sauce to a pan and add the drained pasta, then shake or mix to coat the pasta with the sauce, as it allows you to use less sauce and keep the flavour while having less.