Tagliatelle in Gorgonzola Sauce

Ok so this is very similar to a recipe I have already tried, and I love all the ingredients that make up this dish. It wasn’t bad, the different textures all go together really well, and the flavours compliment each other, my only complaint was that the original recipe had walnuts in it, which I love but mine were really bitter after I had sautéed them, so I didn’t add them to the final recipe. I suspect that, that had more to do with the way I had sautéed them rather than a fault with the recipe, if you decide you want to add the chopped walnuts to this recipe, sweat the walnuts in butter and oil. I would try and peel the skins off as best you can too before adding them to the final dish. Other than that we really enjoyed this recipe.

 

Tagliatelle in Gorgonzola sauce

2tbsp olive oil

1tbsp butter

1-2 garlic cloves, crushed

100g fresh spinach, rinsed and stems removed

200ml cream

Salt and black pepper

Nutmeg

400g Tagliatelle

120g gorgonzola, crumbled

1. Put the oil and butter into a hot skillet and cook the garlic for a couple of minutes, then add the spinach and cook for a couple of minutes, just to wilt it.
2. Stir in the cream and season to taste with salt and pepper and the nutmeg. If you are using nutmeg for the first time I would suggest careful seasoning, a little at a time, you can always add more but you can’t take it out once it’s in there. Season and taste!
3. Cook the Tagliatelle according to the package directions, then drain and return to the pan adding the creamy sauce and spinach mixture, toss to coat the pasta.
4. Just before serving add the gorgonzola and toss again to incorporate and allow it to melt a little, then serve.

 

Another Pasta Dish To Add To The Mix

As I have probably already made quite clear, we love quick pasta dishes. This one covers all the basic, bases, creamy, cheesy, it has mushrooms and vegetables – has enough for leftovers, so great for a week night and next day lunch at work – or even better a “Vodka Friday” dish and hangover Saturday leftovers. Of course I am assuming you are cooking for two here, but it’s excellent as a family meal too. I have tried it on all four of our children and it went down a treat!

Tortellini Primavera

1 package of cheese tortellini

½ lb sliced mushrooms
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp butter
150ml fat-free milk
200g cream cheese, cubed
200g frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dried
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 large tomato, chopped
20g grated parmesan

1. Cook tortellini according to the pack instructions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet with a little olive oil and the butter, gently fry the mushrooms, onion and garlic until nicely tender. Then add the milk and heat through, stir in the cream cheese until melted, add the spinach and Italian seasonings.
2. Next drain the pasta, gently mix with the sauce and tomato and top with the parmesan cheese.

Broccoli Rabe Pie - Errmm well not really!

Broccoli Rabe, what is that? I had no idea. It’s a herb related to the turnip and looks a bit like broccoli (I’m guessing that’s where the “broccoli” bit comes from), I had to google it. I’ve not seen it, but like most things that’s not to say, it’s not here in Germany, I just haven’t seen it. Why am I talking broccoli Rabe? This next recipe was inspired by Broccoli Rabe Pie…

America is great, my most favourite place on earth and I would go back given the chance. You can buy frozen pie crusts, and not worry about having to make pastry from scratch, I still make rubbish pastry. I’m speculating here, slightly bitter and angry about the past, and what I say next, will probably reflect that – mostly because I never measured up to what was expected of me. All of my “friends” were the perfect women – great cooks, perfect mothers and housewives etc… Pastry was never an issue for them. In truth I didn’t really have any friends, they were all my ex’s friends and took great pleasure in humiliating me – my issue is not that I’m unable to make pastry, and every thing to do with my body heat. I’ll not go into it again but if you have read my blog about quiche Lorraine you’ll know, that regardless of what I do my hands are always too warm.

Broccoli And Spinach Pie  

1 pie crust

¾ lb broccoli
¾ lb spinach
3 eggs lightly beaten
2/3 cup cottage cheese
½ cup mixed shredded cheese
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 cloves minced garlic

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F (190˚C) Check the instructions for your pie crust, does it need prebaking? If so now is the time to do it.
2. Cook the broccoli and the spinach for 5 minutes or until just tender; drain well, cool slightly and finely chop.
3. In a large bowl stir in the eggs, cottage cheese, pepper, garlic and shredded cheese. Stir in the broccoli and spinach. Pour egg mixture into your pastry shell. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the knife comes out clean. Let it stand for about 10 minutes before serving.

Instead of using broccoli and spinach, you could use 1 ½ lbs of broccoli Rabe and follow the original recipe.

Cheesy spinach cannelloni

Just to state the obvious if you are unsure what cannelloni (manicotti) are, they are long tubes of pasta which can be filled with all sorts of things, from cheese and spinach to any kind of ground meat, etc. topped with some sort of sauce and cheese, baked for about 30 minutes.

After I moved out of my ex's house I lived on cannelloni, I wasn't entirely sure what went in it...... It was a frozen meal with spinach, cheese and tomato sauce - plenty of garlic! That's about all I knew! When I found this recipe I was super excited because I could make it myself. Turns out it was inedible, however it was far from brilliant...... It took me awhile to want to try it again and I did some major recipe tweeking. This is what I came up with.

Cheesy spinach cannelloni

butter for greasing

18 no-precook cannelloni

30 grams Parmesan, grated

jar of tomato sauce

FILLING

1 small onion diced

1 garlic clove, minced

500 grams spinach

2 cups ricotta or whipped cream cheese

1. Make the filling, heat the oil, add the onion and garlic, cook for 3-5 minutes until soft, add the spinach and cook on a high heat for 1-2 minutes, then add the ricotta, or cream cheese which ever you are using and salt and pepper to taste

2. Grease an oven proof dish, spoon the spinach mixture into the cannelloni spoon on the sauce, sprinkle with Parmesan and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.

Servings: 4