Recipe of the Month (April)

 

Welcome to our recipe of the month page where I will be sharing recipes for dishes I serve at Chalet Bluebell, our catered chalet in Les Gets.

Homemade Pappardelle Pasta with Pancetta & Tomato Sauce, Courgette Beignets, Shaved Asparagus, Wild Garlic Salsa Verde & Parmesan

 

Difficulty: Medium

Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Portions: 6-8

Special Equipment: Pasta machine, digital scales, pestle mortar or spice grinder, thermometer.
(If you don’t have a pasta machine you can substitute the home made pasta for 700g of bought fresh egg pappardelle or tagliatelle pasta)

 

Spring is here and Asparagus is at its prime, wild garlic is growing in abundance in woodlands and on river banks near you and this dish uses both these exciting ingredients that spring time has to offer!

 

Ingredients:

Pasta Dough

  • 500g 00 pasta flour
  • 30g egg white
  • 180g egg yolk
  • 20g olive oil
  • 70g water

 

Method:

  1. Add all the ingredients into a food processor and blend together until all the ingredients are well blended.
  2. Turn the mixture out onto a surface and kneed with a few turns to bring it all together. Wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours (it can be made the day before and rested overnight).

To roll the dough:

Roll the pasta no longer than 2 hours before serving.

  1. Cut the dough into 6 pieces (doesn’t have to be exact). Take one piece of dough and using a rolling pin roll it out lengthways making sure it is no wider than your pasta machine.
  2.  Roll the dough to a thickness that is not stressful for the pasta machine on the largest setting, it should go through without force (If you force the dough through the machine you can bend the rollers).
  3. Roll the dough in the machine on the fattest setting working down 1 setting at a time and finish with the second thinnest setting dusting with flour lightly when needed.
  4. Cut your rolled pasta sheet into 3 or 4 pieces. Cut each piece of pasta into strips 1.5cm wide and dust with flour. Place the pasta strips into a large tray and give another dusting of flour.
  5. Repeat this process with the remaining 5 pieces of pasta dough.

 

Pancetta & Tomato Sauce

  • 200g onion, finely diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
  • 25g chopped thyme leaves
  • 300g Pancetta
  • 30g tomato puree
  • 750g chopped tomatoes (tinned plumb or other good quality)
  • 40g sugar

 

 

  1. Fry the pancetta in a large heavy based pan until nicely browned on a medium to high heat.
  2. Turn down the heat and add the onions and a pinch of salt. Gently cook the onions without colour for approx. 15-20 minutes until soft.
  3. Add the garlic and chopped thyme and cook for a further 5 mins.
  4. Add the tomato puree and fry gently turning up the heat slightly for 2-3 minutes.
  5. Add the chopped tomatoes & sugar and cook on a low heat (below simmering)  for approx. 1 hour until the sauce has thickened and tastes balanced. Stir often to avoid catching the sauce on the base.
  6. Adjust the seasoning of the sauce with salt.

 

Wild Garlic Salsa Verde

  • 20g wild garlic leaves, well washed (or chives if wild garlic is not available. Wild garlic can be found growing in abundance near rivers or in woodlands in spring)
  • 12g Grated parmesan
  • 8g capers, washed
  • ½ lemon zest (keep the juice for the asparagus)
  • 60g olive oil

 

 

This can be made the day before if stored in an air tight container.

  1. Chop the wild garlic (or chives) and add to a spice grinder or a pestle mortar along with the other ingredients and grind to a paste.
  2. Season well with salt.

 

Shaved Asparagus

  • 5 Asparagus spears
  • ½ juice lemon
  • ½ tsp sea salt flakes

 

 

Make this at least 15 minutes before serving as it needs time to macerate.

  1. Snap the woody root off the asparagus.
  2. Using a mandolin or a peeler, shave the asparagus into strips the length of the spear.
  3. Place in a bowl with the lemon juice and salt and mix well. Mix again after 5 minutes or so.

 

Courgette Beignets

  • 1 Courgette
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 100g flour
  • 100g breadcrumbs
  • Frying oil

 

 

These can be made a least a few hours in advance.

  1. Wash the courgette and trim the ends off.
  2. Cut the courgette into batons. You should get at least 24 batons from a courgette.
  3. Using 3 container fill one with flour, one with egg and one with breadcrumbs. Season the flour generously with salt.
  4. First toss the batons in the flour, then the egg and then the breadcrumbs. Place the bread crumbed courgette on a plate or tray in a single layer until frying.
  5. Place enough oil to cover the courgettes in a heavy based pan and heat to 170C.
  6. You can fry the courgettes in batches depending on the size of the pan. Don’t overcrowd the pan with courgette as the temperature of the oil will drop and the courgettes will soak up the oil rather than fry. Depending of the size of the pan 4 or 5 at a time is enough.They should take 30 seconds or until they are light golden in colour.
  7. Place the courgettes on a wire rack or paper towel to drain any excess oil. Season with salt.

The courgettes can be fried up to an hour before serving.

 

Parmesan

  • Approx 100g block of parmesan

 

 

  1. Shave the parmesan with a peeler.

 

To Finish

  1. Pre heat an oven to 180C
  2. Bring a very large pasta pan full of water to the boil and season generously with at least a fistful of salt (this is important as the pasta dough itself is not seasoned).
  3. Heat the tomato sauce gently and taste again for seasoning.
  4. Cook the courgette for 6 minutes in the oven.
  5. The pasta will take approx. 5 minutes in the boiling water. Once cooked drain in a colander and then add back to the pan and toss the pasta with the salsa verde.
  6. Place the pasta in a large pasta bowl with a small spoon of tomato sauce on top (not too much as its very rich). Next scatter the courgette beignets, shaved asparagus & parmesan on top……. Enjoy!