| September 09 Recipes |
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This recipe is really one for mid-week, squash the butterbeans into the sauce and you’ll have no need for rice or pasta. Or just serve it with crusty bread. Serves 6 Heat the oil in a large frying pan and brown the chicken in batches golden and crisp. Remove from the tin and set aside, add the pancetta to the pan and fry until its just beginning to brown, add the onion, garlic and finely chopped rosemary. Cook for a few minutes, stirring and then pour in the wine and the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes until the onion wedges start to soften and the liquid has reduced by half. Next add the tomatoes, beans, sugar, bay leaf, whole rosemary sprig and season with salt and pepper. Stir well and bring back to a simmer. Transfer the mixture to a roasting tin and sit the chicken on top. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the chicken is cooked and crisp, the sauce is bubbling and the onions are soft.
Pasta E Fagioli This is a dish that a friend of mine used to make a lot when I lived in London, it’s more of a meal than a soup and perfect for this time of year. If you can’t get pancetta you can use bacon or leave it out for the vegetarians among you. My children initially insisted that they wouldn’t like it but in the interest of The Cook Club they tasted it and loved it, it’s now overtaken pasta pesto in popularity. I usually use home-made chicken stock for this but recently tried the new Knorr stock pots a la Marco Pierre White, I’m not sure that they are the best thing to happen to cooking since him but they do work pretty well here. 1 onion, diced I have given you this recipe as it works on a couple of different levels, either as a vegetarian main course or as a side dish to accompany roasted meats or fish. I’ve loved this dish since working in an Italian restaurant in New York Heat the oil in a frying pan, throw in the garlic and sweat until soft, taking care not to colour. Add the tomatoes, basil salt and pepper and simmer for 25 min, set aside. Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC Cut the aubergine into 1cm slices, lengthways. Sprinkle with sea salt and set aside for 15 minutes. Rinse in cold water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Lightly dust the aubergine slices in the flour. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the aubergine slices in a single layer, turn the heat to medium-high and cook for about one and a half minutes on each side or until dark golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and repeat in batches until it’s all cooked, adding more oil as necessary. Line a baking dish with as many slices of aubergine as can fit happily in a single layer. Top each slice with a spoonful of tomato sauce, a few pieces of torn mozzarella, a scattering of basil and a sprinkling of parmesan. Continue the layers, evenly distributing all the ingredients, until everything is used up, finish with some torn mozzarella and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Serve with a simple green salad.
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