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| Recipe of the week... ... Calamarata Pasta with Mushrooms, Beans and Greens |
Ingredients: Extra-virgin olive oil, 1 small onion, 1 garlic
clove, 1 bunch of Swiss chard, 225g mixed mushrooms, 240g cooked cannellini
beans, 150g tomatoes, 450g calamarata pasta (or similarly thick, tubed pasta),
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Serves: 4 bowlfuls of hearty Italian grub
Time taken: 45 mins-1 hr
Hi readers,
How are you all today??
The sun has come out! Barbecues and beer gardens and ice
cream cabinets are a calling.. and everyone seems to have a spring in their
step today. Has the sun got you in a good mood?
If it hasn’t already, I have a few recommendations from my
last week or two which might take your week up a notch…
> CINEMA – A Quiet Place
Last week I bravely agreed to go see A Quiet Place at the cinema, as it was my other half’s turn to pick
a flick, and he’s suffered a series of romantic films at home recently. So, off
we went – with me thoroughly braced for a scaring. I picked up on the Twitter
hype ahead of going and made sure I speedily ate my cinema snack before the
film started…
And while I can’t say I enjoyed the film – I was on edge
from start to finish – it was a good watch. An interesting premise and fine
acting from Emily Blunt. I recommend you go see at the cinema for the surround
sound experience, as I doubt it would make you jump in the same way at home. Overall
– less scary and better done than I’d expected.
> MUSIC – Summery tunes
There seem to have been a few new tracks on the radio in the
car lately, and the kind that have you dancing behind the wheel. I’m enjoying
fresh, summery pop! My fave songs at the moment are…
> TV – The Bridge
FINALLY… it’s been announced the BBC will be screening
Season 4 of The Bridge in May. That gives us approximately one month to catch
up on the first three seasons, which have all been uploaded to iPlayer for just
this reason. I started last night.
> BOOK – Milk & Honey
I was tired the other night and trying to fall asleep, and
picked up Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, which I’ve had by my bed for a while now
waiting to be opened. In the end, I read the book of poetry from cover to cover
and highly recommend! If you’re looking for thoughtful easy reading.. it made
my evening. And I’m thinking about it still.
> RECIPE – Calamarata Pasta with Mushrooms, Beans, and
Greens
My recipe of the week this week, readers, is one for a vegan
Italian pasta dish. I found this recipe recently in a vegan magazine, dated from
sometime in 2017, which I was leafing through in the waiting room at the blood
donor centre, while there to give blood. It proved a handy distraction! And I
took photos of the pages for this recipe to take away and try out at home – a Calamarata
Pasta with Mushrooms, Beans, and Greens.
This recipe calls for a pasta called ‘calamarata’. I googled and, as
the name implies, calamarata takes its name from calamari and is shaped like squid
rings. It’s normally a little thick and often with a slightly rough surface,
similar to paccheri but narrower, and comes from southern Italy. But I couldn’t
find any! I did try but gave up in the end and used paccheri instead – ASDA Extra Special Mezzi Paccheri.
I also failed at sourcing Swiss chard – it’s not been my best effort
this week, readers, in getting the right ingredients! Instead, I bought a pack
of ASDA Grower's Selection Spring Greens – a bargain at just 69p for a 500g
pack.
However you fare ingredient shopping, readers, as long as you find some
ingredients remotely along the right lines, here’s the recipe in just
eight simple steps…
--
Recipe: Calamarata
Pasta with Mushrooms, Beans, and Greens
Ingredients: Extra-virgin olive oil, 1 small onion, 1 garlic
clove, 1 bunch of Swiss chard, 225g mixed mushrooms, 240g cooked cannellini
beans, 150g tomatoes, 450g calamarata pasta (or similarly thick, tubed pasta),
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:
1.
Somehow, get yourself in the mood for a proper
Italian cooking session! Set some sunny music playing, pour a hearty glass of
wine, maybe some olives to nibble on as you cook?
2.
First, begin with veg prep. Slice the onion,
finely chop the garlic clove, roughly chop the Swiss chard and the mushrooms, peel
the tomatoes and crush with a fork.
3.
Then heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a large frying
pan or wok. Fry the onion and garlic in the oil, then add the Swiss chard,
season with salt and leave to fry lightly over a low heat for ten minutes,
stirring every so often.
4.
Meanwhile, set a kettle boiling, then empty your
pasta into a large saucepan of boiling water. Bring to the boil and simmer
uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain it when it is al dente, reserving
the cooking liquid, and set aside.
5.
When your chard looks halfway done cooking, add
the mushrooms and a little warm water, if needed, then cook covered until the
chard and mushrooms are soft – it should take 15 minutes total.
6.
Next, add the beans to the pan and toss in the
crushed tomatoes, then season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook for another
10 minutes.
7.
Then tip the cooked pasta into the pan, stir to
combine, and sauté it everything together for a few minutes. Add a little
cooking liquid, if necessary, as it shouldn’t be too dry.
8.
Spoon your pasta out between four bowls and
serve with a generous grinding of black pepper. Tuck in!
--
What do you reckon, readers? Might you give this recipe a
try? It went down a storm at the weekend! I cooked for the Mr and made a real effort
to dress up and lay the table and put out olives and wine… we had a lovely
evening.
I will say – I added a little cooking liquid, as called for
in Step 7, but definitely not enough. Our pasta was a bit on the dry side, as a
result, and we’d homemade garlic bread but didn’t really have much to dunk it
in as there wasn’t a lot by way of sauce.
BUT… that’s me knit picking. Overall, the dish was enjoyable
to cook, and tasty and filling to eat. It was nice to try new and seasonal
ingredients, and the dish came together as planned, and I managed to do this on
a hangover so you DEFINITELY can!
Give this recipe a go, readers, and please let me know how
you get on in the kitchen.
Have fun in the sun this week!
Sauté safely,
Hayley
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