Malloreddus alla Campidanese

This is a truly traditional Sardinian dish, you'll find it on restaurant menus on the island. I remember eating this dish on lots of occasions with friends in Pula, and not least with my neighbour Angioletta and her husband. They used to invite me for lunch before the whole town took a siesta.

If you want to bring a taste of Sardinia into your kitchen at home, follow the recipe below.

Malloreddus alla campidanese

Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 30 minutes | Serves: 2-3

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Ingredients:

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 pork sausages, skins removed
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp of crushed fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp of freshly chopped rosemary
• 400g chopped tinned tomatoes
• 200g Gnocchi Sardia pasta, available form Garofalo, including Gluten Free.
• Pecorino, or parmesan or alternative hard cheese
• Olive Oil

Instructions:

1. Gently heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the finely chopped onion, and cook on a low heat until soft.
2. Meanwhile skin the sausages so you only have the meat, then add this to the pan, along with the fennel and rosemary. Mix with a wooden spoon to break down the meat and brown.
3. Add the tomato puree and stir into the sausage meat, then add 400g of chopped tomatoes. Rinse the tomato can out with a splash of water and add to the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Allow the sauce to simmer gently for about 20-25 minutes, if it starts to look a little dry add a splash of pasta water.
5. While the sauce is simmering bring a pan of water to the boil for the pasta. Add a pinch of salt and cook the pasta - you can also make this from scratch using semolina or water. Alternatively Garofalo have gnochetti sardi in their range.
6. Once you're happy with your sauce, it should have thickened but remain silky. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir it in, along with some Pecorino stirred through.
7. Now it's time to serve, with an extra topping of Pecorino cheese, this dish would also go beautifully with a bottle of Cannonau if you can get your hands on this Sardinian wine that matches perfectly with the deep flavours of the sauce and the sausage.

This recipe is in collaboration with Garofalo Pasta as part of a paid for partnership. Garofalo Pasta is widely available on Ocado and Amazon

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Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli

Want to make your own fresh pasta but don’t know where to start? I’m sharing my top tips along with a new recipe for making homemade Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli 🥟

My first tip for pasta making is to have fun! I meet so many people that say “I love pasta but I’ve never tried making my own”, it’s honestly not as hard as you think. Some of the best pastas are the simplest dishes and that goes for the pasta too. You can always start with easier shapes, for example you could just start with lasagne sheets or tagliatelle and as your confidence grows get more adventurous.

The dough

• 200g 00 flour

• 2 large eggs

The ratio of 100g to each egg always works well, so you can alter as required.

Do this however you feel comfortable, when I first started out making pasta regularly I used to use a mixing bowl as it was all I had, but now I have a big wooden board which I prefer to use, I know I’ve watched Gennaro Contaldo do it perfectly on a large plate too! Whatever you choose follow these simple steps:

1. Make a well in the centre of the pasta.

2. Crack the eggs into the well.

3. Using a fork gradually mix the egg and slowly introduce the flour (try to not break the wall if using a board).

4. It will start to form dough like clumps (I don’t know how else to explain it!), don’t worry, this is normal.

5. Using your hands, combine it together and begin to knead it to form a dough.

6. Knead it for 5-10 minutes until you get a springy dough.

7. Wrap it in cling film or a beeswax wrap and leave to rest for about 20-30 minutes.

   If you’re going to leave it any longer I recommend resting it in the fridge. I always used to think this was best but actually you can leave it at room temperature if it’s not for too long.

Spinach and ricotta ravioli

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients:

• 200g Ricotta
• 100g cooked spinach (weight when drained and squeezed of any excess water), then roughly chopped
• 25g grated parmesan cheese
• Freshly grated nutmeg to flavour
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. While your dough is resting you can be preparing the filling for your ravioli.

2. Mix the ricotta and spinach together in a bowl and add the parmesan, tehn season with a good grating of fresh nutmeg plus salt and pepper to taste. The nutmeg really does make all the difference to the flavour so if you have some, use it!

3. Now your filling is ready it’s time to roll the dough. If you have a pasta machine this is by far the easiest and quickest way to roll pasta sheets but if this is your first time use the rolling pin in your kit.

4. Halve the pasta dough to make it easier and on a well floured surface begin to roll your dough, keep rolling until you have a long, thin sheet of pasta, like a lasagne sheet, about 3mm thick and as long as you can get it.

5. Once your pasta dough is rolled and ready cut two sheets so they’re roughly the same size in length.

6. On one piece, start to place evenly spaced teaspoons of filling along the sheet, if you have one leave enough space for you to use the ravioli stamp around each ball of filling. Once you’ve done that, place the other piece of dough over the top and gently push round each bit of filling pushing out any air as you go. You can also fold the pasta dough over the filling if you find this easier, push out the air and seal the edges using a fork.

7. If you have a stamp use it to cut the raviolis. If these don’t cut through the dough use a pasta cutter wheel to define the shapes and edges and cut them into shape.

8. Place on a well floured baking tray, or tea towel. Use semolina or pastsa flour to stop the shapes from sticking.

9. To cook the ravioli bring a pan of water to the boil, add some salt and add the ravioli to the pan, let cook for approximately 3-5 minutes depending on how thick your dough was, they’ll float to the top when ready.

You’ve made your own fresh pasta dish from scratch!

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Top Tip

If you don’t want to cook all the ravioli at once or prepare in advance, put them in the fridge on the baking tray, or freeze them flat until they’re part frozen and put into a freezer bag to stop them sticking together.

Keep it simple when serving, either a drizzle of olive oil, black pepper and some parmesan or I added a little tomato sauce (fresh or chopped tomatoes with garlic, basil, olive oil and salt and pepper)

BUON APPETITO!

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Nut free pesto

Make your own pesto

Pesto originates from Liguria and its official home is Genoa, which is why you'll often see Pesto alla Genovese on menus or products. I've decided to break tradition and omit the pine nuts from this recipe, as when you live with someone with a nut allergy any pre-made pesto is totally avoided in the house!Pesto is so simple to make and so much tastier when it's homemade. You can use a blender for speed but to be honest it's just as quick with a pestle and mortar.

Ingredients

• 1/2 bunch of basil

• 1 garlic clove

• 50g Parmesan / Pecorino or half and half

• Olive oil

• Pinch of salt

Pesto and basil

Method

Add the basil, garlic, salt and a tbsp of olive oil to start and pound in the pestle and mortar, until the basil leaves start to break up a little, then add the cheese and more olive oil, a good couple of glugs - you can add the olive oil how you like it, if you prefer it to be more chunky you'll want less.If you're using a blender throw it all in and blend!

Top Tip: I roughly chop my garlic first to make it easier to pound!

Delicious homemade pesto without any nuts!

Serving ideas 

Pesto is great for combining with pasta, add some cherry tomatoes, asparagus or even some chicken and you've got an easy dinner dish! Or use as a dressing for salmon with steamed veg, another simple dinner idea.

Other recipes you might like 

If you like this you might also like my Homemade Hummus Italian Style or my Black Olive Tapenade!

Share the love! 

I love seeing your pictures so don't forget to share them with me on social or if you think you'll know someone else who will love this share it on Pinterest. For more inspiration to cook from scratch follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Perfect fresh pasta dough

This simple pasta dough recipe is perfect for using for a range of pasta, such as pappardelle, lasagne, ravioli and pasta shapes like farfalle or tortellini.

Whether you have a pasta making machine, or you want to roll out your own fresh pasta with a rolling pin, this is a great ratio to make perfect pasta every time.

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Egg pasta dough recipe

Servings: 1 person This recipe makes enough pasta for one person, so just multiply by the number of people you’re making for.

Ingredients:

• 100g 00 pasta flour
• 1 large egg

Instructions:

1. Place the pasta flour on a wooden board and create a well in the middle, like a volcano. Make sure you don;t build the sides too high otherwise your egg will overflow!
2. Crack the egg into the middle of the flour.
3. With a fork, gently whisk the egg and gradually pull in the flour to create a smooth batter before it becomes a sticky dough. Don't worry if it doesn't pick up all the flour.
4. Bring it together with your hands and gently knead for 10 minutes. To knead your dough use the palm of your hand to push the dough away from you and then fold back onto itself and rotate 90 degrees and continue kneading. Keep the board lightly floured and keep kneading until it becomes a smooth, soft and springy dough.
5. Once the dough is smooth and springy, roll into a ball like shape and wrap in a beeswax wrap, or teatowel/cling film and leave at room temperature for 20 - 30 minutes.
6. Once rested, if you’ve made a large quantity of dough, split it into smaller pieces to work with, especially if you’re using a machine.
7. You can then roll out sheets of pasta for lasagna, ravioli, pappardelle, or to create shapes.
8. If you're using a pasta machine, roll your dough through the widest setting at least four times. Then gradually move up the settings to create a thinner pasta dough, until it's the thickness you require.

Pappardelle

Pappardelle is one of my favourite pasta. The name speaks for itself, translated from the verb pappare meaning to ‘gobble up’ and that’s easy to do with pretty much any sauce! It's great for ragu, perfect for creamy sauces, or a simple pesto.

To make pappardelle flour the top of the sheet of pasta and roll it, like a log – then cut about 2 inches wide and place the strands on a floured board or tray. If you have lots to do place a tea towel on top to stop it drying out, then continue with the other pieces.