Lemon, thyme and pork meatballs with Garofalo Orzo

Orzo is an underrated pasta in my opinion, in the UK anyway. It’s one I didn’t really cook with a lot in the past, but it’s actually quite a versatile type of pasta, traditionally used in soups and broths, it actually also works really well for lighter, summer dishes. 

Garofalo Quality 

For this recipe I’ve used Garofalo pasta, as I’m working with them to create a number of recipes to share with you all. Garofalo’s orzo is made from 100% durum wheat semolina, they pride themselves on the quality of the grains they use from Italy, USA and Australia - choosing wheat that contributes to the excellent quality of pasta by its colour, cleanliness and flavour.   

A few quick facts about Orzo 

• Orzo is Italian for ‘barley’, because its shape is similar to that of a barley grain.

• Traditionally used in broths and soups

• Works well as an alternative to risotto or as a pasta salad style dish

You’ll see on a lot of Garofalo’s pasta packaging ‘Bronze Die Cut’, this is referring to the method the shape is produced and it’s by passing the pasta dough through a bronze drawing (extruder)  to create the shape, creating a rougher surface and better quality pasta than when using a teflon version. In most instances this creates a higher quality pasta, that will hold its shape and sauce better than some other pastas. You’ll mainly notice this difference compared to supermarket own brand pastas where they tend to be produced using the teflon drawings as it’s quicker and cheaper. 

I know many people see pasta as a great quick, cheaper dish, which it of course can be and that is the beauty of it, but quality pasta makes a big difference to the overall meal. 

You can find out more about how Garofalo make their pasta and see their full range online. You can also stock up on Ocado or Amazon.

Meatballs and orzo ready to combine

Lemon, thyme and pork meatballs with Garofalo Orzo

Servings: 4 people

Ingredients:

This recipe is perfect for mid week and shouldn’t take longer than 45 minutes to make, the more you make it the easier it will become too, plus you can freeze any spare meatballs.

If you only want to make this dish for two I recommend making the full batch of meatballs and freezing half of them, then half the ingredients below.

For the meatballs

• 500g pork mince

• 1 egg, beaten

• 75g breadcrumbs

• Small bunch of fresh thyme (pick the leaves)

• Zest of 1 lemon

• Salt & Pepper

For the orzo

• 350g orzo

• 1 Courgette, thick slices, quartered

• 1 small onion, finely chopped

• 1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock

• Olive Oil

• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

1. Start by making your meatballs in a bowl, combine the pork mince, breadcrumbs, half of the freshly picked thyme leaves, zest of one lemon, salt and pepper for seasoning, and mix together.

2. Add the beaten egg and combine together. With wet hands roll into meatballs, you should be able to make about 20 - 24 meatballs.

3. I find it easier to cook these in the oven while preparing the rest of the dish. Heat a fan oven to 180°C and cook for 20 minutes (you may want to turn them half way through).

4. While they’re in the oven finely chop an onion and slice your courgette into quarters. I like using yellow courgette with this dish but green works just as well.

5. Add some olive oil to a pan and slowly cook the onions, after 5 minutes add the courgette, season and cook for a further 5 minutes.

6. Add some more fresh thyme or some dried herbs (abour 1tsp) and then the orzo, stir in, and add half the stock.

7. Allow to simmer for ten minutes, add more stock as required, approximately 250ml.

8. Add the juice of one lemon, and more stock if required.

9. Add the meatballs and stir together.

10. Check the orzo is cooked, you should have a silky consistency and the pasta should be al dente.

11. Serve and top with some more fresh thyme.

Lemon, thyme and pork meatballs with orzo

Keep up to date with my recipes and ideas, follow me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and sign up to my newsletter for all my latest recipes and events. Also look out for my competition to win a hamper of goodies from Garofalo!

Asparagus and Goats Cheese Frittata

It’s asparagus season, and it’s Bank Holiday, so add this tasty frittata to your BBQ spread! Perfect for vegetarians, this quick and tasty dish is great as a side, part of a lunch spread, and if there are any leftovers grab a slice for work!I bought lovely fresh, homegrown asparagus from our local farm shop, Pearce’s, here’s what else you’ll need…

Fresh British Asparagus

Asparagus and goats cheese frittata

Servings: 4 - 6people

Ingredients:

Increase your ingredients if you want a bigger frittata.

• 4 eggs

• 75g soft goats cheese

• 50g cherry tomatoes

• 4 small boiled new potatoes

• 75g asparagus

To keep it simple I baked my frittata in the oven, it saved faffing with frying pans and grilling.

Instructions:

1. Line a small round cake tin with baking parchment and a little spray of olive oil

2. Whisk your eggs with salt, pepper and half of the goats cheese

3. Break the woody bit of asparagus off from the stalk, then slice diagonally up until just before the head

4. Halve the tomatoes, slice the potatoes

5. Scatter the tomatoes, potatoes and sliced asparagus in the cake tin and pour in the egg mixture

6. Then top with the remaining goats cheese and asparagus spear heads

7. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes

Asparagus and goats cheese frittata lunch spread

I love to see it when you recreate my recipes so make sure you share them with me on social media or follow me for more recipe ideas and inspiration. You can find me on Twitter or Instagram with @CookingCarafes or on Facebook.

Insalata di Tonno

With the arrival of Spring… sort of, my mind is turning to being healthier, and naturally happier when the sun finally breaks through! I’m on a bit of a health kick anyway at the moment but with warmer days approaching I crave Mediterranean style salads. So here’s one of my favourites, insalata di tonno - I’ve never had a bad tuna salad in Italy, in fact just writing those words have taken me back to sitting in beach bars with this delicious salad served up. This salad is great for work lunches, split out the ingredients and prep ahead for a couple of days or serve it up in a huge bowl great to accompany BBQs.

So here you go, you can mix it up your own way by removing or adding ingredients but this is my perfect combo.

Ingredients:

• Mixed salad leaves

• Cannellini beans

• Tomatoes

• Grated carrot

• Cucumber

• Radishes

• Black pitted olives

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil & red or white wine vinegar - this for me is the key ingredient, it brings the whole salad alive.

Additional ingredients you could try:

• Soft boiled egg (best when its just warm and the yolk is still a little runny)

• Asparagus

• Mozzarella

What’s your favourite salad combo? Comment below, and share your salad pictures with me on social media tag us on Twitter or Instagram with @CookingCarafes or find me on Facebook.

Insalata di tonno - tuna salad

Olive tapenade

The last time I had good tapenade was in Jamie’s Italian served with Pane Carasau and giant Queen olives - maybe it tasted that little bit sweeter because it was one of the free tasters with my Jamie’s Italian Gold Card (back when Jamie’s Italian was still going strong), that aside it was a brilliant appetiser. When I got my hands on some Crosta & Mollica flatbreads, Rosemary Linguette I knew they would pair perfectly with a tasty tapenade. This is also great to have with my homemade grissini.

Black Olive Tapenade with Crosta & Mollica Flatbreads

Black Olive Tapenade

• Prep time: Less than 5 minutes

Ingredients:

• Pitted black olives 330g (drained weight 163g)

• 1 anchovy fillet (in olive oil)

• 1 tbsp capers

• 1 garlic clove (to taste)

• 1 - 2 tbsp olive oil

• Juice of 1/2 a lemon

• Chilli flakes (to taste)

Instructions:

1. Put everything into a blender except the olive oil and blitz for 30 seconds. I don’t like too much garlic so I added a tiny amount for flavour, probably a ¼ of a clove.

2. Add olive oil, start with a tbsp and then see how the consistency is, add another tbsp if you prefer it to be smoother - for me tapenade should have some texture with little pieces of olive.

This works alongside other antipasti style stuzzichini or cichetti like stuffed mushrooms with ricotta, lemon and chilli and mozzarella wrapped in parma ham, or a caprese, focaccia and some tasty meats and cheeses - I love making big sharing plates for everyone to tuck into with an aperitivo!

Don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter for more inspiration to your inbox or follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or Facebook

Easy Melanzane alla Parmigiana

For my latest #MeatFreeMonday challenge I’ve chosen to use aubergine. Notorious for being a meaty veg, aubergine is a key ingredient in moussaka, caponata  and the classic pasta alla norma - one of my favourites! It’s often used in a number of Sicilian dishes too or served as a side but one of the other Italian classics is melanzane alla parmigiana.

This version is more like a stuffed aubergine but uses the same ingredients as melanzane alla parmigiana and is great for two or double up the ingredients to serve for more - this is easy and fuss free and I’ve added a few ideas for ways you can mix it up to your taste.

Easy Melanzane alla Parmigiana

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients:

• Olive oil

• 1 aubergine

• 400g chopped tomatoes

• Mozzarella ball

• Oregano

• Basil

• Parmesan

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Halve the aubergine (leave the stalk, it makes for pretty photos but more importantly holds it together!).

2. With a knife cut round the inside of the aubergine, leaving about 1cm of flesh and be careful not to cut through the skin. Then scoop out the insides. Brush the inside of the aubergine halves with olive oil, place in a baking dish and cover with foil and cook in the oven for 30 minutes, they’ll start to soften - if they still look and feel too hard leave for a little longer.

3. Meanwhile, chop the aubergine insides into roughly 1cm cubes, season with a little salt and cook in a pan with for 5 -10 minutes with a lug of olive oil. Aubergines absorb olive oil quickly so don’t worry too much if they look a little dry, season with oregano and pepper and then add the chopped tomatoes. When you’re making the sauce you can easily add garlic or onion to add more flavour but I wanted to keep mine simple.

4. Allow the aubergine and tomato sauce to simmer and tear about 5 basil leaves into the sauce for flavour. You could also add chopped black olives at this point if you want some more flavour.

5. If the sauce starts to dry out either add a little water or turn off the heat. Once the aubergines are cooked remove the foil and half fill with the sauce, add a layer of mozzarella, top with more sauce and a final layer of mozzarella, season with a little oregano and pepper and parmesan.

6. Turn the oven up to 200°C and put the aubergines back in for 10 - 15 minutes until the mozzarella starts to brown.

I served mine with Merchant Gourmet Freekeh but you could just as easily use cous cous, I think giant cous cous would be great or quinoa and lentils. I also served with a side of rocket.

Mushroom and thyme tagliatelle

Mushrooms are popular in northern Italian dishes and this dish seems perfect for the change in seasons - somewhere between summer and autumn where the sun is still occasionally shining but the air has turned a little colder and the sky has that crisp, rich blue hue - reminiscent of a scene in the Italian Alps or on the lakes of Italy. I used some homegrown ingredients from my Dad's allotment, including onion, garlic and fresh thyme!

Mushroom and thyme tagliatelle

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients:

• 150g tagliatelle

• 1 small onion

• 100g wild mushrooms, torn and stalks finely chopped

• 1 tbsp truffle oil

• Olive oil

• 1 garlic clove

• Fresh thyme, leaves picked

• 30g parmesan, grated

Ingredients for mushroom and thyme tagliatelle

Instructions:

1. Finely chop the onion and crush the garlic clove with the back of a knife, heat some olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and add the onion, crushed garlic clove (you'll remove this later) and season.

2. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add salt and the tagliatelle.

3. Whilst the pasta is cooking and when the onion is soft, remove the crushed garlic cove, add 1 tbsp of truffle oil and a knob of unsalted butter, and add the mushrooms along with thyme.

4. Once the mushrooms are soft, you're tagliatelle should be almost done, spoon the tagliatelle from the saucepan to the pan along with some of the pasta water and start to combine the pasta with the ingredients. As you do this add the parmesan to the dish to help create a silky sauce, add more pasta water as required.

5. Serve with a drizzle of truffle oil and parmesan.

Mushroom and thyme tagliatelle

Top Tip: As with all my recipes I like to keep them flexible and easy to make. So you can use any mushrooms but wild mushrooms or chestnut mushrooms tend to be tastier. They didn't have wild mushrooms when I headed for the weekly supermarket shop so we used their Asian selection instead!

Take part in my #MeatFreeMonday challenge as part of #HertsHour where people recreate one of my recipes and then share their photo on social media ... don't forget to tag @cookingcarafes to feature!

Sign up to my newsletter for more inspiration to your inbox or follow on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or Facebook

Spaghetti with tomato and chilli

I’m embracing fresh produce more than ever, with my garden producing more tomatoes than I know what to do with and my mum and sister providing me with regular deliveries from their vegetable garden and allotment I seem to have fresh produce aplenty!

I can’t wait to get into our new house next year and have my own veg patch but until then I’ll reap the rewards of their hard work. August Bank Holiday weekend we visited the Chilli Festival at Benington Lordship in Hertfordshire and naturally returned home with a few fabulous chilli based products and of course a chilli plant! So with a night to myself I decided to cook a clean and simple dish and photograph it for the blog, and now it’s time to share it with you.

Chilli plant from Benington Lordship Chilli Festival

Spaghetti with tomato and chilli

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients:

• 100g homegrown cherry tomatoes, halved

• 150 - 200g spaghetti (or linguine)

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

• Good quality olive oil

• Basil or parsley

• Pasta water or wine!

• Parmesan to serve

Ingredients for spaghetti with chilli and tomato

Instructions:

1. Heat the olive oil over a low heat and peel and lightly crush (with the back of a knife) the garlic clove. Add the garlic clove to the pan and allow it to flavour the oil.

2. Whilst that’s going on bring a pan of water to the boil ready for the pasta. Add the salt when it’s boiling and then add the pasta.

3. As the pasta cooks, put the chilli and tomatoes in the pan. Add a little seasoning.

4. The tomatoes will slowly start to break down to create a beautiful sauce, once this happens add a little white wine or some pasta water to help keep it from drying out and create more of a sauce. Add basil or parsely.

5. Cook the pasta until it’s al dente, then remove it from the pan using tongs or a spaghetti spoon and add it to the sauce, add a little pasta water and stir to cover and combine the spaghetti with the sauce.

6. Serve the pasta with freshly grated parmesan and a drizzle of olive oil.

I promise you this simple dish won't disappoint. Recently I’ve realised more and more how clean and simple ingredients really do produce the best dishes, so I’m trying to stick to that theory. For more great recipes and regular updates sign up to my newsletter or follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or Facebook.

Spaghetti with tomato and chilli

Homemade hummus...Italian style

I love rustling up quick antipasti dishes for those moments when you fancy a little snack with your aperitivo, or friends and family pop over to join you for a glass of wine. The key to a good antipasto dish is simple, great quality produce coupled with a great wine or your favourite aperitivo.

Rather than buying pots of hummus from the supermarket why not try making your own? Everyone knows hummus is great for dipping so we thought it would be a great accompaniment to grissini or breadsticks. In particular Crosta & Mollica's black olive grissini. The texture of these combined with a smooth hummus are the perfect match.

Hummus is traditionally made with chickpeas but we thought we'd try it with one of Italy's loved ingredients, the cannellini bean! Usually found in salads or served with fish we thought we'd change it up use them to make a classic dip.

Homemade hummus, with cannellini beans

Servings: 8 people

Ingredients:

• 400g tin of cannellini beans

• 1 tsp tahini paste

• 2 tsp cumin

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1/2 a lemon

• 1 garlic clove

Instructions:

1. Drain the cannellini beans, squeeze the lemon juice and add everything to a mixer. Add the olive oil a tbsp at a time to taste, and depending on consistency.

2. Blend until you have a smooth consistency, a few chunks will add to the texture.

3. Serve with a sprinkle of paprika or parsley.

Summer sea bass with caper and chive butter

This dish radiates long summer evenings to me, and although it might be raining as I type this it definitely wasn’t when I soaked up the late afternoon sun alfresco and enjoyed this light dinner.

This is a fuss free dinner, and super easy to make. Not only that but it’s healthy too – sea bass is low in calories and an excellent source of protein, selenium and essential omega-3 fatty acids. Scale up the ingredients for however many people you're cooking for!

Summer sea bass with caper and chive butter

Servings: 1 person (scale up as required)

Ingredients:

• Ingredients

• Sea bass fillet

• Courgette, sliced

• Cherry tomatoes

• Oregano

• 1 tsp capers

• Chives

• Lemon juice

• Butter

• Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive oil

• New potatoes

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°. Cook your new potatoes as you prepare and cook the rest of the dish.

2. Using foil parchment paper line a dish with this and place your slices of courgette in one layer in the dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with dried oregano.

3. Place the sea bass on top of the courgette, drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

4. Then chop the chives and squeeze some lemon juice over the sea bass. Add 1 tsp of capers into the dish and a knob of butter on top and seal the parchment.

5. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.

6. Add your tomatoes and continue to cook for a further 10 minutes.

7. Drain and lightly crush the potatoes with a fork.

8. Serve with the delicious butter sauce poured over the sea bass and new potatoes on the side to finish the dish.

For more recipe ideas don't forget to sign up to my newsletter and follow on Instagram.