Chilli and Vodka pasta

We've had a couple of days of really blustery gusts in Manchester this week, and poor Mr P has had to cycle to work in - not very nice at all. So I decided the best way to mitigate this would be by making him a nice bone-warming dinner to sort him out after his latest 14 hour day.

 

This dish has a little bit of everything you need in this situation - the pasta helps you to carb back up after a tough bike ride, the protein in the kidney beans helps to keep you full, the chilli peps you up when you're dog tired, and although the cooking process destroys the alcohol content of the vodka, it leaves behind a little bit of fiery 'je ne sais quoi' that leaves a satisfied smile on your face.

 

Plus, the whole meal can be easily prepared in under half an hour - bonus!

 

I'm entering this recipe into the monthly Pasta Please, run by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes. This month the theme is chilli, and it's hosted by hosted by Shaheen at A2K.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chilli and Vodka Pasta

serves 2-3

 

 

Ingredients:

 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 red chilli (with seeds), chopped

1 tablespoon tomato puree

2 measures (50ml) vodka

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin kidney beans, drained

 

enough pasta to feed 2/3 people

 

 

 

Method:

 

1. Start to cook the pasta on the hob, whilst you prepare your sauce.

 

2. Gently fry the onion in your oil in a saucepan until it starts to soften. Then add the chilli, garlic and tomato puree, and cook for a minute or so more. Adding the tomato puree at this early stage helps to take away any bitterness and give a slightly sweeter flavour.

 

3. At this point, add the kidney beans, vodka and chopped tomatoes and stir well. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for a further 15-20 minutes or so until the sauce has thickened somewhat.

 

4. Meanwhile, when the pasta is cooked al dente, drain well. Serve either with the sauce on top, or stir the pasta into the sauce at the last minute for full coverage.

Kimchi or not Kimchi... that is the question!

Cabbage is a bit of a sore point in our household, since Mr P is practically phobic. I have just about managed to get him to eat the odd sprout, stirfried in a flash in a spicy sauce, but cabbage remains a major task. And since we get a fortnightly box of mystery seasonal veg delivered to our house, cabbage has featured rather heavily of late, and it's been my sole responsibility.

A colleague introduced me to Korean food recently, and I got very excited googling the various exotic options on the menu. Most intriguing was the idea of Kimchi - apparently a staple of Korean cuisine that often involves fermented cabbage, ginger and chilli. Fish sauce is normally a key ingredient in Kimchi, but I wasn't going to let this put me off  the possibility of a solution to the cabbage overload I've been having of late. If you're a meat-eater or a pescetarian, you could substitute fish sauce for half of the soy sauce in the recipe. However, for vegetarians/vegans, my recipe is probably so different from its namesake, that I'm not sure if it's fair to stick to the original name. But as I can't think of anything more suitable (and as it's provided me with a puntastic title for this post), I think we're good to go.

Kimchi (or not Kimchi)

Ingredients:

2 large cabbages

8 dessert spoons salt

1 red onion, finely minced

4 cloves garlic, finely minced

5 tblsp lazy chilli (the kind pre-chopped in a jar)

about 2cm fresh ginger, grated

10 des sp soy sauce

3 tsp sugar

 

Method:

1. Chop the cabbages in half, then chop into pieces about 2cm in size, then rinse.

2. Put the cabbage into a large container, dissolve the salt in a jug of water and pour over the cabbage. You will then have to top up with more water until your cabbage is totally covered (unless your jug was gargantuan). Weigh the cabbage down so that it is completely submerged. Leave for 4-5 hourse, then drain, rinse and dry.

3. For the sauce, mix together the onion, garlic, chilli, ginger, soy sauce and sugar.

4. Cover the cabbage completely in the sauce, and pack into sterlised jars. Invert a couple of times, then pop into a cupboard for a couple of days, after which it should be starting to ferment and ready to serve. In normal kimchi, this is indicated because it starts bubbling, though this never happens to mine. Transfer the kimchi to the fridge.  If you don't want to eat it straight away, you can leave it to mature for longer. It will get richer and more sour over time, and then is better used as the base for sauces and soups rather than eaten on its own.

5. The kimchi is lovely served with sesame seeds, either as a snack on its own, with noodles as a simple lunch, or as a side to many different kinds of dishes. But don't get carried away and eat a whole jar in a couple of days, as a certain friend of mine recently did - your belly won't thank you for it! It is fermented cabbage, after all.

Looking for some hot stuff? Chocolate and Chilli Tartes

As regular readers will know, this Christmas brought me some rather exciting items of bakeware, including a very cute set of individual loose-bottomed tartlet tins. As a rule, I tend to be something of a "more is more" person in the kitchen, so I've been excited about the opportunity of restraining myself with some dainty little specimens, and have just been waiting for inspiration to strike.

Now that Valentine's Day is fast approaching (an event I vehemently vocally shun, and yet am always a little aware of!) it seems like the perfect opportunity to press the tins into action with some naughty, decadent little morsels. I got this idea for a chocolate and chilli tarte from the Great Sport Relief Bake-Off a few weeks ago. Since I couldn't find the original recipe, I had the perfect excuse to experiment for myself. My friend M recently made a German Chocolate Cheesecake with a weird and wonderful crunchy semi-biscuit/semi-pastry base, so I decided to try and create something similar to offset the smoothness of the filling. The result was scrumdiddlyumptious! Although, if I was making it again, I might go for a little less crunch in the pastry as I think it took something away from the delicateness of the overall finished product.

Definitely worth a try, though, if you're into experimental confections!

Chocolate and Chilli Tartes

Makes 6-8 tartes of 6cm diameter

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

250g plain flour

125g butter, chilled, in chunks

100g sugar

25g cocoa powder

1tsp baking powder

1 egg

For the filling:

crushed seeds from 3 green cardamom pods

3 cloves, crushed

pinch cinnamon

150ml double cream

45g caster sugar

1/3 tsp chopped scotch bonnet chilli

100g dark chocolate, broken up

2 eggs, beaten

Method:

1. For the pastry, mix flour, cocoa and baking powder together. Rub in the fat until you get a breadcrumb constistency. Stir in the sugar, then stir in the egg. Ball up in clingfilm; rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. When the pastry has rested, roll out as thinly as you can on a flour-dusted surface and use it to line your pastry cases. Blind bake at 200 degrees celcius for about 8 minutes; remove your baking beans and bake for another 3-4 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 150 degrees celcius. If you have any leftover pastry, you can use pastry cutters to make little biscuits - they only take about 3-5 minutes and are delicious!

3. For the filling, add the sugar, spices and chilli to your cream. Bring to the boil on the hob. Once the cream starts bubbling, remove from the heat, and stir in the chocolate until it has completely melted in. Allow the filling to cool for about 5 minutes or so, then gradually whisk in the beaten eggs, a little at a time. 

4. Pop your pastry cases on an oven tray for ease of movement, fill each one with the filling, and bake for about 20-30 minutes at 150 degrees celcius.

5. Allow to cool on a cooling rack before serving with a little cream. These keep well in the fridge for up to 3 days, but you should let them come to room temperature before serving them.

Polenta in Bloody Mary Sauce

This dish is incredibly quick and simple - only about 10 minutes from start to serve.



Polenta in Bloody Mary sauce, topped with a stuffed mushroom



Ingredients

1 pack of solid polenta (a block)

1tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp szechuan peppercorns, crushed

1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 shot vodka
Fish-free Worcester sauce




Method

1. Cube the polenta into 2cm pieces and brown the outsides in olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat for about 3 minutes.

2. Push the polenta to the edges of the pan and add the chilli and peppercorns to the centre. Fry for about a minute.

3. Add the tin of tomatoes and the vodka, and about a tablespoon of fish-free Worcester sauce.

4. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add more fish-free Worcester sauce to tast if necessary, and serve immediately.