Pappardelle With Chestnuts and Pancetta.

I made this a few weeks ago.  I had been clearing out my kitchen cupboard and found a vacuum pack of chestnuts left over from Christmas.  Coincidentally, the following day I found this recipe ripped out of The Guardian Weekend, 4th Dec 2010.  Perfect.

Ingredients - 

750g pappardelle (I had to use tagliatelle as Tesco didn't have pappardelle for some reason.)

2 tsp garlic-infused oil (I didn't have this and as I was aiming to clear out the cupboards, not clutter them more, I just added some sliced garlic to olive oil.)

400g cubed pancetta

50g butter, plus more for serving

250g vac-packed cooked chestnuts

80ml dry marsala

125ml pasta cooking water

3 tbsp finely sliced chives

3 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley

Method - 

1. Cook the pasta.

2. Meanwhile, in large casserole or wok, warm the garlic oil, tip in the pancetta and cook over high heat until bronzed and crisp.

3. Add the butter and, once melted, tumble in the chestnuts.  Use a wooden spoon to squish them down, so each chestnut crumbles into a good four pieces, stir, add the marsala and let it bubble up.

4. Remove 125ml of the pasta water and tip into the chestnut pan.  Stir and let it bubble a little.

5. Drain the pasta when cooked but still with a bit of bite to it, and add to the sauce, with just under half the chives and parsley and some butter.  Mix gently but firmly, so the ingredients are well dispersed and the light sauce clings gently to the thick ribbons.

6. Sprinkle with the remaining herbs on serving.

Pasta With Pan-Fried Pumpkin, Walnut And Parsley Sauce.

Today we are going to be rushed in the evening so I made our main meal of the day at lunchtime and we'll just have leftovers or sandwiches for tea.

I found this book (Cooking With Pumpkins And Squash by Brian Glover) in the library and decided that I would like to try and do more with pumpkins and squashes at this time of year as I have never really done anything with them before.

The kids love pasta and I can guarantee they will eat all of their meal if it is some kind of pasta so I chose the punpkin pasta recipe.  I usually shop at Tesco as it is close but I decided that if anywhere would have a selection of interesting pumpkins and squash it would be Sainsbury's (we're staying at my Mum and Dad's house just now otherwise I would go to my local fruit and veg shop which is brilliant).  How disappointing to find that all they had were butternut squash or carving pumpkins.  I bought a small carving pumpkin but I'm sure this recipe could be done better with something a little tastier.

Recipe (Serves 4).

Ingredients - 

150g walnut halves

3 fat cloves garlic, peeled

5 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp walnut oil

5 tbsp double crea, or creme fraiche

small bunch parsley

freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste

650g prepared squash, cut into 1cm thick slices or chunks

1-2 pinches dried chilli flakes, crushed (I just used chilli powder as it's what I had to hand)

400g pasta of your choice

freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

freshly grated parmesan, to serve

Method - 

1. Preheat oven to 180 (350) GM 4.  Put the walnuts on a baking tray and toast them in the preheated oven for 5-6 minutes, making sure they don't burn.  Chop 50g of the nuts roughly and set aside then put the remaining 100g in a food processor.
2. Blanch the garlic in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, drain and rinse.  Put the garlic in the processor with the walnuts, add 2 tbsp olive oil, the walnut oil and cream.  Whizz to make a paste.
3. Set aside a third of the parsley, the whizz the remaining two-thirds into the sauce.  Chop the reserved parsley and set aside. Leave the sauce in the processor for now.
4. In a large frying pan, heat the remaining olive oil over medium heat, add the squash and chilli flakes and cook, turning the squash now and then, until it is tender and lightly browned, about 10-12 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta.

6. When the pasta is cooked, drain, reserving 4-5 tbsp of the cooking water.  Whizz enough of this water into the sauce to make it creamy, then season with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg.

7. Toss the pasta with the squash, remaining walnuts and parsley and the sauce.  Serve with parmesan.

Tasted good.  As I suspected, the pumpkin was a little bland.  I also found the sauce a little dry so next time I will either try it with the cream rather than the creme fraiche or add a little more oil.  Great tastes for Autumn, though and very filling.

It's a nice little cookbook too.  I might try something else before putting it back to the library.