Hake & soft cheese ravioli with creamy tomato sauce

Ravioli are a type of filled pasta, traditional for Italian cuisine. Small, square pasta cases are stuffed with various fillings containing meat, cheese or vegetables. Ravioli can be served as a starter or a light meal and dished up with various, flavoured pasta sauces and grated cheese or just drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and scattered with fresh herbs and parmesan shavings.

They were first mentioned in 14^th century Italian manuscripts. Nowadays their popularity spread all over the world with shops offering lots of fresh ravioli to choose from with all kinds of fillings.

They are quite time consuming to make from scratch, but believe me it’s totally worth it.  Homemade pasta and fresh fish fillets makes this a dish that is both comforting and luxurious.

Ingredients:

FOR HOME-MADE PASTA:

200g ‘00’ type flour (soft flour)

2 or 3 large organic eggs

Salt to taste

FOR FILLING:

150g hake fish fillet

100g cream cheese

4Tbsp fresh cream

2 egg whites

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp turmeric

½ tsp saffron

Salt & pepper to taste

FOR TOMATO SAUCE:

1 medium sized onion-peeled and sliced

3 cloves of garlic- finely chopped

200 ml canned tomatoes

Fresh cream

Oil for frying

1. Mix the dry spices together in the bowl and rub on the fish. Place prepared fillets on a tray, cover with cling film and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
2. Meanwhile prepare the pasta dough. Place ingredients in a bowl and begin to mix around by hand until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Tip the mixture out onto a clean work surface and shape into a ball. Knead for a few minute. Squash the dough with both hands, stretch it and twist until it feels smooth. Then wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30-50 minutes.
4. While pasta is resting in the fridge prepare filling for the ravioli and tomato sauce.

FOR FILLING: place marinated fish chunks, soft cheese, egg whites and fresh cream in the blender and blend into smooth paste.

TO MAKE TOMATO SAUCE: fry onion slices and garlic in heavy-based pan until soft and aromatic. Add canned tomatoes and simmer for a few minutes. Add cream and stir together for a smooth creamy consistency. Put aside and keep warm. 

4. To make the egg pasta layers, cut the pasta dough into quarters and, working with one piece at a time, roll out using a pasta machine, lightly dusting the dough with flour between rolls and finishing on setting number five. (If working without the pasta machine roll out the dough, using a rolling pin. Spread the dough until it is thinner than 1/8 inch. Dust the rolling pin with flour to keep the dough from sticking to it.)
5. Lay a sheet of pasta on a floured worked surface and cut into shapes using round pastry cutter or a pastry wheel.  Using a teaspoon, place spoonfuls of the fish filling in the middle of pasta squares. Brush the edges of the pasta squares with the beaten egg and then lay the second sheet of pasta on top. Press around the edges of the filling to seal, ensuring there are no air bubbles.
6.   Bring a large pan of well-salted water (one teaspoon salt per 600ml/1 pint water) to the boil. Drop the ravioli into the boiling water and cook for a total of four minutes. Drain well and tip into a large, warmed serving bowl.
7. Garnish with tomato sauce and grated cheese. Enjoy!

TIPS:

If you are not going to eat the ravioli immediately, drop them into the boiling water as you make each batch and cook for just one minute, then lift out with a slotted spoon and drop into a bowl of cold water. Drain and lay out on lightly oiled trays, cover with cling film and chill until needed. Then drop back into boiling salted water just before serving and cook for three minutes.

Jalebi- Indian Celebration Sweets

At the end of our “sweet” week in college, I’d like to post another great Indian recipe for delicious, syrupy sweets called Jalebi. Whatever you can say about jalebis one is for sure: it is the Celebration Sweet of India. They are present in government offices, defence facilities, and other organisations during all national holidays. They are also irreplaceable in everyday life: eaten as an evening snack, breakfast food served with thin flatbread poori, or even considered as a remedy for headache (dipped in boiling milk).

Jalebis were first mentioned in 13^th century Persian cookbook as traditional sweet given to poor during Ramadan. It likely arrived to India during the period of Muslim rule. Also in North Africa (Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria) we can find similar sweet known under its Arabic name: Zlebia.
These orange pretzel-shaped delicacies glisten and tempt from the shelves of Asian sweet-shops, but not everybody knows that they taste best when served hot and fresh. Even for this reason it is worth to make Jalebis at home.

 Chef Tom ready to make some Jalebi J

Ingredients:

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup yogurt

Oil for deep frying

For sugar syrup:

1 cup sugar

Few strands saffron

1/4 tsp cardamom powder

2 Tbsp rose water

1.      Mix the flour, baking powder and yogurt together in a bowl into a batter. (Batter consistency should be pancake like, if  its too thick- slightly dilute with lukewarm water)

2.      Cover with clean cloth and keep aside for a while to ferment.

3.   Meanwhile prepare the sugar syrup. Melt the sugar with water (with sugar- water ratio 2:1). Add rose water and bring to boil to get a one thread consistency. To check for one thread consistency, carefully dip the tip of your index finger into the syrup, touch your finger and thumb together and gently tease apart. If one thread is formed between your finger and thumb the syrup is done. Turn off fire, add the saffron strands and cardamom and stir well. Keep warm.

4.      Pour batter into a pancake dispensing bottle or piping bag.

5.      Heat the oil in a deep wok-like dish. To test for the right temperature, drop a small amount of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and rises to the top of the oil, the oil is hot enough. Keep the flame on medium at all times to ensure all round cooking of the jalebis.

6.      Now hold the pancake dispenser over the hot oil and squeeze the batter into the oil into a wiggly, randomly coiled circle. Squeeze out several at a time.

7.      Fry till light golden and then remove and put directly into the warm sugar syrup.

8.      Allow to soak for 2-3 minutes and then remove. For best results serve warm.

Tips:

• Usually orange food colouring is added to commercially served Jalebis. However to make this sweet healthier we decided to avoid artificial colours and experiment a bit with sugar syrup to add natural colour and unique flavour to our Jalebis. Instead of rose water which has really sweet, strong and distinctive flavour we used a bit of fresh orange juice. It added lovely orange colour and fresh citrusy twist to the syrup. We also decided to add a few strands of saffron while the syrup was still simmering on a low heat. Saffron is a perfect equivalent for orange food colouring as it is a strong natural dye.
• If you like thin and crispy Jalebis you should use pancake batter dispenser to create your pretzels. For thick and juicy ones try piping bag. Why? Squeezing the batter out of any plastic dispensed requires some strength and precision. Eventually you’ll have to grip it quite hard to squeeze the thin spout of batter into the oil. With a piping bag the hole at the tip will be just as big as you cut it. Therefore you can make the opening slightly bigger and enjoy thicker jalebis forming on the oil surface. 

Jalebis come in variety of different shapes.  Every chef has got his own, creative style.

Chocolate brownie

Ingredients:

185g butter

285g chocolate

85g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

275g castor sugar

3 eggs

1. Prepare the baking tin by brushing the bottom with margarine. Line it with a grease proof paper.  Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Put the chocolate and butter in a bowl and melt over a pan of boiling water. Remove from pan when melted.
3. Use electric whisk to beat eggs and sugar
4. Stir chocolate in the egg mixture.
5. Sift flour and cocoa powder over mixture and fold in.
6. Pour into prepared baking tin and bake for 40 minutes.
7. Leave to cool and cut into squares. Enjoy!

Short bread biscuits

Birthday Boy- Pete with our shortbreads

Ingredients:

180g Plain Flour

120g Margarine

60g Sugar

Method:

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl.

2. Mix together to form a dough.

3. Roll out and cut into shapes

4. Place on baking sheet & cook for 20 mins at 180C

Carrot Cake

Ingredients
200g castor sugar
200g self-raising Flour
2 Eggs
200ml sunflower oil
½ teaspoon mixed spice
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
200g carrots
½ teaspoon vanilla essence.



Method
1.Weigh out all your ingredients.
2.Prepare your cake tin
3.Wash and peel your carrots.
4.Put the oil, eggs and castor sugar in a measuring
jug and whisk them together.
5.In a mixing bowl add your sieved flour, mixed
spice, salt and cinnamon. Stir together well.
6.Add the grated carrots and add the vanilla
essence.
7.Mix together well and pour into the prepared cake
tin.
8. The cake will need 1 hour at 170C.

Topping
90 g cream cheese.
25g butter
½ juice and zest of 1 orange.
175 g icing sugar.

1. Mix together the cream
cheese and butter.
2. Add the icing sugar and the
orange zest.
3. Slowly add the orange juice
you might not need it all so add it carefully.
4. When your carrot cake is
cool spread the topping onto the cake.
5. Enjoy!

Banana Cake

Ingredients
100g butter or margarine
150g sugar
200g self raising flour
2 eggs
2 bananas

Method
1. Heat the oven to gas mark 4; 180C
2. Mash the bananas with a sturdy fork.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together and mix in the eggs.
4. Mix in bananas.
5. Mix in the flour.
6. Put in tin and bake for 30-40minutes

Lasagne- Classic & Vegetarian Recipes

We are slowly moving round the world to discover new recipes. Today I would like to share with you formula for a delicious dish that is known and appreciated all over the planet.

Lasagne is usually known as a traditional Italian dish.  However there are a few different theories about origin of this meal. Some of the theories show the connections between lasagne and several ancient Greek recipes, borrowed afterwards by Romans.

But British also claim their contribution to create world famous recipe. According to this theory Lasagne is a development of the 14th century English recipe "Loseyn" as described in The Forme of Cury, a cook book in use during the reign of Richard II. This claim has been made due to the similarities in both the method described in building the dish and the two names. Perhaps the British actually did have the good sense to layer cheese, meat, and pasta.

However the recipe couldn’t have been complete until arrival of tomatoes, which were introduced to Europe after Columbus reached America in 1492. The earliest cookbook featuring tomato recipes indeed comes form 16^th century Italy. So whether you consider the use of tomatoes to be fundamental in Lasagne or you are swayed by British arguments, you will definitely enjoy the product of this European co-operation.

Ingredients I- Classic lasagne

1 lbs minced meat (beef)

1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic

1 can of peeled tomatoes

2 Tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp mixed herbs or Italian herbs

Lasagne pasta sheets

Grated cheese
Breadcrumbs

Red cooking wine

(or grape juice for non-alcoholic version)

Ingredients II- Vegetarian lasagne

1 medium-sized onion- chopped

3 cloves of garlic

2 bell peppers

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

Broccoli

Mushrooms

1 can of spinach leaves

1 can of peeled tomatoes

2 Tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp mixed herbs or Italian herbs

Lasagne pasta sheets

Grated cheese

Salt & pepper to taste

For Béchamel Sauce:

40g Butter

20g Flour

425 ml milk

Grated cheese

2 bay leaves        

Onion

Cloves

1. In a large pan (ideally with a large diameter with high sides) fry for a few minutes finely chopped onions and garlic until aromatic. Add minced meat and brown it, breaking up the chunks with a wooden spoon. When cooked, drain of any excess fat.
2. Next, add the red wine and allow most of it to burn off. Add tomato paste, canned tomatoes, all of the herbs and spices.  Allow the sauce to simmer over a low heat until it reduces to a thick Bolognese sauce.  The ideal simmer time is approx. 1-1 ½ hour. Add breadcrumbs to improve texture and consistency of your Bolognese and stir together.
3. While the sauce simmers, preheat the oven to 180 degrees and prepare the béchamel sauce.  (The béchamel only takes about 10 minutes, so wait until the Bolognese is finishing off to start rouxing).

BÉCHAMEL SAUCE

In a heavy-based pan melt the butter and then whisk in the flour, energetically stirring all the time. Once combined and the mixture begins to bubble (don’t let it brown or burn), slowly add the warmed milk in a steady stream, again stirring constantly. Add grated cheese. Continue to stir until the cheese melts and mixture thickens and comes to boil. Add onion, cloves and bay leaves to taste and simmer for a few minutes, until sauce absorbs the flavour.

Now start building lasagne layer. Spread meat sauce at the bottom of baking pan. Spread Béchamel sauce and sprinkle with grated cheese. Layer the pasta sheets in the way they are slightly overlapping. Repeat until lasagne has about 3 layers. Spread remaining béchamel on top and sprinkle with more cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 25- 30 minutes. Serve with garlic bread and salad. 

FOR VEGETARIAN LASAGNE:

1.In a large pan fry for a few minutes finely chopped onions, garlic and carrots until softened. Add the broccoli, bell peppers and mushrooms. Shallow fry for 35 mins, until vegetables are softened and lightly charred. Add tomato paste, canned tomatoes, all of the herbs and spices.  Allow the sauce to simmer for a while over a low heat.

2. Prepare the Béchamel sauce.

3. Layer the lasagne in sequence of roasted vegetables- spinach leaves- béchamel- cheese- pasta. Spread remaining béchamel on top and sprinkle with more cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 25- 30 minutes. Serve with garlic bread and salad. 

TIPS:

If for any reason you do not consume alcohol in your diet, you can replace the red cooking wine with a grape juice. I never used to add cooking wine to my meals as I run halal kitchen at home. However browsing various websites I found tips how to replace wine while cooking. Juice is often an alternative for those who want a sweeter dish. It still helps to achieve fruitiness, acidity and adds flavour depth to a dish. If you want to get rid of a sweet flavour you can dilute it with a tablespoon of flavoured vinegar.