Last Sunday, we arrived back at our flat a little grumpy and very hungry after a terrible bus ride from the centre of town. We had been to see a concert at the newly refurbished Royal Festival Hall (very nice!) and the traffic had been absurd both ways, especially at Knightsbridge. There was no inclination to eat out - we just wanted to be home, warm and dry. I raided the fridge, freezer and our cupboards to come up with this.
It’s a truly alliterative meal!
Pasta with Pancetta and Peas
serves 2.
250g pasta, we used fusilli (other shapes that are not noodles would work well)
1 medium-sized onion, diced
70g pancetta, cubed
1 cup frozen peas
olive oil
a good splash of white wine or stock (optional)
double cream
salt and pepper
Set the pasta boiling. Heat some olive oil over moderate heat and fry the onion until almost golden. Toss in the pancetta and continue frying until the pancetta is cooked through. Add the frozen peas and mix together with the onion mixture. Splash in the white wine or even just a bit of water and let it all simmer until the peas are heated through. Pour in some double cream - how much you want to add is up to you. More cream means a creamier (and fattier) pasta dish. Add salt and pepper to taste.
By now your pasta should be cooked. Drain and mix with the sauce, adding some pasta water if it’s too difficult to mix together. Wolf it all down as you’re hungry; try not to burn yourself in the process.
I am addicted to the somewhat ridiculous Japanese “drama” series Lunch Queen, or Lunch no Joou. This blog entry by she bakes and she cooks led me to the 2002 show’s existence. Just watch that video above (first episode, part 1 of 6) and tell me if you don’t get a craving for omurice!
It’s only 12 episodes long and so you’ll only be wasting away approximately 12 hours of your life. Well, maybe wasting away is a bit harsh - I’m 7 episodes in and the plot (which at the beginning is frankly very silly) is starting to get quite interesting. The story is of a girl who ends up at a restaurant run by a family with 4 brothers. That’s all I’ll tell you - you’ve just got to watch it. There is some cod-philosophy kicking about through the entire series that is a bit cringeworthy though.
But the food! You get to see many contemporary Japanese dishes such as omurice, hayashi rice, curry rice, hamburg, and children’s meals and many home cooked meals eaten at the back of the restaurant in the family home. This is food porn at its best! You can find all the videos on YouTube here.
I saw some gorgeous large flat mushrooms (field mushrooms or Portobello mushrooms) at my farmers’ market this past Saturday and grabbed a bagful: 6 large ones to a bag. They were set aside for dinner but I had absolutely no idea what I’d do with them. Thoughts originally turned to frying them in butter and then stuffing them into buns - like mushroom burgers; however, a flick through Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries turned up a recipe for baked mushrooms. A tweak here and there (and cutting down on the amount of butter!) and the following recipe was created. So warm and comforting for yet another rainy and cold London evening.
Baked Portobello Mushrooms
based on a recipe in The Kitchen Diaries
serves 2.
6 large field/Portobello mushrooms
50 g butter, softened or cubed finely
1 clove garlic, minced finely or crushed
1 tsp Dijon mustard
white wine, a good splash
juice of 1/2 a lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Place the mushrooms cup side up in a baking dish - they can be packed together but should not overlap. Mix together the butter, garlic, mustard, wine and lemon juice. Distribute this across the mushroom cups. Drizzle olive oil over the whole lot; I also pour some into the base of the dish and swirl it around to get the tops of the mushroom caps (now at the bottom of the dish). Sprinkle salt and pepper overtop.
Cover the baking dish with foil and place in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the mushrooms have released some of their juice and the whole thing smells wonderfully buttery and garlicky. You’ll need to occasionally baste the mushrooms with some of the buttery juices.
Serve with lots of bread. We are a carb friendly household.
