macaroni cheese

method

This is my twist on the old-school frumpy Anglicized dish of macaroni cheese. Using these four different cheeses together, each one with its own characteristics, works really well. For the classic finish, it has to be popped under the grill to crisp up and go brown on top – lovely. Once you see how quick it is, you won’t be making any bechamels or claggy old sauces for a long time.

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Cook the macaroni in a pan of salted boiling water 2 minutes short of the timing on the packet instructions, then drain in a colander and reserve a little of the cooking water. Heat the butter in a large heavy-based frying pan. When it starts to foam, add the marjoram or oregano and fry for a minute until it starts to crisp up, then turn off the heat. Add your cooked pasta to the marjoram or oregano butter, along with a couple of spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water and the Parmesan, fontina or taleggio and mascarpone. Return to a medium heat and toss and stir around until most of the cheese has melted and you have a lovely gooey sauce – you may need to add a little more of the reserved cooking water. Season to taste, then tip it all into an earthenware dish. Grate over the nutmeg, tear over the mozzarella and sprinkle over the extra Parmesan. Bake the macaroni cheese in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, finishing up with a quick whack under the grill, until golden brown and crispy on top.


• from Cook With Jamie

ingredients

• 500g/1lb 2oz good-quality macaroni
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a knob of butter
a small bunch of fresh marjoram or oregano, leaves picked
• 100g/3½oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated, plus extra for grating
• 100g/3½oz fontina or taleggio cheese, roughly torn
• 100g/3½oz mascarpone cheese
• ¼ of a nutmeg
a small ball of buffalo mozzarella cheese

lemon linguine

method

When I was on honeymoon, some years ago now, I came across these fantastic Sicilian lemons. Their skin is really fragrant in cooking and they are very juicy too. You can use them roasted with fish, sliced very thinly in salads, and halved and put inside chicken. When roasted they go all jammy. This pasta recipe is great to use them in too, so try and find some – if you can’t find any, use normal lemons instead.

Cook the linguine in a generous amount of boiling, salted water for about 12 minutes, then drain thoroughly and return to the saucepan. Meanwhile, beat the lemon juice and zest with the olive oil, then stir in the Parmesan – it’ll go thick and creamy. Season and add more lemon juice if needed. Add the lemon sauce to the linguine and shake the pan to coat each strand of pasta with the sauce (the Parmesan will melt when mixed with the pasta). Finish by stirring in the chopped basil and the rocket.

ingredients

• 500g dried linguine pasta
• juice of 3 Sicilian lemons and zest of 1
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 125g Parmesan cheese, grated
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked and finely chopped
• a handful of rocket

Dragon Well Tea Shrimp Recipe (龙井虾仁)

RECIPE: LONG JING XIA REN (龙井虾仁) / DRAGON WELL TEA SHRIMP
INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb raw, peeled & frozen baby shrimp
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1/8 teaspoon salt or to taste
2 teaspoons oil
1 heaped tablespoon Longjing tea leaves
1/4 cup hot water
Some chopped scallion
1 tablespoon egg white
1 teaspoon corn starch

METHOD:
Defrost the frozen shrimp, rinse well, and pat dry with paper towels. Add corn starch and egg white to the shrimp and marinate for 15 minutes. Prepare the tea in a small tea pot by adding 1/4 cup hot water to the tea leaves. Set aside for 5 minutes and then filter the tea and set aside for the stir-fry.

Heat up 1 teaspoon cooking oil in a wok and toss in the shrimp. Do a few quick stir until the shrimp is 50% cooked, dish out and set aside. Wash the wok and heat it up again with the remaining 1 teaspoon cooking oil. Add the shrimp back into the wok, and quickly follow by the tea, Shaoxing wine, salt, and chopped scallion. Do a quick stir over high heat until the shrimp is cooked, dish out and serve immediately.

quick sausage meatballs with a tomato and basil sauce, spaghetti and sweet raw peas

method

This is a fantastic recipe that completely celebrates everything I love about peas. Even though they only make an appearance right at the end, it’s a star performance. I like to serve a pile of unpodded peas in the middle of the table so that everyone gets to pod some over their own plate. It’s also an incredibly fast recipe – you can be sitting down to eat within a minute of the pasta being done. The key to getting it right, though, is to buy really good-quality sausage.

Heat a large saucepan and add a few glugs of olive oil. Snip the sausages apart, then squeeze and pinch the meat out of the skins so that you get little meatball shapes – don’t make them too big or they will take too long to cook. Try to get at least three balls out of each sausage. Don’t worry about rolling them into perfect balls and making them look all fancy – rough and rustic is good! Put them into your pan. Keep frying and turning the meatballs until they’re golden brown and cooked through.

Meanwhile, put the spaghetti into a large pan of salted boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions until al dente.

To make your tomato sauce, heat a separate pan and pour in some olive oil. Add the garlic and the chopped basil stalks and move them around the pan for a couple of minutes. Put some small basil leaves to one side for later, and sprinkle the rest into the pan. Add the tomatoes and season carefully to taste. Bring to a simmer, break up your tomatoes a bit more with a spoon and add a swig of balsamic vinegar – it’s lovely for adding sweetness to the sauce.

Add the herbs to the pan of sausage meatballs, tossing everything in all the lovely flavours. Cook for around 30 seconds. When your spaghetti is cooked, drain it and divide the pasta and meatballs between four bowls. Spoon over the tomato sauce. Sprinkle over the reserved basil leaves and serve with a handful of fresh peas per person in the middle of the table, so that everyone can have a go at podding their own, and a little Parmesan for grating and shaving over the top.



• from Jamie at Home

ingredients

• olive oil
• 8 good-quality pork sausages
• 500g spaghetti
sea salt
• 300g fresh peas, in their pods
• a block of Parmesan cheese, to serve
• a few sprigs of fresh marjoram, thyme or rosemary, leave picked

for the tomato sauce
olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• a small bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
• 2 x 400g tins of good-quality plum tomatoes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• good-quality balsamic vinegar.