Pappardelle with tuna and cream

If you read fashion magazines then you'll know all about the 'trans-seasonal piece'. This is an item of clothing that will, apparently, protect you from the vagaries of changing weather patterns while still managing to keep you in vogue (though not necessarily in Vogue, if you know what I mean).

A lot less is said about the equally important trans-seasonal meal, which should lift you out of the food rut you've been in all season and hint at the changes to come, while still respecting the needs of the moment.

Pappardelle with tuna and cream
Tinned tuna is very unfashionable these days but if you can find a sustainably caught brand I think it's possible to dish it up without a side of guilt. Cream is probably a bit passe too, in some circles, but I don't give a hoot. This is a great dinner for the middle seasons of spring and autumn, managing to be comforting and fresh in one go.

1 cup/250ml cream
1 packed cup of fresh parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
1 cup finely diced celery
a good pinch of salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp good olive oil
finely grated zest and juice of a lemon
2 x 185g tins good quality tuna in oil
Pappardelle - enough for four

Put all ingredients, except the pasta, in a bowl and stir together gently. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, pepper or lemon juice as needed.
Cook the pasta in well-salted water until al dente, drain well, then toss half the sauce through it. Divide between pasta bowls and spoon the remaining sauce on top. Serves four.

Good things: August 2014

Last week I got an advertising-type email from a gym that reminded all recipients that 'summer bodies are made in winter'. Reader, I threw it in the rubbish.

I don't know about you, but I'm hoping kaftans and elasticated waistbands are going to be the height of fashion in summer 2015. Various things - birthdays, parties, stressful life events - are conspiring against my 'summer body'.

Firstly, I found this - a pasta machine at a charity shop for $20, still in its original box, with its original warranty and instructions. I've always, always wanted one to play with and although I've only used it once so far, I can see plenty of pasta in my future.

Eclair image thanks to my colleague and co-baker Lisa

I know DIY pasta has a difficult reputation but it was a cinch compared to some of the things I've been making lately. In a moment of weakness I joined the Wellington On a Plate Bake Club team at work, which has meant many a late Sunday night making pies, slices, cakes and eclairs.

The upshot of all of this is that I won our in-house contest against some seriously tough competition and now I have to join the winners of 80+ Bake Clubs this Sunday morning for the final Bake-Off. I normally go for a run on Sunday mornings - but if the gods have decided I need to be in a room full of cakes, I can only go along with their wishes.

Perhaps I'll take inspiration from these cute cupcakes - these are made by 15-year-old Emily, of three winners in the Better With BRITA contest. Emily, who made bespoke cupcakes for each of the judges - it takes a special kind of talent to make a miniature BRITA water jug out of icing - joins Alex, who made gluten-free brownies and Rekha, who made samosas, at The Big Feastival in London at the end of the month.

I'd love to join them, but my real goal for August is to make something out of My Paris Kitchen. If you haven't got a copy of this yet, you're missing out. My lovely sister-in-law gave it to me for my birthday and I think it's a strong contender for book of the year.

How has August been for you?

Pasta with sausage, cream and tomato

You might think, gauging from recent blog posts, that we have been existing on chocolate smoothies, cake and biscuits. It's a bit like photo albums (remember them, fellow oldies?), where the main players are either on holiday or celebrating a major life event. Don't even start me on Instagram and its artfully displayed kale and kohlrabi smoothies. Either way, what you see is not necessarily what you get.

Strangely, the reverse is also true. This pasta may not look anything to boast about, but it has been a much-appreciated addition to my after-work winter repertoire. It's quick, simple, sustaining and doesn't require any fancy ingredients so you don't have to disturb that exotic diorama you're composing for tomorrow's Instagram shot.

Pasta with sausage, cream and tomato
If you're cold and weary and really need the comfort that only a bowl of pasta can provide, this is the dinner for you. It makes a great weekend lunch too, but you'll to follow it up with a bracing walk in the great outdoors or an hour of sofa snoozing afterwards. Use the best sausages you can find. I've made the assumption that if you've got this far, you don't need me to tell you how to cook pasta.

1 Tbsp olive oil
4 good quality sausages
1 small onion, finely chopped
a clove of garlic, finely chopped
a tin of Italian whole peeled tomatoes
a good splash - 100ml or more - cream
enough pasta for four
Parmesan, to serve
salt and pepper

Put a medium-sized heavy pan over high heat and add the olive oil, followed by the onion and garlic. Turn the heat down, then squish the sausage meat out of the casing and into the pan so it forms tiny, rustic meatballs. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and the sausage is browned. Tip in the tomatoes and stir well, then let cook for 10 minutes over medium heat. Just before you're ready to serve, pour the cream into the sauce and let it come to just before boiling. Taste and season with salt and pepper as necessary. Toss the pasta through the sauce, then serve at the table with lots of Parmesan. Serves four.

What's your current winter comfort food favourite?

Sophie's sort-of Sicilian spaghetti

At the moment I'm deeply involved in The Leopard, the famous Italian novel that charts the decline of a noble Silician family during the late 19th century. At a really basic level it's a bit like a (less violent) version of The Godfather, or The Sopranos. Maybe all life is like that. Anyway, apart from the epic themes of struggle and change and death there are some great descriptions of feasts eaten and given. It's one of those books where you know it's all going to end in tears, but you're compelled to keep reading. I highly recommend it.

Sicilian spaghetti
I made this on Friday night, having opened the pantry and fridge and thought: 'I only went shopping yesterday, why is there nothing to eat?' It's a really good storecupboard sort of dinner and is child-friendly too, especially if your child has a thing for dried fruit, tuna and nuts. I watched Sophie Grigson make it on TV once, about 15 years ago, and I've been making it ever since even though I've long since lost the notes I made of whatever quantities she used. This is how I made it on Friday night and it was a huge success.

1 red onion, finely chopped
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 x 180g tin of good quality tuna in olive oil
two handfuls of raisins or currants
two handfuls of pine nuts, toasted (I use roughly chopped toasted almonds instead, or sunflower seeds if we are especially poor)
1 cup black olives, stoned
a generous amount of fresh parsley, finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
enough spaghetti for three people - for us that's about 250-300g)

Put the onion and red wine vinegar in a small bowl and leave to steep while you get on with organising everything else. Put the water on to boil for the pasta, and add everything except the spaghetti to the onion mixture. Toss together, add a slosh of olive oil and season to taste.
Cook the spaghetti until it is al dente and drain, then toss it through the sauce. Take a block of Parmesan to the table and let diners add it as they wish. Threaten any non-eaters with a horse's head in their bed. Serves three.

Finsbury Park pasta and proscuitto

I invented this quick, delicious spaghetti when we were living in our first London flat. It was a neat place (if you ignored the crack house two doors down, the overland train out the back windows and the bus route out the front) and we had lots of visitors. Now we live in a house in Wellington that's probably three times as big, with neighbours who play classical guitar and invite us over for dinner, with trees and sky out the windows. We still get lots of visitors, though they don't look as frightened when they appear at the door.

Spaghetti with roasted vegetables and proscuitto
This is a very vague recipe that can be altered to fit whatever vegetables you have lying around. In Finsbury Park I relied on whatever looked best at the 24-hour 'Local English Mediterranean Superstore' on Seven Sisters Rd, though I was careful not to buy any of the vegetables that had been sitting out in the traffic fumes all day.

For four people:
A slosh of olive oil
2 red onions, chopped
3 zucchini, sliced into coins
3 cloves garlic, sliced
2 peppers, cut into large dice
2 handfuls of green beans or broccoli, in bite-size pieces
1 cup black olives, stoned
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
1 packet proscuitto
Parmesan and fresh parsley, to serve
500g good quality spaghetti

Heat the oven to 220C. Put the onions, zucchini, garlic, peppers and beans/broccoli in a roasting dish and toss through the oil. Roast for 20 minutes, until they start to turn golden. Stir, then tip in the olives and tomatoes. Lay the proscuitto over the top. Return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until the tomatoes are at bursting point and the proscuitto is crisp.
While this is happening, cook the spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain, then toss through the roasted vegetables. Divide between four bowls and top each one with the shards of proscuitto, grated Parmesan and finely chopped parsley.

Mac Attack

Whoever wrote 'comfort me with apples'* obviously didn't ever sit down to a bowl of macaroni cheese. The Boy Wonder hates it, thanks to some traumatic childhood experience, so it has attained almost mythic fantasy food status for me because we never have it. In the weekend, when I was working and solo parenting and gardening and cleaning (and everyone else was partying, including our neighbours), I made some as a special treat. The Small Girl, being an avowed lover of all things pasta, adored it, but not as much as her exhausted, cheese-and-carbohydrate-craving, mother.

Instant Macaroni Cheese
This is essentially a Nigella Express recipe, but with a little less cheese - and no macaroni, because I use rigatoni or penne instead. The bigger shapes are better because they fill up with the sauce like miniature cannelloni. This quantity is perfect for one adult and one child, especially if the adult is ravenous. I know the evaporated milk makes it sound like one of those '4 Ingredients' dishes I was snooty about last week, but trust me, it really is good. And there aren't any dishes!

125g rigatoni or penne
1/2 cup evaporated milk (the 'lite' version is fine)
2-3 handfuls of grated cheddar
1 egg
pinch of smoked paprika and/or cayenne pepper
salt and pepper

a little extra grated cheese and some stale baguette, for crumbs

Preheat the oven to 200C. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. While it's cooking, mix all the other ingredients together in an ovenproof bowl big enough to take the pasta. Drain the pasta, then put it in the bowl with the cheese mixture and stir until it's well coated. Sprinkle over the extra cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until golden and crunchy on top. Be careful if giving this to a small child - the sauce is hotter than napalm.

What's your stress-busting dish of choice?

* I do know who wrote 'Comfort me with apples' (for I am sick of love) you know. I don't just sit around with my nose in a recipe book. (And it wasn't Ruth Reichl, neither.)

Oh crumbs

The natural by-products of all this breadmaking I've been doing are crumbs and flour everywhere, especially when my constant kitchen companion asks if she can "help Mummy?" Flour I can cope with - it's like silky dust - and crumbs underfoot are a small price to pay. But some weird genetic impulse to avoid wasting food also means our freezer has been filling up with small plastic bags full of crusts and the nobbly bits at the end of a loaf that are too chewy for the Small Girl to eat.

I decided I had enough of these bags in the weekend and blitzed several of them into amazingly delicious breadcrumbs that can be pressed onto thick pieces of white fish or scattered over pasta. You could, of course, use crusts from bought bread, but you won't feel nearly as smug.

Posh Breadcrumbs
These transform the most boring dish into something a bit more exciting - such as the "emergency pasta sauce out of the freezer tossed through penne and put into the oven" dinner we had last night. They're the breadcrumb equivalent of dangly earrings or a shiny new lipstick when you're wearing an old t-shirt and harassed working mother frown.

A few decent handfuls of crusts and bread bits
A couple of cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
A handful or so of fresh parsley (out of your own garden for extra smugness)
Olive oil
Optional: stoned black olives, lemon zest, finely chopped chilli

Throw the crusts into a food processor and blitz them into crumbs (you can do this with frozen bread but it makes a hell of a racket). Add the garlic, parsley and optional extras (if using) and whiz again. Dribble in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and pulse to mix. You want the crumbs to be moistened, not a sticky paste.
Use as directed above. You can also freeze these crumbs and use them direct from the freezer. Bash them against the counter to break them up a bit if they've frozen into big clumps.

An unfashionable pasta salad

A couple of days of bad weather and I've started to panic that summer is already over - and that I haven't made the most of it. Ridiculous really, because we should have another month or so of sunshine and barbecues and - with any luck - a proper holiday by the sea to come yet.

In the meantime, I've been digging out some old summer favourites. Seasonal recipes can be like clothes - what suited you one season might look terribly outdated the next - but this is still worth another whirl. It might be horribly out of date by the time the northern hemisphere summer rolls around, but the rest of you should give it a bash at your next barbie (mate)...

Nectarine Pasta Salad

Pasta salads might be a bit uncool and I know the ingredients for this sound unlikely, but I urge you to put your prejudices aside. It’s fantastic barbecue fodder as you can make it several hours beforehand and it goes really well with barbecued chicken pieces or pork kebabs. For best results, make sure the nectarines are perfectly ripe and don’t overcook the pasta. Serves six.

500 good quality penne or fusilli, cooked in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente (follow packet directions if you’re unsure) and drained

3 carrots, peeled and cut into julienne strips

1 kg yellow-flesh nectarines, cut into wedges

4 spring onions, sliced

Handful of fresh mint leaves, shredded (strip the leaves from the stems, roll them up into a parcel and snip them into ribbons with a pair of scissors - you’ll feel just like a proper cook off the telly)

Dressing:

4Tbsp olive oil

4Tbsp soy sauce

4Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted in a dry frying pan

4Tbsp finely chopped root ginger

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Combine the cooked pasta, carrots, nectarines and spring onions. Shake the dressing ingredients together in a screw top jar and pour over the pasta mixture. Stir well, then tip into a serving bowl. This can be made a couple of hours in advance and stored in the fridge, but make sure it has at least 20 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Pasta sorta alla Nigella

I like to think Nigella Lawson and I have a lot in common. We both love cooking and eating and feeding people, we both love buying cookbooks and bits of kitchen kit, we both have brown hair and beautiful daughters. We both have millionaire husbands and live in swanky Georgian houses in Belgravia... oh, hang on, that's right, I knew there was something that didn't quite match. For all our similarities, I doubt Nigella has the same sort of slightly sick feeling in the middle of January when she gets her credit card statement. She probably doesn't look in her pantry and think, oh god, there's nothing to eat and another week until pay day. But if she did, I like to think this is what she might come up with...

Pasta sorta alla Nigella
This is my entry for Forever Nigella, a new blogging challenge set by the wonderful Sarah of Maison Cupcake fame. The theme for this month's challenge is 'Seasonal Sensations' - which I have interpreted as 'making something sensational even when you are broke after Christmas'. I've taken inspiration from Nigella's Ultimate Greek Salad (published in Forever Summer), which we have been eating almost constantly. But with no feta or olives left in the fridge, this is what I came up with to sustain us on a night when the cupboard was bare and the only thing we had in abundance was basil in the garden. Actually, the cupboard seems bare quite often at the moment, so we are eating like this a lot (which is no bad thing).

1/2 cup olive oil
1Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 red onion, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, smashed with a little salt
4-6 vine ripened tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt
handfuls of fresh basil, roughly torn
225g pasta
salt and pepper

At least an hour before you want to eat (preferably two or more), put the olive oil, vinegar, onion and garlic in a small bowl. Stir well and cover.
Just before you want to eat, put the tomatoes, sugar and salt in another small bowl. Stir well and leave at room temperature.
When you want to eat, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain into a serving bowl, then tip the onion and tomato mixtures on top, followed by the basil. Grind over lots of black pepper. Toss well and congratulate yourself on another night of outwitting the bailiffs.

Emergency rations: Pantry Pasta

Across the blogosphere, just like in real life, there's a kind of Christmas mania setting in. There are lots of lovely people who are describing all the plans they've made and all the presents they've carefully crafted, sitting up late to embroider children's names onto hand-quilted stockings and the like.

Reassuringly, there are also lots of people like me, who are suddenly realising that there are just 10 DAYS until Christmas and that it might be a little too late to take on all those festive projects. These people are probably sitting in their kitchens thinking about blogging and remembering to pay the phone bill and realising that they forgot to ring their sister for her birthday. After a while they might notice a slight smell of burning and remember the tray of Christmas mince pies they put in the oven to take to a work party. They will be tempted to shout and scream, but they will instead share a recipe for an emergency dinner - the sort of thing people like them need at this time of year when there is little time to waste and lots of things to do.

Emergency Pasta
When I'm stressed I crave salty, creamy carbs. This almost instant pasta sauce is just the ticket. Add or subtract ingredients to suit your own storecupboard. Whiz it up in a processor and you've got a fabulous topping for crostini or a dip for posh crisps.

For two people:

About 100g cream cheese
185g tin tuna, drained
A couple of handfuls of olives, stoned if you can be bothered
1Tbsp capers
4-5 sundried tomatoes
lots of freshly ground black pepper
Fresh herbs - basil, parsley, rosemary - if you have them
zest of a lemon

Throw everything into a big serving bowl and mix well to combine. Cook enough spaghetti for two people (about 220-250g), then drain  and add to the bowl. Toss through the sauce, taste for seasoning and serve. Very good with a soothing glass of rose.

Parsley, sage and running out of time

My quest to use up everything in the house before we move (in 12 days, argh!) is continuing apace. In some ways I feel incredibly organised because I know that we'll be having a risotto, two pasta dishes, something with venison and something involving cannellini beans, baby beetroot and a bag of frozen corn kernels in the days to come. Hmmm. And definitely some Szechuan takeaways.

But last night was all about parsley and Parmesan. For my birthday two months ago my sister sent me a mysterious courier package with a note saying that her new philosopy was to only give "useful" presents. Inside was a kilo of proper Parmesan, a rare treat in this little corner of the world. I never thought we'd get through it in time but it's amazing how cavalier you get when you've got a lot of a luxury ingredient and a short time in which to use it. The Small Girl must be the only toddler in town to get Parmesan on toast for lunch.

Anyway. The other things we have in abundance at the moment are lemons and parsley. The tiny seedling I planted a year ago has blossomed into a huge, regenerating bush obliterating everything I planted around it. With a packet of spaghetti in the pantry, we were set.

Spring Spaghetti

This is fresh, zingy and can be made in the time it takes for the pasta to cook. (Well, in theory. It took me ages last night but that's because other affairs of state took me away from my rightful place at the kitchen counter.) Bon appetit!

For two very hungry people:

220g spaghetti
2-3 juicy lemons, zested and juiced
about 1/4 cup olive oil
a few tablespoons of capers
a few handfuls of grated Parmesan
a few handfuls of finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper

Cook the pasta according to packet directions until al dente. While it's cooking, mix all other ingredients in a large serving bowl. Taste for seasoning and to adjust lemon/oil proportions if necessary. Drain the pasta and toss it through the lemon/parsley mix, then pile into warmed bowls. Eat with gusto.

Waste not, want not

I like to think of myself as an inventive cook, able to whip something up from a Mother Hubbard-style cupboard at a moment's notice. Of course, sometimes this is easier said than done, but after a week of nearly constant entertaining and menu planning it's fun to mix and match leftover ingredients. (A much nicer job than mixing and matching leftovers!)

So last week, when the fridge held a tiny packet of salmon trimmings and half a bottle of cream, I knew just what to do. The cream went into our smallest saucepan, while I filled the biggest pot with hot water and set it on the heat.

Once the water was boiling I threw in enough dried spaghetti for two (about 250g, we have hearty appetites in this house) and enough salt to make the water "as salty as the Mediterranean".

I heated the cream (about 150mls) to a gentle simmer, then tossed in about 200g of fresh salmon, sliced into batons. I used the skinny ends of tail fillets, but you could use any cut you like. After a minute or two I added a handful of frozen baby peas and a few ribbons of lemon zest, then turned off the heat.

Then it was just a matter of draining the pasta, adding the creamy salmon sauce to the big pot and hey presto, dinner was ready. Economy gastronomy - and hardly any dishes.