Creamy avocado pasta a la Safkaa

About two years ago all the Finnish food blogs and magazines were raving about avocado pasta. Hanna Gullichsen, a Finnish food writer, had published the recipe in her cookbook Safkaa. Parempaa arkiruokaa (Otava, August 2012)  and the recipe quickly became a No 1 hit, so to say, and well deservedly, as it is a lovely dish indeed.

Avocado pasta is nothing new, of course, but Safkaa blog (and book) brought it to the attention to the masses up here North, and we're thankful :)

We don't always get the best avocados here in Estonia, but if we do, I often make this dish for my family. It's easy, there's hardly any washing up (one pot to cook the pasta in, one large bowl to prepare the avocado mixture), and it's quite versatile. Though I like the original version with pecorino and parmesan (photo above), I quite often use a soft goat cheese or even salty feta cheese instead, resulting in a much creamier avocado pasta (photos below). While the Safkaa recipe uses basil and parsley, I often substitute coriander/cilantro, giving it a flavour palate of a nice guacamole. If you love pasta - and love guacamole and/or avocados in general - then do try this version.

You'll find the Safkaa's original recipe in Finnish here. I've included links to similar recipes at the end of the post.

Avocado Pasta Recipe
(Safkaa avokaadopasta)
Serves 4

400 g tagliatelle, linguini or spaghetti
1 fat garlic clove
half a red chilli or a generous pinch of chilli/red pepper flakes
1 lime
2 ripe avocados
extra-virgin olive oil
a small bunch of fresh basil
a small bunch of fresh coriander/cilantro or parsley
30 g Pecorino cheese, finely grated (about 7 Tbsp)
30 g Parmesan cheese, finely grated (about 7 Tbsp)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

First boil the pasta. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add salt (about a tablespoonful of salt to a large pot of rapidly boiling water). Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente (check the packet for the recommended cooking time). Do not cover the pot and always cook pasta on a rolling boil!



Meanwhile, make the avocado sauce (above). Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves, add to the serving bowl. De-seed the chilli, finely chop, add to the bowl.

Finely chop the avocado, add to the bowl. Drizzle with lime juice, season generously with salt and pepper. Add the olive oil, chopped herbs and most of the shredded cheese.

When the pasta is ready, reserve about 100 ml (just under 1/2 a cup) of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and add immediately to the avocado sauce. Now stir in some of the reserved starch-enriched cooking water, to help thicken and distribute the sauce more evenly.

Add the rest of the grated cheese and serve immediately. Enjoy al fresco, if possible :)




Similar recipes elsewhere:
Creamy avocado pasta @ Two Peas and Their Pod
Avocado and Goat Cheese Alfredo Pasta @ Closet Cooking
Creamy Avocado and Gouda Cheese Pasta @ Half-Baked Harvest
Avocado Pesto Pasta @ Gimme Some Oven
Avocado Pesto Pasta @ A Cosy Kitchen
Avocado Pasta @ Dessert for Two
Avokaadopasta @ Da Vahtra Residence (in Estonian)
Safkaa avokaadopasta @ Maitse asi (in Estonian)
Avokaadopasta @ Toidutegu (in Estonian)
Avokadopasta @ Pastanjauhantaa (in Finnish)
Avokadopasta @ Food and Then Some (in Finnish/English)

It's Pasta Time: Tagliatelle with creamy spinach and pan-fried salmon

One of my favourite pasta dishes recently is this clean-looking pasta (usually tagliatelle, but I've also used linguine) with seared salmon, fresh spinach and cream, with a light lemon kick. For an extra quick version I've used smoked salmon, but using fresh salmon is much wallet-friendlier and has more kid-appeal as well. Also, it's a great way to use that thinner tail-end of the fish that I usually put aside when baking salmon in the oven.

Note that there's no Parmesan cheese in the dish!!!

Tagliatelle with creamy spinach and pan-fried salmon
(Makaronid praetud lõhe ja spinatiga)
Serves 4

 400 g tagliatelle pasta (linguine or spaghetti would work as well)
water and salt, for cooking pasta

400 g salmon or trout fillet
butter, for frying
100 g fresh baby spinach leaves, rinsed
about a cup of double cream
a handful of fresh parsley
1 lemon, zested
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of water into a rolling boil, season with salt and cook the pasta al dente according to the packet instructions.

Meanwhile heat the butter on a large frying pan over moderate heat. Place the fish onto the pan, skin-side up, and fry for 3-4 minutes. Flip over and cook for another 2-3 minutes. (The fish will be still undercooked, but you'll cook it further in a minute).

Remove the fish fillet from the frying pan: 

Using two forks, break the fish into bite-size chunks: 

Heat some more butter on the frying pan, add the rinsed spinach leaves and cook till wilted.

Add the cream, season with black pepper, parsley and lemon zest. Return the fish to the pan and simmer for a minute or two.

Drain the pasta, toss with the sauce and serve immediately. 

Similar recipes:

Pan-seared salmon with pasta and spinach cream sauce @ The Paupered Chef

Creamy spinach and salmon sauce @ Know Thy Food

Meatless Monday: Oven-roasted pepper and gnocchi with feta cheese

I find gnocchi so much more interesting than pasta recently - there's more bite to them and I love their pillowy shape. In any case, I find myself throwing a packet of fresh potato gnocchi into my shopping cart much more frequently recently. I've blogged about one of the gnocchi dishes on the blog earlier - Gnocchi Puttanesca - and here's my latest find. I started with a recipe for oven roasted pepper and garlic gnocchi in an old issue of British Delicious. However, I more than doubled the amount of feta cheese required (the original recipe had a just 75 grams of feta for four persons - that's nearly not enough, don't you agree!). Also, I LOVE roasted feta cheese, so I adapted the recipe further.

Oven-roasted pepper and gnocchi with feta cheese and rocket
(Gnocchi röstitud tomatite, paprika ja fetaga)
Serves 4

600 g ripe small tomatoes, quartered
2 red peppers, deseeded, cored and cut into chunks
4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
1 tbsp olive oil
500 g fresh potato gnocchi
200 g feta cheese, crumbled
50 g fresh wild rocket/arugula
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 220°C/450F.
In a medium-sized roasting tin, toss together the tomatoes, peppers, garlic and olive oil. Season. Roast for 25-30 minutes until softened. Remove from the oven and mash all the ingredients with a fork to a thickish, coarse sauce. Season to taste and return to the turned-off oven to keep warm.
Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi in lightly salted boiling water according to the packet instructions or until they come to the boil and float on the surface of the water. Drain well and toss in the tomato and pepper sauce. Scatter with the feta and return to the oven for another 10 minutes or so, until feta is slightly golden and warmed through.
Top with rocket leaves, season with freshly ground black pepper and serve.

Meatless Monday: Pasta with Blue Cheese and Mushrooms

I know the picture isn't the most appetising (it was taken few weeks ago late at night), and I will change it as soon as I make this dish again. But it's time for another Meatless Monday post and this simple pasta dish has been my to-go-supper ever since I was a postgraduate student in Edinburgh (read: for ages :)) My favourite mushrooms for this are fresh shiitake mushrooms - I love their slightly chewy texture. However, as these are almost impossible to source in Estonia, I've been making this with simple cultivated mushrooms (called šampinjonid in Estonian) instead.

The creamy blue cheese and mushroom sauce is actually pretty versatile. I've served it also with simple fried fish, meatballs as well as steamed vegetables.

Pasta with Blue Cheese and Mushrooms
(Sinihallitusjuustu-seenekaste)
Serves 4

400 g dried pasta

200-250 g fresh mushrooms (about half a litre/2 cups) - f.ex. shiitake, oyster, crimini, white cultivated
1 medium onion
2 Tbsp butter or oil
100-200 ml single cream
100-150 g crumbled blue cheese (Valio Aura, Dolcelatte etc)
freshly ground black pepper
finely chopped fresh parsley

Cook pasta al dente according to the instructions on the packet.

To make the sauce, clean mushrooms and chop into halves or quarters or larger pieces, depending on the size. Peel and finely chop the onion.
Put mushrooms on a heavy pan and fry gently, until the "mushroom juices" evaporate.
Add the butter or oil as well as onion and fry for a few minutes, until the onion begins to soften.
Add the cream and heat until bubbling. Now add the cheese and stir until it's melted. Season to taste, stir in the parsley.
Drain the cooked pasta, and stir in the sauce.
Serve at once.

Macaroni & Cheese a la Nancy Reagan

I cannot remember where exactly I got this recipe from (the Internet is a wide, wide world), but apparently that's the way Nancy Reagan would make mac'n'cheese for her hubby. Please, please don't read any politics into this choice of recipe :) - it appealed to me because of its simplicity. It's a good mac'n'cheese recipe for those moments when you're craving something simple and comforting, but haven't got many eggs in your fridge nor bacon nor cream.

As you can see from the picture below, then I've combined it with some Georgian creamy & herby mushrooms. They worked together like a dream.

What's your favourite macaroni & cheese recipe and do you eat it as it is or as a side dish?

Nancy Reagan's Macaroni & Cheese
(Reaganite makaroni-juustuvorm)



250 g small pasta (f.ex. elbow pasta)
water & salt, for boiling pasta
1 tsp butter
1 large egg
250 ml (one cup) of milk
1 tsp mustard powder/dry mustard
1 tsp finely ground sea salt
200-250 g grated cheese

Cook pasta al dente, drain (keep a spoonful of the cooking water for later). Stir in the butter and whisked egg, then transfer into a buttered round gratin dish.
Mix mustard powder, salt and a spoonful of hot pasta-cooking water, then stir in the milk and about 3/4 of the grated cheese. Pour over the pasta in the gratin dish. Toss a little, then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
Bake in a pre-heated 170 C/350 F oven for about 45 minutes, until the custard is set and cheese lovely golden.

Gnocchi Puttanesca

I've been eating quite a lot of gnocchi dishes recently. There's a nice deli at our neighbourhood that now stocks decent ready-made gnocchi, and it's been a convenient lunch or dinner option ever since. As you know, the classic potato gnocchi are rather bland on their own, so it's the sauce that makes (or not) the dish.

The bold Puttanesca sauce proved to be an excellent accompaniment to the gnocchi.

Gnocchi Puttanesca
(Gnocchi-klimbid Puttanesca-kastmega)
Serves 2 as a light meal

500 g gnocchi (store-bought)

Puttanesca sauce:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 anchovy fillets (in oil)
2 tsp salted capers
large handful of pitted black olives
a generous pinch of dried chilli flakes
400 g can chopped tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a generous handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
grated parmesan, for serving

Chop onions, garlic and anchovy fillets. Stone the olives, cut the olives into slices. Rinse the capers, drain.
Heat oil in a saucepan, add onions and fry for about 5 minutes over moderate heat.
Add garlic, anchovies, olives, capers, chilli flakes. Give it a good stir, then add the chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Simmer over moderate heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the sauce thickens slightly.
Meanwhile bring salted water into boil in another saucepan. Add the gnocchi and boil for 2-3 minutes (or whatever time is given on the packet), until the gnocchi float to the surface.
Drain the gnocchi and stir into the Puttanesca sauce.
Serve at once, sprinkling some grated Parmesan on top.

Wild Garlic Pesto Recipe

It's the brief season for wild garlic (aka ramsons or bear's garlic, Allium ursinum), and I'm excited. I only discovered wild garlic a year ago (see post here), and have been looking forward to them again.

There's a plentiful supply of wild garlic near our house, and early last week I picked some* to make some wild garlic recipes I had spotted elsewhere or 'created' myself. So far I've made the same cucumber and wild garlic salad mentioned last year; a delicious cold tzatziki sauce (wild garlic, cucumber, sour cream, salt); one cold sauce to accompany simple boiled potatoes (wild garlic, cornichons, kefir milk); and this delicious pesto recipe.

The idea behind the pesto is simple. If your usual Pesto Genovese is basil + garlic + parmesan cheese + pine nuts, then instead of basil and garlic I decided to use mild-tasting wild garlic instead. It was a very successful substitution indeed, and I'll be certainly making it again next year.

Have you tried wild garlic before? And what's your favourite use for this delicious wild food?

* Karulauk on Eestis III kategooria kaitsealune taim. Karulaugu korjamine isiklikuks kasutamiseks määral, mis ei ohusta liigi säilimist antud elupaigas, on lubatud; rangelt on keelatud looduslikust kasvukohast korjatud karulauguga kauplemine.

Wild Garlic Pesto
(Karulaugupesto)
Makes 200 ml



100 g wild garlic, rinsed, drained and chopped
50 g toasted pine nuts
150 ml extra virgin olive oil
50 g parmesan cheese, grated
Maldon sea salt, to taste

Place chopped wild garlic and toasted pine nuts into a blender, add about 1/3 of the olive oil and puree until smooth. Stir in the rest of the oil and the grated cheese, season to taste with salt.

Serve with pasta (see above) or stir into your risotto. Keeps covered in the fridge for about a week.

* Toasting pine nuts: heat pinenuts of a hot dry frying pan for a few minutes, shaking the pan regularly, until the nuts are golden brown and aromatic. Cool before use.

WHB: This is also my entry to the Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Anh of Food Lover's Journey. Click on the logo below for more information about this foodblogging event started by Kalyn.

A Delicious Beetroot Pesto Recipe

If there's somebody who is into beetroot as much as I am, then it's Alanna of A Veggie Venture blog. Alanna has got an impressive 41 beetroot posts on her blog already, which is way more than I've got (11 at the last count). But then, you see, Alanna has been blogging for 2,5 months more than I have, so I've still got time to catch up :) Another fellow beetroot admirer is Bea of La Tartine Gourmande, who's also got 11 beetroot recipes on her blog. If there was a Beetroot Appreciation Society, then we three should be honorary members from the beginning. (If you'd like to join, then give us a shout - we'll consider everybody's beetroot credentials!)

Last month Alanna posted a recipe for beetroot pesto that I adapted for last week's movie night. I had lots of leftover odd beetroot pieces after making those cute beetroot and blue cheese mini tartlets, so this recipe was brilliant. It was a tasty and gutsy and hearty vegetable dip that was very well received, especially by my dear friend Kadri, so this post is dedicated for her :)

And thank you, Alanna, for another keeper beetroot recipe!!

Beetroot Pesto
(Peedipesto)
Makes about 1,5 cups


(Photo updated in September 2008)

500 grams roasted beetroot , peeled
2 fat garlic cloves, peeled
a small bunch of fresh coriander/cilantro
50 grams pinenuts, toasted
1 Tbsp sherry vinegar
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
grated parmesan cheese, optional
sea salt

Grind beetroot, garlic, toasted pinenuts and coriander in a food processor (I used my Kitchen Aid's food grinder) until you've got a coarse puree. Add some olive oil for a smoother texture, and grated parmesan cheese, if you wish. Season with salt and vinegar.

Use as a side salad (middle photo), spread of toasted rye bread (below) or stir into cooked pasta (above photo). Although I liked all the uses, the pasta sauce was my favourite - it coloured the pasta instantly into a beautiful shade of beetroot purple, and certainly brightened up simple boiled farfalle that night.

Keeps well for a few days in the fridge, covered.



BLAST FROM THE PAST
A year ago I made Johanna's wonderful cantucci with almonds, ginger and pink peppercorns. I think it's about time I made them again :)

My Eggy Macaroni Cheese

As I hinted on my previous post, I am staying with friends with kids for a few days. So child-friendliness of the dishes I cook is important at the moment. Here is one of my favourites for moments like these - macaroni cheese. Very popular with my little nephews, as well as with friends longing for comfort food. I recently witnessed a rather huge young friend of mine (we're talking about almost 2 metres and 100 kilos here) eat a whole lot almost on his own!

It's a doddle to make, and you can also use up any leftover cooked pasta, slices of ham, chunks of cheese. Quite unusally for macaroni cheese, it uses eggs in the mixture, making the dish a bit creamier and lighter in texture in my opinion.

Macaroni Cheese with Mince and Eggs
Makaronivorm hakklihaga
Serves 4



400 grams short pasta
350 grams good quality lean mince of your choice
1 onion
1 to 2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp oil
0.5 to 1 tsp sweet Hungarian paprika powder
0.5 tsp salt
1 tsp dried basil or oregano

Topping:
600 ml milk
2 large eggs
0.5 tsp salt
200 ml grated cheese
fresh dill or parsley, chopped (optional)

Cook the pasta al dente, drain.
Fry the onion in oil over moderate heat for 7-10 minutes, add garlic and fry for a few more minutes. Stir frequently to avoid burning.
Add the mince and fry, stirring frequently, until the mince is browned.
Season with salt, paprika powder and dried herbs.
Take a large oven dish, oil or butter it lightly. Add the pasta and fried mince into the dish and mix.
Combine milk, eggs and salt, add finely chopped herbes, if using. Pour over the pasta and mince.
Scatter cheese on top.
Bake at the lower part of a 200C oven until the eggy mixture has set and the dish is golden brown and slightly crisp on top.

Serve with salad (see here for a simple beetroot salad and crunchy carrot salad).

Wild thing or aspirational asparagus for Weekend Herb Blogging

Aah, the markets in Paris! Last Sunday morning we wandered at the noisy and buzzing Richard Lenoir Market near Bastille and were admiring the endless long rows of stalls selling skinned rabbits, huge fish and various cuts of meat, neatly piled luscious fruit and veg, and more fresh herbs you'd be able to learn the names of. This being early May, the market had also plenty of asparagus in all shape and form - white (some very fat white ones at that!), green and wild. Whereas I've been roasting green asparagus in my kitchen just recently, and have eaten white asparagus on several occasions, the wild - asperge sauvage in French - was new to me. So in addition to a large bunch of fresh bay leaves, I also got two bunches of wild asparagus to take back to Edinburgh.

Apparently wild asparagus is endemic to coastal areas of Western Europe, especially Belgium, Britain (found mainly in Dorset, Cornwall, Glamorgan and Pembrokeshire), the Channel Islands, France, Germany, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands. Although it has been previously thought of as a sub-species (Asparagus officinalis ssp. prostratus) to garden asparagus (Asparagus officinalis ssp. officinalis), then recent research seems to suggest that it's a separate species altogether and has been granted a Latin name of its own - Asparagus prostratus. The 'prostratus' in the name implies that wild asparagus stems grow prostrately - the Dutch call the plant 'liggende asperge', for instance. The taste is definitely like a delicate version of green asparagus - very pleasant and light. Here are my two dishes using this new-found gem of a vegetable.

Wild Asparagus at its simplest
(Metsik spargel, lihtsalt või ja meresoolaga)



This 'dish' is inspired by David Lebovitz's post about Paris Organics. The vendor told me (well, my date K. actually, as sadly I speak no French) to boil the asparagus for 5 minutes. David steams his, but I followed his instructions about serving the asparagus - simply dotted with butter and seasoned with Maldon sea salt flakes. Delicious!!! (Very good, if somewhat messy, fingerfood:)

Wild Asparagus with pasta and garlic
(Makaronid metsiku spargli ja kreemja küüslaugukastmega)



Take enough pasta of your choice (I used boccoletti, but might use spaghetti next time) - boil in a generous amount of salted water until al dente.

Meanwhile, blanch wild asparagus in salted boiling water for one minute, then drain thoroughly and cut into shorter pieces (or leave whole if using spaghetti).
Heat a generous splash of olive oil in a frying pan and add some finely sliced garlic. Fry gently for a minute, without letting the garlic to brown.
Add the wild asparagus and sauté for a couple of minutes.
Add some cream (single/whipping/double - whatever you prefer) and heat through. Remember you're aiming for just a light coating of creamy sauce for your pasta, so use less cream than you think you need!
Season with black pepper.

When your pasta is cooked, drain it and throw into your sauce. Stir to combine and serve with some parmesan cheese.

Tagged with Asparagus Aspirations (hosted by Kevin of Seriously Good - read his round-up here) and Weekend Herb Blogging (this time hosted by Ilva of Lucullian Delights - read her round-up here)

UPDATE 6.2.2007: just spotted this post on wild asparagus over at Hungry in Hogtown.

Italian meal with a Nordic touch

Photo updated in April 2009

Pretty much every time I browse my favourite foodblogs – daily then - I see something that looks gorgeous, seems reasonably easy to make and the recipe tiltillates my tastebuds. I often leave a comment saying that the dish looks tempting and make a mental note to myself to go over to blog A and try dish B asap. Sometimes it works. I’ve made Pertelote’s tuna and chickpea salad thrice; prepared chocolate chilli muffins and cinnamon tomato marmalade to recipes from Chocolate&Zucchini; got inspired by the blue potato dishes at Lex Culinaria and Delicious Days; and Gluten-free Girl's roasted basil peaches have been successfully served at many a dinner party in my house, to name just a few.

But more often than not I realise weeks, if not months, later, that I still haven’t got around to trying something yummy that caught my eye. The list of dishes belonging to the latter is endless sadly. So when I saw the crispy pork chop recipe at Anne's Food last week, I was determined to _really_ try it sooner rather than later. I was almost discouraged from doing so, as my favourite butcher wasn’t at the Edinburgh Farmer’s Market last weekend. And I’m a creature of habit – I _always_ get my bacon and pork from that guy, so I was quite upset not to be able to do this. However, the meat I got from one of the other stalls turned out to be almost (though not quite) as nice…

Anyway – Anne had bookmarked a recipe for crispy parmesan coated chops in Nigella’s Forever Summer, using pork chops as opposed to lamb chops prescribed by the luscious cookery writer. I’m not really keen on lamb, so I used pork too. I used crushed rye crispbread instead of breadcrumbs/panko (this is the Nordic touch:), and I never have any breadcrumbs in my house anyway). I omitted the ‘dip the chops in the egg’ part, as suggested by Raquel. And one of her readers suggested using sage, a herb I subsequently incorporated into the side dish.

It was really nice and easy meal that generously fed 2 Estonian lassies. No leftovers though.

Italo-Nordic pork chops

2 de-boned pork loin chops
4 crushed rye crispbreads (thin type, Finncrisp is good)
25 grams grated parmesan
salt
black pepper
olive oil for frying

Pound the pork chops thinner between two sheets of cling film.
Mix breadcrumbs, parmesan, salt and pepper, press pork chops into the mixture.
Fry in olive oil on both sides, until golden brown.

To serve with:

Sage pasta
(Salveimakaronid)

250 grams fresh tagliatelle
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp oil
2 sliced garlic cloves
3-4 shredded fresh sage leaves
some grated lemon zest

Boil the tagliatelle al dente.

Heat oil and butter in a saucepan, add garlic, sage and lemon zest. Fry gently, until garlic is slightly golden. (If you have any seasoned bread crumb and parmesan mixture left, you can throw that into the pan as well, like I did).
Drain the pasta, mix with the sage and garlic butter.

Serve parmesan crusted pork chops alongside tagliatelle in sage and garlic butter.


Photo updated in April 2009


Oven roasted Conference pears with a caramelised oats' topping
(Ahjupirnid)
Recipe from October 2005 issue of the Finnish foodmag Ruokamaailma



The dessert was also Nordic: oven roasted Conference pears with a caramelised topping of oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. The filling is simply mixed, the pears are covered with it and then baked in the 200C oven until soft & golden.

Served with Green&Black’s Vanilla Ice Cream..

Back in the kitchen

I've been back in Edinburgh for over a week now, but have hardly done any cooking. A Malta-based Estonian friend was visiting and as it was the last week my Greek sweetheart was in town, I had most of my meals out. Had a lovely & elegant breakfast at Centotre, a proper British fry-up at Native State, a leisurely Saturday morning breakfast and paper in Double Dutch, a Turkish meze-dinner at Nargile, another (sixth in 2005?) yummy meal at Jamaican Coyaba, a tasty, if slow, dinner at Peckham's Underground. I enjoyed them all, although I'm not really looking forward to receiving my next credit card statement at all..

The only 'cooking' I did at home during the week was smearing some Finnish herby or Estonian mushroomy cream cheese on some Estonian rye bread, covering it with Estonian smoked salami and Estonian cheese, sprinkling some Greek oregano on top and grilling these in the oven. An accompaniment: some flash-salted cucumber. And I did that not once, not twice, but thrice. But that's hardly cooking, at least in foodblogosphere..

Pasta with blue cheese
(Seene-sinihallitusjuustukaste makaronidele)

I did finally cook something on Sunday night. Before my friend Ingrid caught her flight back to Valletta, we had a quick pasta supper - gemelli pasta with Roquefort, and shiitake and oyster mushrooms. It was tasty, and it's one of my staple suppers nowadays, as I like both mushrooms and blue cheese a lot.

PS Remember the list of ten most useful cookbooks? Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and Other Stories is currently No 1 on the bestsellers' list at my local Blackwells. So if nothing else, these lists make a fortune for some of the authors:)

And a dash of vodka, please, or Nigella Lawson's Pasta alla Vodka

While travelling or living abroad (including Scotland, although it feels more like home after six years) and telling people that I’m from Estonia, I am usually asked whether we drink lots of vodka in Estonia. I guess it’s because we’re neighbours with Finland and Russia, both known for their fondness of vodka (indeed, BBC Radio 4 stated yesterday afternoon that each Russian – including children and the elderly - consumes 15 litres of vodka annually!). I sometimes take offence to this question, as I don’t think that we drink lots of vodka back home. At least my friends don’t. We drink copious amounts of mulled wine – hõõgvein – during the dark long winter nights, cold beer during summer (and always after sauna) and wine on other occasions. But upon reflection, my parents’ generation probably prefers vodka to wine – out of old habit, as good wines were unavailable during the Soviet era and vodka was pretty much the only drink one could find in the shops. Though even vodka disappeared after Gorbatchev came to power in 1985..

Anyway, back to my own ‘vodka-fuelled’ weekend. On Saturday night my Japanese friend Ryoko came over for a chat and a light meal. I had been spent couple of leisurely hours at the Meadows at the G8/Make Poverty History event, and was too lazy to cook anything substantial. I also want to finish off the bottle of vodka in my cupboard ASAP to avoid questions about Estonians’ favourite tipple, so I made again – second time within a week - penne alla vodka from Nigella’s Feast. Or to be more precise, I made fusilli bucati corti alla vodka. It’s really easy to make and there’s something naughty about adding vodka to pasta. According to Nigella, the dish originated in Rome in 1960s, and though ‘it sounds the unlikeliest of inventions, but it works strangely well: the vodka gives a grainy depth balanced by the acid fruitiness of the tomatoes (think Bloody Mary), both mellowed by a slug of cream and the butter that is melted on to the pasta before it is combined with the sauce’ (p. 132).

Pasta alla vodka
(Viinamakaronid)
Serves 4 as a light meal or 2 as a main course with some left over.



1 tbsp olive oil
1 chopped onion
1 chopped garlic clove
pinch of salt
400 g can chopped tomatoes
a pinch of chilli flakes
1 tbsp double cream
500 g short pasta (penne, fusilli)
4 tbsp vodka
2 tbsp butter
grated Parmesan cheese

Make the sauce first, as it can be easily reheated.
Heat the oil, add the onion, then garlic and salt, and sweat until onion is soft and translucent. Don’t burn.
Now add the chopped tomatoes, pinch of chilli flakes and simmer on a gentle heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
[Until this point the sauce can be made in advance].
Cook the pasta al dente.
Just before the pasta is ready, stir the cream into the [re-heated] tomato sauce.
Drain the pasta, pour the vodka and stir the butter into the pasta.
Mix with the creamy tomato sauce and serve with extra parmesan cheese.

My Romanian friend Ruxandra served it with creamy goat cheese instead of parmesan back in May, and it was delicious as well.

UPDATE 22.4.2006 Have swapped the picture for a nicer one. Also, I tend to add slightly more vodka nowadays, use mascarpone instead of double cream and sprinkle lots of fresh parsley on top. Still a real keeper, almost one year on:)