Italian Cooking Together Recipes – Spinach & Ricotta Tortellini; Chicken Cacciatore;
Our Cooking Together cookery classes are as much about learning to cook as they are a sociable experience. We hope you enjoyed your evening and are ready to recreate the meals at home. The recipes work really well as delicious dinners for the family to cook again.
You Cooked:
- Starter: Spinach Tortellini with Herb Pesto & Romesco Sauce;
- Main: Chicken Caccitore with Sweet Potato Gnocchi;
- Dessert: Lemon Posset
Spinach & Ricotta Tortellini – Starter
Ingredients:
For the pasta (makes more dough than needed for this recipe):
- – 2 medium eggs
- – 200g ‘00’ flour, plus extra for dusting
For the hazelnut pesto:
- – 25g whole blanched hazelnuts
- – 15g Parmesan (or a similar vegetarian hard cheese), grated
- – 1 tbsp hazelnut oil
- – 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
For the filling:
- – 150g ricotta
- – 500g grams of blanched spinach, water squeezed out of it
- – 50g Parmesan (or a similar vegetarian hard cheese), grated
- – 1 lemon, zest only
- – pinch grated nutmeg
- – salt and freshly ground pepper
- – knob of butter, to serve.
Method:
- Put eggs and flour in a food processor and process until smooth. The mixture will look like breadcrumbs at this stage. Tip out onto a lightly floured board and bring together using your hands. Knead the dough until it’s no longer sticky. Cover and rest in the fridge while you make the filling and pesto.
- For the pesto, spread the hazelnuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 6–8 minutes, until golden brown, then set aside to cool.
- For the filling, mix the ricotta, parmesan, spinach, lemon zest, nutmeg and a pinch of salt and pepper until well combined. Transfer to a piping bag or a plastic food bag with the corner snipped off.
- To make the pesto, crush the hazelnuts in a pestle and mortar, then gently stir in the Parmesan and oils.
- To assemble the tortellini, roll the pasta dough through all the sizes on the pasta machine starting with the widest setting and finishing on the smallest setting when the pasta is very thin. Using a 9cm/3½in round cutter, cut out 10 circles. (Any leftover dough can be frozen to use another time.)
- Pipe a heaped teaspoon amount of filling inside each pasta circle and fold in half to create a half moon shape. Wet the edges and press down to help them stick. Pull the two narrow ends together to form a tortellini shape.
- Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta in the boiling water for 2–3 minutes, or until al dente. Drain well.
- Meanwhile, put a frying pan over a medium–high heat and add a knob of butter. Cook until lightly browned and starting to bubble. Then add the hazelnut pesto and gently heat through.
- Serve the tortellini with the pesto spooned over the top.
Romesco Sauce – Starter
Ingredients – Makes 3 Cups:
- – One 450g jar of roasted red peppers, drained
- – ½ cup raw or roasted almonds (unsalted)
- – ¼ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and drained
- – 2 medium-to-large cloves garlic, peeled and quartered
- – tablespoon sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
- – 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- – ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, to taste
- – ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Method:
- In a blender (preferably) or food processor, combine everything but the olive oil. Securely fasten the lid and blend, starting on low and increasing the speed as you are able to gain traction.
- Once the ingredients are mostly blended, start drizzling in the olive oil while running the blender. Blend until you reach your desired consistency (I like my romesco sauce pretty creamy, but you might prefer it with a chunkier texture).
- Taste, and add additional salt (up to ¼ teaspoon) if it doesn’t quite knock your socks off yet. Serve immediately with toasted sourdough bread rubbed with raw garlic (as a funkier version of Pan con tomate), you could add chorizo or other toppings
- You could also use as a sauce for arancini and many other dishes.
- Or store in a jar in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
Herb Pesto – Starter
Ingredients – Serves 4:
- – 1 clove of garlic
- – 1/2 big bunch of fresh basil
- – Handful of chives
- – Handful of coriander
- – 1 handful of pine nuts
- – 1 good handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- – extra virgin olive oil
- – 1 lemon
Method:
- Peel the garlic, then pound in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of sea salt.
- Pick, roughly chop and add the basil, followed by coriander and chives, then blend in a food processor.
- Add the pine nuts (very lightly toast first, if you like) to the mixture and blend again, same with the parmesan.
- Drizzle in some oil – you need just enough to bind the sauce and get it to an oozy consistency.
- Add most of the remaining cheese, then season to perfection with salt and black pepper. Have a taste and keep adding a bit more cheese or oil until you are happy with the taste and consistency.
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice at the end.
Chicken Caccitore – Main
Ingredients – Serves 2:
- – 4 chicken thigh, skinless and boneless
- – 1 shallot, diced
- – 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- – 1 red pepper, de-seeded and sliced
- – 400g chopped tomatoes
- – Handful of fresh cherry tomatoes
- – Handful of olives of your choice
- – 2tbsp of capers
- – 100ml of red wine
- – 1 tsp of sugar
- – 2 sprigs of thyme
- – 6 basil leaves
- – 1 bulb of mozzarella, shred into pieces
- – 1tbsp of olive oil
- – Seasoning
Method:
- Pre-heat your oven to 185C.
- Place a heavy skillet on medium heat with a splash of oil.
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and sear of in the pan, remove from the pan and leave on side for now (chicken doesn’t need to be cooked through yet).
- Add another splash of oil in the same pan and sauté onions for a couple of minutes, followed by garlic.
- Next comes the red pepper, cook for another minute.
- Now pour in the red wine with sugar and reduce by half, followed by cherry tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, capers, chopped thyme and olives. Simmer for ten minutes, correct seasoning, place the chicken on top and bake for roughly 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Right before serving, place mozzarella on top and melt in the oven.
- Garnish with chopped basil leaves.
Sweet Potato Gnocchi – Main
Ingredients:
- – 1 sweet potato medium
- – 5 cups of flour (‘00’ or plain)
- – 15g of grated vegan parmesan
- – Seasoning
Method:
- Bake the sweet potato on 180C for roughly 45 minutes or until soft.
- Let it cool down, peel and discard the skin.
- Mix all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, start forming a dough. You might need more flour as every potato is different.
- Work the dough on floured surface with your hand, adding more flour if too sticky.
- Form a dough ball, wrap it in cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.
- Form gnocchi shaped little dumplings.
- Get a pan of salted boiling water ready and boil the gnocchi for approximately 2 minutes until they start floating on top.
- Strain and cool down.
- Finally, we can either pan-fry our gnocchi or just drop them directly into hot pasta sauce to warm up.
Desserts These are the Food Sorcery Favourites
Lemon Posset
Ingredients – Serves 3-4:
- – 300ml of double cream
- – 60g caster sugar
- – 1 juicy lemon or lemongrass to add an Asian twist
Method:
- Chop the lemon in half or bruise the lemongrass
- Bring the cream and sugar to the boil (careful it should just boil but not boil over). Once you see it boil – stay there and boil for exactly 3 minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the lemon or lemongrass.
- Strain this into a jug and cool for 20 minutes.
- If you wish to put a crumbled biscuit in the bottom of the receptacle – this is the time to do it. If not gently pour the cream into the glasses.
- Refrigerate for 6 hours minimum.
- Serve with fruit and edible flow
Food Sorcery Chocolate Brownies
Ingredients – Makes: 24 brownies
- – ¾ cup (180g) unsalted butter
- – 8oz (250g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
- – 4 large eggs
- – 1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
- – ½ cup (100g) light brown sugar
- – ¼ tsp salt
- – 1 ½ tsp vanilla essence
- – 1 cup (150g) plain flour
- – 8 oz (250g) milk chocolate, coarsely chopped.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350F (180C gas 4 )
- Butter and flour a 9x 13 inch (33 x 22 cm) baking pan.
- Line with foil leaving pieces to foil overhanging the sides.
- Place the butter and dark chocolate in a double boiler and stir over barely simmering water until melted, remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Beat the eggs and both sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy, then with the mixer on low speed, beat in the salt and chocolate mixture, followed by the vanilla.
- Gradually beat in the flour, stir in the milk chocolate and then spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake until the brownies are set in the middle, 25-30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the centre will come out slightly gooey.
- Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then use the overhanging foil to lift the brownies out of the pan.
- Remove the foil and place on a cutting board. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 mins before cutting.
We hope you enjoyed the class!
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