Sicilian Style Broccolini Pasta

3/4 C currants
1/3 C verjuice
1/2 C flaked almonds
2 bunches broccolini, trimmed
250 g penne
1 T + olive oil
150 g ricotta
Handful + of chopped parsley
Shaved Parmigiana Reggiano
Salt and black pepper, to taste

Soak currants in verjuice for a couple of hours.

Dry fry or bake almonds. Cool and set aside.

Blanch broccolini in boiling salted. water for 1 minute. Refresh in cold water.

Cook pasta according to packet directions in broccolini water.

In a frypan add almonds, currants and some pasta liquid. Cook for 2 minutes on medium high, tossing. Add broccolini. Add in pasta and heat for 1 minute. Spoon in ricotta and parsley. Mix to distribute evenly.

Divide into bowls. Add shaved cheese, drizzle with olive oil and a generous dash of pepper.

You can listen to Pete Bufo talking us through the recipe here.

Image: "oh, the penne" by hash-slinger

One Last Pumpkin Recipe

Pumpkin, Chickpea and Other Bits Salad

2-3 C pumpkin, cut into bite sized pieces
2 T oil
2 C chickpeas, cooked and drained
1/2 - 1 C cashews or pinenuts, toasted
100 g feta
1 Spanish onion, thinkly sliced
1/4 bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Couple of handfuls of English spinach leaves

Dressing
1/4 C honey
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 - 2 T orange or lemon juice
1 I extra virgin olive oil
Very finely diced chilli, to taste (optional)

Roast pumpkin in a moderate oven 180C in little olive oil until cooked. Cool

Combine pumpkin, chickpeas, cashews, onion and parsley in a large bowl. Mix to combine.

Combine dressing ingredients in a jug or bowl, mix & dress salad.

Place in a serving dish & crumble fetta over salad.

Note: as this is a salad, feel welcome to adjust anything to taste. I have also made it using sundried tomatoes, adding chargrilled eggplant and zucchini or even wrapping up the salad ingredients in a filo, baking and using the dressing as a sauce.

Image: "Little Pumpkin" by SpunkOnAStick

Bits and Pieces

Pete and I started talking about his recipe and ended up discussing half a dozen things so I though it was important to put in some follow up information.

Snail forks: I got the snail fork half right (as you can see from the pic) but they don't have little hooks on the end.

Purging snails: another thing I (almost) got right - the most common way to purge snails is to allow them to fast for about 5 days. Some googling has told me that you can feed them cornmeal, oats or bran just before this time, but the most common method remains a fast.

River Cottage: home of all things wonderful - currently on ABC1 but check out their website for more info.

Cheesy Cauliflower: (as opposed to cauliflower cheese) I blogged about this when I first made it because it was so good and so easy but reproduce it here:


Dead easy and particularly delicious. For the cambembert: cut it into wedges, dip in flour, egg and breadcrumb and then deep fry until golden (but no so golden that the cheese has melted). For the sauce: cook cauliflower florets of 1 biggish cauliflower in milk with 1 bay leaf and 1 clove until the cauliflower is tender. Remove bay leaf and blend until smooth.

Dip cheese into sauce and grin madly :-) All up, from start to finish, about 15 - 18 minutes.

PS: The left over sauce made a scrummy topping for toast lol


Snail fork image: Hospitality Wholesale
Cheesy Caulifower image: Pearl Maya

Roast Fennel with Breadcrumbs, Parsley and Parmesan

2 large fennel bulbs
100 ml olive oil
4 T water
1 T butter
1/2 C roughly chopped parsley
4 sprigs thyme
2 thick slices ciabatta
3 T freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oven to 200 C.

Cut fennel vertically into wedges. Cook wedges in frypan in a little of the oil until browned. Add butter and water and for for another 3 minutes.

Put fennel and the stock it is cooking in into oven dish. Sprinkle over parsley and thyme. Rip up bread into chucks and scatter over fennel. Sprinkle over the rest of the oil, season to taste and sprinkle over Parmesan.

Roast for about 20 - 30 minutes.

Recipe supplied by Pete Bufo

Image: "Fennel" by Ewwiej

Lamb Shanks

3 T oil

4 lamb shanks
4 - 5 T plain flour
1 leek, halved and cut into 1cm pieces
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
440 g canned tomates
8 - 10 garlic cloves still in paper
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
1 t whole black peppercorns
1 C red wine
2 1/2 C vegetable or chicken stock
Salt and pepper, to taste

Pre-heat oven to 150C .

Heat oil in a fry pan over medium-high heat.

Toss shanks with flour to coat well; then shake off excess. Brown shanks, then remove from the frypan and rest in baking dish.Cook in batches if need be.

Add the leek, celery, carrot, onion, and garlic to the fry pan. Cook for about 5 minutes until softened, stirring as needed.

Season with the bay leaf, peppercorns, thyme and rosemary sprigs. Pour in tomatoes, wine and stock, increase heat to high, and bring to a simmer.

Season to taste and pour vegetables over lamb shanks.

Cover the baking dish tightly with foil, and place into oven. Bake until the meat is tender and falls off of the bone, 2 ½ to 3 hours.

Remove the bay leaf and herb stems before serving shanks with mashed potatoes or couscous, steamed beans and a sprinkle of parsley

You can also make this in a slow cooker - adjust cooking times as necessary.

Image from: La Tavola Marche