Spinach farfalle with mushrooms, celeriac puree, parma ham and a crispy hen’s egg

It feels like ages since I wrote my last blog entry. With December and Christmas being really busy, my Mondays off were spent rushing around sorting presents and preparing for the holidays and time in the kitchen was minimal. Now that we’re back into January I’ve been really looking forward to doing some proper cooking again, and this week was the first time that my Monday lunches got back on the road again. 

I am always thinking up different dishes to make on my days off, and I have been wanted to make this particular one for a while. As always, the dish started off as a simplified version, just some fresh tagliatelle with mushrooms and parma ham, but the more I thought about it, the more bits were added to it until it became the finished meal. No doubt I will think of other ways to further change it as time goes on... 

I have been making fresh pasta for many years now, but have always made ‘cut’ pasta or cannelloni. I have always wanted to have a go at making pasta shapes, but have never got around to it until now. The same goes for making a flavoured and coloured pasta dough. The idea of making farfalle with different coloured halves it not my own. I first saw it whilst watching Masterchef last year, when one of the finalists learned how to make it whilst placed in a London Restaurant (I seem to remember it being with Alain Ducasse but I’m not positive). It seemed like a great idea and fairly straightforward to make, but after making the batch for this recipe it definitely takes a knack to get the pasta just right. I found that the most important thing is making sure that the seam between the two dough pieces is properly sealed before running it through the machine, otherwise the seam can split which makes the finished dough look really messy. It’s well worth trying though as the little bow ties look great once finished. 

The inspiration for this dish came from eating plain pasta (not even any butter or oil!) with breaded chicken as a small child. I used to love the crispy bits of breadcrumb that would find their way into the pasta, and this is replicated with the deep fried egg. It’s funny how childhood eating memories influence the way we eat now, although I’m not sure I’ll be rushing back to syrup sandwiches any time soon!

The key with getting this dish right is balancing the flavours properly. The richness of the egg yolk and saltiness of the parma ham is cut by the acidity in the puree and the earthiness of the mushrooms. No one taste really dominates, they just come together and compliment one another when eaten at the same time. 

This dish can be changed slightly to make it vegetarian. In this case, swap the parma ham for a salty, tangy cheese such as a mild goat’s cheese. 

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the pasta: 

200g ’00’ strong pasta flour, separated into two 100g amounts, plus more for kneading

2 eggs

50g spinach leaves, tough stalks discarded

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt

2 tbsp dried cous cous

For the crispy eggs:

3 large eggs

100g plain flour

75g panko flakes

Salt and pepper

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Vegetable oil for frying, about 1.5-2 litres

For the celeriac puree:

1/3 of a large celeriac (about 300g), peeled and chopped into 1in pieces

3 tbsp whole milk

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

40g butter

Salt and pepper

200g fresh girolles, trimmed and cleaned with a brush

100g brown beech mushrooms, trimmed

15g dried porcini mushrooms

20g butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 a lemon, juice only

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

To finish:

2 slices parma ham

A few shards of parmesan

A few rocket leaves

First make the pasta. Bring a medium saucepan of water to the boil, and when hot, blanch the spinach leaves for a minute. Immediately put the cooked spinach leaves into iced water and leave to cool. Thoroughly squeeze out the water from the leaves so that they are fairly dry. Place into a food processor and blitz until very finely chopped (they should be too dry to really form a puree). Add 1 of the eggs and a pinch of salt and blitz again until will combined. Tip in 100g of the ’00’ flour and mix again until the dough resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Pour onto a work surface and knead really well, until a smooth and elastic dough is formed that is not wet or sticky. Wrap with clingfilm and put in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes. 

Now make the plain pasta dough. Put the second 100g portion of flour into a cleaned food processor bowl and add the second of the eggs, the olive oil and a good pinch of salt and repeat the blitzing / kneading / resting process as the spinch dough. 

Using a pasta machine and a little extra flour, roll each dough through each of the thickness settings until you get to the second finest (I only really use the finest setting for filled pasta). Cut each sheet of pasta in half so that you have two narrow pieces of each dough, then cut each piece so that it is about 30cm long; this will make it much more manageable. Carefully brush one long edge of each spinach sheet to about 1cm in, then very gently position the long edge of one of the plain pasta sheets on top. Seal with your fingers. Roll the sealed combined sheet through the second thinnest setting on the machine and you should be left with a sealed sheet with one side spinach dough and the other plain. Cut into 4cm strips, then use a large circular cutter to form the outer edges. Try to make this as even as possible so that the join between the two doughs is in the centre. Squeeze the centre of the strips to form the bow tie shape. Gently flour the completed farfalle, then pour the cous cous onto a plate and position the pasta on top. The cous cous absorbs the moisture but will drop off in the pan whilst boiling. Set aside to dry whilst you prepare the rest of the recipe. 

While the pasta dough is resting, make the crispy eggs. Bring a pan of water to the boil and lower in 2 of the eggs. Cook for 1 minute, then turn the heat off, cover and leave for another 5 minutes. Remove the eggs and place in iced water mixed with the white wine vinegar. Allow to cool thoroughly, then peel the eggs very carefully. Set up 2 small plates and 1 small bowl. Put the flour on one plate, the panko on the other and beat the egg into the bowl. Season each element. Roll the eggs one at a time very gently in the flour to cover then dip into the egg. Finally transfer the eggs to the panko and roll around until fully covered with the breadcrumbs. Set aside until needed.

To make the puree, bring a large saucepan of salty water to the boil and when hot, add the chopped celeriac. Boil for about 10 minutes, or until tender before draining and putting into a food processor with the milk, butter, seasoning and mustard. Blitz very well before tasting and adjusting with milk/butter/seasoning as necessary. Pass through a fine sieve and into a bowl. Keep warm if near to serving, or cool and refrigerate if making in advance to reheat later. 

Put the porcini into a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 20 minutes to soak before draining, keeping the strained liquid for later. 

While the celeriac is cooking, make the crispy parma ham. Preheat the oven to 190ºC (Fan). Line a baking tray with baking parchment and lay the parma ham on top. Cook in the hot oven for 6-8 minutes or until very crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and break into small shards. 

Fill a large saucepan with water, add salt and bring to the boil. In a separate medium saucepan heat the deep frying oil to 170ºC. Finally, put a large frying pan onto a medium heat. 

When everything is hot, melt the butter with the olive oil in the frying pan. Add the soaked porcini and the garlic and fry for 1 minute, before adding the girolles and season well. At this point, put the farfalle into the boiling water and carefully lower the crumbed eggs into the hot oil. Add the beech mushrooms and lemon juice to the frying pan and cook for a minute, by which point the pasta should be ready. Lift the pasta using a slotted spoon and transfer to the pan with the mushrooms and gently stir everything together. Add a couple of tablespoons of the porcini liquid and cook for another minute, at which point the egg should have turned a golden brown in the oil. Remove from the oil and drain. 

To serve, spoon a little of the puree onto the middle of the plates and top with the crispy eggs. Arrange the farfalle around the egg and top with the mushrooms. Spoon a little of the buttery pan juices over the pasta. Scatter the parma ham, parmesan and rocket around the pasta and serve. 

Braised pork ‘chop’ with crispy cheek, scratchings, roasted beetroot, celeriac puree and a maple syrup sauce

Today I have had another day off, and it was the perfect opportunity to make a dish that I’d had in my head and had been looking forward to making for a while. I had really wanted to make something nice with pork for a while, particularly involving pork chops and the cheeks. I have had chops a few times in the last few months, but although each time had been delicious, I had failed to get it quite right with the flavour combinations. It’s always difficult when trying to create dishes in your head, as it’s never guaranteed that they will turn out as good as imagined!

Pork is such a versatile meat, and at a time when meat prices are rocketing, is still really reasonably priced. The main thing with buying pork is getting good quality, well reared meat. Although there has been a spotlight on pork welfare standards in recent years, loads of dodgy stuff still gets through to the supermarket shelves, and it really does have an impact on the taste of the finished meal. You only have to look at pork in a quality butchers to see the difference; the colouring is so much richer, and far less waterlogged and anaemic. It actually looks like it has come from a living animal! And the thing is, you don’t even need to spend that much more to get better meat. The first time I bought a chop from the butchers I was astounded; it was massive, and put all of the thin chops on the supermarket shelves to shame. 

Recently I have heard loads about using pork cheeks and have been very interesting in using them myself. Now this is the most budget of all pork cuts, and the two free range cheeks that I bought for this recipe came to a massive 66 pence. Like all hard working muscles, they need a lot of slow cooking a patience, but once ready offer the most tender and flavoursome meat. In this recipe they add another element to the pork, with a different taste and texture to the chop and the scratching. 

Pork goes fantastically well with sweeter things like maple syrup, beetroot and apple, but you need to be careful to balance out the sweetness. There’s nothing like having a lovely meal in front of you ruined by a really sickly sweet sauce. The key is to keep tasting as you go, and add the sweet ingredients in moderation so that they can be controlled. 

Although there are loads of elements in this dish, you can make most of them in advance, and have them ready to be heated up when the meat has been cooked. I haven’t added potatoes to this recipe as there is quite a lot of meat on the plate, and it might make it a bit heavy. However, you could easily add some roasted potatoes, or a gratin if you so wished. 

Serves 2

Ingredients: 

For the chops: 

2 thick pork chops, around 1 1/2” thick

1 fennel, sliced, fronds saved

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1/2 leek, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, skin removed

5 sprigs thyme

200ml dry cider

20g butter

For the cheeks:

2 pork cheeks

1 litre chicken stock

1/2 leek, roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped, fronds saved

1 onion, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, skin removed

1 bay leaf

8 peppercorns

1 small handful panko breadcrumbs

1 egg, beaten

100g plain flour

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

20g butter, melted

1 litre of vegetable oil, for frying

For the sauce:

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, skin removed

6 sprigs thyme

The bones and trimmings from the chops

100ml brandy

4 tbsp maple sypup

1 bay leaf

1 star anise

30g butter

For the celeriac puree:

1/3 celeriac, roughly chopped into 1” pieces

3 tbsp double cream

20g butter

2 thyme sprigs, leaves picked

For the roasted beetroot:

2 large beetroots

2 garlic cloves

5 sprigs of thyme

Olive oil

For the scratchings:

The skin and fat from the outside of the chops, sliced into long, thin pieces

Sprinkle of salt

2 slices of streaky bacon

1/2 Granny Smith apple, sliced into small dice

1/2 lemon, juice only

First put the cheeks on to slow cook. Put the cheeks into a large saucepan with the stock, leek, carrot, fennel, onion, garlic, bay leaf and peppercorns. Bring the stock up to the boil, then turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for 4 hours. When the cheeks are falling apart and tender, turn the heat off and allow to cool in the stock. Drain the saucepan, keeping the liquid in a bowl, and discard the vegetables. Put the cheeks in a small bowl and shred apart. Add the mustard, melted butter and season well. Mix together, taste and adjust. Put in fridge to cool for 20 minutes. 

To turn the cheeks into croquettes, put the flour onto one plate, the panko onto another and beat the egg in a small bowl. Season all of the elements. Take the cooled shredded cheek mixture out of the fridge and make two small golf ball sized balls, compacting them in your hands. Carefully coat the balls in the flour, then dip them into the egg before rolling them in the panko, making sure they get totally covered. Repeat the egg and panko process with each, then put aside for cooking later. 

Heat the oven to 210ºC (fan)

To make the scratchings, trim the outside skin and fat from the chops, and cut into long pieces about 1cm wide. Put the fat pieces onto a lined oven tray, sprinkle with salt and put into the hot oven for 15-20 minutes, or until crispy and golden. Set aside.

Lower the oven to 200ºC (fan)

Put the streaky bacon onto a lined oven tray and cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until crispy and brittle. Remove, drain and finely chop. Set aside.

Lower the oven to 180ºC (fan)

Put the whole beetroot into a small oven dish and add the thyme, garlic and seasoning. Drizzle over a little olive oil and mix well to coat everything. Cover with foil, and put in the oven for 1 hour. 

To cook the chops, trim the bone and fat away so that you are left with the loin pieces. Keep the scraps and bone for when you make the sauce, but throw away any excess fat. Heat up a frying pan to a medium-high heat. Rub some oil into the loin pieces and season well. Fry in the hot pan for a couple of minutes on each side, then add the butter and quickly baste the pork until it is a golden colour. Pour in the cider and bring to the boil. Put the carrot, leeks, fennel, garlic and thyme into a deep oven dish, and nestle the browned pork amongst this. Pour over the pan juices and top up with some of the stock left over from the pork cheeks until the liquid goes 2/3rds of the way up the sides of the pork (make sure you save 500ml for the sauce). Put into the oven uncovered for 45 minutes.

To make the sauce, heat up a little oil in a large frying pan to a medium-high temperature. Fry the bones and trimmings of the chops and cook until well browned on each side. Add the shallot, garlic, thyme and bay and cook for another couple of minutes until golden brown. Pour over the brandy and flambe, then add 500ml of the leftover stock from cooking the cheeks. Add the star anise and maple syrup and season well. Let the liquid bubble away and reduce until there is about 150ml left, about 20 minutes. Strain the sauce and return the liquid to a clean pan. Taste, adjust and set aside until the meat is ready.

For the celeriac puree, heat up some salted water in a saucepan until boiling. When the water is hot, add the celeriac and boil for 8-10 minutes or until tender. Drain the water away and tip the celeriac into food processor along with the cream, seasoning, thyme and butter. Blitz until very smooth. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve to remove any lumps. Taste and add seasoning if needed, then transfer into a small saucepan to be reheated later. 

Pick the fennel fronds from the leftover bits of fennel and set aside. Cut some thin slices from the apple and finely dice them. Put the small pieces apple into a bowl and squeeze over the lemon juice to stop from browning. 

When the meat has cooked, take out of the oven and put the pork onto a plate to rest for 10 minutes.

When the beetroot is ready, carefully peel off the skin, trim the top and the bottom and cut into a disc with a round cutter. 

Put 1 litre of vegetable oil into a large saucepan and heat to 150ºC. Carefully lower the breadcrumbed cheek balls into the hot oil, and fry for a few minutes until golden brown. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. 

Heat up the puree and sauce in separate saucepans. When the sauce is hot, add the butter and stir well, before having a final taste and season. 

To plate up, put a tablespoon of the puree onto each plate. Add the cheek croquette, the rested ‘chop’ and the roasted beetroot disc. Place a couple of scratching on top of the beetroot, and sprinkle some of the apple, bacon and fennel fronds onto the pork. Spoon over some of the sauce and serve.