3 Sumptuous Recipes From The Season’s Exciting New Cookbooks
From a seasonal variation on a pasta classic to a chocolate cake that requires minimal effort (for maximum taste), delve into three comforting dishes from the season’s new cohort of cookbooks
Pasta with Cacio e Walnut
From ‘That Sounds So Good: 100 Real-Life Recipes for Every Day of the Week’ by Carla Lalli Music
“Cacio is an Italian word for sheep’s-milk cheese, and this is a variation on pasta cacio e pepe (literally “pasta with cheese and pepper”), which was one of the inexpensive but extremely satisfying dinners I made a lot when I was in college. The toasted nuts add some crunch, which will make you appreciate the creaminess of the sauce that much more. If you’re hustling, you can definitely chop the parsley and grate the cheeses while the pasta is cooking, but do these bits of prep ahead of time if you’re at all hesitant about your kitchen speed. I like to cook the pasta in a big (6-quart) Dutch oven, which is the ideal vessel for finishing the pasta in the sauce, but a large pasta pot will work, too (make sure you’re stirring all the way down to the bottom of the pot).”
Makes four servings
Ingredients
Kosher salt; freshly ground pepper
6 garlic cloves
1 cup walnut halves
1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound paccheri or other large tubular pasta
4oz Manchego
2oz Parmigiano
1 cup packed parsley leaves and tender stems
1. Bring a large Dutch oven or other pot of water to a boil and salt it generously. Meanwhile, smash the garlic cloves; roughly chop the walnuts halves. Combine the oil and garlic in a small saucepan and place it over medium heat. Cook, pressing down on the garlic with a wooden spoon to help break it into smaller pieces, until oil is sizzling and garlic is very light golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the walnuts and stir to coat; season aggressively with pepper (this is the “pepe” part of the cacio e pepe). Cook, stirring and tossing frequently, until garlic and nuts are golden brown, 3 minutes more. Remove from the heat and season with salt.
2. Boil the pasta, stirring occasionally, until very al dente. In the meantime, grate the cheeses on the large holes of a box grater (you should have about ¾ cup when combined); roughly chop the parsley. Set the cheeses and parsley aside separately.
3. Scoop out 2 cups of the pasta cooking liquid, then drain pasta and return it to the pot over medium heat. Scrape in the walnut-garlic mixture and add about 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid. Stirring continuously, gradually add about 1⁄3 cup cheese and cook, still stirring, until cheese melts and liquid thickens. Add another ½ cup pasta liquid and half the remaining cheese and simmer, stirring, until cheese is melted. Add the last bit of cheese and cook, adding big splashes of pasta water as needed until the sauce becomes glossy and emulsified and lightly coats the pasta. Turn off the heat. Add the parsley and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning.
1. Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/gas mark 4. Grease two 20cm (8in) cake tins with oil, then line with baking paper.
2. Weigh out and combine all the dry cake-mix ingredients in a large bowl and stir together with a whisk to fully combine. (If the sugar is lumpy, you will have to sift it before adding.)
3. Weigh out and combine all the wet cake-mix ingredients, except the water and coffee, in a large bowl and whisk together. Make coffee in a cup with the measured boiling water and instant coffee, pour it into the wet ingredients bowl and stir well.
4. Add the dry mix to the wet mix and stir well with a whisk to combine. Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared tins. (If you want to be precise, you can weigh the total batter, then divide it exactly in half.)
5. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before flipping onto a wire rack (allow to cool fully before adding the ganache you’re about to make).
6. To make the ganache, put both the chopped chocolates and the salt in a large heatproof bowl. In a saucepan, heat the cream with the malt extract until steaming but not boiling. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and leave for 1 minute. Use a whisk to stir the ganache from the middle outwards – so as not to whisk in any air – until silky and beautiful. Let the ganache sit for 10 minutes.
7. Take a large plate with a lip. Place one of the cooled cakes on the plate and spoon over enough ganache to cover the top. Don’t worry if it spills over the edges, we kind of want this. Place the next cake on top. Pour the remaining ganache all over the top, without a care in the world. Use a spoon to guide it over, making sure plenty of ganache is dripping down the sides. Put the cake in the fridge for 20–30 minutes.
8. Remove the cake from the fridge and, using a small offset palette knife, scoop up the set ganache from the edges of the plate and spread over the sides to create a smooth finish. It really is that easy and effortless. You’ll have your friends thinking you really care…
This cake keeps best in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days. If storing in the fridge, allow to come to room temp before eating – it’ll be much nicer! I recommend warming up a slice in the microwave for 20 seconds and pouring cold cream all over it.
LPC (Lazy Person’s Cake)
From ‘Sugar, I Love You: Knockout Recipes to Celebrate the Sweeter Things in Life’ by Ravneet Gill
“For your eating pleasure, I spent weeks testing different variations of chocolate cake. I knew what I wanted: something wonderfully moist, a touch bitter, light, quick-to-make and beautiful. The perfect lazy person’s cake. It had to be a gleaming beauty that looked like you’d spent forever on it, when in reality it involved very little effort. We make this cake for people we care about, but don’t have much time for. Fringe friends, you might say.”
Makes a 20cm (8in) cake
Ingredients
For the wet cake mix:
175ml olive oil, not overly strong, plus extra for the tins
2 eggs
175ml buttermilk
170ml boiling water
5g/1 tsp instant coffee
For the dry cake mix:
125g caster sugar
125g light brown sugar
80g cocoa powder
230g plain flour
5g/1 tsp sea salt flakes
10g/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
5g/1 tsp baking powder
For the malt chocolate ganache:
150g of 70 percent cocoa solids chocolate, chopped
50g of 55 percent cocoa solids chocolate, chopped
A pinch of sea salt flakes
300g double cream
1 tbsp malt extract (alternatively use black treacle, maple syrup or honey)
Tadka Dal – Garlic & Cumin Dal with Tomato, Chilli & Coriander
From ‘Thali: A Joyful Celebration of Indian Home Cooking’ by Maunika Gowardhan
“Google will bring up loads of variations on how to make this. I’ve opted for this recipe because it’s one that was shared by my family friend from Delhi, and no matter how many other versions I’ve tried, this is the one I keep coming back to.”
Ingredients
250g (9 oz/1 ¼ cups) chana dal
1 liter (34 fl oz/4 cups) water
1 tsp ground turmeric
For the tadka
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
110g (3 ¾ oz) white onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp fennel seeds, coarsely crushed
½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder or mild chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander
90g (3 ¼ oz) tomato, finely chopped
2.5cm (1 inch) ginger root, sliced into matchsticks
Salt, to taste
Chopped coriander (cilantro), to garnish
1. Put the chana dal, water and turmeric in a large saucepan, over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered for 1 ¼ hours, until the dal is soft, stirring every few minutes to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Mash lightly with a potato masher, then turn off the heat and set aside.
2. To make the tadka, heat the oil in a frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds, then after a few seconds, add the onions and fry for 8 minutes, stirring well so that they brown evenly. Add the garlic and fry for a further minute, then add the crushed fennel seeds, chilli powder and ground coriander and stir well. Add the tomato and fry for 2–3 minutes until soft, then add the ginger and fry for a further 1 minute.
3. Pour the tadka mix over the cooked dal. Add enough boiling water to thin out the dal – about 80–100 ml (3 fl oz / 1/3 cup–7 fl oz/scant ½ cup). Simmer for a couple of minutes to heat through, season to taste and garnish with fresh coriander.
4. Serve warm with roti or rice.
All recipes are reproduced as published