Tim Siadatan’s recipes for Italian springtime pasta
Penne with fennel sausage and radicchio
Prep 20 min
Cook 1 hr 25 min
Serves 4
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 bay leaves
2 rosemary sprigs, picked and finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds, coarsely ground
1 pinch dried chilli flakes (optional)
6 large fennel sausages (or roughly 500g), taken out of their skins and roughly broken up
1 glass dry white wine
400ml chicken stock
Sea salt and black pepper
400g penne
½ radicchio head, leaves separated and finely shredded
Parmesan, grated, to serve
Put a good glug of oil in a pan that’s large enough comfortably to hold all the ingredients once cooked, and set it over a low-medium heat. Once the oil is hot, sweat the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay, rosemary, fennel seeds and chilli, if using, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes, until browned.
Add the sausagemeat and cook, stirring continuously to prevent large clusters from forming. After about 10 minutes, once the sausage is golden, deglaze with the white wine and cook until you can no longer smell the alcohol. Add the chicken stock, turn down the heat to low, cover the pan, simmer for 45 minutes, then season to taste.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add enough salt to make it resemble mild seawater. Cook the penne for a minute less than the package instructions say, then drain and reserve two mugs of the pasta cooking water. Tip the pasta into the ragu and cook, stirring well, on a low heat for a minute, adding splashes of the reserved water if the mix starts to look dry.
Stir in the shredded radicchio and serve at once with lots of grated parmesan.
Ricotta gnocchi with raw pea pesto
Prep 10 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4
For the gnocchi
250g ricotta, drained as much as possible and blotted with kitchen paper
1 egg yolk
80g parmesan, finely grated
90g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
For the pesto
200g raw podded peas
70g pecorino, finely grated, plus extra to serve
15g mint leaves, finely shredded
150ml extra-virgin olive oil
Grated zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
Fine sea salt
Mix the ricotta, egg yolk and parmesan in a large bowl. Add the flour, and mix gently until it’s fully incorporated and comes together into a dough – don’t overmix, though, or it will go sticky and stodgy. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface, knead for a minute, then shape into a smooth ball. Cut into quarters and roll each piece into a long sausage about 2cm in circumference. Cut each sausage into 1-2cm-wide pieces. If you’re not cooking the gnocchi immediately, transfer them to a floured tray and store in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
To make the pesto, coarsely pound the peas in a mortar (or pulse them in a food processor). Stir in the remaining pesto ingredients and season with salt to taste.
Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil, drop in the gnocchi and cook for roughly 60-90 seconds, or until they float to the surface. As they do so, gently fish them out with a slotted spoon or sieve, blot with kitchen paper to get rid of any excess water, then divide between four plates or shallow bowls – do not drain the gnocchi in a colander, as you would pasta, because they will break up and turn to mush.
Drizzle the pea pesto liberally over the gnocchi and serve immediately, with more grated pecorino if needed.
Orecchiette with slow-cooked purple sprouting broccoli, chilli, garlic and anchovy
Prep 10 min
Cook 40 min
Serves 4
400g purple sprouting broccoli
Sea salt and pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp dried red chilli, finely chopped or crushed
100ml extra-virgin olive oil
12 top-quality anchovy fillets, drained and roughly chopped
400g dried orecchiette
Juice of ½ lemon
Grated parmesan, to finish (optional)
Blanch the broccoli in salted boiling water for five minutes, until soft, then drain.
In a large frying pan on a medium heat, fry the garlic and chilli in a good glug of olive oil, until the garlic starts to turn golden. Add the anchovies, stir until they melt into the oil, then add the broccoli and stir to coat it in all that umami goodness. Using a potato masher, coarsely mash the broccoli mixture, but not too much – you want some texture, not a puree – then turn down the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, for 20 minutes. Taste and season accordingly. The sauce can now live happily in the fridge for up to three days; it freezes well, too.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt so it resembles mild seawater, then cook the orecchiette for a minute less than the package instructions say. Drain the pasta, keeping two mugs of its cooking water.
Tip the pasta into the broccoli mixture in the pan, add the lemon juice and cook, stirring, on a medium heat for a minute, until fully combined and coated; add splashes of pasta water if the sauce looks dry.
Serve at once topped with a good drizzle of olive oil and parmesan, if using.
