Rick Stein's beef and pork meatballs.

- Rick Stein's beef and pork meatballs in a tomato and 'piment' sauce - YOU Magazine
Rick Stein’s Secret France by Rick Stein
400g minced beef
400g minced pork
1 egg
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp piment d’Espelette, pimentón or unsmoked hot paprika
plain flour
salt and black pepper
3 tbsp olive oil

Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
100g unsmoked lardons or cubes of cooked ham
1 tsp piment d’Espelette, pimentón or unsmoked hot paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
6 tomatoes, hard cores removed, chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
150g pitted green olives, drained
400g tin haricot beans, drained

1. In a large bowl, mix together the meat, egg, garlic, parsley, cinnamon, piment d’Espelette and 2 tablespoons of flour.
Season with salt and pepper and blend well.
Using your hands, shape the mixture into golfball-sized balls, adding another tablespoon of flour if the mixture feels too wet to form into balls.
Roll the balls in flour to lightly cover.
Heat the oil in a large, preferably shallow, flameproof casserole dish, and brown the meatballs all over.
Set them aside.

2. For the sauce, heat the tablespoon of olive oil in the same casserole dish and fry the onion and the lardons or ham until the onions are softened.
Add the piment d’Espelette and cinnamon and cook for a minute, then add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste and 250ml of water.
Season with salt and pepper and bring to the boil.
Turn down the heat, cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes.
Add the olives, haricot beans and browned meatballs to the sauce, together with any juices they have released.

3. Cover the pan and cook over a low heat for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
Check a couple of times during cooking and add a little more water if the sauce looks as if it is getting too thick.
Serve as a tapas or as a lunch or supper dish with pilaf rice.

Artichoke pasta.

- Artichoke pasta recipe - BBC Food
I call it One-Pan Pasta - I cook it all In one frying pan with relatively high sides or in Dutch oven.
You can save time, water, and energy by starting pasta in just enough cold water for them to absorb and leave a small amount of liquid, which helps make a nice quick sauce.
Cook the pasta in a pan of unsalted water! Artichokes are a very salty!
Drain pasta, reserving a mugful of starchy cooking water.
Pour the artichokes, with their oil into the same pan + garlic, parsley and thyme and heat through for a couple of minutes and then using tongs, drag the pasta straight into the Artichokes pan, letting a little starchy cooking water go with it.
Add the lemon juice and toss thoroughly.
Serve in bowls topped with shavings of parmesan cheese.
happy day!

- How to Quickly Cook Pasta in a Frying Pan - CHOW Tip - YouTube

Anelletti Al Forno. Oven Baked Pasta.

Anelletti Al Forno (Ring-shaped Pasta With Meat Sauce, Peas And Cheese) – Sicilia

1. Make Soffritto/odori/battuto (onions, celery, and carrots in a 1:1:1 ratio)
gently sauteed in olive oil:
- 1 onions finely chopped
- 1 carrot finely chopped
- 1 stalk celery finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2. Make the Ragu
add to Soffritto:
- 250 grams Ground meat (ground veal or a mix of minced veal and pork)
- half glass (1/2 cup) red wine (or marsala)
- 250 mls tomato sauce (passata)
- 1 bay leaf
- salt
- chili pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 200 grams peas
let the Ragu cook for 20 mins at medium heath.

3. Boil the pasta (I use Fusilli Short) in salted water to a very al dente consistency, drain.
Mix cooked pasta with the ragù until coated and well-combined.
If the mixture is a bit dry or sticky, add some liquid (milk or broth or just some water).
Mix generously with grated Parmigiano/cheddar/pecorino cheese.
- 150 gr grams anelletti/“little rings” pasta (or risoni pasta - also Orzo - “big rice"- a form of short-cut pasta, shaped like a large grain of rice, OR Stelline Pasta - any soup pasta.)
- 100 grams Sharp provolone cheese tastes very similar to cheddar or parmesean.

4. Assemble the Pasta:
Cover generously the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil and breadcrumbs,
line pan with slices of fried eggplant,
spread over the top half the quantity of ragù with pasta,
place on top some fontina cheese (gruyere, gouda cheeses may be substituted for fontina cheese) or...mozzarella,
spread the rest of the pasta over the top and press it down firmly.
top with the remaining breadcrumbs!
- 1 eggplant, fried
- 15 grams breadcrumbs

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 190°C-200°C for 30-45 minutes, or until it is golden brown.

Serve a slice of Anelletti al forno and enjoy!
Tip: use a kitchen scissors to cut through the top layer of cheese and pasta, and then use a spatula or a knife to cut through to the bottom or the pan.
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OR Make the Ragu differently:
Heat 4-6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot and sautèe the celery, onion and carrot previously diced;
sweat over medium heat until the vegetables are translucent and soft but not browned, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Add minced beef over a high heat, stirring to keep the meat from sticking together until browned.
Add the wine and when it has evaporated, add salt and pepper, then the tomato paste and passata and bay leaves.
Mix well, put a lid on and let it simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

And the video of Anelletti Al Forno from:
- BBC iPlayer - Rick Stein's Long Weekends - 10. Palermo: OR
- BBC - Rick Stein's Long Weekends: Series 1 - Palermo - Animmex: watch from 22:45!

There are tens of hundreds of baked pasta recipes across Italy!
Another recipes of Pasta al forno:
- Pasta al forno (Baked Pasta) | Memorie di Angelina: with short, dried pasta such as penne or rigatoni and bechamel sauce.
There are many versions of pasta al forno, many of which are vegetarian.
A typical southern baked pasta dish is zitoni al forno con le polpettine, known among Italian-Americans as Baked Ziti.
But to mind, this version will always be the pasta al forno, the one to master first before trying anything else.

About: Pasta al forno (Sicilian baked pasta).
One of the typical dishes of the Sicilian tradition, also called “pasta al forno” (literally, pasta in the oven), is prepared with “anelletti”, special shape of paste in a ring-like form, that was used to be prepared on Sundays and holidays.
The tradition says that the first such Timballi/Timballo were introduced by Arabs and soon become widespread all over the island for their easiness of transportation.
In addition to the classic recipe with a meat and peas ragout, Sicilian usually add diced hard eggs, fried aubergine, cheese and diced ham.
It is similar to a casserole and is sometimes referred to in English as a pie or savory cake.
Anna Del Conte wrote that Béchamel is the most consistently used ingredient in timballos.

Caldo Verde, Green Kale Soup with Chorizo & Potato.

From Rick Stein’s long Weekends.
This recipe is inspired by a traditional Portuguese dish but with extra heat courtesy of chilli flakes and an abundance of chorizo, perfect for a winter warming meal!

1 onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
100g chorizo or chouriço (sausage), cut into chunks
3 tbsp olive oil
400g potatoes, preferably floury, peeled and cut into 4 chunks each.
1 litres water or Vegetable stock
100g spring greens or kale, finely shredded
1 tsp salt
6 turns black peppermill
Large pinch chilli flakes

Fry the onion, garlic and chorizo or chouriço in the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat until the onions and garlic are soft and translucent, 5 to 8 minutes.
Add the potatoes and the stock and let this boil until the potatoes are cooked, about 20 minutes.
Pulverize the potatoes in the broth with a potato masher.
Add the kale, bring back to the boil and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes until the kale is cooked but still a vibrant green.
Season with salt and pepper and serve in warmed bowls with chilli flakes sprinkled on top.
Enjoy!

Cassoulet.

Cassoulet: a rich stew originating in southwest France containing beans and various meats (such as sausages, pork and preserved duck or goose).
Cassoulet Recipe - LifeStyle FOOD: Recipe by Rick Stein.
ingredients
500g home-salted belly pork
65g duck or goose fat
1 head garlic, broken into cloves, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, chopped
1kg dried haricots, blancs beans, soaked overnight
large bouquet garni made from leek, celery, thyme sprigs, bay leaves and arsley stalks
6 good quality Toulouse sausages
4 legs duck confit, cut into two at the joint

1. Cut the piece of belly pork lengthways into three thick slices, then cut each piece across into two.
2.Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
3.Heat 50g of the duck fat in a six-litre flameproof casserole dish.
4.Add the garlic and onion and fry gently until soft but not browned.
5.Add the beans and the pieces of salted belly pork, cover with 1¾ litres/3 pints water and push in the bouquet garni.
6.Bring to the boil, skimming off any scum as it rises to the surface, then cover, transfer to the oven and bake for one hour or until the beans are just tender (this will depend on the age of your beans).
7.Heat the remaining duck fat in a frying pan and brown the sausages all over.
8.Lift them onto a board and slice each one sharply on the diagonal into three pieces.
9.Remove the cassoulet from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
10.Add the sausages and the pieces of duck confit to the casserole and push them down well into the beans.
11.Return the casserole to the oven and bake uncovered for a further 45 minutes or until the liquid has reduced and the cassoulet is covered in a dark golden crust.
12.Serve straight from the pot at the table.