Recipes
Courgette carbonara
Servings: 4
Ingredients
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 medium green and yellow courgettes
• 500g penne
• 4 large free-range or organic egg yolks
• 100ml double cream
• 2 good handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• olive oil
• 12 thick slices of pancetta or smoked streaky bacon, cut into chunky lardoons
• a small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped, flowers reserved (if you can get hold of flowering thyme)
• optional: a few courgette flowers
Method
Put a large pan of salted water on to boil. Halve and then quarter any larger courgettes lengthways. Cut out and discard any fluffy middle bits, and slice the courgettes at an angle into pieces roughly the same size and shape as the penne. Smaller courgettes can simply be sliced finely. Your water will now be boiling, so add the penne to the pan and cook according to the packet instructions.
To make your creamy carbonara sauce, put the egg yolks into a bowl, add the cream and half the Parmesan, and mix together with a fork. Season lightly and put to one side.
Heat a very large frying pan (a 35cm one is a good start – every house should have one!), add a good splash of olive oil and fry the pancetta or bacon until dark brown and crisp. Add the courgette slices and 2 big pinches of black pepper, not just to season but to give it a bit of a kick. Sprinkle in the thyme leaves, give everything a stir, so the courgettes become coated with all the lovely bacon-flavoured oil, and fry until they start to turn lightly golden and have softened slightly.
It’s very important to get this next bit right or your carbonara could end up ruined. You need to work quickly. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water. Immediately, toss the pasta in the pan with the courgettes, bacon and lovely flavours, then remove from the heat and add a ladleful of the reserved cooking water and your creamy sauce. Stir together quickly. (No more cooking now, otherwise you’ll scramble the eggs.)
Get everyone around the table, ready to eat straight away. While you’re tossing the pasta and sauce, sprinkle in the rest of the Parmesan and a little more of the cooking water if needed, to give you a silky and shiny sauce. Taste quickly for seasoning. If you’ve managed to get any courgette flowers, tear them over the top, then serve and eat immediately, as the sauce can become thick and stodgy if left too long.
Perfect with Ela Hill First Blend.
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Candied bacon green salad
Servings: 4
Ingredients
For the creamy French dressing:
• 6 tablespoons good-quality extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 heaped tablespoon natural yoghurt
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad:
• 12 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, the best quality you can afford
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 3 slices of fresh white bread
• olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 heaped teaspoons demerara sugar
• juice of 1 clementine
• 5 large handfuls of mixed salad leaves, washed and spun dry
• 1 pomegranate
• a small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked
Method
To make your dressing, put all the ingredients into a large serving bowl, whisk together, and season to taste. You want it to be slightly too acidic, so add a splash more vinegar if you think it needs it. Put to one side.
Get a large frying pan on a medium heat, add the bacon rashers and cook until lightly golden (but not really crispy), turning them every so often. Remove the bacon to a plate. Squash your garlic clove and add it to the pan, then turn the heat up a little and tear your bread into medium-sized chunks. Drop them into the pan so they suck up all the flavours and become crispy. If your bacon didn’t release a lot of fat and you think the bread needs a little help to crisp up, simply add a lug or two of olive oil. Add a pinch of black pepper and shake the bread around until crispy and golden, then remove to the plate with your bacon.
Wipe the pan clean with kitchen paper, then put the bacon back in with the sugar and the clementine juice. Concentrate on what you’re doing, and make sure you don’t touch or taste anything at any point because it will burn you. Stir everything around in the pan so the syrup starts to stick to the bacon. As soon as the rashers are perfectly caramelized and sticky, use tongs to carefully move them to an oiled plate and leave to cool down for a minute. Whatever shape you leave the bacon in at this point is how it will set, so give the rashers a bend or a twist. Peel the remaining clementines and slice them into rounds.
Grab your bowl of dressing and add your salad leaves. Halve the pomegranate and use a spoon to knock the back of each half and pop the seeds over the salad. Add your mint leaves, then use your hands to toss and dress everything thoroughly. Lightly toss your croutons through the salad and lay your candied bacon on top then pass the bowl around the table and let everyone serve themselves.
Tip: Depending on the season, you can vary the lettuces and salad leaves, and the fruit too: apples, pears, peaches, figs, grapes and strawberries would all be great, so use your imagination.
Perfect with Ela Hill Furmint.
Hot tuna salad with basil crème fraîche
Servings: 2
Ingredients
• a bunch of asparagus, trimmed (or use a good handful of green beans instead)
• 2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes, quartered
• a large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, baby leaves kept to one side
• a handful of black olives, stones removed
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 lemon
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tuna steaks (sustainably sourced/caught)
• 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
Method
Put the asparagus in a bowl with your tomatoes, half the basil leaves, the olives, a splash of oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Season, then toss it all together and put it to one side while you get the fish ready.
Rub your tuna steaks with a little bit of oil and season them. Sear them for about a minute on each side in the griddle pan for a rare steak – leave them for 2 minutes on each side if you prefer them cooked medium, or 3 to 4 minutes each side if you like them well done.
Pound the remaining basil in a pestle and mortar then mix in the crème fraîche. Season and add some more lemon juice to taste.
Put the salad on a plate, then tear the tuna into strips and pop them on top. Spoon over some of the crème fraîche sauce and scatter over the baby basil leaves.
Heat a griddle pan until it gets really hot then put your asparagus in it. Place a heavy saucepan on top so that it presses the spears right down on to the bars. Cook them for 2 minutes, turning them halfway through, until they have lovely charred marks. Pop the asparagus on a board and chop them in half at an angle.
Perfect with Ela Hill Sauvignon Blanc & Furmint.
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