Creamy Mushroom Pasta

I really thought for a moment that spring was here, two whole days of semi blue skies, sunshine & no coats. But sadly the rain is back & today was another rainy commute wearing my waterproof...

It's been a couple of weeks of delicious food. We had an amazing night with the talented Miss Stewart who hosted a fantastic evening of food with wine paring. Serving a series of starters size dishes ranging from grilled goats cheese with honey & thyme to mini beef & red wine pies, each course was carefully paired with a complimenting wine. Such a lovely way to eat, although having so much wine certainly made waking up the next morning rather painful. The only way to combat the hangover was to head to La Famiglia just off Kings Road to celebrate a Mr Squire's 30th, which started off very civilised & then quickly descended in chaos. 30th parties can have that effect on people, it's like that mad dash to prove you can still hold your own like an eighteen year old, if only the hangovers were the same as you were when you were eighteen. 

The Houseboy had never eaten at Megan's Deli on Kings Road, which is one of my favourite nearby places for dinner. We had a lovely wine free meal with platters of roasted vegetables, sliced meats & rocket salad, grilled octopus with skinny french fries & artichoke. The food is always fresh & delicious, it's such a good place when the weather is nice, with a pretty garden out the back. At home, the menu will be carb heavy this week, well for the Houseboy anyway, as on Sunday he will be running in the Copenhagen marathon which is exciting. I won't be running, but instead will be dusting off my pompoms, donning the Australian colours & shouting myself hoarse. I'mpretty excited about having some smørrebrød & carslberg beer. 

Sometimes, nothing hits the spot like a big bowl of pasta. My all time favourite probably being pasta with olive oil, garlic & chili, it takes about 10 minutes to make and is just delicious. This dish will take you maybe an extra five minutes but is well worth it, if you are extra hungry pad it out with some chopped bacon and a sprinkling of cheese. 

Ingredients:

Serves two. 

• enough rigatoni pasta for two
• mushrooms (chestnut or field or white or portabello or a mix -  what ever you fancy)
• 20mls of creme fraiche
• two cloves of garlic
• handful of chopped parsley
• s&p

Method:

Put the pasta on to boil as per the instructions on the pack, remember to add a pinch of salt - makes all the difference. Slice the mushrooms, making sure they are not to thin, you don't want them to get soggy. Melt a little butter in a pan, crush the garlic, add & saute until golden. Add the mushrooms & saute for about 4 minutes, add the creme fraiche, stir, heat through quickly & remove from the heat. Stir in the chopped parsley. Check the pasta & drain if ready. Then take the mushrooms & mix with the freshly drained pasta. Serve immediately with an extra sprinkle of parsley in top.

 

Herb Encrusted Cod with Garlicy Butter Beans

So this recipe isn't from one of my cook books as my self imposed cooking challenge states should be. But hopefully i will get round to adding one, i have a few more days & i'm planning on doing some cooking over the weekend. 

At the moment we are talking wedding menus (yes i'm very aware that we aren't getting married for another thirteen months but if you want the good people you need to get organised. I keep getting so excited & changing my mind on things, but we have a fair idea of what we are going with. Mrs Rhodes is in the midst of an organisational flurry of marquee quotes & portable loo choices which is a great help, you might think you know what a wedding entails, but once you start writing it down & you get onto the second piece of A4 paper the panic sets in... Currently the main issue is the Houseboy's insistence that our first wedding dance should be LMFAO shuffling song...

Pretty excited about the upcoming bank holiday which is going to be filled with activities - some of them healthy, some of them not so much. Tomorrow night we kick off proceedings with a wine tasting evening at Miss Stewart's where we each take our favourite choice from our recent wine tasting course at the West London Wine School (so worth booking into) i will be taking a Château L'Hospitalet La Clape, which is a massively punchy red.

This is fairly quick & simple dish which is lovely & healthy. Serve with additional veggies or raw spinach. You can also play around with what you combine with the bread crumbs, maybe add some ginger, or some grated cheese (maybe not together though!) use different herbs & spices. This works best with white fish.

Ingredients:
Feeds two people.

• two cod fillets
• two large handfuls of breadcrumbs
• one whole red chilli
• zest of one lemon
• one large handful of flat leaf parsley
• good slug of olive oil (sorry for sounding like Jamie Oliver)
• s&p

• one - two tins of butter beans (depending on if you are serving with other veggies or not)
• one large clove of garlic
• four tbsps of chopped chives
• splash of olive oil
• s&p

Method:

Pop your grill on to heat up. Finely chop the chilli & parsley, zest the lemon & combine them all with the breadcrumbs, olive oil & s&p. Lay the cod fillets on a baking tray & carefully spoon the mixture on the top of each fillet making sure each one is nicely topped. Place under the grill until the fish is cooked through & the topping is crispy.

While the fish is grilling you can whip up the butter beans which will take a speedy five minutes. Add a splash of olive oil to a hot pan, crush the garlic, add to the pan & soften - make sure it doesn't burn. throw in the drain butter beans and give it a good stir. When the butter beans are warmed through, toss in the chopped chive, give it a good stir & season. Check the fish & if ready serve up & tuck in (sounding like Jamie Oliver again. Oh dear.)  

 

A super cool rainbow over the north sea 

near Mrs Rhodes' house.