Tagliatelle with Button Mushrooms, Garden Peas and Crème Fraîche

Hi guys! :)

The temperatures here in Cardiff have really plummeted, and the other day my fiancée and me were in the mood to indulge!

I opted for some lovely Tagliatelle (yes, I'm a pasta fiend, guilty as charged :)However, I thought I'd put more of a creamy continental spin on them, then go down the garlic and olive oil route.

So, I ended up combining some classic flavours, with some delicious full fat crème fraîche, baby button mushrooms slowly cooked with onion and melted butter, and some fresh and marvellously crunchy garden peas.


Ingredients:

     500g           Tagliatelle
     200ml          Crème fraîche
     1              Onion 
     120g-150g      Baby buttons mushrooms
     2 'hands full' Frozen Garden peas
     15g - 20g      Flat Leaf Parsley
     20g            Unsalted Butter
     1tsp           Salt / Pepper (to taste)


Preparation:

1. Cook the tagliatelle in lots of water, and add plenty of salt.

2. While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a frying pan on a low to medium heat. Add the mushrooms when the butter is all melted, and let them cook on a low heat for the duration it takes you to finish up the pasta.

3. For the last minutes, add the peas into the pasta water, and let them just lose the freeze & get the heat. They are pretty much ready to eat by the time you'll serve them, so about a minute is more then enough.

I love using frozen garden peas! They normally tend to be of really good quality, since the time they spend between being harvested and being frozen is so short. In fact I'd be happy to wager, that they will out-flavour and -texture their 'fresh' counterparts on most occasions!

4. Increase the heat of the frying pan to a nice medium-high heat. Make sure the mushrooms are nicely browned, and then add the crème fraîche. Let it all cook until the cream has changed slightly in texture. It will look more like a sauce and will adopt the colour of the fats in the pan.

5. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. 

6. Add the chopped parsley into the pan, and take it off the heat.

7. Once the pasta is al dente, drain it in a colander and then mix the pasta with the sauce in the pan.

8. Let the whole well-mixed pan sit with a closed lid for about another minute.

This will give the parsley enough time and heat to break down slightly and release its aroma. The crème fraîche also has the chance to get soaked up by the steaming hot pasta, glazing the whole lot in mouthwatering lushness! :)

9. Done and ready to serve!!

Stir a bit of butter in at the end if you like, (for that extra bit of goodness! :D)

Bon appétit! :)

King Prawns with Garlic, Lemon and Flat Leaf Parsley...

Today was a fantastic day. So initially I was planning to cook a full and creamy pasta dish with these prawns to end the weekend on a lovely indulgent note. 

However, I ended up opting for the lazy and easy option and thought I share it with you guys :)

Ingredients: 

200g King Prawns

1Tbs Olive Oil

1    Single Clove Garlic

1/2  Lemon

8g   Flat leaf Parsley

1tsp Salt

1tsp Coarse Black Pepper

Preparation:

1. Heat the Olive Oil in your frying pan until you built up a nice heat, and add the sliced single glove garlic. 

I love this type of garlic, not only is it dead easy to work with, but you can slice it into a nice shape; so optically it's quite impressive with a minimum of work. Half it first like an onion, then simply slice from the sides, and presto! :)

2. Reduce the heat so as not to burn the garlic. You want to brown it only.

3. Add the king prawns and fry them until almost all of them have changed colour.

4. Add half a medium sized lemon's juice to the pan on medium to high heat.

You will notice the juices of the prawns, lemon and the olive oil forming a nice silky textured sauce. That sauce is incredibly tasty, so be sure to check your heat here. If your pan gets too hot, you'll reduce the sauce too quickly and your prawns will turn rubbery. 

5. Add salt and pepper & allow to cook for another minute. 

Note: It's important not to overcook the prawns here. Otherwise they become very chewy. 

6. Get your pan off the heat, and add the chopped flat leaf parsley. Let it sit in the pan for just about a minute and then put the whole lot into a bowl or plate for serving.

7. Done!

I recommend some fresh white bread with this dish, to soak up all that lovely sauce!!

Bon appétit! :)

Facts You Need To Know About Vegetarian Wine

You might have wondered in the past, while shopping at the wine retailer of your choice, about bottles labelled as ‘vegetarian wines’. Most people’s first reaction is that of wonder or disbelieve, all wine has got to be vegetarian after all, so how can this one be different?

If you are hosting a dinner party or are a vegetarian yourself, or simply concerned with the welfare and the treatment of animals in the food industry, then this post could proof helpful to you.

A lot of people are not aware of the process of how wine is actually made, the steps that are necessary to end up with that delicious bottle of marvellously full-bodied burgundy red, be it vegetarian or not.

There is a whole science and art in growing and selecting the grapes. Their type, the region they are grown in with its soil and climate, all these factors play their part in the final result. The higher the quality of the grape, the higher the quality of the resulting wine. This is true for all types of wine.

After the harvest, for which several methods are employed, from handpicking to mechanically aided harvesting and de-stemming; after the grapes are crushed and fermented for the first time, after the pressing, stabilisation, and second fermentation comes the fining. Here is the step which is important to us, which makes the difference between a vegetarian wine and a ‘normal’ one.

Fining is the process of removing unwanted particles in the batch before bottling and influencing the tannin content of the resulting wine. One could liken it to the use of a sieve in cooking. Tannin is a term used to describe a complex mixture of chemicals, which directly affect the taste, texture, colour and aging properties of a batch of wine. Vintners have been traditionally using gelatine for this step for ages, while egg whites, bone char, and even skimmed milk powder could all be used instead for this part of the process.

Vegetarian wine avoids products or agents that are derived from dead animals, while vegan wine, which can also be found at selected retailers, utilises a synthetically created fining agent called shortly PVPP (Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone).

The only difference is the type of sieve used to decrease the tannin content of the wine.

The qualities of these wines are en par with the non vegetarian ones, and while many lovers of wine have been blissfully ignorant of the distinction between gelatine based and vegetarian or vegan wines (after all we don’t need to understand completely how a computer works to use and appreciate it either), the informed drinker will know that this is not a choice for or against quality.

So next time you plan an evening of fine dining with friends and family, you know why some wines are vegetarian, why others are not, and how you can make sure that your vegetarian guests can fully enjoy the wonderfully rich and delicious glass of wine.

Hello and welcome...

Hello and welcome,

my name is Favio Becker. I'm a passionate geek and an obsessed foodie, which has brought me, after some encouragement from friends and family, here.

Growing up in Germany with a genius chef for a mother, and being half Spanish myself, my love for spanish food and cooking has led me to develop my own style of cooking. Thus this blog will be a collection of recipes which have one thing in common, simplicity. Simplicity in the process of cooking the meals, as well as their composition.

So I will share recipes, moments of food memories with you, and bring you some (hopefully helpful and interesting) food facts, to help you discover simple and delicious foods.

Until then,

Bon Appétit!