Tomato, basil and mozzarella pasta

Red, white and green, the Italian flag (and coincidentally, the colours of Y Ddraig Goch, the Welsh Dragon) on a plate. Yes, it's another dish based on my favourite Italian trinity of mozzarella, tomato and basil (for other recipes featuring these flavours have a look at Insalata Caprese and Baked pasta with mozzarella and tomatoes). I make no apology for this, I happen to think that the combination is simply perfect for the warmer summer weather.

The recipe below is for a standard, hot pasta dish. However, Italians often prepare this as a cold pasta salad in the hot summer months. If you want to try it like that, cook the pasta until just al dente, then drain it and refresh in cold water. Then simply toss the other ingredients with the pasta, without cooking them, omitting the onion and dressing with a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil.

As there's still time (just!), I'm sending this over to Laura (this month's host) at www.howtocookgoodfood.co.uk and Nazima of  Working London Mummy for the July One Ingredient challenge - Tomatoes.

RECIPE - serves 3-4

350g pasta (any 'short' kind, I used fusilli)
7-8 large tomatoes
125g ball mozzarella
half a small onion or 1 shallot
extra virgin olive oil
handful fresh basil

Chop the onion or shallot very finely. In a frying pan, heat enough olive oil to cover the base and add the onion/shallot. Cook gently until very soft, about 10-15 minutes. 

While the onion is sweating, prepare the tomatoes. First, you have to peel them, not a particularly pleasant job but worth doing for this dish. The easiest way is to score a small cross in the skin of the base of the tomatoes. Place in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Leave for a minute, then place the tomatoes in cold water and peel off the skin. After peeling, roughly chop.

Chop the mozzarella into small dice.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in lots of boiling salted water. When the pasta is almost ready, add the tomatoes to the softened onion and cook for a minute or two. Season with salt and pepper. 

When the pasta is al dente, remove from the heat, drain well and toss with the tomatoes and onions and the fresh basil, roughly torn. Just before serving, scatter the diced mozzarella over the pasta and gently mix it in, drizzling over a little more olive oil.

NB: Don't be tempted to mix the mozzarella in any earlier because it starts to melt as soon as it hits the heat and instead of it being evenly distributed through the pasta, you end up with a mass of melted mozzarella that won't mix in! I speak from experience...

Involtini di melanzane

Aubergines just shout summer to me. I know you can get them all year round but they're at their best from July to September, and seem to typify mediterranean cuisine. These little aubergine involtini are common throughout southern Italy. Most versions include mozzarella and ham although GL's mum uses mortadella in hers, saying that it adds a certain aromatic dimension. My rendition though comes via Nigella. There's no meat in it but the combination of salty, sharp feta with milky, melting mozzarella works perfectly. The added crunch of pinenuts that she suggests are a perfect contrast to the softness of the cheese. I don't however use the raisins that she includes in her recipe - even though they are used quite extensively in Sicilian savoury cooking, I personally only like them in sweet dishes. I add fresh mint and oregano rather than parsley and dried mint and dispense with the melted mozzarella topping, preferring just to use a small amount of passata with a few fresh basil leaves thrown over after I've taken it out of the oven.

I'm entering this into the fabulous Forever Nigella challenge started by Sarah at http://blog.maisoncupcake.com/forever-nigella and hosted this month by Amy from Cooking, Cakes and Children http://www.cookingcakesandchildren.com/2012/07/forever-nigella-17-sizzling-summer/. Let's hope that the Sizzling Summer will have arrived by the closing date at the end of July!




As it includes lovely fresh mint, basil and oregano, I'm also sending this over to Herbs on Saturday, thought up by Karen from the wonderful Lavender and Lovage http://www.lavenderandlovage.com/herbs-on-saturday, with guest host this month Vanesther of Bangers and Mash http://bangermashchat.wordpress.com/2012/07/01/july-herbs-on-saturday/



RECIPE (adapted from Nigella's recipe in her fantastic book Feast)

2 large aubergines
100g feta cheese, crumbled
125g ball mozzarella, finely chopped 
25g parmesan, grated
75g pinenuts
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1 clove garlic, crushed
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

about 400g passata
extra oil for grilling the aubergine slices

Cut the aubergines into thinnish slices and brush with oil. Cook on a very hot griddle until soft and striped. Remove to a plate as you go.
Pre-heat the oven to 190°C.
Mix all the other ingredients together (except the passata).
Put a small amount of filling on each aubergine slice and roll it up, making sure the filling won't fall out. Place them into a lightly greased gratin dish, pour over the passata, a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Bake for about 25-30 mins.
As Nigella states, this is better if you can leave it to cool slightly once it's come out of the oven - 10 mins should probably be enough.

Insalata Caprese - tomato and mozzarella salad

Now, I know that you probably don't actually need a recipe for this salad but I include it more as a reminder really. It is an all-time favourite of mine, simple and yet utterly delicious, perfect for lunch at this time of year. It requires almost nothing of you in the way of preparation, ready to eat in less than 3 minutes, but in such a simple dish the quality of the ingredients is paramount. The basil has to be as fresh as possible and the tomatoes must be ripe and full of flavour (don't even think about making this in winter!). Make sure that they haven't just come out of the fridge either, the cold diminishes their flavour. Olive oil is used alone here so make sure it's the best - this is the time to use your single estate, cold pressed, unfiltered extra virgin stuff. Oh, and the mozzarella should be from buffalo milk (although I have to confess that I love this salad so much I even enjoy eating it with the bog-standard rubbery mozzarella from supermarkets).

As you can see from the photo, I don't go in for the classic 'Caprese' presentation as I find the overlapping spiral of perfect slices rather clinical and austere. I just tear the mozzarella, roughly chop the tomatoes and pile it up on a plate - so much more inviting and just begging to be devoured.

RECIPE (for one person)

a ball of mozzarella (buffalo if possible)
a handful of tomatoes (any size or variety as long as they've got flavour!)
fresh basil leaves, about 5 or 6, or to taste
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt

Roughly chop the tomatoes and tear the mozzarella into chunks. Place on a plate, scatter over the basil leaves, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. (I use black pepper too because I think it really enhances the flavour of tomatoes but you would never see it in Italy).
Serve and eat.

Baked pasta with mozzarella, tomatoes and basil

I've been making this baked pasta dish regularly for years although I do tweak the recipe from time to time. This is my current favourite but there are different versions of this eaten all over central and southern Italy. It's simple Italian cooking at its best, using few ingredients and no fancy techniques to produce a delicious, crowd-pleasing meal. It can be prepared in advance so it's extremely useful for feeding large groups of people; indeed, in Italy it often features as part of a celebratory meal.

I usually use penne but you can use whatever shape of short pasta you like.

RECIPE - serves 4

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
600g passata or chopped tinned tomatoes
2 balls mozzarella, roughly chopped
bunch of fresh basil
freshly grated parmesan
400g penne

Cook the pasta in the usual way, in a large pan of salted, boiling water.

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the passata. Add salt and pepper and simmer gently for a few minutes; you only really want the sauce to heat through, it shouldn't be reduced at all. Remove from the heat and stir in the fresh basil leaves, roughly torn.

When the pasta is 'al dente', drain it and mix with the tomato sauce, the chopped mozzarella and a good handful of grated parmesan.

Toss it all thoroughly and put in an ovenproof dish. Cover with another generous grating of fresh parmesan.

At this stage, you can either cook it straight away in a pre-heated hot oven (200°C) for about  20 mins or you can keep it in the fridge for up to a day and cook it just before serving. In the latter case, it will need about 30 mins in the oven. When it's ready it should be golden, crispy and bubbling.

Perfect Pizza

One of the things we miss most about living in Italy is being able to pop out to the local pizzeria for a decent pizza. Almost every Friday night we would go to Fabbrica Pizza (Pizza Factory) for dinner. If we were really hungry, we would start with a Focaccia di Recco which is quite unlike usual focaccia, being made from two layers of extremely thin dough, with a filling of stracchino, a soft cheese with a mild but tangy taste. This was usually followed by one of their speciality pizzas, the speciality being an extremely thin, crispy base. Italians favour quite simple toppings (no ham and pineapple here!); I often chose the one shown in the photo, a classic tomato and mozzarella base topped with thinly sliced aubergine and courgette.

Living in the UK it's practically impossible to find decent pizza so we started to make our own. The dough is a fairly standard recipe but we roll it out very thinly, thus ensuring a light, crispy base. Our current favourite is a basic margherita base (tomato and mozzarella) with some slices of prosciutto di parma and a few fresh basil leaves strewn over just before eating. However, feel free to add what you like (just don't tell me if it includes pineapple!).

Please don't be put off if you've never done any baking with yeast before. It's really straightforward, does not take hours of kneading and is incredibly rewarding. If you're still reluctant to try, just read through the recipe to see how easy it actually is. You don't need any special equipment apart from a couple of pizza trays and a very hot oven!

RECIPE (makes enough for 3 or 4 pizzas)

For the dough

450g strong white bread flour, plus more for kneading

7g (1 sachet) easy blend yeast

1 teaspoon salt

approximately 300 ml warm water

1 tablespoon olive oil

 Put the flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl and pour in about 200 ml of the water and the olive oil, mixing with your hands. Be prepared to add more water but do it gradually - you don't want it too wet (although it's not a disaster if this happens, just add more flour until you can knead it without it sticking to everything). Start kneading by pushing the dough away from you with the heel of your hand, the fold it back and turn slightly. It's quite hard to explain but very easy to do! Keep doing this for about 10 minutes, it should feel smooth and springy when it's ready.

Form the dough into a ball and rub a little olive oil over the surface, so that it is lightly greased. Put it into a clean bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for at least 2 hours, I've left it a lot longer than this and it doesn't seem to be a problem. The dough should more or less double in size.

When you're ready to make the pizza, preheat the oven to the hottest possible setting  (240°C on mine). Divide the dough into four roughly equal parts (you can weigh them if you want to be really precise) and roll each one out. It may seem far too small to fit into your pizza tray and it will keep springing back first of all but do persevere! (In our house, this is my partner's job - I make the dough, he rolls it out, great teamwork...). If you don't want it that thin, you can divide the dough into three parts rather than four.

TOPPING (per pizza)

About 2 tablespoons of passata

125g mozzarella (I use the normal mozzarella for pizza, not buffalo), thinly sliced

Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

Dried oregano

Lightly grease the pizza trays and stretch the dough to fit. Then cover with the passata (it should just be a very thin layer), a pinch of salt and a sprinkle of oregano. Add the cheese, drizzle over the olive oil and put in the oven. It takes about 10 minutes to cook but keep an eye on it as all ovens vary. After about 8 minutes, I take the pizza off the tray and slide it back directly onto an oven shelf for the last minute or two.

If you're using parma ham, put it on the pizza after it's been cooked, along with fresh basil. Other meats like cooked ham or salami and toppings like olives, capers, anchovies etc can all be put on the pizza before it goes in the oven. Don't overlook the plain margherita though - when it's homemade like this, it's really delicious!

Eat while it's still piping hot accompanied by a cold beer or a young Sangiovese or Barbera if you prefer wine.