Tag Archives: walnuts

Chicken and Walnut Cannelloni – the short-ish way

30 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by in chicken, Pasta

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From time to time I want some tasty food,  but just don’t feel like expending the energy to put all the ingredients together.  At times like that I think a few shortcuts are acceptable.  In this recipe the shortcuts are the sauces.   Substitute with your favourites – and of course, you can always cook them from scratch (which I often do).  The pasta I already had in the freezer from an earlier time when I had made cannelloni – phew that was lucky.

We have a lot of walnuts which need using – so I spent a little time in the afternoon shelling a bowl full.  We both love using walnuts in our cooking.  When I made the filling I could have gobbled it all up without any further cooking – it smelt SO good.  But I held back.  Difficult though.

IMG_1923 IMG_1926 2

INGREDIENTS

  • 500g chicken mince, or finely diced chicken breast or thigh
  • 2 shallots
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped roasted walnuts
  • 2 teaspoons pesto
  • 3 cups baby spinach, washed
  • ¼ cup grated parmesan
  • 1 cup Passata
  • 325g jar Carbonara Sauce
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 8-12 fresh cannelloni or lasagne sheets

METHOD

STEP 1

Pulse ¾ cup walnuts with pesto (add a little oil if too dry). Chop shallots and garlic. Heat a pan with about 1 tablespoon olive oil and add shallots and garlic. When soft add chicken and cook until chicken is just cooked. Add the baby spinach and cook until spinach is wilted.   Take pan off the heat and let cool.   When cool combine chicken mixture with the pulsed walnuts and pesto. Add grated parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste.   Mixture should be slightly moist, but not runny.

STEP 2

Cover bottom of ovenproof dish with the passata. Dip a cannelloni sheet in hot water to soften and place on a flat surface. Spoon chicken filling along the longer pasta sheet edge and roll up to form a cylinder. Place in the dish, seam side down. Repeat to use all sheets.

STEP 3

Pour carbonara sauce over cannelloni, cover and bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.

Serve sprinkled with remaining walnuts and some chopped parsley.

Good with a fresh salad and some warm garlic bread.

Beetroot Pasta Sauce, with Walnuts and Feta

24 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by in Dinner, Pasta

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My tastebuds felt like something different – have been feeling a little lacklustre in the kitchen department lately. The other day I bought one beetroot from the supermarket, one beetroot. Yes, very random. One. Beetroot. What do you do with only one? You make some sauce, enough for 2 people, and wish you had more.
This recipe creates a dish with a glorious colour, if I had been more intent I would have made the pasta too. I am sure u may well do that, but if not don’t feel guilty, the sauce is SO good that you won’t worry too much about the pasta! The taste was subtle, but definitely there. The Walnuts and Feta were perfect accompanients, even if Mr MWCED didn’t think quite so – as he prefers parmesan to feta. It’s all really up to you and your taste, there are many variations on a theme that can be done here.  Limited only to your imagination (isn’t all cooking!).   Enjoy. IMG_1921Pasta with Roasted Beetroot Sauce, Walnuts and Feta

Serves: 2 (probably 3 – I had enough for a take to work lunch the next day)

300g fresh beetroot, cleaned and trimmed. Cut into diced pieces
4 – 6 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 slosh of white wine (whatever is close to hand, preferably dry)
200 ml chicken or vegetable stock
½ cup walnuts, shelled
½ cup feta, cut or broken into small pieces
Pasta of choice
Parsley

Heat oven to 200 C . Put beetroot and garlic onto an oven tray, Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and roast until beetroot is soft. Probably about 30/40 minutes. Make sure garlic doesn’t overcook.

Once cooked put beetroot and garlic into a blender. Add rest of olive oil, balsamic, wine, and start to blend. Add stock slowly and only use enough to ensure that the mixture is well blended and smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cook pasta and drain. Add beetroot sauce and keep warm over low heat. Meanwhile heat a frying pan and lightly cook walnuts – make sure they do not burn.

Put pasta into serving dish, top with walnuts and feta and parsley.

Mr MWCED doesn’t like feta, so I served this on the side, and subbed parmesan for him (also on the side). This dish can be made with many substitutes, it is very versatile.

Shallot and SpinachTart with Walnut Pastry

02 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by in Dinner, Pies

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It felt like a Spring day.   For the first time in a few months we had the doors open all day and didn’t feel the need to throw on extra clothing or turn the heaters on.  Not quite the same today,  but great to think that warmer weather is not too far away.  Given the warmer weather,  it seemed wrong to cook anything too heavy for dinner, so I thought a fresh light tart with salad would be perfect.  Found this recipe for Taleggio Tart and although I wasn’t looking for vegetarian,  I did like the walnut pastry idea.    We are blessed with a very old walnut tree,  which some years yields kilos of wonderful walnuts, and other years they seem to not quite do their thing.  Luckily the last crop was great, so we have many walnuts to use.

Shallot, Spinach Tart with Walnut Pastry

Ingredients:
Pastry:
200g plain flour
50g shelled walnuts
50g cubed cold butter
25g parmesan, grated
1 egg
1 tablespoon cold water

Filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 shallots, sliced – I had to mix shallots and onion as I didn’t have enough shallots
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
misc other veges, sliced and diced – I had some red pepper and zuchinni, about a cup
2 rashers middle bacon, chopped (fat and rind removed)
parsley, chopped
2 eggs
200ml cream (double cream)
spinach leaves – about 100g – I used about two large handfuls
100g cheese – we had grated Edam so I used that – but you could experiment here!
lemon zest – from one lemon

Method
To make the pastry add the flour and walnuts to a food processer. Whizz until the walnuts are well blended. Add the butter and whizz again until the mixture looks a bit crumbly. Lightly beat the egg and add with the water to the food processor and pulse until mixture forms a dough. If you need to, add more water, but in small amounts at a time. Take out of the food processor, cover with cling film and put in refrigerator for around 30 minutes.

Turn on oven to around 200 Celsius.   Take pastry and roll out to fit your dish – I used a 23cm square loose bottomed cake tin. Prick the bottom and put back in the fridge for about another 15 minutes.

Line pastry with baking paper, fill with baking beans and put into preheated oven. Cook for about 15 minutes . Remove baking paper and beans put pastry back into oven for about another 10 minutes (to dry out the bottom before you place the filling into it).   Reduce the oven to around 180 C.

While pastry is cooking heat oil in a pan and gently cook shallots, onions (if using) and garlic until softened and golden. Add bacon and other vegetables – except for spinach and cook for about another 8 minutes.   Take off the heat and add parsley and spinach, mixing into the mixture so spinach is wilted.

Lightly beat eggs and mix into cream. Add vegetable mixture and cheese. Add half of the lemon zest. Season.

Pour mixture into prepared pastry case – you could add a little extra cheese as topping here. Cook for about 40 minutes in oven. Filling should be set and firm to the touch.   Let cool slightly, then garnish with more parsley and rest of lemon zest.

A tart like this is so versatile.  The ingredients really can depend on what you have in store.  No two should ever be the same!

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