Broccoli fusilli with kale & walnut pesto

August 11, 2020April 25, 2021 ~ Corrie ~ 4 Comments

Broccoli fusilli with kale & walnut pesto

In the back of the vegetable crisper it waits patiently. Its bushy green head turning ever so slightly yellow, it’s pine coloured leaves wilt and shrivel whilst its branches begin to soften. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Liberate your head of broccoli by chopping it up (stalk and all) and serving it al dente stirred through wholemeal pasta with a vibrant kale and walnut pesto. Delish! Alternatively, leave the dish to cool fully before refrigerating and serving as a summery accompaniment to any barbecue. Adding crumbled feta or parmesan shavings add a bit of extra indulgence or leave it as it is to please any plant-based guests you may be entertaining.

Broccoli fusilli with kale and walnut pesto
Serves 2 / Hands on time 15 mins / Total time 20 mins / V Vn Df
You’ll need: A food processor
50g walnuts (about 2 handfuls)
½ regular sized garlic clove, peeled and roughly sliced
1 handful of kale, heavier stems removed and discarded
20-30g fresh basil
4 tbs Pomora extra virgin olive oil
150g wholemeal brown fusilli
1 head of broccoli

TIP: This recipes makes enough pesto to serve 4. Refrigerate any leftover pesto for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Method
1. Put a full kettle on to boil and pour the pasta into a large saucepan (big enough to accommodate an entire chopped head broccoli).
2. Meanwhile, make the pesto by peeling and roughly chopping the garlic before adding it to a food processor, along with the walnuts and a handful of kale (heavier stems removed). Blitz on full for about 10 seconds or until you have a rough paste.
2. Add the fresh basil, a good sprinkle of salt and pepper and give it another blitz – this time for a bit longer until you have a slightly smoother paste.
3. Lastly, add 3 tbs of extra virgin olive oil before blending for a final time (how long you blend is up to you depending on how smooth you like your pesto). Put to one side.
4. Pour the boiling water from the kettle over the pasta and add a half a tsp of salt to the water. Use more water than you would usually as you will need to boil the broccoli in it too. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions until 4 mins before the end of the cooking time. Meanwhile, pull he florets off the broccoli with your fingers and chop into big chunks include the stalk and the leaves.
5. Four minutes before the pasta is cooked add the broccoli florets to the pasta pan and boil for the remaining cooking time.
6. Strain the pasta and the broccoli well before transferring back into the saucepan off the heat. Add half the pesto and stir well until evenly distributed. Divide onto plates and serve immediately with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a crack of black pepper. Any remaining pesto can be used another day or frozen (see tip).

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V – Vegetarian Vn – Vegan Df – Dairy free

Penne al’arrabiata

April 23, 2019November 9, 2021 ~ Corrie ~ 4 Comments

Eaten enough chocolate to sink a small ship this Easter? Me too… Penne al’arrabiata anyone?

Penne al’arrabiata
Serves 2 / Hands on time 15-20 mins / Total time 15-20 mins / V
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
¼ tsp salt flakes
1 tbs Pomora extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp of chilli flakes (½ tsp if you like it spicy)
1 can of good quality plum tomatoes
1 tbs tomato purée
1 ball vegetarian buffalo mozzarella or burrata
150g penne pasta
Fresh basil to serve

TIP: I strongly recommend using good quality tinned plum tomatoes for this recipe, it makes a huge difference to the flavour.

OPTIONAL EXTRA: If you’re a fan of olives, try adding two handfuls of chopped black olives to the sauce before serving.

Method
1. Set a full kettle on to boil and measure out your penne and put in a large saucepan along with a good pinch of salt.
2. Meanwhile in a large frying pan or pot, add 1 tbs of extra virgin olive oil and warm over a low to medium heat. Peel and chop your garlic and add it to the oil along with the salt – you don’t want to fry the garlic, only infuse the oil with it so watch that it doesn’t start to brown. Infuse for a few minutes before adding the chilli flakes.
3. Once the kettle has boiled, pour over the penne and set over a high heat. Cook according to packet instructions.
4. Add 1 tbs of tomato puree to the garlic and chilli infused oil and cook for a couple of minutes stirring constantly before adding the can of plum tomatoes. Using a spoon break the plum tomatoes up as much as you can before upping the heat and simmering for a good 5 mins or until your pasta is ready.
5. Drain the penne and pour straight into the sauce, stirring until well coated. Spoon into bowls and finish topped with torn the mozzarella;/burrata, fresh basil, a good crack of black pepper and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V – Vegetarian

Braised vegetable orecchiette

June 25, 2018October 31, 2019 ~ Corrie ~ Leave a comment

As promised, I have returned from my gorgeous holiday in Puglia with more than just a few extra pounds and a sunburnt belly button – believe me, I’m as surprised as you are.
I come bearing gifts and the first one is this utterly delicious braised vegetable orecchiette. I discovered this dish on our last evening in Bari, in a pleasant little restaurant, next to a rather unpleasant fat Australian who moaned about her pasta being ‘too hard’. Philistine.
Anyway, it turned out that most of the vegetarian pasta dishes I had my eye on were unavailable, due to the ingredients being out of season. Eating seasonally is obviously a big part of Italian culture which is nice, but unfortunately for me, this meant that I was left with the rather dubiously named ‘vegetable pasta’. I didn’t want to show my disappointment, so I simply smiled and willed it to be more than just a bowl of vegetables and pasta.

It arrived and it was just a bowl of vegetables and pasta – but it was one of the nicest bowls of vegetables and pasta I had ever eaten. Local orecchiette floating in a salty vegetable broth peppered with seasonal vegetables. Bellissimo!

Braised vegetable orecchiette

Serves 2 / Hands on time 30mins/ Total time 30mins

25g unsalted butter

300g baby mixed vegetables (I used 1 small courgette, 2 chestnut mushrooms, 3 baby leeks, 4 baby carrots, 2 baby parsnips. Although you can use whatever vegetables you like)

100g dried orecchiette* or pasta of your choice

500ml vegetable stock (I used 1 Knorr stock pot)
2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried parsley

Pomora extra virgin olive oil to serve
Handful grated vegetarian Italian hard cheese or *Parmesan

Method

1. Chop your vegetables to your desired size – personally I think the bigger the better, especially when braising. In a large heavy bottomed pot with a lid, add the butter and spread the vegetables out as evenly as you can. Cover with roughly 500ml of vegetable stock (you want to make sure the vegetables are only just covered). Season with salt and pepper and add the bay leaves.

2. Bring to the boil on a high heat before turning back down low and covering with a lid. Let the vegetables simmer for 10-12 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, boil your pasta in slightly salted water and grate the parmesan.
4. Remove the lid off the vegetables, stir in a tsp of dried parsley and turn the heat back up and vigorous boil for another 3 minutes. Meanwhile drain your pasta and put to one side.
5. By now your vegetables will be lovely and soft. Take them off the heat and discard the bay leaves. Pour the pasta straight into the pot and stir through carefully – you don’t want to break the vegetables up too much.
6. Divide into bowls and serve with a drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of parmesan.

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

*Orecchiette is a pasta that’s popular in Southern Italy and literally translates to ‘little ears’.
*Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiani) is always made using animal rennet, therefore it is not vegetarian. Substitute for Italian hard cheese if applicable.

Courgette penne with fresh mint & feta

March 5, 2018July 8, 2020 ~ Corrie ~ 2 Comments

So, unless you’ve been living under a rock this past week (in which case, you would probably be dead), you may have noticed it’s been snowing a bit. Okay, so it’s been snowing a lot, but I still don’t think it warranted the levels of hysteria that perhaps the apocalypse would have caused. Yes, I’m aware the ‘Beast from the East’ has been wafting Baltic conditions over our little island, but can we all just put on a jumper and shut up about it? Also, if I see one more Instagram of someone’s snowy back garden, I’m going to throw my phone on the floor and stamp on it.
Anyway, now that the snow has melted, we can all get on with our lives. For me, that was walking to work this morning and passing a handmade sign that read ‘please stop shitting outside our home’… Normality has officially been resumed.
Anyhoo, I love this pasta dish, it’s actually one of the first recipes I ever blogged about, but over the years it has evolved and simplified, so I thought I’d share the updated recipe with you. It’s super-easy, cheap, and takes no time at all. Bon appetit.

Courgette penne with feta & mint
Serves 2 / Hands on time 25 mins / Total time 25 mins / V
1 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 courgettes, soft middles removed and grated
Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
Handful of fresh mint
2 handfuls of black olives
100g vegetarian feta
150g wholemeal penne
Drizzle Pomora extra virgin olive oil to serve

Method
1. Start by boiling a kettle of water and weighing out your pasta. Pop the pasta into a saucepan and season well with salt (don’t cook your pasta just yet).
2. Chop the courgettes into three large chunks and grate the sides until you reach the soft core – the middle of the courgettes is too wet to use so only use the outer layer and discard the middle. Peel and finely chop the garlic and add to a large cooking pot over a medium heat. Cook the garlic for a couple of minutes before adding the courgette. Stir well, up the heat, add a pinch of chilli flakes and season well with salt and pepper. Continue to cook stirring occasionally.
3. Add the boiled water from the kettle to the pasta and cook according to packet instructions. Now is a good time to roughly chop the mint leaves, black olives and crumble the feta, put to one side.
4. Once the pasta is cooked, drain well and add straight into the courgette mixture. Give it a good stir until combined. Incorporate the black olives and fresh mint. Divide into bowls and top with the crumbled feta and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Lovely jubbly.

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V– Vegetarian

Tomato penne with greens & butter beans

January 27, 2017January 21, 2020 ~ Corrie ~ Leave a comment

I really should stop buying horrible cheap tomatoes, I mean they aren’t even red for starters, tomatoes should be red right? These were more of an orange colour. I’ve tried several times to ripen them in a fruit bowl but they stubbornly just stay the same – the little shits. I refuse to be out-smarted by a tomato.
Tasting literally of nothing and with a firm almost furry texture, these ghastly toms are franky not worth the 70p I paid for them… But that’s such a reasonable price I remember thinking, staring down at them on the supermarket shelf. Whatever, I’m sure they’ll taste fine so I chuck them in my basket. NOOOOOOOO! Why do I always make the same mistake?!
Well that’s an easy question, I’m always skint, so spending £2 on Taste The Difference tomatoes (even though they look devine and juicy) makes me wince ever so slightly, especially when I know I could buy at least 4 Snickers bars for the same price. But as I chomp down on my sad, flavourless, sandwich, I realise my 70p tomatoes are duds. Perhaps tomatoes are just one of those foods you should spend the money on? I guess it wouldn’t kill me to eat a few less Snickers bars – cue sad face.
Anyway, so now I’m left with five, unripe, tomatoes so it’s either ruin my sandwiches for the rest of the week, or turn them into pasta sauce. Not only is this a great way to use up unwanted tomatoes but it makes enough sauce to jazz up your pasta dishes for the rest of the week. It’s easy, healthy and turns those rock hard tasteless toms into something rather splendid. Good times.

Tomato penne with greens & butter beans
Makes 1 jar of sauce / Serves 2 / Takes 30-40 minutes / V ❄
You’ll need: Food processor or a hand blender
Pasta Sauce
½ red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
5 tomatoes
2 tbs tomato puree
4 tbs vegetarian red wine
1 can plum tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp olive oil
To serve
140g wholewheat penne
3 handfuls kale
½ can butterbeans, rinsed and drained
Handful mature vegetarian cheddar, grated
Pomora extra virgin olive oil

Method
1. Roughly chop the onion and pop it in a large pot or saucepan with a tsp of olive oil, on a medium heat. Cook for about 5 mins until it starts to soften. Once soft, add the chopped garlic and cook for a further 2 mins (add a dash of water to help them steam if they start to sizzle).
2. Roughly chop the tomatoes and add them to the pan along with the tomato puree. Give it a good stir and cook for a further 5 mins, until the tomatoes start to break down a bit. Add the wine and the can of plum tomatoes. Break the plum tomatoes up with a spoon and give it another good stir. Up the heat until the sauce begins to boil, then reduce down to a simmer. Add the dried herbs and season with salt and pepper and cook for a further 10 mins, stirring frequently.
3. Meanwhile rinse and drain your butterbeans and put to one side (you’ll steam/boil them 5 minutes before you serving).
4. Weigh out your pasta and bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. When you’re sauce is 10 mins away from being cooked, add your pasta to the boiling water and season with salt (follow packet instructions). This is also a good time to get a smaller saucepan ready to steam/boil your kale and butter beans together (I tend to steam mine but it’s up to you, just remember to season them).
5. Whilst the pasta is boiling and your veg steaming take the tomato sauce off the heat and blitz with a hand blender or pop into a regular blender. Be careful not to over blend the sauce, you still want a bit of texture.
6. Finally drain your pasta and portion onto plates. Top with grated cheese, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Serve with the steamed butterbeans and kale. Good times.

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V– Vegetarian
❄– The pasta sauce is suitable for home freezing once cooled. Consume within 3 months.

Jamie’s feta & cherry tomato rigatoni

October 31, 2016November 1, 2019 ~ Corrie ~ 1 Comment

This is one of my favourite recipes and it’s not even mine damn it! It’s easy, full of flavour and has a sneaky little courgette in there. Grated, the courgette does an excellent job of soaking up flavour and bulking out the dish without stealing the limelight from the tomato. Although I’m not a huge fan of the courgette really, I think of them as the slimy wet brother of the cucumber, nothing worse than an over cooked courgette, oh wait there is and it’s called Halloween.
Maybe I’d like Halloween a bit more if I actually got invited to some fun Halloween parties but saying that we all know Halloween parties, especially fancy dress ones, are full of wankers. Also, what would I even go as? These days you have to be all ‘cool’ and go as Kim Kardashian’s naked selfie or Eleven from Stranger Things. Can’t I just go as a slutty cat like I used to when I was 16? To be fair that may have been the only Halloween party I ever went to… I’m sensing I need to get out more.

Jamie’s feta & cherry tomato rigatoni
Serves 2 / Hands on time 25 mins / Total time 25 mins / V
1 tsp olive oil
20 cherry tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano
2 medium or 1 large courgette grated
3 tbs tomato purée
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Pinch chilli flakes
Small handful of basil, chopped
150g vegetarian feta cheese
150g rigatoni
Pomoro extra virgin olive oil to serve (optional)

Method
1. Half the cherry tomatoes and put in a large saucepan with the olive oil and 1 tsp of oregano. Cook on a medium heat for 5 minutes until softened.
2. Add the tomato purée, chilli, garlic, grated courgette and season with salt and pepper. Cook on a medium to low heat with the lid on for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni in a large pot of salted boiling water (follow packet instructions).
4. Drain the pasta and pour straight into the sauce. Stir well before adding the chopped basil and the crumbled feta cheese. Stir again until combined and the cheese starts to melt. Serve topped with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a good crack of pepper.

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V– Vegetarian

Sicilian sun-dried tomato & caper pasta

May 16, 2016January 21, 2020 ~ Corrie ~ 1 Comment

Okay, so this is pretty embarrassing and very shameful to admit, but I didn’t know Sicily was a country until Jamie told me yesterday. I’d always assumed it was just another Italian city like Rome or Venice. Although I don’t blame myself entirely for this lack of knowledge. For some reason, it was compulsory to study German geography if you studied German at my school. To this day, I still don’t know if we were studying the geography of Germany taught in German or simply geography taught in German. Either way, I couldn’t and still can’t, speak German so it made no difference. Thanks for nothing Edwin Gruber.
Anyway enough about Germany, let’s talk about Sicily. By chance I wondered into a small Sicilian deli on my lunch hour last week called Casanova & Daughters. It was marvellous. A beautiful shop with shelves laden with imported pasta, jars of sun-dried tomatoes, handsome bottles of olive oil and neat rows of dried basil flowers wrapped in brown paper. I didn’t even know basil plants had flowers. Anyhoo, if you ever find yourself in Covent Garden I urge you to pop in, if only to say hello to the nicest man in London.
Feeling a little tired and uninspired of late, I asked the smiley shop owner to recommend a vegetarian Sicilian dish to make this weekend. He practically jumped out from behind the counter and started sweeping the shop for ingredients. He returned with a bag of capers, sun-dried tomatoes, white fennel seeds, capers and almonds in their actual shells! I’ve only ever seen almonds de-shelled so was shocked when the deli owner crushed one on the counter with his palm and revealed the biggest almond I had ever seen. Why were the almonds in Sainsbury’s so small?
Getting increasingly carried away, I bought everything he put in front of me, including some beautiful pecorino cheese and some pasta called Busiate that look like big dried up mealworms. They tasted delicious. Best fifteen pounds I ever spent – although my combat trousers I bought from Tammy Girl in the 90’s come a close second.

Sicilian sun-dried tomato & caper pasta
Serves 4 / Hands on time 25 mins / Total time 25 mins / V Vn* ❄
You’ll need: Food processor
300g dried pasta
15-20 sun-dried tomatoes (if you can’t find the dry ones, substitute for jarred ones in oil)
1 tbs capers
1 large or 2 regular garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
30 almonds
Pinch fennel seeds
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
Italian hard cheese or Pecorino* to serve (optional)

*Make it vegan: Forgo the cheese in the recipe altogether.

Method
1. If using dried sun-dried tomatoes, soak them for 1 minute in a bowl of boiling water. Keep the boiled water but fish out the tomatoes and put straight into a food processor. If using jarred oiled ones, simply give then simply squeeze off some of the excess oil and add to food processor. Add the almonds, capers, fennel seeds, garlic and the extra virgin olive oil – forgo the oil if using the jarred variety in oil.
2. Add 6-8 tablespoons of the tomato water and blitz until you have a thick pesto. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the packet instructions.
3. Drain the pasta and return to the pan but take off the heat. Stir in the pesto and serve immediately topped with your choice cheese and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

If you’ve had a go at making any of my recipes, I’d love to hear from you. Follow me now @corrieheale and tag your recipe pictures using #corriesrabbitfood.

V – Vegetarian. Vn – Make it vegan and leave out the cheese
❄ – The pesto is suitable for home freezing in an airtight container. Consume within 3 months.
*Pecorino must be made with lamb rennet from animals raised in the same production area, and is consequently not suitable for vegetarians.