Oh My Stars

Red onion & Rosemary Pasta

The days I discover great new pasta recipes are among my favourite days.
I love this sauce. It contains only a few ingredients and while cooking it mostly gets on with itself. It’s easy to make but boosts great, deep flavour. What's not to love?

Chop two red onions into half rings and fry in a generous amount of olive oil, with a teaspoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary and half a teaspoon of coarse salt. The trick is to keep the heat as low as possible so the onions soften but don't colour or crisp up. Fry gently, stirring occasionally, for twenty to twenty-five minutes, until the onions are soft and sweet. Add half a tablespoon of dark muscovado sugar and one tablespoon of good balsamic vinegar. Turn up the heat and fry for a few minutes, stirring constantly, caramelising the sugar and the vinegar. At this point the sauce will smell incredibly (almost inedibly) intense, but don’t fret. The flavours will mingle and mellow and will eventually turn into something else entirely.

Add one tin of chopped tomatoes and turn down the heat again. Season with salt and pepper. Leave to simmer for another ten minutes, until the tomatoes have cooked down and the sauce has thickened. Use this time to cook the pasta.
I won't be bossy and tell you exactly what pasta to eat with this sauce, but please do give it some thought. This sauce is very soft so you want a type of pasta that remains a little toothsome when cooked. If you don’t have a lot of experience with different kinds of pasta, something like penne is a safe bet. Whatever type you choose, cook it al dente before draping it with the velvety sauce. Add some Parmesan if you want, personally I don’t think it needs it.

Swedish Lemon Poppyseed cakes

Chewy Almond Macaroons

Beat two egg whites until stiff. Fold in 300 grams of powdered almonds, 250 grams of powdered sugar, the zest of one lemon and a pinch of salt. With wet hands, roll into little balls and place in a baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and bake in a preheated oven for 10, until they're just starting to colour.

Pomodori

Alfajores de Maizena

Chocolate & Banana Cake

Hot Cross Buns

Traditional Easter buns.

Apple & Mascarpone Muffins

The use of mascarpone in this recipe is a bit of a revelation, to me at least. You’d think adding any kind of cream cheese to batter would make it heavy and dense, but the opposite is the case here. The mascarpone causes the cupcakes to become extremely soft and light and crumbly. Whipping the egg whites separately before adding them makes the cakes even more airy and wonderful. These are the kind of cupcakes that make a fantastic dessert, but can just as well be eaten for breakfast seeing as they’re not sickly sweet.

1 large apple
100 grams of flour
150 grams of mascarpone
40 grams of butter, melted
5 tablespoons of (vanilla) sugar
2 eggs
5 grams of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
½ teaspoon of cardamom
a pinch of salt

First cut the apple into small cubes and set aside. Separate the eggs and beat the whites, with a pinch of salt until white and fairly stiff, don’t beat it to within an inch of its life though, you don’t want it too dry. Set those aside too.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and spices. Add the egg yolks, butter and mascarpone. Give this a stir. It will probably offer quite a bit of resistance, but don’t give way! A little hand cramp is but a small price to pay. Once its combined add the apple and a small scoop of the egg whites. This should make the stirring much easier. Gradually add the rest of the whites, folding them in delicately (but not timidly). The mixture has to be thoroughly combined.
Spoon into a muffin pan either greased or lined with paper muffin cups. They won’t rise a crazy amount, so filling the forms about two thirds of the way will be fine. Bake in a preheated oven, 180 degrees, for about 25 minutes. They should be golden brown and an inserted strand of uncooked spaghetti should come out clean.
Commence swooning.

"Donut" Peaches