Charlotte Pike

Food & Drink Expert

Tuscan sausage and rosemary ragù

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I spent last week in Tuscany. My base for the week was Radda in Chianti, and I spent the week travelling round the entire Toscana region learning about their food, their wine, their best ingredients and methods of cooking. It was a genuinely fascinating week, and I have so much to share with you about it.

This recipe is one I cooked before I went over to Italy, and it was son interesting to compare it to the food I ate out there. When writing this up back at home, I was debating whether or not to call this recipe Tuscan. It is quite different to the sausage and rosemary pasta I ate near Colle di Val d’Esta. There, extra virgin olive oil was warmed and infused with fresh rosemary, and then the sausage was crumbled into the warm oil, cooked briefly and stirred through pappardelle.

It may not be very authentic, but we tend to prefer a little more sauce to go with our pasta in our house, so I added tomatoes and garlic to make more of a sauce. I retained the Tuscan name in the title as it was made using Tuscan sausages – made, of course, from 100% pork (adding nothing to bulk out the meat), Chianti Classico, spices and seasonings.

I’m not entirely certain what the Tuscan cooks would have to say about this, but it is a delicious, quick and easy supper, served topped with a generous grating of fresh parmesan.

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Tuscan sausage and rosemary ragù

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • A generous glug of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large sprig fresh, fragrant rosemary, plus a little extra to serve
  • 3 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 4 large Tuscan sausages, casing removed and crumbled
  • 1 tin San Marzano tomatoes, either chopped or crushed
  • Sea salt and pepper
  • Approximately 300g pasta

Method

Place a large pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta.

Meanwhile, pour the oil into a large frying pan. Add the rosemary and turn the heat on to a moderate temperature, allowing the rosemary to infuse for a few minutes.

You can now remove the rosemary sprig if you like, or keep it in for a more intense flavour.

Now, add the crushed garlic and cook gently until fragrant. Crumble in the sausage and cook for 5 minutes or so until lightly browned. Don’t turn the heat up too high or else the garlic will burn.

Next, add the tomatoes, season to taste and allow to cook for around 10-15 minutes until thickened.

This is the time to cook your pasta now, according to the instructions on the pack. Most will take around 7-12 minutes.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain well, retaining a cup of the cooking water.

Put the drained pasta back into the cooking pan, which will still be hot. Add the sausage sauce, cooking water and stir together well.

Serve immediately in warmed bowls with some extra rosemary as a garnish, and plenty of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Butter and milk buns

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1Buns

There’s something special about a really good bun. Home made burgers are a wonderful thing, and I published my best-ever recipe in one of my cookery books. I think most people will now recognize that a bad burger patty is just not nice, but I think more and more people are coming to realize that a bad bun is just as bad.

This is a great, easy recipe for an enriched dough, made with butter and milk. It’s half way towards a brioche, which I also really like, but I feel as though this is a slightly more versatile bun, which also goes extremely well with the aubergine burger recipe in my vegetarian cookbook.

Butter and milk buns

Makes 12 large buns

Ingredients

550g strong white bread flour, plus extra for kneading.

1 tsp sea salt

2 heaped tsp quick action dried yeast (I find Doves Farm the best)

300ml full cream milk

50 butter, melted

2 egg yolks

You may wish to glaze the buns with 1 egg yolk and a sprinkling of sesame seed

Method

1)   Place the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre.

2)   Then, put all the remaining wet ingredients into a jug and whisk together.

3)   Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix to form a sticky wet, dough.

4)   If using a stand mixer, knead for 10 minutes on a medium speed. If making the buns by hand, then turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for around 10 minutes until smooth and ever so slightly tacky to the touch. Try not to add too much extra flour.

5)   Place the dough into a large mixing bowl and cover well with cling film. I like to put a tea towel over the top, too. Leave for around 4 hours until the dough has doubled in size.

6)   Knead the dough again briefly now, knocking the air out of it. Divide it evenly into 12 pieces and form evenly shaped balls.  Place on a floured tray, cover with clingfilm again, and allow the buns to rise again. This will take around two hours.

7)   Preheat the oven to 230C or equivalent.

8)   Glaze the buns with egg wash and sprinkle over some seeds if you’re using them.

9)   Bake for 25-35 minutes until they feel light, but crusty. They will be a deep, glossy brown.

10)  Allow to cool on a wire rack and devour.

Summer fruit salads

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There is something wonderful about the abundance of delicious fruits in season at this time of year. When ripe, juicy and fragrant, you need nothing more than a napkin to enjoy summer fruits at their best.

That said, a fruit salad is a pretty perfect way to end a meal. An elegant bowlful of fruit is simple to prepare, looks sensational and makes a light, refreshing and nutritious pudding.

These fruit salads are hardly recipes – more of a pairing of ingredients. Together, they are almost greater than the sum of their parts, and work with a wide variety of cuisines.

When making a fruit salad at home, I don’t use sugar on the fruit. This is simply for health reasons, and I happen to enjoy the flavour of the fruit on its own. But, a fruit salad is a wonderful option when cooking for friends and family. In this case, I’d make a sugar syrup, cool it and pour it over the fruit and allow it to macerate for an hour or two before serving. This creates plenty of perfumed juice, which is even better enjoyed with some homemade vanilla ice cream, and also keeps the fruit for a little longer when cut. Just be sure to use the most perfectly ripe fruit you can find – it’s not worth making this with flavourless fruit. 

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Strawberry, lemon and mint

Hull and halve 400g of strawberries. Mix with a tablespoon of lemon juice, and the zest of half a lemon, (I use Amalfi lemons) a tablespoon of caster sugar, if desired, or 75ml sugar syrup. Add 3 tbsp chopped mint and stir.

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White nectarine, blueberry and mint 

Quarter and de-stone three white nectarines. Mix with a tablespoon of caster sugar, if desired, or 75ml sugar syrup. Add 100g blueberries and 3 tbsp chopped mint and stir.

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Nectarine, strawberry and sweet geranium

Quarter and de-stone three white nectarines. Mix with a tablespoon of caster sugar, if desired, or 75ml sugar syrup. Add 200g hulled and quartered strawberries and 6 small sweet geranium leaves and stir.

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Pineapple blueberry and mint

Cut a large pineapple into 1” chunks, ensuring you cut out the woody core first. Mix with a tablespoon of caster sugar, if desired, or 75ml sugar syrup. Add 100g blueberries and 3 tbsp chopped mint and stir.