Spicy wholewheat linguine with basil pangritata

Whole-wheat pasta shouldn't be resigned to the back of Gillian McKeith's store-cupboard. If you buy the good quality organic stuff it has a beautiful nutty flavour that tastes much nicer than a lot of dried white pasta you can buy. Also, the brown stuff retains many more vitamins and minerals than white pasta, which loses a lot of its nutritional qualities as the white flour it's made from goes through an intense refining process, which strips the wheat out of it.

Pangritata translates from Italian as 'poor man's Parmesan', and is a mixture of toasted bread and herbs. You do discover when you add pangritata to pasta there is no need for additional Parmesan but perhaps if you do have it in add it as the pangritata starts to disappear for extra flavour. The basil pangritata I made here with the roasted lemony and tomato sauce and nutty linguine gives this dish a gorgeous Mediterranean flavour and it's a really easy meal to bang out on a whim.

Ingredients:
4 medium sized vine ripe tomatoes
1 red onion
1 red chilli
3 garlic cloves
30g / 1 oz capers
70g / 2.5 oz pitted black olives
1 lemon
8 tbsp olive oil
sea salt & black pepper for seasoning
6 large handfuls of bread-crumbs (whole-meal preferably)
large bunch of fresh basil
400g / 14 oz organic whole-wheat linguine
500g / 17 and half oz organic passata

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C, 350 F, Gas Mark 4.

Slice the onion in to fine half moons. Peel and thinly slice the garlic and tomatoes into discs. De-seed and finely chop the chilli. Place the onion, garlic, tomatoes and chilli on a large non-reactive baking tray. Sprinkle over the capers, olives, the zest and juice of half the lemon, 2 tbsps of the olive oil and sea-salt and black pepper. Place in the oven for 25 minutes.

Whilst this is cooking heat up 4 tbsps of the remaining olive oil in a heavy-based frying pan. Once warm add the bread-crumbs, and plenty of sea salt and black pepper. Shred a few good handfuls of basil and add to the crumbs after 3 minutes. Cook together for a minute more or until the bread-crumbs are golden. Drain on to kitchen paper and set aside.

Get a large pan of boiling salted water over a medium heat and bring to the boil ready for the pasta. Whilst this is boiling go back to the vegetables (these should be about half way through their cooking time) and pour over the passata. Give them all a good stir and return to the oven for the remaining 10 minutes or so. Just enough time for the passata to warm through and to pick up flavour from the ingredients already in there.

The pasta will need about 7 minutes in the boiling water. Keep checking it though as you want it to still have a firm bite. Once cooked drain and reserve about 150ml of cooking water from under the colander.

Add the pasta to a large serving bowl, with the cooking water, the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil, the juice and zest of the other half of the lemon, all the ingredients from the oven tray, a few fresh torn basil leaves. Season to taste and serve into 4 bowls. Sprinkle generously with the toasted basil bread-crumbs (and some Parmesan if you aren't a poor man).

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Creamy, lemony, coconut daal, dhal, dal...curry?

Dahl, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...a great big, warm, heartening bowl of lentils, with a zing of lemon and a smoke of curry leaves, mustard seeds and lots and lots of garlic.

Comfort food at it's best. I used to think there were 'dhal rules' somewhere out there. That it had to be made this way, or that way, or had to contain this or that particular thing. It isn't so. One of the main reasons I love dahl is because there are no rules really. You can make dal pretty much any which way (and spell it pretty much any which way) as long as it involves lentils cooked into a stew-like form. That's it, that is all the daal judges are after folks.

Twist all the other components which ever way you want them. There are proper and authentic differences in dhal, that don't just fall from whims, and the roots of which lie in historical and geographical variations across india. They're all fascinating to explore but always feel free to make your own history and draw from your surroundings and or personal preferences. Stick to the spicy lentil stew principle and build up from there.

This one is a beauty. It has added texture, zing and a bit more of a spring in its step than the traditional sambar, soup-y, type dahl's. I went for ginger and an over-emphasised lemony flavour, which works really well with this type of lentil and cuts through the coconut preventing it from being too creamy. Although this is really substantial, and more of a curry in its own right, it still wouldn't be complete without serving it with nan bread and boiled rice, but then again what curry would be?

Ingredients:

2 medium white onions

2 lemons

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp black mustard seeds

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp garam masala

2 tsps of turmeric

2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves

1 green chilli

2 inch piece of fresh ginger

300g / 10 and half oz puy lentils

1 pint of organic vegetable stock

50g / 1.8 oz creamed coconut

Sea salt and black pepper

Small bunch of fresh coriander

Slice the onions into fine half moons and put in a bowl with the whole juice of one lemon and grate over the zest of lemon.

Toss and set aside. De-seed and finely chop the chilli. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Peel the ginger and slice into thin match-stick shapes.

Get a high sided frying pan on a medium heat and once the base of the pan is warmed through add the cumin, garam masala, coriander, mustard seeds and turmeric and dry fry them for a minute or two. As they become aromatic tip them out into a dish and put to one side with the onions for later. In the same pan add the 2 tbsp of olive oil and keep the heat down low.

Add the garlic, chilli and ginger. Cook for 1 minute and add the onions. Cook together for 7 minutes, or until the onions start to brown and stir in the lentils.

Add the vegetables stock and the dry fried spices and bring to a boil. As soon as it reaches the boil, reduce to a low simmer. Shred the creamed coconut and stir this in. Make sure you give this a good stir until all the coconut disappears as it will take a few moments to break down into the liquid.

Cook for approximately 30-40 minute or until the lentils are softened. Once they are soft season the pot with sea salt and black pepper (not before as this can alter the texture of the lentils whilst they are cooking).

Squeeze in the juice of half the second lemon with some more zest. Sprinkle with roughly chopped fresh coriander to serve.

Serves 4

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