Sunday's Lunch with Carrot Cake finale

So I decided to re-create one of my most favourite Carluccio's dish at home.

Which is pasta dish called ''Penne Giardiniera''. The penne they actually use are big fat tubes called Rigatoni or Carluccio's Penne Regine (large artisan penne from Puglia).

The recipe is actually serves 6 people, so I used only two courgettes instead and used two handfuls of penne pasta. First of all I cooked spinach balls, which where very tasty, but instead of making round shaped balls I used spoon and just fryed in the hot oil in the various shapes.

Ingredients:
SPINACH BALLS:
100 g breadcrumbs – dry
2 eggs
1/2 garlic clove very finely chopped
50 g finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Ground black pepper to taste
Salt to taste
Nutmeg – very small pinch
300 g cooked spinach
Olive oil for shallow frying
PASTA:
120 g butter
30 g red chillies finely chopped
3 medium courgettes finely grated
4 garlic cloves finely chopped
250 g Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
750 g Largest Penne

Method:

Make  mini spinach balls as follows:
Cook the spinach in slightly salted water for 2 minutes.
Drain and let cool.
Squeeze out all the water.
Cut the spinach coarsely with a knife (in order to create a well rounded finished spinach ball).
In a bowl place the chopped spinach, garlic, eggs, nutmeg and mix well, add in the Parmesan then half the breadcrumbs; season with salt and pepper. Roll and fry one ball. Taste and check consistency. Add a little more breadcrumbs or seasoning if needed. Fry until golden.
Cook the pasta to al dente in salted water – this may take from 10 to 15 minutes - drain and keep warm.
While the pasta is cooking heat the butter in a pan, add the garlic and chillies.
Then add the grated courgettes and pan fry for about 5-7min.
Add the cooked pasta into the pan and toss with the grated cheese.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve in a pasta bowl with spinach balls sprinkled over the top.

As for dessert I decided it would be great idea to bake a carrot cake, especially when fresh carrots are now in season :) I used one of my favourite recipe, from Rachel Allen's book    '' Bake''.

For the carrot cake

• 140 ml vegetable oil,        
• 2 eggs
• 200 g light brown sugar
• 300 g grated carrots, (grated weight)
• 100 g raisins
• 75 g pecans orwalnuts, chopped (optional)
• 180 g self-raising flour
• 1 pinch of  salt
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice

For the mascarpone cream  icing

• 250 g mascarpone cheese, chilled
• 50 g butter, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 275 g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 orange zest only (optional)   

Method:
   
1. Preheat the oven to 150C/gas 2. Oil and line a 13 x 23cm loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

2. For the carrot cake: beat the eggs in a large bowl, then add the oil, brown sugar, grated carrot, raisins and chopped nuts.

3. Sift in the rest of the dry ingredients and bring the mixture together using a wooden or large metal spoon until well combined.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin, smooth the surface and bake in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tin for about five minutes before removing. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

6. For the icing: beat the cream cheese and butter together in a bowl until well combined. Add the vanilla extract, icing sugar and finely grated orange zest and mix until the icing is smooth and thick. Using a palette knife, spread the icing evenly over the cooled cake, dipping the knife into a bowl of hot water if the icing is hard to spread out. Cut into slices to serve.

Hope you all had as fantastic and enjoyable time watching London Olympic games as we did, and a fabulous weekend for a closing ceremony. With love.xxx