Comfort Food for the Family...

As the sunny days are turning into slightly chillier nights, it feels like time to be thinking about wholesome and nourishing comfort food. This week's wonderful delivery of vegetables brought some fantastic ingredients for a few Italian autumn treats.  We have looked at ideas for 'scarole' (escarole greens) and 'zucca' (squash) in previous blog posts, but this week we had 'cime di rape' (turnip top greens - nothing goes to waste here!) and more delicious apples.  Both of these immediately made me think of a couple of favourite recipes, a pasta dish and a traditional cake...

'Orecchiette con Cime di Rapa' is a well-known pasta dish from Puglia, using orecchiette pasta named after the 'little ears' they are meant to resemble.  While this is traditionally made with orecchiette, you can,of course, use other pasta that you already have at home, such as penne or fusilli.  Orecchiette are traditionally made with 'semola di grano duro', which is semolina flour, readily found in Italian food stores and delis.  You can make your own (recipe and tutorial here: http://www.marthastewart.com/925955/step-step-orechiette ) or buy them as fresh or dried pasta.  Any version will do, it just depends on how much of a food snob you want to be!

Orecchiette con Cime di Rapa (adapted from 'Bocca Cookbook', Bloomsbury 2011)

500g cime di rapa
300g fresh orecchiette or 250g dried
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
5 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp crushed dried chili flakes
freshly grated Pecorino cheese to serve (optional, or use parmesan if that is what you have)

This recipe serves 4 as a starter and 2 as a main, but increase according to numbers and appetites!

-Prepare the cime di rapa: pick the leaves off the stem, leave any under 10cm whole, whilst larger ones should have the tough midrib removed. Rinse well.
- Set a large pan of salted water on to boil and then add the greens, cooking for around 10 minutes until fully tender with no crunch to them (keep checking after about 8 minutes).
- You can boil another pan of salted water simultaneously for the pasta, which will probably cook in the time it will take you to make the cime di rapa sauce.  Cook the pasta according to the pack instructions, probably 4 to 5 minutes if fresh and twice that time if dried.
- Drain the greens thoroughly in a colander while you heat a frying pan over a medium heat, adding the garlic and oil, frying until the garlic is starting to colour. Add the chilli, then a few seconds later the drained cime di rapa and mix it in to infuse the greens with the flavours.
- Drain the pasta, saving a few tablespoons of the pasta water.
- Add the pasta to the pan of cime di rapa and saute the pasta and greens together, seasoning with salt and pepper, then adding a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water.  Cook together for a minute, and serve with the grated pecorino (or parmesan) if you wish.

For other 'cime di rapa' ideas:
Braised with chilli - http://www.goodfood.com.au/good-food/cook/recipe/braised-cime-di-rapa-with-chilli-20111018-29wqn.html
Served with parmesan - http://cookalmostanything.blogspot.com/2011/11/cime-di-rapa-al-parmigiano.html

Italian Apple Cake - Torta di Mele

Different to English apple cakes, this really is something to try out now that all the gorgeous new season apples are on their way to us.  Here are a few recipes to choose from:

The Nigella Lawson recipe:
http://www.muffinandcoffee.com/torta-di-mele-italian-apple-cake/

A recipe by Anna del Conte, Italian food writer of great note, using olive oil:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/apple-cake-anna-del-conte-51712411

A version from Tuscany, with pine nuts:
http://www.organictuscany.org/recipes/torta-di-mele/