Fresh Pasta with Watercress, Spinach, Radicchio and Prawns

Once again, this is not entirely veggie, right? But it makes use of the last of the water cress from our garden, but also a number of other leave vegetables. And it is easy and quick. Of course, it works also if you leave out the prawns.

What you need

• 500 g fresh pasta
• 1 medium sized shallot, finely chopped
• 2 or more cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 goodly slug of olive oil
• 1 colander of assorted leave veggies (radicchio, watercress, spinach), washed but still wet
• 300 g cooked prawns (if you use raw ones they need to go in with the onions and the garlic)
• ½ chopped chilli (depipped if it is not to be too spicy)
• optionally: roasted pine kernels and chopped sundried tomatoes

What you do

1. Do the pasta in quite salty water, making sure they are still quite al dente. Drain, saving the cooking water.
2. In the meantime heat the olive oil and sauté the onions and the garlic until the latter are slightly crunchy.
3. Add the chillies and the prawns and make sure they are hot but not overly cooked (prawns become really rubbery that way).
4. At the very end, add the leaves and sauté until they are wilted. (If you use them, add the pine kernels and the tomatoes now.)
5. Add a little (a tablespoon or two) of the cooking water if it is too dry. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Mix in the pasta, stir to mix and serve immediately. 

Watercress and Spinach Cream Soup

We have quite a lot of spinach and watercress in the garden at the moment. This and the following recipe make use of this. The basis of this recipe Caroline found online, but with what we had in the garden and in the house, I have made a few changes. Caroline’s online recipe used ice cubes, I decided to use chilled sparkling water. The effect is the same, to shock-cool the wilted leaves, but, even though I have read of chefs who use it amongst other things in risotto, I would never have believed the claim that it makes the dishes “airier” or “fluffier” – but sparkling water really does seem to do this…

What you need

• 400 g spinach and watercress leaves
• 2 small shallots, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1 generous nob of butter
• 750 ml chilled sparkling mineral water
• 1 tbsp veggie broth powder or 1 – 2 veggie stock cubes
• 150 – 200 ml crème fraiche
• salt if needed

 

What you do

1. Sauté the shallots and garlic in butter until they are glassy.
2. Wash the water cress and spinach, but leave plenty of water on the leaves.
3. Wilt the watercress first (less than a minute) then add the spinach and stir until the leaves are soft, splashing with a little water if the pan goes to dry.
4. Take off the heat, put in a liquidiser and quickly pour in the mineral water and get the leaves to the desired consistency. (I quite like them to be still a little leafy, others like them finely puréed.)
5. Put back in the pan, add the stock powder or cube(s) and warm up (don’t boil) while blending in the crème fraiche.
6. Serve with some freshly baked bread for a light supper.