I love cooking and eating, and I love my loved one, but I’m no good at all with a heart-shaped menu, candlelit table and flowers. Valentine’s Day is, in fact, the only night of the year when I’m likely to shun my love of cooking and eating, and opt instead for a makeshift supper of popcorn (albeit for two) at the local cinema.
There’ll be no candles and flowers round at mine, then, but just in case we don’t make it to the cinema, today’s recipes are the kind of dishes I’ll be making. The gnocchi is for the kids I love (in memory of my grandmother); the meatballs are for the man I love (in memory of the food I ate growing up); and the bright pink sorbet is my concession to the fact that I can’t possibly write a column that features the word “love” quite so many times and be a complete killjoy.
Gnocchi alla romana
Comfort food doesn’t get more comforting than this. My paternal grandmother used to make these, and they were for years one of the few childhood food experiences that I could never quite recreate. Until recently, that is, when the artist Ivo Bisignano, a relatively new friend, introduced me to his version, which comes pretty damned close. Serve as they are or with a crisp salad. Serves eight as a first course.
80g unsalted butter
1 litre whole milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
250g semolina (either fine or coarse)
2 egg yolks
1 tsp finely grated nutmeg
100g parmesan, finely grated
40g pecorino romano, finely grated
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Put the butter and milk in a medium saucepan with a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper, and heat on a medium-high flame until the butter has melted and the milk is simmering. Turn down the heat to medium-low, add the semolina, egg yolks, nutmeg and parmesan, and whisk continuously until combined and thick. Stir for another three to four minutes, until the mixture starts to come away from the sides of the pan, then turn off the heat and leave to cool for 15 minutes.
Lay out two large pieces of clingfilm (about 30cm x 40cm) on a work surface and spoon half the polenta mixture on to each one. Fold the clingfilm over the filling, and roll to form two sausages about 4cm wide and 38cm long, then refrigerate for at least two hours, until set.
Remove and discard the clingfilm, then cut each polenta “sausage” into 1cm-thick slices. Arrange these in slightly overlapping rows on a large oven sheet lined with baking paper.
Sprinkle with the pecorino and bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Turn the grill to its highest setting and, once hot, move the gnocchi tray so they’re about 10cm from the heat source. Grill for two to three minutes, just until the topping is golden-brown, leave to rest for five minutes, then serve.
Smoked aubergine meatballs in tomato sauce
The bulk of the work involved in this dish is in making the meatballs, but you can prepare them a day in advance, cover and refrigerate, then sear them and make the sauce the following day. These meatballs go well with just about any favourite starch: pasta, rice, mashed potato or barley. Serves four.
1 large aubergine
3 tbsp olive oil
½ onion, peeled and finely chopped
250g lamb mince
250g beef mince
5 garlic cloves, peeled, 2 crushed, the rest finely sliced
15g parsley leaves, roughly chopped
10g oregano leaves, roughly chopped, plus 4 sprigs to garnish
1 egg, lightly whisked
1 slice white bread, blitzed to fine breadcrumbs
50g pecorino, finely grated
30g pine nuts, toasted and roughly chopped
Salt and black pepper
8 plum tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
½ tsp caster sugar
If you have a gas stove, the best way to get aubergine smoky is to char it directly on an open flame on the hob. Cook for about 15 minutes (make sure you ventilate the kitchen first), using tongs to turn the aubergine once or twice while it cooks, until its skin is charred all over and the whole thing looks on the verge of collapse. If you have an electric hob, you’ll need to griddle the aubergine in a chargrill on a high heat. The results will be very similar, if not quite the same, but it will take up to 40 minutes to get to the charred-all-over state. Transfer the charred aubergine to a colander and, once it’s cool enough to handle, cut it in half and scoop the flesh into a colander; discard the skin.
On a medium-high flame, heat a tablespoon of oil in a large saute pan for which you have a lid. Once hot, fry the onion, stirring occasionally, until golden-brown and caramelised – about five to six minutes – then tip into a large bowl and add the aubergine flesh, all the meat, the crushed garlic, parsley, chopped oregano, egg, breadcrumbs, pecorino, pine nuts, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper. Using your hands, mix to combine thoroughly, then shape into 4cm- to 5cm-wide balls weighing about 55 grams each (you should end up with 16).
Heat the remaining two tablespoons of oil in the same saute pan on a medium-high flame. Fry the meatballs for about six minutes in total, turning them regularly, until browned all over, then remove from the pan.
Add the sliced garlic and oregano sprigs to the hot oil in the pan and fry for a minute or two, until the garlic starts to turn golden-brown, then add the chopped tomatoes, sugar, 150ml cold water, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and lots of pepper. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to medium-low and leave the sauce to simmer for 20 minutes, until it thickens.
Add the meatballs to the sauce, semi-cover the pan and leave to cook slowly for 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through and the sauce is thick. Rest for 10 minutes, then serve with pasta, rice or mash.
Blood orange, grapefruit and Aperol sorbet
This sharp yet sweet sorbet has a wonderful colour. If you can’t find blood oranges or ruby grapefruit, however, use the regular sort instead. The sorbet won’t look quite so brilliant, but it will taste fine. I like to top each serving with an extra drizzle of Aperol, but that’s up to you. Serves four.
1 ruby grapefruit, or enough to yield 100ml fresh juice
3-4 blood oranges, or enough to yield 200ml fresh juice
90ml water
70g caster sugar
40g glucose syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp Aperol, plus extra to garnish, if you want
Using a potato peeler, shave one long strip of skin off the grapefruit and two strips of skin off one of the oranges: take care to avoid cutting off any of the bitter, white pith. Put the three strips of zest in a small saucepan. Squeeze the juice from the fruit and set to one side.
Put the water, sugar and glucose in the saucepan with the zest, and bring up to a boil on a high heat, swirling the pan often until the sugar dissolves, then leave to boil for a minute. Take off the heat and leave to cool and infuse.
Once the syrup is cool, add all the citrus juice, then stir in the Aperol. Strain into a jug through a fine sieve, and discard the zest. Pour the mixture into an ice-cream machine and churn for about 30 minutes, until frozen and smooth. If you don’t have an ice-cream machine, pour the mix into a plastic tub, cover with a lid and put in the freezer. After 30 minutes, break up the ice crystals with a fork, and repeat every 30 minutes or so until completely frozen – this will take a total of two to three hours.
Store the sorbet in a sealed plastic container in the freezer; take it out to soften five to 10 minutes before scooping into bowls or glasses.
