[Review] Sprezzatura, Grantham Street, Dublin 8

Sprezzatura is the latest entrant into the Dublin dining market, and even after just one visit, I'm confident that it's going to go the distance. Semolina pasta is freshly made onsite every day and sold along with a selection of small plates at what can only be called crazy low prices. Every dish is under €10 and at these prices, it's going to be packed.

Located in the premises of the former Grantham's cafe, it's a stones throw from Camden Street, and a multitude of various corporate offices who will surely appreciate having a good new lunch spot. The restaurant is  in the minimal style, and split across two rooms. The first room is centred around a large communal table and high seats, while the other room holds tables and booths. The furniture is what I term "plywood chic", a style which supports the quick and cost-effective fit-out of new restaurants.

Penne pasta with Toonsbridge ricotta and nduja

[Recipe] Simon Hopkinson's Porcini & Pancetta Pasta Bake

Simon Hopkinson has accumulated much respect over his years in the cookery industry, but he maintains a low profile. One of his early cookbooks, Roast Chicken and Other Stories, was voted the most useful cookbook of all time in 2005, causing its sales to suddently outstrip Harry Potter. The funny thing was that Hopkinson had written the book 11 years earlier. He is praised for recipes that really work, which the home cook can understand and more importantly, replicate.

Now he has a series on Fridays on BBC, simply called The Good Cook. While watching the very first episode, a recipe for Porcini and Pancetta Pappardelle Bake caught my fancy. It looked simple, but the promise of a rich flavour from the use of dried, earthy porcini mushrooms promised something special. I decided to make the dish using rigatoni (the best dried pasta I had in my cupboard). 

Additionally, I substituted some Irish bacon for the pancetta, but otherwise I used the same quantities as given in Hopkinson's recipe. For future reference, I would make extra sauce if using rigatoni again, as the sauce seeped into them.

Pasta Bake with Porcini and Pancetta

Baked Pappardelle with Porcini and Pancetta

500ml milk

20g dried porcini

40g butter

25g plain flour

Salt & freshloy ground black pepper

100g pappardelle

50g pancetta, cut into 2cm pieces

4-5 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan

Preheat your oven to 190C.

Place the milk in a saucepan bring close to the boil. Add the porcini mushrooms, remove from the heat, and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Strain the milk into a bowl of jug, squeezing out all the juice from the mushrooms. Keep the mushrooms to one side. At this stage the milk will be fabulous, mushroom colour.

Heat the butter in a clean saucepan, add the flour and stir over a low heat for 2-3 minutes without colouring the roux. Pour in the flavoured milk in one go, whisking continously until smooth. Cook the sauce for 10 minutes or so until thickened. Season to taste and set aside. (Remember that there is still pancetta to be added).

Bring a large pot od salted water to the boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Strain, place in a bowl and mix through with the pancetta, porcini and sauce. Pour the pasta into a lightly-buttered, ovenproof dish. Flatten and cover with 2 tablespoons of the parmesan. Cook in the oven for approx 30 minutes, until golden and bubbling. Serve hot with extra cheese.

Pasta with Italian Sausage

When it comes to pasta, I frequently prefer recipes with little or no sauce. Olive oil (or butter) with a few flavours is how I like to roll. A few staple ingredients, along with some good quality dried pasta, can form the basis of a kingly meal. Supper tonight was a simple mix of rigatoni pasta, oil, garlic, basil pesto, Italian sausage and parmesan.

Bring some salted water to the boil and cook the rigatoni until al dente. When ready, strain off the cooking water, making sure to reserve a few spoonfuls in case you want to want to add some liquid to the pasta later. Toss the pasta with oil and out aside until needed.

In the meantime, gently sautee some onions and garlic. Get some Italian sausage (we purchased ours from our excellent local butchers, Lawlor's on Rathmines Road Upper) and cut into chunky slices. Fry these with the onions and garlic until cooked. Toss this mixture with the pasta and a spoon of good quality basil pesto, adding more oil if required. Serve with parmesan and enjoy!

Sage Butter Gnocchi

I was late home this evening and the last thing I wanted to do was spend another 30 -60 mins cooking. I had thought about dinner a lot on the long drive home, but I was still undecided as I neared home. At this point I was (thankfully) hit by a bolt of inspiration. A quick stop-off at Tesco and I had a bag of fresh gnocchi and a packet of sage leaves.

Once I got home, I put a generous pot of salted water on the boil. I warmed up a little olive oil in my cast iron skillet and gently sauteed some finely sliced garlic. I shredded about 5-7 sage leaves and added them to the oil so that they would cook through (uncooked sage is very bitter and unpleasant). As the garlic and sage was cooking, I added a lump of butter and let it melt down and cook with the garlic and sage.

Once added to the boiling water, the fresh gnocchi cooks quite quickly. Keep an eye on it - the pieces will gradually rise from the bottom to the top of the water. Give it about 10 sec after they have all risen and then drain. Quickly toss the gnocchi in the butter and pour onto a plate. Add some parmesan and season to taste.

Buon Appetito!