My favourite one-pot caramelised onion pasta

belief systems, lukewarm is another name for disappointment

My top favourite bakeries in London remain to be: Layla (pictured above with their seasonal specials), Fortitude, Miel, and Little Bread Pedlar

Food news of the week:

You know these ‘Mayfair’ restaurants, all pomp and pizzazz and as sequin-drenched as the people that frequent them? The crowd at Sexy Fish who think overcooked salmon is ‘al dente’? Yeah, Lucky Cat is no exception. I had a dry ‘miso salmon’ and service that managed to be both overbearing and ignorant– fat pass, don’t go. For today’s review, I have much to say about Engawa’s bold claim on being the wagyu capital of Covent Garden. In a brighter vein, Layla has some new amazing autumn specials such as their soda bread pain suisse, and I’ve been making hefty re-runs of my favourite one-pot pasta bake, all down below.

Science of the week:

Made a rough diagram for something I’m working on and thought I’d share it here, showing what happens when you don’t have great balance of bacteria in your gut. Essentially it’s a bad thing that leads to major stress and inflammation in the body. I also have an exciting update that I can’t wait to share in the next few episodes, involving what I’m doing in Singapore (which is still a strongly bittersweet feeling)…

Insight of the week:

Gleaned something more from the second time watching Heretic. So much about it can be interpreted in different ways, though there is no right or wrong, and is simply meant to spur conversation. For example, we’re led to believe a Mormon priest attempted to find the two missing girls, who were taken in by the villain. But what if this didn’t even happen, what if the villain orchestrated the bells’s ring to fit his narrative (especially in a movie designed to question belief)? Even if I’m reading too much into it, it’s a nice reminder to question every story we’re fed.

Recipe of the week:

my favourite ugly pasta: creamy, sweet, juicy, cheesy.

One of my favourite weekday dinners period. It is something of a variation on this recipe but has quite a bit less cream, no gorgonzola or honey, and I chuck in a bunch of pork and apple sausages to spruce up the jazz capped with crispy, melting cheese. Doing it all in one pot means all the pasta starch is left in there to thicken the sauce, and there’s one ingredient you can’t miss to make this totally spectacular. I just love this recipe so much!

One-pot red wine caramelised onion pasta (serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

3 white onions

2 tbsp each of olive oil and butter

1 cup (240ml) red wine

2 tsp mixed Italian seasoning (usually a mix of rosemary and thyme, so pick those separately if you can’t find a mix)

1 tbsp minced/chopped garlic

1 cup (around half a packet) of button mushrooms

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 cups chicken/vegetable broth

550g rigatoni/penne pasta

3/4 cup (180ml) heavy cream

1 cup grated gruyere cheese

0.5 cup grated parmesan

pinch each of salt and pepper

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (the not-so-secret ingredient)

optional: pork and apple sausages to bake alongside the final product

Directions:

If you want to turn this into a pasta bake, turn your oven on to 400F, or 200C. In a large pan preheated on medium-high heat, add the olive oil, butter and sliced onions, and cook those down for a couple minutes or until the onions go quite translucent, before turning the heat to low-medium and letting the onions cook for a good while, or until softly caramelised. This takes a lot longer than what the original linked recipe states, so be patient and come back to it every half an hour or so, to move the onions a bit around in the pan. It can take up to an hour on low-medium heat to fully caramelise. Once they look ‘wilted’ and go a soft golden colour, give them a taste. They should be soft and sweet.