This recipe is one I snaffled from the Observer Food Monthly magazine this Sunday. A hot vegetarian supper perfect for long cold nights apparently. In the spirit of adventurousness in aid of the blog, I thought I'd give roulade a try. As far as I can see, it's just a sort of savoury cakey thing that is a good vehicle for spinach and ricotta (surely one of the best combinations in all the world?!). As little sis pointed out, turmeric seems an odd choice for a spice for it, but it just seemed to do what turmeric usually does - making things orange!
You need to make the roulade the day before (no idea why, but I'm a trusting type of girl!), but that means that getting home from work, you just assemble a really simple vegetable stew flavoured with harissa and heat up your roulades. In my fantasy other life as a full time domestic goddess I imagine it as a marvellous Friday night supper - easy peasy but with that swanky roulade business on the top to make it look like you've made the effort. Oh, plus this seems to me to be mostly made up of things that one has about the house, except for perhaps the harissa, which one really should have about the house.
Serves 8
125g butter 
175g plain flour
1 tsp turmeric
750ml warm milk
salt and freshly ground pepper
10 eggs, separated
big handful of roughly chopped fresh basil
for the filling:
400g ricotta cheese
250g spinach
for the stew:
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp harissa paste
2 baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
juice and zest of one lemon
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped
200ml vegetable stock
500g canned chickpeas, drained, rinsed and cooked
large handful of spinach
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6 and grease and line two swiss roll tins (which is, as far as I can see, just a shallow rectangular tin).
Start making the roulades. Melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and turmeric and cook for three minutes to make a spicy roux. Add the milk to the roux a little at a time, stirring continuously over the heat to make a thick sauce. Season to taste. Take the pan off the heat and beat in the egg yolks and basil. Whisk the whites until stiff, then fold them into the cooled sauce. Divide the mixture between the trays and spread it evenly. Bake for 15 minutes until risen and springy. Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
For the filling, season the ricotta with salt and pepper, then spread a very thin layer on each sponge base. Lay the spinach over the top. Roll up each of the roulades firmly and wrap first in greaseproof paper and then in foil. Chill in the fridge until the following day.
For the stew, first fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add the harissa, potatoes, lemon zest and juice, pepper, tomatoes and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and simmer for 10 minutes, until the potatoes are almost cooked. Add the chickpeas and spinach to the stew and stir well to heat through.
Reheat the roulades, still wrapped in foil, for about 10 minutes at 180C/gas 4. Cut each one into thick slices and serve one or two slices on top of each portion of stew.
As for comments, the other half reckons less lemon, whereas I'd perhaps cook the spinach before putting it in the roulade and cut the potatoes quite small (mine took quite a while to cook). We followed it with magdalenas (see below) - all round deliciousness!
Taking advantage of my dwindling days of holiday, I invited over big bro and my common-law-sister-in-law for a spot of lunch. I can't say that it was the smoothest of meals! The bread didn't rise and the lamb kebabs fell apart, though it all tasted pretty good. However, the one thing that turned out just beautifully was these little fellas.
Magdalenas are lovely little cakes from Spain. When in Valencia, I eat stupid amounts of chocolate chip ones - I'll have to try to make them one of these days. Normally they're quite big, like muffins, but as I only had the tin from making mince pies, mine were more bite-size. These were described by one of my guests as "moist, light and delicious". Or something like that.
125g butter, plus extra for greasing
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
50g plain yoghurt
125g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
100g pine nuts
100g raisins (recipe says soak them in sherry for an hour, though I didn't bother!)
granulated sugar for the top, to give it crunch
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease 2 muffin tins.
In a processor, cream the butter and sugar very well for about 5-10 minutes (or by hand, if your kitchen is still a bit 19th century), stopping the machine occasionally to scrape the butter and sugar back into the centre of the bowl. When pale, light and fluffy, slowly mix in the eggs, one at a time, along with the lemon zest and yoghurt. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the flour and baking powder. When they are mixed in, add the pine nuts and raisins. Spoon in the prepared tin, sprinkle with the granulated sugar and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove and cool on a rack.
(I halved the recipe which made 12 little buns.)
This recipe is dedicated to Ali and Chris, for giving us the book I got this out of (Casa Moro). I promise to make magdalenas next time you're in Cambridge!
I must have made this recipe about 5 times in the last week. I think it's been such a big hit because the deliciousness is totally out of proportion to the effort and ingredients required. I never thought I was a big fan of anchovies, but I've been totally converted by this recipe, which is basically pasta with an oniony, anchovy-y sauce. The flavour is not dissimilar to spaghetti alle vongole (see May) but it's much easier to buy these ingredients in your local supermarket.
1 large onion
1 clove garlic
2 and a half tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
6 anchovy fillets / half a 60g can in olive oil
8g butter
tiniest pinch ground cloves
1/2 tablespoon water
70ml full fat milk
250g bigoli (like spaghetti with hole down the middle) or linguine
1 big bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped
Finely chop the onions and garlic. Heat the oil in a heavy based pan and cook the onion and garlic over a low heat until you have a soft, golden mush - 
about 10 minutes. Add the sugar, stir it in and let the mixture cook for another minute or so.
Chop the anchovies very finely. Add them to the onion mush, stirring until they begin to melt, then stir in the butter and the pinch of ground cloves, followed by a tablespoonful of water and when all is combined, gradually stir in the milk. When this has come together as a puree, take the pan off the heat.
Meanwhile cook the pasta in abundant salted water, removing a ladleful of cooking liquid just before you drain it.
Tip the drained pasta into the anchovy and onion sauce and add the reserved cooking water to help lubricate the pasta. You may not need all the water, so pour in gradually. Add some oil from the anchovy tin if you need it too.
Sprinkle over most of the parsley, thoroughly turning the pasta in the pan to coat each strand in the sauce. Remove to a warm bowl, sprinkle over the remaining parsley and tuck in.
Not being a stickler for detail, I've left out a few different ingredients, namely the butter on one occasion and the milk on another, but it didn't seem to affect it too much. One thing I would say though, is don't make this without the parsley. In fact, if you've got any sense, you'll buy a little parsley plant to pop on your windowsill to keep you going for a few helpings of this. That's what we did, although the little fella is looking a bit sparse. Maybe time to give him a rest and make something else for a bit!
Oh, and happy new year!
