Napolina is the No’1 Italian cooking brand in the UK. See their full range HERE
Prices checked April 2024
Store cupboard favourites by Napolina…
📖 Cambridge – A picture portrait of every day…
A fabulous collection of photos by the Cambridge photographer, Martin Bond.
This stunning collection of 365 photographs curated from thousands of photos taken over the last seven years. A wonderful gift, or coffee table book.
Other books to enjoy…
The Stranger Times by Ciamh McDonnell
🥘 Carole’s super soup…
Packed with vitamins, this is the ideal way to get your 5 a day in one delicious soup.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 sticks celery, thinly sliced
- 2 carrot, peeled and chopped
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1 tin tomatoes
- 1 tin cannellini beans
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 100g pasta
- large mug of peas or petit pois
- fresh basil or parsley
- 4 tbsp grated parmesan
Step by step:
- Put 1 tsp olive oil in your pan, add the vegetables and cook for about 10 minutes. Rinse the cannellini beans and add them to the pan with the flour. Stir through well while you add the tomatoes.
- Rinse the tomato can twice adding the water to the soup. Crumble in the stock cube and add the pasta. Simmer until all the vegetables are softened, then add your peas for the final few minutes.
- Serve with a swirl of extra virgin olive oil and a good helping of chopped basil or parsley.
Notes:
We use Kallo® organic vegetable stock cubes and a splash or two of Maggi® seasoning.
Did you know, you can buy Filippo Berio products on line. Check out their Special Offers HERE
🥘 Carole’s spinach, pea and pesto pasta…
Peas, pesto and pasta with spinach and basil make this a tasty, colourful vegetarian dish. We have added some chopped bacon to the meat eaters portions.
Ingredients:
- 200g tagliatelle, or pasta of your choice
- 4 rashers streaky bacon
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 cup of peas
- 50g pesto sauce
- 100ml single cream
- 1/2 bag baby spinach
- handful fresh basil
- 2 tbsp parmesan
Step by step:
Step 1
Cook your pasta in a pan of well salted boiling water and grill or pan fry the streaky bacon.
Step 2
Meanwhile, add the olive oil to a sauté pan and fry off the onion until translucent. Add the peas and stir through the pesto sauce, add the cream, stir and cook until the peas are cooked. Now add and stir through the spinach.
Step 3
Drain off your pasta and add it to the sauce. Serve with the chopped bacon for meat eaters, plenty of chopped basil, and grated parmesan.
🥘 Carole’s avocado, feta and baby spinach salad…
A quick, easy, and delicious salad with homemade vinaigrette.
Ingredients:
For your vinaigrette
- 125ml extra-virgin olive
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic, 1 chopped or pressed
- sea salt and black pepper
For your salad:
- 1 garlic clove, halved (optional)
- 1 bag mixed salad leaves
- 1 bag baby spinach
- 1 large ripe avocado, peeled and chopped
- big handful of black grapes, halved
- 1/2 block feta (we used M&S Greek Feta)
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 slices streaky bacon, chopped
Step by step:
Step 1
Make your vinaigrette. Pour the extra-virgin olive oil into a glass jug or jar. Add the white wine vinegar and mustard.
Add the garlic and whisk it all together in the jug, or shake it in the jar.
Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.
The vinaigrette will keep in the fridge for a week.
Step 2
Make the salad. Take a large salad bowl and wipe the sides with the halved garlic clove. Tip in the salad leaves and baby spinach and toss the leaves so they pick up a hint of the garlic.
Add the avocado, grapes and feta cheese.
Meanwhile cook your bacon so it’s nice and crispy. Set it aside on kitchen towel.
Top the salad with the chopped bacon and serve with a drizzle of oil and your own vinaigrette.
Notes:
Experiment with the dressing. Try red wine vinegar which will give a stronger flavour. Balsamic vinegar make a sweeter dressing and goes well with salads containing fruit.
The old classic of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and chopped garlic with crusty bread for mopping up is hard to beat.
Just add radish, cucumber and celery to the salad if you want extra crunch
Filippo Berio is our choice for oil and vinegar.
🥘 Carole’s Spanakopita pasta…
Inspired by the flavours of the famous Greek pie, this pasta is quick and easy to make. The spinach and feta are a great combination, simply double or quadruple the quantities of ingredients to feed more than 1 person.
Ingredients:
- 75g penne or tagliatelle
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small clove garlic, crushed
- 2 salad onions, finely sliced
- 115g baby spinach
- 50g low fat soft cheese
- 1 handful chopped basil
- 1/2 unwaxed lemon, zested and 2 tsp juice
- 40g low fat Greek feta
Step by step:
Step 1
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the pack instructions. After 5 minutes, heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the garlic and salad onions over a low-medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring well. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, pop the lid on the pan.
Step 2
Stir in the soft cheese, basil and the lemon zest and juice. Gently heat through until piping hot and season well with black pepper.
Step 3
Add the pasta to the creamy spinach mixture. Spoon into a shallow bowl and crumble over the feta cheese to serve
🥘 Carole’s mushroom, celery and pasta soup…
This soup is made with leftover mushroom and celery pasta and has a fabulous flavour after being steeped in the pasta sauce.
Take the leftover mushroom and celery pasta, whizz it in a blender or, 10 seconds in a thermomix. Be careful not to over blend, you want to retain a chunky texture. Simply add a few chopped boiled potatoes and slices of chopped ham if you like.
🥘 Carole’s mushroom and celery pasta…
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 small leek, chopped
- 2 sticks celery, chopped
- 6 large green olives, chopped
- 4 button or chestnut mushrooms, chopped
- 6 balls tagliatelle
- 1 x 250g jar Filippo Berio grilled vegetable pasta sauce
- parmesan cheese
- fresh parsley
Step by step:
Step 1
Add the olive oil to a pan and fry off the onions, celery, leeks and mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes. Meanwhile put your pasta in a pan of boiling, salted water and cook according the pack instructions.
Add 2 tbsp water to the vegetables and continue cooking for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly so they don’t stick.
Step 2
Add the pasta sauce, stir thoroughly and cook for another 5 minutes. Add extra water if you want to thin the sauce.
Step 3
When the celery is softening, add the olives and parsley and cook for another minute or so.
To serve
Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and stir through well. Serve in one big preheated bowl for everyone to dive into, or individual bowls.
Add a good drizzle of olive oil over the pasta and have a bowl of parmesan on the table with some crusty bread for mopping up the delicious sauce.
Notes:
The quantities in the recipe here are ideal for 4 people. If there is only 2 of you, keep the leftover pasta, it makes a wonderful soup and you get two meals for £5.
Did you know?
Filippo Berio pasta sauce is gluten and lactose free. Made using only natural ingredients with no artificial flavourings or preservatives, the sauce has a traditional Italian flavour and tastes just like homemade.
Ingredients verdure grigliate sauce:
Tomato 78% (Tomato Pulp, Tomato Purée), Onion 4%, Grilled Aubergines 3%, Grilled Red Peppers 3%, Grilled Yellow Peppers 3%, Grilled Courgettes 3%, Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2%, Sugar, Garlic, Salt, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Oregano, Black Pepper.
🥘 Carole’s Moroccan bean soup…
Full of flavour and easily adapted to whatever vegetables you have to use up. This quick, easy and delicious soup will keep colds at bay.
Make the soup in a saucepan using a stick blender, or use a Thermomix©
Ingredients:
- Olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 red onion, chopped
- 2 sticks celery, chopped
- 2 large mushrooms, chopped
- 1 courgette chopped
- 1 potato, chopped
- 6 tbsp broad beans, podded
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 1 heaped tsp Harissa
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbs tomato puree
- 1 tin butter beans, drained
- A good handful of chopped parsley and mint
Step by step:
- Add 2 tbsp of oil to your pot and sweat off all the chopped vegetables and cook for approximately 10 minutes, or 5 minutes in your Thermomix© (120, reverse blade).
- Add 1 tbsp Harissa and the tin of chopped tomatoes. Refill the tomato tin with water and add the stock cube and add that to the pot with the tomato puree.
- Add the broad beans and cook for another 10 minutes
- Add the butter beans and cook for another 5 minutes
- Check your potatoes are cooked. Add the chopped parsley and mint (reserving a little for garnish) and stir
- Serve in warm bowls with a good dollop of crème fraîche or greek yoghurt, if you like.
Tips:
- Be sure to rinse your butter beans unless you want a thicker soup
- We used Kallo organic vegetable stock cubes with excellent results.
- Use a good helping of chopped parsley to garnish
- Broad beans are added during the last ten minutes and assumes you are leaving the outer skins on them as we have done here. If you take the broad beans out of their skins, add them during the last five minutes.
What is harissa?
A hot chilli paste made with red chillies, peppers, garlic, oil and vinegar (or lemon juice). It is easy to make, but we have used a shop bought one in this recipe.
Carole’s quick minestrone soup HERE
🥘 Carole’s mushroom stir fry…
We used Tilda Jasmine rice from Tesco 250g / 95p. Chestnut mushrooms at Tesco or LIDL 69p 300g punnet 06/10/22
Ingredients:
- 2 spring onions, halved and sliced lengthways
- 100g savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
- 250g chestnut mushrooms, halved
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 50g mint leaves
- 200g jasmine rice
For the dressing:
- 2 tbsp chilli oil
- 2 tbsp runny honey
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp teryaki sauce
Step by step:
- Cook the rice as per the packet instructions.
- Meanwhile heat 2 tbsp oil in a large deep non stick frying pan (or wok) over a high heat, and stir fry until the vegetables are just tender (approx 5 mins). Stir occasionally to prevent them sticking.
- When the vegetables are just starting to brown, add the mint leaves. Whisk the dressing ingredients together or shake them in a clean, sealed jam jar.
- Serve on a bed of rice or mixed through the rice, as you prefer. Serve with the dressing drizzled over or served in a small jug.
HEAL 