Spaghettini with a Double-Creamy Onion, Lemon and ‘Caviar’ Sauce

Very special occasions deserve special food, and this simple yet disgracefully indulgent pasta dish perfectly fits the bill.

Spaghettini with a Double-Creamy Onion, Lemon and ‘Caviar’ Sauce.
Photograph by Michael Le Grange, and bowl by David Walters.
Image © Random House Struik 2012.

This is a recipe from my cookbook, and I'd forgotten all about it. Isn't it odd how one so easily forgets recipes? I was reminded of this dish by someone on Twitter, who wanted to ask me a question about the ingredients.

This is really easy to make, but, as I said in my book, "the important thing here is to achieve a silken, unctuous sauce, so be sure to use a top-quality full-fat cream cheese: the low-fat variety, or creamed cottage cheese, will not do. Good black lumpfish roe is expensive, but it goes a long way, and adds an essential, delicate ocean taste to this sauce." I can recommend Lancewood cream cheese, which is quite expensive, but it has a lovely texture.

I snapped this picture when I was writing and testing the recipe for my
book.  Bowl by David Walters. I think food photographer
Michael Le Grange's picture wins, don't you?

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Spaghettini with a Double-Creamy Onion, Lemon and ‘Caviar’ Sauce

2 x 250 g tubs full-fat cream cheese
4 Tbsp (60 ml) butter
2 medium onions, peeled and very finely and neatly diced
2 small cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
5 Tbsp (75 ml) dry white wine
juice of 1 large lemon
1 Tbsp (15 ml) finely grated lemon zest
1½ cups (375 ml) fresh cream
1½ packets (750 g) spaghettini, or similar thin pasta
1 x 100 g tub of good-quality black lumpfish roe

Place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and beat energetically with a metal whisk until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large, shallow pan, add the onions and garlic and cover them with a circle of baking paper, or the wrapper from a block of butter. Cook over a very low heat for 10 minutes, or until the onions are translucent and very soft.

Remove the paper, turn up the heat slightly and add the wine and lemon juice. Bubble briskly for 3–4 minutes, or until the liquid in the pan has reduced to a tablespoon or so of slightly sticky glaze.

Turn the heat down again, add the cream cheese and whisk until smooth. Add the lemon zest and cream and bubble gently for a further 2–3 minutes, stirring all the time. If the sauce seems a little too thick to coat the spaghettini (this will depend on the type of cream cheese you’ve used) thin it with a few tablespoons of warm water; it should be about the consistency of pouring cream. Cover the pan and set aside.

When you’re ready to serve, cook the pasta in plenty of rapidly boiling salted water for 9–10 minutes, or until al dente. Put eight pasta bowls in a low oven to warm. While the pasta’s cooking, gently reheat the sauce till very hot, but don’t let it boil. Drain the pasta for 30 seconds in a colander, then tip it, still slightly damp, into the hot sauce. Remove from the heat, add 2-3 Tbsp (or more, to taste) of  the caviar and gently toss together so every strand of pasta is coated. Swirl the spaghettini into the warmed bowls and top each one with a little extra caviar change in yellow, above Serve with a plain salad of mixed dark green leaves dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and salt.

Serves 8.

Cook’s Notes

The sauce, hot pasta and lumpfish roe must be tossed together immediately before serving, but you can make the sauce – up to the point where you thin it with water – well in advance. Keep it in a lidded container in the fridge, then reheat it and continue with the recipe.

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Kumquat, Ginger & Chilli 'Jam'

An easy and unusual preserve made with winter kumquats, fresh ginger and dried red chillies. It has only a slight kick to it, but you can add more heat if you want a nose-blaster of a jam.

Kumquat, Ginger & Chilli 'Jam'

Kumquats are one of my favourite winter fruits: I love their powerful citrussiness, and the way their skins turn to a translucent deep amber when you poach them in syrup. Try my Kumquat Compote (with a few musings on the origins of this rude-sounding word) and, if you have a sweet tooth, my half-candied kumquats dipped in bitter chocolate.

This recipe was inspired by these beautiful kumquats. I added chilli and ginger
because both ingredients happened to be sitting on my windowsill when
I took this photograph.

This 'jam' goes a long way because it is so intense. It's lovely with sharp Cheddar or a melting brie, and sensational with any creamy mild blue cheese.  Try it with smoked ham, or dabbed over chunky country terrines or silky-smooth chicken liver pâté.

Also, it keeps well in the fridge: I've had this jar for about a month now, and its taste has definitely improved on standing.  If you'd like to preserve this - it would go down a treat on a Christmas table, with hot glazed gammon - be sure to sterilise the jars, and to fill them to the brim with very hot jam before sealing them.

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Kumquat, Ginger & Chilli 'Jam'

700 g kumquats
1½ cups (375 ml) water
105 ml white wine vinegar
1½ cups (375 ml) light brown sugar
3 dried red chillies, de-seeded and finely shredded
a thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, sliced in three pieces
1 tsp (5 ml) whole black peppercorns
a pinch of salt

The jam is ready when the syrup has thickened
and darkened slightly.

Rinse the kumquats but don't cut them up. Put the water, vinegar, sugar, chillies, ginger, peppercorns and salt into a heavy-based pan and bring gently up to the boil, stirring now and then to dissolve the sugar.

Cook at a brisk bubble for 5 minutes. Now tip in the  kumquats, turn down the heat, and simmer gently for 30 minutes or so, or until the fruit is very soft and glassy, and the liquid has reduced to a thickish syrup.

Watch the pan carefully, as there isn't much liquid, and it can turn to caramel in an instant.

If you're going to keep this in the fridge for immediate use, let the jam cool for a few minutes, then ladle it into clean jars.  If you want to keep this in the cupboard for future use, sterilise your jars and plastic-lined lids (here's how) and fill them to the brim with piping-hot jam.  Press down gently with the back of a spoon to eliminate any air bubbles, screw on the lids and tighten. Let the jars cool for 30 minutes, and then tighten the lids again.

Makes two average-sized jars.

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Low-Carb Slow-Cooked Courgettes & Cherry Tomatoes with Melty Feta

Vegetables cooked to a tender mush are frowned upon these days, and I have to agree with the general sentiment that bright, fresh and tender-crisp is the way to go. I very seldom cook any plant to the point of disintegration but, then again, there are a handful of vegetables that are sublime when subjected to long, slow seething, among them aubergines, fennel, leeks, onions, waterblommetjies and tomatoes. And - as you will see in this this recipe - courgettes!

Slow-Cooked Courgettes & Cherry Tomatoes with Melty Feta Wheels.

Courgettes are meek veggies packing very little punch in the flavour department, but I love them in all forms - shaved raw into salads, grated and tangled into fritters and quiches, pencilled into stir-fries, and pan-fried in thick coins, all ready for a simple dressing of olive oil, lemon and salt.

They're also gorgeous when carefully cooked to a state of silken collapse: just think of the best ratatouilles of your life!  In this recipe, I've added cherry tomatoes, which are blistered in a very hot pan before they go into the oven.

This is good piping hot, with wheels of peppered feta, and it's also delicious cold as a snack or starter: see my Cook's Notes at the end of this blog post for further tips.

A simple but intense baked tomato sauce. Try this with halloumi cheese
instead of feta!

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Slow-Cooked Courgettes & Cherry Tomatoes with Melty Feta 

3 Tbsp (45 ml) olive oil
1 kg cherry tomatoes
a large sprig of thyme
2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped or grated
5 Tbsp (75 ml) dry white wine
1 kg courgettes [baby marrows/zucchini]
salt and milled black pepper
3 'wheels' or squares (about 220 g in total) of feta cheese, patted dry on kitchen paper
baby mint or basil leaves, or fronds of fresh dill (see Cook's Notes)
extra olive oil, for sprinkling

The tomatoes are first blistered in a
frying pan, then roasted with the
courgettes.

Heat the oven to 180 ºC. Place a large roasting tray over a fierce heat on your hob and add the olive oil. When the oil is very hot - but not yet smoking -  add the cherry tomatoes and cook them, tossing the pan energetically, for a few minutes, or until their skins begin to blister and peel. Add the thyme, garlic and wine, stir well, and cook for another minute or two. Remove the tray and set aside.

Rinse the courgettes to get rid of any grit, top and tail them and cut them into 5-cm lengths. Add them to the roasting pan and mix everything together. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover the pan tightly with tin foil and bake at 180 ºC for 30 minutes. Now remove the foil, give the veggies a good stir and turn the heat down to 160 ºC, fan on (or to 170 ºC if your oven has no fan).

Cook uncovered for another 65-75 minutes, or until the tomato sauce has reduced and slightly thickened (see Cook's Notes, below). Add the feta to the tray, turn the heat up to 220 ºC, fan on, and blast for another 5-10 minutes, or until the feta is soft and bubbling. Drizzle with a little fruity olive oil, scatter over the mint or basil leaves, and serve immediately, with hunks of bread.

Serves 6 as a side dish; 4 as a main course. 

Cook's Notes

• The tomatoes need to cook down slowly to a deep, intense sauce. If the sauce seems watery, leave the veggies to bake for a little longer.
• This dish needs a topping of young herb leaves, but I advise that you choose just one type of herb, because clean, simple flavours are important here. Mint and basil are good, and it's also lovely with small snippings of fresh dill.  
• You can bake the dish well ahead of time and keep it, covered, on your counter top. Add the feta wheels when you reheat the tray in a very hot oven. 
• This is a great served cold as a topping for bruschetta: dollop it onto toasted ciabatta slices and add cheese: nuggets of goat's milk cream cheese, or Parmesan shavings, or milky slices of excellent mozzarella.    

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Drained Maas Cheese Roll with Lemon, Pepper & Smoked Paprika

I've had a lovely response to my recipe for drained maas [amasi] cheese - thank you for the emails and messages!  I'm so excited by this method for making gorgeous soft white cheese at home that I've made three more batches this week, experimenting with a variety of flavours. Here is my current favourite: a 'salami' of cheese with lemon zest and white pepper, rolled in cracked black pepper & smoked paprika.

Drained Maas Cheese flavoured with lemon and pepper.
 Plate by Master Potter of Franschhoek David Walters.

This cheese is so inexpensive to make at home - the two-litre bottle of full-cream maas it takes to make two of these will set you back around R20. A huge saving, considering that a single, smaller (100g) 'salami' of this sort costs between R19 and R23 at upmarket stores.

I am smitten by white pepper, so tend to use it with abandon, but as it has a strong, rather 'dusty' flavour, I suggest you add it to the cheese in pinches, tasting as you go.

This home-made cheese is also good with sweet chilli jam (see Cook's Notes).

Another wonderful flavouring for this cheese is horseradish (see my Cook's Notes at the end of this blog post).

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Drained Maas Cheese Roll with Lemon, Pepper & Smoked Paprika

a drained maas cheese, made from 1 litre of full-cream maas
the finely grated zest of half a lemon
½ tsp (2.5 ml) white pepper
salt, to taste
freshly milled black pepper
1 tsp (5 ml) good smoked paprika

To serve: 
fresh radishes, or crunchy accompaniments of your choice
Salticrax or similar salted crackers, to serve

Tip the cheese into a bowl. Add the lemon zest, pepper and salt, to taste, and knead well with your fingertips. It's quite a sticky cheese, so you might want to use a sturdy spoon instead.

Roll the cheese into a tight salami shape.

Form the cheese into a ball and then roll it into a neat salami shape between the palms of your hands. Place a piece of clingfilm or baking paper on the counter and grind over it plenty of black pepper. Gently roll the cheese back and forth so it is coated all over. Now dip the two ends in the pepper. Repeat the process using the smoked paprika.

Place the cheese on one end of a new length of clingfilm and roll it up, as if you are making a Christmas cracker.  Grasp the two ends of the 'cracker' and continue roll the cheese away from you to form a neat, tight cylinder. Twist the two ends together (see picture above), and refrigerate for 4-5 hours, or until firm.

Unroll the cheese, slice it into discs (see Cook's Notes) and serve with crackers and radishes.

Makes one cheese; serves 4 as a snack, with accompaniments.  

Cook's Notes

• The best way to slice this cheese is with a length of unscented dental floss or similar thin, strong thread.   
• If you're not in South Africa, you can make this with yoghurt, using this recipe.
• This is also good with sweet chilli sauce, tomato jam, wine jelly, quince jelly, and so on.
• Try using the maas cheese in my recipe for Smoked Venison with Horseradish & White Pepper. You can serve this pressed into a mould, or formed into dear little 'lollipops' (see below, right.)

Smoked Venison with Horseradish & White-Pepper Cream Cheese, served two ways

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