Roll on Sunday
Sundays: A Cookbook by Sophie Goodwin is a collection of fresh, modern recipes to celebrate that Sunday feeling through brunches, feasts, long lunches and quiet evenings.
Harissa Fennel Rigatoni
Serves 2. Takes 30 minutes. Ingredients: 30g pumpkin seeds; 1 large fennel bulb; 200–250g rigatoni or tortiglioni (depending on how hungry you are); 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling; 3 fat garlic cloves; 250g cherry tomatoes; handful of dill or parsley; 1 lemon; 2–3 tablespoons harissa (depending on how spicy you like it); 30g parmesan, pecorino or veggie alternative (optional); sea salt and freshly ground; black pepper.
Toast the pumpkin seeds in a small, dry frying pan over a medium heat until they start popping. Remove from the heat, sprinkle with salt and set aside.
Put a large saucepan of salted water on to boil. While the water is heating up, very finely slice the fennel bulb, picking off the green fronds for later.
Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute less than the packet instructions.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the sliced fennel, along with a pinch of salt, and fry, stirring occasionally, for around 5 minutes until the fennel is just softened and starting to caramelise.
Meanwhile, finely slice the garlic and cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
Add the garlic to the fennel and cook, stirring, for 1 minute more, then chuck in the cherry tomatoes, along with a ladleful of the water from the pasta pan.
Bubble away, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down into a sauce. Reduce the heat to super low.
Roughly chop the herbs and zest the lemon. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving half a mug of pasta water.
Tip the pasta into the sauce, then add the harissa. Stir to combine, then drizzle over a bit more olive oil and enough reserved pasta water, until each piece of pasta is coated in the glossy sauce.
Stir through most of the herbs and all the lemon zest. Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste.
Divide between two bowls, then grate over the cheese, if using. Top with the toasted seeds, along with the remaining herbs and the fennel fronds, to serve. Banging.
Pea, Feta & Hazelnut Risotto
Serves 2 Takes 45 minutes. Ingredients: large handful of hazelnuts (blanched hazelnuts are ideal, but no stress if you can’t get them); 300g frozen peas; 1 banana shallot or 1 small onion; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 2 garlic cloves; handful of mint; 150g risotto rice (arborio or carnaroli work well); 150ml white wine; 600-700ml boiling vegetable stock; 1–2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar; 30g parmesan or veggie alternative; 100g feta; Tabasco, to serve (optional); squeeze of lemon juice, to serve (optional); sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Toast the hazelnuts in a small dry frying pan over a medium heat until lightly golden, then set aside.
Weigh out your frozen peas into a bowl and set aside to defrost.
Finely chop the shallot or onion.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the shallot or onion, along with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring regularly, for 8-10 minutes until softened but not coloured.
Meanwhile, finely chop the garlic cloves, roughly chop the toasted hazelnuts, and pick the mint leaves.
Add the garlic to the frying pan and cook for 1 minute more, then tip in the rice. Stir everything together, toast for a minute or so, then pour in the white wine.
Once the wine has been absorbed by the rice, add a ladleful of vegetable stock. Cook, stirring regularly, until the stock has been absorbed, then repeat.
Keep adding the stock until most of it has been absorbed and the rice is tender with a slight bite; this will take around 20-25 minutes.
Meanwhile, tip half the peas into a blender, along with 1 tablespoon of the vinegar, most of the mint, plenty of salt and pepper and 100ml water. Blitz to form a smooth, vivid green purée. (If you prefer, you can do this in a bowl using a handheld stick blender.)
Once the rice is tender, stir through the pea purée and the remaining whole peas. Finely grate in the parmesan and stir until everything is heated through. Season to taste, adding a little more vinegar if you like.
Dish up the risotto between two bowls, then crumble over the feta and scatter over the toasted hazelnuts and the remaining mint leaves.
I like to finish it with a splash of Tabasco and a squeeze of lemon, to serve.
Prune Sticky Toffee
Serves 8. Takes 1 hour 20 minutes. Ingredients: 75g salted butter, plus a little extra for greasing; 175g prunes (destoned weight); 150ml boiling water; 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda; 150g soft light brown sugar; 2 medium eggs; 2 tablespoons black treacle; 150g self-raising flour; ice cream, cream or custard, to serve; fine sea salt. For the sauce: 170g salted butter; 170g soft light brown sugar; 2 heaped tablespoons black treacle; 300ml double cream; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin.
De-stone the prunes, then blitz in a food processor to a rough paste, or chop by hand. Add to a bowl, then pour in the boiling water and the bicarb. Stir, then set aside.
Measure the butter and sugar into a large bowl. Whisk together (a hand whisk is fine) until well combined, then crack in the eggs and whisk again. Add the treacle, followed by the flour and a big pinch of salt.
Whisk until you have a smooth batter, then add the prunes, along with their soaking liquid, and whisk again.
Scrape the batter into the tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer, or piece of spaghetti, poked into the centre comes out clean.
Leave to cool completely in the tin. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over a medium heat. Bubble away for 3-5 minutes until fully amalgamated into a luscious toffee sauce.
Season with salt to taste for proper salted caramel vibes. Turn off the heat.
Just before serving, preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C fan/ 350°F/gas mark 4. Line a large roasting tray with foil.
Cut the sticky toffee loaf into 8 thick slices. Dollop a large spoonful of toffee sauce on top of each slice, pop on the tray then cover the tray with foil. Heat for 8-10 minutes until bubbling.
Meanwhile, reheat any remaining toffee sauce in a pan to pour over. Serve each slice covered in sauce, with ice cream, cream or custard: your choice.
Tip: This sticky toffee loaf will taste even better the next day (it keeps for a week). Once baked and cooled, wrap it tightly in clingfilm and keep at room temperature.
The sauce can be made in advance and kept in the fridge. It will harden once cold, but will come back together once reheated.