Squash & Mascarpone Crespelle, Bruschetta, Carbonara Ravioli

It feels like I am living on a distant land. Only last week, we could enjoy the luxury of air travel, arriving home to a cold wet island. Now all of a sudden, a volcanic eruption has left us all stranded and there is a strange glowing object in the sky. Now, I know what you have all been thinking since Thursday, ‘will this volcanic eruption disrupt Salty Squid and Tapas Friday?’ Not on your sausage! It will take more than Mother Nature to stop Salty Squid. And for those of you who had plans to travel a nice Mediterranean land but instead are stuck at home reading our blog, fear not, as Salty Squid takes you to Italy, volcanic ash or no volcanic ash.



I would love to write about how I discovered Bruschetta in an Italian Trattoria in some remote Tuscan Hill town, or along the Amalfi coast, in a romantic place, attractive waiters for her, a sassy waitress for him, candles stuck into empty bottles of Chianti Reserva supplying the amorous light, love struck couples holding hands on the tables talking about, I don’t know, what romantic couples would talk about, Foie Gras I suppose, sipping glasses of Sangiovese. Then the aforementioned sassy waitress arrives with my bruschetta, like a goddess riding a clam. As I lift my virgin slice of Bruschetta, I bit into the grilled sourdough, in an instant my taste buds are assaulted in the nicest possible way. The sweet tomatoes and the strong but not overpowering garlic, infused beautifully with excellent extra virgin olive oil and the sweet summer taste of basil, lingering in my mouth, begging for more of that garlic and tomato to play with.

Miss Saltysquid gazes at me with a mouthful of bruschetta herself, we don’t have to talk, we look deep into each others eyes, tears forming, my sassy waitress rides away on her clam, her job done. Ah how I wish this was the case. Sadly, I don’t remember my first Bruschetta at all, but I am pretty sure that I probably ordered it in some terrible Italian restaurant in the Dublin city centre because it was the ‘safest’ thing to order. I am equally assured that I would have asked for it without g..g..g..garlic. Or basil. Alas a tomato on toast would have arrived, I would have scoffed it down, thought nothing more of it, before my Spaghetti Bolognaise with chips arrived.



Bruschetta was traditionally used for testing the quality of the years olive oil, traditionally served with maybe a little garlic. For my SaltySquid tapas Bruschetta, I mixed some vine tomatoes, seeds removed, with some garlic, extra virgin olive oil, tiny bit of chilli and some fresh basil and gave it a season. I also made a cannellini bean mush, by sautéing the beans over a low heat with a little chilli and some roasted garlic and a drop of red wine and a squeeze of lemon. Seasoned. I bought some excellent light rye bread for these. Brushed with olive oil and grilled on a hot hot grill pan. As opposed to a cold cold saucepan. Once toasted, rub each slice with a clove of garlic. Spoon the toppings onto each slice of toasted rye and drizzle the tomatoes with some excellent olive oil and the beans with some rosemary oil and a slice of Finnocchiona salami. I was inspired (I robbed) most (all) of this idea from Jamie. For the rosemary oil, bash some sprigs of the herb with S&P and good olive oil. An avalanche of crushed black pepper does it for me. But you probably think you are better than me. So do whatever you want.




This dish is easier than tying your shoe laces and it probably tastes nicer too. Get yourself one squash, peel, de-seed and chop into chunks. Sprinkle with some oil and chilli powder and pepper and roast until soft – maybe 30mins ish. Blitz and wrap in muslin. Stick it into a colander with a heavy weight on top. I used a baby elephant, for 24 hours to get all the moisture out of the pumpkin. After this, mix it with 250g of Mascarpone, a couple of teaspoons of English mustard, garlic, a chilli and a good grating of fresh nutmeg. Mix well, season and taste. Mmm, good isn’t it? Now taste again. It’s really good. Next, tell your guests that the mix has fallen on to the floor, which you have not cleaned since you mud wrestled a wild boar earlier and for hygiene reasons, the 10 second rule simply doesn’t apply. Apologise. Return to the kitchen and dip your face into the mix. The trick here is to inhale all the mix before you pass out. If a guest happens to come into the kitchen at this time they will need to be restrained, tied up and gagged. Alternatively, set the mix aside and make your batter for the crespelle.


200g of plain flour, a beaten egg added to 400ml of water and a good bunch a chopped sage. Make a thin batter with the flour and water mix. Add the sage and pinch of salt. Let this mix stand for at least 30 mins.

Next, get a non-stick pan good and hot with a little oil, add just enough batter to coat the base of the pan, cook for a min or less, flip and cook for another half a min. Repeat and let them all cool.
Now for the fun part, spoon the pumpkin mix onto the pancakes, trying to make a sausage type shape and roll tightly. Repeat until all the mix is used. Refrigerate for an hour.


And finally, slice each crepe into 4, discarding the ends, place onto a baking tray and grill on a high heat for 5 ish mins. While grilling, melt butter with sage until butter turns brown, place crespelle onto a plate and spoon the butter over them – devour them all. Serves 4.






This is without doubt one of the most awkward time consuming ways to make carbonara. After making this in my shoebox kitchen, the place looked like a bomb went off. A bomb of egg, flour and cheese. Make your pasta dough by mixing an egg to 100g of Italian 00 flour. Kneed for about 10 mins until smooth and elastic, wrap in cling and let rest for an hour in the fridge. Using a pasta machine, roll the dough, starting at the widest setting, passing it twice as you move through the dials to the narrowest setting as possible. Cut the strip of pasta in half, using one half for the egg yolk ravioli and the other for the free form lasagne.

For the ravioli, cut your pasta sheet into four rectangles, large enough to be folded in half, leaving enough room for the egg yolk. Wash half of the pasta lightly with a little water using a pastry brush not a garden hose. Separate an egg in your hands and carefully slide the yolk onto the damp part of the pasta. Carefully fold over and seal, making sure to not get any air trapped. Dust with semolina flour and keep cool. Don’t make these too far in advance as the mix will make the pasta weep and become sticky. In a hot dry pan, fry the diced pancetta and a squashed clove of garlic for a few mins. Drain onto some kitchen paper and keep warm, discarding the garlic clove. Next, take the second strip of pasta cut it into four also. Place it into boiling salted water for about a minute to cook. Drain. Lay the sheet flat on a plate. At one end, sprinkle with pancetta and then fold over another piece of the pasta and sprinkle with grated parmesan. Cook your ravioli in the salted water – gently for about a min or two. Carefully remove, drain and place on top of the free form lasagne. Sprinkle with parsley and black pepper. The egg yolk must be runny in order for this to work as it is the sauce in the dish. Eat immediately.


Shopping List:
Light Rye Bread €2.80
Eggs €1.90
Mascarpone €1.50
All veggies & herbs € 5.59
Pancetta €2.15
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Total €13.94

Drinks
Cuvee Des Amandiers, 2009, 12%
Villa Di Toscana, Chianti Reserva, 2003, 13%

On the stereo
Tocotronic, Angus and Julia Stone