Dried and tested

Invigorated by a recent stay in Venice, Simon Hopkinson has returned with some inspired recipes, matching seafood with (shock! horror!) dried pasta

A curious habit has developed over the last 10 years or so, vis-à-vis the repertoire of many of our terminally challenged, trend-obsessed chefs, and it is simply this: the daily manufacture of hand-cranked, home-made pasta dough. Naturally, this has nothing whatsoever to do with any sort of Italophile leanings (Heaven forbid!). On the contrary, the stuff has been traduced to little more than various garnishes to main-course dishes or the wrapping-up of first-course fish or meat protein. I mean, for goodness sake, pasta should be the vehicle in itself, not some sort of sidecar along for the ride. The premise seems to be that anything other than home-made fresh pasta is a dirty word.

How refreshing, therefore, to have just returned from a long-overdue trip to Venice where this sort of carry-on has no place. As usual, a fair amount of our time there was spent in Harry's Bar; well, it was only five steps away from the door of our hotel ... The Cipriani family, which owns said hotel, has, I reckon, been commercially manufacturing its own egg pasta for about 10 years now – and superb it is too! And, naturally, as it is so very well made, this is the one they choose to use on the premises.

The Cipriani brand, which is wonderfully packaged in waxed-paper-lined, pastel-coloured cardboard boxes, is limited to only five or six lines, which perhaps explains why the quality remains so fine. My local Tesco supermarket stocks it (as did a branch in Midsomer Norton, Somerset, recently – so it is quite widely available) and so do almost all decent Italian food shops and good quality delicatessens. I urge you to try it, as well. It may not be the cheapest brand you can buy, but it is, without doubt, the best dried pasta I know.

Tagliarelle with squid

Serves 2

Although you might think it extravagant to use a piece of white fish simply to flavour this dish and then just throw it away, I assure you that this is by far the better option than going to the trouble of making a fish stock from fish bones or purchasing a tub of "fresh fish stock" from the supermarket (don't even consider using this stuff). A small piece of haddock, skate, or even coley will suffice here.

2tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
200g cheap white fish, chopped
salt and pepper
1 glass dry white wine
a little fresh thyme and a bay leaf
25g butter
200g small squid tubes, cleaned and thinly f sliced, tentacles left intact
2 small sachets of preserved cuttlefish ink (available from all good fishmongers and specialist shops)
150g Cipriani white tagliarelle
squeeze of lemon juice
1tbsp chopped parsley

Fry the onion and garlic until just beginning to colour and then stir in the tomatoes. Cook these until soft and then add the fish, seasoning, white wine and herbs. Stew this mixture together for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and then pass through a fine sieve -- suspended over a bowl -- while pressing down well on the debris to extract all possible flavour from it into the juices below. Reduce this mixture over a low heat until just beginning to turn syrupy.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and briefly sauté the squid until lightly coloured. Lift out from the pan using a slotted spoon and place in a bowl. Add the reduced fishy liquid to the pan and whisk in the contents of the two sachets of ink. Boil the pasta in salted water until al dente, drain well and stir into the -- by now -- black sauce. Re-introduce the squid, together with the lemon juice and parsley, and stir and toss all together until fully amalgamated. Serve at once, directly from the pan, on to very hot plates.

Green tagliardi with crab, garlic, chilli and parsley

Serves 2

I am particularly fond of these slightly squiffy, just off-square, thin and pale green pasta pieces. In fact, it is this one, more than any of the other Cipriani pasta varieties, that confirms how much of a hand-crafted product this surely is -- however factory-produced may be its origin. On the menu at Harry's Bar, they serve it judiciously moistened with a few spoonfuls of veal ragu; the star, here, as always, being the pasta rather than its equally delicious dressing.

2tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
a good pinch of dried chilli flakes
1tbsp chopped parsley
100g Cipriani green tagliardi
150-200g freshly cooked crab meat -- one-third brown to two-thirds white
a little lemon juice

Using a medium-sized, preferably non-stick frying pan, gently fry the garlic in the olive oil until pale golden. Add the chilli flakes and parsley and put to one side. Boil the pasta in salted water until al dente and drain well. Introduce the crab meat to the oil/garlic/ chilli/parsley mixture in the frying pan and heat through over a low light, stirring constantly. Add the pasta, turn up the temperature and toss everything together until fully mixed. Serve up at once, directly from the pan, on to very hot plates.

Tagliolini with prawns and celery

Serves 2

One of the more unusual pecadillos of the kitchen at Harry's Bar is a fondness for lightly seasoning some dishes with curry spice. Here is how Arrigo Cipriani talks about curry. I dare you not to choose it the next time you go there.

"My father [Giussepe Cipriani] always made a point of having very high-quality curry powder. When we couldn't find a brand we liked, we worked out our own formula, using a lot of coriander, with a local spice merchant. But I always had trouble getting it in the quantities I needed.

"Then I went to Kenya for a vacation. One day I bought a little plastic bag of curry powder in a bazaar by the beach. When I got home and tasted it, this turned out to be the best curry I'd ever tasted. Using all my ingenuity, I managed to locate the curry seller and received a large shipment of the powder almost immediately. When I enquired if I could get some more, the curry maker said, 'Certainly. But I want to be paid in women's underwear.' Willing to undergo any amount of embarrassment for the good of Harry's Bar, I went to a department store and made a careful selection of 60 pairs of women's panties of all different colours, shapes and sizes. We have had wonderful curry ever since."

400g whole, cooked shell-on prawns (available from the supermarket fish counter, previously frozen, but of good quality)
2tbsp olive oil
salt and a touch of cayenne pepper
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
1 leek, trimmed and finely sliced, washed
4 ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 glass white wine
To finish the dish
3-4 sticks celery, carefully peeled, sliced in two lengthways and then cut into small lozenge shapes
a little extra virgin olive oil
a generous pinch of curry powder
a little freshly chopped dill
a tiny splash of Pernod
a squeeze of lemon juice
100g Cipriani white tagliolini

Shell the prawns, keeping all their debris (heads and tail shells). Put the tails into a bowl and keep cool in the fridge. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and briefly fry the prawn-shell debris, with the seasoning, until lightly singed by the oil. Add the celery, leek, tomatoes and garlic and continue to cook until most of the tomato juices have been driven off. Add the wine and leave to simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Strain through a colander (suspended over a large bowl) and press down the debris, using the back of a ladle, until every last vestige of flavour has been extracted. Strain the liquid once more through a fine sieve into a small pan and reduce until lightly syrupy. Reserve.

Using a medium frying pan, gently stew the chopped celery sticks in the olive oil, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add the curry powder and dill and continue to cook for a minute or two. Add the Pernod, lemon juice and the reserved prawn-shell reduction, then tip in the prawn tails. While these are heating through, boil the pasta in salted water until al dente, drain well and then add to the frying pan. Toss everything together over a high heat, making sure that both the prawns and the celery are evenly distributed throughout. Serve up at once, directly from the pan, on to very hot plates.