Rotolo Conquered

This has become my personal Jerusalem. A rustic classic from Jamie Oliver (page 99 of Jamies Italy - well sticky by now), but does come with the proviso you should practise it before thinking of serving it.  

Worrying words indeed. Mr Oliver is a fine cook (a point acknowledged with typical magnanimity by the late lamented Anthony Bourdain), and he or his kitchen are generally on the button about the complexity of any recipe. 

So I think 2 years ago it took not one, not two, not three, but four attempts before an edible rotolo issued from our kitchen. And the fifth passed muster at our Xmas in Ballymore.

Once again into the fray

So that kind of got repressed as "phew, glad I don't have to try that again", until such time that Eilish decided to stay at home and cook. Yikes, what was going to happen to my happy time in the kitchen? 

Occasional bursts of prepping and freezing meals ensued. One of which involved a mega sized rotolo which was hastily consigned to the depths of the freezer, hopefully never to be encountered again. 

Until today.

That does not look good. Time to bundle it up, chuck it in hot water and hope for the best (and give the fish kettle one of it's rare workouts)

and this is the killer in this recipe - you can't test or even see the pasta. 25 mins is Jamie's recommendation, but it is dependent on the thickness of the pasta. I ended up opening the rotolo, then sticking it back together for another 10 minute simmer before arriving at:

Tomato sauce prepared earlier, bit of parmesan, and some shallow fried sage leaves from the garden (in olive oil Jamie, I really am not in mood for clarifying butter at this point). Et voila!

and it was actually quite good - even Eilish said so.