Ricarelli

2 egg whites
225g caster sugar
pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon almond essence
300g ground almonds
icing sugar

Whisk the egg whites until stiff and then whisk in the salt and sugar. Stir in the zest and essences and finally stir in the almonds to make a stiff paste. Divide into 32 balls, or more traditionally diamond shapes, and lay on a baking sheet. Either leave over night to harden or place in a recently used oven with the door open, for a hour or two. Then bake at 140°C for 30min until just colouring. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Recipe from Nigella's How to be a Domestic goddess.

Today is Ada Lovelace Day

Evolution March - Home made meatballs and spaghetti pesto

The March evolution comes from Naomi:

"In the true evolution spirit I present the next fossil in our collection, on reflection this is a bit like the Cambrian where we see a new life born from a previous ancestor that seems to bare no resemblance!

The ingredients were: (new ingredients in bold)

1 Onion
1 clove Garlic
2 Courgette
2 Carrot
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Chilli oil
Basil

Mince beef (as much as you like / veggie mince can be substituted)
3 Bashed crackers
A small egg (1/2 is better)
Few (5)spinach leaves
A slosh of soya cream
5 Hazelnuts
3 Mushroom
Mange-tout (handful)
Spaghetti – replacing the wraps!

Removed
Aubergine
Peppers

Using the Onion, garlic, courgette, carrot, salt and pepper; with a little oil from the previous evolutionary fossil, I whizzed them all up in a food processor with the grating blade attached. Tipping the mixture into a bowl add mince beef, bashed crackers and a small egg. I combined all these ingredients with a spoon then using my hands I made 8 medium balls. Placing them carefully in a Pyrex dish lightly oiled and with a lid I put them in the oven at 200°C (not sure my oven temp is accurate but needs to be fairly hot but not enough to burn them!)

The balls were turned after 20min and the lid removed to let them crisp and harden a little. They were left for a further 25-35 min to cook fully.

In the “incubation” periods I used the garlic, cream cheese (ricotta and quark), olive oil, chilli oil and basil with the addition of a few spinach leaves, a slosh of soya cream and hazelnuts to make the pesto (whizzed in a mini blender). I also chopped up the rest of the courgette, carrot and added some mushroom and mange-tout; these were roasted and added to the pasta later.

The spaghetti was cooked when needed as directed by the packet; I used gluten free pasta because that is what we have in the house.

When the pasta was cooked and drained the pesto and roast vegetables were stirred in (I made a little too much and added a little too much but it was still scrummy)

I placed the meatballs on top and voila – my evolution creation!

Although there appears to be lots of new ingredients I only used a very small amount of each – Natural selection prevailed because that’s what I had in the fridge! (in the pic there is a sauce which was just for decoration! But it’s from Ikea)"

From Dad and the FT!