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Daily Record
21-05-2025
- General
- Daily Record
Mary Berry shares favourite and 'quick' 15-minute pasta recipe
Making a delicious dinner doesn't have to be difficult and time-consuming. This is one of Mary Berry's favourite pasta dishes and it's ready in just 15 minutes Pasta is a beloved dinner choice for many due to its speed, simplicity, and tastiness. Mary Berry's 15-minute pasta might just revolutionise your weekday dinners with minimal additional effort. The celebrity chef shared on BBC Food: "This is my standby pasta supper as it is so delicious, so quick and everyone loves it. "Great for everyday or for casual supper parties too. It's base is a crème fraîche pasta sauce and it's topped with crispy Parma ham, which gives tons of flavour and great texture." To whip up this dish, start by cooking the pasta in boiling salted water as per the packet's instructions. Once done, drain the pasta and put it to one side. Then, get a frying pan hot and crisp up the Parma ham, reports the Express. Set aside half of the ham, then toss mushrooms into the pan and cook them for a couple of minutes. Mix in the pasta, parmesan, and parsley, tossing everything together on the stove and seasoning to taste. Parma ham adds a sublime touch to any pasta dish, offering a tender texture and a sweet taste. Although it may cost a bit more, this cured delicacy elevates the dish to a higher standard. For serving, pair it with a fresh green salad and some crusty bread for a well-rounded, satisfying meal that's perfect for entertaining friends, family, or guests. This straightforward recipe is easy to prepare and sure to impress your guests, making it well worth a go. Here's what you'll need: 350g penne pasta. 2 x 80g packs Parma ham 250g small brown chestnut mushrooms 200g full-fat crème fraîche 100g Parmesan, grated 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley Salt and freshly ground black pepper Green salad Crunchy bread By following this recipe, you can elevate your quick pasta dish with minimal additional effort. It comes after she issued a warning about choosing the right kind of butter for baking a cake. With vast experience stretching from her training at Le Cordon Bleu to having authored over 70 cookbooks, the former Great British Bake Off judge knows that the choice of butter can significantly affect your baking outcomes. When aiming for perfection in a homemade birthday cake or her signature Victoria sponge, it could make all the difference. While you may think any choice of butter or spread will do the job, Mary said that's not the case. It's all about the right fat content. Writing for BBC Good Food, Mary emphasised checking the label for one critical detail while at the grocery store rather than during baking at home. The use of high-fat butter is crucial for Mary as it ensures cakes are light, moist, and tender. Butter boasting a fat content above 75 per cent naturally possesses less water, which means it's better at maintaining those precious air pockets for the ideal texture
Daily Mirror
09-05-2025
- General
- Daily Mirror
Mary Berry urges households to chop veggies in certain way to slash cooking time
Ahead of Mary Berry's new series Quick Cooking Mondays, the chef's latest advice to speed up the cooking time is to chop vegetables thin and nicely, or to not cut them at all National treasure Mary Berry has uncovered a top cooking tip for anyone preparing vegetables. The ex-Great British Bake Off host is a household name, and chances are you've followed one of her many recipes, When it comes to cooking, timing is important. Celebrating Mary's new series, Mary Berry's Quick Cooking Mondays on BBC Two, she shared some helpful tips when chopping vegetables. When following a recipe that involves vegetables, it can get quite time consuming - especially during the cooking process. Mary Berry, who has written over 70 cook books, has the best tips and tricks to cut things shorter altogether. Although chopping vegetables can take a fair bit of time, the cooking process is much faster. Plus, it gives a sense of accomplishment because of the time and dedication spent on preparing the dish, rather than just cutting random uneven sizes. Cut it thin and nicely When it comes to vegetables, if you don't own a vegetable chopper, you will have to use the old-fashioned way of using a sharp knife and a cutting board. BBC Food wrote: 'Mary often slices her vegetables and meats nice and thinly, so they cook quickly - or quicker yet, she sometimes doesn't cook her veg at all! Vegetables that are cooked in a flash tend to retain more of their nutrients too - win, win!' When vegetables are being cut thin, because of the heat they're being exposed to, it speeds up the cooking process. If the vegetables are not properly cut, it's harder for the heat to penetrate them, and cook them accordingly. It also helps the sauces and flavour used to stick into the vegetable. However, some vegetables don't need to be cut at all and can be just thrown into the cooking pan. Some of the many vegetables include cherry tomatoes, baby potatoes, baby carrots, lettuce, and Brussels sprouts. Of course, it also depends on what you're cooking. Another tip the chef shared is to cook using a wide pan. 'The bigger the surface, the shorter the cooking time,' the site explained. When using a big pan, it allows the food to cook evenly, nicely and way faster. By following this simple tip, experienced and non-experienced chefs can rest assured that their cooking time will be minimised by a lot of time, and the dishes will continue to be as delicious as ever. Happy cooking!
