Tiger prawns cooked in sea salt (a.k.a. Mazzancolle al sale)
Preparation: 10 mins
Cooking: 10 mins
Difficulty: Easy
When looking for “mazzancolle” at the fishmonger, just ask for tiger prawns. For the recipe below, I used 10 tiger prawns because it is quite easy to lay them in one circular flan dish. If you want to cook more than 10, then I suggest you use use more than one oven dish or cook at different stages remembering to use the same salt mixture (it tastes even better!). This recipe is ideal as a starter when you have a fish meal but you can also decide to have it as a main course (it just depends on how many tiger prawns you use).
SERVES 2-3 AS A STARTER
Ingredients:
10 Tiger prawns
Coarse sea salt (in this recipe I used 800 g - 1 ½ lb of salt)
Lemon (just half lemon)
40 ml (1 ½ fl oz) Extra virgin Olive Oil
A handfull of flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)
Directions:
Put all the salt into a large bowl.
Squeeze over about half a lemon.
Add the parsley.
Add the Olive Oil.
Mix everything together.
Put part of the mixture into a flan dish to form a bed.
Lay the tiger prawns onto the salt bed with their heads pointing outwards.
Cover the tiger prawns bodies with the remaining salt paying attention NOT to cover the heads.
This is how it should look like before putting it in the oven. Now, pre-heat the oven at 200 °C (gas mark 6) and when it is ready, put the dish into the oven for about 8 - 10 minutes (see How to cook perfect mazzancolle). Generally speaking, the prawns should be ready when their heads start becoming slightly burnt. Try different cooking times to suit your taste. This way you will know exactly how to get the best results from your oven.
To serve this dish, place in the middle of the table and everyone helps themselves. Remember that because the salt is very hot, the prawns will still be cooking. To avoid overcooking, remove the top layer of salt with a fork.
Buon appetito!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
mozzarella in a carriage
Mozzarella in a carriage (a.k.a. Mozzarella in carrozza)
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking: 4 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Mozzarella in a carriage or, as we say in Italy, mozzarella in carrozza is a recipe that comes from the South of the country. It is a slice of mozzarella, sandwiched between two slices of bread and then fried. Usually it is eaten as a snack or starter and it is very simple to prepare. It is important you use top quality Ingredients when making it otherwise it will be no more than a tasteless fried sandwich!
SERVES 4
Ingredients:
8 Slices of bread about 8-10 mm thick
1 Buffalo mozzarella ball (with one ball you will make 4 slices)
3 Eggs
30 ml (2 tbs) Milk
4 Anchovy fillets (alternatively 4 little slices of cooked ham)
Salt and ground white pepper for seasoning
Light Olive Oil for frying (do not use sunflower oil!)
Note: speaking about bread, in Italy, for practical reasons, it is quite common to use "pan carre`". This is a readily available soft white bread you can buy in any bakery or supermarket and it is usually sold already sliced.However, considering that the recipe comes from southern Italy, the tradition there is to use a more rustic bread like "pane pugliese", alternatively you can try "pane toscano" or any equivalent country bread especially something homemade.It is not necessary to have fresh bread; in the past people did not waste anything and the use of stale bread in recipes was a common practice. The loaf of bread in the picture above is one I had made with my bread machine and it is a couple of days old.
Directions:
Cut the slices of bread. You need 8 slices to serve 4 persons.
Pair the slices putting one on top of another and trim the edges to get rid of the crust. Also, the two slices must match in size.
Cut the mozzarella ball into 4 slices like this.
Pat dry the mozzarella slices using kitchen paper.
Fill the pan with Olive Oil and start heating the oil.
While the oil is getting hot, put the eggs in a large bowl and season with salt.
Season with pepper.
Stir with a fork for a few seconds.
Add the milk.
Stir again for a few seconds.
Take two slices of bread and top one slice with mozzarella. The slice of mozzarella has to be smaller than the slice of bread so that the two slices of bread can be joined and encase the mozzarella.
Put one anchovy fillet onto the slice of mozzarella. The anchovy will give the mozzarella in carrozza a nice and delicate flavour (if you are concern about fish bones, you can use anchovy paste instead). Another option, if you do not like anchivies, is to top the mozzarella with a little square of cooked ham.
Cover with the second slice of bread.
Press the sandwich down so that the two slices of bread join together, especially around the side edges.
Now, take the sandwich and holding the two bread slices firmly together (it is easier to do this using both your hands), dip each side edge for a fraction of a second into cold water.
Then, dip the wet side edge into the flour. This will create a sort of glue that will help to seal the sandwich during the frying stage.
Here I am checking the oil temperature. I usually start frying when it reaches 160ºC.
When the oil has reached the right temperature for frying, dip the whole sandwich (on both sides) into the egg wash. It will be a bit messy but do not worry too much about it!
The sandwich is ready for frying.
Put the sandwich into the pan (you can use a wooden spatula to slide the sandwich down into the pan) and fry for about 2 minutes or until golden brown.
Then, using a wooden spatula, turn the sandwich onto the other side and fry for another 2 minutes.
Now, it looks ready, so take it out and lay the mozzarella in carrozza onto a ktchen paper to absorb the excess oil.
Next, put a few lettuce leaves on the plate and top them with the mozzarella in carrozza.
Buon appetito!
bread and egg soup
Bread and egg soup (a.k.a. Zuppa alla Pavese)
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking: 2 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Zuppa alla Pavese is a soup made with stock, bread and eggs. Despite the simplicity of the Ingredients, this soup is regarded as a real delicacy and I totally agree with this opinion. The recipe comes from Pavia, a city not far from Milan, and it seems that it was invented by a farmer during the time of the “la battaglia di Pavia” in 1525 (the battle of Pavia). The legend says that the king of France, Francis I, lost the battle against the emperor Charles V, and tired and wounded found refuge in a farm where he was served with this soup. Whether the legend is true or false, it doesn’t matter; certainly the recipe is very old and probably traces back to a few centuries ago, when wars and plagues made the food scarce and people were forced to cook with what they had. It’s a very nourishing soup that I usually prepare for lunch during cold weather.
SERVES ONE PERSON
Ingredients:
2 Eggs
1 Large slice of bread
1 Beef stock cube (to be dissolved in ¾ pint of boiling water)
Enough Parmesan cheese (grated) for a generous sprinkle
A generous knob of butter
An oven proof dish to contain the soup
Note 1: the Ingredients in the list are for one person, but if you have guests, always consider 2 eggs and 1 slice of bread per person. About the stock, I had all the ¾ pint for myself so, in case of guests, prepare more stock.
Note 2: eggs must be absolutely fresh and I would not use anything that is not organic.
Note 3: in the past, stale bread was used for this recipe. Use whatever bread you want but a home made loaf of countryside bread is the best bet!
Directions:
Before we start, put your oven proof dish in the oven because we need it hot for a later stage (you can set the oven to the minimum, but I recommend the use of oven gloves when it is time to take the dish out of the oven). Next, cut a slice of bread.
Remove the hard crust and cut the big slice in two parts.
Prepare the stock, dissolving the stock cube in ¾ pint of boiling water.
Now, take a shallow pan (a frying pan will do the job) and melt the butter.
Fry the bread until both the sides are golden brown.
This is the kind of colour we have to achieve.
Once the bread is ready, take the oven proof dish out of the oven.
Put the bread inside the dish, pressing it down so that it stays on the bottom of the dish.
Break the eggs over the bread.
Now, a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
The dish is ready for the adding of the stock. The stock must be boiling hot (not simmering) so raise the heat before adding it into the dish.
We add the stock to cover. The heat of the stock will partially cook the eggs. You can cover the dish with a plate and leave the dish alone for one minute or two, then you can serve the dish.
With this soup the eggs will never be thoroughly cooked, but this is it and I cannot change the tradition. However, if you are serving the soup to children or old people, you may consider poaching the eggs before laying them onto the bread; then you add the stock. Alternatively, before adding the stock, you can pass the dish under a grill, in order to cook the eggs, but you need to be careful not to burn the bread. Try it and find the solution that best suits you.
Feel free to add some ground black pepper if you wish.
Buon appetito
Rice croquettes (a.k.a. Polpette di riso)
Rice croquettes (a.k.a. Polpette di riso)
Preparation: 30 mins
Cooking: 20 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Vegetarian
Ever cooked too much rice? Well, put the extra rice in the fridge and the day after convert it in delicious croquettes. When I prepare the Parmigiana risotto, I always prepare a lot of it so the day after I can prepare croquettes. Eaten when warm they are lovely but cold they are even better!
2 CROQUETTES PER PERSON AS STARTER4 CROQUETTES PER PERSON AS SIDE DISH
Ingredients:
450g (1lb) Rice from the day before
2 Eggs (medium size)
25 g (1 oz) Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Some mozzarella balls (diced)
A small bowl containing dry breadcrumbs (finely grated)
Sunflower oil for deep frying
Directions:
Put the rice into a large bowl.
Add 1 egg first and start to mix it with the rice. If the mix looks too dry, then you can add the second egg or just the yolk. What you need is a mix from which you can easily make balls (not too dry, not too loose).
Stir until all the egg coats the rice.
Now, add the Parmesan cheese and stir thoroughly. At this stage, you are free to add other Ingredients if you like (i.e.: ham cut into small pieces - but of course the dish is no longer vegetarian!)
Take some of the rice in one hand and put 1 or 2 small mozzarella dices into it. Close the mozzarella inside making a rice ball.
Then, roll the ball in the breadcrumbs.
Flatten the ball, making sure it does not break and that you cannot see any part of mozzarella. The diameter of the disc should be about 4 cm.
This is what you should have before the deep frying stage.
Heat the sunflower oil and when the oil is hot, put the croquettes into the frying pan.
After few seconds move the croquettes gently with a spoon to ensure that they do not stick to the bottom of the pan.
Continue frying for few minutes until the croquettes are golden brown. When ready, remove them from the frying pan and put them into a large dish or bowl lined with some kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.
This is the final presentation, where all the croquettes are perfectly cooked.
Buon appetito!
Preparation: 30 mins
Cooking: 20 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Vegetarian
Ever cooked too much rice? Well, put the extra rice in the fridge and the day after convert it in delicious croquettes. When I prepare the Parmigiana risotto, I always prepare a lot of it so the day after I can prepare croquettes. Eaten when warm they are lovely but cold they are even better!
2 CROQUETTES PER PERSON AS STARTER4 CROQUETTES PER PERSON AS SIDE DISH
Ingredients:
450g (1lb) Rice from the day before
2 Eggs (medium size)
25 g (1 oz) Fresh grated Parmesan cheese
Some mozzarella balls (diced)
A small bowl containing dry breadcrumbs (finely grated)
Sunflower oil for deep frying
Directions:
Put the rice into a large bowl.
Add 1 egg first and start to mix it with the rice. If the mix looks too dry, then you can add the second egg or just the yolk. What you need is a mix from which you can easily make balls (not too dry, not too loose).
Stir until all the egg coats the rice.
Now, add the Parmesan cheese and stir thoroughly. At this stage, you are free to add other Ingredients if you like (i.e.: ham cut into small pieces - but of course the dish is no longer vegetarian!)
Take some of the rice in one hand and put 1 or 2 small mozzarella dices into it. Close the mozzarella inside making a rice ball.
Then, roll the ball in the breadcrumbs.
Flatten the ball, making sure it does not break and that you cannot see any part of mozzarella. The diameter of the disc should be about 4 cm.
This is what you should have before the deep frying stage.
Heat the sunflower oil and when the oil is hot, put the croquettes into the frying pan.
After few seconds move the croquettes gently with a spoon to ensure that they do not stick to the bottom of the pan.
Continue frying for few minutes until the croquettes are golden brown. When ready, remove them from the frying pan and put them into a large dish or bowl lined with some kitchen paper to absorb the excess oil.
This is the final presentation, where all the croquettes are perfectly cooked.
Buon appetito!
Chicken with peas (a.k.a. Pollo con i piselli)
Chicken with peas (a.k.a. Pollo con i piselli)
Preparation: 15 mins
Cooking: 1 hour - 1 hour 10 mins
Difficulty: Easy
This is a wonderful recipe, easy to prepare and it could be the ideal choice for a Sunday lunch. I usually use chicken thighs but you can use any part of chicken you like, but remember to leave the skin on during the cooking. I like to prepare this recipe during the winter time and if you know how to make a real Italian polenta (not the already made one you can buy at the supermarket!) you, then, will make your guests very happy. Do not forget the red wine!
SERVES 4
Ingredients:
4 Chicken thighs
1 Onion (finely chopped)
1 Potato (sliced - about 3 mm thick)
300 g (11 oz) Peas (I usually use frozen peas)
250 g(9 oz) Chopped tomatoes
2 Bay leaves
15 ml (1 tbs) Tomato purèe
60 ml (2 fl oz) Extra virgin Olive Oil
450 ml (¾ pint) Vegetable or chicken stock (hot)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
Directions:
First and foremost, before you start cooking, be sure that the first thing you do is to prepare the stock so that it is readily available when required. The best thing to do is to have the stock just simmering, and no more, on the cooker.
Put the Olive Oil into a casserole and sets to medium heat. Add the onion and sweat off for a couple of minutes.
Then, add the chicken to the pan.
Be sure to have a large pan so it can accommodate the chicken.
Cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes.
Then, turn the chicken over and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Our aim is to turn the chicken thighs golden.
Then, before adding the peas (especially if the are frozen) turn the heat to high and after about a minute add all the peas.
With a wooden spoon set the peas evenly around the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes.
Then, turn the heat to medium and add the chopped tomatoes.
With a wooden spoon move things around a bit, so that the chopped tomatoes are evenly distributed and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
Then, add all your stock. The stock should be enough to nearly cover the chicken.
Add the bay leaves.
Season with salt according to your taste.
Season with black pepper according to your taste.
Add the potato slices. If the slices are too big, half them.
This is what you should have at this stage.
We add just a bit of tomato purèe as flavour enhancer.
We take the lid and cover the pan, but not completely.
Leave a small opening on one side. Now, turn down the heat to low and simmer for 40-50 minutes. During this time turn the chicken twice.
Simmering will cook the chicken to perfection and will also help to reduce the sauce. After 50 minutes you should have what is featured in the picture.
Serve accompanied with few slices of warm country bread or, ideally, with Italian polenta.Buon appetito!
Preparation: 15 mins
Cooking: 1 hour - 1 hour 10 mins
Difficulty: Easy
This is a wonderful recipe, easy to prepare and it could be the ideal choice for a Sunday lunch. I usually use chicken thighs but you can use any part of chicken you like, but remember to leave the skin on during the cooking. I like to prepare this recipe during the winter time and if you know how to make a real Italian polenta (not the already made one you can buy at the supermarket!) you, then, will make your guests very happy. Do not forget the red wine!
SERVES 4
Ingredients:
4 Chicken thighs
1 Onion (finely chopped)
1 Potato (sliced - about 3 mm thick)
300 g (11 oz) Peas (I usually use frozen peas)
250 g(9 oz) Chopped tomatoes
2 Bay leaves
15 ml (1 tbs) Tomato purèe
60 ml (2 fl oz) Extra virgin Olive Oil
450 ml (¾ pint) Vegetable or chicken stock (hot)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
Directions:
First and foremost, before you start cooking, be sure that the first thing you do is to prepare the stock so that it is readily available when required. The best thing to do is to have the stock just simmering, and no more, on the cooker.
Put the Olive Oil into a casserole and sets to medium heat. Add the onion and sweat off for a couple of minutes.
Then, add the chicken to the pan.
Be sure to have a large pan so it can accommodate the chicken.
Cook the chicken for 2-3 minutes.
Then, turn the chicken over and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Our aim is to turn the chicken thighs golden.
Then, before adding the peas (especially if the are frozen) turn the heat to high and after about a minute add all the peas.
With a wooden spoon set the peas evenly around the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes.
Then, turn the heat to medium and add the chopped tomatoes.
With a wooden spoon move things around a bit, so that the chopped tomatoes are evenly distributed and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
Then, add all your stock. The stock should be enough to nearly cover the chicken.
Add the bay leaves.
Season with salt according to your taste.
Season with black pepper according to your taste.
Add the potato slices. If the slices are too big, half them.
This is what you should have at this stage.
We add just a bit of tomato purèe as flavour enhancer.
We take the lid and cover the pan, but not completely.
Leave a small opening on one side. Now, turn down the heat to low and simmer for 40-50 minutes. During this time turn the chicken twice.
Simmering will cook the chicken to perfection and will also help to reduce the sauce. After 50 minutes you should have what is featured in the picture.
Serve accompanied with few slices of warm country bread or, ideally, with Italian polenta.Buon appetito!
polenta
Polenta
Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking: 30-40 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Polenta is one of those things able to bring my memory back to the best times of my childhood. I remember my aunt preparing polenta on a wooden fire using a copper cauldron and saying "you need to keep stirring". The cracking noise of the wood logs, the steam, the smoke, this yellow thing that becomes more and more difficult to stir, what a wonderful experience! There is something mystical about making polenta, like when preparing bread at home, and there was no Sunday without it. I come from the Lombardy region of Italy, specifically from Brescia province, which with Bergamo province, is probably considered the polenta area for excellence, despite it being popular in all North Italy. However, it seems that it was developed first in the North east of the country, in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy, in the 16th century. Anyway, polenta goes with everthing! In North Italy it is a must with any kind of game and poultry or pork meat. It is also quite common as accompaniment to fish like stockfish (stoccafisso), pike, perch, eel and many others. In this recipe I will give you few ideas about how to use polenta in its simplest and most wonderful way.
SERVES 6-8
Ingredients:
4 Litres of water
30 g (2 level tbs) Coarse salt
1000 g (2.2 lb) Traditional polenta flour
Note:polenta flour is made by ground corn kernels and it has a coarse finish. You can buy traditional polenta flour on the internet or Italian deli shops. Supermarkets usually sell "ready made" or "fast" versions of polenta but by buying them you would miss the point!
Directions:
For 1000 g of polenta flour, you need a big pan (a copper cauldron for the purists!) containing 4 litres of cold water. Put the pan on the heat (high heat - only at this initial stage) and immediately add the salt into the pan.
When the water is tepid, add the flour gradually. In Italy we say to add the flour "a pioggia", that means like a gentle rain.
Now, whisk with energy for few seconds so that you prevent the forming of any lumps.
Next, bring the heat to medium/low and, slowly, start stirring with a big wooden spoon (in the photograph you can see that I am using a specific polenta spoon). I am sorry for your arms but now you need to keep stirring for 30-40 minutes (if you are bored, have a glass of wine and listen to the music or chat with someone).
This photograph shows the polenta making after 10 minutes stirring.
This photograph shows the polenta making after 20 minutes stirring.
This photograph shows the polenta making after 30 minutes stirring. At this stage the polenta is a bit hard to stir so it would probably be better to hold the pan with one hand (here, using a kitchen glove would be a good idea) while stirring with the other.
There you go, this is the polenta after 35 minutes cooking. I will stop here because the polenta is ready, since it has reached the right consistency. Consistency is subjective; a purist would prefer the polenta more firm without showing any flowing once spooned onto the plate, but for what I have in mind I need the polenta still a bit flowing and a further 5-10 minutes cooking would make it too hard.
Now, I will show you few simple preparations starting from my favourite. Spoon some hot polenta onto the plate and top it with a knob of good quality butter.
Let the butter melt a bit and then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and eat it. Another version is to cut a few small pieces of Gorgonzola cheese and insert the cheese inside the hot polenta so that it will melt easily. Both these preparations are delicious and very simple to make.
Another preparation is to cook some sausages. There are many different ways to cook sausages but if you want something quick and easy, just grill them. Before putting the sausages under the grill, pinch them with a fork so they will drop some of their tasty fat in the bottom of the grill pan; we will use some of this fat as well.
Start cooking the sausages about 15-20 minutes before the polenta is ready so you can top the hot polenta straightaway with them.
When the polenta is ready, spoon some of it onto a plate, spread a couple of dessert spoons of fat (collect it from the bottom of the grill pan) over the polenta and finally top the whole thing with your sausages.
Another way to use polenta is as follows. Put a knob of butter into a shallow oven tray.
Melt the butter.
Now, using a kitchen paper, spread the butter around, including the sides. Using the kitchen paper, you will also remove the excess butter.
For this to work perfectly, you need to use polenta that flows a bit so remember to use polenta at its 30-35 minutes cooking stage and no more. Add as many spoons as you need to cover the bottom of the tray, having a layer 1 cm thick or slightly more.
Spread the polenta with a spatula to create an even and uniform layer. Leave to cool for about 1 hour.
Now, turn the tray over a flat surface (I used a glass chopping board) and let the polenta layer drop down.
Cut the layer in whatever shape you like.
Put the polenta pieces onto a cast iron griddle pan and cook them until their surface shows the typical blackened stripes. You can top these hot pieces with Parmesan cheese or eat them as they come.
Finally, another way to have polenta is to spoon some flowing polenta onto a pizza tray. Put some baking paper in the bottom of the tray, add the polenta and then cover with a second layer of paper. Using a rolling pin, you can help spread the polenta so that you have a thin layer similar to pizza.
Next, remove the top paper.
Cut the paper around the tray to look a bit more tidy.
Top the polenta layer with few small knobs of butter.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Now, it is ready for the grill or the oven. You may wish to top the layer with something else, then do it! (e.g. cured meat, different types of cheese, bacon, anchovy fillets etc).
Cook until the top surface is lightly browned.
Cut some slices and serve as it is.
From what you can see, polenta is a very versatile thing and I would leave it to your imagination. Once you have mastered the basic technique, you will be able to create endless versions and amuse your family members and friends.
Buon appetito!
Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking: 30-40 mins
Difficulty: Easy
Polenta is one of those things able to bring my memory back to the best times of my childhood. I remember my aunt preparing polenta on a wooden fire using a copper cauldron and saying "you need to keep stirring". The cracking noise of the wood logs, the steam, the smoke, this yellow thing that becomes more and more difficult to stir, what a wonderful experience! There is something mystical about making polenta, like when preparing bread at home, and there was no Sunday without it. I come from the Lombardy region of Italy, specifically from Brescia province, which with Bergamo province, is probably considered the polenta area for excellence, despite it being popular in all North Italy. However, it seems that it was developed first in the North east of the country, in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region of Italy, in the 16th century. Anyway, polenta goes with everthing! In North Italy it is a must with any kind of game and poultry or pork meat. It is also quite common as accompaniment to fish like stockfish (stoccafisso), pike, perch, eel and many others. In this recipe I will give you few ideas about how to use polenta in its simplest and most wonderful way.
SERVES 6-8
Ingredients:
4 Litres of water
30 g (2 level tbs) Coarse salt
1000 g (2.2 lb) Traditional polenta flour
Note:polenta flour is made by ground corn kernels and it has a coarse finish. You can buy traditional polenta flour on the internet or Italian deli shops. Supermarkets usually sell "ready made" or "fast" versions of polenta but by buying them you would miss the point!
Directions:
For 1000 g of polenta flour, you need a big pan (a copper cauldron for the purists!) containing 4 litres of cold water. Put the pan on the heat (high heat - only at this initial stage) and immediately add the salt into the pan.
When the water is tepid, add the flour gradually. In Italy we say to add the flour "a pioggia", that means like a gentle rain.
Now, whisk with energy for few seconds so that you prevent the forming of any lumps.
Next, bring the heat to medium/low and, slowly, start stirring with a big wooden spoon (in the photograph you can see that I am using a specific polenta spoon). I am sorry for your arms but now you need to keep stirring for 30-40 minutes (if you are bored, have a glass of wine and listen to the music or chat with someone).
This photograph shows the polenta making after 10 minutes stirring.
This photograph shows the polenta making after 20 minutes stirring.
This photograph shows the polenta making after 30 minutes stirring. At this stage the polenta is a bit hard to stir so it would probably be better to hold the pan with one hand (here, using a kitchen glove would be a good idea) while stirring with the other.
There you go, this is the polenta after 35 minutes cooking. I will stop here because the polenta is ready, since it has reached the right consistency. Consistency is subjective; a purist would prefer the polenta more firm without showing any flowing once spooned onto the plate, but for what I have in mind I need the polenta still a bit flowing and a further 5-10 minutes cooking would make it too hard.
Now, I will show you few simple preparations starting from my favourite. Spoon some hot polenta onto the plate and top it with a knob of good quality butter.
Let the butter melt a bit and then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and eat it. Another version is to cut a few small pieces of Gorgonzola cheese and insert the cheese inside the hot polenta so that it will melt easily. Both these preparations are delicious and very simple to make.
Another preparation is to cook some sausages. There are many different ways to cook sausages but if you want something quick and easy, just grill them. Before putting the sausages under the grill, pinch them with a fork so they will drop some of their tasty fat in the bottom of the grill pan; we will use some of this fat as well.
Start cooking the sausages about 15-20 minutes before the polenta is ready so you can top the hot polenta straightaway with them.
When the polenta is ready, spoon some of it onto a plate, spread a couple of dessert spoons of fat (collect it from the bottom of the grill pan) over the polenta and finally top the whole thing with your sausages.
Another way to use polenta is as follows. Put a knob of butter into a shallow oven tray.
Melt the butter.
Now, using a kitchen paper, spread the butter around, including the sides. Using the kitchen paper, you will also remove the excess butter.
For this to work perfectly, you need to use polenta that flows a bit so remember to use polenta at its 30-35 minutes cooking stage and no more. Add as many spoons as you need to cover the bottom of the tray, having a layer 1 cm thick or slightly more.
Spread the polenta with a spatula to create an even and uniform layer. Leave to cool for about 1 hour.
Now, turn the tray over a flat surface (I used a glass chopping board) and let the polenta layer drop down.
Cut the layer in whatever shape you like.
Put the polenta pieces onto a cast iron griddle pan and cook them until their surface shows the typical blackened stripes. You can top these hot pieces with Parmesan cheese or eat them as they come.
Finally, another way to have polenta is to spoon some flowing polenta onto a pizza tray. Put some baking paper in the bottom of the tray, add the polenta and then cover with a second layer of paper. Using a rolling pin, you can help spread the polenta so that you have a thin layer similar to pizza.
Next, remove the top paper.
Cut the paper around the tray to look a bit more tidy.
Top the polenta layer with few small knobs of butter.
Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Now, it is ready for the grill or the oven. You may wish to top the layer with something else, then do it! (e.g. cured meat, different types of cheese, bacon, anchovy fillets etc).
Cook until the top surface is lightly browned.
Cut some slices and serve as it is.
From what you can see, polenta is a very versatile thing and I would leave it to your imagination. Once you have mastered the basic technique, you will be able to create endless versions and amuse your family members and friends.
Buon appetito!
Caper and anchovy sauce - grilled fish (a.k.a. Salsa ai capperi e acciughe)
Caper and anchovy sauce - grilled fish (a.k.a. Salsa ai capperi e acciughe)
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
It just happens that I was reading an old recipes book published in 1918 and my eye caught an interesting recipe for a sauce that was prepared with leftovers. The sauce is to accompany fish dishes, especially grilled fish and I thought that it would be great taking inspiration from that old text and developing a sauce we can use over our contemporary tuna steaks! However, similar sauces can be found in the Sicilian culinary tradition, especially to accompany grilled swordfish (like the salmoriglio sauce), but for this I will write the recipe in the future, the first time I get some good swordfish steaks at the fish counter. For the moment, let's speak about tuna steaks and see how to prepare this dish.
SERVES 4
Ingredients:
4 Large tuna steaks - see note 1
100 ml (4 fl oz) Extra virgin Olive Oil
Lemon zest from one small lemon (finely chopped)
40 g (2 ½ oz) Capers (finely chopped) - see note 2
3 g (½ tsp) French mustard
10 g (1 tbs) Anchovy paste
10 ml (a bit less than ½ oz) Lemon juice
Salt for seasoning
Note 1: despite the picture above featuring only 2 tuna steaks, the Ingredients will make enough sauce to top 4 large tuna steaks.
Note 2: capers are usually preserved in vinegar or salt so, before chopping them, rinse the capers under fresh running water and then pat them dry using kitchen paper.
Directions:
Pour the Olive Oil into a small glass bowl.
Add the lemon zest.
Add the capers.
Add the mustard.
Add the anchovy paste.
Add the lemon juice.
Finally, add the salt according to taste.
Next, take a small pan and fill it half way with boiling water. Now, set the heat to low and simmer the water (not boiling).
Put the glass bowl, containing all the Ingredients, over the pan (the bowl should not touch the water) and cook bain Marie for about 5 minutes. While cooking, gently stir with a spoon. This technique allows the Ingredients to blend together without subjecting the sauce to excessive heat. After 5 minutes turn the heat off and leave the bowl on the pan, to keep the sauce warm.
Next, brush the tuna steaks with Olive Oil.
Put the grill pan over the heat for 5 minutes so it will be very hot and ready for the steaks.
Then, put the tuna steaks onto the grill pan.
I like the tuna steaks cooked rare so I usually cook them for 2 minutes on each side, but this is just my personal choice. If you want the steaks cooked medium, you will probably need 3-4 minutes on each side.
These are the steaks turned after 2 minutes cooking on one side.
Finally, cover each of the steaks with some of the caper and anchovy sauce you have prepared.
Buon appetito!
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
It just happens that I was reading an old recipes book published in 1918 and my eye caught an interesting recipe for a sauce that was prepared with leftovers. The sauce is to accompany fish dishes, especially grilled fish and I thought that it would be great taking inspiration from that old text and developing a sauce we can use over our contemporary tuna steaks! However, similar sauces can be found in the Sicilian culinary tradition, especially to accompany grilled swordfish (like the salmoriglio sauce), but for this I will write the recipe in the future, the first time I get some good swordfish steaks at the fish counter. For the moment, let's speak about tuna steaks and see how to prepare this dish.
SERVES 4
Ingredients:
4 Large tuna steaks - see note 1
100 ml (4 fl oz) Extra virgin Olive Oil
Lemon zest from one small lemon (finely chopped)
40 g (2 ½ oz) Capers (finely chopped) - see note 2
3 g (½ tsp) French mustard
10 g (1 tbs) Anchovy paste
10 ml (a bit less than ½ oz) Lemon juice
Salt for seasoning
Note 1: despite the picture above featuring only 2 tuna steaks, the Ingredients will make enough sauce to top 4 large tuna steaks.
Note 2: capers are usually preserved in vinegar or salt so, before chopping them, rinse the capers under fresh running water and then pat them dry using kitchen paper.
Directions:
Pour the Olive Oil into a small glass bowl.
Add the lemon zest.
Add the capers.
Add the mustard.
Add the anchovy paste.
Add the lemon juice.
Finally, add the salt according to taste.
Next, take a small pan and fill it half way with boiling water. Now, set the heat to low and simmer the water (not boiling).
Put the glass bowl, containing all the Ingredients, over the pan (the bowl should not touch the water) and cook bain Marie for about 5 minutes. While cooking, gently stir with a spoon. This technique allows the Ingredients to blend together without subjecting the sauce to excessive heat. After 5 minutes turn the heat off and leave the bowl on the pan, to keep the sauce warm.
Next, brush the tuna steaks with Olive Oil.
Put the grill pan over the heat for 5 minutes so it will be very hot and ready for the steaks.
Then, put the tuna steaks onto the grill pan.
I like the tuna steaks cooked rare so I usually cook them for 2 minutes on each side, but this is just my personal choice. If you want the steaks cooked medium, you will probably need 3-4 minutes on each side.
These are the steaks turned after 2 minutes cooking on one side.
Finally, cover each of the steaks with some of the caper and anchovy sauce you have prepared.
Buon appetito!
Apple strudel (strudel di mele)
Apple strudel (strudel di mele) is a very popular cake in Italy and, from its name, we can also easily understand its origins. Austria is the strudel homeland and the recipe found popularity in those regions of Italy (North East) subjected to the Austro-Hungarian empire ruling of the 19th century. Trentino Alto Adige region of Italy, a region where many of its inhabitants still speak German despite being Italian, is the main promoter of this wonderful cake, thanks to its cultural connections with Austria. In my family Strudel has always been very popular thanks to my mother, who comes from an area of Italy bordering with Austria and Slovenia (Tarvisiano). However, considering that the recipe contains raisins, pine kernels, cinnamon etc., its true origins can be probably traced back to the Middle East culinary tradition; in fact the strudel has some remote affinities with the Turkish Baklava. How did it go to Austria? Well, Turkish invasions that took place in East Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries could be the answer. Anyway, here I will show you how to make it and I will try my best to keep it simple and effective.
SERVES 8
Ingredients:
1 Ready rolled puff pastry sheet (see notes below)
4 Apples (medium size)
Juice from half a lemon
60 g (2 ½ oz) raisins
100 ml (4 fl oz) Dark rum - about a glass
60 g (2 ½ oz) Pine kernels
50 g (2 oz) Sugar
50 g (2 oz) Apricot preserve
Orange zest from one orange
2 or 4 g (½ tbs or 1 tbs) Ground cinnamon - depending on your taste
30 g (slightly more than 1 oz) Breadcrumbs
10 g (½ oz) Butter
1 Egg yolk
15 ml (1 tbs) Milk
Icing sugar for garnish
Note: I bought the ready rolled puff pastry sheet in the supermarket, size about 350 mm x 225 mm (14in x 9in). Supermarkets nowadays offer a wide range of choices. You can also make the strudel using filo pastry, but you need to use about 6 layers, one on the top of each other and each layer needs to be brushed with melted butter.
Directions:
Firstly, 1 hour before you start making the strudel, soak the raisins into the glass of rum.
After 1 hour, separate the raisins from the rum using a sieve.
Put the raisins into a small container and set aside. Keep the rum; at a later stage we will use some of it (2 or 3 dessert spoons will be added to the strudel filling).
Next, peel and slice the apples (into small slices about 2-3 mm thick). Put the slices into a large bowl.
Add some lemon juice and mix to distribute the lemon juice all over the apple slices.
Add the raisins.
Add the pine kernels.
Add the orange zest.
Add the cinnamon.
Add the sugar.
Add the apricot preserve.
Finally, add 2 or 3 dessert spoons of rum. And the rest, drink it!
Mix everything together to evenly distribute the various Ingredients.
Cover the bowl with cling film and set it aside in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it as filling.
Now, put the butter into a pan over a medium heat. When the butter starts bubbling, add the breadcrumbs and toast for few minutes until lightly brown.
This is what you should have.
Put the breadcrumbs into a small bowl to cool down.
Meanwhile, spread some flour onto a working surface.
Unroll your pastry and start stretching it with a rolling pin. Usually ready rolled pastry is too thick for the purpose of making strudel, so you need to enlarge the sheet and make it thinner (about 2 mm thick).
Next, drag the sheet over a tea towel and give it a gentle stretch using your hands. Then you can cut the border with a pastry wheel, just to give the sheet a decent rectangular shape!
Next, spread the breadcrumbs over the pastry sheet.
Then, take the large bowl from the refrigerator and put the contents in the centre of the pastry sheet, as shown in the photograph.
Fold one side of the sheet (the longer side) over the filling. This operation will be easier if you help yourself lifting the tea towel from its corners and folding it towards the centre of the pastry sheet.
Do the same with the opposite side.
Take a large tray and cover its bottom with a layer of baking paper. Brush the paper with melted butter or margarine. At this stage switch the oven on and set it at 180ºC (gas mark 5).
Next, put the egg yolk into a small bowl and add the milk.
Beat the egg yolk and milk with a fork until they are evenly mixed.
Brush the egg batter all over the strudel.
Cover the tray with foil, try to keep the area in the centre lifted. The foil will protect the strudel from burning during the first stage of cooking. Now, put the tray in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, take the tray out of the oven and remove the foil.
Put the tray back in the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.
When finished, the strudel should look like this.
Set the strudel onto a wire rack to cool down.
When the strudel is tepid, cut a slice and put the slice onto a plate. Garnish with some icing sugar.
There you go! Apple strudel served with vanilla ice cream.
Buon appetito!
SERVES 8
Ingredients:
1 Ready rolled puff pastry sheet (see notes below)
4 Apples (medium size)
Juice from half a lemon
60 g (2 ½ oz) raisins
100 ml (4 fl oz) Dark rum - about a glass
60 g (2 ½ oz) Pine kernels
50 g (2 oz) Sugar
50 g (2 oz) Apricot preserve
Orange zest from one orange
2 or 4 g (½ tbs or 1 tbs) Ground cinnamon - depending on your taste
30 g (slightly more than 1 oz) Breadcrumbs
10 g (½ oz) Butter
1 Egg yolk
15 ml (1 tbs) Milk
Icing sugar for garnish
Note: I bought the ready rolled puff pastry sheet in the supermarket, size about 350 mm x 225 mm (14in x 9in). Supermarkets nowadays offer a wide range of choices. You can also make the strudel using filo pastry, but you need to use about 6 layers, one on the top of each other and each layer needs to be brushed with melted butter.
Directions:
Firstly, 1 hour before you start making the strudel, soak the raisins into the glass of rum.
After 1 hour, separate the raisins from the rum using a sieve.
Put the raisins into a small container and set aside. Keep the rum; at a later stage we will use some of it (2 or 3 dessert spoons will be added to the strudel filling).
Next, peel and slice the apples (into small slices about 2-3 mm thick). Put the slices into a large bowl.
Add some lemon juice and mix to distribute the lemon juice all over the apple slices.
Add the raisins.
Add the pine kernels.
Add the orange zest.
Add the cinnamon.
Add the sugar.
Add the apricot preserve.
Finally, add 2 or 3 dessert spoons of rum. And the rest, drink it!
Mix everything together to evenly distribute the various Ingredients.
Cover the bowl with cling film and set it aside in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it as filling.
Now, put the butter into a pan over a medium heat. When the butter starts bubbling, add the breadcrumbs and toast for few minutes until lightly brown.
This is what you should have.
Put the breadcrumbs into a small bowl to cool down.
Meanwhile, spread some flour onto a working surface.
Unroll your pastry and start stretching it with a rolling pin. Usually ready rolled pastry is too thick for the purpose of making strudel, so you need to enlarge the sheet and make it thinner (about 2 mm thick).
Next, drag the sheet over a tea towel and give it a gentle stretch using your hands. Then you can cut the border with a pastry wheel, just to give the sheet a decent rectangular shape!
Next, spread the breadcrumbs over the pastry sheet.
Then, take the large bowl from the refrigerator and put the contents in the centre of the pastry sheet, as shown in the photograph.
Fold one side of the sheet (the longer side) over the filling. This operation will be easier if you help yourself lifting the tea towel from its corners and folding it towards the centre of the pastry sheet.
Do the same with the opposite side.
Take a large tray and cover its bottom with a layer of baking paper. Brush the paper with melted butter or margarine. At this stage switch the oven on and set it at 180ºC (gas mark 5).
Next, put the egg yolk into a small bowl and add the milk.
Beat the egg yolk and milk with a fork until they are evenly mixed.
Brush the egg batter all over the strudel.
Cover the tray with foil, try to keep the area in the centre lifted. The foil will protect the strudel from burning during the first stage of cooking. Now, put the tray in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, take the tray out of the oven and remove the foil.
Put the tray back in the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.
When finished, the strudel should look like this.
Set the strudel onto a wire rack to cool down.
When the strudel is tepid, cut a slice and put the slice onto a plate. Garnish with some icing sugar.
There you go! Apple strudel served with vanilla ice cream.
Buon appetito!
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