Still in Italy

……….I wish

We arrived back to on Friday evening and decided to continue the Italian theme for dinner on Saturday. The structure of a full Italian meal is usually some kind of antipasta followed by gnocchi/pasta, then a meat/fish dish and finally dessert.


We started with a simple melon and parma ham salad – simply drizzle over some olive oil and lemon juice (if there wasn’t mozzarella in the next course I would have followed Nigel Slater’s lead an added some good quality buffalo mozzarella, flat-leaf parsley and served it on a bed of rocket).

Next was the gnocchi course – for this recipe I turned to Lorraine’s site. I used 500g for 6 as we were having four courses.

Take T-bone steaks. Sear. Rest. Olive oil + rosemary. Serve on bed of rocket. Could it be any easier?

For dessert you are going to get an actual recipe. These semifreddos come from Bill Granger’s Everyday. He marbled the raspberries and nuts into the mix halfway through freezing whilst I kept the overall flavours the same by serving mine with a raspberry coulis and a sprinkling of pistachios, (the assigned plates are The Doc's attempt at decoration).

Rosewater Semifreddo
(adapted from Everyday by Bill Granger)
Serves 6

6 egg yolks
3 tbsp honey
250 ml cream, whipped
2 tsp rosewater (the best place to buy this is middle-eastern shops – it’s cheap and hasn’t been sitting on the shelf for a year, I got mine in Spiceworld in Portobello)

• Beat egg yolks and honey together until pale and doubled in size
• Fold in the cream and the rosewater
• I froze mine in individual dariole moulds which I lined first with cling film

Lasagne

The thing about lasagne is that it is on every pub and cafe menu up and down the country but it is so rarely well-executed. It's not difficult to make a good lasagne but it does require some time - not necessarily chained to the stove - but just keeping an eye on things. I like to make this recipe over three days, ragu sauce on day one, make bechamel sauce and assemble on day two and then leave overnight for the flavours to meld together before baking.

Ragu Sauce:
2 carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
150g panchetta, diced
1 glass wine
1 kg mined beef
2 x 400g good quality tinned tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
pinch dried oregano

• Add 2 tbsp olive oil to the pan and add carrots, celery, garlic, onion and pancetta
• Cook over a moderately low heat for 20 mins - you want all the veg to soften but not colour (this is known as a soffritto in Italian)
  
• Turn heat up slightly and add the minced beef, stir until all meat has browned
• Add the glass of wine and leave to bubble off
• Add tomatoes, puree, oregano and season
• Cook over a low heat for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until nice and thick
  

Bechamel Sauce:
1200 ml milk
1 onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
10 peppercorns
65g butter
65g plain flour

• Place milk, onion, bay leaf and peppercorns in a saucepan
• Bring up to the boil, swith off heat and leave to cool and infuse
• Melt butter in a saucepan and add flour
• Cook over a low heat for 1-2 mins (essential to cook the flour)
  
• Add the milk one ladle at a time and whisk in thoroughly
• Cook slowly over low heat until thick, stirring all the time

I like to blanch my lasagne's sheets for about 10 mins before assembly as it cuts down the cooking time later and allows the flavours to come together better before cooking. When ready to bake top with grated parmesan and bake @ 180° for 30-40 minutes.

Gnocchi di ricotta e salsa di gorgonzola

Ricotta and nutmeg dumplings with gorgonzola sauce - sounds better in Italian doesn't it?

The Doc gave me a copy of Ursula Ferrigno's 'Complete Italian Cookery Course' for Christmas. On my first glance through these jumped out at me but I took a while to make them as I was wondering what to serve them with. In the end I decided a simple lemon roast chicken would be best - the gorgonzola is such a strong flavour I didn't want it to be overwhelmed. It was the right decision, although the dumplings themselves are quite light the sauce is rich and you will only eat a few.

The original recipe is for 6, I halved it but mine was still to sloppy to be called a paste and I ended up adding twice as much semolina flour in order to make it possible to roll out. I suspect the reason for this is something to do with the difference between supermarket pre-packed ricotta and that available in Italy.

Dunplings:
250g ricotta
1 tbsp grated parmesan
2 medium egg yolks
5 tbsp semolina flour
fresh ground nutmeg - a pinch
salt and pepper

• Mash all ingrediants together to form a paste
• Roll into a log 1cm thick
• Cut into 2cm pieces
• Place in a pan of boiling water - after about 2 mins they should rise to the surface
• Gice them another 30 seconds in the pan then remove and drain

Sauce:
10g unsalted butter
2 tbsp cream
100g gorgonzola, mashed

• Melt together butter and cream
• Add cheese and blend well

Place dumplings in an ovenproof dish, pour over the sauce and bake for 15-20 mins at 180 degrees.

Real Food Again

I’m bored of rice pudding but not quite able to chew yet so I searched about for something yummy but yet easy to eat and I found it here. I’ve made this risotto from Lorraine’s site a few times and it has become one of the weekday favourites in our house.

People think that risotto is difficult, it’s not. It does require you to be around your kitchen for a good 30 minutes but it does not need the slavish attention that you might think. After a stressful day I find that some repetitive stirring is exactly what I need to calm my mind!

Check this recipe out – it’s really good.

Pizza - from first principles

Last year, for my birthday, The Doc gave me a pizza stone, a circular piece of porous fireclay stone which gives a lovely crisp pizza base.

Dough

When making dough I find that it is sooo much easier to handle if it is made the night before, simply pop all the ingrediants below in a bowl, mix well and then knead for approx ten minutes (I have a Kenwood chef, so I use the dough hook attachment and knead for 2-3 minutes). Leave in a warm place until it doubles in size (hot press is perfect), knead again and allow to rise for at least 20 minutes. I made my dough Friday evening, kneaded it Saturday morning and it was a dream to roll out on that evening.

Please excuse the cup measurements - I keep meaning to translate this to metric.
1 sachet (7g) dried yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water
31/2 - 4 cups cream flour


Tomato Sauce

I usually make a big batch of this and freeze '1 pizza' portions, the quantities here are enough for pizza for four (as is the amount of dough above).

1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tins tomatoes - blended (or passata)
some chopped semi sun-dried tomatoes, I used 2 tbsp Crespi sundried tomato and olive paste

• sweat the onion and garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil for 10 mins
• add the tomatoes and cook over a low heat until it has halved in volume
  

I not going to prescribe toppings as pizza is a very personal thing. We had pepperoni, peppers and goat's cheese. I find that the 20 mins it takes to cook the pizza is not long enough for the peppers. I always grill them on my George Foreman first, making them nice and sweet, and I tend not to remove the skin.

Pizza stones don't like extremely rapid changes in temperature (they can crack) so place in the oven before you turn it on and leave to cool at room temp. As they are porous they will take up any flavour they are immersed in, when finished simply scrape off any crumbs with a knife, everything else simply imparts flavour to the stone.

Tip: We've also discovered that a pizza stone is great for making home-made 'sun-dried' tomatoes. Simply set your oven to the lowest setting possible, spread the stone with halved tomatoes, season and leave for 2-3 hours.