I absolutely adore swordfish and this recipe tastes fantastic and is oh so simple to make. In fact it’s great for cooking for a large number of guests as it can be prepared beforehand and cooked when needed.
Ingredients
4 pieces of fresh swordfish
2 spoons of capers
2 cloves of garlic
Fresh parsley
3 spoon fulls of vinegar
1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Place the pieces of fish on pieces of aluminium foil already drizzled with olive oil. Sprinkle the fish with the vinegar and then season well and add a liberal amount of fresh parsley. Place a slice of lemon on each piece on fish. Now add the capers and some little slices cut from the 2 cloves of garlic. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and close the little parcels.
Cook in an oven at 180 degrees for 15 minutes. Serve immediately with the aluminium parcel open.
Those of you interested in Italian politics may have heard of Aldo Moro. He was a politician loved by many for his conciliatory approach toward the left, however before the union was completed he was kidnapped in mysterious circumstances. The events that followed mark some very dark days in Italian politics, where the state, and Moro’s friends seemingly let an innocent man be murdered to profit from his death. I would recommend you watch this short documentary, it’s an absolutely fascinating watch.
A year on from the terrible earthquake that devastated L’Aquila and the surrounding villages how much has be done to get this once painfully beautiful part of Italy back on it’s feet. Judging from the majority of reports the answer is not a lot. The centre of L’Aquila still resembles a bomb site and the clean up operations in many of the surrounding villages are yet to start.
Pesto alla Genovese Is the type of pesto most commonly found in the UK. It originally comes from Liguria and is named after the Ligurian capital Genoa. The Genovese tradtionally serve it with a local egg pasta similar to fettuccine, however it is also delicious with gnocci or dried pasta!
This is an easy but fantastic tasting recipe, give it a go!
Ingredients
70g fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons pine nuts
130 ml extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste
2 tbls parmesan
2 tbls pecorino (or provolone if you want more of a kick)
1 Tbls water
Add the basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and salt into the food processor and chop until a smooth consistency is reached. Add the paste to a pot and stir in the cheeses, add pepper to taste. Now add the water and mix well. Easy as that! Home made pesto to impress your guests with!
This is one of my favourite starters on good Friday but also at any other time of the year. This dish is really simple but make sure to get the best mussels you can find.
Ingredients ( Serves 2 )
1kg Mussles
Clove garlic
½ Glass white wine
3 spoonfuls Extra virgin olive oil
Fresh parsley
1 hot chilli
Salt Pepper
Method
Make sure you clean the mussels properly. Slice the garlic and fry it off in the some extra virgin oil. Add the chilli (sliced), the mussels, wine and cook until the mussels open, salt and pepper. When the mussels open sprinkle with the fresh parsley and serve. Discard any that are not open. Simple but delicious!
To make this dish more filling you could slice some fresh ciabatta, warm it on a griddle, rub with garlic and serve next to the mussels. Baby tomatoes also work well with this if you want to add them.
Since its Easter I thought I would share with you some fantastic Easter recipes. The first will be the Neapolitan classic, the Casatiello!
Ingredients (6 People)
500 gr Flour
1 cube of yeast
50 gr Lard
5 Eggs
200 gr Provolone Cheese
250gr Parmigiano Cheese
300 gr Napoli Salame
Salt and pepper
Method
Dissolve the yeast in a bowl of warm water. On a cold surface pour out the flower and then make a well in it. Mix the lard, salt, pepper, the yeast dissolved in water and any extra water required with the flour until the result is a soft pastry. Punch this with your hands to stop it swelling and then work this for around 10 minutes with your hands.
Leave to rest in a covered bowl in warm place for a couple of hours. The pastry should have doubled in volume. Dice the cheese and salami. Now take some of the pastry and leave it to one side (you will need it to make the cross-hatch over the eggs). Roll the remaining pastry into a rectangle to the thickness of about an inch, now spread the filling of salame and cheese over the entire roll of pastry. Fold in 2 and grease the top with some lard, sprinkle with more parmigiano and pepper. Fold in two again, flatten and grease again. Repeat this until all the lard has been used up. Combine both ends to form a sort of doughnut and place in a greased round baking tin. Leave to continue rising in a warm place for around 2 hours, by then it should be fully risen. Wash the eggs and arrange the 5 eggs on it at regular intervals and make a cross hatch with the pastry we left aside.
Cook in an already hot oven at 160° for the first 10 minutes and then at 180° for another 50 minutes. The casatiello can be eaten hot or cold…and I will guarantee that however it’s eaten it will be finished.
