Italian OK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUD4IxLIPuo

Rabbit is a meat that’s not really eaten a lot in this country, however in some parts of Italy it’s very popular, this dish is an old Italian peasant dish and goes well with some lovely crusty bread or as a second course served after a simple pasta dish ( how it would be eaten in Italy ).

Ingredients

• 800g rabbit
• 300g passata
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 handful of olives with the stone (I think they taste so much better but remember to pit them!)
• 1 ladle-full of vegetable stock
• 20g butter
• 2 spoonfuls of olive oil
• 50g flower
• salt

Method

Wash and dice the celery, carrots and onion. Chop the rabbit into small chunks and flour them then fry them off in a frying pan with oil and butter. Keep turning for rabbit for about 30 seconds and then add all the vegetables and the rosemary(chopped up). Leave the mixture for a minute in order for the flavors to amalgamate. Now add the passata, the olives and the stock.

Now turn the flame right down and cook for about an hour, mix the mixture every now and then. If the dish becomes too dry add a little more rabbit. Salt well and serve hot.

Ingredients

• 250g chicken breast
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp milk
• pepper
• 100g breadcrumbs
• 20g Parmesan (grated)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 sprig rosemary

Method

Cut the chicken into chunks that are a couple of cm thick, make sure you remove any excess nerves or fat. Crack the egg in a plate and add the milk, black pepper, a touch of salt and whisk everything with a fork. In another plate mix the rosemary, breadcrumbs and parmesan.

Take each of the pieces of chicken and first dip them in the egg, shake off any excess and then the breadcrumb mix. Now place all the pieces of breaded chicken in an oven proof dish lined with tin foil, sprinkle the olive oil over them. Cook at 180° for around 15 minutes, make sure you turn the chicken half way through. After 15 minutes make sure to check they are cooked through and serve immediately.

You can serve this dish with a nice chilli salsa as a starter or with a summer salad as a main.

There are many stories about where the name “carbonara” originates from, one legend points to it being the favoured dish of the charcoal workers in central Italy. Whatever the origins of the dish it is one that is nearly always cooked awfully by people who add great dolops of double cream, making the pasta heavy and very hard to digest. In fact no cream at all is used in the true Italian version and great care must be taken to make sure the eggs do not scramble.

Ingredients (6 People)

• 600g Spaghetti
• 180g Good quality pancetta
• 1tbsp Olive oil
• 6 Eggs
• 150g Pecorino/Paremsan (grated)
• Salt + black pepper

Method

In a large bowl wisk the eggs and then mix in the cheese and season with black pepper. While the pasta cooks dice the pancetta and then fry it off under a low heat in the olive oil using a non stick frying pan. Fry until the pancetta becomes browned and slightly crunchy.

Drain the pasta (make sure it’s very al dente as it will continue to cook for a bit in the frying pan) but save 2 spoon fulls of the water, now add the pasta to the frying pan with the pancetta and pour the drained water over the pasta. Now let the flavours amalgamated and cook until all the pasta water has evaporated. When this is done transfer the pasta to the bowl with the eggs and cheese and mix quickly making sure the eggs do not scramble ( this happens if they reach 70°) and remain nice a creamy. The eggs will cook properly with the heat of the pasta so there’s no need to scramble them like many restaurants seem to do. The pasta should be served immediately with black pepper and salt to taste (easy on the salt as the pancetta can be quite salty).  Enjoy!!

Today’s dish is a rustic risotto from the Lazio region.

Ingredients (4 People)

• 400g Risotto rice
• 150g Pancetta
• ½ Onion
• 1 Stalk celery
• 2 Carrots
• 2 Large tomatoes
• 1 Courgette
• 60g Butter
• 1.5 Liters Veg Stock
• Salt Pepper
• Parmesan/Pecorino

Method

Wash the celery, carrots and courgette and chop them into smaller pieces. Dice the onion, tomatoes and pancetta. Fry the pancetta for a few minutes in the butter and then add the vegetables. Stir well and fry for a few minutes, now add ½ a ladle of vegetable stock and leave to cook for around 10 minutes on a low heat. Now add the rice and leave it to absorb the flavors for around a minute, season well and keep adding a little bit of vegetable stock until the rice is cooked (check the instructions on the risotto). When the rice is cooked take off the flame and mix the parmesan/pecorino through before serving.

Super simple antipasto to kick off any meal!

Ingredients (4 People)

• 20 Grissini (the thickest you can find)
• 100gr ricotta
• 20 Thin slices of pancetta or prosciutto
• Thyme

Method

Take the thin pancetta/prosciutto and spread some ricotta on it very thinly, now sprinkle some thyme on the top of the ricotta. Wrap the prosciutto around the grissini, once you’ve done this to all of the grissini place then in a high cup and serve as an antipasto or to compliment a starter.

A great tasting, simple dish for summer!

Ingredients

• 400g Penne
• 1 kg fresh tomatoes
• ½ Onion
• 200g Ricotta
• Olive oil
• Salt + Pepper
• Basil
• Parmesan

Method

Boil the tomatoes for a few minutes in order to remove their skins. Put the peeled tomatoes into a bowl and cut/mash them roughly, add salt, pepper and olive oil. Now cook them gently for around 1 hour.

In a frying pan fry the onion until blonde. Add the tomato sauce and a handful of basil. Cook the pasta until al dente, before draining keep 1 cup of the pasta water to one side. Put the ricotta in a bowl and add the cup of pasta water and beat with a fork to a very rough paste. Finally add the pasta and ricotta paste to the sauce and cook off any excess water in the sauce. Before serving sprinkle liberally with parmesan.

I’ve tried for a while now to find a video showing how to make traditional Sicilian Cannoli, everything I seem to find includes shortcuts or replaces (what I think are) vital ingredients.  However tonight I found a fantastic video (in English obviously) with  a recipe and instructions on how to make these delicious treats, seeing as I’ve never made these before I’ll be in the same boat as you guys.  Enjoy!

Right, another nice and easy recipie today, cotolette di vitello or breaded veal cutlets.  This recipie is great in summer or winter and can be eaten hot or cold.  Serve alongside a nice salad with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Ingredients (2 People)

• 2 veal cutlets
• 2 large organic eggs
• 200 ml vegetable oil
• 150 g breadcrumbs
• 100 g plain flour
• Lemon (Cut into wedges)
• 50g Parmesan
• Salt pepper

Method

Tenderise the veal until it reaches a thickness of around 4mm. Now beat the eggs in and bowl and season. Mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan and spread out in a plate. Spread the flour out in a separate plate. Season the cutlets well then roll them in the flour until they are well coated, shake off any excess flour and coat in the eggs before finally coating well in the breadcrumb/parmesan mix.

Heat the vegetable oil to a moderate heat ( so that its not smoking but if you throw a few breadcrumbs in they fry) and cook the cutlets on both sides for around 2 minutes each, they should be golden brown on each side. Serve with a nice salad as suggested above and with the lemon slices.  A small word of warning, don’t be tempted to add the lemon before serving up as it will make the crust soggy.

My mum cooks the most delicious potato side dish when I go home and its so simple to make I thought I’d share it. The emphasis here is on the freshness of the herbs and the quality of the chillies so if you grow your own mint this would be an ideal dish to use it in.

Ingredients (6 People)

• 1 kg potatoes
• 2 chillies
• Olive oil
• Handful of fresh mint
• Sea salt and pepper

Method

First parboil the potatoes, drain them well and add them to a dry frying pan. Heat the pan a little to get rid of any excess water on the outside of the potatoes.   Now simply add olive oil, the chillies and a liberal amount of fresh mint (chopped roughly). Fry the potatoes until they have a brownish crush on the outside but are not too soft.   Season well and serve either hot or cold. Any leftovers we have usually go into a potato omelette with pecorino cheese, hopefully I’ll post this recipe up sometime too! Told you it was easy!