Sugo con Fungi Porcini

Well, I have to start the recipe ball rolling with what is probably the classic of all the Italian sauces. Some people may think that it's tomato but I think that it's the porcini sauce. However, this one combines porcini and tomatoes so you get the best of both worlds.

Ingredients:
1 Onion diced finely
1 clove of garlic
1 handful of dried mushrooms
2 to 3 tablespoons of tomato puree
1 glass of white wine
Stock cube


To Make the Sauce:

1. First you will need to soak the dried mushrooms in about 300ml of boiling water. This needs not be too precise. A bit more or less is hardly crucial. Set aside for about 20 mins by which time the mushrooms will have plumped up. Strain but keep the soaking liquid as you will need it for the sauce. If any dusty bits remain in the bottom of the soaking dish then throw them away.
2. Chop the drained mushrooms into medium size pieces. No need to make them too small as you want to see that you are eating a mushroom sauce after all.
3. Now fry the onion and the garlic slowly in oil until they soften and turn a golden colour. This should take about twenty minutes. you will give the sauce a good depth of flavour if you do it this way.
4. Turn up the heat and add the chopped mushrooms. Fry for about 2 minutes and then add the white wine. Bubble up until the alcohol has boiled off and then add the mushroom soaking liquid.
5. Now add the tomato puree and turn the heat down to a very gently simmer.
6. Do not cover. The pan should be about 2/3rds full. This will evaporate as it cooks. Allow to simmer gently for about 2 hours, checking from time to time that it is not drying out.
7. Taste and season with the stock cube and salt if necessary.
8. Use this sauce with freshly cooked pasta and sprinkle generously with freshly grated parmesan.

Do you have any porcini recipes favourites?

If you do why not send me the links and I can compile a list for everyone to use.
I'll be posting mine in the next submission.

The Porcini are Finally Here

At last the long awaited porcini have arrived. The season here abouts has started very late this year as it's been too wet and cold to bring out the mushrooms. However here's the proof that they have decided to grow.





This photograph was taken in my garden in the UK so all the Italians who don't believe that porcini grow anywhere other than the hallowed ground of Italy, look with envy at the evidence.

As you can see the porcini grow to be quite large here as they are left in the ground to do so. In Italy they wouldn't get the chance. The only problem with the large porcini is that they are darker when dried so it is better to pick them small as they remain light and don't colour the risotto too much.

Once they have been picked they need to be cleaned and sliced.

The slices are about 1cm thick. They have to be this thick as they are nearly all water and if you cut them too thin they will be so papery that they will crumble to nothing.

To dry them you will need warm Italian sunshine, or failing that a fan assisted oven with a low temperature of 50C. Lay them out on the rungs of the oven trays and wedge the door open slightly. I use a wooden spatula. the aim is to keep the temperature low and not to cook the mushrooms. After about 12 hours like this the porcini should be dry. If you feel them damp in any way leave them longer. they must be bone dry to keep. They should be stored in an air tight jar or they will absorb moisture and go off quickly.

Late Summer Vegetable Bake

The next dish that I've made is one that is really useful when you get a glut of zucchini(courgette) and aubergines. Now I know that aubergines are not usually plentiful in British gardens but zucchini are so buy the other items from the supermarket.

You will need:

1 aubergine

3 or 4 tomatoes. It depends on the size of your tomatoes.

1 onion, sliced

Parmesan cheese

2 courgettes

Olive oil for frying the onions.

The first thing that I want to say is that I am not over fond of frying aubergines as I think that they soak up so much oil that the pleasure of eating them in lost in a sea of grease. What I do is slice the aubergines and put them on a microwaveable plate. Cover with cling film and cook until soft. The time that this takes will depend on the power of your microwave. Leave them aside until ready. Do the same with the zucchini.

Fry the onion until soft.

Skin and slice the tomatoes.

Make up the dish by putting layers of alternating vegetables in an oiled, oven proof dish . Cover with a layer of Parmesan cheese and bake in a hot oven for about 30 mins. Most of the vegetables have been pre-cooked so it does not take too long. It should be brown and bubbling like the photograph.

Serve as an accompaniment for grilled meat.

Maiale in Umido

This recipe for maiale in umido is a family classic. It's easy to make and delicious to eat. I would even advise you to make too much and freeze the spare meat to eat at a later date. This was my mother's standby. We all used to love it when she made it as it was so tasty.

Just one point for those who can't speak Italian, maiale is pork.



For two people you will need:

2 good size chops
1 glass of dry white wine
1 clove of garlic. I usually use smoked garlic as I find it sweeter than the ordinary stuff, but if you can't get it the usual will do.
1/2 stock cube.
1 teaspoon of finely chopped rosemary.
Par-boiled potatoes: as many as you feel that you can eat.

Fry the chops in a large pan that has a lid. You will need to put the lid on later.
When they are brown, add the chopped garlic and a few seconds later add the white wine and allow it to bubble up to cook off some of the alcohol.
Add the crumbled stock cube and if the dish is too dry then add a half glass of water. Cover and allow to cook until the chops are almost tender.
Add the par-cooked potatoes and stir around without breaking them up.
Sprinkle the rosemary over the top.
Put the lid back on and allow to cook gently until the potatoes and meat are tender and ready to eat.
Serve as seen in the photograph. You will see that there is very little sauce, but what there is is very intensely flavoured and delicious. Italian food does not tend to come swimming in sauces.

Crostata di Marmellata

In many parts of Emiglia Romagna you will see this little tart in most pastry shops. Translated it simply means ‘jam tart’. Don’t let that fool you because this is not a children’s tea time favourite but a tart that is suitable for all ages and it will disappear all too soon. It’s probably the brandy in the jam that makes all of the difference. You need to have the presence of mind to hide some in the cupboard so that you can savour some all for yourself when everyone has gone and you can sit down with a cuppa or a glass of sweet, sparkling, white wine. Bliss. To make this tart you will need to start by making ‘pasta frolla’ or sweet pastry as it's known in Italy. Now, if I am honest there are as many versions of this as there are homes in Italy. Everyone will have their little twist on the recipe. Most of the recipes in books will tend to have a far higher ratio of sugar than I use here. They also have less butter. What I do is make a fairly rich buttery pastry, to which I add a teaspoon of lievito ( Italian baking powder ). I tend to use the Paneangeli make and unlike the manufacturer’s instructions, I add it to the flour rather than at the end which is what they tell you to do. I can’t see how it will mix in properly if you do that. 

  Ingredients for Pasta Frolla 

 200g plain flour. If you can get ‘00’ flour this is the best. 

1 teaspoon of lievito

120g butter I used salted. If you use unsalted you will need to add a big pinch of salt.

90g sugar The finer the sugar, the crispier the pastry.

2 egg yolks

Grated rind of half a lemon or a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

 Start by creaming the butter, lemon rind and the sugar.

 When you have creamed the mixture for about 5 minutes, beat in the egg. 

Mix in the flour and lievito until the mixture comes together and forms a soft dough. You are not going to roll this dough out so it does not have to be too firm. If you need to roll it out then put in the fridge for 30 minutes. The butter will firm up.

Remove about 1/3rd of the dough and set aside. You will use this to make the top later. Press the remaining 2/3rds over the base of a 30cm buttered baking tin. 

  Now the Jam You can buy the jam for making this tart in Italy. It is called prunellata and it usually has a picture of a crostata on the jar so that you know that you are buying the right thing. The thing that marks this jam out from all others is that it's sharp. I love it and so do most of my friends. It needs to be sharp to prevent the tart from being too sweet. If you can’t get this jam, I suggest that you buy a morello cherry jam. If you do, however, substitute the brandy with kirsch. For a tart of this size you will need about 400g of jam. Add two tablespoons of brandy to the jam and mix well. Spread over the base of the tart, leaving about 1 cm of pastry uncovered. Now roll out the remaining pastry into long sausages and, starting with the edges of the tart, create a lattice over the top of the tart as shown in the photo. Cook in a medium oven until the tart is cooked and golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin and when cold, dust with icing sugar and cut into pieces and serve.

Chicche Della Nonna with Fresh Tomato and Basil Sauce

I won't start by saying that these are quick. They aren't. They take time, but, having said that they are quick to cook. Don't forget that these freeze really well so it's worth making lots even if you are only two of you. They make a fast meal when you're in a hurry and so much better than the bought ones.

Start by making the sauce which you can set aside until you need it. The day before is fine. Just remember that it contains fresh cream so it will not last forever.

This is a quick and easy sauce that has the advantage of being easy to freeze and it uses basil in a way which keeps the taste fresh. No mean feat with basil as it usually looses its taste very easily.

To make the sauce:

500g of skinned and chopped fresh tomatoes, If you are going to make this sauce with British tomatoes then choose the ripest that you can get. Failing that 1 tin of good quality tomatoes.
1 small onion of shallot,
50g of butter, 1 tbs oil,
150ml cream,
a small bunch of fresh basil. Do not use dried.
1/2 a stock cube - Knorr, gusto classico
salt and pepper:
To make the sauce:

Fry the onion in the oil and butter until it is a light golden colour. You do not want to brown it too much as it spoils the colour of the sauce. Neither do you want the onions to be under cooked so cook them slowly.
Add the chopped tomatoes and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook slowly for about 30 mins. Add the stock cube and salt and pepper to taste.
Whizz up with a blender and then return to the pan. Add the cream and the chopped basil and stir through. Keep warm without boiling. This is a lovely sauce. Just you wait and see.


To make enough chicche for 6 people:
800g of potatoes
400g of spinach
400g of plain flour
300g fresh ricotta
2 eggs
salt
Wash, peel and boil the potatoes. Drain well and mash well to get rid of any lumps.
Wash the spinach well and cook in a pan with only the water clinging to the leaves. This will only take about 5 minutes. Alternatively, put the spinach in the pressure cooker and bring to pressure. Switch off and leave to come too normal pressure. When you open it the spinach will be cooked. Drain well and squeeze until you can get out as much water as possible. wet spinach do not make good chicche.Chop the spinach as finely as possible. you can use a mezza luna or failing this put it in a decent food processor and chop until it is really fine.
Put it in a bowl and add the eggs, the ricotta the potatoes and mix well. Add enough of the flour to make a soft dough that holds together. You may use all of the flour of slightly more or less than that given, it depends on the wetness of the potatoes and the flour.
Put in the fridge for about an hour. This will make it easier to work.


Flour the work surface well. Cut of pieces of the dough and roll out into thin sausages about 1cm thick and cut off pieces of about 1cm in length. You can cut them shorter as is the tradition but life is too short and they taste the same whatever size that you make them. Having said that, too big is no good as they do not cook properly.
Set aside while you use up the rest of the dough. I tend to store mine on a Teflon mat that I bought in Tesco. It's great as I can also use it to freeze the chicche and it releases them without having to over flour the sheet.
put the oven on and a bowl that yo can put the chicche in to keep warm.
Cook the chicche in lots of boiling water. By this I mean at least 3lt. Do not cook them all at once. You will have a dreadful mess if you do.
The chicche are done as soon as they rise to the top of the water. Do not be tempted to cook them for longer as they will turn into bullets.
I cook about 20 at a time. Put the chicche in the oven in the pre-warmed bowl. This will keep them warm while you cook the rest a few at a time.
Dress with the warm sauce and lots of Parmigiano. Lovely.

This is one of the simplest creams that I know of and luckily enough it is also delicious.





To make this ambrosial cream take:

250ml of whipping or double cream
250 ml of Greek yogurt - full fat. Don't bother with thin skimmed stuff
a few drops of vanilla essence
about two tablespoons of sugar - use more or less according to the degree of sweetness that you enjoy.

Whip the cream and then fold in the yogurt vanilla and sugar.Put in a bowl and leave for a few hours to stiffen up. Eat with poached fruit. In the photo you will see that I served it with poached mirabelle plums. Yumm!

Torta d'Erbette

This is yet another way to use the spinach beet that grows so abundantly in the summer months and have the advantage of tasting delicious. This is also a perfect pie for a vegetarian. As you can see from the photo of the spinach in the orto, there is lots, and that's after I picked the stuff that I used.





In the region where I come from there are feste to this torta. Well let's face it in Italy there are feste to just about anything. The other day, while to drive through a place called Farini d'Olmo, I was amazed to see advertised a festa to tractors. No doubt there would be food, dancing and lots of wine. Not while on the tractor, I hope.






For the filling:


About 750g of spinach after it has been stripped from the stalks.
100ml approx of olive oil. This does not need to be extra virgin.
150g of Parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs
Salt and pepper
2 tbs plain flour

Strip the spinach from the stalks and if you feel industrious then use them in another dish. I usually just compost them as I really don't know what to do with them. I then slice the spinach and dry it in a salad spinner. This helps to get rid of any excess water which will spoil the torta.
Now put the spinach in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix well. You will be surprised by the way that the mixture decreases in volume.
Now, I know that this contains raw eggs but I tend to taste the mixture to assess the seasoning. If there is not enough salt or cheese, add some more. It's your torta. Just remember that it is not a quiche and should not contain too many eggs.
You might have thought that you had too much before but now you will see sensible proportions. It will reduce even more while it cooks.

The pastry is made in a similar way to the pastry for the torta di patate. This may not seem much pastry but it will be rolled out thinly. Using very little fat and tepid water will allow you to do this.

250gm plain flour

75gm butter

tepid water
salt.


Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour and add enough tepid water to make a softish dough. Roll out to line and overlap a shallow tin. The tin should be about 30cm x 40cm. If you don't have one of these then use a few smaller ones, I do as there are only two of us now. Empty nest and all that.


Pile the filling into the ready lined tin and cover with a sheet of thin pastry. Remember that the pastry has to be as thin as pasta. Fold the side edges over the central disc and press down lightly. You can egg wash the top but i don't tend to do that as I brush with milk instead. I once tried to brush with oil but this made an over crisp topping that I didn't much like.
As an alternative you can make two round torta. Each tin will be about 30cm in diameter.
Cook in a hot oven. 230C or gas 7. It should be well cooked underneath or it will go soggy. I hate soggy pastry. Cover the top if browning too much. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before eating. This avoids burning your mouth. As if!


Buon appetito!

Mirabelle Plum Tartlettes

As some of you from the Italy Magazine may well know I have been blessed and perhaps cursed by a glut of Mirabelle plums. When I first saw them on the trees I couldn't believe that I had been so lucky. They shone golden and tempting in the afternoon light and I couldn't wait to eat them warm from the tree. I had pictures of Elizabeth David's descriptions of eating apricots warm from the tree on my mind. Well. I'm glad to say that that delight did not fall short of the expectation and the ripe plums were honey sweet and delicious.

Where does the curse come into the equation? There are so many. It is impossible to eat them all so the great cook in of the plums had to begin and I have started with these delectable little tartlettes to whet your appetites.





First the pastry
150g plain flour
90g butter
1 egg
50g sugar

Make the pastry by creaming the butter and sugar until soft and white. Beat in the egg and then add the flour and lievito. Mix together to form the pastry. If it is too soft then add a little more flour. This should not be as firm as a traditional pastry as it will not be rolled out, but pushed into the tartlette cases instead. Now proceed to do just that.

Divide the pastry into approximately 12 pieces and pat each piece into shape in the tartlette tins.

I've become a convert of the silicone bakewear that has flooded the market in the last few years. It is easy to use, the things that you bake in it don't stick and it is easy to wash. End of discussion as far as I am concerned. Another advantage for using silicone bakewear for making these tartlettes is that they can remain in the cases until cool. They can then be pushed out without having to resort to a knife to prise them out. This is especially good for rich pastries.
Remove the stones from about 24 plums and push, skin side up into the pastry. I didn't bother to sugar the plums as they take their sweetness from the pastry and I like a little sharp contrast to the pastry.

Bake in the oven at about gas mark 5 until they are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and when cool enough take out of the cases. Do not do this too soon as the pastry is rich and will break when warm.

Dust with icing sugar, or if in Italy, buy the sugar that is sold for dusting as it will not melt. Now eat them. But I didn't need to tell you that, did I?.

Tortelli di Erbette

This is another traditional dish from the Parma region and one that I have eaten all my life. It was an easy one for my mother to recreate in the UK as all the ingredients were readily available and even if she couldn't get ricotta cheese all those years ago in the 1960's she could substitute it with cream cheese. In those days she also had to use the ordinary plain flour that was on sale in the corner shop as the influx of imported flours now available was a dream of the future.

Tortelli may be readily available in the supermarkets but it is not a patch on the home made variety which was kept for feasts not eaten as an every day food. Some things are special and the ready made stuff is ordinary so, in my view, is not worth eating. Real tortelli takes time to make. I won't kid you that it is quick but it is worth it. You will taste the difference and that is not a plug for Sainsbury's.

This recipe will make enough for 4 people.

So we start with the pasta:

3 medium eggs, use the best organic free range eggs that you can get if you want your pasta to be a good bright yellow colour.
300g of '00' Italian flour. This is soft flour. It says tenero on the pack. This means tender or soft. I've heard some UK cooks telling TV audiences to use hard flour. Ignore this twaddle.
1/2 a teaspoon of salt.

Throw the lot into a food processor and process until it resembles a rubble. Pour out on to a work surface and kneed to get the mixture together. Do not be tempted to add water, even though it may seem dry to you. Wrap the dough in cling film or put in a small plastic bag and put to rest in the fridge for about an hour. You will be amazed at how the dough has softened up after its rest.

While the dough is resting get on with the filling.

You will need about 1 Kg of Spinach beets. Use ordinary spinach if this is unavailable. Weigh before thae stems are removed. I tend to like my tortelli green, if you prefer more cheese then alter the proportions.
250g Ricotta cheese
1 egg
100g grated Parmesan cheese, grate it yourself. Do not buy the ready grated.
1/teaspoon of salt
A pinch of nutmeg. I hate nutmeg so I leave it out. I tell you this for authenticity only.

Clean the spinach in plenty of water and cook in a pan with only the water clinging to the leaves. This will take only a few minutes. Drain and squeeze out as much of the water as possible.
Do not be tempted to skimp on this as it is important. A wet filling will cause the pasta to disintegrate. Not good. What I do is put on a pair of clean latex gloves and squeeze as hard as possible. Latex gloves are good as they stop the spinach from staining your nails. It takes days to get the stain out. Stained nails may be good on old style Nonna's but this modern one likes to keep her nails clean.
Put the spinach in a food processor along with the rest of the ingredients and pulse until the mixture is thoroughly amalgamated. You should have a semi-soft mixture. It should not be sloppy. If it is too soft add more grated parmesan or dry bread crumbs. Set aside.

Now the fun begins.

Cut the pasta into about 4 pieces. use 1 and keep the other three under wraps to stop it from drying out.

Put the machine on its widest setting and pass the pasta through the machine a minimum of 12 times, folding it in half each time. You will see that the pasta becomes firmer and pliable as you do this. If it is not then pass it through the machine again. Do not stint on this for if you do the pasta will develop holes when you try to make it thinner. Do not flour the pasta as this will alter the proportions and the pasta will not stick together when you come to make the tortelli

When you feel that the pasta is ready to make thinner start reducing the width of the rollers and pass through the machine to make a long thin length of pasta. This time there is no need to fold. I tend to go down to the last but one width and pass it through the machine twice at this thickness. That's about right on my machine but you can experiment with yours. Not all pasta machines are the same.





I am lucky enough to own a ravioli tray, see photo, which I line with pasta, fill and cover with another sheet of pasta. I then press it down and the tray will put the cutting lines in the pasta.If you have not floured the pasta surface you will have no trouble getting the pasta to stick. There will be no need to use egg to make the pasta stick. That is a faff invented by TV cook. No one in Italy does it. I speak with no authority at all except that of having watched my mother and aunts make this sort of thing so very often.
If you are clever you can press the pasta down with the rolling pin that comes with the tray but I can never seem to be able to do this so I turn it out onto a floured surface and I cut it out along the lines with my pasta wheel. I then transfer the tortelli to a floured surface, this stops them sticking, and get on with the next lot.

To cook the pasta
Put about 3 litres of salted water in a large pan and bring to a rolling boil. Throw in about half of the tortelli. It is not good to overfill the pan. Cook for about 5 mins until the pasta is cooked. Do not fall for the UK rubbish of 1 minute as there is a double thickness of pasta on the join and this takes time to cook.. Try one and see what you think. If it is cooked to your liking strain well and eat, if not cook for another minute. Keep these warm while you cook the rest.

To serve brush with melted butter and sprinkle generously with grated Parmesan cheese. About 100g will be enough betweent eh 4 servings. Do not use flaked cheese, these tortelli need the cheese to come into contact with the pasta. Enjoy.

Sausage and Beans

Today I decided to make my husband's favourite supper dish: borlotti con salsicia, or sausage and beans. This is no hardship as it's also one of mine. As much as I like fine dining I also like good hearty food and this dish certainly is that.I started by going down to the Orto to pick the beans which as you can imagine are plentiful here in Italy in August. They then have to be shelled and cooked. Don't ask me how many per person as it depends on your appetite. What I tend to do is pile them on a plate. If they look about right I go with that.








Put the beans in a pan or pressure cooker if you want to be quicker with a stick of celery, a fresh tomato, an onion, halved, and a carrot.Do not put in any salt at this point as it will toughen the skins. Cook until starting to go soft. In the pressure cooker this tends to be about 5 minutes but be careful. I am not too sure how long they take in a pan as I never cook them that way. It also depends on the age of the bean. Fresh from the garden, they will probably cook quicker than if they have been hanging about in a supermarket stall. Try them after about 30 mins.
Cook until almost but ot quite soft.


Now cut the sausage into rounds. I used salamini sausages as they are my favourites. If you use lugnaega sausage cut into 6cm lengths ie. about half a sausage.Fry the sausages until nice and golden brown, deglase the pan wit5h some white wine and add some stock cube. I like the Knorr, gusto classico but use your favourite.



If you would prefer you can cook the lot in a pressure cooker. Just start by frying the onions and then add the sliced sausage and when they are brown add the wine. Add the other ingredients and enough water to cover and cook on high for about 5 mins. easy but not quite as refined as cooking separately.

Another thought! Cut down the cooking by using a can of beans. You cook the sausages as outlined above but only add the beans when the sausages are throughly cooked. Not as good as fresh beans but if you are in a hurry it will do. This is a modern day Nonna giving you instructions after all.

Torta di Patate

My grand daughter is eight months old and I have suddenly realised that I am a Nonna. This has given me something of a shock. I can't really be that old can I? I certainly don't think that I look ancient like my own Nonna. No black headscarf for a start. However, being a nonna has now given me the opportunity to write up the recipes that I have acquired over a life time. Now I don't need to ask Nonna, everyone can ask me.

My recipes will be mainly Italian as every good Nonnas will be but they will have a sprinkling of Welsh as I live in Wales and a dash of anything else that I have liked.

For my first recipe will go to the region that my parents come from in Italy, Parma and more locally Bardi. If there are any other Bardigani out there reading this then you will recognise this local speciality, as it's TORTA di PATATE. No Italian picnic is complete without a torta and in my region they even have feste to this torta.

To make a fairly large torta, about 45cm x 30cm, there's no point in making a small one, you will need:

2kg of floury potatoes. My mother used King Edwards but Maris Piper are good too. Don't bother with new potatoes as they tend to be gluey and not good.
2 leeks, white and green cleaned and chopped fairly small
a piece of lardo to fry the leeks. Failing this and in a British kitchen that is fairly likely use some Fatty bacon chopped. Do not use smoked bacon the flavour is wrong in this dish.
1 packet of cream cheese.
A handful of freshly grated Parmesan.

1 or 2 eggs depending on how dry the potatoes are

Some cream remember that this is an Italian recipe so the quantity that I will give is: as much as you need.



For the pastry

250gm plain flour

75gm butter

water salt.



Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour and add enough tepid water to make a softish dough. Roll out to line and overlap a shallow tin.



Steam the potatoes because if you boil them they will be wet and in some cases disintegrate. mash them and put aside.

While the potatoes are boiling you can fry the bacon or lardo if you are lucky enough to get it and then add the leeks and continue to fry until the leeks are soft. No need to colour the leeks.

Add to the mashed potatoes with the rest of the filling ingredients. mix well.

pile into the lined pastry dish and level out. Flip the overlap pastry over the torta and pat down

Cover the torta with an egg wash or if you are feeling mean then use milk.

score the top with the back of a fork to make a criss-cross pattern.

Cook in a fairly hot oven until it is well cooked underneath. Cover the top to prevent burning if necessary. In Italy it would have been cooked in a bread oven after the bread had been cooked and the oven had cooled.

Hope that you like this.