Potatoes and Porcini

A fantastic combination. The potatoes soak up the wonderful flavour of the mushrooms, like blotting paper, and somehow end up tasting even better than the porcini did in the first place. It's a versatile dish - I made it several weeks ago first of all to serve with roast haunch of pork, and the leftovers were re-heated a couple of days later, to be served with sautéed rabbit, and (arguably best of all) the final spoonfuls were eaten cold a couple of days later from a plastic box in the fridge. As a summer cold-potato-salad, made a couple of days in advance and left to go cold, this would be positively ambrosial.

Properly speaking, the recipe calls for fresh porcini, which are not only not always available, and even if they are, you risk wandering into second-mortgage territory with the cost of the things (at about three euros per the amount needed for one serving). Hence the advisability of using reconstituted dried porcini instead. As follows:

 For two servings.

Ingredients: Two medium-large Potatoes; four or five good-sized pieces of dried Porcini; 2 oz Butter; 1 clove Garlic; half a small Onion; a glass of white wine; seasoning.

Method:

1. In a small bowl, cover the dried Porcini with boiling water and allow to sit for 30 minutes, to soften; then filter the liquid through a paper-lined sieve (reserve the soaking liquid) and rinse the softened mushroom pieces before chopping them finely.

2. Peel the Potatoes and cut into dice of about half an inch. Par-boil them for three minutes in boiling salted water, then drain.

3. Melt the butter in a pan which has a lid. Saute the garlic (pressed) and onion (chopped fine) for a couple of minutes, until softened, then add the chopped porcini, and saute for another minute, stirring. Add the wine and the reserved mushroom liquid, and raise the heat just enough to bring the liquid to a boil.

4. As soon as the liquid boils, turn the heat down to medium, and add the par-boiled Potatoes. Stir together, then cover and allow to cook gently together for about ten minutes, until the Potatoes are cooked (and are even starting to fall apart slightly - thay way they absorb even more of the mushroom flavour). Taste and add seasoning as required.

This dish is best made completely in advance, and then reheated (covered and in a medium oven, for about ten minutes) just before serving; the more time the flavours have to blend, the better the end result.

Recipe: Broccoli, Roman style

Perfect with any simple grilled or roast meat, this dish has the sort of complex structure of flavours which makes it a first cousin to ratatouille...but with a list of ingredients which takes it straight back to the pages of Apicius, if not before.
Eminently suitable for entertaining, as all of the work can be done hours in advance, and the wonderful smell of cooking that greets your guests on arrival will have them salivating even before they hand over their coats! And, just as with ratatouille, any leftovers are excellent re-heated the next day, and served with a lightly-poached egg as an informal starter.

For four.

Ingredients: the stalks from two large heads of Broccoli - you need about 350g of stalk (reserve the florets for another day, to steam, or to use for purée, for example); 2 medium Onions; 60g stoned Black Olives; 4 large Anchovy fillets; 50g Parmesan; Salt; Olive Oil; 10 fl oz dry Red Wine.

Method:

1. Peel and thinly slice the Onions; peel the broccoli stalks, and slice wafer-thin.

2. Lightly oil the base of a heavy iron casserole, or a sauté pan with a lid. Distribute half of the sliced Onion over the base of the casserole, and cover with a layer of sliced Broccoli stalks, again using half of the total amount.

3. Thinly slice the Olives and Parmesan, and chop the Anchovies into small pieces. Over the layer of Broccoli stalks scatter half of the Olives, Parmesan and Anchovies; salt lightly (not too much, as the cheese and fish are already salty) and a light dressing of Oil (about half a tbsp).

4. Repeat with another layer of Onion, then Broccoli, and finally the remaining amount of Olives, cheese and Anchovies. Lightly salt, and moisten with a little more Oil.

Set aside until about an hour before you want people to come to table.

5. Pour the Wine over the assembled dish, and heat over a low heat for an hour, with the lid firmly in place. Check and adjust seasoning just before you serve.

I find it works well if I remove the pan from the heat just as the first course is served, and it can then rest, with the lid on, for the duration of the first course, ready to be served along with the main course.

Recipe: Braised Fennel

More of a technique than a specific recipe, this method of cooking fennel works just as well with celery, or swiss chard stalks or leeks...or, in fact, with any of the green vegetables that could be considered 'fibrous'.
I came across the recipe a couple of years ago, buried deep in the pages of one of Anna del Conte's works. I forget which one, and equally I forget now who she quoted as her source (as I'm sure she did, generally being extremely scrupulous about provenance). Vastly superior to simple sauté or baking, the end result from this method is silky and luxurious, with the vegetable meltingly soft, in a sauce which combines all the best elements of the cooking medium and of the vegetable juices mixed in.
It can also be cooked entirely in advance and gently reheated in a warm oven, under foil.

For four:

Ingredients: 2 medium Fennel bulbs, trimmed; 1 oz Butter; 1 tsp Salt; 2 cups Stock (Duck, Chicken, Veal...anything, really, as long as it has flavour).

Method:

1. Melt the Butter in a pan which has a lid and is large enough subsequently to hold the Fennel.

2. Cut each Fennel into 4 lengthwise and add them to the pan; turn the pieces so that they are covered in melted Butter. Sprinkle with Salt, and cover the pan; cook gently for about five minutes.

3. Add the Stock to the pan, raising the heat underneath so that the Stock starts to bubble, then lower the heat again to a low simmer.

4. Cook, partially covered for about half an hour, until the liquid has reduced to a couple of tablespoons or so of thick sauce. Adjust seasoning as necessary, and serve.

Recipe: Potato Gratin

This is a wonderful dish for grey, wintry days. Simplicity itself, but with a glorious smell which pervades the house as the gratin slowly does its thing in the oven over a period of several hours. Although meat-free, the presence of a dash of nutmeg somehow implies the use of a rich beef broth somewhere along the line, which gives to the dish a surprising additional dimension.

This goes excellently with pretty much anything... and is equally fantastic when sneaked cold from the fridge on the following day.

For six.

Ingredients: 1 kg Potatoes (something like Maris Piper is fine); 6 medium Shallots; 2 large Garlic cloves; generous pinch of grated Nutmeg; 1 tsp dried Thyme; 8 fl oz Milk; 8 fl oz Cream; 2 tsp Salt; Pepper, half a dozen grinds of the mill; 2 tablespoons of Butter.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 150 degrees C.

2. Peel the Potatoes and slice them finely, either (carefully) by hand or by using a mandoline. Put the slices immediately to soak in a large bowl of cold water, and leave them soaking while you prep the shallots and garlic.

3. Peel and finely chop both the Shallots and the Garlic; mix them together in a small bowl, along with the Nutmeg, Thyme, Salt & Pepper.

4. Drain the Potato slices into a colander (shake it to remove as much excess water as possible), and arrange a third of them in a layer to cover the bottom of a buttered baking dish. Cover this layer with half of the Sallot-Garlic mixture....then another layer of Potates, then the remainder of the Shallot-Garlic mixture, and finally a last layer of Potato.

5. Combine the Milk & Cream in a jug, and pour it over the top layer of Potato slices. Dice the Butter and scatter it over the top of the gratin. Bake in the pre-heated oven for two hours (and if you don't want to serve it immediately, it can then hold in an oven at 100 degrees C for a further hour, and will come to no harm).

Recipe: Peppers, with Rosemary & Balsamic Vinegar

Another one from the master, Bruno Loubet. Originally, he paired this dish with his splendid recipe for Cod wrapped in Parma Ham - but in fact, it will work just as well with any fleshy white fish fillet, or even with something like a plain grilled chicken breast or a piece of roast pork. Although a great deal less work than ratatouille, this is more than just a poor man's version of that; the flavours here of rosemary, basil, and balsamic vinegar are beguiling, and give to the finished dish a first class status all of its own.

For four.

Ingredients: 4 Peppers (Capsicums) of assorted colours; 1 tablespoon Olive Oil; 2 cloves Garlic, minced; 1 teaspoon capers (cut up, if large); the needles from 1 sprig Rosemary, finely chopped; Salt, to taste; 4 large, fresh Basil leaves; 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200 degrees C. Halve the Peppers, discarding cores and seeds, and place cut-side down in a roasting dish; brush the skin of the Peppers with Olive Oil and roast in the oven for twenty minutes or so, until they begin to blacken and the skins are visibly swelling.

2. Put the Pepper halves in a bowl, along with all of the juices in the bottom of the roasting dish, and cover with clingfilm. Leave for twenty minutes or so, then remove the skins from the Peppers and cut each one into four slices.

3. Put the sliced Peppers into a saucepan, along with their cooking juices. Add all of the remaining ingredients apart from the Basil and the Vinegar. Cover the pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring from time to time for about thirty minutes. Just before serving, stir in the Balsamic Vinegar, and the Basil leaves, finely sliced.

The Sweet Potato Challenge

"Yams, and Clams, and Human Hands, washed down with Coconut Wine...the taste of which was filthy, but the after-effect divine!" pretty much sums up my attitude to sweet potato (all apart from the 'divine' bit). This is not a vegetable I would hurry to include on any menu, having as it does a one-dimensional flavour and a tendency to dissolve into soggy pap if you aren't careful. However, since the good people of North Carolina are in search of ways of dealing with the things, then who am I to deny them in their hour of need? (http://sweetbytesblog.blogspot.com "We are having a contest sponsored by the North Carolina Sweet Potato commission......")

I engaged in some research: Patience Grey was interestingly literary; Elizabeth Schneider, in her excellent and practically biblical tome on vegetables of all shapes and forms, had much to say on the subject; Jane Grigson waxed lyrical about their supposed aphrodisiac qualities; and James Peterson explained at length the precise difference between yams and sweet potatoes (before going on to talk of the latter being served smothered in 'melted marshmallows'...the very idea of which should be enough to make strong men shudder!)

The common thread running through all of this is that in order to make anything worthwhile of sweet potato you need to mix with it some assertive flavours in order to cut the sweetness, to give the dish another dimension, and to rescue it from the realm of nursery food. Many of the asian ways of treating the vegetable include pretty aggressive flavours like chili peppers and galangal, which have the effect of reducing the 'sweet' quality to an interesting undertone. And in Shakespearian England, it appears that the normal way of serving sweet potato was to smother it in dry sherry once it had been cooked. It was this that gave me the clue that in fact Sweet Potato is actually not unlike parsnip, and for best results it should be treated in the same way. Hence, the following: puréed and then mixed with sherry and walnuts, which act as the perfect foil to the sweet potato's natural flavours:

Excellent with any roast meat, the last stage in cooking the sweet potatoes also fits with this combination, as the finished dish can just go into the oven for the last twenty minutes of roasting time, enough to heat the sweet potatoes through and to brown the walnuts.

For four.

Ingredients: 2 large-ish Sweet Potatoes; 4 fl oz Cream; 2 fl oz medium Sherry; half a teaspoon of ground Nutmeg; Salt & Pepper, to taste; 2 oz Butter; 2 oz Walnut pieces.

Method:

1. Steam the Sweet Potatoes for twenty minutes or so, until tender (you could equally cook them in water, I suppose, if you don't have a steamer). Leave to cool for ten minutes or so, then peel them and cut into pieces.

2. Once cool enough to handle, process the cooked Sweet Potatoes along with all of the other ingredients apart from the Walnut pieces. Turn out into a greased ovenproof dish, and level the surface.

3. Sprinkle the Walnut pieces evenly over the surface of the Sweet Potato purée, and place into the lower part of a hot oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. (The Walnut pieces should each be no larger than a pine-nut - if they're larger, before sprinkling them, break them up by crushing gently between your hands.)

Serve.

Recipe: Endive with Orange

When serving a deliciously uncomplicated joint of meat, or a baked fish, or a spit-roast bird - where the freshness and sheer quality of the creature shines through, and the less you muck around with it, the better it is - there's an opportunity to offset this with a vegetable dish where there's clearly rather more going on. This is one of those dishes. I've experimented with an easier version, where I merely shredded and sauteed the endive, and added the orange flavouring at the end, and although it worked perfectly adequately, it was nowhere near as good as the version given here The concentration of flavours in the sauce and the slightly 'caramelised' texture of the endive lifts it to a higher level, but without it too obviously crying out for attention. If serving for a dinner party, prepare the endive in advance to the point where it's about to go into the oven, and then set it aside and put it into the oven as you sit to the first course.

For four.

Ingredients: 4 Belgian Endive; 2 oz Butter; 1 clove of Garlic, minced; juice and rind of half an Orange; 1 tsp Brown Sugar; 4 tbs White Wine Vinegar; 5 fl oz Water; Salt, to taste.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 190 degrees C.

2. Melt the Butter in a sauté pan (one that can subsequently fit entirely in the oven) and once melted, lightly colour the Garlic in the Butter.

3. Cut the Endives in half, lengthwise, and discard any obviously hard bits of central core. Place the Endives face down in the sauté pan and cook a couple for of minutes on each side, until slightly browned at the edges. Add all the remaining ingredients, and bring them to a boil, stirring all the time. Remove from heat.

4. Cover the pan with foil, and then place in the pre-heated oven for twenty minutes. Once the Endives are tender and cooked through, remove the pan from the oven and take the Endives out of the sauce. Place them on the serving plates.

5. Boil the sauce down for a minute or so, until it has noticeably reduced and thickened; spoon the sauce over the plated Endives, and serve

Recipe: Parsnips, with Walnuts and Sherry

This is definitely a dish for the cooler months...which seems highly appropriate since today it's grey and raining, and the temperature has dropped ten degrees in as many hours! The combination of puréed parsnips with a light topping of walnuts is unexpectedly good, and the indefinable edge provided by a slug of sherry takes this dish to another level. I defy anybody to be able to identify the ingredient, but they'll certainly know there's something there... Originally, I came across this recipe in an old book that had been passed on to me, and the implication was that it was a preparation method of some age. In fact, the alcohol of choice in that version was madeira rather than sherry (I substituted sherry, on the basis that I always have some on the go, so it was easier), and for me madeira always has about it the hint of a victorian cathedral close...so the suggestion of age might indeed be correct.

Excellent with any roast meat, the last stage in cooking the parsnips also fits with this combination, as the finished dish can just go into the oven for the last twenty minutes of roasting time, enough to heat the parsnips through and to brown the walnuts.

For four.

Ingredients: 4 large-ish Parsnips; 4 fl oz Cream; 2 fl oz medium Sherry; half a teaspoon of ground Nutmeg; Salt & Pepper, to taste; 2 oz Butter; 2 oz Walnut pieces.

Method:

1. Peel the Parsnips and cut into pieces; steam for twenty minutes or so, until tender (you could equally cook them in water, I suppose, if you don't have a steamer). Leave to cool for ten minutes or so.

2. Once cool enough to handle, process the cooked Parsnips along with all of the other ingredients apart from the Walnut pieces. Turn out into a greased ovenproof dish, and level the surface.

3. Sprinkle the Walnut pieces evenly over the surface of the Parsnip purée, and place into the lower part of a hot oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. (The Walnut pieces should each be no larger than a pine-nut - if they're larger, before sprinkling them, break them up by crushing gently between your hands.)

Serve.

Recipe: Poor Man's Ratatouille

In fact, this might more accurately be described as 'lazy' ratatouille, since it leaves out only a few of the ingredients from the classic version, but omits quite a few of the step from my preferred approach, and thus takes less than half the time. The introduction of Orange rind towards the end takes it in a noticeably different direction from the provencal flavours of the original; if this particular divergence offends, you can just leave it out....

For four, as a side serving.

Ingredients: 1 large Aubergine; 2 medium Courgettes; quarter of a cup of Olive Oil; 1 medium clove of Garlic, peeled and finely chopped; 1 medium White Onion , diced; 5 or 6 Spring onions, sliced thinly; 4 Plum Tomatoes, roughly chopped; 4 sprigs of Thyme; 2 sprigs of Rosemary; 1 Bay Leaf; grated rind of one medium Orange; half a cup of chopped Basil leaves.

Method:

1. Cut the Courgettes and Aubergine into half inch cubes; heat the Oil in a large pan, and once it is very hot, sear the cubed vegetables for three to four minutes, until lightly browned all over. Add Garlic, Onion and Spring Onion, and continue cooking, stirring continuously, for a further five minutes.

2. Add Tomatoes, herbs(apart from the chopped Basil) and Orange rind; reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring, for about ten minutes more.

3. Remove the Bay Leaf, stir in the Basil, and correct the seasoning. Stir thoroughly, and keep warm until ready to serve.

Recipe: Fennel, Tuscan Style

Normally, I would think of Fennel as something to accompany fish - its delicate liquorice flavour marrying well with the subtle qualities of a perfectly cooked Bass or Bream. In this treatment, however, it takes on a more robust character, and would go well with roast Pork, say, or an old-fashioned flavoursome roast Chicken.

Why 'Tuscan'? I have no idea. I first came across the recipe in the scribblings of an obscure french chef from the fifties, who was unlikely to have known 'Tuscan' from a bull's foot, I should think! The use of cloves is also suspect, and to me suggests a provenance nearer to the Veneto than Tuscany......although, as ever, the appearance of Cloves in the list of ingredients implies a pleasingly early provenance.

This is a dish which can be cooked in advance to the final stage, and then re-heated just before adding the Cream.

For six.

Ingredients: One and half kilos of Fennel; 600g Tomatoes (preferably the larger, vine variety); 250g white Onions; a stem of fresh Thyme; a teaspoon of dried Bayleaf; two tablespoons of fresh, chopped Parsley; 100g of Lardons; 4 tablespoons of Olive Oil; 3 Cloves; Salt & Pepper; two tablespoons of Crème Fraiche.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Skin and de-seed the tomatoes (I always do this by cutting crossed lines in the skin with the tip of a sharp knife, then putting them on the end of a fork and immersing them in very hot water for a minute or two; the skins then peel away easily, and you can then cut the tomatoes n half and scoop out and discard the seeds.) Slice the Tomato flesh finely.

3. Finely slice the Fennel and the Onion.

4. In a shallow pan that can subsequently go into the oven - I use a small handless sauté pan - heat three tablespoons of Oil over medium heat, and sauté the Lardons and Onion until they just begin to colour.

5. Add the sliced Fennel and Tomato, mix everything well together, and cook over high heat for a couple of minutes, stirring.

6. Stir in all of the herbs and spice, and season to taste. Pour the remaining Oil over the top, and place in the oven to cook for 45 minutes.

7. Remove the pan from the oven and stir the cream into the vegetables, just enough to warm through. Taste, and adjust the seasoning if necessary, then serve, sprinkled with chopped Parsley.

Recipe: Lampacioni in Agrodolce

And so.....the taste test!

Lampacioni have a unique taste: assertive, earthy, and intensely bitter. The flavour is somehow broad and flat on the palate, and reminded me strongly of both Belgian Endive and - surprisingly - Brussels Sprouts. I'd never before realised quite how alike in flavour those two things are ..

Like all vegetables, Lampacioni can be cooked pretty much anyway you like - however there are several tradional recipes which reflect both their history and their regionality. Molinari lists a few options from Puglia. In most of these, the peeled and soaked Lampacioni are first cooked in water and thereafter finished with either vinaigrette, or in a sweet and sour dressing, or in a little tomato sauce, or else dipped in flour and beaten-egg and then fried. There's a famous frittata recipe for them, as well, and a way to cook them beside the fire in an earthenware casserole, where the unpeeled Lampacioni are put in the covered pot with a covering of plenty of damp straw and allowed to steam gently in their skins for a couple of hours until completely tender.

The problem, of course, isn't so much how to cook the Lampacioni, as how to find them in the first place. They're still popular - and therefore, available - in Puglia and in Morocco, and like all bulbs they store well. So, any you might find on your travels are worth buying and transporting home for future use. Once par-cooked, they can either be frozen or else preserved in oil. As far as I know they only grow wild, so - sadly - , the supply is at risk and the chance to experience this unique ancient vegetable is dwindling. There is a supplier who sells them bottled - which I haven't tried, but I imagine they would stand up to the preserving method as well as, say, baby artichoke hearts.

Anyway, enough blather. The following is the recipe for Lampacioni in Agrodolce, which we ate last night along with a rich and strongly-flavoured Spezzatino of beef.
The most practical approach in doing this recipe is to leave the Garlic heating in the Oil as you serve the first course, and then quickly go through the rest of the recipe after the first course has been cleared.

For Six.

Ingredients: 500 grs peeled Lampacioni; Olive Oil; 1 clove Garlic (crushed with the back of a knife, but left whole); 15 g Capers; 1 tbsp Sugar; 1 tbsp Wine Vinegar; 1 tbsp chopped Parsley; Salt and Pepper.

1. Cut a cross in the root end of each bulb, as for Brussels Sprouts, and soak them for at least 8 hours: overnight is better. Like beans, Lampacioni are indigestible unless soaked.

2. Cook them like potatoes, in plenty of salted boiling water until done, about 20-25 minutes depending on the size - but don't let them collapse. Drain, and refresh in cold water if not using at once.

3. Gently sweat the crushed garlic in the oil for 15 minutes to draw out the flavour, then remove the Garlic and add the Lampacioni to the pan. Stir over moderate heat until warmed through; add the other ingredients, and cook for a further minute or two, stirring.

Serve, sprinkled with chopped Parsley.

Recipe: Potato & Chervil Pie

Having been so damning about Potatoes in my comments on their International Year, it may be from a sense of guilt that I'm now including this recipe - although it's just as likely that thoughts about potato-based dishes have got the gastric juices flowing, and I've been forcefully reminded of this particular recipe, which has to be the best - bar none - recipe for potatoes that I've ever come across. Served hot, as an accompaniment to roast meat of any kind, the texture is unctuous and luxurious, with the combined subtle flavours of Chervil and Garlic acting as a foil to the crisp buttery quality of the crust.....but eaten cold, the next day, when some mysterious alchemy has knitted the flavours and textures together in an even more complex structure then before, this is quite simply manna from Heaven. A slice sneaked cold from the fridge, as you wait for the kettle to boil for early morning tea on the morning after the dinner party of the night before, will have you sighing with pleasure at quite just how good it is!

The two most important things to remember about this recipe are that the potato slices must not be washed or even rinsed, as this will remove the starch which is fundamental to the way the potatoes blend with the cream; and, secondly, that however difficult it may be to come by, you really do need Chervil for this recipe to do itself justice. If you absolutely can't source any, then I suppose a smaller quantity of blandly-flavoured parsley could be substituted - but the end result will very definitely be a compromise from what it could and should have been!

For one 26 cm, deep pie.

Ingredients: one quantity of Shortcrust Pastry, made with 8 oz Butter, 10 oz plain Flour, a generous pinch of Salt, and 50 ml cold Water; 5 medium-sized Potatoes ( a waxy variety, that won't collapse as it cooks); 1 sheet of ready-made Puff Pastry; 250 ml Milk; 250 ml Cream; 1 Garlic Clove, minced; a quantity of Fresh Chervil, chopped finely so that it is equivalent to a Cup measure (before being chopped this will be a sizable amount - probably the equivalent to the capacity of 2 pint jugs); 1 Egg Yolk + 1/4 cup of Milk, to glaze the top of the pie; Salt & Pepper.

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C.

2. Grease a 26 cm false-bottomed flan tin, and line the base and sides of it with the Shortcrust Pastry. Set aside in the fridge to rest as you cook the Potatoes.

3. Peel the Potatoes and slice them into 1/8" slices - the broadest setting on the mandolin is generally about right for this. Place in a large pan, add the Garlic and seasoning, then add the Milk. Over medium heat, bring the liquid just to the boil, then allow it to cook for ten minutes, making sure it doesn't come to a full boil. After ten minutes, add the Cream, and continue the process for a further twenty minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon to ensure the Potatoes don't stick to the base of the pan.

4. Line the pastry shell with baking weights and bake in the pre-heated oven - ten minutes with the weights in, followed by eight minutes with them out - until the shell is crisp and golden. Lower the oven temperature to 180 degrees C.

5. Fill the Pastry Shell with layers of Potato, alternating them with thin layers of chopped Chervil and a sprinkling of Salt & Pepper; use a slotted spoon as you remove the Potatoes from their pan, so that most of the liquid remains in the pan and doesn't swamp the pie.

6. Make a lid for the pie with the sheet of Puff Pastry. Brush this with the glaze of beaten Egg Yolk mixed with Milk, and make a four or five cuts in the top of the pie to allow steam to evaporate during cooking. Bake for 60 minutes in the pre-heated oven until the top is puffed and golden brown; if it needs longer to achieve this, then give it longer, the filling won't hurt in the process.

Keep warm in plate-warming oven until you're ready to serve it.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Risotto with Spinach, Asparagus & Polpette

Well, the sun may be shining gloriously in a clear blue sky, and things in the garden impatiently pushing their heads above ground, but the fact remains that it is still a long time until spring - and when the sun has gone down, it's time to close the shutters and draw the curtains against the outside world.....and hearty winter's fare for dinner is still very much in order.

It doesn't come a lot heartier then this, a recipe from Ticino, in the north of Italy - at the point geographically where slabs of Polenta and haunches of meat appear, and you can tell that the cuisine has evolved in response to an unforgiving winter climate. The local name for the dish, rather unhelpfully, is merely Risotto alla Rustica - which conveys nothing of the many flavours and textures that you encounter within it: the bite of asparagus and spinach combined in an unctuous creamy risotto, all topped with delicious veal and parmesan polpette in a light tomato sauce.

Splendid with a light red wine from Friuli - but don't plan on doing anything energetic for some time after you've eaten!

This works well for a group including vegetarians, since the vegetarian option merely means leaving the meatballs off when you come to serve.

For six.

Ingredients:

For the Vegetable Cream: 500g Spinach, rinsed; 200g Peas; 300g Asparagus (any woody ends of the stalks having been removed)

For the Polpette: 100g minced Pork + 100g minced Veal (or, if not, 200g minced Beef; 1 garlic clove, minced; 1 Egg; 3-4 tablespoons grated Parmesan; 1 tablespoon chopped Paresley; Salt & Pepper; Flour (to dust the meatballs); 250g tinned tomato Pulp; half a glass of White Wine or Vermouth.

For the Risotto: 1 Onion; 3 tablespoons Olive Oil; 1 glass of White Wine or Vermouth; 1 pint Chicken stock**; 250g Mascarpone; 200 ml Cream; half a cup* grated Parmesan; 2 tablespoons chopped Basil; 1 oz Butter.


* these are UK cup measures, rather than US ones. A UK cup is equivalent to 10 fl oz, whilst a US one is only 8 fl oz.

** if using homemade stock, remember to add seasoning to the risotto at the end of cooking; if the stock is commercially made, you'll need much less seasoning at the end.

Method:

1. Put all the green vegetables into a pan,cover with water, bring to the boil over high heat and boil for 3-4 minutes; strain, let cool and blend in a liquidizer to make a homogenous cream.

2. Combine the minced meat with Garlic, Parsley, beaten Egg and grated Parmesan; add seasoning to taste. Form these into small meatballs, no larger than the size of a large olive. Dust these in Flour, and fry over medium-high heat in Oil until done - maybe 3-4 minutes. When the polpette are good and crisp on the outside, pour in the Wine or Vermouth and the tomatoes, and continue to cook, stirring, until the sauce around the polpette has thickened.

The recipe can be done until this stage several hours in advance, if you wish.

3. Make the Risotto in the normal way: soften chopped Onion in heated oil, then add Rice, stir over heat without any liquid for a minute, then add liquid - first the Wine or Vermouth, then the Stock - by the ladleful, adding more each time the previous amount has been completely absorbed. If you run out of Stock before the dish is ready, continue with water. After twenty minutes, add to the Risotto mixture the Vegetable Cream, Mascarpone and Cream, stir thoroughly, and continue to cook the Risotto to completion. When the rice is done, turn off the heat and stir in the Butter and remaining Parmesan.

To serve, sprinkle with chopped Basil, and top with a spoonful of warmed polpette in their tomato sauce.

Ricetta: Risotto con spinaci, asparagi e Polpette

Per sei.

Ingredienti:

Per la crema di verdure: 500 g di spinaci, sciacquati; 200g Peas; 300g di asparagi ( ogni estremità dura del gambo essendo stato rimosso)

Per il Polpette: 100g di maiale tritata 100g + bovine macinate (o, in caso contrario, 200g di carne bovina macinata, 1 spicchio d'aglio, tritato, 1 Uovo; 3-4 cucchiai di parmigiano grattugiato, 1 cucchiaio di trito di Prezzemolo; Sale & Pepe; Farina (per polvere Le polpette di carne); 250g polpa di pomodoro in scatola; mezzo bicchiere di vino bianco o di Vermouth.

Per il risotto: 1 cipolla, 3 cucchiai di olio d'oliva, 1 bicchiere di vino bianco o di Vermouth; 500 ml brodo di pollo**; 250g Mascarpone; 200 ml di Crema; una mezza tazza parmigiano grattugiato, 2 cucchiai di basilico tritati; Burro 30g.


** Se si utilizza un brodo fato in casa, ricordare di aggiungere il condimento per risotti al termine della cottura; se il brodo è reso commercialmente, devi molto meno condimento alla fine.

Metodo:

1. Mettere tutte le verdure in una pentola, coprite con l'acqua, portate ad ebollizione più elevato calore e far bollire per 3-4 minuti; ceppo, lasciate raffreddare e si fondono in un liquidizer a fare una crema omogenea.

2. Combina la carne macinata con aglio, prezzemolo, uova sbattute e il parmigiano grattugiato; aggiungere condimento di gusto. Forma in queste piccole polpette di carne, non più grande delle dimensioni di un grande ulivo. Queste polveri e Farina, e friggere nel medio-alta e di calore olio fino al fatto - forse 3-4 minuti. Quando le polpette sono buone e fresco sulla parte esterna, e per il vino o il Vermouth e pomodori, e continuare a cuocere, mescolando, fino a quando la salsa intorno al polpette ha ispessita.

La ricetta può essere fatto fino a questo stadio diverse ore di anticipo, se lo si desidera.

3. Rendere il risotto in modo normale: ammorbidire un trito di cipolla in olio riscaldato, quindi aggiungere il riso, mescolare più di calore senza liquido per un minuto, poi aggiungere liquido - in primo luogo il vino o di Vermouth, allora il brodo - dal mestolo, aggiungendo più quando l'importo precedente è stato completamente assorbito. Se si esaurirà prima di brodo il piatto è pronto, continuare con l'acqua. Dopo venti minuti, aggiungere alla miscela Risotto alla crema di verdure, mascarpone e Crema, mescolare accuratamente, e continuare a cucinare il risotto a compimento. Quando il riso è finito, spegnere il calore e di suscitare nella restante burro e parmigiano.

Per servire, cospargere con un trito di basilico, e la parte superiore con un cucchiaio di polpette e riscaldato il loro sugo di pomodoro.

Recipe: Green Beans with Cinnamon & Breadcrumbs

Simple and quick, this method of dealing with Beans gives them an extra dimension and sufficient heft to punch in the same weight as a strongly-flavoured beef stew, say, or roast venison. And I defy anybody to be able to identify that the spice in play is Cinnamon - far removed from any dessert connotation, used this way it has a rather muscular, four-square quality that is as much a shape in the mouth as a flavour on the tongue.

For Four, as a side serving.

Ingredients: 300g Green Beans; 50g Butter; 2 tablespoons fine Breadcrumbs (I use Leimer brand, but home-made would be ok, too - as long as they aren't too large); half a teaspoon ground Cinnamon; Salt.

Method:

1. Cook the Beans in the normal way, in boiling salted water for 7-10 minutes, until they are al dente. (Don't let them cook too far, or else they will merely go soggy subsequently). If not using them immediately, plunge them into cold water to stop them cooking further in their own heat and to retain their fresh colour.

2. In a large frying pan, melt the butter, and stir in both the Cinnamon and the Breadcrumbs. Add the Beans to the pan, and heat through, stirring everything together for five minutes or so to coat the Beans thoroughly in the Cinnamon-Breadcrumb mixture.

3. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Serve.

Recipe: Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

A very good high-days-and-holidays recipe, this dish tastes good, presents well, and can be prepared to final cooking stage several hours in advance - so lends itself to a dinner or lunch party when you don't want to find yourself stuck in the kitchen rather than with your guests. Goes particularly well with any dark meat or poultry: Beef, Duck, Goose, Venison......

For Six.

Ingredients: 1 large Carrot; half a Celeriac (approximately 500g in weight); 1 oz Butter (or Duck or Goose fat, if you have it); 1 teaspoon of dried Thyme; 1 small head of Broccoli; 6 Brussels Sprouts; 1 Savoy Cabbage; Salt & Pepper.

Method:

1. Put a large pan of salted water to boil.

2. Peel the Carrot & Celeriac, and cut them into small (about half centimetre) dice. Melt the Butter (or Fat) in a frying pan, and add the diced vegetables and the Thyme to the pan, turning them in the melted Butter several times, then leave to cook over a medium heat while you prepare the other vegetables.

3. Cut the Broccoli florets off their stalk and blanch in the boiling salted water for two minutes. Remove them from the water using a slotted spoon, and put into a colander to drain.

4. Trim the Brussels Sprouts, and cook for four minutes in the boiling water, then remove these also to the colander.

5. Strip the leaves from the Cabbage, and blanch for one minute in the water before removing - you need to end up with six good leaves.

6. Slice each of the Sprouts into four or five pieces, and cut the Broccoli florets into pieces the same size as the pieces of Sprout. Carefully mix these together in a bowl (don't overwork it - you don't want them to go to a mush), and add the cooked Carrot and Celeriac, which should be good and tender by this stage. Check the seasoning and correct as necessary.

7. Make six double-layered squares of cling-film, about 6" x 6" each. In the centre of each one place a blanched Cabbage leaf, from which the central spine has been mostly removed, and on top of that put one-sixth of the vegetable mixture. Bring the edges of the Cabbage leaf up around the filling, and then pull the cling-film up around the whole thing, twisting the cling-film tightly together, to make a tight little bundle. At this stage, you can set the bundles aside until you're ready for the final cooking.

8. For final cooking, place the bundles in the top part of a steamer, and steam over boiling water with the lid on for eight minutes. Serve at once, by carefully untwisting the top of the cling-film, inverting the bundle onto the plate, and peel away the plastic, to leave a plump and perfect parcel, with a flavour bomb inside.

Recipe: Turnip Gratin

Not a particularly lyrical-sounding dish - but in fact it has a very good flavour, and works well as an alternative to a Gratin Dauphinois, with the added dietary benefit that it is much lower in carbohydrates than the classic potato dish. In its use of cream, this cooking method is a first cousin to Michel Guerard's Dauphinois, but is actually even simpler since it doesn't par-cook the vegetable in cream before finally baking the dish in the oven. The cream content here is also much less than in the Guerard version, which is clearly considered an advantage by some. This is a robust dish, and can be cooked to finish and then kept warm for quite some time, without coming to any harm.

For four.
Ingredients: 1 lb of Turnips; 2 Garlic cloves, minced; 3 fl. oz of Cream; 2 - 3 tablespoons of freshly-grated Parmesan; large pinch of Nutmeg; Salt & Pepper, to taste.

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees C.

2. Peel and thinly slice the Turnips; put into a bowl, along with the minced garlic, Cream, Nutmeg and Salt & Pepper. Mix everything together, and distribute in a buttered baking dish.

3. Cover the dish with aluminium foil, and bake in the middle of the oven for an hour. At this point remove the foil, sprinkle with the Parmesan and cook, uncovered, for a further thirty minutes. By this stage, the top will be brown and crisp, and the cream will have thickened.

Serve immediately, or keep in a warming oven, lightly covered with foil, until needed.

Recipe: Celeriac 'sformato'

I suppose the practical translation of sformato would be 'mousse' - although it strikes me that a more literal translation would be 'shape', as in the nursery name that used to be given to blancmange (a much-loathed childhood memory, although one which has been rehabilitated in my mind, with the addition of more sophisticated flavours and under the guise of bavarois). In Italy, sformato is a savoury dish, and generally represents the unhappy end of some poor vegetable, which has sacrificed its all to absolutely no good purpose. For years, sformato was a dirty word in our house, following a particularly unfortunate experience at a Christmas Eve dinner just outside Colle Val d'Elsa, where the guests were all expected to bring a dish, and one elderly signora proudly presented her famed sformato of Cardoons. It raised the concept of 'bland' to hitherto-unknown heights, and the way it slithered eggily round the teeth and down the throat was little short of unpleasant. (Mind you, our contribution was a traditional English Christmas Pudding, and the Italians round the table, having looked on warily as the thing was set alight, took mouthfuls of the gloriously rich concoction with expressions of horror etched on their faces that completely defied description. Chacun a son gout.....)

Anyway, the following dish has gone some way towards changing my thinking about sformati in general - the flavour is good and intense, and the secret is not to process the vegetable too much before baking it, so that the finished product has body and retains a nice crunch. Quantities given here are for four, and I've found that they work perfectly when adjusted pro rata for two, six, eight, etc. If adjusting volumes to an odd number, then it works best to follow the egg/cream quantities for a smaller number of portions, but to increase the quantity of Celeriac in order to bulk up the overall amount - i.e. for three sformati, reduce the egg and cream quantities as if you were making only two, but throw in an extra handful of Celeriac dice. (If you go the other route, and try and add more egg, it just becomes too much like a baked custard).

For Four:

Ingredients: 2 cups of finely diced Celeriac; 3 oz of Butter; 1 cup of Cream; 2 Eggs; Salt & Pepper.

Method:

1. Melt the Butter in a small saucepan, and sweat the diced Celeriac in it over medium heat for about fifteen minutes, until it is tender and gives off a strong aroma.

2. Add the Cream to the pan, stir, and continue cooking for another five minutes, to allow the Cream to thicken. Allow to cool slightly.

3. Process this mixture in a food processor for half a minute, along with the Eggs and seasoning. It should still have some texture after it's been processed.

4. Divide the processed mixture between four greased ramekins, and bake for 20 minutes in a bain marie in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees C. Allow to rest for five minutes after they come out of the oven and before you turn them out to serve.

In Italy, last week, I couldn't get Celeriac, and instead used finely diced Celery. It worked well - although I had to cook the diced Celery for slightly longer in order to evaporate the water, before adding the Cream. Italian Celery has a lot more flavour than that in England, where, if I were going this route, I would definitely opt for organic Celery, which again has a lot more flavour than the non-organic variety.

Recipe: Braised Lettuce

You need a soft-leafed lettuce for this recipe, but something which has a nice dense heart. A Butterhead does very well. Kos is the wrong shape, and too woody, and Icebergs are both too crisp, and anyway completely lacking in flavour (I don't quite see the point of iceberg lettuce, I have to confess...)

For Four.

Ingredients: 4 medium sized Lettuces; 1 medium Carrot; 1 stick of Celery; 100g Lardons; half an ounce of butter; 1 tablespoon of Olive Oil; half a cup of Chicken Stock; Salt & Pepper.

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C

2. Bring a large pan of generously salted water to the boil. Once boiling, add the Lettuces - all together if your pan is large enough, otherwise you'll have to do this stage in batches.

3. Blanch the Lettuces for about five minutes, until they have visibly wilted, and they just start to give out that wonderful mineral aroma. As soon as they reach this stage, remove them with a slotted spoon and immediately plunge them into a bowl of iced water.

4. One the Lettuces are cool, remove them from the water, gently squeeze them dry and put into a colander to drain thoroughly.

5. Heat the Oil and Butter together in a small saucepan, then saute the Lardons until they begin to brown. Finely dice both the Carrot and the Celery and add these to the pan; saute gently for a further five minutes.

6. Butter a small oven proof dish, and distribute half of the Carrot-Celery-Lardon mixture over the base. Slice each head of Lettuce in half (from base to tip), and fold each half in on itself (tip to base) to make each half-Lettuce into a neat, plump cushion. Place these 'cushions' on top of the Carrot-Celery-Lardon mixture in the dish, and distribute the remaining Carrot-Celery-Lardon mixture over the top.

7. Lightly season with Salt & Pepper, then add the Chicken stock to the dish. Cover with foil, and place in the pre-heated oven for half an hour.

Recipe: Aubergine with Garlic & Anchovy

For this recipe, you need to use aubergines with rich, dark skins. I've tried it with the lighter skinned variety - the comparative sweetness of which causes the italians to salivate - but with the latter, the skins are surprisingly tough, and appear to become tougher during cooking, whilst the flesh has a tendency to go to mush. I also think the bitterness of the darker skinned variety works better against the strong flavours of garlic and anchovy than the milder flavour of the lighter skinned aubergines.

For Four.

Ingredients: 2 large Aubergines; 2 Anchovy fillets (nice fat ones); 2 large cloves of Garlic; a cup of Parsley leaves, loosely packed; 30g Butter; 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil; Salt.

Method:

1. Chop the Aubergines into 1 cm cubes, place in a colander, sprinkle lightly with salt, and leave for an hour to throw off their water; once done, run the cubes under cold water to wash off the salt, and roughly pat dry in a tea towel.

2. Heat the Oil and Butter together in a medium sized saute pan.

3. Chop the Garlic and Parsley, add to the pan and saute for several minutes over a medium-high heat, then add the Anchovy fillets, and cook for several more minutes, stirring quite vigorously to begin to break up the fillets.

4. Add the Aubergine Cubes, and cook, uncovered, for about ten minutes, stirring frequently to ensure that the cubes are more or less coated with pieces of Garlic and Anchovy. The aubergine cubes are cooked once they have started to turn brown.

Before serving, taste one of the cubes to see if any more salt is needed. Adjust accordingly.

Recipe: Sweet-and-Sour Courgettes

For Six.

Ingredients: 1 kg Courgettes (or Zucchini, for non UK cooks); 2 tablespoons Olive Oil; 30g Butter; Salt; generous pinch of Cinnamon; freshly ground Black Pepper; 4 tablespoons of Wine Vinegar; 2 tablespoons of Sugar (or sweetener).

Method:

1. Slice the Courgettes into half-inch rounds, place in a colander and sprinkle with salt; leave for an hour to sweat out their water.

2. Melt the Butter in a saute pan along with the Oil. After the Courgettes have finished 'sweating', cook them over a medium heat in the Oil/Butter mixture for about twenty minutes or so, until tender.

3. Add the Cinnamon (sprinkle it across all the Courgettes to avoid it just sticking in one 'glob'), a generous amount of Pepper, Vinegar and Sugar, and continue to cook for a few more minutes, turning the slices in the cooking juices. When they are done, the courgettes should be nicely browned, and the cooking juices should be quite syrupy.

I think this is originally Elizabeth David, as interpreted by Jane Grigson....