Pasta with Carne Macchinato and Mushrooms.

So yesterday was St. Francesco's feast day and seeing as he is the patron Saint of the town where I live I was awakened at 5am with the market setting up for the day's festivities. Argh! Then at 6am the fireworks started so therefore I decided it was time to get up and start another day.....Anyhoo last night hubby decided he wanted a typical dish that is eaten on this feast day, Pasta with mince and mushrooms. I was happy as it's easy to make and most of all quick seeing as I didn't get home until 9pm. Long day, so here's the recipe for 4 people. There was some left over so this quick and easy plate is also on the menu for lunch today!
You can also prepare more sauce and freeze it for an even quicker midweek dinner!

• extra virgin olive oil
•  2 cloves of garlic
• 100g ground beef
• 50g of ground veal
• 50g ground pork
• 1 can of beer, I use a good quality lager
• 500ml of tomato passata
• 100g porcini mushrooms, cut into chunks
• 1 chilli pepper, salt and pepper to season

Preparation

1. sauté the garlic in oil,
2. add the meat and brown
3. add the beer and allow to evaporate
4. add the tomato passata and cook for 30 minutes on a low flame, season and cover
5. boil the water for the pasta and cook (100g pasta per person cooked in 1 litre of water per 100g of pasta)
6. add the mushrooms, cover and simmer until the pasta is cooked
7. serve while piping hot

Fresh homemade Minestrone

So have a household of illness, flu, sore throats and manflu so needs be for some Minestrone. I hate manflu. He gets manflu and with a temperature of 37°C he is literally dying, and even though he doesn't realise it, he raises his voice, which means that if  I'm ill, as I am, I'd rather be in the kitchen cooking so that I don't have to listen to him. lol. 

This is a basic recipe for the traditional minestrone. Other soup recipes will be forthcoming seeing as I live of soup for most of the year.

If you don't have "short pasta", you can break up some spaghetti into 2 cm pieces and use that. I would advise against using pasta if you are bulk making for freezing as the pasta will absorb all the liquid, just add the pasta when reheating after unfreezing. This makes 4 servings.  

•      120 grams of “short” pasta or rice
•      300 grams of cannellini beans
•      50 g pancetta
•      1 stick of celery
•      1 courgette
•      1 carrot
•      1 potato
•      1 clove garlic
•      1 onion
•      2 tomatoes or 1 tablespoon of sauce
•      1 stockcube
•      butter
•      Salt
•      Pepper
•      parsley

preparation:

1. Wash the vegetables under cold running water for a few minutes, and then cut into cubes, smaller cubes for the carrot and potato and bigger cubes for the fleshy veg.
2. Heat up a saucepan and then add a lttle butter with a litte extra virgin olive oil and brown the pancetta, garlic, onion and parsley.
3. Add the vegetables, chopped tomatoes (or a tablespoon of sauce), the stockcube and 1 and a half liters of water.
4. Put the lid on the pot, reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.
5. At the end of this time, add the pasta, or rice of your choice and simmer for another 5 minutes.
6. Turn off the flame, remove the lid and add a pinch of pepper and salt, stir and let stand in the soup pot for 2-3 minutes.
7. Serve immediately, drizzling a little olive oil on top.

facebook

we have a facebook! Yay! now if only I can figure out how to get the "follow me on facebook" widget working....ARGH!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002979801888

Vanilla Extract, homemade.

Ingredients
2 vanilla pods
a quarter of a litre of vodka
Directions
Split the vanilla pods in half, scrape the seeds from the pod using a knife, and place both the seeds and the pods in a glass jar with a lid. Warm the vodka to 48°C. Pour the warmed vodka over the beans and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, seal the jar. Store at room temperature for 1 week, shaking the jar every other day. Strain the mixture, then store in a sealed container. This will keep for a year and makes 48 one teaspoon servings.

Pasta with Pumpkin

So this is a favourite in our house all year round great in winter as a quick hot dish, or in summer as a cold soup like dish. This is for 2 people so adjust quantities as you need them! Enjoy!

• 200 g pumpkin
• 150 grams of mixed pasta (in Italy you can buy this in packs, if you can't find it just save the little bits of pasta that you don't use, break up some spaghetti, some quills etc and use this.)
• • 1 large onion
• • 1 clove of garlic
• • 1 vegetable stock cube
• • salt and pepper
• • extra virgin olive oil
• • grated parmesan cheese
• • parsley

1. Heat up a large frying pan and put in a little oil, fry of the onions and garlic.
2. Cut the flesh of the pumpkin into cubes and add to the pan.
3. Add the stock cube and a glass of water.
4. Allow to cook until the pumpkin becomes soft and creamy, if it drys add some of the water from the pasta.
5. Cook the pasta and drain.
6. Add to the pumpkin and sauté for a few minutes.
7. Serve in a dish with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley.

Oysters on Creamed Leeks with Guinness Hollandaise

Ingredients:

• 24 oysters, shucked, with juice retained
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 2 leeks, white and pale green parts only, washed and sliced
• 160g cream
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  Guinness Hollandaise:
• 170g butter
• half a can of Guinness
• 3 egg yolks
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
  

Preparation:

Over a small bowl, shuck oysters, strain and reserve the liquid and the shells.

Combine the butter and water and cook over medium heat until butter has melted. Add the leeks and cook until slightly tender, about 4 minutes. Add the cream and reduce until it thickens slightly, stirring continuously, 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm in a bowl over hot water.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. In another saucepan over medium heat, combine the reserved oyster liquid and Guinness and bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender. While whizzing, add the egg yolks and lemon juice, then slowly drizzle in the melted butter and mix until thickened.

Preheat the oven grill. Place the reserved oyster shells on a baking sheet. Divide the creamed leeks evenly into the shells and top with an oyster. Spoon the Guinness hollandaise sauce over each and place under the grill until the sauce is browned and bubbling. Serve 4 oysters per person.

Wild Boar Pasta Sauce

So 2 Sundays ago hubby and father in law went out hunting. They got a wild boar. Lovely! So after preparing it, hanging it and than dividing it I decided that today I'd make a wild boar sauce for the pasta. And, even if I do say so myself it turned out great!!! Thankfully I made enough for tomorrow too! I served pappardelle pasta, a thick spaghetti which is great for this type of sauce. 


Pappardelle Pasta 

• 600g Tipo ‘00’ flour (plain flour works just as well)
• 6 large eggs

Place the flour on a large wooden board. I got one made for me which is 2metres by 2 metres so I can mix, knead and roll with no problems. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it. Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth. Using the fork take little of the flour at a time from the sides, incorporating a little at a time, until everything is combined. Knead well.
At this point I usually put it in a bowl, cover it, and let it rest in the fridge for half an hour.
There are two ways to roll your dough. With a pasta machine, which I refuse to have in the house, or with your rolling pin, a tried and trusted method. Dust your board, or surface with a little flour, cut a quarter of the dough and start to roll. Roll until it is ribbon thin then Dust with flour and loosely roll it into a cylinder. Using a sharp knife, cut into 3/4-inch-wide slices.You can do this with more sheets of dough at a time if you wish. Then gently toss to seperate.

At this point some people hang it to dry it but I just lightly dust it with semolina flour and leave it on a shallow baking tin, covered with a teacloth until I'm ready to cook it.

Sauce. 

• 1 kg. wild boar meat ( I use a bit of mince and some nice cubes of loin and steak)
• extra virgin olive oil
•  1 large white onion 
• 1 stick of celery 
• a small bunch of parsley, 
• 1 large carrot 
• two bay leaves 
• peppercorns, juniper berries 
• 1 litre  (3 cans) of chopped tomatoes 
• A bottle of Chianti or a good quality red wine

 
preparation:

1. Chop up the onion, celery and carrot into small pieces and put them into a container along with the wild boar meat, add the bay leaves, peppercorns and juniper berries, then cover with the chianti, stir and let stand for about 12 hours in the fridge or a cool place
2. Separate the meat and vegetables from the marinade, making sure to remove the bay leaves. In a large saucepan (I use a cast iron one because I think the flavours come out better) heat up the olive oil and add the chopped vegetables, let them cook for 5 minutes then add the meat and seal for 5 minutes, then add the wine from the marinade, cook for about 30 minutes or until all the wine has evaporated, add the pureed tomatoes, season and cover and cook for at least three hours over low heat, stirring often. 
3. Bring some water to the boil (1 litre for 100g of pasta), salt and add the pasta. The fresh pasta will need no more that 5 minutes to cook. Drain.
4. Put the pasta back into the saucepan and add some sauce, put over a low flame stirring for 3 minutes until the sauce is absorbed by the pasta, serve and add a little more sauce once plated. 
5. Serve with a good quality red wine and enjoy!