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.

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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!

Roast Pork Loin

• small bunch sage, shredded
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 50g butter
• 2kg boned pork loin, ask your butcher to score the skin really well and cut a long cavity for the stuffing
• 2 large onions, cut into thick discs
  

Roast Potatoes

• 2kg potatoes , peeled and halved
• 4 tbsp goose fat
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• sea salt

Gravy

• 1½ tsp plain flour
• glass white wine
• 250ml chicken stock

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Mix the sage, fennel seeds, shallots and butter and season well. Stuff into the pork then close and tie with string along the length of the joint.
2. Rub the skin all over with a little oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Put the onions on the bottom of a roasting tray, sit the pork on top, skin side up, and roast for 1 and a half hours.
3. After 1 hour 15 minutes, put the goose fat, or the fat from the pork, into a shallow roasting tin and put it in the oven to heat up. Put the potatoes into boiling water and cook for 6 minutes. Drain well and put in the roasting tin, make sure the potatoes are coated with the grease and put back into the oven.
4. After the pork has cooked for 1 and a half hours turn up the oven to 220C and allow the pork and potatoes to cook for 30 minutes then take out the pork and rest.
5. Turn the potatoes, then press down gently on each with the back of a large spoon until it cracks slightly. Toss in the salt and rosemary. Roast for a further 20 minutes until crisp and golden .
6. Meanwhile, put the pork roasting tray over the heat and add the flour. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes until it darkens a little. Gradually add the wine and stock until you have a smooth gravy. Strain into a pan, simmer for another 10 minutes and season.

Limoncello

So this is Mother In Laws recipe for Limoncello. For those of you who don't know Limoncello  is an Italian lemon liqueur. Limoncello is traditionally served chilled as an after-dinner digestivo. It is usually served in small  chilled glasses. This is strong so drink it as a shot!

To produce 1 liter and half of Limoncello, get these ingredients:
- 10 medium sized lemons untreated
- 1 liter of alcohol at 90 °,
- 400 g sugar
- Half a liter of water

First, carefully wash the lemons and cut the rind thinly, being careful not to cut the white part. Place the peel on a cutting board and cut it into strips.

Gather the strips of lemon in a sealed glass jar, pour the liter of alcohol, quit and leave to infuse for at least 15 days.

After 15 days, prepare the syrup of sugar and water. In a saucepan pour sugar and water together, then heat over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Turn off and let cool to room temperature.

Unite the alcohol-infusion to the syrup and mix well. Take a second container and filter through a funnel lined with cheesecloth or filter paper. Repeat a second time, squeezing the lemon peel well.

Finally, again using filter funnel, fill the bottles, close them and put them to rest in a dry pantry.

Update

So now I am really back. Summers over so things have slowed down thankfully! My summers are spent bottling, pickling, freezing and making alcohol....I know...typical Irish lol. This year the harvest was better than ever so I now have enough Tomato sauce for the whole year. This is a basic list of what was made and bottled

Bottled:
Tomatoes (for pasta and pizza)
Filetto di pomodoro (tomato "fillets" which is great as a pasta sauce or pizza sauce)
peppers in oil
mushrooms in oil
mushrooms "pizziola" (with tomaotes and garlic)
cherries in alcohol
peaches in wine
aubergines in oil
Strawberry jam
marmalade
lemon curd
apricot jam
mint sauce
Ketchup (which is alot better than the shop bought even if I do say so myself!)



Freezer. My freezer is now full (and I mean full!!) with the goodness of summer! Here's some of the things I froze this summer....
Aubergines
Zucchini
Zucchini flowers
Runner and French beans
peas
peppers
tomatoes
spinach
parsnips (I brought the seeds over from Ireland as parsnips can't be found for love nor money here!)
corn
mushrooms
leeks
all my herbs so Basil, parsley, mint, sage etc

Alcohol
So here is the best bit....the alcohol! I made

Limoncello
Strawberry liquor
cherry liquor
coffee cream
mint liquor
basil liquor
Fennel Liquor

Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to freeze lettuce yet so I couldn't freeze that.......