La Marcella – Italian Food and Recipes

“Fusilli ” pasta with butternut squash and sausage

PrimiMar 04 20140 Comments

pastazuccasalsiccia5* Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 4 persons):

- 350 g of fusilli pasta (or other short pasta)
- 300 g sliced butternut squash
- 6 pork sausages or chipolatas (around 200 g)
- 1 glass of still white wine
- 1 bunch of rosemary
- 1 small handful of fresh thyme
- 3 garlic cloves
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt/black pepper
- a large handful of grated Parmesan cheese

WHAT TO DO:

1. Take a deep saucepan and cook the garlic cloves in olive oil just right until golden brown on the outside.
2. Add the squash, chopped into small pieces, with a pinch of salt and pepper, the herbs thyme and rosemary. Let it cook until the butternut is soft, approximately 15-20 minutes.
3. In the meanwhile use a sharp knife to remove the skin of the sausages. Then cut them into smaller bits as well.
4. When the squash has softened partly, put the sausages into the pan.
5. Sear for few minutes before you add the wine and let it all cook at medium-high heat until you think the sauce has absorbed the wine. Keep on cooking the sauce until the squash is tender enough (it could take another 5-10 min according to the size of the pieces). Then turn the heat off.
6. In the meanwhile bring the water for the pasta to boil, add a handful of sea salt and boil the pasta (“fusilli”) for about 10-12 min (until ‘al dente’). Please remember to check the cooking time of the pasta on its packaging as it can differ among brands.
7. When the pasta is ready, mix it with the sauce, add some of the pepper and a generous amount of Parmesan cheese. Enjoy It!

TIPS & TRICKS:

- This recipe was initially prepared with pumpkin instead of butternut squash, which is more difficult to find in Italy. I have tried to adapt it to the ingredients I can find locally in my London borough. Anyway, the final taste is similar to the original one.
- Same thing for to the sausage: the first time I prepared this dish outside Italy, I used Spanish pork chipolatas. Choose the pork sausage you prefer, it will come out delicious!

Frittelle di ricotta/Ricotta cheese fritters

Party recipesFeb 25 20140 Comments

frittelle ricotta5

Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 4 persons):

- 120 g caster sugar
- 2 egg whites
- 50 g pine nuts
- 80 g not-raising plain flour (‘00’)
- 200 g of ricotta cheese
- salt
- peanut oil – to fry

WHAT TO DO:

1. Sift out the flour in a plastic bowl and add 20g of sugar, a pinch of salt and the whites of the two eggs. Mix everything carefully until the mix is homogeneous (so try to avoid lumps). This is the fritelle mix.
2. In a small saucepan roast the pine nuts until they colour slightly brown. Let them cool down first before grinding them into smaller bits. Then add them to the frittelle mix.
3. In the meanwhile, bring the oil to high heat in a frying pan. When ready gently toss a tablespoon of the mix in the pan and wait until they colour gold/brown. If they do, take them out from the oil and drain them with a perforated spoon, dry them on a kitchen paper to remove some of the grease.
4. Roll them on the rest of the sugar and eat them immediately!

TIPS & TRICKS

- Frittelle are Venetian doughnuts often served during Carnival. They are similar to bomboloni , which are also round and fried pastries. You can find them all over Italy with different names and different ways to make them, such as with raisins or apples and/or cream inside. We only eat them during Carnival while bomboloni is a kind of pastry you can find in Pasticcerie all year round. This version with ricotta cheese is not very traditional but is getting more and more common. Try it!
- They could be nice also with small dark chocolate bits or raisins added to the mix.

Involtini di vitello/Veal’s rolls with cheese and ham

SecondiFeb 24 20140 Comments

involtini vitello3*

Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 8 persons):

- 600 g thin veal cutlets
- 100 g of Parma or S. Daniele ham, very thinly cut into slices
- 100 g of Italian Montasio cheese
- 3 tablespoons of not salty butter
- extra virgin olive oil
- a handful of sage leaves
- 3 glasses of dry white wine
- non raising plain flour ‘00’ (to coat the veal rolls)
- wooden toothpicks

WHAT TO DO:

1. Firstly, hammer the veal cutlets into thin slices and then cut them in stripes of about 5 cm in size and 10 cm in length.
2. Slice the Montasio cheese thinly and cut the ham in small pieces. Place some cheese and ham on each veal stripe.
3. Then carefully roll the stripe and fix it with one or two toothpicks.
4. In a soup plate, pour some flour and ‘coat’ the veal rolls. Make sure the flour properly covers them.
5. In a deep saucepan melt 3 tablespoons of butter together with some olive oil and the sage leaves. Then sear the veal rolls – without any salt – on all sides. It will take few minutes to get them ready properly.
6. Add the wine. Keep on frying rolls at high heat , mainly to dry up the wine and to get the sauce up to a creamy one.
Serve it immediately.

TIPS & TRICKS:

- If you do not find the Italian Montasio cheese, you can substitute it with a medium Italian Pecorino cheese, a Cheddar cheese (not mature), or a Spanish Manchego.
- You should be able to find the ham – already sliced – in your local shops. It comes out nice if you use the smoked ham instead of the plain one as it gives an extra hint to your final taste.

Fine green beans in tomato sauce

ContorniFeb 19 20140 Comments

fagioliniSugo5*

Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 4 persons):

- 280 g fine green beans
- 3 shallots, thinly chopped
- 350 g Tomato sauce ‘Passata rustica’
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
- 1 handful of oregano

WHAT TO DO:

This one is very simple and very quick! Perhaps one for the guys ;-).
1. Start by peeling off the tips of the fine green beans. Wash the beans carefully and let them drain in a colander.
2. Then put some olive oil in a frying pan and stew the shallots until they are light brown.
3. Add the fine green beans, the tomato sauce, oregano and salt. Let everything cook for 15-20 minutes. The sauce will reduce and get creamier.
Serve it preferably warm even though it could be tasty cold as well.

Dutch oven mash with potatoes, leeks and beef – Joke’s way

Fooding aroundFeb 18 20140 Comments

NLpotatoleek2*

Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 6 persons):

- 1 kg white potatoes
- 750 g leeks
- 500 g lean minced beef
- salt/pepper
- nutmeg
- 150 ml warm whole milk
- 25 g unsalted butter
- 1 handful plain breadcrumbs
- extra virgin olive oil
- 150 g medium mature Gouda cheese, grated

WHAT TO DO:

For the potato Pureè

Peel and wash the potatoes, cut them in pieces and boil them in salted water. It takes about 20 minutes to be ready. Take the water out and mash the potatoes. Then add the milk (make sure it is warm!) and the butter, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir the mix, away from the heat source, into a pureè. Keep the mix in a separate place.

For the Leeks

Wash the leaks and then cut them into thin round slices. Drill the water out with a colander. Stew the leak slices in a non-sticky frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil until partially cooked (soft but still crunchy). At the end, add some salt, pepper and nutmeg to your taste. In the meanwhile start preparing the meat.

For the meat

In a deep frying pan, stir the minced beef with a wooden spoon in a little bit of olive oil. When done, add salt and pepper.

Now it’s time to put the dish together.

Pre-heat the oven at 180°C without ventilation.

In a baking pan, lay half of your potato pureè. On top of it, place the leeks. Then add the beef and finish with the rest of the pureè. Cover with a layer of breadcrumbs and, on top of it, the cheese. Add a drizzle of olive oil (or butter in small chunks if you prefer). Place the dish into the oven for at least half hour. The cheese needs to melt and become crusty on the surface. Yummy!

TIPS & TRICKS

- This dish can be prepared the day before your dinner. You just put it into the oven before serving it to your guests. In this case it takes a longer time in the oven as the dish is cold. Watch out!
- If the Gouda (or other Dutch) cheese is not available in your local shop, you can use medium mature British Cheddar cheese or Italian ‘Latteria’ (such as Asiago or Montasio cheeses).

‘Gnocchi di patate al pomodoro’ – mamma’s way

PrimiFeb 11 20140 Comments

gnocchi7*

Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS:

- 1.5 kg of Dutch potatoes (or any other floury type of potato)
- 750 g of non raising flour type ‘00’
- 1 egg
- salt, sea salt
- tomato sauce, already made*
- a large handful of grated Parmesan
- few fresh basil leaves (optional)
- non salty butter

WHAT TO DO:

1. Start peeling and boiling the potatoes.
2. When the potatoes are boiled, put them on your kitchen table and mash them thoroughly. Try to create some kind of ‘volcano’ shape. Add some salt and the egg in the middle.
3. Little by little, add the flour and mix it from the outside to the inside of the volcano so that you get a much softer ‘mash’. A good way is to check if it doesn’t stick to your hands.
4. Then, from the mix/mash, make 1 cm (diameter) rolls and cut the rolls in small cubes. Gently, create some cracks in the cubes rolling the gnocchi under a fork.
5. Then get a large tray and spread some flour on it to avoid sticking. Place each gnocco on it.
6. Put a deep pan of water on a fire, cover with a lid and boil the water. When the water is boiling, bring it down to a gentle boil and add a handful of sea salt. Then bring the water back to boiling point.
7. Now it is the time to add the gnocchi. Throw them into the water — gently and one by one. Gnocchi are ready when they return to the surface. At that moment, pick them up carefully with a strainer and put them on a large dish with a generous amount of tomato sauce*, parmesan, a teaspoon of butter, and basil leaves.
Serve them immediately!

TIPS & TRICKS:

- The sauce can differ according to your taste. A nice variation is with melted butter and sage or pesto sauce as well as grated parmesan or Ragù sauce.
- You can freeze the left over gnocchi and use them another time by adding them to the boiling water when still frozen. Remember, though, to freeze them separately on a tray ready for use.

Ricotta and cheese Dumplings

AntipastiFeb 06 20141 Comment

Fagottini4

Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 8 persons):

- 2 rolls of short-crust pastry (briseé)
- 1 big red onion, thinly chopped
- a glass of Marsala or Port wine
- a handful of thyme leaves
- 40 g dry cured ham slices
- 80 g fresh Italian Montasio or Asiago cheese, roughly grated
- 4 nuts, crumbled
- 200 g ricotta cheese
- 40 g Italian Gorgonzola cheese (or a mild English Blue cheese)
- 20 g Maroccan or Greek Black olives, finely chopped
- a handful of dried tomatoes
- oregano
- 2 large handfuls of grated Parmesan
- 1 egg + 1 egg for the surface
- extra virgin olive oil
- ground pepper (optional)

4 FILLING COMBINATIONS:

1) caramelized onion in Marsala wine, ricotta and thyme
2) ham and cheese (for the little ones)
3) Gorgonzola and ricotta cheese with nuts
4) Dried tomatoes, black olives, oregano and ricotta cheese

WHAT TO DO:

1. Switch on the oven and put it on 180°C. Remember to take the crust pastry rolls out from the fridge about half hour before you need them. Just warm them up at room temperature.
2. Start by chopping onions, ham, cheeses, olives and tomatoes in small pieces. Take 4 different bowls so that you can prepare four different kinds of fillings for the dumplings. The only filling which requires some cooking is Filling N°1.
3. In a saucepan, pour some olive oil and cook the onion with a generous amount of thyme. Cover the pan with a lid to make an even better stew. Before you stop the cooking, add the Marsala wine and let it boil until creamier and softer in consistency.
4. Get ready with the other fillings.
5. Lay the two rolls of pastry on a kitchen countertop. Make sure they are covered with some flour (to avoid sticking). With a wooden roll, make the pastry thinner and after that cut it in small squares or triangles according to your ideal shape of the dumpling.
6. Evenly place each mix on a piece of pastry and fold it up like a little bag . Close the dumpling with wet finger tips, or, alternatively, use a brush to spread some whisked egg on it. (This will also make the dumpling get a golden colour on top).
7. Cook the dumplings in the hot oven until they are gold in colour. You can serve them both warm and/or cold.

TIPS & TRICKS :

- Get to a nice alternative by using a puffy pastry instead of shortcrust pastry. The result will come out slightly different as the puffy pastry is softer and more buttery but as tasty as the original version.
- It can be used as a nice starter or as a snack during a party.
- You can prepare the dumplings a few days in advance and then freeze them. The moment you want to cook them however, take them out from the fridge earlier and let them defreeze at room temperature. Remember they take slightly longer to bake them.

TEA MARBLE CAKE/TORTA DA TE’ MARMORIZZATA

DolciJan 31 20140 Comments

tortaMarmorizz*

Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 10 persons):

- 230 g plain flour ‘00’
- 220 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 220 g caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 50 g bitter cocoa powder
- 100 ml whole milk
- 1 bag vanillin powder
- 1 bag baking powder for dessert
- salt
- 3 teaspoons of confectioner’s sugar for decoration

WHAT TO DO:

1. Before starting preparing the cake, warm the oven up at 180°C (360°F).
2. In a large deep bowl, add in sequence, while carefully whisking and mixing together:
* butter and sugar (make sure they get soft and fluffy)
* eggs
* pinch of salt
* flour (toss it little by little in order to avoid clumps)
* vanillin
* baking powder
3. Take a round cake pan with a whole in the middle and smear some butter and flour to the bottom and the walls of the pan. This will avoid the cake to stick while it rises up in the oven.
4. Pour half of the dough in the pan. Mix what is left over in the bowl with the milk and cocoa powder. Now put also the rest in the cake pan, pouring it from the top into the middle of the mix that is already in the cake pan.
5. Bake for about 1/2 hour.
6. When ready, let it cool down before decorating with some confectioner’s sugar. Enjoy it!

TIPS & TRICKS:

- This recipe doesn’t really belong to conventional and popular Italian tradition. Anyway, it was part of our childhood and, as a nice memory, I thought to give it to you as something you can enjoy at breakfast or during your afternoon tea.
- Check out if it is done by inserting a toothpick in the middle of the cake in order to be sure the inside of the cake is properly cooked and dry enough.

“Linguine ” with Prawns tails and walnuts

PrimiJan 27 20142 Comments

linguine noci gamberi3*

Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 6 persons):

- 500 g of Linguine pasta
- 18 prawn tails
- 150 g walnut kernels
- 120 g fresh single cream
- a glass of whole milk
- 4 slices of white sandwich bread
- 1 handful of fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 small garlic clove
- extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt/fine salt/
- white pepper

WHAT TO DO:

1. Shred the slices of bread into small pieces and soak them for few minutes in a cup filled with milk.
2. Grind the walnut kernels, the bread (drained from the milk), the single cream, the garlic clove and a pinch of salt for few minutes in a mixer at moderate speed. You will get a homogeneous creamy sauce for your pasta.
3. In a separate, wide saucepan gently pour some olive oil and quickly pan-fry the prawn tails at high heat. Adjust with salt and pepper.
4. In the meanwhile bring the water for the pasta to boil, add a handful of sea salt and boil the pasta for about 10 min (until ‘al dente’). Please remember to check out the cooking time of the pasta as it can differ among brands.
5. Pour the walnut sauce in a bowl and string it out together with a spoon of the pasta’s cooking water.
6. When the Linguine are ready, mix it with the cream. Serve immediately with some white pepper and some parsley. Decorate with few prawn tails and taste it!

TIPS & TRICKS:

- The prawns really take few minutes to get ready. I would suggest to prepare them while boiling the pasta.
- To give an extra flavour to the prawns, drizzle them with a sprinkle of Cognac while cooking.
- You can fix the creaminess of the sauce by using the cooking water of the Linguine.

Marinated Pork medallions in herbs and mustard

SecondiJan 23 20140 Comments

medaglioniPork4*

Difficulty: Time:

INGREDIENTS (x 3 persons):

- 300 g pork fillet medallions (6)
- 3 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
- extra virgin olive oil
- a handful of Rosemary
- herbal mix for meat grill
- 1 glasses of Porto wine (or Cognac)
- Balsamic vinegar

WHAT TO DO:

1. With your hands, spread some mustard on the meat medallions, probably about half a teaspoon for each medallion.
2. Place the meat in a small casserole and sprinkle on some of the herbal mix and the Porto wine. Cover with foil and let it marinate for a few hours in the fridge. I suggest about half a day.
3. Put a deep saucepan on a stove and heat it up so it’s hot. Drain the meat and cook quickly to make it slightly brown on both sides of the medallion. Then sprinkle some balsamic vinegar and let it dry, still at high heat.
Serve it immediately with some baked potatoes or side vegetables.

TIPS & TRICKS:

You can also prepare the same recipe with a full piece of pork. Slice it in thinner portions just before adding the balsamic vinegar.


=

Powered by CalculateStuff.com