Radicchio, Speck and Almond Risotto

I'm a woman who keeps promises: here you have my radicchio risotto, as promised. Since my hunger for experimentation  is getting bigger and bigger and  I had to demonstrate my cooking improvements, I decided to go in search of a more elaborate recipe. Having some pistachios at home I found a recipe of a risotto with pistachios, speck (a smoked ham typical of Trentino Alto Adige, North Italy) and radicchio. You'll probably think that the title of my post is a mistake...no, it isn't: what happens is that I burnt the pistachios while I was toasting them and after touching the depths of culinary despair (lol), I remembered I had some almonds too and decided to try using them  instead of pistachios. Well, the risotto was really good and that lifted my mood up again! I learnt two things from this "accident", first, to pay attention when toasting nuts, since they are very delicate, and second, that a mistake in the kitchen can open the way to new creations if you don't let yourself be taken from anxiety and despair. Open your fridge and closets for new ideas, you will never imagine what you can create... My ideal wine matching for this dish is a Friulano (Tocai), fresh and smooth to match the delicate bitter aroma of radicchio and the salty smoked taste of speck. Moreover, this wine has a typical almond aftertaste, that is perfect for this recipe.  I tried a Friulano from Edi Keber (2007 vintage) - a producer from the Collio Doc -  and I loved it. The wine presents some fumè notes at the nose, together with hints of  dry flowers and aromatic herbs in harmony with the dish features. It has a good acidity and minerality and a very long almond finish. 

Radicchio, Speck and Almond Risotto

(makes 6 servings)

350 g Vialone nano rice
400 g red radicchio from Treviso
100 g speck
1/2 glass white wine
1/2 chopped onion
a handful of peeled almonds
1 l vegetable stock
extra virgin olive oil
a knob of butter
salt
pepper
50 g grated Parmigiano cheese

Clean radicchio and cut it into pieces. Cut speck into strips. In a pan put a tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and brown onion for a few minutes. Add half radicchio and half speck and cook for a couple of  minutes. Put  salt and pepper (do not salt too much, because speck is very salty). Add rice and toast it till it gets shiny. Add wine and simmer until evaporated. Cook rice adding vegetable stock little by little (the cooking time for Vialone nano is 16/18 minutes). When the rice is half cooked (after about 8/9 minutes) add the rest of radicchio. In the meantime place almonds and the rest of the speck in saucepan without adding any grease and let them toast for a few minutes until the speck gets crunchy. When the rice is cooked stir in a knob of butter and Parmigiano (if someone like it without cheese, just leave it on the table for self-serving). Serve rice and decorate with the crunchy speck and the almonds (I preferred to mix them in the rice before serving). 

Ginger Citrus Marmalade

As I grew up I began appreciating the bitter taste of some food, especially dark chocolate, coffee, tea, some types of legumes and vegetables, some spices and herbs, licorice, and citrus fruits. This helped me to reduce the amount of sugar in coffee and tea, and made me a voracious consumer of bitter oranges and citrus marmalade in general.  After the success of my recent Orange marmalade with amaretto bottom, that I finished almost immediately, I decided to try making a citrus marmalade myself. I followed the same procedure, I bought my favorite citrus fruits and thought to add a touch of ginger.  The result is a very fragrant marmalade with the bitter taste I like and a light spicy exotic aroma of ginger.  

Ginger Citrus Marmalade

(makes around 1 kg and 200 g of marmalade)

1 kg of citrus fruits: I put 2 Valencia oranges,  2/3  mandarins, 1 lime and 1 citron (if possible organic)

2 cm grated ginger root

1 kg white sugar

1 glass orange juice

Put 1 kg of citrus fruits in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Boil for about 15 minutes. Drain and place on a towel to dry for two hours. Cut the fruits into pieces or slices (with the skin) and put them in a pot with 1 kg of sugar, a glass of orange juice and the grated ginger root. Add some water if necessary. Boil for 45 minutes. Blend everything with an immersion blender. Put the jars in the oven at 100˚ C for 15 minutes. Before using the jars, wash them well and put them in the oven at 100˚ C for ten minutes.

Store in  a cool place, away from light, and consume within one year.

Cinnamon Apple sweet bread

I'm not into cooking from such a long time, but  I already have my favorite recipes. These are cakes and breads. The things that give me more satisfaction are: first, when peeping through the oven window  I see my "creature" rising and, second, the wonderful fragrance of freshly baked bread or cake that comes immediately after. So said, I was very anxious to try the recipe of a sweet bread flavored with apples and cinnamon that I found in a cooking magazine.  The bread came out very well, like a soft cake with a  delicate aroma. You can also serve it with a vanilla sauce or ice cream with a sprinkle of cinnamon. I  made this bread to celebrate Dad's day, San Giuseppe, on March the 19th. Indeed my Daddy is "buono come il pane"! (as good as bread).  

 Cinnamon Apple sweet bread 

(the recipe is taken from the Italian Guida Cucina magazine (n.3, 2011). Makes a loaf mold)

100 g softened butter
100g cane sugar
3 eggs
200g sour cream
250 g white flour "0"
1 sachet baking powder
1 teaspoon dried brewer's yeast
1 apple
cinnamon powder
salt

Butter the mold and keep it warm. In a bowl work the softened butter and cane sugar till you get a frothy compound. In another bowl beat the eggs with an electric whisk,  mix them with the butter and sugar compound  together with a touch of salt and sour cream. Add flour, baking powder, brewer's yeast and stir strongly with a wood tablespoon to mix well all the ingredients. Peel the apple, leave out the core, grate it and sprinkle with a touch of cinnamon, add it to the compound, continuing to stir. Pour everything into the mold, cover with protective film and with a hot dishcloth and let it rise for 1 hour at warm temperature. In the meantime preheat the oven to 180 C. Put  a kettle with steaming water at the bottom of the oven, place the  mold on the second shelf from the bottom and cook the cake for about 35 minutes. If the surface should get brown too quickly, cover it with an aluminium  foil. Let it cool before serving. 

Happy 150th Birthday Italy! Tricolore pannacotta with wild berries, vanilla and lime

17th March 1861 is a very important date for we Italians as it is the  day of the Unification of Italy with the  institution of the Reign of Italy, the proclamation of King Vittorio Emanuele II from Savoia and the assembly of the first Italian Parliament. If today we are a great country  (despite the political mess and the economical difficult time) it is thanks to the people who fought against the foreign rule in our recent past. I strongly believe in the proverb  "l'unione fa la forza" (unity is strenth) and that  the cultural diversity that comes from our different roots  makes Italy so unique, fascinating and rich. Moreover, I come from a border area (Friuli) that has been site of many battles as it was under the Austrian domination and became part of Italy only after the First World War in 1919. Again, during the Second World War, this territory was hardly hit till Italian final borders were marked at the end of the conflict. So, today, after 150 years, I'm proud to celebrate my Italian identity and to do so I decided to prepare a Tricolore (three colors- Italian flag) pannacotta with wild berries (red), vanilla (white) and lime (green). At the end of the post there is a picture I took of our castle in Gorizia illuminated for the occasion. Before it, a contribution of our "big" Roberto Benigni, guest at Sanremo   Italian music festival,  singing the Italian national anthem, Fratelli d'Italia by Goffredo Mameli, who died at the age off 22 defending the Second Roman Republic (1849).  Auguri Italia! 

 Tricolore pannacotta with wild berries, vanilla and lime

(makes 6 tasting servings - I used liqueur glasses)

To make panna cotta (white base):

250 ml liquid cream

150 ml milk

50 g sugar

three leaves isinglass (gelatin) (5 g) 

a pinch vanilla powder

For the red part:

1/2 cup wild berries

2 tablespoons icing sugar

For the green part:

2 limes (juice and grated peel)

2 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons icing sugar

Prepare the wild berries syrup blending the fruits with  icing sugar.  Put the compound in a small saucepan and cook for 2/3 minutes, let it cool. Prepare the lime syrup cooking together the juice, the peel, water and sugar for 5/10 minutes till it gets thick, let it cool.

To make the white pannacotta base, first soak the gelatin in cold water for about 5 minutes. Drain and let it dry over a clean dishcloth. In a kettle pour cream, milk, sugar, vanilla powder and cook, stirring, till it begins to boil. Remove from fire and add gelatin stirring quickly. Divide the compound into three parts. Leave one white. Mix the others respectively with the wild berries and lime syrups. Put in three bowls to cool in the fridge for about two hours. When they start to thick, fill the glasses (or the shapes you like) first with a green lime part, second with the white vanilla, and lastly with the red wild berries pannacotta. Place again in the fridge to cool for other two hours. Decorate as desired.  

Lesson n. 7: fish. Salmon fillet au gratin with mushrooms

I can't believe this was the last lesson of my cooking course. From now on it will be all practice, practice, practice!  To tell the truth  this lesson was the most difficult one. Fish is really a very interesting and big subject for the different kinds of sea species you can use in the kitchen. And is not only the sea, there are many other freshwater fishes as well. I have to say I am quite new to this wonderful world, as I tasted some fishes for the first time not so long ago, like swordfish, lobster, crab, octopus and some other types of shellfish. It has always been a great discovery and I really liked everything I tasted. I'm also quite new to raw fish and I enjoyed a lot of nice sushi when I was in New York. However, I still have some "taboos" and, for example,  I'm not sure if I will ever be ready for oysters...Fish is also a very hard job, especially when it comes to clean it. At the class we learnt how to clean a bass, a sole, a salmon fillet, a trout and some mussels.  It is really a surgeon duty!  indeed, my teacher used a real scalpel... (you can buy it at a chemist's).  I might be too much sensible, but the operation of tearing  roughly the skin off the sole from the tail to the head (leaving the sole eyeballs staring at me...) made my appetite suddenly disappear. Luckily, just for a moment, till the fish was cut into fillets and then into little pieces to flavor the wonderful Tagliolini Rialto my teacher cooked: a delicacy where the pasta tagliolini is dressed with a sauce made with all kinds of fishes. We also prepared some stuffed trouts, mussels au gratin and salmon fillets with mushrooms, that I made again at home. This dish is a very rich one, since the fatness of the salmon is enriched with a sauce made with wine, melted butter and cream. It is also very aromatic for the addition of  mushrooms and paprika. Therefore, you will need a fresh, structured and smooth wine to match it. I would suggest a Chardonnay,  fermented and aged in wood, a Pinot bianco riserva or a sparkling Spumante metodo classico.  Here the recipe.

Salmon fillet au gratin with mushrooms 

(the recipe is taken from my class cookbook written by Roberta Molani.  Makes 4 servings) 

4 Salmon fillets
60 g melted butter
1 chopped green onion
1 dl white wine
300 g mushrooms
1 pinch of paprika
chopped parsley
1/2 lemon juice
1 dl liquid cream
1 egg
salt
pepper

Clean the mushrooms and cut them into pieces. Melt 20 g of butter in a pan, fry the green onion for a few minutes, add mushrooms and cook for 7/8 minutes. Add salt, peeper and chopped parsley. Pour 40 g of melted butter in a oven dish and place in the salmon fillets, flavor with a pinch of paprika, salt, pepper, chopped parsley and the juice of 1/2 lemon. Add white wine and cook covered (a poché ) for about 6 minutes at 180° C. Remove from the oven. Cover the fillets with the mushrooms and the cream whipped with a egg yolk. Cook in the oven at 180° C au gratin for about 12 minutes.

Auguri donne! Happy Carnival and Women's Day! Carnival sweet ravioli

What a feast day! Today is Mardi Gras, the last and most important day of Carnival and Women's day as well. In Italy (as in many other countries) we celebrate "Carnevale" with parades, where dressed up people and Carnival floats march through the streets and with masquerade parties. The most famous Carnivals of Italy are held in Venice, Viareggio, Ivrea and Acireale. In my hometown, in Friuli (NE Italy), the parade is usually  held the first Sunday of Carnival. I took some nice pictures of costumes and floats that you'll find at the end of this post, after the recipe of a typical Italian Carnival treat, the sweet ravioli. These  cookies in the shape of stuffed ravioli are fried like most of the Carnival sweets. Each Italian region has its own Carnival recipes. However, the most common are "Bomboloni alla crema" (cream puffs), "Ciambelle" (donuts), "Castagnole o Frittole" (small stuffed puffs), "Frittelle" (fritters)  and "Bugie" also called "Crostoli", "Chiacchiere", "Frappe", "Cenci" or "Galani".  These treats consist of a flavored paste, whose ingredients can change according to the various  regional recipes. Even the shape can be different. What unites them is the dip into boiling hot oil, which let all the aromas explode in the air. Since today is Women's Day as well, I decided to "dress" my ravioli with Women's Day flower, mimosa. Auguri donne! Greetings ladies!

Carnival sweet ravioli 

(makes 10-12 ravioli)

300 g white flour 

1 egg

70 g sugar

50 g butter

1 grated lemon peel

2 tablespoons white wine 

3 tablespoons milk

1 sachet vanillin

peanut oil for frying

icing sugar

jam and Nutella (as required) for stuffing

Work together flour, lemon peel, melted butter, sugar, egg, vanillin, wine and milk. Roll out the dough with a matterello. Carve the paste in the shape of circles and fill them as you like. Close well the ravioli  pressing the ends with a fork. Fry them in plenty of peanut oil. Dry with kitchen roll and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Lesson n.6: white meat. Stuffed turkey meatloaf

The sixth lesson of my cooking course was about poultry and white meat. As in the previous lesson, we learnt the different ways to cook meat, roasting, braising, stewing, boiling, grilling and frying. We prepared a stewed chicken, a stewed rabbit with mushrooms and a delicious stuffed turkey meatloaf, that I made again at home. It is really a quick and easy recipe and you can enjoy this meatloaf cold as well as a summer dish or in a sandwich. You can serve it with a tartar sauce, as we did at the class. The taste is delicate, but also aromatic, due to  mortadella and raw ham, and the spices used to flavour the meat. I would suggest to match it with a semiaromatic white wine, with a good freshness, like a Sauvignon, Chardonnay or Pinot grigio from Friuli or Alto Adige (NE of Italy).  I tried it with a Sauvignon from Friuli - Doc Collio (partially fermented in large wood) and I liked it. Here the recipe, buon appetito!

Stuffed turkey meatloaf

(the recipe is taken from my class cookbook written by Roberta Molani. Makes 8 servings)

500 g ground turkey breast

2/3 eggs

4 hard-boiled eggs, each one cut into 6 pieces

3 slices soaked in broth and squeezed sandwich loaf

100 g chopped  mortadella

100 g slices raw ham

60 g grated Parmigiano

melted butter

salt

pepper

nutmeg

chopped garlic and parsley

Work all the ingredients, except raw ham and hard-boiled eggs, until you obtain a homogeneus compound, add salt and pepper.  Grease with melted butter a large sheet of aluminium, spead over the meat compound, cover with ham and hard-boiled eggs and roll up the meatloaf on itself within the aluminium foil. Close the ends and add another aluminium sheet if necessary.  Cook in the oven at 180˚ C for 40 minutes.

Treviso radicchio lasagne

I really like radicchio, especially the red variety from Treviso, NE of Italy. This type of leaf chicory is very versatile in the kitchen, as you can use it in many recipes, from pasta,  lasagne and risotto (I know I promised to make again the risotto with radicchio we did at the class, so delicious!) to meat, fish, veggie dishes and even in  some jams.  What I like is its delicate bitter taste, which gives a fine aroma to many dishes and well balance fat and sweet ingredients. I also like its bright red color.  After making my roasted beef with radicchio sauce, my "radicchio desire" was still unsatisfied and I had to buy some more. I decided to make a simple lasagne, whose recipe was suggested me by the lady who sold the radicchio at the market.  I suggest to match this dish with a fresh white wine with a "smooth heart" to contrast the bitterness of radicchio, like a well structured Chardonnay or Pinot Bianco, or a sparkling wine like a Prosecco. 

Treviso radicchio  lasagne 

(Makes 8 servings)

To make besciamel
70 g butter
70 g white flour
700 g cold  milk
salt
pepper
nutmeg

500 g Treviso radicchio cut into slices
lasagne noodles
100 g grated Parmigiano cheese
1 chopped onion
white wine
extravirgin olive oil

Let the onion brown in extravirgin olive oil  for some minutes. Add radicchio, sprinkle with white wine and let it dry over a medium flame. Prepare the besciamel sauce. First mix the butter (melted) with white flour until the compound gets "blond" (it is also called "blond roux"). Then add milk slowly and bring to boil while stirring. Add salt, pepper and a touch of grated nutmeg at the end.  Butter a  oven dish and put a first layer of lasagne noodles, besciamel, some of the cooked radicchio and sprinkle with grated Parmigiano. Add two more layers as before and a last one (forth) only with lasagne, besciamel and grated Parmigiano. Place some small knobs of butter on the surface. Cook in the oven at 180° C for 30 minutes.