My favorite scents and colors

My favorite scents and colors

Friday, January 13, 2012

"Focaccia" Courgettes and pine nuts



INGREDIENTS

For the dough:
500 grams of flour 00
Fresh yeast, cube for a pound
Water
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil, just a thread to keep the dough soften.


FOR THE COURGETTES AND PINE NUTS

3 medium courgettes
1 clove of garlic
4 leaves of sage
About 1 tablespoon of pine nuts
Fresh parsley, 2-3 sprigs
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 ½ dl white wine from the kitchen
50-60 grams of Parmigiano Reggiano
Butter for greasing the baking tray


PREPARATION.

In a bowl, prepare the dough for the cake.

Dissolve the fresh yeast in a small saucepan with a little 'warm water. In a bowl add the flour, salt, a drizzle of olive oil and the yeast dissolved. Start mixing by hand or with the appropriate mixer adding as much water as needed to form a consistency. Check that it is well salted. Work it for at least 10 minutes, then cover with a kitchen towel and let beside at least 1 ½ hours. It will be ready when it looks like this:




Wash and cut the courgettes into slices of 0.5 cm.
Finely chop the parsley. Wash and dry the sage.
Take a nonstick pan with the bottom and pour a little oil. Turn the plate over medium heat. Crush the garlic with the appropriate object and add oil. Let fry a few seconds add the sage and wine. Continue for a few minutes until it is dried in half.

Now add the courgettes, the chopped parsley and pine nuts. Season with salt and pepper. Check whether it's spicy enough. If necessary add a splash of wine. Remove from heat when the courgettes are still crunchy.


PREPARE THE PIZZA

Heat oven to 180 º degrees


Grease the baking tray with a little butter

Remove the dough from the bowl with the help of a plastic spatula depositing it in the middle of the pan. Wipe the surface with a lot of flour because we will work with wooden rolling pin. Roll out the dough starting from the middle towards the corners so that it's all the same thickness.

Cut with the tip of a knife along the diagonal of every 5 cm.

Put in the oven at the bottom - for 5 minutes to ensure it increases in height. After that remove from the oven, add the ingredients set aside, a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle with plenty of Parmesan cheese. Gonna put in the oven for another 15 minutes. Check that the fund is well cooked and serve immediately.

Courgettes stuffed with three cheeses



INGREDIENTS

4 medium sized round courgettes
White wine, 1 dl
Some thyme
Some marjoram
Two stalks of parsley, finely chopped
Half medium onion
A 'clove of garlic
A few laps of virgin olive oil extravergine
Salt, pepper,
Parmigiano Reggiano
A mozzarella
Two slices of smoked cheese
breadcrumbs


PREPARATION

Shred the mozzarella and a slice of smoked cheese into cubes. Finely chop the onion and parsley, peel the garlic.

Wash the courgettes. Empty the inside until about an inch from the stem which we need for the stuffing.

PREPARING THE STUFFING

In a nonstick pan with pour a dribble of oil, bring the heat to medium heat then add the onion and garlic. Fry briefly. After a few minutes add the internal from the courgettes, parsley, a pinch of thyme and marjoram, salt and pepper to taste Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes by adding a sprinkling of breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese and the dl of white wine. After five minutes remove from heat.

Now we can stuff the courgettes in this order, mozzarella and smoked cheese until supplies finished and then put them in a preheated oven at 180 º another twenty minutes.

Decorate the dish to taste. That's fine as a side dish or main dish.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Pork Tenderloin in a crust



INGREDIENTS

800 grams of pork tenderloin
100 grams of veal stew
50 grams of bacon
1 packet of rounded puff pastry
1 egg yolk
3 medium sized pears
200 grams of allready cooked chestnuts
200 grams of brown sugar
1 jar red currant jelly
1 clove of garlic, 2-3 sprigs of rosemary and 8 leaves of sage
Mustard, not too spicy
White wine for cookin, 2 dl: I use the Greco di tufo dei Feudi di San Gregorio
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation

Peel pears, cut in half and remove the core. Pour enough water in a pan with tall borders.that the pears are covered and bring to boil with brown sugar. Cook for forty minutes (check with a wooden spatula, giving some pressure if pears are soft).

In an oven-proof glass pour the white wine, rosemary and four sage leaves.Sprinkle the surface of the fillet with mustard, salt and pepper at the end. Let stand for one hour, stirring occasionally.

Take a pan-bottomed pan, add some olive oil, add the four leaves of sage, garlic and cook over medium heat. After that, add veal stew with 1 dl of white wine, cook for about thirty minutes. Should it be too dry add some water. When cooked, add the bacon and continue for 6-7 minutes. Then remove the meat from the heat and let cool in a bowl. Pour the sauce into another pan: we need it later on..

Now fry, after removing the rosemary, sage and garlic, the pork and white wine in the already hot pan  - greased with a dribble of oil - for two minutes on all sides. Remove and let cool. Also this sauce we're using further on.

In a plastic container put the stew, bacon and pass the meat with the mixer until we get a smooth paste. Then roll out the dough on the paper for the oven , pouring half of the cream in the center. Dry the pork tenderloin with kitchen paper, sprinkle with cream lay it on it with the rest of the cream. Now we cover the fillet first with one side, layering then the other side. So it should come out almost an rectangular shape. The sides will bend when forming (crushing) with a fork like a fish tail (just close to the edges). Then slap on a plate with a fork, the yolk and brush the surface of the dough brisè. Bake in oven heated at 180º degrees for twenty minutes or until it's golden brown. Turn off the oven.

We heat the pears again in the sugar, the sauce aside in another pan with the chestnuts for five minutes. Then drain the pears and chestnuts.

Remove the fillet and cut into slices about 2 cm and proceed as in the photo. Serve the pears with a large tablespoon of currant jam.

Salmon pizza


INGREDIENTS

Smoked Salmon, about 150 grams
Dill, 1 sprig
Creme fraiche, 180ml

For the dough

Quantity for a pan with 28 cm of diameter
Flour type "00", approximately 200 g
water
Salt, a little
Oil, directly on the flour before kneading.
Yeast, approximately five grams, or a quarter of a cube of 25 grams (one kilogram quantity).


PREPARATION

Pour the flour into a bowl. Dissolve yeast in 2.5dl warm water. Now add the flour, salt it and add some olive oil. Knead for ten minutes (add water if it's still chalky) until the mixture is homogenous. Let by side for an hour covered with a napkin.

After the interval, we cut a piece of paper for oven so that it fits in the pan of 28 cm. Pour the now ready batter and start to roll it out to the sides equally. Add some olive oil over it, a pinch of salt and bake in the oven heated at 180 º. After about ten minutes remove the pan from the oven, spread the cream fraiche all over, add the salmon and put it in the oven for another five minutes.

Chech that the bottom of the pizza is well cooked, add dill and serve hot.

Salmon pate with chilli



INGREDIENTS

400 grams salmon
100 grams smoked salmon
Dill, a bunch
Chives, a bunch
100 grams creme fraiche
10cl savory jelly powder
Chilli
Juice of ½ lemon
50 grams of butter
salt

Cut half of the smoked salom in lists. Chop the salmon and half of the smoked into small cubes , as well as, fine the chives. Saute chopped smoked salmon and butter until it is cooked well. Remove from pan and leave to cool. Heat the gelatin in  2.5dl of water until it's dissolved, then leave to cool. In a bowl, blend the ingredients with electric mixer: salmon, chives, lemon juice and creme fraiche until a homogeneous mixture is gained. Stir the gelatin in cold water and adjust the mixture with salt and pepper to taste Then put the mixture into a rectangular baking dish previously covered with plastic wrap and let's leave in refrigerator for 2 hours. At the end turn into a dish and decorate with the lists of raw smoked salmon and dill.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Spaghetti with mussels and clams




INGREDIENTS

250 grams Mussels

250 grams clams
350 grams spaghetti No.5
1 garlic
Half a Lemon
Parsley, 4-5 sprigs
100 grams cherry tomatoes
White wine, some splash (for example Greco di tufo dei Feudi di San Gregorio)
Extra virgin olive oil 2-3 tablespoons
flour 00 type
50 grams grated cheese
Salt, pepper, 2-3 leaves of sage

PREPARATION


Chop the garlic and parsley finely and wash the sage.


Let stand in a tub molluscs with plenty of water for at least 30 minutes. After that lift from the bowl using both hands and let them fall into the water to ensure that any grain of sand is out. Repeat this step until they are totally clean. Now remove the clams cause they are cooked first.

Bring water to boil for spaghetti, pour 2-3 tablespoons sea salt and cook the spaghetti for the minutes indicated.

Now take a frying pan and pour a little olive oil in. Turn on medium heat. Fry the garlic. When it's golden brown add the tomatoes and clams removed from the water (do not drain completely, because the water still inside is what will give the sauce base ). Let cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat. At this point, add the mussels, a little 'parsley, sage, a few drops of white wine and let cook for about 6 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.

Pour half of the sauce into a bowl an mix it while adding in the sifted flour until it's dense. Put the pan again on the plate heat the sauce while adding a few drops of lemon.

Now the pasta should be ready so we can mix in the pasta and clams and heat for another few moments.

We are ready to season the dishes with spaghetti  mussels and clams, and a sprinkling of parsley and pecorino cheese.

Beef patties with fried leeks




INGREDIENTS
 
400 grams ground beef 
1 clove of garlic
 ½ Onion 
Fresh parsley, finely chopped 
Cherry Tomatoes 
2 ½ dl red wine 
00 flour, 2 tablespoons
Water 
1½ cups of milk
 2 egg yolks 
1 teaspoon of sugar 
Salt, pepper, thyme 
Extra virgin olive oil, a thread 
½ lit. sunflower seed oil
1 stalk of leek 
1 package rectangle puff pastry (I wanted to do it by hand, but it is not easy yet)

Preparation:

Finely chop the onion and garlic. Then chop  also plenty of parsley, ie 8-10 sprigs.

Spice the raw meat with thyme, plus parsley, egg yolk and milk. Mix thoroughly and let soak for 30 minutes.

Take a pan pour a little olive oil, turn heat to medium temperature.When it is hot burn the garlic and onion until they've got a golden color.Now add the seasoned meat and start cooking it. Continue until it's gravy is almost dried. Then pour the red wine, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper. Let cook for at least1 hour over medium heat. Try once if it's spicy enough though and if it's too dry add some water. Right before the end of cooking time add the flour by passing it through a traditional meshed strainer. Let cook for another 5 minutes. Now pour it in to a dish while forming a rectangular shape with a height of 2.5 cm, then let it cool in the fridge for a few hours.

Meanwhile, wash and dry the leeks. Cut into discs about 2-3 mm. Heat a nonstick pan (like Wok),
add seed oil. When it's hot, pour the leeks and fry well, stirring with a wooden sieve or silicone sleeve for 5-6 minutes so that they are golden brown. Remove it drain the oil and let dry on paper towels for a while.

The next step is, work the dough by cutting squares of 7x7 cm, the rest of the remaining lists we need to decorate. Beat an egg in a dish.

From the cooled meat is now possible to cut cubes of about 2.5cm, put it in the middle of the square of the puff pastry. Now raise the sides and fold the dough into the corners so that they overlap one another and clue with a few drops of egg.

Bake in heated oven at 180 º -190 º  for 40 minutes. At the end garnish with fried leeks