Category: Italian

Gordon Ramsay’s Lasagne al Forno

.Reading time 4 minutes.

Gordon Ramsay’s Lasagne al Forno

Serves: 4 – 6

Innovation when it comes to lasagne, spaghetti bolognese and the like, is neither wide, nor particularly wanted.

We crave these pastas because we know these pastas; and thankfully, adding a twist with the addition of milk, or anchovies or diced bacon, doesn’t really screw with the formulae or take them too far away from what we crave.

Having already typed up a lasagne – and certainly having cooked plenty of other variations in the past – I was unsure of whether I should type this one up.

Not because it isn’t amazing because it is.

Though for all the other reasons. Anchovies and bacon, cream and ricotta, a good lasagne is all you asked for and so how many nip-tuck variations do you really need?

You need to try this one.

Sure, it’s ultimately just a lasagne, though I type it up for two reasons.

Firstly – as I said – it really is very good. And secondly, to get you to cook lasagne, something we just don’t cook enough of.

Cook what the people want and they want this lasagne.

Ingredients

2 tbsp oilive oil
½ large onion, grated
1 large carrot, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 pinches, dried oregano
500gm minced beef
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp red wine
400gm can tomatoes
50ml milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper

For the sauce

25gm butter
25gm flour
300ml milk
Pinch of ground nutmeg
60gm Cheddar cheese, grated
30gm Parmesan cheese, grated

6 sheets, lasagne sheets

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 220.
  2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan over a medium-high heat; cook the onion, carrot and garlic, adding the bay leaf, a pinch of oregano, the Worcestershire sauce and a little salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is softened.
  3. Add the mince and break up; add the tomato puree and cook, stirring, until the meat is browned.
  4. Add the wine and cook of the alcohol before adding the tomatoes. Simmer for a few minutes. Add the milk and set aside from the heat.
  5. Cheese Sauce: Melt the butter in a saucepan. Ad the flour and using a wooden spoon, stir to form a paste. Over a gentle heat, add a third of the milk, whisking to prevent any lumps forming. Add the rest of the milk slowly, whisking as you go. Season with salt and pepper and a ground of nutmeg. Allow the sauce to cook out for a minute or so and add the Cheddar cheese. Stir and remove from the heat.
  6. Spoon half the meat sauce into the bottom of the baking dish and place pasta sheets on top. Pour in half the cheese sauce and spread evenly. And then more meat and pasta sheets and cheese… you know how to layer a lasagna.
  7. Finish with grated Parmesan and sprinkle with another pinch of oregano; lightly season.
  8. In the oven, 20 – 30 minutes until golden.

Matt Preston’s Bolognese

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 6

As much as I would like to cook something different and a little bit fancy each night, that trick doesn’t always work around here.

When Nat wants comfort and the boys want comfort, that’s what you do.

This bolognese is the best of both worlds.

It’s comfortable and yet, with the excellent soffritto and four or five hours of cooking time, it is certainly on the fancier side of bolognese. Sizzler buffet this is not.

Next time, I’d try to dial it up further with some milk to the soffritto and maybe some anchovies; perhaps veal and pork mince rather than just beef, though the bacon makes a nice touch.

As it was, it was more than fine.

The boys wolfed it down and Oliver asked for it in his lunchbox. Nat said it was the best she has ever had.

This dish won’t change the world though I know I will be asked to cook it again and again and I can certainly live with that!

Ingredients

Olive oil
40g butter
2 medium carrots, diced small
3 medium brown onions, diced small
4 bacon rashers cut into fingernail size tiles
2 celery sticks, diced small
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
4 cloves garlic, peeled, chopped and crushed
3 tbsp tomato paste
1kg beef mince
1 lemon; 4cm piece of peel/rind and then halved for juicing
500ml red wine
3 bay leaves
Splash Worcestershire sauce
2 cans tinned tomatoes
500ml beef stock

1 large pack of egg tagliatelle
150g Italian parmesan cheese, grated
1 loaf crusty bread and a green salad for serving

Method

  1. For the soffritto: Heat a heavy pan over a low-medium heat. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and the butter and heat.
  2. Saute the onion, carrots and bacon. After a few minutes, add in the celery and cook the vegetables slowly until translucent. Sprinkle over the brown sugar and stir through. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for a further few minutes.
  3. Set the soffritto aside in a bowl.
  4. Add more olive oil to the pan and when hot, brown the mince. Add the browned meat to the soffritto.
  5. Turn up the heat and deglaze the pan with the red wine. When the wine has reduced by half, add back the meat, soffritto, bay leaves and a couple of good dashes of Worcestershire sauce, lemon peel, tomatoes and stock. Stir.
  6. Season with salt and a good squeeze of lemon juice from one half of the lemon. Reserve the other lemon half.
  7. Bring to the boil covered, remove the lid and turn the heat right down. Cook gently for four hours, turning occasionally to ensure it doesn’t burn. Finish the red wine left over in the bottle and put your feet up.
  8. Taste, season and get it thick, rich and dark.
  9. Cook your pasta, make your salad, grate your cheese, break the bread and enjoy!

Blue-eye baked in a bag

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

I love fish baked in a bag.

Easy, full of flavour, fun and generally, really healthy.

This particular number from Tobie Puttock is especially good. As far as weekday dinners go, it is a complete win. (A 240 calories per-serve win.)

We served this with steamed beans and twice cooked and roasted baby potatoes: steam your potatoes, lay them flat on a baking-paper lined tray and half-flatten them with a large spoon, drizzle with olive oil, season and cook until golden.

You will enjoy.

Ingredients

4 blue-eye cod fillets or similar (we used ling)
100ml white wine
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Long strips of the zest of 1 lemon
2 birdseye chillis, cut in half and partially seeded
Small handful of dill sprigs
Sea salt and pepper

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200c.
  2. Tear off 4 pieces of foil, about 30cm long, then 4 pieces of baking paper, 25cm long. Lay the baking paper on-top of the foil. Fold and crease into wells with walls all around to hold the fish and liquid.
  3. Combine the wine, olive oil, lemon zest, dill, chilli and a good pinch of salt and peppe. Stir to combine and then carefully add the fish fillets and turn them to coat with the marinade.
  4. Place a fish fillet into each well; share the dill, chilli, lemon zest and remaining liquid with each fillet. Close and seal the foil bags.
  5. Place the bags on a baking dish and cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily. Let sit for a few minutes, transfer the bags to serving plates and open carefully at the table.

Italian-style Meatloaf

.Reading time 2 minutes.

 

Serves: 6

It has been a while since I’ve had meatloaf and I wish it wasn’t after tonight’s dinner.

My mother used to cook the famous James Beard’s meatloaf when I was a kid and I loved it; plenty of peas, plenty of ketchup and if you were lucky, mash potatoes.

So why so long between drinks?

Maybe because meatloaf is so daggy? Maybe because it has a bad reputation thanks to the Simpsons? Because so many friend’s recall dry, unseasoned bricks of terror from their childhood?

Who knows?

But geez, a good meatloaf is heaven and this recipe is for a great one.

In fact at 231 calories a serve – for two generous slices – it is an awesome one.

Cooked up by Nat and in the oven whilst we went for a walk after work and served with – of course – peas and ketchup, I was in back in heaven and promising to become the King of Meatloaves.

I probably won’t claim that title with so much other great stuff to cook, though here is hoping.

(Nat adjusted a few ingredients to make it even fluffier and I have typed it up such.)

Ingredients

1kg extra lean beef
1 ½ cups passata
½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup finely chopped onion
⅓ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
3 large egg whites
Cooking spray

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c.
  2. Combine the beef mince, 1 cup of passata and remaining ingredients except the cooking spray in a large bowl.
  3. Shape the beef mixture into a loaf on a cooking tray lined with baking paper and lightly coated in cooking spray; or use a bread tin.
  4. Brush remaining ½ cup of passata over the meat loaf.
  5. Cook for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a thermometer registered 70c internally. Let stand for 10 minutes and then slice.

Ravioli al sole with Truffle Butter broth and Pecorino

.Reading time 4 minutes.

 

FullSizeRender (17)
Stupefacente!
Serves: 2 – 4 as a starter

Late last year, I typed up Armando Percuoco’s Truffle Egg Pasta, a gorgeous – and outrageous – pasta made famous at his restaurant, Buon Ricordo.

In my write-up of the recipe, I said do it and certainly, if you haven’t, I still highly recommend you do.

Though if you have, here is your next recipe along the same line.

It is from Tobie Puttock from whose book The Chef Gets Healthy we have been cooking recently. This recipe however, isn’t about getting healthy.

It’s about living the good life.

In his foreword, Tobie explains that he was taught the recipe by Gennaro Contaldo who in turn is famously Jamie Oliver’s Italian mentor; Tobie ran the restaurant Fifteen for Jamie Oliver.

So there is also a bit of heritage to it all as well.

Anyway, we cooked this as a starter a few weeks ago and it is excellent. Actually, more like superb.

Truffle, pasta, butter, ricotta, pecorino and egg superb. Poaching the egg in the stock after blanching the pasta in the boiling water is a neat trick with the ultimate treat being a runny, yellow egg yolk opening up all over the pasta as you eat it.

Yum!

For by-far the best result, make your own pasta and have a fun afternoon in the kitchen like we did. And an incredible starter on your hands following that.

Do it!

Ingredients

⅓ cup (80gm) fresh ricotta
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp grated pecorino, plus extra to serve
100gm salted butter, softened
1 tbsp truffle oil (or 2 tsp truffle paste)
40cm thin fresh pasta sheet
4 free-range egg yolks
300ml vegetable stock

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c. Place ricotta on a lined baking tray, season then drizzle with 2 tsp of olive oil. Bake for 12 minutes or until slightly browned and dry. Cool. Mix ricotta with pecorino, 2 tsp olive oil and a pinch of talk and cover and chill until needed.
  2. Combine butter and truffle oil (or paste) in a bowl. Cover and chill until needed.
  3. Lay pasta flat on a bench. Cut into eight, 10cm squares. Shape ricotta into 4 rounds. Place each one in the centre of 4 pasta squares. Lightly flatten the ricotta with your palm and with your fingers, make a deep well in the centre. Pop an egg yolk in each well.
  4. Brush a little water around the pasta edges then carefully top with the remaining pasta sheets. Use your fingers and a fork to seal the pasta, pushing out as much air as possible while taking care not to break the yolk.
  5. Gently heat the stock in a large frying pan over a low heat. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.
  6. Plunge the ravioli into the boiling water for 45 seconds then carefully remove with a slotted spoon and place in the stock, egg yolk side up to finish cooking.
  7. Add truffled butter, in pieces and gently shake pan for 3 minutes until it melts into the stock and the pasta is al dente.
  8. Season, divide ravioli and sauce among bowls, then top with extra pecorino.

Spaghetti with Smothered’ Onions and Parmesan

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

This is a fantastic pasta.

I cooked it a few years back for dinner with a friend and despite almost an hour and a half of ribbing that I was cooking a vegetarian dinner – and one primary around onions at that – the ribbing pretty quickly wrapped up after plating.

The flavours are just beautiful. The simplicity, depth, warmth and completeness of it all is just so comforting. The sweetness and texture of the onions after almost one and half hours of cooking. The parmesan. The pasta. I’m excited just thinking about it!

Read those ingredients and then the method and seriously tell me you aren’t thinking how good this dish would be!

(I think I have no choice but to cook this again this weekend!)

Ingredients

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 large onions (700gm in all), using a combination of white and red, very thinly sliced
2 fresh bay leaves
2 rosemary sprigs
⅔ cup (160ml) dry white wine
2 tbs chopped flat leaf parsley
500gm spaghetti
⅓ cup freshly grated parmesan

Method

  1. Place the oil, onion, bay leaves and rosemary in a large frypan. Cover and place over a very low heat. Gently cook, stirring occasionally for at least 45 minutes until the onion is extremely soft.
  2. Uncover, increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring, for another 20 minutes or until onion is a deep golden colour. Any liquid should have evaporated by now.
  3. Season well with salt and pepper (to balance the sweetness of the onion).
  4. Add the wine, increase the heat to high and cook for 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until the wine has evaporated. Stir in the parsley, cover and keep warm.
  5. Meanwhile cook the spaghetti in salted water according to instructions and al dente. Drain then add to the pan with the onions and toss over medium heat to combine well.
  6. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl, top with parmesan then toss thoroughly and serve.

Lamb braised with Vinegar and Green Beans

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4 -6

A traditional recipe from Abruzzo – where you would refer to the dish as stufatino di agnello con l’aceto – you will love.

Served with mashed potatoes and a green salad, it is beautifully comfortable food. Dark and slightly rich, you could eat the flaking lamb all day.

If you need warmth one Saturday lunch, start the weekend well by serving this and a glass of red and in turn, setting a pretty awesome mood for the rest of the day.

Ingredients

½ cup olive oil
1.2kg diced lamb shoulder
½ onion, chopped
⅔ cup good quality red wine vinegar
450gm green beans, trimmed, cut into 4cm lengths
Mashed potatoes and a green salad to serve

Method

  1. In a casserole dish or heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown the lamb in batches for 6 – 8 minutes until browned all over.
  2. Add the onion and stir for 4 minutes or until translucent. Return all the lamb to the pan, add the vinegar and season. Increase the heat to high and cooking, stirring, for 1 minute, then reduce the heat to low. Add beans and further season. Cover and gently simmer for 1 ½ hoursor until the lamb is very tender.

Anne Burrell’s Gnocchi

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 4 – 6

This is an exceptional dish.

Visually beautiful, restaurant quality.

My mother gave me the recipe and we cooked it last weekend; my mother said it was the best gnocchi I would ever cook and hands down, she was right.

An essential key to it is the gnocchi, where instead of mixing through the flour when the gnocchi is hot, in this recipe, you allow the gnocchi to cool completely. The result is a light and fluffy gnocchi, completely unlike the hard, floury gnocchi we are so used to eating.

It is almost as if they are not there.

The sauce is fabulous; rich, warm, filling.

With some shaved pecorino to serve, this is a dinner party keeper where everyone will ask you for the recipe only a few bites in. It just comes together.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

5 large baking or mashing potatoes
2 eggs
Grated parmesan
2+ cups flour
Salt and pepper
1½ cups frozen peas, defrosted
Olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
Pinch of chili flakes
125gm prosciutto, cut into lardons
2 cups Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
1 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp butter
½ bunch chives, chopped

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200 C and bake the potatoes for 1 hour or until tender.
  2. While the potatoes are still hot peel and pass them through a ricer or food mill on to an oven tray lined with baking paper, and then refrigerate until very cold.
  3. Beat together the eggs, ¾ cup grated Parmesan and 1+ tbsp salt and pour on to the potatoes. Cover the potatoes with 2+ cups flour and mix all together with fingers until the dough is homogeneous and slightly moist, adding more flour (and salt) if necessary.
  4. Form the dough into long ropes about 3cm thick, cut into 2 cm lengths, cover generously with flour, place in a single layer on paper dusted with flour and either use or freeze immediately.  [NB: once frozen the gnocchi can be stored in plastic bags indefinitely, and can go directly from the freezer into salted boiling water.]
  5. Sauté the garlic and chilli flakes in some olive oil and then discard the garlic when it becomes golden brown.
  6. Add the prosciutto and sauté until it begins to become crispy.
  7. Add the mushrooms, sauté, and season with salt and pepper.
  8. Add the stock and simmer until it has reduced by half.
  9. Add the butter and peas and correct the seasoning.
  10. Drop half the gnocchi into boiling salted water and cook until they float and become puffy. Drain the gnocchi and add to the sauce.
  11. Add 4 tbsp grated parmesan and the chives, and serve with more grated parmesan or pecorino if you have it.

Italian-style Zucchini and Parmesan Soup

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 4

Wow this is a good soup!

Like, wow.

Neil Perry of course and reasonable quick to whip up, Nat and I cooked this for a Saturday lunch as part of a weekend of cooking and we were blown away.

We used a very good and aged parmesan and shaved it in; not the yellow stuff you get in the supermarket. Some warmed, crusty bread and wow.

We were warm and completely satisfied for the entire afternoon.

You must do this!

Ingredients

750gm green zucchini, cut into 1cm-thick pieces
Extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bunch basil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
1½ liters chicken stock
125ml pure cream
40gm unsalted butter
40gm parmesan, grated, plus extra to serve

Method

  1. Heat a little olive oil in a heavy-based sauce pan over a medium heat and add the zucchini, garlic, basil and a good pinch of sea salt. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the zucchini starts to soften.
  2. Add the stock, bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 8 minutes.
  3. Pour the soup into the blender and pulse until well pureed though still with a bit of texture; not completely smooth.
  4. Return to the saucepan and stir in the cream, butter and the parmesan.
  5. Serve with a sprinkle of grated parmesan and a good ground of fresh pepper.

Muffuletta

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves 6 – 8

I saw this incredible Italian sandwich being made by the always talented Giada De Laurentiis on her TV show a few years ago.

I prepared it for a date night with Nat – moonlight cinema – and prior, there was quite a bit of running around; for focaccia, once the hero bread of every café and sandwich, has largely disappeared from pretty much everywhere in Sydney.

I must have gone to half a dozen stores in Leichardt, all of whom said that they sold out early, every morning, mainly to nonnas who came in at dawn.

Given that each bite of this sandwich is like eating an antipasti platter, perhaps the elimination of the oily focaccia was a good thing, though I reckon it would have rounded out what is otherwise an extraordinary sandwich, if not one that is slightly daunting.

The traditional round bread I used was great however, though pull back a bit on the oil. After a night in the fridge compacting, you want to ensure that the bread doesn’t disintegrate as you try to work out how on earth you are going to get on a bite on your muffuletta.

This is your next adult picnic sorted.

Ingredients

¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup olive oil
10 large pitted green olives, chopped
1/3 cup pitted, chopped kalamata olives
¼ cup chopped roasted red bell peppers
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (500gm) round bread loaf (about 18cm in diameter and 8cm high)
125gm thinly sliced ham
125gm thinly sliced mortadella
125gm thinly sliced salami
125gm sliced provolone
½ red onion, thinly sliced
Handful of rocket leaves

Method

  1. Whisk together the red wine vinegar, garlic and oregano together and then gradually blend in the oil. Stir in the olives and roasted peppers. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with salt and pepper.
  2. Cut the top 2.5cm of the bread loaf. Set the top aside. Hollow out the bottom and top halves of the bread. Spread some of the olive and roasted pepper mix over the bread bottom and cut side of the bread top. Layer the meats and cheeses in the bread bottom. Top with the onions, then the rocket. Spread the remaining olive and roasted pepper mix on top of the sandwich and carefully cover with the bread top.
  3. You can serve the sandwich immediately or you can wrap the entire sandwich tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator a day before serving; if you can, place something on top of the muffuletta to weigh it down and further compact the ingredients.
  4. Cut the sandwich into wedges and serve.
  5. Go for a long run.