Tag: Italian

Pastiera (savoury)

(savoury pasta egg bake)

First had this at a family party – and asked nicely for the recipe. Every other pastiera recipe I’ve seen is a sweet easter tart this is something quite different.

Roughly – pastiera is great for using up left over pasta (sauce or no sauce). Think Spanish frittata, but with pasta not potatoes in those eggs.

The mix – for a 500g of pasta (uncooked weight), use 12 eggs, 1 cup of grated parmesan and 2 cups milk. (salt & pepper to taste). Scale according to your leftovers.

Use cooked pasta. If it has a pasta sauce on it already – use it. Still good – might just need to wind back the salt and parmesan a spot. Spagetti looks the best, but really, any pasta, sauce or no sauce.

Mix the ingredients together and put in a non-stick 30-34cm diameter cake tin. Sprinkle of cheese on top? why not.

Cook at 140ºc for the first 15 minutes, then push up to 18ºc until set through and golden. over-cooking it makes it quite dry – the pasta keeps absorbing the liquid in you’re not watching it!

Italian Beef Meatballs

500g Mince beef
3-4 slices smoked bacon, finely chopped or minced
1 slice of bread (soaked in water)
about 1cm x 1cm x 2cm chunk of parasan, grated
1/2 onion, grated
1 large clove of garlic, grated/minced
1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tblspn herbs – a mix of oregano, parsley, margarum

put it all in a bowl and mix with your hands. make sure everything is well mixed.
Once done, break into meatballs and either fry or roast. Add to a marinara or arabietta sauce and serve with pasta.

Italian Meatballs

Serves 10 to 12

  • 3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
  • 6 tablespoons whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef, preferably chuck
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground pork
  • 3 large, whole eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano
  • 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Dried breadcrumbs, for work surface
  • Olive oil, for frying

Directions

  1. Place breadcrumbs in a small bowl. Drizzle the milk over and let stand until absorbed.
  2. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic; cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Set aside.
  3. Place the ground meats in a large bowl. Add breadcrumb mixture to meats along with the reserved onion and garlic, whole eggs, yolks, parsley, oregano, and cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix until just combined.
  4. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over work surface. Roll 3/4 cup meatball mixture into a thin strip, about 12 inches long; repeat 3 more times. Line strips next to one another; sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Cut strips into 1-inch lengths. Repeat process with remaining meat mixture.
  5. Working in batches, transfer 1-inch pieces to a large sieve; sprinkle lightly with breadcrumbs to prevent sticking. Toss until pieces become round and form meatballs.
  6. Lightly coat the bottom of a large frying pan with olive oil; set over medium-high heat. Working in batches, cook meatballs until browned and cooked through, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain. Repeat with additional oil and remaining meatballs.

Use these in a pasta sauce, or lasagne.

recipe borrowed from Martha Stewart’s site.

Fresh Mozzarella

Ingredients

The Cheese

3/4 cup (6 fluid ounces) whipping cream
1 3/4 gallon + 1 cup nonfat milk (29 cups or 6.63 litres total)
1/4 rennet tablet or 1 teaspoon liquid rennet2
1/4 cup (2 fluid ounces) cool water
1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) freshly opened buttermilk
The Brine

Ratio of 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) salt to 1 quart water. Mix in corrosive-resistant bowl.
Making the Curd

Note: All instruments used during this step need to be sterilized before each use either by immersing or pouring boiling water over them. This includes each time a thermometer or spoon is used. If you don’t, bacteria will make the cheese taste funky.
Combine cream and milk in a four gallon pot. Mix these together using only a metal spoon on low heat. The milk has to reach a temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.22 Celsius). Regularly check on this with a thermometer. This could take an hour, so go pick up that book you’ve been trying to finish. In the meantime add the rennet to a bowl containing the cool water. Let stand until the rennet is dissolved. When the milk hits 90 degrees add the buttermilk, spooning out any butter clumps. Mix thoroughly. Slowly add rennet mixture and stir until it is completely and evenly distributed throughout the milk. The milk will begin to clot. Check the thermometer often, making sure the the temperature stays at 90 degrees. After 30-45 minutes it will be completely clotted. It’s time to release the whey. Cut a crosshatch pattern into the curds using a sharp knife and stir slowly.

Removing the Whey

Note: From here on out, it’s not necessary to sterilize your equipment.
You’re now about to seperate the curds and whey. Wouldn’t Little Miss Muffet be jealous? In your kitchen sink line a big colander with a few layers of clean cheesecloth. Dump the curds into it. The whey should drain away. Then place the colander, cheese and all, in an airtight container in your refrigerator. Every day, remove it, drain the whey, and change the cheesecloth. This should be done for three to four days. Then it will be ready for molding. How can you tell?

Cut off a small piece of the mozzarella. Let it sit in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. If it stretches under it’s own weight when you pull it out by one end, it’s ready. If it tears, let it continue chilling in the refrigerator for a few more days. Make sure you repeat the daily draining and cleaning process. If it still continues to tear, you’ve got cottage cheese. It’s not a loss, go get yourself some sliced peaches or salt, pepper, and scallions.
Molding the Cheese

Divide cheese into four workable sections. Remove any dried portions and cut one section into 1/4 inch slices. Put these slices in a bowl and cover them with very hot water. Push the slices together with a spoon and begin to lift the mass out of the bowl by one end. The cheese should stretch and start to form a rope. Keep pulling and don’t let this rope fold back on itself. Now grab one end of the cheese rope and begin to create a ball in your hands by rolling it under itself. You can make several mozzarella balls out of each section by pinching off the cheese as you go. Place each completed ball in the brine solution. This will give the mozzarella balls some flavor. The longer you leave them in, the saltier they will be. The four sections of cheese will make 2 1/2 to 3 pounds of mozzarella.

Final Note: Any curds or cheese you don’t use can be stored in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to five days. But beware, the cheese will not taste as fresh.
Copy from Sunset Magazine, June 1989.

Irish Pasta

It’s called Irish pasta because it has it has pasta (white) carrots (orange) and broccoli (green). OK, I suppose it’s actually a Pasta Premavera. 

A Premavera is made with crisp spring veg- like broccoli, carrots, mange tout- but the trick is the sauce. It’s a mix of melted parmesan cheese, juices and the starchy water from the pasta. It’s a very light sauce, and you have to mix it ‘as it happens’ in the pan with the pasta, cheese and sauce.  

 You can add a chicken breast if you like. I think this is one of my favourite pasta dishes a the mo. It feels quite healthy but, well, probably isn’t, with the cheese, butter and bacon hoofed in.

Deird and Poppy love this recipe too.

250g fuselli Pasta
2 carrots (medium)- cut into thin carrot strips
2 handfuls broccoli
4 slices smoked bacon
clove of garlic
glug dry sherry or white wine
1 mozzarella ball
large knob of butter
2x4cm parmesan cheese
toasted pine nuts
Boil pasta, in the last two minutes add broccoli and carrots. drain and butter.
dice and fry bacon and garlic, and deglaze with sherry/wine.
add bacon and parmesan to pasta, carrot & broccoli
stir till parmesan melts, and makes a light sauce (add back some pasta water if too dry)
chop the mozzarella and add it, along with the pine nuts, stir and serve

Roast tomato passata

Swiped from the River cottage web site again.

3 – 4 kg ripe Tomatoes (as many different varieties and sizes as possible)
Sea salt and black pepper
1 tsp fresh oregano
1 tsp fresh thyme
Small handful of torn basil
4-5 cloves of garlic
Good trickle of olive oil and rapeseed oil

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Depending on the size of the tomatoes, cut them either into halves or quarters. With very small or cherry tomatoes, pop them in whole but slash the skins first to release the juices. Place all of the tomatoes into a large roasting tin.
3. Crush and roughly chop the garlic and sprinkle it over the tomatoes with the salt and pepper.
4. Roughly tear the oregano, thyme and basil and scatter over tomatoes.
5. Drizzle over a little rapeseed and olive oil then roast in the oven for 45 minutes until slightly blistered and soft.
6. Cool after cooking, push through a sieve and place into containers for freezing.