Spaghetti con Patate e Cavolo Nero (Spaghetti with Potato and Cavolo Nero

From a recipe by Lina Siciliano in Italian Food Safari, Maeve O’Meara with Guy Grossi, Hardie Grant Books, 2010.

Having been given the pasta attachment to our KitchenAid equipment I naturally had to use it. Rolling out the pasta was a breeze and I soon had the sheets ready to be cut into spaghetti. The cutter worked well but it, for me, made the spaghetti too thin. It was like very thin noodles. I’ll try the fettucini cutter next time.

Though the thinness of the spaghetti seemed wrong for the dish I was making I went ahead as the pasta was made. I cut two medium-sized potatoes into bite-sized pieces and placed them into a pot of salted boiling water. After 5 minutes I added about 8 cavolo negro leaves sliced and with the thick inner stalk cut out. The cooking now continued for another 10 minutes. Now the pasta was added and cooked for about a minute as it was very thin.

When the pasta was added to the saucepan I heated up some olive oil in a frying pan with two peeled garlic cloves to flavour the oil.

I saved a cup of water from the pasta pot and drained the ingredients. These were added to the pan with the oil and gently turned to coat all with the oil. Some of the water from the cup was added to give a little more moisture. The pasta was ready to serve.

This was a subtle dish. The flavours were delicate; there was nothing overpowering here, just the gentle tastes to savour.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Pappardelle con Funghi (Pappardelle with Mushrooms)

From Italian Food Safari, Maeve O-Meara with Guy Grossi, Hardie Grant Books, 2010.

I had read somewhere that real chefs prefer to make their pasta by hand rather than use a pasta machine as they claim to be able to distinguish a metallic taste from the machine. My palate is not anywhere near that good to be able to recognise such a subtle difference. However, I do find the claim somewhat specious as such a lot of kitchen equipment is metal you would think that all foods cooked would have a metallic taste. Nevertheless I decided that for the pappardelle I would I would not use the machine. I thought that my pasta was really thin when I rolled it out but when it was cooked it turned out to be not thin at all. Back to the machine next time.

I used the recipe from Italian Food Safari just as a basis to follow for I did not have the wild mushrooms that it needed. I had some button mushrooms to use up.

I fried chopped garlic, sage and marjoram in  a pan for a few minutes and then added the mushrooms and a sprinkling of salt to cook for a few minutes more.

The pasta was added to a pot of boiling salted water.

I now added some white wine to the mushrooms and continued to cook them to let the wine reduce. A nob of butter was added and when the seasoning was checked it was ready for the pasta. This was drained and added to the pan with a little of its water. And it was time to eat—with some Parmesan cheese grated over it.

Apart from the fact that my pappardelle was thick this was quick and easy to prepare and tasty. A good quick comfort dish.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Corn and Ricotta Pagnotta

From Italian Food Safari, Maeve O’Meara with Guy Grossi, Hardie Grant Books, 2010. Recipe by Daniel Chirico.

I’m beginning to enjoy making breads. There’s a real pleasure in pounding away at dough and waiting for it to rise. I’m not always totally successful but I’m sure that I’ll get there eventually.

This particular bread had two flours: a 00 flour and maize flour. I used quantities of 500 g 00 flour and 250 g maize flour. These were mixed with 150 g of ricotta, a tablespoon of honey and salt. Half a tablespoon of yeast was mixed with 500 ml of just warm water and when it had dissolved it was poured into the flour mix. This was kneaded for about 10 minutes then left to rise.

After about 2 hours the dough was knocked down, shaped into a ball and placed in a bowl that had been lined with a flour-dusted tea towel. It was left to rise for another hour.

At this stage it was turned out on a semolina-lined baking tray and placed into the hot oven. After about half an hour it was ready.

My dough, I think, was a little softer than it should have been and flattened itself out somewhat on the tray. It was still a very edible bread and all was soon eaten up.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Zucchini Flower Fritters

From Italian Food Safari, Maeve O’Meara with Guy Grossi, Hardie Grant Books, 2010.

Walking through the local markets I spotted zucchini flowers for sale on one of the stalls. I knew I had a recipe for them and had wanted to try them so I was able to please the stall holder by purchasing some.

The recipe in the book was supplied by Lina Siciliano and it is basically a very easy dish to prepare. Three flours (plain, SR and cornflour) were mixed together and turned into a paste with water. This was seasoned and chopped parsley was added.

It was then the turn of the zucchini flowers. They were washed, sliced and added to the mixture. Tablespoons of this were then fried. All very simple to prepare.

Possibly I had not done very well with the cooking for these turned out to be rather ordinary. The flavour of the flowers was possibly very subtle for I missed it. I think next time I see zucchini flowers I might try to use a stuffed flower recipe and see if this changes my mind about them.

Taste: ✔✔✔ 

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Minestrone alla Famiglia

Minestrone alla Famiglia

from Elisa Celli’s Italian Light Cooking, Prentice Hall Press, 1987.

There are many variations of minestrone. I have already written up one in my August blog. This particular one (Minestrone alla Famiglia) I do prefer to the one I made from Italian Food Safari. The big difference is that the one from Italian Food Safari has rice added whereas the one from Elisa Celli’s book uses pasta as the addition. The rice has a tendency to thicken over much whereas the pasta less so.

Elisa Celli's book has been a long while on my shelf and has had its fair share of usage. I have been generally well pleased with the results of my cooking from it.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

As some of these books may be out of print if anyone would like a particular recipe, email me (alfcooksvege@ozemail.com.au) and I’ll send an abbreviated version. Of course, the whole book would be better; it’s loaded with other goodies.

Minestrone Soup

Minestrone

from Italian Food Safari, Maeve O’Meara with Guy Grossi, Hardie Grant Books, 2010.

If you’ve watched Maeve O’Meara’s TV show then there’s nothing more to add. This is the book form of the show; you just have to turn over the pages to watch it. The good thing is that the recipes are included.

The recipes are clearly set out with a short introduction to give some extra information about the dish. The chef for each recipe is acknowledged.

I was after a hearty soup that would serve as a main meal and so minestrone was the obvious choice. It’s easy to make, full of healthy ingredients, rich in flavour and always a favourite.

This particular recipe from Stefano Manfredi suggested using chopped parmesan rind to enhance the flavour.

Minestrone is always great the next day and this one certainly lived up the day-after reputation. The soup thickened considerably, due mainly to the addition of rice, and the flavours matured richly.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔