Paccheri in monkfish sauce

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Canon PowerShot G2)

It is no secret that people in Campania like to use the paccheri for most fish based pasta recipe. This shape conveys a better balance between the pasta and the sauce tasteand it retains more sauce due to its large surface. Final dishes seem dried look but taste really saucy. This one is a classic : paccheri alla pescatrice. I love them!

Serves: 4 as main dish
FlexiPoints: 9

Suggested wines: stay local with a Falanghina or a Greco di Tufo

Ingredients:
- 400g monkfish tail
- 1 head of a small monkfish
- 320g paccheri
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 chilli
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 glass of white wine
- 2 tbsp chopped flat parsley
- oil, salt and pepper as needed

How-to:
1. Finely chop the garlic and the chilli. Cut the tomatoes in quarters and chop the fish meat in cubes.
2. Stir fry the garlic and chilli for 1’ or so in hot oil and add the head of the monkfish. Keep cooking on medium/high heat for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the wine and cook with the lid on for 7’-8’. Finish to cook without the lid for 1’ pressing the head gently. Add the tomatoes to the pan and cook until they have softened, remove the head of the fish and add the fish meat. Season with salt and pepper and keep cooking on moderate heat until the fish is ready.
4. In the meantime boil the paccheri. Retain 1/2 glass of the cooking water. Add the pasta to the fish sauce and keep cooking for 1’ minute. If the sauce dries out add part or whole of the water.
5. Remove from the heat. Divide among four warm dishes. Garnish with some chopped parley and serve immediately.

Marinated hare with mushrooms

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

Game season is well towards its end and I finally managed to put my hands on a saddle of hare (boned by my butcher, of course). Initially we had something else in mind. Basically a filled saddle like for the rabbit ... but it did not seem a good idea once we got the meat. Therefore, I picked up an old Italian recipe (hare in civet), changed a little bit and came out with this recipe. We liked it so much that we are already considering a repetition. Full hare taste with a bit more depth.

Serves: 2 as a main course
FlexiPoints: 9

Suggested wine: we had a fiano with it. Probably a nice old barolo would do as well.

Ingredients:
- 1 saddle of hare (in two halves)
- 4 thin slices of bacon
- 200g wild mushrooms
- 250g potatoes
- 250g celeriac
- 300ml red wine (possible matured in American oak)
- 20g butter
- 2 dried Bay (Laurel) leaves
- 1 tsp of dried rosemary
- 1 tsp of saffron
- 3 tbsp oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- oil, salt and pepper as needed

How-to:
1. Put the meat in a deep bowl with the wine, saffron, 1 tbsp oil, bay leaves, rosemary, some salt and pepper. Stir and let it marinate for at least 4 hours.
2. Remove the meat from the marinate, roll it lenght-ways and wrap it in the bacon (two slices per half saddle). Grease a baking tin with 1 tbsp of oil and place the meat on it.
3. While the oven is pre-heating, peel and boil the potatoes and celeriac. As soon as ready, make a mash with them using all the butter. Clean and chop the mushrooms in medium pieces. Finely chopped the garlic.
4. Place the meat in a hot oven at 180C for 12' turning it once half way through. In the meantime, saute the garlic and mushrooms in the remaining oil. Once the mushrooms have browned pour in the marinate. Keep cooking until the marinate has not mostly reduced.
5. The meat will be ready before the marinate has fully reduced. While waiting, start composing the dish by making a first little tower with the mash and the hare roll on top. Once the marinate has reduced, distribute the mushrooms around it and the sauce on top of the hare.
6. You might want to drizzle some additional oil on top or use more wine in order to end up with more sauce for the dish. I prefer the former approach.

Welcome to the blogsphere!!

It is always nice to see a friend opening a new blog!!
So, I would like to wish welcome to two friends who have joined the blogsphere recently:

- Hedonist in the Kitchen
- Good Morning NatLab

Two friends ... dear friends. One enjoying cooking and the other eating!!

Ciaoo

Kid-sized apple cakes

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - D200)

I am just back from a long and tiring trip in US and, despite my willingness of working/studying, I seem to have only energy for sleeping, eating and drinking. On the other hand, Elke (my soon-to-be wife) has started baking all sort of things. One example are these little cakes, made by simply taking some apples, cut them, mix them with a basic cake (or pan di spagna for the Italians) batter and ... Here they are!
I feel like a kid again, since these cakes are barely bigger than a 2 euro coin and I can eat them like chips!!
Now she is baking the Klaaskoeken ... a Belgian specialty which I love warm with cheese. Mmmm .... I feel already hungry. Maybe I should find some energy to pop open a bottle of wine now!!

Time to travel again

Again, it is traveling time. This time back to San Jose in the San Francisco bay. Next recipe when I am back ... I still have 6 recipes we have done in the past few weeks I did not have the time to post and I have now to think of a recipe I want to use for a recipe book being prepared for charity purposes.
Well ... be back blogging in a week!

Risotto with Oysters

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

It has being very difficult to find some spare time for cooking lately. It is somewhat depressing at times, but everything feels better after preparing a risotto like this one. It is simply one of the best seafood risottos I have ever eaten and the best I have ever done. The recipe is very simple, when opening oysters is a known art. Otherwise it might take a bit of time ...

PS: Ricetta in italiano alla fine!

Serves: 2 as a main dish or 4 as a starter
FlexiPoints: 7 or 3.5

Suggested wine: Definitively a Champagne with low or no dosage. Get a Tarlant Zero or a Boulard Brut Nature.

Ingredients:
- 12 (N.2) oysters
- 160g rice (vialone nano)
- 1 big shallot
- 300ml (warm) light chicken stock
- 1 glass of champagne
- 10g butter

How-to:
1. Open all the oysters being careful of keeping their juices. Chop the meat and filter the juices with a fine sieve to remove every shell piece.
2. Finely chop the shallot. Sauté them in the melted butter and, once golden, add the rice. Let it sauté for 2’ more. Add the champagne and let it evaporate.
3. Add about 100ml of the stock and let it get absorbed by the rice at medium-low temperature. Once it is mostly absorbed, add part of the oyster juices and repeat until the rice is cooked. You might need to use some more stock at the end depending on how much juice the oysters have released.
4. Remove from the heat and add the chopped oysters. Stir well. Let cool down for 2’ and serve on large flat dishes.

*********************************

Porzioni: 2
Punti WeightWatchers: 7 o 3.5

Suggestione vino: Suggerirei uno Champagne con basso livello di dosage come un Tarland.

Ingredienti:
- 12 ostriche (N.2)
- 160g riso (vialone nano)
- 1 scalogno
- 300ml brodo di pollo leggero (tiepido)
- 1 bicchiere di champagne
- 10g burro

Procedimento:
1. Aprire tutte le ostriche cercando di conservarne il succo che ne fuoriesce. Taglia le ostriche in pezzi medio/grandi e filtra la loro acqua attraverso un colino fine.
2. Trita lo scalogno finemente. Fargli prendere colore nel burro fuso per qualche minuto. Aggiungere il riso e soffriggere per un minuto a fuoco alto. Aggiungere lo champagne e far evaporare.
3. Fai assorbire un mestolo di brodo alla volta su una fiamma gentile. Il brodo deve sobbollire (o picchiettare in napoletano) ma non bollire fino a quando il riso. Continua con il succo delle ostriche e successivamente il resto del brodo (se necessario) finche' il riso non e' cotto.
4. Togliere dal fuoco e aggiunere le ostriche a pezzetti. Mescolare bene, lasciate riposare il risotto per un paio di minuti e servire su piatti piani.

Reblochon and potato tart

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

Another tasty recipe from Libelle magazine, actually from the same issue of the stuffed potatoes recipe. This one has a less string flavour, but probably is my favourite of the two. Honestly, I love Reblochon cheese. It reminds me of skiing holidays in the (french) alps ... probably this explains why I loved this dish so much! Of course, you might replace it with any other semi-soft cheese like fontina or camembert ... I would still prefer reblochon here!

Serves: 4 as main dish or 8 as starter
FlexiPoints: 12.5 or 6

Suggested wine: I would go for a barbera d’alba like my favourite Masolino Jisep

Ingredients:
- 250g pate’ brisee
- 6 large potatoes
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 200g Reblochon cheese
- 3 leaves of sage
- pepper, salt, margarine as needed

How-to:
1. Boil the (not peeled) potatoes in salted water. Peel them and, once cold, slice them.
2. Roll the pastry in a uniformly thick dish and lay it on a quiche form. You might want o either grease the form or use baking paper. Distribute half of the potato slices on it, then the cheese and cover with the remaining potato slices.
3. Distribute the melted butter on top. Season with salt and abundant pepper.
4. Bake in an hot oven for 25' at 200. Serve hot or warm.