Red cabbage, apple and Sopraffino

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

The last days have been extremely busy ... we had time to cook, but very little for posting and even reading our emails. We will try to catch up a bit. Today's post is an interesting one. Recently we got hold of a bottle of Aceto Sopraffino (some info here - in French), which is something on the style of balsamic vinegar ... but different. I will probably post something about all the varieties I have tried so far one day. Anyway, this dish is variation of a standard Belgian savory dish based on red cabbage & apples ... we simply decided to add the Sopraffino to it and ... Whow! I guess this is the way red cabbage should be done! Simply one of the best dishes we had recently!

Serves: 8 as starter
FlexiPoints: 3

Suggested wine: I would suggest a recent German Riesling Trocken from the Mosel area.
Special equipment: none

Ingredients:
250g calf mince meat
500g potatoes
40g butter
2 red onions
1 red cabbage (about 800g)
1 apple (Janagold or Golden Delicious variety)
150ml apple juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
4tbsp + 8 tsp Aceto Sopraffino
1 Laurier leaf
1 tbsp oil
Salt and pepper to taste


Ingredient note: The “aceto Sopraffino” is a vinegar somewhat similar to an Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale but lighter in texture, slightly sweeter and more fruity in flavor.

How-to:
1. Peel and boil the potatoes until cooked. Mash them and work in the butter until a nice puree is obtained. Set aside and keep warm.
2. Slice the onions in little rounds. Clean the cabbage and cut it in stripes. Peel and chop the apple in medium/small cubes.
3. Sauté the meat with the oil for 2’ or till it takes color. Add the onion and let cook for 3’ more.
4. Add the cabbage, apple. apple juice, Laurier, 4 tbsp of Sopraffino and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Let simmer for 25’ or until the cabbage is soft and the juice mostly absorbed.
5. Serve with the mash and seasoned with an additional tsp of Sopraffino per portion.

Chocolate shortbread cookies

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

I wanted to bake this ones since I saw a post on the traditional version on the blog "cavoletto di brussel". I used basically the same recipe, but added chocolate and reduced the baking time since it felt a bit too long ... these cookies last a while. I made them almost two weeks ago and they taste still fresh now out of my cookies' tin. I love the chocolate flavor in it!!! Pity they are so fatty!!!

Serves: up to 50 cookies
FlexiPoints: 2 per cookie

Suggested wine: forget wine ... coffee!
Special equipment: none

Ingredients:
350g flour
200g french lightly salted butter
50ml milk
100g dark chocolate (50% or more)

Ingredient note: the darker the chocolate the bitterer the final taste. Milk chocolate is not an option as there would be very little flavor after baking.

How-to:
1. Cube the butter and let is soften at room temperature. Break the chocolate in small pieces.
2. Work it with the flour, milk, chocolate and the sugar until a solid dough is obtained. Refrigerate for at least 60’ in cling foil.
3. Roll the dough to a sheet not thicker than 1 cm and cut out the shortbread cookies using a knife or a shape. You might need to knead and roll the dough a few times until it is all used-up.
4. Bake in the middle of an over at 150C for 30’-35’.

Post-on-the-road: Praiano

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

We are now here waking up in Praiano. A little cute village in between Positano and Amalfi on the Amalfitan Coast. Incredible, it is 17 degrees ... it feels like summer is coming here, finally. We are travelling up-and-down this area arranging all details of our wedding and enjoying the local wonderful atmosphere ... not to mention the food. One day here and I already had some simply but very tasty fish and dessert. And great driving! Yes, I love to drive this little 207 we rented along the multiple curves in the coast .... across Amalfi or Positano ... I hope we'll find some time to pass by Minori to visit a very famous Pasticceria (bakery) ... famous at least in Italy!

For the moment ... not cooking! Back on the road soon.

Pasta and pears casserole

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

How did I ever ended up cooking such a dish?? Well, curiosity ... of my fiancee. We have started receiving an italian magazine every month called "Cucina Moderna". My favorite! In the february edition there is a little insert on a simple menu for St. Valentine even a man can cook (well, like there are no men in kitchen these days ...). Anyway, this recipe intrigued so here I am. I did change it since some ingredients (like the Robbiola) are not easy to find and I could not be bothered to make hearth-shaped pasta. It was really sensational. An amazing taste. Salty and sweet ... we'll eat it again.

Serves: 2 as main course or 4 as starter
FlexiPoints: 13 or 7.5

Suggested wine: it was perfect with Riesling Trocken from the Mosel!
Special equipment: none

Ingredients:
200g tagliatelle pasta
1 shape of Boursin cheese (150g)
1 Pear William
2 fresh sage leaves
40g Grison cured beef
2 tbsp of white wine (possibly Riesling Trocken)
8 tbsp of milk
20g grated Parmesan cheese
15g butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredient note: the Boursin cheese can be replaced with the italian Robbiola or, in the worst case, some ricotta with sour cream. The Grison meat could be replaced with speck.

How-to:
1. Peel and cube the pear. Cut the Grison meat in stripes. Sauté them with the sage in 10g of butter on medium heat for 3’ or until the meat takes color. Add the wine and keep cooking until it has evaporated. Remove from the heat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
2. Mix the cheese with the milk until smooth. Season with pepper.
3. Boil the pasta in salted water for two minutes less than indicated in the package.
4. Add the pasta when still hot to the cheese mix and stir well until uniformly distributed.
5. Distribute half of the pasta in an oven dish. Add half of the pear and meat mix. Add another layer of pasta. Finish with the remaining pear and meat. Distribute the remaining butter on top
6. Bake in an hot oven at 140C for 20’. Serve lukewarm.

Uitsmijter deluxe or dutch fried eggs

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

Everybody does fast food sometimes ... I mean, it cannot be that we all like to spend time or eat always great stuff. Sometimes, I simply long for quick things like a couple of fried eggs or french fries or even a salad. Last week I had one of these moments. I was stuck home due to the snow (yes snow!) and did not feel like spending time in cooking. The result I simply made one of my favorite junk food: fried eggs or uitsmijter. Why bother with the dutch name? Because I like the story of this dish in the Netherlands: it is the only food a pub would (be able to) serve before closing to people when leaving after several beers ... a kind of hang-over thing! Anyway, this is a luxury version with great cheese and no bread ... and I always liked it !

Serves: 1 as main course
FlexiPoints: 7

Suggested wine: well ...junk food deserved a coke ... possibly light!
Special equipment: a metallic pan cover

Ingredients:
- 2 eggs
- 10g Comte Cheese
- 1 large slice of roasted ham
- 5g salted butter
- Salt and pepper as needed

Ingredient note: you can also use old Gouda cheese or farmhouse Cheddar.

How-to:
1. Melt the butter in an hot non-stick pan.
2. Break the eggs in it being sure to leave the yolks intact. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Lay the ham so that both yolks are covered and distribute the cheese on top in think slices. Season with more pepper.
4. Cook covered for 3’ or until the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

Conchiglioni stuffed with mushrooms

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

How many times I felt like making cannelloni, but had not time to make the fresh pasta? Really often! Well, in Italy there is a solution called "conchiglioni" which is a pasta shape looking like a sea shell and big enough to be filled. It makes life easier and it still delivers most of the taste of a cannelloni dish. We prepared this dish ... honestly ... a few weeks ago. It was there on my laptop waiting to be blogged about. So here I am. It is a very nice dish, where I have used a little twist being chopped coriander to give it a bit of freshness. If you do not like coriander, use flat parsley ... this is what my mum would do.

Serves: 6 as a main course
FlexiPoints: 6

Suggested wine: I would go for a Salice Salentino or a nice Barbaresco with this one.
Special equipment: none

Ingredients:
- 200g conchiglioni pasta
- 500g mixed wild mushrooms
- 150g ricotta cheese
- 50g smoked bacon
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 glass of red wine
- 1/2 liter milk
- 40g butter
- 40g flour
- 10g fresh coriander
- Oil, salt and pepper as needed.

Ingredient note: conchiglioni pasta is something that looks like sea shells so that they can be filled. If you cannot find it, use something like paccheri or small cannelloni pasta shapes instead.

How-to:
1. Chop finely the garlic and the coriander. Cube the bacon. Chop the mushrooms in medium irregular pieces.
2. Saute the garlic and bacon in some hot oil for 2’ or until colored. Add the mushrooms and keep cooking on medium/high heat for 5’. Turn to high heat and add the wine. Let it get absorbed. Turn off and stir in the coriander.
3. Mix the mushrooms with the ricotta and 2 tbsp of oil. Season with some pepper. Set aside.
4. Make the white sauce by melting the butter in the milk avoiding to get the milk boiling. Once the butter is fully melted add the sifted flour one spoon at a time until it get fully absorbed. Keep warm.
5. Boil the pasta in salted water for half of its cooking time. Drain and let cool down. Fill each conchiglioni shape with the ricotta and mushroom mix.
6. Distribute half of the white sauce on a large oven pot. Put in the filled pasta. Pour the remaining sauce on top. Season with abundant pepper.
7. Bake at 180C for 15’. Serve immediately.

Turnip roots stuffed with ricotta

(Photo@TheFoodTraveller.com - Nikon D200)

Must be the season, but we are very much into the mood of stuffing everything with ricotta! This time we took a recipe from 'Libelle', where turnip roots (and for the italian .. yes the roots not the leaves!) are stuffed with ricotta and veggies. Originally the recipe called for pancetta, well ... it brings nothing. So, I won't mention it here (despite the fact we put it in). It is nice ... I only wish I had some black dishes to serve it on!

Serves: 4 as main dish or 8 as a starter
FlexiPoints: 3 or 1.5

Suggested wine: low dosage Champagne works very welll ... at least for us!
Special equipment: none

Ingredients:
- 16 small turnip roots
- 1 egg
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 carrot
- 1 leek (white only)
- 250g ricotta cheese
- 10g grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 small onion
- salt & butter

Ingredient note: turnip roots are called raapjes in dutch and it is the root of the italian 'rape'

How-to:
1. Boil the turnip roots for about 12’ or until soft. Rinse them in cold water and wait until they cool down. Remove the skin from them. Cut away the top and remove part of the interior with the help of a coffee spoon. Chop the removed root pulp and set aside.
2. Chop all the other vegetables in small pieces and sauté them in some melted butter for 5’ or until soft. Let cool.
3. Add the (previously) chopped turnip root pulp, the cheese, some salt and the egg. Mix well and use this as filling for the turnip roots.
4. Bake in an hot oven at 200C for 12’. Serve warm.