PASTA ALLA MATRICIANA

This is a great and really easy dish that will get those taste buds in 4th gear !

First thing is to put on some great Italian classical (I'd go with Verdi for this dish), take three deep breaths and go....

YOU'LL NEED:
- 4 thick slices of pancetta or bacon chopped into small squares
- 1 large white onion (sliced thin)
- 3 garlic cloves (never us the store bought stuff that I see everywhere)
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tin chopped or diced tomatoes or better about 1/2 kilo (1 lb) mature whole tomatoes fresh from the market
- 600 grams (1lb) spaghetti, I like pici (which are wormlike thick spaghetti)
- a handful of chopped parsley
- 100 grams freshly grated parmigiano cheese
- Extra virgin olive oil

WHAT TO DO:
- cook your cut up bacon or pancetta in a wide and relatively deep frying pan over medium/high heat with 2 T-spoons olive oil until the fat is rendered (about 5-7 minutes).
- Add the finely cut onion and cuook until soft.
- Add in the smashed garlic cloves and red pepper flakes and cook for approx. 3 minutes.
- Add a fist of chopped parsley and stir in and add the tomatoes. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10-15 minutes and be sure to stir (keep on the heat until the sauce has thickened slightly).
- To your boiling water for the pasta add a couple T-spoons salt and a dash of olive oil, add the pasta. When the spaghetti is just al dente, strain and add to your sauce and mix in well for a few minutes. Add some fresh cut parsley to the and stir out onto the plates. Add a sprinkle of parmigiano cheese and a dash of olive oil.

- Serve with a hearty Chianti Red

ENJOY !

PORCINI MUSHROOM SAUCES

T'is the Season !

Its the season here in Tuscany (September-October) for Porcini....
Living in Florence it's easy to locate these wonderful and sought-after mushrooms. Their correct name is Boletus Edulis, in latin meaning Superior Edible mushroom. Porcini are said to look the way a mushroom should with a white stalks topped by broad brown caps, they can be rather large (up to 6 inches across at the cap). Their size is important in determining what they ought to be destined for, the large ones are ideal for grilled dishes or fried and the smaller ones are ideal for wonderful sauces.

I have two variations of the porcini sauce, one with and one without tomatoes.
WITHOUT:
Serving size: 4
You will need:
-800 grams porcini (caps and stems) or one good size porcini/person
-4or5 table spoons extra virgin olive oil
-2 cloves of garlic (pressed)
-one spring of nipetella
-sale and pepper QB

Preparation:
Clean the mushrooms into bite-sized pieces and in a frying pan sauté in olive oil (extra virgin naturally)and garlic over low heat, be careful not to brown the garlic. Add the chopped mushrooms and stir. Add in salt,pepper and the nipetella and cover for about 10 minutes on low heat and stir until the porcini are soft.
This sauce is best served with fresh tagliatelle pasta and you will need about 300 grams for this serving size. After having cooked the pasta (3-4 minutes) in salted water, drain and add directly to the frying pan with the sauce. Stir gently and serve with a good Tuscan Red !
ENJOY

WITH TOMATOES:
Follow the above instructions, however the ripened tomatoes (four, diced) need to be blended into the garlic plus fresh parsley and oregano. Allow the mushrooms to cook slowly on low heat while your sauce gradually thickens.

FRIED SARDINES A great simple dish !

Servings 6

You'll need the following:
- 2 pounds (about 1 kg) of sardines
The filling:
-3.5 oz bread crumbs
-1/2 cup milk
-2 eggs
-2 oz of parmigiano (grated) cheese
-1 oz fresh parsley
-a pinch of oregano
-salt & pepper QB
-Extra virgin olive oil

The Bread Coating:
-2 eggs
-breadcrumbs
-flour (all purpose or 00)

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER:
(you'll need about 30 minutes to prepare and another 10 minutes cooking time)

Get out a good size bowl and mix together (for the filling) the bread, milk, eggs and grated parmigiano, parsley, oregano, oil and salt & pepper.

Wash and clean the sardines but remove the innards, heads, scales or just buy them cleaned, its easier! Then dry them by placing them on a paper towel.

Butterfly the fish and place them on a flat work surface. Spread your filling on each fish ensuring that it sticks well. Close the sardines and dust them in flour, then dip in a bowl of your beaten eggs and cover with breadcrumbs. Its important that you ensure that the breadcrumbs adhere well to the fish.

At this point, its time to fry the fish in oil. Its a good idea that the sardines are completely immersed in the oil when frying.

Serve when they are golden, but its best to place the cook sardines on a paper towel before serving to absorb the extra oil.

ENJOY!

FRUIT RISOTTO

Sorry that I havent added any new dishes in a while but to make up for it I have something "out of this world" for you:

Serves 4

You'll need the following:
-400 grams of Basmatic Brown Rice (Riso Integrale)
-1 ripe banana
-2 peaches
-2 pears
-8 large stawberries
-2 to 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
-2 tablespoons of Balsamic Cream or if you can't find that, balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup whole cream (panna da cucinare)
- salt / pepper
- grated parm. cheese

Wash and cut the fruit into small pieces and place in a deep frying pan on low heat. Add the olive oil and let simmer but do not allow to burn! Add a bit of warm water if necessary. When the fruit is well mixed together, add a teaspoon of salt and a dash of black pepper along with the balsamic cream, cover for 5-10 minutes). Add the cream, mix well and take off heat, add 100 grated parma cheese and mix together.

Prepare your rice and serve the fruit either on top or mixed with the rice and serve warm with a dry white wine!

ENJOY

Polpettini / Meatballs Abruzzese

This recipe is from my paternal grandmother a native of Abruzzo. I don't know if she would be happy with me in publisizing her meatballs but they are sooo good that I want to share them with those appreciate authentic Italian cuisine.

The following recipe is for the meatballs/polpettini and in general are added to a ragu sauce. The sauce (a modified, short-cut verions of the classical Italian ragu) will follow:

Serving size: 6

- 1 kg (2 pounds approx) ground beef
- 2 large Tuscan (or spicey Italian) sausages
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 3 eggs
- 200 grams breadcrumbs
- 1 Tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
- 100 grams grated parma cheese
- dash of origano
- pepper

PREPARATION:
In a good size bowl add the ground beef, the sausages (take off the skin), the eggs, breadcrumbs, grated cheese, origano. Your parsely and garlic first need to but cut fine (I use a half-moon) and add to the beef with the olive oil and perhaps a bit of balsamic vinegar (optional).

Mix up well with your hands and let sit for a few minutes. Make golfball size balls and make sure that they are compact.

In a large sauce pan add extra virgin olive oil, heat and place your meatballs and carefully turn so that they are uniformly browned. Note that you don't want to cook them completely during this phase but merely brown them so that they remain intact.

These meatballs then should be removed from the saucepan and placed carefully on kitchen papertowels to absorb the extra oil. They will then be added to your ragu sauce and let cook with the sauce for approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.

ENJOY!