Speck Fettucini

Last night I came to the conclusion that sometimes, despite all the carbless and protein focussed diets out there, besides chocolate, a woman needs pasta.... and the requisition of this pasta must always be 'GOOOOOD and fulfilling'!!!!
Moreover, there is way too little pasta on this blog... so let's get some change into that.

Chef Raffaella made a good and rather healthy fettucini for me a couple of months ago and it didn't get lost in my database of mouthwatering pictures of food, it was just on hold for the right moment. Its moment has come to shine!

Ingredients:

• 400 gr fettucine or tagliatelle
• 4 zucchini
• 200 gr mushrooms
• 150 gr bacon cubes (Italian call this speck, which is a gourmet version of bacon)
• olive oil
• garlic 

How to make it:

Heat up a pan of water with a fist of salt for your pasta and bring it to a boil. When it boils, add the pasta and cook it according to what is written on the packaging. Keep the indication for 'al dente' pasta as you will be cooking it some more in the end together with the sauce in your frying pan.

Cut up the vegetables in little cubes and slices.

While you cook the pasta you heat up a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan, fry the garlic and add the zucchini for a couple of minutes until they get tender. Then you add the mushrooms and some salt. Add a couple of tablespoons of pastawater and let it simmer for circa 5 minutes with the lid on. After which you add the bacon cubes. Give it a good stir and let it simmer for another 10 minutes but keep an eye on the pan as you want to avoid the sauce of getting dry. If it does, add some of the pasta water into the sauce.

Once your pasta is cooked al dente, take it out of the pan with a pastaspoon or a pair of pincers as you want the pasta to remain wet while adding it to the sauce. Pastawater contains starch that will densify the sauce a bit. Stir the whole for a couple of minutes on a low 'fire' and then you are done!

Outcome: Italian mamma approved fettucine!!!

Speck Fettucine

Baci
Chef Raffaella

Cook to impress: Risotto Milanese

What is gold for a foodie??
Saffron is gold for a foodie....

Saffron is a powder extracted from a flower called the Saffron Crocus. They take it from the stigmas of the plant and seen that each plant only has 3 pieces of them, it is a rarity and difficult to cultivate and therefore so expensive. It is actually the most expensive spice that exists out there, hence the fact that saffron is a foodie's gold! Thank god that although expensive, the powdery gold is also very very powerful. The powder on each stigma is strong enough to colour and flavour a liter of boiling water into deep golden yellow, so you don't need much to cook a big bowl of risotto or paella!

And here is my link to the recipe of today.... Risotto Milanese! A simple yet impressive dish that is typical for the region of Milan. It is bright yellow risotto that I thought being boring at first, but when made right, it can be quite the taste-bomb! I made this a couple of weeks ago for Chef Stefano, and it was approved... few!

Ingredients: serves 4

• two garlic cloves peeled
• olive oil
• a big glass of white wine
• 4 cups of risotto rice and one for the guest (arborio rice is the best)
• one liter of vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 envelope of saffron powder
• 50gr parmigiano
• fresh parsley to serve

How to make it:

Contrary to what people think, risotto is actually quite easy to make. It just takes full attention for 20-25 minutes. So get ready to cook!

Prepare the broth and once it's boiling you can start making your risotto.

Heat the olive oil in a big anti-sticky pan and add the smashed garlic cloves (don't cut them up as you want to take them out after). Once they're turning golden brown and they are releasing their divine garlicky smells in your kitchen, you take the garlic out of the pan.

Add the rice and start stirring. You want to bake the rice until the grains get slightly transparant and start releasing a creamy white tail. At this point you add the white wine.

Keep stirring until the rice has absorbed the wine and releases the creamy white tail again.

Add a soupspoon of broth, keep stirring until the rice has absorbed the broth and releases the creamy white tail again. Repeat this process for 20 minutes more or less or until the rice is cooked. Some like their risotto firm and others like it more cooked - this is totally up to you, so make sure your taste it.

When it's almost done, add the saffron to the risotto and stir - this will turn your white risotto into a beautiful golden mixture of goodness. Then to finish it off, you add the parmigiano for a cheesy taste.

Outcome: GOLD! With a sprinkle of bright green if you serve it with the fresh parsley on top like I did.

Risotto Milanese

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Italian Classic: Bucatini all'Amatriciana

When I was in Florence graduating, I brought back some good Fiorentine produce such as ham, wine, balsamic vinegar and some... guancia di maiale! Which means pig cheek! I see you thinking... EEEWWWWW.... but let me try to convince you otherwise: it is definitely not EW, it is YUM!

Bucatini all'Amatriciana is a pasta dish that was made originally by the poor, using leftovers of the pig, old ripened tomatoes and some pasta. Back in the days when people only had resources over one whole pig, and not a plastically wrapped part of it, people used up the whole animal before buying another one. Now that's a different story these days eh?! I mean, if a piece of meat goes bad in your fridge just because you didn't have time to eat it, you throw it away, learn your lesson and next time place it in the freezer until you can eat it...
Anyways, back then, first up were all the good and juicy filets, then the ribs etc etc... until you get to the intestins and other nasty parts of it, which are used in this stew soup that will probably never come up on this blog as I am already repelled by the idea of it *shivers*.

But a pig's cheek is still ok. Combined with big bucatini pasta (big spaghetti's with a hole in it - you could also call them huge macaroni's). MMMM.... Viva Italia and their pasta!

Ingredients: serves 4

• 500gr bucatini pasta
• 200gr guanciale or pancetta if you don't have guanciale - chopped in little cubes
• a glass of cooking white wine
• 2 cans of good quality tomato cubes
• peperoncino
• pecorino

How to make it:

Boil a big pan of water with a fist of salt. Once it's boiling, cook the pasta according to the pack.

Heat up a skillet and bake the guanciale or pancetta until it has released all of its fat, add the white wine and cook until it has slightly evaporated. At this point you add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and peperoncino and simmer until the sauce has reduced a bit. 

Once the pasta is cooked, sieve it and add it to the sauce while the sauce pan is still on the flame. Add the pecorino at this point and toss it all nicely together for a minute.

Outcome: Delicious and tasty pasta that seems to walk right out of a restaurant.... :)

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph

Pasta alla Jules

Yesterday was my dearest friend Julia's birthday! It's not everyday a woman turns 25 again... so that calls for a little celebration.  Seen the fact that she lives in Amsterdam and I live in Milan, the actual present has to wait until we see each other, but in the meantime I am dedicating one of her bestest recipes for today's post.
(Also secretely hoping you guys will love it, and then she will feel OBLIGED - yes you know you are - to post some of her recipes; fish&mozza...lemon pangasius...tuna/cottagecheese sandwich...and many more...)

This recipe is a super duper simple and cheap recipe and is  also the perfect 'storage cupboard' recipe! Here we go..

Ingredients: 4 servings

• 500 gr of pasta - any kind will do - I used whole weat spaghetti
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• one shallot - chopped up
• one garlic - chopped up
• 750 ml tomato sugo
• 2 cans of tuna (water)
• 2 tablespoons of dried or fresh rosemary
• salt, pepper to taste
• 100gr parmiggiano or pecorino

How to make it:

Bring a big pan of water to a boil and add a fist and a half of salt.

In the meantime heat up the olive oil and bake the shallot and garlic until they become 'trasparent'. Afterwhich you add the sugo and tuna. Stir until the tuna is evenly divided in the sauce. Add the rosemary, salt and pepper.

Pour the spaghetti in the boiling water and cook according to what the pack says.

When the pasta is done - so should be your sauce, nicely boiled down to a thick tomato sauce.

Drain the pasta and divide onto 4 plates - serving the sauce on top.

Add the cheese and top of that, and voila.... Dinner is readyyyyyyy!!!

Outcome: A good and healthy dinner in arms-reach at any time!

Pasta alla Jules

Buon Appetito

Chef Steph