Pasta al prosciutto e limone, or, Pasta with Lemon and Ham
Provenance: Riccardo Belletti, presumably originally from his mother
History: I know. I had my doubts too when he first informed me that he was making pasta with lemon and ham for lunch. For both of us. I don't even like lemons that much. But in fact, it's really quick and easy and absolutely delicious.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- Half of one lemon
- 1/4 onion, chopped
- A few ounces of prosciutto crudo (the type of ham that's raw, though salt-cured)
- About half a pound of tagliatelle, or spaghetti - it should be of the long variety
- Olive oil
- Salt
Directions:
- Peel the lemon half and chop the peel into small pieces, though not invisible ones. Save the lemon.
- Sautée the lemon peel pieces and chopped onion in olive oil until onion is soft.
- Chop or tear the prosciutto crudo into manageable pieces, add to the skillet, and sautée the entire mix for about 5 (?) minutes, or until the pasta is done cooking (but al dente, per cortesia!!! Riccardo will turn over in the grave he doesn't have if one of his recipes that he didn't invent is made with overcooked pasta. And I will be held responsible. Don't do it.)
- Once the (al dente) pasta is drained and rinsed, take the skillet off the heat and add the pasta. Squeeze the lemon juice into the pasta and mix well.
Comments: The rough measurements are due to the fact that I've only watched him make it a couple times. Essentially, this sauce is light and at first glance non-existent if it weren't for the little bits of red ham. You can either juice the lemon beforehand or squeeze it straight onto the pasta.
And I wasn't kidding about not overcooking the pasta. That applies to all recipes in this blog.
lunedì 12 maggio 2008
chicken cutlets with cream sauce
Chicken Cutlets with Cream Sauce
Provenance: The Best Recipe Book, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated (original title: Chicken Cutlets with Sherry-Cream Sauce and Mushrooms)
History: This is the other first recipe that really worked for us. Or at least it worked for Julia. Also, it looks impressive.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 4 chicken breast cutlets (1.5 lbs each), trimmed, tendons removed, rinsed, and thoroughly dried.
- Salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tbsp veg/olive oil
- 2 shallots or scallions, minced
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1/2 cup broth (preferably chicken stock)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp minced parsley leaves
- pinch ground mace
- salt and ground pepper
- 1 small piece lemon
Directions:
- Sprinkle 1 tsp salt and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp pepper on both sides of cutlets. Measure flour onto a plate or pie tin. Working one cutlet at a time, press both sides into flour. Make sure tenderloin is tucked beneath and fused to main portion of breast. Pick up cutlet from tapered end, shake gently to remove excess flour.
- Heat butter and oil in heavy-bottomed skillet measuring at least 9 inches across bottom. Swirl skillet over high heat until butter has melted. Continue to heat skillet until butter stops foaming and has just begun to color.
- Lay cutlets in skillet, tenderloin down.
- Maintain MH heat, so fat sizzles but does not smoke, and sauté cutlets unto browned on one side, about 4 minutes.
- Turn cutlets with tongs, cook on other side until meat feels firm when pressed and clotted juices begin to emerge around tenderloin--3-4 minutes.
- Transfer cutlets to plate, keep warm in 200°F/93°C oven.
- Without discarding fat, set skillet over M heat. Add shallots, sauté until softened, about 1 minute.
- Add wine; boil until sherry completely evaporates, about 1 minute.
- Add stock and cream, boil, stirring frequently, until sauce reduces to about 1/3 cup and is thick enough to lightly coat a spoon, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add any accumulated chicken juices, reduce sauce to previous consistency.
- Stir in parsley and mace and season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
- Spoon sauce over cutlets and serve.
Comments: As you can see, we changed the recipe considerably, once again due to the lack of availability of mushrooms that didn't scare us and sherry. We also neglected the mace, mainly because we couldn't figure out what it was called in Italian, or we couldn't find it, I forget which. Possibly also the lemon. In any case, the recipe doesn't suffer much for the lack/changing of those ingredients. If you care to add mushrooms, they get sautéed until soft just after the shallots and just before adding the wine/sherry.
(Incidentally, sparkling white wine works here, too.)
Provenance: The Best Recipe Book, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated (original title: Chicken Cutlets with Sherry-Cream Sauce and Mushrooms)
History: This is the other first recipe that really worked for us. Or at least it worked for Julia. Also, it looks impressive.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 4 chicken breast cutlets (1.5 lbs each), trimmed, tendons removed, rinsed, and thoroughly dried.
- Salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tbsp veg/olive oil
- 2 shallots or scallions, minced
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1/2 cup broth (preferably chicken stock)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tbsp minced parsley leaves
- pinch ground mace
- salt and ground pepper
- 1 small piece lemon
Directions:
- Sprinkle 1 tsp salt and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp pepper on both sides of cutlets. Measure flour onto a plate or pie tin. Working one cutlet at a time, press both sides into flour. Make sure tenderloin is tucked beneath and fused to main portion of breast. Pick up cutlet from tapered end, shake gently to remove excess flour.
- Heat butter and oil in heavy-bottomed skillet measuring at least 9 inches across bottom. Swirl skillet over high heat until butter has melted. Continue to heat skillet until butter stops foaming and has just begun to color.
- Lay cutlets in skillet, tenderloin down.
- Maintain MH heat, so fat sizzles but does not smoke, and sauté cutlets unto browned on one side, about 4 minutes.
- Turn cutlets with tongs, cook on other side until meat feels firm when pressed and clotted juices begin to emerge around tenderloin--3-4 minutes.
- Transfer cutlets to plate, keep warm in 200°F/93°C oven.
- Without discarding fat, set skillet over M heat. Add shallots, sauté until softened, about 1 minute.
- Add wine; boil until sherry completely evaporates, about 1 minute.
- Add stock and cream, boil, stirring frequently, until sauce reduces to about 1/3 cup and is thick enough to lightly coat a spoon, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add any accumulated chicken juices, reduce sauce to previous consistency.
- Stir in parsley and mace and season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
- Spoon sauce over cutlets and serve.
Comments: As you can see, we changed the recipe considerably, once again due to the lack of availability of mushrooms that didn't scare us and sherry. We also neglected the mace, mainly because we couldn't figure out what it was called in Italian, or we couldn't find it, I forget which. Possibly also the lemon. In any case, the recipe doesn't suffer much for the lack/changing of those ingredients. If you care to add mushrooms, they get sautéed until soft just after the shallots and just before adding the wine/sherry.
(Incidentally, sparkling white wine works here, too.)
il risotto perfetto
Il Risotto Perfetto (with Eggplant and Zucchini)
Provenance: The Best Recipe Book, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated
History: When my roommate and I moved to Italy, this was one of the first recipes we tried. Neither of us thought we liked risotto. It turns out we were very, very wrong. Now one of our favorite comfort foods.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- salt
- 5 cups broth
- 1/2 cups dry white wine (it can even be sparkling, as it turns out.)
- 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
- 1 large eggplant or 2 smaller eggplants
- 2 medium-sized zucchini
Directions:
- Slice eggplant and zucchini thinly, salt, and place between layers of paper towel for 15-20 minutes to extract excess moisture. Change paper towels when saturated.
- Heat olive oil in large skillet, add eggplant and zucchini.
- Sauté until tender. Set aside.
- Heat oil in heavy pot. Add onions, sauté, stirring occasionally, until onions soften--3-5 minutes.
- Stir in rice and salt to taste. Add 3 cups broth and bring to boil, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat to simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until pan bottom is dry when rice is pulled back with spoon--8-10 minutes.
- Add wine, stirring frequently until absorbed.
- Add 1/2 cup broth at a time, stirring constantly, until each addition is absorbed.
- Cook until rice is creamy but still firm in center (add water in 1/2 cup increments if broth runs out)--10-12 minutes.
- Stir in cheese and eggplant/zucchini mix. Serve.
Comments: In the The Best Recipe Book, this recipe was originally listed as containing asparagus (1/2 lb) and wild mushrooms (4 oz), but it was September and there was no asparagus to be found, so we changed it and liked it so much that we actually haven't gotten around to trying the recipe in its original form. We decided that the most important thing when choosing the vegetable is to have one green vegetable and one "meaty" vegetable. But regardless, the technique--particularly the use of the wine and broth instead of water to boil the rice in, and sautéeing the onions first in the pot that it all gets cooked in--will serve you well in any risotto.
Provenance: The Best Recipe Book, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated
History: When my roommate and I moved to Italy, this was one of the first recipes we tried. Neither of us thought we liked risotto. It turns out we were very, very wrong. Now one of our favorite comfort foods.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 cups Arborio rice
- salt
- 5 cups broth
- 1/2 cups dry white wine (it can even be sparkling, as it turns out.)
- 1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese
- 1 large eggplant or 2 smaller eggplants
- 2 medium-sized zucchini
Directions:
- Slice eggplant and zucchini thinly, salt, and place between layers of paper towel for 15-20 minutes to extract excess moisture. Change paper towels when saturated.
- Heat olive oil in large skillet, add eggplant and zucchini.
- Sauté until tender. Set aside.
- Heat oil in heavy pot. Add onions, sauté, stirring occasionally, until onions soften--3-5 minutes.
- Stir in rice and salt to taste. Add 3 cups broth and bring to boil, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat to simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until pan bottom is dry when rice is pulled back with spoon--8-10 minutes.
- Add wine, stirring frequently until absorbed.
- Add 1/2 cup broth at a time, stirring constantly, until each addition is absorbed.
- Cook until rice is creamy but still firm in center (add water in 1/2 cup increments if broth runs out)--10-12 minutes.
- Stir in cheese and eggplant/zucchini mix. Serve.
Comments: In the The Best Recipe Book, this recipe was originally listed as containing asparagus (1/2 lb) and wild mushrooms (4 oz), but it was September and there was no asparagus to be found, so we changed it and liked it so much that we actually haven't gotten around to trying the recipe in its original form. We decided that the most important thing when choosing the vegetable is to have one green vegetable and one "meaty" vegetable. But regardless, the technique--particularly the use of the wine and broth instead of water to boil the rice in, and sautéeing the onions first in the pot that it all gets cooked in--will serve you well in any risotto.
si mangia bene
"Si mangia bene qui," the Bolognese like to tell me, a smile of proud contentment settling over their faces. "One eats well here." And indeed one does. Bologna's local cuisine is untouchable--tortellini al brodo (pork-filled tortellini in broth), crescentine con mortadella (fried bread with mortadella ham), tortelloni con burro e salvia (large tortelloni stuffed with ricotta and served with melted butter and sage), la piadina (that flat crispy sandwhich that we call "panini" in the states originated in the Romagna), and of course, the famous tagliatelle al ragù (that's "Bolognais sauce" to everyone else, but a completely different creature to that dry meat sauce over spaghetti one usually finds).
But of course to the just-graduated foreign English teacher who just barely scrapes by on her monthly earnings, a dinner at a real Bolognese trattoria is a monthly treat at best; more often it's something reserved for such fortunate events such as, say, parents visiting. We (that is, my American roommate and I) generally cook at home--that is, the ingredients are Italian (or, you know, Spanish or African or Indian), but the cooks are not.
Still, we have spent the past eight months trying to mangiare bene anyway, with the help of a couple cookbooks, instruction from our Italian friends, our own creativity, and vague memories of what our parents taught us back home in some distant American kitchen. The following recipes are what have worked well for us. The provenance of the recipe is listed, along with the recipe itself (often modified), and our comments. There may be some Bolognese recipes mixed in, but as I said earlier, la cucina Bolognese is already a perfect creature and we will only list it if it was taught to us by a real Bolognese, which does happen sometimes.
Buon appetito!
But of course to the just-graduated foreign English teacher who just barely scrapes by on her monthly earnings, a dinner at a real Bolognese trattoria is a monthly treat at best; more often it's something reserved for such fortunate events such as, say, parents visiting. We (that is, my American roommate and I) generally cook at home--that is, the ingredients are Italian (or, you know, Spanish or African or Indian), but the cooks are not.
Still, we have spent the past eight months trying to mangiare bene anyway, with the help of a couple cookbooks, instruction from our Italian friends, our own creativity, and vague memories of what our parents taught us back home in some distant American kitchen. The following recipes are what have worked well for us. The provenance of the recipe is listed, along with the recipe itself (often modified), and our comments. There may be some Bolognese recipes mixed in, but as I said earlier, la cucina Bolognese is already a perfect creature and we will only list it if it was taught to us by a real Bolognese, which does happen sometimes.
Buon appetito!
Iscriviti a:
Post (Atom)