Italian Cookery Course: Soup Aux Moules

Blimey... I just realised it's been almost a week since my last post! I've got a wee bit of catching up to do - what a busy week! Though not in the kitchen - the last two nights we've had takeaway... tsk tsk tsk...

Anyway, here is one of the recipes from my Italian cookery class last week by Francis Adou - a gorgeous, rich, creamy mussel soup. I seldom eat cream, and as such this was maybe a little bit too rich for me - I think next time I will serve it in half size portions.

Because there will be a next time - it was seriously good!

It was the first time I've cooked with mussels - I was always a little bit scared on them. The first time I ever ate mussels I got terrible food poisoning. (I even went blind for a couple of hours - took me a long time to even look at shellfish again...) I think that put me off cooking any shellfish - I didn't want to be responsible for causing anyone else that kind of sickness! Anyway, under the watchful eye of Francis, I cleaned and de-bearded, and discarded the dead ones - and I'm now confident I can go it alone!

Soup Aux Moules

Excuse the sloppy bowl and dark picture - I was at Boyfriend's house, and starving! My belly became more important than the photo ;)

Serves 2 large bowls - or 4 small :)

• 3 large shallots, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 20 g flour
• 250 ml fish stock
• Generous pinch of saffron
• 100 ml double cream
• Sea salt
• 250ml white wine
• 500g mussels
• ½ bunch of flat parsley
• olive oil to fry
  

Sort and clean the mussels - pull out the stringy beard, discard any that are cracked, or any that are open and don't close up when gently tapped!

Heat the oil and fry the shallots gently for 4 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes until the shallots are soft but not coloured.

Sprinkle in the flour and stir well to absorb all the oil. Slowly add the stock, mixing to make a smooth broth. At this point it felt like I was making a risotto - which I now have a craving to do! Could be a plan for tonight - I'm having the girls round!

Add the saffron, cream and seasoning, then simmer for 15 minutes. Make sure

Meanwhile, in a different pan, heat the wine over a medium heat. Add all the mussels, then cover and cook for 4/5 minutes until they are all open. (Any that are not open after 6 minutes should be discarded.)

Strain the liquid, allow to cool slightly, and add it to the soup. Allow the mussels to cool, then remove the meat from the shells and add to the soup.

Reheat gently (don't let it boil!), add the parsley, and serve.

Italian Cookery Course: Week 4

Well, it's taken me a week, but I've now made the dishes at home that I should have made at my class last week!

I served them up to Boyfriend last night as an early Valentine's day treat - as I will be at my class on Valentine's itself. He brought me a beautiful bunch of flowers, which I meant to take a picture of to share with you... but completely forgot!

We started with a cocktail, a twist on the cosmopolitan inspired by Haalo at Cook Almost Anything. I saw this recipe a few days ago - and when I realised I had the orange blossom water for the cantucci, I couldn't resist! As I was doing it from memory, I added lime juice to Haalo's recipe. It still tasted very fine - but next time I will leave it out and see how we go!

We then had Seared Tuna with Puy Lentil Salsa... yum yum yum. It made me think of summer - I can imagine eating this out in the garden in a few months time! Healthy, tasty, a kick of heat, and no garlic - perfect for a romantic meal!

I then made (with some intrepidation!) the Apricot and Almond Cantucci Biscotti. They turned out to be very easy to make, made the house smell gorgeous, and was a lovely light way to finish off the meal along with a strong cup of Italian coffee!

Right, well it's time for me to go and pick up the rest of my ingredients, and head to class number 5!

Italian Cookery Course: Seared Tuna with Puy Lentil Salsa

This recipe is from last week's Italian cookery class, which I missed because my dad was visiting. I made it last night - and thoroughly enjoyed both cooking and eating it!

The original recipe called for salmon, but the salmon I had available didn't look as nice as the tuna. I also reduced the quantity of olive oil - the one I used is pretty fruity, so I didn't need as much.

Seared Tuna with Puy Lentil Salsa

This recipe is adapted from the one I was given at my Italian cookery course by Francis Adou.

• 2 tuna steaks
  
• 4 tablespoon of olive oil
• 100 g puy lentil
• 50g coriander leaves
• 4 large tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 1 red chilli
• The juice of one lime

Wash the lentils, the boil 400ml of water then add the lentils, simmer and covered, for 30-35 minutes or until the lentil are tender but still have some bite and retain their shape.

While the lentils are cooking, blanch the tomatoes for 1 minute. Remove them and slip the skins off, then halve and squeeze out the seeds. Chop the flesh into small pieces.

Finely chop the chilli (I left the seeds in as it wasn't too hot a chilli - but you should adjust this according to taste. I think what you want is the flavour, and an edge of heat - rather than hot!), onion and coriander and set aside.

Whisk or shake the lime juice and oil together to make the dressing - then season with salt and pepper.

Once the lentils are cooked, empty into a bowl and toss with the dressing while still warm. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Add the onion and tomato mixture, mix well and set aside.

Prepare the tuna by rubbing with olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat a frying pan until it's very hot.

Place the fillets in the frying pan and sear for about 1 minute on each side. The inside should still be dark pink.

Serve the salsa with the tuna placed on top.

Italian Cookery Course: Apricot and Almond Cantucci Biscotti

I don't usually do sweet things - and had definitely never made biscotti before. But when I missed last week's Italian cookery class, I decided I would try all the recipes that I missed.

It turns out that biscotti is just Italian for biscuit - not specifically for the hard, crunchy dunking biscuits that appear to be universally known by that name. These twice-baked snacks are actually cantucci or cantuccini!

They turned out to be very easy to make... and even easier to eat!

Apricot and Almond Cantucci Biscotti

This recipe is adapted from the one I was given at my Italian cookery course by Francis Adou.

• 250g caster sugar, plus a couple of tbsps more for sprinkling!
  
• 250 Italian 00 flour, sifted
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon orange blossom water
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• A pinch of salt
• 115g unpeeled almonds
• 115g dried apricots, roughly chopped
• 1 egg yolk for the glaze

Preheat the oven to 150c and line two baking sheets with greased greaseproof paper.

Using a mixer, whisk the sugar, eggs and orange blossom water for about 5 minutes until its thick, creamy, and almost mousselike.

Sift the flour , bicarbonate of soda and salt into the egg mixture and fold in. Add the almonds and apricot to form a sticky dough. Make sure it's well blended, but don't over work!

Turn out the mixture onto a well floured surface - I was surprised by how easily it stayed together - it seemed very sticky in the bowl, but once it hit the flour it came together very well.

Shape the dough into 2 sausage shapes and place onto the baking sheets.


Beat the egg yolk and brush over the surface of each sausage. Sprinkle with sugar.


Bake the biscotti for 30 minutes until slightly risen and golden brown. Take out of the oven and set aside until cool enough to handle. Don't let it get too cold, or the almonds will not cut well - I left mine for 10 minutes and it cut fine.

Turn down to oven to 120c

Gently move the biscotti onto a cutting board and cut into slices about 1 inch wide. Arrange slices on the baking tray (on greaseproof paper) and return to the oven. Bake for another 20 minutes, transfer onto a wire tray and leave to cool and harden.

Serve dunked into strong Italian coffee!

Italian Cookery Course: Week 3

Well, in a very roundabout way, I have finally managed to share a couple of the recipes that I have been making in my Italian cookery course!

I started the course last month - and my fourth one should have been tonight. As my dad is down visiting, I am going to miss the class tonight, but hope to be able to attempt the recipes myself over the weekend.

My class is at a nearby college, and is taught by Francis Adou, a French chef with experience of cooking in many different regions.

So far we have made chicken thighs stuffed with apricots and rolled with parma ham; rump of lamb with porcini; osso buco; and tonight will be salmon - so a good rounded selection!

Each class involves the preparation (and usually eating ;) of two dishes. In week three these were:

La Ribollita

followed by:

Osso buco

Absolutely delicious - give them a go!

Italian Cookery Course: Osso Buco

This recipe is adapted from the one I was taught at my Italian cookery course by Francis Adou.

Osso buco (or Ossobuco or Osso Bucco!) originates from Milan, and is traditionally a dish of braised veal shanks - in fact that is where it gets its name: the shank is called in Italian osso buco, literally 'hole bone'!

It was traditionally made without tomatoes and sprinkled with gremolata, a mix of parsley, garlic and lemon peel. It was then served with risotto alla milanese - a creamy saffron risotto. Since the addition of tomatoes in the late 19th century, the flavour of the osso buco is far moister and bolder - polenta is a more appropriate accompaniment. Though I am definitely going to have a go at making risotto alla milanese - sounds lovely, and I haven't cooked risotto for months! When I made this at home I cooked it with rosemary and garlic potatoes - mostly because that it what I had at in the cupboard!

Traditionally the meat would be from the veal shank - cut across the bone into 3cm slices. In this version, we used diced, boneless veal - it can also be made with other meats - although the veal was delicious, I won't cook with it again. I think I would replace it with lamb, though beef shank would also work well.

Details from wikipedia!

Osso Buco with Rosemary and Garlic Potatoes

Osso Buco

• 400g diced veal
• 2 tbsps flour
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large carrot, finely chopped
• 1 stick celery, finely chopped
• 1 glass white wine
• Vegetable bouillion
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 6 large tomatoes
• olive oil and butter for frying
• Salt and pepper for seasoning

Season the veal with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then toss in the flour to coat - shaking off any excess.

Melt the butter and oil in a pan, and cook the veal until coloured on all sides. Add the onion and garlic and sweat for 2/3 minutes until the onion is starting to soften. Add the carrot and celery and sweat for a further 5 minutes. If there is a lot of fat in your pan at this point you can drain it off.

Deglaze the pan by pouring in the glass of white wine, and scrubbing off the brown bits on the bottom of the pan off with your spoon. Add the stock and tomato puree, cover and simmer gently for one hour - ideally in an oven. I don't have a measurement for how much stock to add, but the liquid should cover the veal for the duration of the simmer.

While the veal is cooking, prepare your concasse tomatoes:
Place the tomatoes in a bowl, and cover with water.
Remove the skins, quarter and discard the seeds.
Roughly chop the tomato flesh.

Once the cooking time is up, add the concasse to the veal, taste and adjust seasoning as required. Cover and return to oven to cook until the meat is tender (for me, this was about 15 minutes)

Rosemary and Garlic Potatoes

• As much potatoes as you want to eat
• Garlic to taste (I used one clove per person)
• A few sprigs of rosemary

To prepare the potatoes, I diced them into 2cm chunks and parboiled for about 5 minutes. I then left them to drain for about 10 minutes to ensure the surfaces were as dry as possible.

I heated a little butter and olive oil in an oven suitable pan, and chucked in the potatoes. I fried them over a high heat for 5/6 minutes, tossing every couple of minutes. Just before the end, I tossed in the crushed garlic, finely chopped rosemary, and some salt and freshly ground black pepper.


I then put the whole thing into a hot oven for about 20 minutes - tossing half way through.

Serve the osso buco alongside the potatoes, with some chopped parsely over the top.

Italian Cookery Course: La Ribollita

This recipe is adapted from a recipe I was given at my Italian cookery course by Francis Adou.

This is a 'proper' winter soup - full of lovely winter vegetables! Ribollita means 're-cooked' in Italy, from looking on a few sites on the internet, it seems that the traditional method of cooking is as follows:

• Make basic soup (as per recipe below) - this is basically a typical minestrone soup.
• The next day, spoon the soup into a baking dish and layer with slices of bread - scatter with sliced red onion and bake until the top is crunchy and golden. Some non-traditional methods add cheese here!
• On the third day, break the bake up so that the bread is broken into the soup - it should be thick enough to eat with a fork!

Another re-cook method I read was to put more vegetables and water into the pot each day and cook for another hour - not so sure about the health and safety of this - I guess you can still only do it for 3 days or so!

I didn't do either re-cook method this time - I ate it all as it was on the first day (with help of course!) But I do like the sound of a variation each day - so will give this a go next time!

Making sure everything is cooked veeerrryyy slowly is really important to get the best taste out of all the vegetables.

La Ribollita

• 1 400g tin of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped
• 2 courgettes, finely chopped
• 2 stocks celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large potato, diced
• 1/2 savoy cabbage, shredded
• 200g chopped tomatos (either tinned or fresh - I used fresh!)
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• Thyme, sage, rosemary - fresh or dried
• Dried red chilli, to taste
• Butter and olive oil for frying
• salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a knob of butter and a glug of olive oil in a soup pan.

Add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery and sweat over a very low heat for 10 minutes until soft, then add the spring onion, cabbage, potato and courgette and cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the beans, tomatoes, herbs and chilli, then add 1 litre of water and season. Bring to the boil, then simmer until all the vegetables are cooked through.

Taste and adjust seasoning if required.

At this point, you can serve the soup as it is - however, you may want to blend or mash some of it to get a different consistency. This time I left is all whole, however, next time I'll probably try blending 50% of it to see how it turns out!

Sri Lankan Workshop

At the weekend I attended a Sri Lankan cookery workshop - run at the same place where I take my Italian cookery lessons. (Which I know I have yet to blog about - but don't worry, it will happen, this week we're making Osso Buco!)

The tutor was Martyn Grover, Head of Department at a nearby College, and it is his recipes I have recreated here.

The whole morning was very enjoyable (despite the fact I almost didn't make it following a slight overindulgence the night before at a dinner party...) The pace was laid back, and there were lots of opportunities to chat with fellow foodies, and to hear stories from when Martyn lived in Sri Lanka. The dishes were all very simple, and straightforward to prepare... but the flavours certainly packed a punch!

We got to make 3 dishes:

Tomato Sambal

Paripoo

Coconut Rotis

I loved them all, and could hardly wait to go home and scoff it all! Rather bizarrely, coconut falls into Boyfriend's cream&cheese loathing, so I got to eat it all to myself! :)

Unfortunately I have to cancel my Lebanese course with Martyn, but I will definitely be signing up for some more. Watch this space!