Osso Bucco Alla Milanese

Ingredients

8 pieces of veal osso bucco, about 4cm thick.
250ml white wine.
60g butter.
1 garlic clove, crushed.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
1 bay leaf.
3 tblsp parsley, finely chopped.
1 tblsp grated lemon rind.
½ tsp ground cinnamon.
½ tsp allspice.
Flour.
Lemon wedges.

Method

Truss each piece of osso bucco with twine.
Season flour with salt and pepper.
Toss osso bucco in flour to lightly coat.
In a large, heavy-based casserole, brown the osso bucco over moderate heat with butter and crushed garlic, in batches if necessary.
Return all oxxo bucco to casserole, add wine, bay leaf, cinnamon and allspice.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then add 250ml water.
Cover, continue to simmer for 3 ½ hours, adding additional water as needed.
Lift osso bucco from casserole, discard bay leaf.
Increase heat and reduce liquids until thicl.
Reduce heat, stirring constantly.
Add lemon rind, chopped garlic and parsley.
Stir well, season and cook for further 1 min.
Return osso bucco to pan until warm.
Serve with lemon wedges and polenta or risotto on the side.

Rotolo

Ingredients

800g kipfler potatoes.
60ml olive oil.
1 cavolo nero, coarsely chopped.
150g salami, coarsely chopped.
1 egg, lightly beaten.
Sheet of fresh pasta, rolled to 2mm thick and about 35cm square.
Muslin.

Method

Steam potatoes for 20min over salted water and allow to cool.
Coarsely crush potatoes.
Arrange potatoes, salami, cavolo nero on pasta sheet, seasoning well and drizzling with olive oil.
Roll sheet to form long tube containing mixture, about 5cm in diameter.
Brush joining pasta with egg and press to seal.
Wrap rotolo tightly in muslin, securing ends with twine.
Truss rotolo at intervals to secure.
Simmer rotolo for 20min in salted water.
Rest for a further five minutes, remove muslin, and serve in thick slices.

Sardine Ripene

Ingredients

10 sardines, clean and butterfly filleted.
50g pine nuts.
20g fresh breadcrumbs.
4 tblsp parsley, finely chopped.
1 fennel bulb, very thinly sliced.
1 small onion, very finely sliced.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
½ lemon.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C.
In a frypan over moderate heat, brown the garlic, onion, fennel and pine nuts with a dash of olive oil.
Add 1 tbsp of parsley and ½ the breadcrumbs and cook for 30 seconds, stirring very well, and place aside.
Mix in the remaining breadcrumbs and parsley and set aside.
Place the sardines skin down on a greased baking tray.
Cover with the breadcrumb mixture, and drizzle with a touch of olive oil.
Bake for 5 – 7 minutes.

Veal Involtini

Ingredients

Veal fillets, tenderised very well.
1 asparagus spear per fillet.
1 thin slice mortadella, per fillet.
Strong Italian cheese, such as provolone, grated.
Flour.
White wine.
Parsley, finely chopped.

Method

Wrap each spear with mortadella.
Sprinkle veal with cheese.
Wrap veal and cheese around spears, securing with twine.
Season well, and roll lightly in flour.
Sear packages for 3 minutes on each side with a dash of olive oil.
Deglaze pan with white wine and reduce.
Serve pan juices over Involtini, season and sprinkle with parsley.

Seafood Pasta

Ingredients
Pasta.
150ml white wine.
150g baby octopus, cleaned and halved.
200g prawns, shelled.
300g vongole.
8 scallops, shells and roe removed.
3 tomatoes, skinned, seeded, and finely diced.
1 calamari tube, cleaned, sliced, and scored crossways.
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped.
1tblsp parsley, finely chopped.
Pinch saffron threads.
Lemon wedges
Method
Place saffron in wine and set aside.
Cook and drain pasta.
Steam vongole in covered bowl with 150ml water for 1 min.
Remove vongole, reserving liquid.
In a deep frypan over moderate heat, cook garlic and tomato with a touch of olive oil for 30 seconds.
Add wine and saffron mixture, and reserved steaming liquid.
Reduce liquid by 2/3.
Add prawns, calamari, and octopus and cook for 3 minutes.
Add parsley, scallops and vongole and cook for 1 ½ minutes.
Season.
Add pasta to pan, toss well over heat for 30 seconds.
Serve with lemon wedges.

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients

500g beef mince.
400g passata.
150ml white wine.
150ml beef stock.
1 onion, finely chopped.
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped.

Method

Brown mince over low heat in a deep pan, without butter or oil.
Continue to cook mince until all fluids have cooked off.
Add win and continue to simmer until all liquid is cooked off or absorbed.
Add garlic and onion, simmer until soft.
Add beef stock, simmer until liquid reduced by half.
Add passata, reduce heat further and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

Italian Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

600g beef, very finely ground.
1 egg.
2 tblsp fresh bread crumbs.
2 tblsp pine nuts, finely ground.
½ onion, very finely chopped.
2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped.
2 tblsp ricotta.
2 tblsp finely grated ricotta.
Italian tomato sauce.

Method

Preheat oven to 350°C.
Combine ingredients well, season, and roll into small balls, about the size of golf balls.
Place on a baking tray and bake for 45 minutes, turning once.
Serve with warm tomato sauce.

Sausage and Lentil Stew

Ingredients

850g good quality Italian sausages.
1 onion, sliced.
3 garlic cloves, chopped.
1 tblsp rosemary, chopped.
2 tblsp juniper berries, crushed.
1 dried chilli, chopped.
1 bay leaf.
Pinch ground nutmeg.
200ml red wine.
100g puy lentils.

Method

Brown sausages in a dash of olive oil in large saucepan.
Remove sausages, reduce heat.
Soften garlic and onions in same saucepan.
Add tomato, rosemary and bring to boil, then reduce heat.
Reduce tomato.
Add wine, herbs and spices, and 400ml water.
Bring to boil.
Add sausages, lentils.
Reduce to simmer.
Cover, simmer for 45 min.
Remove lid, increase heat and reduce to thick mixture.
Season.

Italian Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

½ onion, finely chopped.
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped.
400g canned diced tomatoes.

4 tblsp tomato paste.
Dash red wine vinegar.
6 basil leaves, finely chopped.
1 teaspoon oregano, finely chopped.

Method

Soften onion and garlic with a touch of olive oil over low heat.
Stir in tomatoes, paste, vinegar, and herbs.
Reduce.
Season.

Figs with Prosciutto and Gorgonzola

Ingredients

Figs.
Gorgonzola Piccante.
Prosciutto de Parma, finely shaved.

Method

Heat oven to 180°C.
Half each fig and stuff with a ball of gorgonzola.
Wrap with a slice of Prosciutto.
Bake for 30 min.
Drizzle with olive oil and roasting juices.

Pasta with Pesto and Fresh Cheese

Cook pasta and stir through a generous helping of pesto and fresh cow or goat’s cheese.

Beef Carpaccio

Ingredients

Rib-eye beef fillet, or other lean beef fillet.
Black peppercorns, roughly ground.
Capers, chopped.
(For the sauce:)
1 egg yolk.
75ml lightly-flavoured olive-oil.
1 lemon, juiced.
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard.
4 dashes Tabasco.
Teaspoon single cream.

Method

Brush a large piece of foil with olive oil, then scatter with ground peppercorn.
Tightly roll the foil around beef fillet, securing with twine.
Rest fillet in fridge for ½ hour.
Seal fillet in very hot pan, for 20 seconds on each side.
Place in freezer for around 3 hours, to firm.
Whisk egg yolk, Tabasco and mustard.
Continuing to whisk yolk mixture, gradually add oil, to emulsify.
When all oil is added, stir in cream.
Season with lemon juice, salt and white pepper.
Remove beef from freezer and unwrap.
Using a very sharp knife, slice beef as thinly as possible.
Arrange on plates with sauce and capers.

Bruschetta

Ingredients

Tomato, diced.
Basil, shredded.
Olive Oil.
Garlic.
Chiabatta.

Method

Mix basil and tomato and sit.
Drizzle olive oil on bread and char-grill.
Rub garlic over face of bread.
Top with tomato mixture.
Season.

Pesto

Ingredients

1 clove garlic.
25g pine nuts.
40g basil leaves.
20g parmesan, grated.
75ml olive oil.

Method

Crush garlic, nuts, cheese and basil in mortar.
Add olive oil in a steady stream, continuing to mix in mortar.

Chargrilled Octopus

Ingredients

1kg baby octopus, cleaned and tenderised.
150ml olive oil.
4 sprigs of thyme.
2 bay leaves.
Lemon.

Method

Strip leaves of thyme stalk and mix with octopus and other ingredients.
Season.
Marinate overnight, sealed.
Skewer octopuses.
Char-grill 7 -8 minutes each side, bushing with marinade.
Rest for 5 minutes, season, and serve with lemon wedges.

Balsamic Dressing

Ingredients

1/3 Balsamic vinegar.
2/3 olive oil.

Method

Whisk together and season with salt and pepper.

Supli

Ingredients

Risotto, room temperature.
Some good quality buffalo pizzarotta or mozzarella.
Some basil.
Breadcrumbs.
2 eggs.
Frying oil.

Method

Beat the eggs and mix with risotto.
Dice the pizzarotta into ½ inch cubes.
Tear the basil into largish strips.
Form a pocket with handfuls of risotto and place a piece of basil and pizzarotta in each portion. One serve of risotto should make around 10 balls, depending on size.
Roll each ball in a plastic bag of breadcrumbs to coat.
Heat oil to 180°C (350°F) and cook balls in batches for 4 minutes.
Serve with a tomato salad or with napolitana sauce.

Risotto

Ingredients

1 litre chicken stock.

400g aborio or carnaroli rice

50g butter.

150ml white wine.

½ an onion, diced.

Some lemon.

Some parmesan cheese, grated.

Some parsley, chopped.

Method

Warm the wine and the stock in a saucepan and keep on the simmer.

Soften the onion in a large deep frypan with half the butter on low heat.

Add the rice and start stirring.

Don’t stop stirring for 15 minutes at least.

After one minute add a large ladle full of warm stock mixture, to cover rice.

Stir for a minute or two until the stock is absorbed.

Add another ladle of stock and stir till absorbed.

Don’t stop stirring.

Repeat until all the stock is absorbed—about 15 – 20 minutes.

Add a handful of grated parmesan and parsley, and stir well.

Season with pepper and lemon juice.

Veal Saltimbocca

Ingredients

Veal Escalopes, Tenderised to minute-steaks
Sage
Prosciutto
White Wine or Marsala

Method

Place prosciutto on veal, then pin one or two sage leaves to prosciutto using toothpick.
Season with pepper only.
Pan fry, bottom side only, for three minutes or so in olive oil and butter mix.
Deglaze plan with wine or marsala and extra butter to make sauce.