Sorelle in pentola: Seppie saltate con carciofi croccanti

Sorelle in pentola: Seppie saltate con carciofi croccanti: Questi giorni di malattia mi stanno aprendo un nuovo mondo. Erano mesi e forse anni che non mi fermavo, con il corpo ma soprattutto con la m...

ITALIAN COMFORT FOOD

Food that nourish the body and soul.In Italy it differs with the regions.

I was volunteering for 6 months in Puglia, the South of Italyand hosted by the most adorable couple, Gianni and Graziella.

Graziella happens to be one of the most amazing cooks I've ever met.And trust me, I've been in the food business for a long time.

Cooking is her passion and her husband keeps a large organic veggie gardenwere we picked most of the fresh produce needed for her fantastic meals.

Top quality.

If I try to reproduce one of her meal with the sad tomatoes that I find at the grocery store this days it will probably taste like ...water (if I'm lucky)

Comfort food is a nostalgic element, and this baked pasta dish bring back memoriesof my great journey in Puglia this past winter.

Baked Pasta Puglia Style :

Ingredients: (4 people)

400 grs. rigatoni

120 grs. sausage

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 Tbs. basil, chopped

200 g ground beef

200 g tomatoes, diced

100 g bread

50 g milk

2 eggplants

200 grams mozzarella

100 g mortadella

extra virgin olive oil

salt

In a pan with olive oil, place onion, basil, tomatoes, salt and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes.

Mean while shred the sausage, chopped the mortadella and set aside.

Mix the ground meat with bread soaked in milk, sausage and a pinch of salt and make some small meatballs.

Cut eggplant into strips and fry in a pan with olive oil.

Cut the mozzarella into pieces.

Cook the rigatoni in salted water, al dente and strain.

In a greased baking dish put a layer of rigatoni and cover with half of all ingredients including meatballs, add a second layer with the remaining rigatoni and finish the rest of the ingredients.

Bake at 200 degrees for twenty minutes.

INTERNATIONAL FOOD FESTIVAL

I arrived to Bergamo the first week of October just in time to go to the annual international food festival. Hundreds of stands with magnificent food steaming in the cold Autumn days.
How lucky I was.

People are always so happy around food.

I had dozens of samples.

But I spent most of my money on cheese. Mmmm...so many creamy, pungent and delicious cheese.

I also had toasted chestnuts for the very first time in my life. I loved them.

One of my favorites was a spice stand with seasoning freom all over the world.

FANTASTIC POLENTA

While in Bergamo this winter I was honored to meet "Chef Enrico", a true bergamasco chef or cuoco with a twist.
During my time there he made several fantastic dishes and this original polenta was the first one of a series of unforgettable meals.

He made one mini omelette for each of us, sauteed some mushrooms with parsley and the best organic extra virgin olive oil in the world, cooked some polenta, sliced some smoked cheese and roasted some potatoes.

After that he assemble the dish by setting the polenta in the middle of the dish with the smoked cheese on top, above the cheese he set the omelette and cover it with the sauteed mushrooms.

All surrounded by the roasted potatoes.

The dish was delicious and great looking.

I have had polenta with mushrooms before and I really like it but I hated that the mushrooms turn the polenta kind of grayish looking. By placing the mushrooms on top of the omelettes, that problem was solved.

Thank you chef Enrico.

Delicious fresh wild mushrooms

Winter just started in this part of the world.
A couple of days ago we went to collect some pine cones for the fireplace.
Not only we found plenty of them but we were also very lucky and we found some wild mushrooms.

I believe they are Pine Mushrooms, Hongos de Pino locals called them; they were right under at the bottom of a pine tree. I had them at home for a couple of days, Google them over and over, but I was afraid to eat them. What if I’m wrong and they are poisonous?
Well…I guess they were not! I had them today and they tasted fantastic; it’s been 5 hours and I’m still alive (and hungry again).
We had a delicious lunch: Grilled meat and sausage (Salchicha Parrillera), green salad, sautéed mushrooms, roasted spicy peppers, cauliflower fritters and some Pita bread.

The cauliflower fritters was a recipe from Food and Wine.
The pita bread was a recipe from the King Arthur's cookbook; I’ve made this bread several times, it’s a yummy, easy, fool proof recipe.
The peppers I bought at the market and roasted them myself in the oven then peeled them and marinade them in olive oil with a whole garlic clove.
The mushrooms came out scrumptious. They smelled so good.

Sautéed wild mushrooms:

Fresh wild mushrooms, sliced
Olive oil
Whole garlic cloves
Worcestershire Sauce
Chopped parsley

Just warm up the oil, add the garlic cloves and don’t let them burn.
Add mushrooms, sauté for a couple of minutes and season with the Worcestershire sauce and parley.

We enjoy the meal in the terrace, it was little cold but such a nice day we just bundle up a bit.

It smelled so good we attracted some visitors.

The number one fish taco recipe

I have not been good at blogging this past month.
Actually I have not been good at anything.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

This morning I woke up and it was kind of cold and cloudy. I made coffee, brought it back to bed, turn on my laptop and started catching up on Google Reader where I keep track of all my favorite blogs, I haven’t check them out in almost a month.
To my surprise I wasn’t that behind. As I start reading I notice that I’m not the only one
without energy or lack of inspiration. Hmmm…strange, what’s going on?
The two first blogs I read where Beck & Posh and Mishmash! , both going through something similar.
Somehow it made me feel that I’m not Coo- Coo and inspired me to get up, cook up a storm and post.
So here I am, with some delish and super home made fish tacos.

I started making homemade flour tortillas, that came out very tasty.

I went to the island’s central fish market and got some fresh fish. I took my camera with me, it is a great place to photograph, sadly I got completely camera shy, didn’t want to look like a tourist and did not take one picture. Oh well…I am not 100% there yet, but I feel much better.

I dusted the fish with flour, salt, pepper and some paprika and cooked it in olive oil. My kitchen smelled like the Mediterranean.

When it was done I deboned it and broke it into big chunks.

At the market I also got 3 different kind of peppers for the salsa. They looked pretty spicy but it is just looks, they are not.

I used all 3 plus a tomato and green onions to make the salsa.

To add heat I had my tacos with chipotle mayonnaise. I think I have a little addiction to chipotles.

It was definitely and acquire taste since I didn't like them that much the first time I tried them.

I assembled the tacos with some lettuce and cilantro.

Added quite a bit of lime juice.

Opened a super cold beer and...yummy!!!!!!!!!!!

Chilli con carne

Why is it that we always want what we don't have?
When I was in the US, I used to make a two hour drive trip to go to a small grocery store that carried Argentine food.
I would come back home with tons of tapas de empanadas, masa de tarta and what ever goodies I could find.
When I was in Argentina, I was searching through China Town all the oriental markets trying to find oyster sauce, fish sauce, red and green curry, sesame oil, etc...
Now, in Brazil, I find myself searching for Mexican food: tortillas, chipotles, jalapeños, tomatillos...
I almost threw a party yesterday after I found tortillas at the grocery store. I wasn't sure if I should buy them all and freeze them or just gamble that i will be lucky in the future and find them again.
Finally a voice inside me yelled: " Just enjoy the LOCAL food"
And I will, but to celebrate my find I made Chilli con Carne.
I got this recipe from the BBC Goof Food website.

1 tbsp oil
1 large onion
1 red pepper
2 garlic cloves , peeled
1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder (or 1 level tbsp if you only have mild)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
500g lean minced beef
1 beef stock cube
400g can chopped tomatoes
½ tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp tomato purée
410g can red kidney beans
soured cream and plain boiled long grain rice , to serve

Prepare your vegetables. Chop your onion into small dice, about 5mm square. The easiest way to do this is to cut the onion in half from root to tip, peel it and slice each half into thick matchsticks lengthways, not quite cutting all the way to the root end so they are still held together. Slice across the matchsticks into neat dice. Cut your pepper in half lengthways, remove stalk and wash the seeds away, then chop.
Start cooking. Put your pan on the hob over a medium heat. Add the oil and leave it for 1-2 minutes until hot (a little longer for an electric hob). Add the onions and cook, stirring fairly frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft, squidgy and slightly translucent.Tip in the garlic, red pepper, chilli, paprika and cumin. Give it a good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Brown the mince. Turn the heat up a bit, add the meat to the pan and break it up with your spoon or spatula. The mix should sizzle a bit when you add the mince. Keep stirring and prodding for at least 5 minutes, until all the mince is in uniform, mince-sized lumps and there are no more pink bits. Make sure you keep the heat hot enough for the meat to fry and become brown, rather than just stew.

Making the sauce. Crumble your stock cube into 300ml/1⁄2 pint of hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince mixture. Open the can of chopped tomatoes and add these as well. Tip in the marjoram and the sugar, if using (see tip left), and add a good shake of salt and pepper. Squirt in about 2 tbsp of tomato purée and stir the sauce well.
Simmer it gently. Bring the whole thing to the boil, give it a good stir and put a lid on the pan. Turn down the heat until it is gently bubbling and leave it for 20 minutes. You should check on the pan occasionally to stir it and make sure the sauce doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan or isn't drying out. If it is, add a couple of tablespoons of water and make sure that the heat really is low enough. After simmering gently, the saucy mince mixture should look thick, moist and juicy.
Bring on the beans. Drain and rinse the beans in a sieve and stir them into the chilli pot. Bring to the boil again, and gently bubble without the lid for another 10 minutes, adding a little more water if it looks too dry. Taste a bit of the chilli and season. It will probably take a lot more seasoning than you think. Now replace the lid, turn off the heat and leave your chilli to stand for 10 minutes before serving, and relax. Leaving your chilli to stand is really important as it allows the flavours to mingle and the meat.