Amoretti biscuits

 When you make biscotti, there will be egg whites left over, this is how to use them up - (tip - pop egg whites into a zip lock bag and into the freezer until you want to use them.)  The recipe is for 1 egg white, just increase the amount of each ingredient according to how many egg whites you want to use.

Biscotti

This is Silvia Colloca's recipe for Cantuccini con Pistacchio e mandarin, or Pistacchio and mandarin biscotti.   Low fat but not low cal.  All I can say is yum yum yum.

The first time I made it I had not cooked it enough in the first cook to be able to cut it, so back in it went. No problem.  I do think you could just roll out the dough and cut it into fingers and put those on a tray to bake - I will try it out next time.  You could do the whole thing in a food processor or even by hand in a bowl, I use a rather elderly mix-master.

You could vary the mandarin zest to taste, more is better!  Nuts tradionally are pistacchio, but you could easily use almond or hazelnut.  These biscotti keep for ages.

Milanese Anchovy Sauce.

This is Aldo's (from masterchef) recipe for  anchovie sauce, use it with pasta, asparagas, fish, anything really.

10 cloves of garlic
500 ml milk
15g anchovies
3 tbs capers
olive oil
black pepper

In a small saucepan add milk and garlic. On low heat cook the garlic making sure that the milk does notl burn, stirring occasionally every 3 minutes. The all cooking of the garlic should take more then 20 minutes ( the garlic must be soft to touch)
In a mortar and pestle add anchovies and capers with a drizzle of olive oil and start to pound on the ingredients until achieving a pesto consistency if required a bit more of olive oil add a bit at time.
Once the garlic is cooked add it to the anchovies pesto and keep pounding until becomes a thick sauce if required add a bit more of olive oil to smooth the sauce. Season with pepper.

Family Chicken Cacacciatore -

A request from our son, because "mine does not turn out as good as yours does!  Here is the family favorite Chicken dish.  The vegetables change depending upon what is in my fridge!  The ingredients are not exact, you can add more garlic, or leave it out, and increase the carrots or mushrooms, depending upon your taste.  If you dont have chicken thighs, use any chicken cut.

Italian Pears in red wine

 I saw this on one of Poh's shows, where Antonio Carluccio was assisting her.  What a great recipe, and so simple.  Essentially you just baked the pears on their own for 40 minutes, then sprinkle with sugar, add the red wine and lemon peel and bake for another 30 minutes - and done!  This will become a family staple.

Pears in Red Wine (Pere al Vino Rosso)

Antonio Carluccio's Simple Cooking © Antonio Carluccio 2009

Rating: easy to moderate

Ingredients

• 6 ripe Williams pears
• 400ml red wine
• Rind of 1 lemon, pealed in pieces
• 150g caster sugar
• Whipped double cream, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Wash and put the pears upright in a suitably sized ovenproof container. You want them to fit snugly, without too much space between them.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes.
4. Remove the pears from the oven and pour over the wine.
5. Sprinkle over the lemon rind and most of the sugar, reserving a small amount to spoon on top of the pears. Bake for another 20 minutes, by which time the wine will have reduced and thickened in consistency.
6. Put the pears in a glass bowl, cover with the red wine syrup and chill.
7. Divide between six plates, and serve with the syrup and some whipped double cream, if desired.

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Brodetto - a seafood feast for Christmas

I took one of Silvia Colloca's recipes and adapted it to our family, so thank you to Silvia.  She is a wonderful Italian cook who lives in Australia.  This dish looks and tastes spectacular, and you can adapt it for more people. This is for 4 people.

 

What I love about the dish is that it is lighter than similar dishes like paella, and it is very relaxing to chat over mussels at Christmas and the cook does not get stressed.

 

You can make this over one day - but who wants all that work at Christmas!  Instead most of the work is done a day ahead and by the fishmonger, all I had to do on the day was heat up some sauce, chop some parsley, add a few bits and cook the mussels - all in all it took about 10 minutes.  Use a large flat bottom pot to cook the sauce in, one that goes to the table. 

 

Buy pot ready seafood and its a breeze, by that I mean mussels and pippies that have been prepared, with no bits hanging off them, and pre filleted snapper as well as prawns that have been peeled and deveined. You can vary the seafood, buy what is good and fresh and what you enjoy (calamari would be good).  I also think some saffron would be a nice addition if you are so inclined.  Do not overcook the seafood, a few minutes is all they need.

 

Zeppole or mini ricotta donuts

This is an old italian recipe and a great way to use up left over ricotta. You will find lots of recipes on the web, but this one works every time.   Be warned!  they are addictive, and they attract hoards of people, particularly children.

Two ways to serve these, firstly dusted in lots of icing sugar, or secondly make a honey drizzle of 1/4 cup honey, fresh thyme (about a teaspoon) and finely grated zest of a small lemon.  Simmer the honey etc until it is fragrant and you have a thin sauce to pour over the Zeppole.

When making these, do not over mix them.  Easy does it. You can add lemon or orange zest to the recipe if you so desire, or cinnamon to the icing sugar, see how the mood takes you.

Pangritata

Pangritata means 'poor mans parmesan' and is used to top off a dish that needs some freshness and zest.  Cook it with variations that suit the main dish.  This recipie came from Australian masterchef and was used to top off a apricot chicken, hence the use of the orange.

Variations to the recipie include the following ingredients (but you can vary it according to what you like):
garlic
lemon instead of orange
herbs, rosemary or thyme are usual.
pine nuts or walnuts
chili
anchovies
parsley
butter

Ingredients

2 slices bread, cut into 1 cm cubes - use sourdough if you have any
4 slices prosciutto - cut into small pieces
¼ cup capers
zest of ½ orange
salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil

Method

Add olive oil, bread and prosciutto to the frypan and cook until crisp.
Add capers and orange zest and season.
Remove from heat

Jamie's Pizza

Jamie Oliver, from the Naked Chef book I have had for years.  This makes 2 large pizzas, put whatever topping you enjoy on the top.  I use store bought pizza tomatoe sauce, grated mozzarella, parmesan, olive oil, oregano, onion chopped finely, olives and mushrooms.  Pepperoni for the boys!

It's important to have the oven as hot as possible.  Frankly, this is a fail safe recipie, I don't have any other tips.

Easy Crockpot Lasagna

This Lasagne is a lighter version than the traditional with Bechamel  Sauce, but  that is why my family liked it.  Next time I make it I am going to add a layer of Bechamel sauce as I like it a lot!

Note: it is important not to overcook this lasagne.  I use Auto on my cooker and it took about 4 hours.  If you have a cooker with a low setting, use that.  Do not use high as this will overcook the cheese and make it stringy.  If you are short of time use the oven!

You do not have to use the same meat sauce I have included, just use your usual bolognese sauce, but do not cook it right to the end.  I just simmer it for about 10 minutes to take any rawness out.  I often make a double bolognese sauce and freeze half, thaw it out and make this dish.

Break up the lasagna sheets to cover a layer at a time.   I use packet mozzarella cheese, and you can do the same with the parmesan, but fresh parmesan is better.   There is no substitute for fresh basil - grown your own each summer (all you need is a bit of sun) and freeze it in ice cube trays for winter.  There are two ways to finish the dish, depending up what you prefer - see the recipie.