Pan-fried salmon with curried mussels!!!!

For the Italian version click here!!!

I cooked this meal last friday, as it’s happening quite often now I was home alone...and thats when I do the most of my cooking. Lots of people don’t actually enjoy to cook for them selfs...but I love it...If its a cooking disaster nobody knows anything ;- ) .... and anyway it’s always nice to enjoy a good meal!!! I got this recipe from the OLIVE magazine (april issue), as soon I saw it I knew I wanted to try it, and I was right because it’s a very nice meal, not very light but tasty!!!

INGREDIENTS:

4 salmon fillets, about 120 gr. each

oil

For the mussels:

olive oil

parsley, 1 handful chopped

1 onion chopped

1 kg of mussels

225 ml of white wine

For the sauce:

50 gr. of butter

1 onion, peeled and diced

1 medium carrot, peeled and diced

1 celery stick, trimmed and diced

1 tsp medium curry powder

150 ml double cream ( I used reduce fat cream)

100 gr. potatoes, peeled and diced

1tbsp chives, chopped

1 lemon

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan with a lid. Cook the onion and parsley until soft. Add the mussels, some salt and pepper and the withe wine.

Bring to the boil, put the lid on and shake the mussels a few times,cook until all mussels are open. Strain the mussels and set aside, reserving the cooking liquor. Pour the liquor through a fine sieve into a jug to remove any grit.

To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Sweat the onion, carrot and celery until soft. Stir in the curry powder and cook gently for a few minutes. Add 150 ml of the cooking liquor from the mussels, stir in well and cook for another minute.

Add the double cream and bring it to the boil, add the diced potatoes and cook until softened it will take about 5 minutes. It the sauce has thickened out too much, led down with a splash of water until light and creamy. Remove the mussels from the shells, add them to the sauce and warm them through. Finish the sauce with the chopped chives and season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.

While preparing the sauce heat the oven at 180º. Dry the salmon skin thoroughly and with a very sharp knife, cut diagonally slashes in the skin and season well.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, then add 2 tbsp vegetable oil. Cook the salmon, skin-side down, until the skin is crisp (4/5 minutes). Then turn over and and put the fish in the oven for 3-4 minutes.

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Croissants!!!!

Thats the first recipe i tried home from the cooking course I had last november!! Is not the recipe for french croissants... But is the italian one. I think it’s more complicated to read and understand this recipe than actually make the croissants, but it is very important that you read first the recipe and then follow it step by step!!! I hope the pictures will help you to understand a bit better!

INGREDIENTS:

520 gr. of flour W280/300

1 egg (bitten)

20 gr. fresh yeast

10 gr. of salt

30 gr. of unsalted butter

90 gr. of sugar

120 gr. of whole milk and 120 gr. of water mixed together

grated orange zest

1 tsp vanilla extract

90 gr. of butter for the puff pastry

First of all prepare an aromatic butter a few hours before preparing the croissants.

Melt the butter (30 gr.) at a low heat with the grated orange zest. When it’s all melted and is starting to boil, turn off the heat, cover with foil and let it rest at room temperature.

Sift the flour and make a well, crumble the yeast in the centre. Add slowly the milk and water and mix with a spatula bringing some of the flour to the centre. Add half of the bitten egg, 45 gr. of sugar (on top of the egg) mix the ingredients always bringing a bit of flour to the centre. Avoid to use all the flour at this time!!!

Add the rest of the egg, in the moist part add the other 45 gr. of sugar and the salt. Mix well all the ingredients with the spatula , as if you were cutting the dough, this will help to better incorporate the ingredients. Add the rest of the flour and when the dough is compact knead it by hands in a diagonal movement.

When the dough is soft and smooth roll it and form a rectangle, spread the aromatic butter on top, fold the rectangle in three (see pictures) and then fold it again in three and knead the dough until the butter is well absorbed,wrap it with cling film and chill for an hour.

Take the dough out of the fridge,on a floured surface roll out, dusting with flour as necessary,and lifting and stretching the dough into a 38x22 cm rectangle.

1. Prepare and shape butter (90 gr.): After dough has chilled, arrange butter horizontally between 2 pieces of oven paper well floured. Pound butter with a rolling pin to soften slightly (butter should be malleable but still cold).Pound and roll out on both sides until butter forms a large rectangle, but about 1 cm smaller per side than the pastry one.
2. Arrange dough with the short side nearest you. Put butter in the centre of the dough,so that long sides of butter are parallel to short sides of dough.
3. Fold as you would a letter:Top third first
4. and then cover with the bottom third.
5. Pound and roll with a rolling pin from the centre to the top and from centre to the bottom to distribute equally the butter and at the same time form a rectangle about 7/8 mm thick.
6. Fold the bottom third of dough first
7. then top third down over dough.
8. Turn it to 90º, always with the open side to your right hand!

Thats the first “fold”.... Wrap it in cling film and chill for about 40 minutes.

Make two or 3 more folds in the same manner from step 5 to step 8. On the last fold keep it in the fridge for an hour or longer, you could even leave it overnight, as I did!

Remove it from the fridge roll it out on a lightly floured surface,dusting with flour as necessary and stretching corners to maintain shape into a long and narrow rectangle, 7 mm thick and trim edges with a sharp knife.

With a sharp knife form triangles about 15 cm high and 9 cm long, isn’t really important measuring, just keep the proportion!

To shape the croissants hold the base of the triangle in one hand, stretch it tugging and sliding with the other hand toward the tip to elongate by about 50%.

Return it to the work top, slightly stretch the triangle’s base, then cut a slit about 1,5 cm long. Roll tight a the beginning, more turns you make the better the croissant looks.

Put the croissant on a baking sheet tip side down, curve ends inward to make the proper croissant shape.

Let them rest for 2 or 3 hours. Bit one egg with some milk, brush the mixture on top of the croissant, sprinkle with some caster sugar and bake in a warm oven at 220º for 5 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 180º and cook until golden brown!!!!

When you finish to form the croissants you can also freeze them immediately (they don’t need to rest). Leave them on a tray and once they are frozen you can transfer them in a freezer bag. Defrost them 6 or 7 hours before at a room temperature of 22º and proceed as above mentioned.

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pizza dough with "poolish"!!!

This is for sure the best pizza I have ever made at home! It's another long process, but that's the secret of a perfect pizza and bread. I’ve made this pizza a long time ago, unfortunately I don’t have a pizza stone at home since I moved back to Italy, but I’m planning to buy a new one, because there is nothing better than a home made pizza!!!

270 gr. plain flour(type 0 or bread flour)

80 gr. of durum wheat

500 gr. of manitoba flour( i used to buy the canadian flour in Waitrose)

3 gr. of fresh yeast( you can use also the dry one)

1 spoon of barley malt

25 gr. of salt

30 gr. of olive oil

500 gr. of water

The evening before mix the canadian flour(500g) with the water,the yeast and the barley malt.This is called “poolish”... t’s quite liquid dough. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave it to rest over night.

In the morning add the rest of the ingredient, salt oil and the rest of the flour slowly because at the beginning it will be difficult to incorporate it, knead well. The result is a quite elastic, soft and smooth dough. Let it rest for 30 mins and then divide into small balls, put each one in a plastic container in the fridge for the all day. Take them out 2 hours before cooking the pizza.

Its sound more difficult to read it than make it...trust me it's very easy and strait forward. I usually use half a dose....and I can make 3 pizzas.

Stretch the small dough with your hands in a surface covered with quite lots of flour and form the pizza base......season as you like. Before baking the pizza, put the pizza stone in the oven for about an 1 hour. The stone has to be very hot to bake the pizza in just a few minutes.When your are ready to bake just slide the pizza over the stone, it will be ready in less then 5 minutes!!!

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Sebadas!!!!

For the Italian version click here!!!

The Sebada, also known are seadas, are fried parcels typical of Sardinia. The are my favorite dessert, but they are also one of the most famous Sardinian traditional dessert!!!

There are various versions of this recipe...this one is my mum’s recipe. Its very easy to make and soooo delicious!!! By the original recipe you should use sardinian pecorino cheese, but a few times, when I couldn’t find young pecorino cheese, I used mozzarella cheese and I have to say they were still very good!!!

INGREDIENTS:

for the pastry:

500 gr. of flour

50 gr. or more of lard

lukewarm water slightly salted

For the filling:

500 gr. very young pecorino cheese

lemon zest

honey

oil to fry them

To prepare the pastry make a flour well add slowly the salty water and knead well. Gradually incorporate the lard and knead until you get a smooth and firm dough.

Set aside to rest for about 30 minutes.

Grate the cheese and mix it with the lemon zest.

Roll out the pastry in a 2,5 mm thick sheets, and then proceed as if you were making big ravioli with a 10 cm diameter,place some of the filling about 10/11 cm apart in rows, cover everything with another pastry sheet. Press the top piece of dough firmly onto the bottom piece between the mounds of filling, expelling as much air as possible. Cut with a water glass or a cookies shaper. There should be a 1 cm border of pastry around each bit of filling.

Fry them in abundant oil and drain on kitchen paper,In the meantime, warm the honey in a bain-marie, pour it on the sebadas.

If you try them please let me know...I’m 100% sure you will love them!!!!

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Taralli Pugliesi!!!

for the italian version click here!!!!

On my italian blog..this was the first post of the year!!! The “Taralli” are savoury biscuits from Puglia region...The are so nice and you can make them just plain (they are my favourite) or with onions,rosemary, chilli pepper, sesame seed and many more herbs...perfect for a snack or aperitif !!! They are so easy to make, and are perfect for presents too...I brought them to Sardinia to my parents and in-lows over the Christmas holidays...

INGREDIENTS:

500 gr. of plain flour

150 gr. extra virgin olive oil

150 gr. dry withe wine.

Baked the in a warm oven at 170ºC until golden brown... about 35 minutes!!!

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Boeuf Bourguignon Julia Child's recipe!!!

For the Italian version Click here!!!!

A few days ago my partner asked me to try different recipes...its true recently I've been baking lots of bread, even though we don't really eat much bread at home. So searching on the web I came across some Julia Child recipes and I really wanted to try this very famous Bourguignon....Wow...that's a very delicious meal...and I will definitely do it again. This time I made a few mistakes, I cut the bacon too thin, so after the 3 hours cooking in the oven there was no much left. The second mistake was that I used dry thyme instead of the fresh one, but I cold not find fresh Tyme and for sure is not the same taste! But thats a great dish, I serve them not with boiled potatoes as french tradition suggests but with another french classic... Pomme duchesse!!!

INGREDIENTS:

170 gr. bacon

1,4 kg lean stewing beef

olive oil

1 sliced carrot

1 sliced onion

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

2 Tb flour

3 cups of a full-bodied, young red wine

2 to 3 cups beef stock

1 Tb tomato paste

2 cloves mashed garlic

1/2 tsp thyme

a crumbled bay leaf

The blanched bacon rind

18 to 24 small white onions, brown braised in stock

450 gr. quartered fresh mushrooms sauteed in butter.

Remove bacon rind and cut into lardons (sticks 1/4-inch thick and 1 1/2 inches long). Simmer rind and lardons for 10 minutes in 1 1/2 quarts water. Drain and dry.

Preheat oven to 230º.

Sauté lardons in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a flameproof casserole over moderate heat for 2 to 3 minutes to brown lightly. Remove to a side dish with a slotted spoon.

Dry beef in paper towels; it will not brown if it is damp. Heat fat in casserole until almost smoking. Add beef, a few pieces at a time, and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Add it to the lardons.

In the same fat, brown the sliced vegetables. Pour out the excess fat.

Return the beef and bacon to the casserole and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Then sprinkle on the flour and toss again to coat the beef lightly. Set casserole uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4 minutes.

Toss the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this browns the flour and coves the meat with a light crust).

Remove casserole and turn oven down to 160º.

Stir in wine and 2 to 3 cups stock, just enough so that the meat is barely covered.

Add the tomato paste, garlic, herbs and bacon rind. Bring to a simmer on top of the stove.

Cover casserole and set in lower third of oven. Regulate heat so that liquid simmers very slowly for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily.

While the beef is cooking, prepare the onions and mushrooms.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter with one and one-half tablespoons of the oil until bubbling in a skillet.

Add onions and sauté over moderate heat for about 10 minutes, rolling them so they will brown as evenly as possible. Be careful not to break their skins. You cannot expect them to brown uniformly.

Add 1/2 cup of the stock, salt and pepper to taste and the herb bouquet.

Cover and simmer slowly for 40 to 50 minutes until the onions are perfectly tender but hold their shape, and the liquid has evaporated. Remove herb bouquet and set onions aside.

Wipe out skillet and heat remaining oil and butter over high heat. As soon as you see butter has begun to subside, indicating it is hot enough, add mushrooms.

Toss and shake pan for 4 to 5 minutes. As soon as they have begun to brown lightly, remove from heat.

When the meat is tender, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a saucepan.

Wash out the casserole and return the beef and lardons to it. Distribute the cooked onions and mushrooms on top.

Skim fat off sauce in saucepan. Simmer sauce for a minute or 2, skimming off additional fat as it rises. You should have about 2 1/2 cups of sauce thick enough to coat a spoon lightly.

If too thin, boil it down rapidly. If too thick, mix in a few tablespoons stock. Taste carefully for seasoning.Pour sauce over meat and vegetables.

For immediate serving: Cover the casserole and simmer 2 to 3 minutes, basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce several times.

Serve in its casserole, or arrange the stew on a platter surrounded with potatoes, noodles or rice, and decorated with parsley.

For later serving: When cold, cover and refrigerate.

About 15 to 20 minutes before serving, bring to the simmer, cover and simmer very slowly for 10 mins, occasionally basting the meat and vegetables with the sauce.

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