Chow Down to Eurovision 2014 - Italy

Buona Sera tutti Ponte Galeria, a Roma Italy calling and our final country in the Chow Down to Eurovision 2014...it only seems like 8 years ago we began this journey!

Without wanting to sound like a well travelled reality cooking show contestant, this year's Italian entry is based on the time I spent studying in Italy.

I had a cute 1 bedroom flat on the outskirts of Roma, passed the sheep as some of my class mates would say. This meant that my late night drinking adventures had to happen at home as the last train was about 10.20pm.....read they didn't happen!

On the plus side I didn't find Thursday's classes as tough going as my hungover class mates from a wild night at La Radio.

The winning aspect of the location was I lived above a pizzeria, Mary Pizza, which was always a buzz with activity that I understood about 50% of but enjoyed 100% of the aroma. You can see my balcony on their website.

Most days, if I wasn't making pasta con I broccoli I would stop in for a chat with Maria (a Ukrainian girl) and grab some pizza or a kebab....which incidentally in Italian is kebab. 

As a strange fun fact it seemed every time I didn't know the name of something in Italian and would ask "come si dice....kebab?"(pointing) the answer would always be the name I knew it by. A golf jumper is a golf.

Also due to my location I could look down into the shop on a weekend from my other balcony to see when the kebabs were ready....living the dream!

Marco Mengoni sang L'essenziale in 2013 and strangely just by tweeting a quiz answer "Italy Marco Mengoni L'essenziale " I had a flood of Retweets, so I'm sure including him today won't hurt my stats!

He placed 7th last year

 

My favourite of all of Mary's pizzas was a thick fluffy focaccia base with grated zucchini and pork sausage balls, they also had a variation with zucchini and prawns. I can't wait till I go back and have some more pizza and a kebab but till then my version is pretty darn good too.



 

I have borrowed Paul Hollywood's focaccia recipe for the base, doubled it with a little extra water.

 

Zucchini and Pork Pizza

Ingredients for 2 large pizzas

• 1kg strong flour
• 20g instant yeast
• 20g sea salt flakes
• 280ml extra virgin olive oil
• 740ml cold water
• 4-5 pork and fennel sausages
• 3 large zucchinis
• Grated parmesan cheese (as much or as like as you like)
• Extra shaved parmesan for garnish

Method

• Add flour, yeast, salt, oil, water to a stand mixer and knead
• It will take about 5 minutes to be a smooth and elastic, very wet dough
• Transfer to an oiled container to prove for about 1 hour, Paul's tip is to use a square container as the dough will want to hold that shape. They don't call him a dough genius for nothing.
• Cook the sausage by pinching, twisting and pulling little balls from the sausage skin and fry in a frypan on medium heat
• Finely grate the zucchini and squeeze off the excess liquid
• When dough has risen, half it and stretch each half onto a 39cm x 26cm tray (sprayed with spray oil and a dusting of semolina flour)
• Allow dough to prove a second time for about 45 minutes
• Top base with zucchini, sausage and a light sprinkle of parmesan (or heavy)
• Bake in a 220°C oven for 15 minutes
• I have pizza stones in the over to assist the base to crisp
• My other tip is to remove them from the tray as so as they are cooked and not chat with friends as the steam can create a soggy bottom
• Garnish with a drizzle of oil and shaved parmesan and you could be in Ponte Galeria before you know it.

This was baked on a smaller tray so is a fraction thick than normal.

 

I adore that Emma used wonderful Italian produce to make her postcard flag! Oh to be wandering through an Italian market again.



 

Emma sang La mia Citta in Copenhagen and loving all things Italian I was a fan, even if I shouldn't show favouritism here.....

Soupy Stars: Cream of Fennel Soup

Just like the brilliant Kath Day-Knight how can you not love to team with a theme?
 
So this winter we have Soupy Stars which came about because Kim a wonderful Saucer (twitter follower) said she was looking forward to soup recipes.
So not to disappoint there will be a whole series of soup recipes, there will be smooth, clear, creamy, chunky, hot, hairy, ok well there'll nothing hairy sorry about that ladies and gentlemen.
 
With many Saucers being in the northern hemisphere and in the midst of summer, the bonus of going global means I'll also be posting some perfect summer non soup recipes too, unless you want to put the air conditioner on full and grab a bowl of soup.
 
To kick off proceeding we are starting with fennel or finochio which for me conjures up Italy as much as tomatoes, pasta or hearing a "ciao bello". One of my favourites in salads, salami or thinly sliced on a pizza with some bresaola, parmesan and mayo, it even has it's own place in my garden.
 

Please grow for me, I know I'm not a real Italian but help a fratello out?

 

Cream of Fennel Soup with Sausage Croutons
Ingredients

• 3 brown onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2-3 whole fennel,  roughly chopped
• 1 potato, chopped but smaller than the fennel
• Vegetable stock (about 3-4 cups)
• 150ml light cream
• Olive oil
• fennel fronds (the tips) for garnish
• 1-2 Italian sausages

Method

• Add a splash of olive oil to a large pot on medium heat
• Add onions, garlic, fennel and potato
• Stir to coat in oil
• Just cover with stock and simmer for about 30 minutes
• When fennel is tender blend the soup smooth
• To achieve a thicker soup remove some liquid before blending, reserve in case it needs to be added back
• Add cream and blend through
• To achieve an ultra smooth soup pass through a fine sieve but this is optional
• To make the croutons squeeze out small amounts of sausage from the skin
• Cook in a frypan on low for about 10 minutes till cooked
• Serve garnished with croutons, fennel fronds and a splash of cream

Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 -Romania

Romania the final country in Semi Final Two of Chow Down to Eurovision 2013, I can't believe we are already here it only seems like 4 years ago we set off from Austria. In honour of the journey today's recipe is the longest of the Chow Down needing 3 days preparation. It sounds a lot but it is about 15 minutes a day. There are a lot of recipes for mititei on the internet so I studied and took the best from them all to develop my version.
Romania always delights me in Eurovision and usually ends up on my playlist for the year. Their highest place in a final was in 2010 when Paula Seling & Ovi where Playing With Fire, appropriate for a barbecued sausage.

Don't forget to vote for your favourite country in Semi Final Two.
We then only have 6 countries to see before a winner of Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 is crowned on the 18th May.

Mititei
Ingredients

• 1 kg chuck steak
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. ground oregano
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground all spice
• 1 tsp. ground star anise
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. pepper
• 1 cup beef stock
• 3 leaves of gelatine
• 1 whole garlic
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. bi carb soda
• extra olive oil

Method

• Pass the meat through a fine grinder 3 times
• Prepare the gelatine leaves as per instructions on packet and mix through the cup of beef stock
• In the bowl of a stand mixer add the meat, spices, salt, pepper
• Combine the lemon juice and bi carb soda in a bowl, let it fizz and add to the meat
• Using the dough hook mix the meat on slow while adding 1/2 cup beef stock bit by bit as it is absorbed into the meat, like a risotto. Will take about 10 minutes
• Refrigerate meat and remaining beef stock over night
• Don't peel but smash the garlic and soak in 1/2 cup warm water for 30 minutes
• Strain the garlic water
• Remove the meat and stock from the fridge and allow to stand for 30-50 minutes
• Repeat the process mixing with a dough hook and add remaining beef stock and garlic water
• Refrigerate over night
• Shape the meat into small sausages (makes 20-25 the size is up to you) and brush with oil
• In a frypan or on a bbq cook on a medium heat for about 8 minutes
• They will be very light and moist and you might need to test a couple to see if they are done.
• If you're in a hurry you could leave out the resting time I'm sure they'll still taste good.

I wasn't very neat shaping the sausages I must do better next time, might be my eternal love of the nugget??

It's my Life will be performed by Cezar offering more than just a key change. Some media is claiming is the first time "Popera" will feature in Eurovision which is incorrect, they have either never seen the contest or at least not read the article on "Popera" they published in 2009, but I'll let it go..........

Noroc!

 

It's a mystery

AB has been the inspiration for some of my best cooking triumphs, remember the meat lovers ice cream, well the chico ice cream was a success. No matter what is plated up there is always praise even though I may sit there and do my best Mary Berry or Manu Fieldel and over critic each element of the dish. "oh it's is verging on a soggy bottom" "mmm butter, but there needs to be more sauce" The only time I knew I had missed the mark and risked being eliminated is when I heard "it's a strong flavour". Really you couldn't buy support like that, although I will be in trouble for writing about it.
I will in the coming weeks bring myself to blog AB's favourite dish, Catfood, it will take some time. Till then he provided this mystery box challenge after I asked him to pick up some meat for dinner.
"what do you want?"
"i dunno surprise me"
"OK...I could make you do a masterchef mystery box?"
"bring it on!"

 

Pasta south of the border



serves 4-5 and on the table in 30 minutes
Ingredients as above

• 6 italian sausages
• 360g oyster blade steak
• 1 brown onion
• 1/4 of a pumpkin
• 200g green beans
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1 bag pasta
• 1 red chilli*
• 250ml sour cream*
• olive oil*
• bottle of pasata*

*pantry item

Method

• Add boiling water from the kettle to a boiler with a good dash of salt
• Put steak and sausages into food processor and mince
• Dice onion and saute with olive oil in fry pan
• Add meat to onions
• Dice pumpkin and add to boiler
• Add pasta to pumpkin, try to cut pumpkin the same size as pasta or smaller.
• Add pasatato meat and season
• Cut green beans into 2cm pieces
• Drain red kidney beans
• Just before the pasta is cooked, add green and red beans to sauce.
• Drain pasta and pumpkin
• Stir through sour cream, save a bit to garnish
• Add pasta and sauce to boiler and mix through
• Serve with dollop of sourcream and sliced chilli

There seems to be way too many steps but it really is just chop, add, cook, eat. Can't wait for the next mystery box, although I know you are all still thinking AB's favourite dish is catfood.