italian feast cooking class recipes
RECIPES
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The veal in this dish can be substituted for boneless and skinless chicken thighs, rose veal, or beef sirloin. The cheese can be substituted for any melting cheese and the coppa for any cured ham. This recipe is a great way to use up fridge leftovers.
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Ingredients for 4-6 people:
750 gms Veal Rump (cleaned)
140 gms Copa Ham
150 gms Taleggio (Keep Skin on), cut into 1cm pieces
2 sprigs of rosemary, needles separated from stem and finely chopped
¼ bottle of Dry White Wine
¼ cup water
50ml double cream
Olive oil and butter (enough to coat the bottom of the pan)
15 gms Parsley, finley chopped with stems removed
*No Salt needed (all the ingredients are salty enough!)
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Method:
Using the flat side of a meat hammer to flatten your veal until you have an even thickness throughout of about 4mm.
Add a piece of Taleggio, a slice of Copa Ham, a sprinkle of Rosemary and black pepper then roll to each piece and then roll.
Lightly flour the Involtini all over and use a toothpick to secure it.
Heat some olive oil and butter in a frying pan and brown your involtini as much as possible.
Once lightly browned all over, add in the white wine, a splash of water and cream. Cover and let simmer on medium heat with a lid on for 5 minutes, or until cooked throughout.
If the sauce is too liquid, continue to cook on a high heat without a lid until the sauce has thickened. The sauce should coat a spoon.
When ready to serve, reheat quickly on the hob and taste the sauce seasoning as needed. Sprinkle with some freshly chopped parsley and serve.
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Let the pumpkin shine and add just enough ricotta to reach a smooth consistency without diluting the pumpkin flavour. It’s important to cook your sage and butter sauce on a low to medium heat to make sure your sage gets crispy without burning the butter.
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Ingredients for 4-6 people:
1 kgs Delica pumpkin (approximately 1 small pumpkin)
50 gms Parmesan
175 gms Ricotta
Fresh Grated Nutmeg
100gms butter
A bunch of sage leaves
Fresh Pasta:
Ingredients Pasta:
100gms of double 00 flour per person
1 egg
Pinch of salt
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Method for the pasta:
Mound flour on a clean work surface, create a well in the centre. Crack an egg into the well, add salt, and beat the egg with a fork or fingers.
Gradually incorporate flour into the egg until dough forms. Knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth. Wrap in plastic and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
Roll out the pasta dough to number 7 on a Marcato machine or the second thickest setting on other machines, making sure your sheet is as wide as possible and lay your full pasta sheet on the work surface.
Fold your sheet in half horizontally so that you have two equal parts, push down and unfold.
Using a teaspoon, put 1 spoonful of the filling on the bottom half of the sheet every two fingers apart.
Fold over the top half of the sheet to cover the filling and push around the filling with your fingers to get rid of some air and so that you can see where to cut each ravioli.
Using a pasta cutter, cut out each square ravioli, no egg or water is needed, the pasta cuter should lock in the filling!
Flour the ravioli generously until ready to cook.
Method (for the filling and sauce):
Heat your oven to 200 degrees
Quarter your pumpkin and lay on a lined baking tray. Season with olive oil and salt and roast for about 30 minutes until tender all the way through.
Once cooled slightly, scoop out the seeds (discard) and scrape the flesh off the skin.
Mix the pumpkin flesh with ricotta, parmesan and nutmeg, using the back of a fork to mash it and get rid of any lumps.
The mixture can now be used to fill your ravioli.
Now to prepare the butter sauce; melt butter in a pan large enough to fit all the ravioli on a low-medium heat. Add chopped sage and fry until crispy. Keep the heat low enough to prevent the butter from burning.
Once crispy, add a ladle of pasta water and stir well allowing the sauce to emulsify.
Pop the ravioli in salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes or until the filling has warmed through. Drain and transfer the ravioli to the pan with the sage and butter sauce.
Gently stir the ravioli into the sauce adding pasta water if needed.
Once the ravioli are covered in sauce, plate approx 5-6 ravioli per person onto small plates.
Top with a little parmesan to finish.
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The pairing of pears and endive works because of their contrasting yet complementary characteristics—sweet vs. bitter, crunchy vs. tender, and aromatic vs. earthy. Make sure you use a good quality aged balsamic vinegar here as an unaged one is too acidic and will ruin your salad. We use the Essenza balsamic available from Natoora.
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Ingredients for 4-6 people:
3 medium size red chicory
1 Pears, halved, cored and thinly sliced lengthways
40 gms parmesan shavings
30 gms toasted pecan nuts, roughly broken
3tbs olive oil,
1 tbs aged balsamic
salt and black pepper to taste
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Prepare the chicory by washing and separating the leaves, keeping them whole
Half each pear lengthwise, core it and thinly slice into 2mm slices
Using a block of parmesan, ‘shave’ 40 gms of parmesan using a peeler.
In a large bowl toss all of the ingredients together and top with olive oil, aged balsamic, salt and pepper to taste.
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300 gms Flour
200 gms Butter (cut into 1cm cubes before the class so its at room temperature for the class )
100 gms Sugar
2 Egg yolks
300gms Jam
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Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, butter and egg yolks. You can use a fork or your hands.
Start to bring the mixture together with your hands to form a dough. Knead the pastry until all the flour is fully absorbed and it becomes a smooth ball. As soon as it comes together you can stop kneading as we do not want to activate/develop the gluten too much.
Take a small ball of dough and start pushing it into the tins. You want your tin to be completely covered with about 1cm of dough.
Pour jam into the tart base and spread it out.
Roll the scrap pastry back into a ball and roll back out until 3mm thick. Cut out strips for the top of the tart using a knife or pastry cutter.
Lay the strips of pastry over the crostata in a criss-cross pattern to form a lattice.
Bake for 40 mins, until the pastry is golden brown. Cool and Serve with a sprinkle of icing sugar to decorate.
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This is an aubergine dish…remember not to put too much tomato sauce. If you can’t find the scamorza you can use a good quality buffalo mozzarella but slice it and let it drain in a colander for half an hour first to get rid of excess water.
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Ingredients for 4-6 people:
2 Aubergine, sliced length wise into thin slices about 0.4mm thick
1/2 ball of Scarmoza (smoked mozzarella)
30 basil leaves
400gr Tomato Passata
2 garlic cloves
Olive Oil
3 tbsp grated Parmesan Cheese
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Heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius fan.
Generously drizzle a lined baking tray with olive oil.
In a single layer, place the aubergine slices on the tray and drizzle with more oil and a sprinkle of salt. Bake for 15 minutes until soft but not burnt.
Heat oil in a small pot and add one whole garlic clove, peeled and smashed and one full stem of basil.
Once the garlic is sizzling, add the passata and cover with a lid.
Cook on low heat for about 20minutes until the sauce thickens.
Lay one slice of aubergine on a plate and place 1 slice of scamorza and a basil leave on one side and then roll the Aubergine to form an involtini. Repeat with the other slices of aubergine
Take an oven dish and cover the bottom with 1cm deep of tomato sauce. Lay the aubergine rolls onto the cherry tomato sauce in a single layer. Sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese on top and place in the oven for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees. Serve Warm and enjoy!
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Ingredients for 4-6 people:
4 Leeks (tough green leaves chopped off and tailed)
35g butter
1/2 tsp salt
3 sprigs of thyme
Zest of one lemon
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Method:
Wash leeks thoroughly to get all the dirt off
Remove any tough/dry outer leaver of the leeks until you have the softer tender leaves, about two layers and cut off the green tops.
Cut leek into “two finger” pieces (about 3.5 cm), trying to keep them whole.
Melt butter in the pan with the sprigs of thyme and when fully melted and bubbling add leeks so that they are standing up and tightly together.
Cover with a lid on medium heat so they caramelize on one side, about 10 minutes. If they start to burn before they are tender, add a splash of water.
When they are fully cooked (a fork should go through with little resistance, plate with the caramelised side facing up and top with pan juices, lemon zest and flaky salt.
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