Back to the recipes.

So I didn't put up the recipes we cooked last week so here they are.


On Monday we made Brasato al Barolo (braised beef with barolo wine)

ingredients:serves 5-6
1kg (33oz) beef cut rich of connective tissue
50gr butter
50gr olive oil
1cup red wine
1 onion
2 carrots
1 celery stick
1/2 liter broth or stock
salt and pepper

Tie up the roast with kitchen twine (so it holds its shape). Melt the butter in a pan sear the meat on high heat, turning several time. Take it out of the pan and set aside.
Finely chop the vegetables and add to the pan. Cook 10 minutes on low hear heat. Add salt and pepper.
Put the meat back into the pan and cook with the veggies. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour in wine and let evaporate on medium heat. Add broth until it covers half the meat. Bring to boil. Lower flames and continue cooking, covered for 1 1/2 hour. Occasionally add hot broth, if necessary. Take beef out of pan, untie and slice thinly with a very sharp knife. Separate the veggies from the cooking sauce with a strainer and cover the meat. ( I put the veggies under the meat and the sauce on top and it was great.)
This is a great recipe (of course) but we had limited time because it was a 2 1/2 hour class so we couldn't do the whole cooking time. It was alot rougher than it is supposed to be because it didn't get to boil for the right amount of time but the flavor is excellent. You can use any basic red table wine and the wine and veggies make an excellent flavor. Another variation is to shred the beef before the boiling and cook it all together.

Tuesday in introduction to Professional cooking we made "Tagliata con Rosmarino E Rucola" or Cut beefsteak with rosemary and rucola.

Ingredients:
750 gr lean beef (loin)
2 tbs green pepper "in salamoia" (looked like or were capers)
30 gr extra virgin olive oil.
3 sprigs of rosemary
Sage leaves
120 ml balsamic vinegar.
1 small bunch of rucola for decoration.
sale pepe

In a large pan heat half the olive oil, the green pepper (tie rosemary branches and sage leaves together) add herbs and balsamic on low heat. Cut the meat in 2 cm thick clices and sear them in a different pan with olive oil. The meat must be rare. Take off heat and cut into 1 cm strips. Add them to the first pan with the other ingredients. Turn the heat up and cook until a creamy sauce forms. Serve with sauce on top and chopped ruccola all around.

Cooking balsamic down into a sauce is amazing. Especially good balsamic. This is a very easy recipe to make and a tasty one.

On Wednesday we had Italian regional cuisine. We made stuffed olives and desert bread. The olives were little green ones and very hard to de-pit.
Olive Ripiene.

for 6/8 people.
pork:5oz
Beef (hamburger): 3 oz
Flour:
chicken livers (2)
grated parmesan cheese:2oz
lemon:2
soft inside of stale bread (no crust): a few
nutmeg:to taste
olive oil
frying oil
green olives: 30-60
bread crumbs
sale pepe
tomato sauce
eggs:3

Chop the meat. Put olive oil into a pan and brown the meat well. Add a couple tablespoons of tomato sauce dissolved in warm water and cook over moderate heat, When the meat is cooked add the chicken livers and cook another 5 minutes. Remove all the meat from the pan and mix well with the cooking juices. Wet the breadcrumbs with a little broth then squeeze out any excess liquid and add to the meat mixture along with one egg and the cheese. Flavor with nutmeg, cinnamon and sale pepe. Squeeze a small amount of lemon juice into the mix., Stir it all together we (you can use a quisanart or blender). Take the pits out of the olives (a miserable task) then stuff with the mix. Fill 3 small pans: one with flour one with mixed eggs and one with breadcrumbs. First roll the stuffed olives in flour, then eggs, then breadcrumbs. Repeat these steps until they have doubled or tripled in size. When they are ready fry them in plenty of boiling hot oil and drain on absorbent paper. Serve hot, garnished with lemon.

These were very good, although I think I would have preferred black olives. With this recipe you can switch the meat with anything you want, from veggies and cheese or go the opposite direction and use just the meat mix without the olive and roll a ball of it in the flour, egg, and breadcrumbs and fry that.

The desert bread we mad was very simple. It is called Scroccafusi and is made with 400grams flour and 120 gr lard. Knead the flour and lard together and let rest for 1 hour, Form small rolls and brush with melted butter. Bake at 200 F for 35 minutes. When done sprinkle with powdered sugar.


Here are some bonus pics......... Including a picture from Halloween. There was alot going on here for halloween, I guess its been getting big the last few years but i didnt have my camera most the time.





P.S. the photos wont load so ill put them on ASAP. Going to watch a soccer match then the Patriots Colts game.
Ciao