Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia - Spaghetti with Cuttlefish

Hello all, I know I have not blogged any recipes lately but I was quite busy working towards a career change! Oh yes...quite happy and excited about the new job starting in January but until then I have two weeks off and hopefully I will post some delicious recipes that we have prepared lately. One recipe that we made and loved is the classic Italian recipe Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia which basically is spaghetti in a black sauce!! Yes a black sauce which is the result of the addition of the cuttlefish's ink to the cuttlefish sauce. Try it out, if you have not got a fishmonger close-by, you can buy sachets of cuttlefish ink online...I do! They are very cheap as well. This pasta sauce is very fast and easy to prepare...just make sure that cuttlefish you are using is fresh. So for 2-3 people you will need...

• 200g spaghetti
• 600g cleaned cuttlefish (including tentacles), cut into small pieces
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 100ml (½ cup) white wine
• 2 sachets cuttlefish ink or 1 fresh cuttlefish ink sac
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tablespoon dried parsley)
• Extra virgin olive oil

How to...

1. Heat about 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil together with the garlic in a small pan. Cook until the garlic is aromatic and golden.
2. Now add the cuttlefish and parsley and stir well. Cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes. Increase the heat on high and add the wine and cook until the wine has evaporated (at this point you can cook the pasta and drain it). Reduce the heat to medium again and add the cuttlefish ink sachets. Stir well. If using the fresh cuttlefish ink sac, add the whole and break it carefully with a wooden spoon. Heat thoroughly.
3. Add the sauce to the pasta and serve with extra chopped parsley and extra virgin olive oil.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Chicken Marsala

It was our first time doing this recipe and we loved it, actually Amanda adored it. The recipe, is presumably Southern Italian, considering it uses Marsala wine, an exceptionally wonderful aromatic fortified wine that hails from the Italian city of Marsala, Sicily. It is in the same line of Sherry, Madeira and Port and its creation as a fortified wine dates back to the late 18th century. Anyhow, this recipe is very quick and easy to prepare, quite foolproof I must say. To keep the chicken breast moist and succulent we turned the chicken breast into cutlets. This makes the chicken breast cook quicker. So give it a go and am quite sure you will love it :) You will need...

• 4 large chicken breasts or 8 drumsticks
• 400g white mushrooms, sliced
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 120ml (1/2 cup) Marsala wine
• 100ml single cream
• Olive oil or vegetable oil
• Salt & pepper

How to...

1. Heat some oil on medium heat in a large frying pan and cook the chicken turning occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add half of the Marsala and cover with a lid. Turn twice until they are golden from both sides and meat juices are running clear. This process takes about 15-20 minutes.
2. Now take the chicken out of the pan and keep warm (we leave them in the oven on the lowest temperature possible (which usually is about 50-60°C). Add the mushrooms, spring onions and the rest of the Marsala. Cook until the mushrooms wilt down (make sure you do not over cook them as they will turn into a sloppy mush), this will take around 5 minutes. Keep stirring frequently.
3. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream. 
4. Time to plate up, put a chicken on a plate (make sure they are still warm), top up with a large spoonful of mushrooms and pour over some sauce. Serve with roast veg & mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Penne alla Carbonara

This is how a proper Carbonara should be. This is a rustic pasta dish that comes from Rome although its origin is questionable as some Italians say it came from the Umbria region, some say it comes from the Lazio region and some say that it was invented by an inventor from Naples from the Campana region. Anyway, whatever the provenance it is a very tasty dish and a very quick and easy way to flavour your pasta. We used penne but spaghetti go very well with this type of sauce as well. If you do not have pecorino Romano you may use Grana padano or Parmegiano Reggiano. Make sure you use free range eggs so you get a lovely yellowy colour. The original recipe uses guanciale which similar to pancetta only that guanciale comes from the cheek of the pig (guancia means cheek in italian hence the name) and pancetta comes from the belly of the animal (pancia means belly in italian hence the name). Give it a go! For 4 people you will need...

• 300g penne
• 4 egg yolks + 1 whole egg
• 100g grated pecorino Romano
• 150g Guanciale or pancetta, diced

How to...

1. Start by cooking the pasta al dente. 
2. Cook the guanciale or pancetta in a hot pan (no oil is required as guanciale and/or lardons have enough fat on them) until crispy.
3. When the pasta is cooked, drain it but leave a little cooking liquid with the pasta to avoid having a dry pasta dish. Cover and set aside.
4. Start making the sauce by whisking the egg yolks and one whole egg in a bowl. Whisk until they are combined well. Add the cheese and combine well with the eggs. Now add the guanciale or pancetta. Mix again and add everything to the cooked pasta.
5. Mix slowly until all the pasta is covered with the sauce and serve.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Pizza Caponata

This is one of my favourite pizza toppings. I missed the tinned caponata from Malta so I got my parents to send me some. As soon as it arrived I put Pizza Caponata on the menu :) As for all pizza toppings use as much or little ingredients as you want. I was introduced to this pizza topping when I used to work at Ir-Rokna Restaurant & Pizzeria which in my honest opinion does the best pizzas on the island using the traditional wood burning stone oven. Well, this is my Pizza Caponata. If you are doing your own dough just click here and follow the making the pizza dough steps...any problems feel free to let us know :)) So this is what I put on my Pizza Caponata...

• Tomato sauce (not too much)
• Grated mozzarella
• Tuna chunks
• Hard boiled eggs
• Caponata
• Anchovies
• Green or black olives
• Dried oregano

How to...

1. Just spread a little tomato sauce, then the caponata followed by the anchovies, tuna, olives and eggs.
2. Sprinkle the grated mozzarella cheese and oregano.
3. Bake in a hot oven for about 15-20 minutes or until cheese is golden.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Dundari alla Minorese - Ricotta Gnocchi with Tomato & Basil Sauce

I must say we tried these for the first time and we loved them. We saw Gennaro Contaldo preparing this recipe on TV and we decided to try them out. Usually gnocchi are using floury potatoes although in this recipe that hails from the Italian region of Campania, potatoes are replaced with nice milky ricotta which makes them lighter. This is our take on this Italian dish that, as I said comes from the Amalfi coast of Italy, namely from Minori a town on between Salerno and Naples. It is a very simple dish to prepare and very filling not to say scrumptious. They are simply served with a delicious tasty tomato & basil sauce. Give them a go and you will love them :) You will need...

Serves 4

For the gnocchi

• 250g ricotta
• 200g plain flour, preferably ''00''
• 30g grated parmesan
• 3 egg yolks
• salt & pepper, to taste
• Pinch of grated nutmeg

For the sauce

• 2 large tins plum tomatoes, tomatoes cut in half
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 small dried chillies, chopped
• small bunch of fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped

How to...

1. In a bowl, mix the ricotta, flour, yolks, nutmeg and seasoning until you get a soft dough.
2. Knead on a well floured surface for about 5 minutes.
3. Shape the dough into an inch wide sausage. Cut into slices about 1cm or less. To make sure they do not stick to surface, add extra flour to the surface and cover the edges with flour. Bring a large pan of slightly salted water to boil.
4. In the meantime make the sauce by heating the olive oil, then add the garlic and chilli. Cook until garlic is fragrant and golden. Remove the pan from the heat and add the tomatoes. Return the pan to the heat and simmer partially covered on a high heat for about 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the freshly torn basil leaves.
5. When the water boils, carefully throw in the gnocchi and cook until they start coming up to the water surface. About 3-4 minutes.
6. Remove the gnocchi with a slotted spoon and put them in the tomato sauce. Stir carefully to coat in the sauce and serve topped with grated Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!!

R&A

Focaccia with Caprese Salad

This is Amanda's favourite food EVER!! She could eat it all day, every day!! :)) In fact when I prepare a good Focaccia for her, I always get extra hugs & kisses xx :)) It is one of the easiest recipes to do, Focaccia is very filling and tasty and you can serve it or even fill it with loads of different ingredients. You can put olives and press them in or even small rosemary sprigs. Our favourite is do a plain, just scattered with coarse sea salt and then serve it with a nice Caprese salad. I love to split it in half, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and put layers of freshly sliced tomatoes, fresh basil leaves and slices of mozzarella....just writing about it is making my mouth water!!! Enjoy it fresh out of the oven....give this a go and you will not be sorry!! You will need...

For the Focaccia

• 600g Strong white flour ("00")
• 300ml lukewarm water
• Half teaspoon sugar
• 7g instant yeast (1 sachet)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Coarse sea salt, to taste

For the Caprese salad

• 4 large ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 3 mozzarella balls, sliced
• fresh basil leaves
• Extra virgin olive oil

How to...

1. Blend the yeast in a measuring jug with 300ml lukewarm water, sugar and the olive oil. Leave it to stand for 10 minutes.
2. Pile the flour into a volcano shaped heap on the working surface. Make a well in the centre and slowly pour in the liquid, start kneading with your hand and adding the yeast mixture until all the liquid has been incorporated.
3. Knead into a smooth dough. 
4. Roll the dough. Do not roll it too thin, leave it about 1cm thick.
5. Place it in a well-oiled, high edged dish, poke it with your finger tips in even places, scatter to taste with the coarse sea salt and cover with cling film and leave to rise for about an hour in warm place.
6. In the meantime preheat the oven to 180°C.
7. After the dough has risen well, drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil put into the hot oven and bake for 30 minutes until it is golden in colour.
8. Cut in squares and serve with the Caprese salad.

Enjoy!!! 

R&A

Pizza Margherita con Prosciutto Crudo (Parma Ham)

Another request...the proper Pizza Margherita from the Italian region of Campania where it was born. Famous pizzaiolo Peppino Brandi created this recipe in honour of Queen Margherita of Italy in June 1889, hence the 'il tricolore' [the 3 colours of the Italian flag. Green [Basil], White [Mozzarella] and Red [Tomatoes]. In the original recipe the Neapolitans use San Marzano tomatoes but unfortunately is very difficult to find here in the UK, so we used good quality canned chopped tomatoes. As for the mozzarella the original recipes uses Mozzarella di Bufala [Buffalo Mozzarella] but feel free to use good quality cow's milk mozzarella. When baking the pizza make sure that you only bake the dough with the tomatoes and cheese only. After cooked, then add the Prosciutto Crudo, basil leaves and extra-virgin olive oil. Here is the recipe for the dough, it is very easy and fast to do and is well worth it. The ingredients that follow are for 4 pizzas...Square, round or whatever shape you want to give it...obviously the original shape is round.

NOTE:  '00' flour is a very fine flour used in making pizza dough which is very fine and needs no sifting..available from Asda, Tesco and others. Click on the blue link for further info.

For the pizza dough:

• 1 pkt of dried active yeast [7g]
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sugar
• 300ml lukewarm water
• 500g '00' flour, or normal plain flour
• 100g semolina, plus extra to dust

For the topping:

• 2 cans good quality chopped tomatoes
• 3 Buffalo mozzarella [about 375g], torn into small pieces
• Fresh basil leaves
• 150g Prosciutto Crudo [Parma Ham]
• Extra olive oil

How to...

1. To make the pizza dough, blend the yeast in a measuring jug with 300ml lukewarm water, sugar and the 2 tbsp olive oil. Leave it to stand for 10 minutes. 
2. To make the dough you can easily make it using a food processor, just throw everything in and process until the dough turns into a ball. Otherwise, mix the flour and semolina and pile the mixture into a volcano shaped heap on the working surface. Make a well in the centre and slowly pour in the liquid, start kneading with your hand and adding the yeast mixture until all the liquid has been incorporated. Knead to a smooth dough. Cover and leave in a warm place for an hour to rise.
3. Heat the oven to 220°C/Gas Mark 7. Knock the pizza dough back and divide into four or two, depending on the size of your pizza. If you are making it round, shape each piece into a ball and stretch it until you get a 12" round base. 
4. Now, spread the chopped tomatoes on the bases, sprinkle the mozzarella and put into the hot oven for about 10 minutes or until done to your liking. When cooked get it out of the oven put 2 slices of prosciutto on each, tear the basil leaves on it and drizzle with good extra-virgin olive oil. 

Enjoy this simple but truly irresistible pizza. :)

R & A