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by janicetripepi

Insalata di Frutti di Mare .. Italian Seafood Salad

June 21, 2012 in Antipasti, Fish Dishes, Janice Tripepi, Salads, Shellfish

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Insalata di frutti di mare .. a classic Italian Seafood Salad with prawns and calamari.

So this is my last post before the Food and Wine Indaba 2012.  I can’t wait to see everyone and connect and talk food and get all the latest Goss and try some new restaurants and markets!    I am posting a traditional Italian Seafood Salad which may seem a little incongruent with the average temperatures in South Africa right now.  As most of you  know I live in Durban and both today and yesterday and most of the days before that, the average midday temperature is between 26 and 28 degrees.  The weather is just totally awesome here right now.  And we can still enjoy dinner al fresco and salads laced with delicious fish. This is our reward for living here………. And how blessed we all feel.  Everyone from the people who walk along the beachfront at 5.3am every morning to the person in front of you in the bank queue at lunch time, has a smug and giddy grin on their faces and a spring in their step.

KwaZulu-Natal is the jewel in the Southern African crown at this time of the year.  International events such as The Top Gear ‘Gedoente’ of last weekend come and go with throngs of people clad in not much more than -shirts and shorts.  So forgive me if I don’t post a recipe for a 12 hours slow roasted leg of Venison with a kg of mash whilst I extol the virtues of Cab Sav and its ballsy hugging warm embrace.

Today I am posting for my fellow KwaZulu-Natalians.   This pukka Italian seafood salad keeps and even improves with age.  You will see a bowl of this in most Italian delicatessens, being sold by 100g and if you have any left over after five days you can pop it into a pasta sauce and finish it off.   So, to the rest of Africa, which basically means Cape Town, turn up the heaters and get a sun lamp and pretend!

Make a large bowl of this, for it really does improve with age and can easily be re-invented and tweaked and grace your table for a good few incarnations.

 

Insalata di Frutti di Mare

Juicy Insalata di frutti di Mare .... a traditional Italian Seafood Salad.

Ingredients

1kg of King Prawns – de-shelled and de-veined

800g of cleaned Patagonian Calamari – bodies and tentacles

(You could add fresh mussels, clams or langoustine tails into this too

5 stalks of celery finely chopped

2 onions finely chopped

4 bunches of Italian Parsley finely chopped

8 lemons – juiced

4 cups of your best fruity and peppery extra virgin Olive oil

8 cloves of garlic minced

3 – 4tsp of salt

5 tsp of freshly cracked black pepper

1tsp of sugar

Method

De-shell and de-vein the prawns.  You can make a nice stock out of the prawn bodies and heads

which you can freeze to use in a sauce, risotto or paella at a later date.

Place the prawns in a pot and add just enough water to cover the prawns and 2tsp of salt.

As soon as the water boils remove the pot from the stove top and set aside to cool.

Bring to the boil on your stove hob – the very second that the water boils remove the pot from the stove
and set aside to cool.  This method with give you juicy and crunchy succulent prawns.

Calamari cleaned in the pot ready for salt and water.

Do exactly the same with the calamari and set it aside to cool down.  The slow cooling down process renders the
calamari tender.

Very finely chop the celery and parsley and mince the garlic.

Crush your garlic finely using a garlic crusher.

While your prawns and calamari are cooling down place the chopped celery, parsley and garlic into a
salad bowl.

Mix your parsley, celery, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice and sugar in a salad bowl.

Add the juice of the lemons, the olive oil, salt and sugar.
Now, as is the case with any salad dressing you must taste it and adjust
it to your liking.

Mix the prawns and calamari into the dressing.

You may want to add
more lemon juice or more garlic or pepper – taste and adjust to your palette.

 I love a bit of chilli so I will often chop
2 red chillies which will add a nice hit of colour and a bit of bite to the
salad.

Drain the cooled prawns and calamari and stir into the dressing.

Check again for
seasoning and serve.

Enjoy with crostini or a nice slice of hot ciabatta and a fabulous glass of Vino, of course!

This makes a
wonderful topping for pizza – make a plain Margerita sauce, top with some fresh
pecorino shaving and mozzarella if you like and drizzle this on top of your
pizza when it comes out of the oven.

This dish would also
be perfect as part of Antipasti – served with crostini, which is bread toasted
with a brushing of olive oil and rubbed with garlic or load them up onto some
brushette.

I often used the left
overs of this salad as a pasta sauce – simply drain off the prawns and calamari
– fry the celery, garlic and parsley in some of the oil – cook you pasta and
once it’s tender simply add it to the cooked celery and garlic and add the
cooked prawns and calamari with a little of the pasta water to keep it nice and
moist.

 I will be in Cape Town for the next 10 days – I am so looking forward to seeing you all at the Indaba, and

those who are not able to come will be sorely missed.  I am planning a few nice meals out with

Daniele and Suzanne and a spot of Italian Cooking for some friends so I shall report back on my adventures and findings.

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

Jan

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by janicetripepi

Spicy Dorado on a bed of Fettuccine with a creamy Leek and Fennel Sauce.

June 13, 2012 in Fish Dishes, Janice Tripepi, Pasta Recipes

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Pan fried Dorado on a bed of Fennel & Leek Mascarpone Sauce.

Every now and then la cucina Tripepi gets a visit from the kitchen fairies.  Last night they flapped their little wings, clicked their red sequined happy tappy heels together and a moment of perfect culinary synergy prevailed.  The dish looked elegant and ate even better.  For an original creation ‘twas naught less than the equivalent of a pair of Jimmy Choo’s I tell you.

I had planned to make orecchiette (little ear shaped pasta) with Cime di Rapa, a typical pasta dish from Puglia made with turnip tops and an anchovy based sauce.  It’s clean, fresh and almost vegetarian. Unfortunately “Earthmother” the shop that I usually get organic veggies from had run out of the magnificent bunches of turnips that they had on sale last week, so my plans were dashed.

A trip to my local super yielded a nice piece of fresh Dorado and my dew bin yielded some crispy fennel and leeks waiting for some special treatment.  What blew my hair back with this dish is the balance that was created between the fennel, leek and the fish.   The only improvement I can possibly think of would be a dash of Pernod to deglaze the pan that the fennel and leeks were in to heighten the flavour of the fennel.  I will try this next time.

This is such an elegant dish; it is cooked in a flash would make a wonderful main course for a dinner party.  Unfortunately I cooked this dish in the evening resulting in some rather bad lighting to photograph in and there were no left overs to photograph in a stylish manner the next day.  Oh well!

 

Creamy
Fennel & Leek Fettuccine with Pan Fried Spicy Dorado

Clean and slice your fennel and leeks.

clean and slice your fennel and leeks.

Ingredients

      Dorado  or any firm white fish

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

A large knob of butter

1/2 a large red chilli, for a bit of zing and a little colour

4 medium sized fennels, cleaned and sliced thinly – reserve some of the top for
garnishing the finished dish

4 leeks – cleaned and sliced thinly

3Tbs of mascarpone

½ cup of vegetable or chicken stock

Freshly cracked black pepper

250g fresh fettuccini

I recently reorganised my spice drawer using these jars.

My re-styled spices an idea I got from Pinterest.

 Method

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil while you cook the fennel and the fish.

Over a medium heat, melt the butter and gently fry the garlic and chilli

Cook the fennel and leeks gently over a moderate heat.

Add the sliced fennel and leeks to the pan and fry gently for 3 minutes then add
the half a cup of chicken or vegetable stock and cover the pan with a lid.  You don’t want to brown the fennel and leeks
for this dish.  Remove the lid once the
fennel and leeks are soft and cook off most of the liquid.

Add the mascarpone and black pepper to taste and once the mascarpone has melted
remove the pan from the heat.

Skin the fish, heat a griddle pan and rub olive oil over the fish to prevent it from
sticking to the pan.  Cook until the fish
is just cooked – don’t overcook the fish.
Set aside to rest.

Make sure your griddle pan is nice and hot to get good colour on your fish.

Add
the fresh fettuccine to the pot of salted water – they will cook in about 4
minutes.

Using
a pasta scoop lift the fettuccine out of the pot and place them straight into
the pan with the fennel & leek sauce.
Stir into the sauce and start plating up.

Add the fettuccine straight from the pot into your pan.

Place
a bed of fettuccine in the bottom of your pasta bowl

Top with
a piece of the fresh Dorado and garnish with some chopped fresh red chilli and
snip some fennel tops (dill) over the whole dish.  A light grind of black pepper and Walla!  Serve.

Your fish will be juicy and succulent if you don't overcook it.

I got a brilliant idea from Pinterest for reorganising you spices

click on this link above to have a look at my Pinterest Boards – you will be able to see all of my recipes

a lot easier by doint this.  Pinterest is loads of fun!

My spice drawer went from this ….

Chaos!

To this ….

Way more practical and organised.

Way more practical, tidy and uber organised!

I bought 24 jars from a wholesaler, painted the lids with blackboard paint and wrote the name of

the spice in each jar on the top with a Tipex pen!  I can now buy large quantities of spices from my local

spice shop and store ALL of my spices in one drawer!

bonus!

 As  always

Buon
Appetito

Xxx

Jan

 
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by janicetripepi

Oh Crumbs .. Cheese, Ham and Mushroom Stuffed, Crumbed Chicken Breasts.

June 6, 2012 in Chicken Dishes, Janice Tripepi

8 Comments »

Crunchy Crumbed Chicken Breasts Oozing Melted Cheese, Mushrooms and Ham.

Well, Elena Norgalieva must have eaten a bowl of my pasta before she ran the Comrades yesterday!  What a champ she is!  She ran like the wind and came in first running her best Comrades Ultra Marathon time yet.

I must admit that I am getting very excited for my upcoming trip to Cape Town and the Food Bloggers Indaba on the 24th of this month.  I couldn’t make it last year and have felt cut  off from the blogging world for the longest time.  I will be staying on for a week; so I look forward to meeting up with as many of you as possible and am available to bread bread and sup vino infinito!    If any of you are toying with the idea of attending the Indaba – don’t hesitate.  I know that Colleen has been working her magic for ages now and the day is going to be fantastic.   It’s such a fabulous opportunity to meet the blogging community, to pick up tips and gain knowledge that will help you to improve your blog.  Not to mention the goodie bags – LUFFLIE!!!  But most of all, it just wonderful to meet and chat with the faces behind all your wonderful blogs.

Today I am posting a retro 80’s meal.  Cotolette ripieni, or as we used to call them, good ol’ chicken cordon bleu. They were right up there with crumbed stuffed mushrooms in the eighties.  Now that I think about it; the eighties could have been the decade of the bread crumb Fo Sho!    These are easy to prepare and can be frozen very successfully.  Hubby can pull out a few of these stuffed chicken breasts when I am away in Cape Town and bob’s your uncle, he has an easy meal which can be served with a nice salad or some veggies in a flash.  The Tripepi eat these like popcorn!

Monique, my housekeeper loves cooking but doesn’t really get much opportunity to cook with TrickyRicky and I monopolising the kitchen.   Monique is the reigning queen of Cotolette (crumbed chicken breast) and Cotolette Ripieni (stuffed crumbed chicken breasts) in la casa Tripepi.  I have no doubt that she will stuff my suitcase with packets of these for my son Daniele when I go to Cape Town.   I just love her!

 Cotolette Ripieni

Serve with wedges of fresh lemon.

Mushroom, Ham &  Cheese Stuffed Crumbed Chicken Breasts

I find that men will eat at least two of these as part of a two course dinner – ladies usually on manage one each, so

adjust your quantities according to your guest list.

I am often painfully  aware of the amount of imported ingredients that my recipes are laden  with.  I appease my conscience by  planting herbs, trees and recycling all and sundry in an effort to reduce my  carbon footprint.  This is one of those  instances when local is totally lekker!  Our local hams and cheeses are perfect for these.

Ingredients

As you can see from this pile of flattened chicken breasts ... I make lots!

8 chicken breasts –  cut them open, open the chicken up like a book and bash them flat with a meat hammer.

8 slices of smoked  provoloneor emmental cheese  and 8 slices of Mozarella cheese – in fact, you can use your favourite
cheese.  A good melting cheese is great as it goes all gooey when fried.

8 slices of smoked  ham

400g mushrooms sliced  and fried in some garlic, oregano, salt & pepper

3 eggs beaten lightly  in a bowl

1 cup of flour –  seasoned with salt & pepper

2 cups of bread crumbs

Oil for frying

Lemons to serve with the cotolette.

Method

Cut each chicken  breast open by slicing it in half and opening it up like a book.
Open it up and gently flatten it with a meat hammer.  You don’t want your chicken to be too thick
as you want the heat from the hot oil to penetrate quickly and melt the cheese  in the centre.

Lay each breast flat  and top with a slice of ham, then a slice of cheese , I like to use a slice of smoked provolone or emmental with a slice of mozarella.  the Mozarella goes all runny and gooey and oozes out when you cut them open after frying them.

Place the cheese on the flattened chicken breast.

Add a slice of smoked ham - I use smoked ham as it has loads of flavour.

And finally a spoonful of  the fried mushrooms in the middle.

And finally the mushroom fried in garlic, salt & pepper.

Season with salt  & pepper and fold in half.  Close each piece of chicken up with three wooden tooth picks.

Close the three open sides with a toothpick but do remember to tell your guest to remove them before eating them.

Now for the crumbing …..

Coat each piece of  chicken with flour

Coat both sides in seasoned flour.

Then pop into the beaten egg

Dunk into the beaten egg.

And lastly coat well  with bread crumbs.  Use the heel of you  hand and press the crumbs firmly onto each piece of chicken.

Coat both sides with bread crumb then refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Place on a plate or  in a plastic box and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

By doing this you  ensure that your crumbs don’t fall of in the frying process.

Heat your oil in a  frying pan – when you put a piece of chicken into the oil, it must bubble.  If you oil is hot enough the crumbs don’t
absorb oil.  When lightly golden remove carefully  and drain on a piece of kitchen towel.

Serve with lemon wedges and your  choice of veggies.

The combinations
of fillings are endless.  Here are a few
options

Plain mushroom &  cheese

Feta & Sundried  tomatoes with some oregano.

Camembert, Bacon  & Preserved Figs with fresh thyme.

Coppa, Olives &  sundried tomatoes with fresh basil

Spinach fried in  onion, garlic and lemon with olives or mushrooms with some fresh mint

Prawns in thick  tomato & chilli sauce

Remember to make  extra and freeze them for another meal.

Today I am doing a bit of DIY – I found an awesome idea on Pinterest to Organise my Herb

& Spice drawer.

As always

Buon Appetito

Jan

x

 

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