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Roast Lamb with Pastina

July 27, 2012 in Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Lamb .... cooking with Lamb, Pasta Recipes, Roasts, Winter Meals

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I served the left overs on rolls for lunch.

This Roast Lamb and Pastina dish falls fairly and squarely into the “Man food” category.  When it’s cold and miserable outside the smell that wafts through your home while this is in the oven is warm and happy and incredibly comforting.

Arrosto di agnello con la pastina is perfect for a weekend lunch or dinner in winter. It needs a little tender loving care and plenty of time but delivers chunks of lamb that can be eaten with a spoon it’s so tender.   All of the sauce ingredients are chopped up nice and small so that, once the meat is cooked you are left with a pot of deliciously flavoured sauce in which to cook the pastina.

Pastina literally just means, little pasta, it comes in various shapes and is most Italian babies’ introduction into the wonder world of pasta.    Again, left overs of this dish could be used to stuff ravioli, panzerotti or used in some suppli or Arancini as they appear on most restaurant menus these days.

The Tripepi boys swooped down on this meal like Japanese Kamikaze pilots which didn’t give me any time to style a plate and attempt to get a good
pic for you.  Some meals just have to be more than a blog post, don’t they?

 Arrosto di agnello con la pastina.

The Lamb and Pastina are served in one large bowl.

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees.

Ingredients

1 leg of lamb – the leg I used was 1,8kg

Olive oil or duck fat

3 onions chopped finely

12 cloves of garlic

500ml of red wine

3 carrots chopped finely

3 sticks of celery finely chopped

2 bay leaves

Rosemary – at least 5 long sprigs

2 stock cubes

Black pepper

4 small cans of peeled tomatoes – liquidised.

Water

1 x 500g packet of Rosmarino Pastina

Method

First you need to prepare the meat for the pot.  Using asharp pointed knife cut incisions into the skin of the roast on both sides.

 Poke you finger into the holes and open them
up and put salt, pepper, half a garlic clove and a tuft of rosemary into each hole.

Do this on both sides of the roast
and insert some in between the mussels inside the roast by opening them up from
the side.

Heat enough duck fat or olive oil to cover the base of the pot, brown the roast on all sides and set aside.

In the same pot brown your onions and another three cloves of garlic.

Add the red wine and cook off all of the alcohol.

Add the carrot, celery, stock cubes, bay leaves, rosemary and black pepper.

Give this a good stir and add the liquidised tins of tomato.

Put the leg of lamb back into the pot and add some boiling water to ensure that the roast is
covered with liquid.

Place the lid on the pot and put into the oven at 220 degrees for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes reduce the heat in the oven to 160 degrees for at least 3 hours.

Once the meat is pulling away from the bone and meltingly tender the roast is ready.

Remove the meat from the pot and wrap in a piece of tin foil to keep it warm and stop it from drying
out.

Remove the rosemary sticks and bay leaves from the sauce, check it for seasoning, add 4 cups of
water and bring the sauce to the boil.

Pour in the packet of pastina and stir constantly until it’s cooked.
This will take around 9 – 10 minutes.
Don’t leave the pot alone as the pastina wills stick to the bottom.

If you feel the sauce is too thick just loosen it up slightly with another cup of water.

When the pasta is cooked, pour it into a large bowl and lay chunks of the meat on top.

Cut wedges of lemon and place them around the roast and garnish with a little fresh basil or
rosemary.

Here is another delicious roast – De-boned shoulder of Pork with crispy crackling

This is well worth your time!

Have a wonderful weekend all!

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

jan

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by janicetripepi

How to Heal a Broken Heart … Mum’s Home Made Ravioli

July 24, 2012 in Italian Classics, Janice Tripepi, Lunchtime Recipes, Pasta Recipes, Wild Boar, Winter Meals

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Home Made Wild Boar Ravioli

 

“Mum, I really need some family time” was all that this Mamma needed to hear on the other end of the phone last week.  Us girls tend to think that boys are big and strong and don’t have their hearts broken too often.  It’s just too easy to buy into the Cowboys  don’t cry crap.  No matter which person ends a relationship, there will always be a little carnage and an entire family mourns the loss.

Max was counting the days to his brothers’ arrival and insisted on fetching Daniele at the airport.  They are very close these two and when one hurts, they both feel it. Once all the hugging was done and dusted and words of wisdom dispensed with we all gathered around the dinner table to put the Tripepi Band-Aid, Ravioli,  over the wounds and in no time at all the house was filled with fond laughter and a good giggle was had by all.

The truth of it all is simple.  When a relationship ends, there just is no need at all for any finger pointing.  It’s just the way that life goes sometimes and the need for us to label on person as the ‘goody’ and one as the ‘baddy’ is ridiculous.   Special people come into our lives for a reason and some people stay longer than others. Hold on to and cherish the good parts and discard the rest, and above all, find a way to stay friends.

Wild Boar Ragu
Ravioli

Black Lava Salt.

I have said this before and will say it again; Italian Mamma’s are very good at stretching food to feed many mouths and use most meals more than once.
Most dishes will allow for the reinvention of left overs into another dish.  Think of the infamous Italian Frittata made from left over pasta which is either served with a salad for veggies for lunch or as Max loved, to take Frittata Rolls to school for lunch the next day.

Ravioli is just one of the many filled pasta’s.  You can fill ravioli with just about anything, but when you have made a roast as the Wild Boar I posted last week, it’s a great idea to keep a few slices and some of the sauce back to chop up finely and use as a stuffing for ravioli.  If you are not going to be making pasta any time soon just pop them into a packet and freeze ready for when you need them.  Many restaurants are serving ‘Arancini’ or ‘Suppli” these days – a ball or dome of rice wrapped meat that is crumbed and deep fried.  Another great way to use left overs.

Clickhere for the Wild Boar Ragu Recipe

Wild Boar Ragu

 

 

Ravioli Dough

Feeds 4

Ingredients all lined up and ready!

Pasta dough.

Ingredients

3 eggs

300g flour

2 – 3tsp olive oil

2tsp salt

Click here for a step-by-step guide to making fresh pasta.

Mix your flour, eggs, salt and olive oil in your mixer or by hand on a floured surface.

Knead the dough until it forms a smooth ball, wrap up in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour.

Cut your dough into manageable sized balls, flatten with your hand, dust with flour and put through  your pasta machine 3 times on number one, folding the piece of dough twice between rolling.

Roll the floured dough through your machine.

Now, put the dough through your machine on each setting until you get to number 8.  You need the sheets to be as thin as possible
as you are going to put two together to form the ravioli and no one likes thick
heavy ravioli.

Once each sheet is done, place it on a clean table cloth somewhere safe.  My Dalmatian Bubbles just loves to steal
sheets of fresh pasta off the table!

Lay the sheets out on a table cloth!

The Filling

Chop the meat very finely.

Cut your left over roast meat up very finely and make sure that it’s not too saucy.

Lightly beat one egg in a cup to use to glue your ravioli together.

Cut squares of the pasta using a cookie cutter or a pasta wheel.

Place 1/2tsp of meat in the centre of a square of pasta and brush the outside with beaten egg.

Place half a teaspoon of meat in the centre of your square.

Place another square of dough on top of this and seal the edges taking care to squeeze out all of  the air.  If you don’t do this, the ravioli will often burst when you boil it.

Place another piece on top, squeeze out the air and close the sides up.

Set aside on clean tea towel.

Set the ravioli aside on a tea towel to dry.

The Sauce

You have so many choices here.  I prefer to keep a sauce with ravioli quite light.   I served these ravioli with the sauce that the Wild Boar was cooked in.

All I did was sieve out all of the liquid from the left over sauce using a Chinois Sieve, reduced it slightly in a frying pan, added a dash of cream and seasoned with some black pepper.

To Serve

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil, pop in your ravioli and cook for around 10 minutes.  You need to take one out and taste it to see if the pasta is soft enough.

When the ravioli is cooked, pour into a colander and drain off all of the excess water.  Toss in some sauce and serve with a garnishing of fresh herbs.  I used
fragrant rosemary and a little dash of beautiful black lava salt.

Fresh Wild Boar Ravioli with a creamy light sauce.

Serve garnished with fragrant fresh rosemary.

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

jan

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by janicetripepi

Pickled Pig Porter Beer and Cheese Bread.

July 19, 2012 in Bread Recipes, Cheese Recipes, Janice Tripepi, Lunchtime Recipes, Winter Meals

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Isn’t it amazing how our pallets mature and develop as we grow up? (NB: I didn’t say, age!) Every Christmas Mum would haul out the family silver and polish

Stout Beer Bread at Sunset!

it with what I was convinced was a bottle of milk of magnesia!  Out came the Victorian table cloth, and we were served exactly the same meal year in and year out.  I guess that our family were the veritable definition of that favourite English institution called ‘tradition’.

 

We were very seldom, if ever, allowed or even given sweets and were not at all spoilt.  But Christmas time was the one time in the year when boundaries softened just a little and we got certain ‘treats’.   At Christmas lunch each one of us was given a shiny silver champagne goblet of the palest yellow Perry bubbly called Babycham.   Each dinky little green bottle was festooned with a pale blue label sporting the cutest and cuddliest little pale blue baby  deer on the entire planet.  I felt so very grown up with my goblet of Babycham and I loved everything about the ritual; from the little pale blue and gold Babycham carrier bag to the sparkly stars on the side of the bottle, all except one very important feature, the taste!  I hated it!  How could something so pretty taste so foul?  I stoically quaffed most of my tipple, pretending to enjoy it for I couldn’t possibly be the odd one out!

I kissed him but, alas, no Prince appeared!

Oh, how things have changed.  I can sniff out and slaughter a bottle of bubbly at two hundred paces these days!  However, one libation that I have never really been able to enjoy is beer, but, it seems that this too is changing.  Kami and I decided to go for lunch at the Rawdons’ Estate on our Midlands Meander last Saturday.  As we drew into the estate I noticed a sign that had something about cheese tasting on it!  Even though cheese does not like me I am like a cheese starved church mouse on a bad day.  Within five minutes of arriving we found ourselves in the bar partaking of a beer tasting of the
finest of the Nottingham Road Brewing Company.  I still can’t believe it but I thoroughly enjoyed these very fine beers.

I'm glad I don't have to polish this!

First we tasted the Whistling Weasel Pale Ale, produced by a chipper ‘whistling brewer’ who believes that whistling a tune while tending his brew adds a dash of joy and light-heartedness to every glass.  This was followed by Tiddly Toad Lager which the brewer aptly describes as, “delicious fullness, and has more fine hops than a hyperactive toad. Then the Pye-Eyed Possum Pilsner which has a lot more alcohol content that the first two and is designed for the more seasoned beer lover and lastly the Pickled Pig Porter a full, dark beer that I found a bit too bitter for my liking.  Each one of these bottles of Nottie’s Nectar is brewed from spring water found on the estate that is rich in minerals and must be good for one!  No preservatives aside, I was feeling fabulous within minutes.  Before leaving the estate I bought me a mixed pack of these amber elixirs and a round of the Pickled Porter cheese with which to continue the merriment in my kitchen at home.

Our beer tasting line-up.

After a good few more stops along the meander, a few bars, a Belgian chocolatier, a German deli, another few bars and the infamous ceramic studio from whom I purchased my terracotta brazier it was time to head for home.

On Tuesday I posted my Spicy Apple & Pumpkin Moroccan soup recipe, lovingly prepared in my tagine on top of said brazier.  I served the soup with a loaf of beer & cheese bread made with a bottle of the Pickled Pig Porter the dark and slightly bitter ‘stout’ beer and half of the Beer Cheese.

This combination yielded delicious malty, crusty dark fleshy bread punctuated with delicious chunks of beer cheese and was the perfect bread to slather with butter and dunk into bowls of steaming hot soup.

 

This recipe is not my own,  it belongs to one my favourite bloggers Carey of Bits of Carey who comes up with a fabulous array of Monday to Sunday dishes each month in  Crush on-line magazine and her recipes are light, delicious and well worth subscribing to. Check out this month’s dishes here.

Carey’s Beer Bread Recipe- Slightly amended to make this dark cheesy loaf.

The Pickled Pig Porter cheese and beer.

 Ingredients

450ml Bitters or Stout such as Pickled Pig Porter or Guinness

 500g Self-Raising Flour

Salt and pepper

Thyme

Wedges of Cheese

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees

Mix the bread ingredients together and spoon into a greased loaf tin.

You can use either a loaf pan or a round sponge pan.

Push wedges of cheese into the top of the dough

Sprinkle with some thyme and flavoured salt.

Brush the top with some beaten egg yolk or a spray with a dash of olive oil.

I sprinkled some cayenne pepper on top to add a bit of a bite!

Bake for 1 hour.

Spicy Moroccan Apple & Pumpkin Soup

I cut thick slices of this bread, slathered with butter and served

with the soup.  Click on the title above to go to the recipe for the soup.

Here are some other of my soup recipes.

EasyMussel Soup

A  rich garlic, white wine and creamy soup.

Roasted Red Pepper, Brinjal & Tomato Soup with

Thelight alternative to gnocchi – gnudi!

Try making these Mushroom and Spinach Gnudi – they are light little Italian dumplings, just like Gnocchi
but without the potato.  They are made with ricotta cheese and can be flavoured with mushroom, spinach, butternut,
cheese or even finely chopped leftover meat!  They can be served on a soup, in a broth, or baked with a sauce in the oven.

Lunch menu at Rawdons.Hand crafted Belgian chocolates ..... padkos!

As
always I wish you

Buon
Appetito

Xxx

jan

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by janicetripepi

A Spicy Moroccan Pumpkin and Apple Soup! Come on baby light your fire!

July 18, 2012 in Janice Tripepi, Lunchtime Recipes, Meatfree Mondays, Middle Eastern Magic, Soups, Venetian Food, Winter Meals

20 Comments »

Moroccan Style Pumpkin & Apple Soup with Beer & Cheese Bread

On the weekend of the July Handicap, my girlfriend Kami and I decided to get out of Durban for the day. I have no affection for equestrian events such as the July Handicap and the throngs of mindless sheep that it attracts; so a trip up the hill past Pietermaritzburg to the fresh air of the Midlands Meander was in order.

Carols beautiful home grown Pumpkin

You will remember that Carol, my friend who lives in Underberg, stayed with me during her recent  chemo and radiation therapy, she managed to pop home to Underberg and her beloved hubby, Mikey on the odd weekends.  As soon as the nurses at the Oncology Centre had pulled that needle out on a Friday, Carol was in her bakkie and racing back home.  What a super star she was hey!  Anyway, I digress!  Carol would arrive back at my house on a Monday  morning with half of the contents of her considerable veggie garden and every single egg that her various breeds of ducks and chickens had lain!  Not to mention half of Pucketty’s and litres of honey from Peels Honey!

She bought back a beautiful home grown pumpkin sometime in April and I have been waiting for the inspiration fairies to whack me over the head with their wands ever since.   A quick stop at the German deli up in Balgowan yielded a stash of awesome Bokwurst and Kasegrillers, a sublime authentic ‘Jawol Mein Her” Apfelstrudel – an even more sublime Potato Bread – and an authentic un-glazed brazier for my Tagine from the ceramicist next door to the German deli.  I have been looking for one of these forever!  I could hardly contain myself and have cooked on it twice already.

The obvious choice became a Pumpkin Tagine with which I would make a hearty winter soup.  I used a recipe from a book that I bought recently.  ‘The Food of Morocco’ – a journey for food lovers by Tess Mallos, is pretty much a generic version of the same book that is printed with different covers.

Kami and I also stopped at the Nottingham Road Brewery at Rawdons in Nottingham Road for a beer tasting session.  I have never enjoyed beer very much but my pallet seems to be changing and I quaffed down four of the famous brews with great enjoyment.  I bought a selection of their finest and a round of their Pickled Pig Cheese to make a nice beer bread to accompany this soup.

El cook book!

I used a Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Stew recipe as a guideline only, opting to replace the sweet potato with granny smith apples for a bit of a counterpoint for the sweet honey roasted pumpkin.

 

 

Pumpkin and Apple
Tagine

Based on the Pumpkin
and sweet potato stew recipe from the book

The Food of Morocco pg. 84

Serves 6

Ingredients

100ml olive oil or 60g butter

2 onions chopped medium size

4 cloves of sliced garlic

3 granny smith apples – peeled, cored and cut into chunks.

½ pumpkin or butternut squash – peeled and cut into chunks

1 cinnamon stick

1tsp ground ginger – I didn’t have any so I used preserved stem ginger in syrup

1tsp ground turmeric

1Tbs honey

2tsp of Harissa Paste – or ½tsp of ground cayenne pepper

500ml chicken or vegetable stock for the tagine

An additional 500ml to liquidise the cooked Pumpkin in.

A pinch of saffron threads

Salt and pepper to taste

2 sprigs of rosemary

200ml fresh cream

Chopped pumpkin, apple and onion.

Method

Make a fire in your
brazier if you have one – if you don’t use a heavy based pot on the top of your
stove and once all of your ingredients are in put a lid on and bake it in the
oven.

Light your coals in the brazier.

Once the coals are
white place you tagine on the brazier

Once your coals have turned white they are ready to cook on!

Soften the onion and garlic in the oil – add the ginger, turmeric, cayenne pepper or harissa paste
and fry for 5 minutes.    The spicy aromas are just wonderful.

Soften the garlic and onions in oil or butter.

Add a pinch of saffron
threads and your choice of either chicken or vegetable stock.

Bring to the boil and
then add your chunks of apple, pumpkin, honey, salt and pepper to taste and
give the tagine a good stir.  Place the
lid on and cook until the pumpkin and apple are soft.

On my little fire
this took about 2 hours – I did add a few extra coals after about an hour to
get the heat up again.

Once your veggies are
nice and soft – liquidise with the extra stock and fresh cream.

The pumpkin and apple are cooked, the stock has reduced and is ready to liquidise.

Serve with nice hot
and crusty bread.  I made a loaf of beer
bread with the Nottingham Road Brewery Pickled Pig Porter – a dark milk stout and
will post that recipe on Wednesday.

Beer bread photographed as the sun was setting.

Spicy Apple & Pumpkin Moroccan Soup served with a sprinkle of Dukkah.

Dukkah is a mix or seeds and spices that originates in Egypt and adds a nice crunch and

spicy aromas to your soup.

Dukkah.

At the rate I am
going today, this is going to have to be a Meat Free Tuesday recipe!

In fact I think that I will post this tomorrow and put up my answers to Pink Polka Dots weekly quiz.

PS: Well – I am only getting around to posting today!  So this is a Meat Free Wednesday Post!

Just heard that Sardines have been spotted on the South Coast!

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

jan

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by janicetripepi

Easy Roasted Wild Boar … Asterix Food

July 13, 2012 in Indian Recipes, Lamb .... cooking with Lamb, Pasta Recipes, Roasts, Wild Boar, Winter Meals

7 Comments »

I am loving the Captcha Code function that WordPress/ food24 have installed for us to post comments on other peoples blogs.  Ever since the change over from Letterdash I have battled and battled to post any comments.  I am a bit verbose in this department and tend to leave long responses. My study walls have started crumbling from all the swearing and insults that have been squeezed out of my clenched jaw every time I saw that blinking ERROR 455 message pop up on my screen.  It got so bad that I just stopped commenting – I was still reading posts but couldn’t face another error code! My apologies to you all as I must have appeared to be ignoring your blogs, but I would have needed to wear Max’s mouth guard in order to survive another error code with my teeth and jaw intact.

My freezer has been groaning at the hinges of late.   Italians love to hunt and as soon as the season opens my nephews and friends have a habit of arriving with oversized cuts of hunted meat for me to cook and I couldn’t be more grateful.  The time had come to ease the meaty burden on the drawers and get some of the meat out of the freezer onto the table.

Tuesday morning I all but dove into the beast and pulled out the first piece of meat my hands touched a la Pot Luck! Out came a fair sized boulder of something.  The label had fallen off and all I could do was wait patiently for it to defrost and to take it from there.

To my utter delight it turned out to be a nice piece of Wild Boar.  I love game meat and decided to roast it Ragu style.     Italians approach most roasts in this manner, preferring to cook long and slow in a fragrant bath of herbs and wine.  This is man food – whole and hearty and Asterix would just love this!

I had a fair amount left over which I hid away from Max in the freezer and today I am chopping it up nice and fine and making fresh ravioli with it for our dinner tonight!

Wild Boar Ragu

Roasted Wild Boar  Ragu Style

Ragu di Cinghiale

So what is a Ragu, basically it’s a large piece of meat cooked in a tomato based sauce with all
the aromatics and flavourings such as the Holy Trinity made up of carrot, celery and onion.   This is not the sort
of method you would cook a piece of fillet in but rather a nice muscly shoulder, neck or leg roast with plenty of connective tissue that will morph into glutinous heaven with a little love and care.

You can use this method  of cooking with all meats and would just adjust the flavouring to best
compliment the meat.

What a beautiful meat this Wild Boar is.

Ingredients

1 Roast of Wild Boar – leg or shoulder

Olive oil

2 large onions  chopped to a medium dice

6 cloves of garlic  finely chopped

2 carrots peeled and  cut on the diagonal into 2 inch lengths – I used 4 large carrots as I served the
carrot with the roast.  You can do this if you wish.

2 stalks of celery  cut into two pieces – this makes it easy to remove them from the sauce before
serving.

100g pancetta or  smoked streaky bacon cut into a dice

2 large sprigs of  fresh rosemary

3 bay leaves

8 juniper berries

1 400g tin of
peeled tomatoes – place them in a bowl and crush them up by hand

2 glasses of good red  wine to deglaze your pan with

400ml of good chicken  stock

Pepper to taste

Method

Roasting is all about getting maximum flavour out of each ingredient and keeping it in the pan or  pot.

Pre-heat your oven to  220 degrees.

In a heavy based pot  or pan (that can go into the oven) heat your olive oil and brown the pancetta
or bacon, onions and garlic with the rosemary.

Remove from the pot  to a bowl

Pat the meat dry with a towel and add to the pot and brown the meat on all sides and set aside in the
bowl with the onions.

You will have loads  of caramelisation or browning on the bottom of the pan.  Add the wine to pot and using a wooden spoon
scrape all of the flavour off the bottom of the pot while the alcohol cooks out
of the wine.  If you don’t like to cook  with wine, you can use the chicken stock to get all of the flavour off the
bottom of the pot.

Add the crushed  tomatoes, chicken stock, carrots, onions, celery, meat, bay leaves and juniper
berries back into the pot.  Add the  pepper and taste the sauce and adjust your seasoning to suit your taste.

Make sure that your  meat is submerged in the sauce.  If it’s  not, add some boiling water, you can always reduce the sauce down at the end of
cooking if it’s too thin.  The last thing you want is a piece of dried out meat!

Make sure that the meat is covered with sauce to prevent it from drying out.

Now your cooking time  is dependent on the size of your piece of meat.
I would say that this roast was about 1kg and it took about 2 and a bit
hours to cook to the desired tenderness.

I always put the meat  in at a high heat, around 220 degrees  for 40 minutes and then reduce the heat right
down to 160 degrees for an hour – take the roast out of the oven and check it –
if the meat is falling apart then it’s done.  If not, reduce the heat to 150 degrees and cook for another half an hour
or so.  The meat in a Ragu must be  falling apart.  So just keep going until
it’s falling apart and the sauce is a deep rich pool of flavour.

I recently cooked a  leg of mutton that was enormous and it took close to five hours to get it to
the state of tenderness that I wanted.  Roasting is like that – long and slow and your home is filled with the
wonderful aromas that only a roast can impart.

Patience pays off!

Once it’s cooked  transfer the meat – which will just fall apart when you touch it, to a serving
platter.  Taste your sauce and adjust the  seasoning, remove the carrots and celery.
If the sauce is too thin, just boil it until you get the consistency
that you want.

And that’s it – as easy
as anything.

I served this with wilted
garlic and lemon baby spinach, oven baked potatoes and the carrots from the  sauce!

I just had to share  these pics of Patrick our gardener, enjoying a mug of Rasam, the spicy Indian
Soup that I posted on Tuesday.

Patrick enjoying a mug of Rasam.

Patrick our gardener has a cold and enjoyed a nice big mug of this yesterday!

If you have a cold or  the flue – this exotic blend of tamarind and spices will sort you out!

More Roast Recipes

Rack of Lamb with an Indian Spiced Crust and Baked Spiced Potatoes

or perhaps you are expecting a crowd this weekend, this is the Italian Version of the Mac and Cheese,

it’s called Pasta al Forno and is guaranteed to warm hungry tummies and put smiles on dials!

 I will post the  ravioli that I am making with the left over Wild Boar Ragu next week.

As always

Buon Appetito

xxx

jan

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by janicetripepi

Rasam, the Indian Cure For a Cold.

July 10, 2012 in Healing Foods, Indian Recipes, Soups, Winter Meals

6 Comments »

I am a firm believer in healing foods.   On the odd occasion that sleep eludes me I head straight for a glass of hot milk loaded with honey and cinnamon.  If any of your babies suffered from colic, you will probably still, like me, be having flash backs to those endless sleepless nights when my only comfort came from a cup of strong camomile tea with honey.  It calmed both Daniele and I when the going got tough!

Rasam is an Indian soup that is wonderful for clearing blocked sinuses and relieving congested chests when winter colds strike.  It’s fiery and hot and sour and is just the ticket when your ‘dose’ just won’t’ clear. There are as many versions of this dish as there are days in the year and this recipe comes from a friend of mine who used to work with me at Childline.

We worked in an old Victorian house in Morningside, Durban and the telephone counselling line was based in an office that rarely saw any sun.  In winter, a few hours of telephone counselling in those conditions, coupled with the flu, one needed some instant relief to clear a stuffy nose and thick head.  Josh would send a flask of this to us on such occasions.

This South Indian Rasam is quick to make but warms you up instantly and clears your nasal passages rendering you ready and able to carry on for the rest of your day.   In Durban you can buy packets of mixed spices (black mustard, whole peppercorns and cumin seeds) ready mixed as this is a common cure all in our parts and ti’s known as King Soup mix.

Rasam

Hot & Spicy Sweet & Sour Rasam

Such wonderfully fragranced ingredients.

Ingredients

1 packet of King Soup mix – dry roasted in a pan and ground to a powder (this mix is made up of approx4Tbs of whole cumin,

 2Tbs black mustard seeds and 1Tbs whole pepper corns)

1 inch ginger,

4 cloves of garlic,

2Tbs of Dhania / Coriander stems

2Tbs of Ghee or clarified butter

2 dried red chillies

1tsp mustard seeds

1 sprig of curry leaves

½ tsp ground turmeric

1tsp salt

2Tbs brown sugar – this is according to my taste preference so adjust to your taste buds

1 block of tamarind, soaked in ½ cup warm water

½ onion finely chopped

6 large tomatoes, blanched and finely chopped or liquidisedif you prefer a smooth soup

I generally use a few fresh tomatoes and a small tin ofpeeled tomatoes.

 

Method

Place the block of tamarind in a bowl with 1/2 cup of warm water to soak and set aside.

Soak the tamarind in water to enable you to strain out the pips.

Dry roast your King Soup Mix in a pan and then grind to a powder in a spice mill or, if you are feeling like Superwoman,

 in a pestle & mortar.

 

In a heavy based pot –
heat the ghee/ clarified butter up to a high temperature

Heat your butter and skim off the milk solids with

Heat your butter and skim off the milk solids with

 Add the dried red chillies, curry leaves and mustard seeds and fry for 1 minute.

Fry the mustard seeds, dry chillies and curry leaves in the ghee.

The mustard seeds
will start popping – as soon as this happens add the onion and fry for one
minute, then combine your roasted ground spices with the finely choppedgarlic, ginger and coriander
stems mixed to a paste with a drop of water and add ½ tsp of ground turmeric.

Frying the paste will release all the flavours and aromas.

 Fry  for a two minutes then add the tomato and 2 – 3 cups of water.

Add the tomato and 2 - 3 cups of water.

Stir in the drained
Tamarind pulp and season to taste with salt and sugar.

Pass the soaked Tamarind pulp through a sieve into the tomato mixture.

Bring to the boil and
skim any impurities off the top.

Patrick our gardener has a cold and enjoyed a nice big mug of this yesterday!

Serve, either in a
bowl or a mug topped with some fresh chopped coriander and a few curry leaves.

Patrick, our gardener has been battling flu for a few weeks and he really enjoyed a mug of this to clear his chest yesterday.

It’s hot and spicy and sweet and sour and very comforting.  I did some research on the internet and found another recipe that

includes some dhal (lentils) – I have never eaten this version of this dish but am keen to give it a go.

I am sharing some pics of my orchids with you - they live in my garden and thrive in all types of weather.

 Every year I am rewarded with magnificent

sprays of different coloured and different types of orchids ….

Chocolate brown beauties!

A girlfriend and I spent last Saturday galloping around the Midlands Meander.

I am so excited that I found this terracota fire stand for my tagine – I have a beautiful pumpkin that Carol gave me from her

garden patiently waiting for some loving – I shall try and build a fire in it today and cook the pumpkin Moroccan style for a hearty winter soup.

Wish me luck!

As always

Have a great day and

Buon Appetito

xxx

jan

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by janicetripepi

Meatfree Monday: Italian Minestrone della Nonna.

April 23, 2012 in Meatfree Mondays, Pesto's, Soups, Winter Meals

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Nothing swells this Mamma’s heart more than a request for one of my recipes.  Daniele has just given up smoking and is on a health and fitness drive.

Minestrone topped with Basil Peso & Parmesan Cheese

 

 His darling of a girlfriend Suzanne, is mindful of eating too much meat, doesn’t smoke and is the gentle and supportive hand that is holding his as he climbs this mountain.  

Daniele is very much a chip off the old block and can be a bit extravagant in the kitchen and rarely looks at the cost of food in the supermarket.  But this is all changing and he has asked me to post three cost effective budget soup recipes.  He particularly asked me to start off with my minestrone recipe which is just so versatile and one of his favourites.  I ALWAYS have frozen bags of this in my freezer ready and waiting to warm someone’s tummy together with a jar of basil pesto in my fridge with which to anoint it with.

Nonna would tell me how Minestrone was the backbone of Italy in the war years and mostly served her minestrone with a little cooked pasta in it.  The joy of minestrone is that, with just a little tweaking you can change its identity and texture into three different dishes.  Max, aka. Mr Smith is not as keen on vegetables as his brother and minestrone was my secret veggie weapon when he was a little boy.  He loved it – bursting with every single veggie on the planet! All I had to do was liquidise it with a dash of cream and Max would gobble down bucket loads of it.  He would take the inside of a bread roll and roll it into little blobs , plonk them into his soup and proclaim that he had found a prawn in his soup!!  He still does this…..

 

Minestrone

1 Large Pot will feed 20 people

Now Daniele, remember that you are going to be making a big pot of this soup so you can freeze portions for another day.  You should get at least 20 – 25 portions of soup from this recipe.   I know that there are loads of veggies here, but there is no meat in this dish so cost wise this is a real winner.  The more veggies the more flavour – it’s a simple as that and your broth is perfect to make a nice cheesey Stracciatella soup with. 

You must have a good vegetable market somewhere in Cape Town – or look for a good early Saturday Morning Farmers Market.  You will get great, fresh vegetables at a good price.   Buy in bulk; you can make a great Red Thai Vegetable Curry with what you have left over.

 

Ingredients

Chop, slice & dice all your ingredients in advance.

Onions – at least 2

Garlic -

Celery – use the whole stick with the leaves.

Green Beans

Carrots

Asparagus

Cabbage

Peas

Butternut

Smoked Paprika, Oregano, Italian Herbs, Pepper & Bay Leaves ready for the pot.

 

Broccoli

Tomatoes

Spinach

2Tbs of Tomato Paste

1Tbs smoked Paprika

1Tbs dried Oregano

1Tbs Black Pepper

2 bay leaves

6 vegetable or chicken stock cubes

Fresh herbs – as many as you like, I grow parsley, thyme and rosemary in my garden so generally always add them.

Salt

2Tbs of Tomato Paste.

 

 

 

Method

Wash, peel and cut your vegetable into bite sized pieces or smaller. In a large heavy bottomed pot heat some olive oil and brown your garlic and onions.  Add all of your herbs and spices together with your tomato paste and fry for another 2 minutes then add two cups of dry white wine. 

Brown your garlic & onions then add all of the aromatics and fry for a further 2 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don’t cook with wine, use two cups of vegetable stock.  When you add the wine or stock, use a wooden spoon to scrape all the caramelisation off the bottom of the pot.  Once all of the alcohol has cooked off, add all of your chopped veggies and cover with water.  Check for seasoning – I always add some extra salt and often use my flavoured salts either in the pot or on top when I serve the soup. 

Stir the veggies well before adding the stock.

 

 Bring the pot to the boil then reduce slightly and cook until all of your veggies are cooked.   Check for seasoning.  As I make a really big pot I always have to add some extra salt and pepper to get the flavour just right.

Bring to the boil and reduce and simmer for 40 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

Serving Suggestions

Serve with a good dollop of basil pesto and some freshly grated Parmesan Cheese.

 

Serve with a good dollop of basil pesto, grated Parmesan Cheese and some toasted Ciabbata bread.

Cook a handful of pasta separately and add to your Minestrone just before serving

Liquidise some Minestrone and add a dash of fresh cream to transform it into a Cream of Minestrone soup – serve with some feta cheese crumbled on top.

Stracciatella, for 1 person.  Strain off some minestrone broth.  In a bowl beat one egg, 1Tbs water and 2Tbs of parmesan cheese together.  Bring the broth to a rolling boil and pour in the beaten egg & cheese mixture in a thin steady stream from quite a height.  As you pour in the egg whisk the broth so the egg forms ‘the stracciatella” which means little rags in Italian.

 

Two other Meat Free Monday Soup Recipes to try!

Roasted Red Pepper, Brinjal & Tomato Soup with Naked Little Dumplings!

Roasted Tomato, Brinjal & Red Pepper soup topped with Spinach & Ricotta Gnudi ... little Italian dumplings.

 Meat Free Monday: French Onion Soup and Taglietelle Alfredo.

French Onion Soup topped with grilled Crusty Bread & Gruyere cheese.

 Today I am making a pot of Nonna’s Pea & Pancetta Soup with Rice, another winter warmer.

I just had to share this pic with you .... I found this little lady on my basil when I was gathering it to make pesto the other day. Isn't she gorgeous!

As always

Buon Appetito

Xxx

jan

 

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by janicetripepi

Lights, Camera, Action … Cooking up a Storm with I Love Cooking.

April 20, 2012 in Breakfasts, Chicken Dishes, Desserts, Janice Tripepi, Pasta Recipes, Pesto's, Sapori - Pasta Recipes, Sapori chapter 2 - The Breakfast Club, Uncategorized, Winter Meals

12 Comments »

 

Pesche Affogate … peaches poached in Italian Sparkling Wine, Lambrusco.

I don’t know why I bothered to go to bed really.  I hardly slept a wink, switching the television off and on several times in an effort to hypnotise myself into Lalla Land with some benign late night news.  I must have nodded off from sheer exhaustion at around 3.30 am and at 4.00am was awake again. I dragged myself to the kitchen and made some tea, as I boiled the kettle I was I was giving myself a jolly good talking to.  I needed to get my nerves in check and I wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

You know that all is not well when your own reflection in the bathroom mirror frightens you and I was arriving at the grim realisation that the situation had become critical.  My eyes looked like two profiteroles glued to my face and cucumber slices were all I could think of.  I lay down on the couch and closed my eyes to think about it all and examine my feeling.   My ‘light bulb’ moment struck like lightning and I sat bolt upright, energy coursing through my whole body.

This was not Fear I was feeling – it was Excitement!  In a moment I realised that this was the excitement that nine year old Janice felt the night before her birthday.  Excitement!  That’s what it was, pure and utter nine year old excitement and joyous anticipation.  Suddenly the day that had loomed like a spectre rolled out like a red carpet at my feet.  I was up bathing, shaving, coiffing and Polyfillering the cracks.  I donned my Dorothy shoes, clicked my heels together and was off on a wondrous adventure.

Anne Meyers’s beautiful home in the Strand is all but surrounded by the most magnificent beach.  The sea was gentle and sparkled in the early morning sun.  I was aware that the Two Blondes of Two Blondes and a Redhead were doing their utmost to keep me calm and relaxed.  The lighting, sound and camera crew moved silently and in unison as they weaved an intricate web of cables.  I refused breakfast, preferring to cook on an empty tummy thus ensuring plates of delicious and desirable food that I would definitely want to eat.   My questions were answered by Michelle, my face freshened up with some make-up and before I knew it I heard Anne’s “do as I tell you or I will vliksem you’ confident and commanding voice deliver the iconic phrase, “Lights, camera and Action!”

Anne warned me that an adrenalin rush would render me paralysed and it did!  I stood staring at the cameras like a stunned mullet but in no time, in the safety of my sanctuary, the kitchen, I was off like a Springbok winger.  With her encouragement and direction I soon relaxed and felt safe.  I had the most fantastic day cooking and feeding the incredibly patient and kind crew who were very keen to learn some Italian cooking tricks and recipes with which to impress girlfriends and who woofed down some taglietelle with a prawn and chorizo sauce with such gusto.

It’s not easy to watch yourself in action and I know that if I get a second chance I will be 100% improved in both delivery and confidence.  We cooked and cooked and cooked until 6pm at which time a glass of wine was placed in my hand by Michelle as I flopped into a comfy armchair and we all relaxed and had a good laugh at my many faux pas! 

I have never won any first prizes for my blog or for my cooking but on that hot summer’s day in Cape Town did I ever feel like a winner.  I realise that not everyone will ‘get’ me or my blogging style and content and I am completely comfortable with that.  Being in the public spotlight is both challenging and  ‘interesting’ and I am way more comfortable championing other people’s blogs or causes than my own.   But, I guess that I have chosen to put myself out there by blogging publically and must take the praise with the criticism, stand steadfast and stay true to myself. As they say, and in this case never a truer word was spoken, “If you can’t take the heat then stay out of the kitchen.” 

 

My ‘I Love Cooking” Day Menu

Click on any of these links below to see me in action and get the recipes for these Italian favourites.

Basil Pesto

There are just so many Italian dishes that you can use a good Basil Pesto in.

 

Basil pesto is perfect for crostini, Insalata Caprese and Pasta dishes.

Hand Made Pasta

Do you have a pasta machine gathering dust in your kitchen – making fresh pasta is incredibly easy, cost effective and tastes wonderful!

How to make fresh Taglietelle.

Involtini di Pollo al Marsala

This is an easy to make Italian favourite.  Chicken Breast Stuffed with Parma ham, tangy and easy melting Fontina cheese and Asparagus, cooked in a creamy Marsala Wine sauce.

Creamy Fontina Chees oozing out of the Stuffed Chicken Breast.

The Italian Bunny Ciao!

This is the standard Tripepi hangover cure – a crusty bread roll baked with and egg and pancetta or bacon filling with herbs. 

Sugo di Scampi

A weekend favourite, a fresh tomato based pasta sauce bursting with the flavours of succulent prawns and spicy chorizo sausage.

Spicy Chorizo and Prawn Pasta served with fresh Taglietelle.

Pesche Affogate in Lambrusco

Dreamy peaches poached in a spiced Red Lambrusco Sparkling wine served with vanilla mascarpone and crushed amaretti.

Spicy Poached Peaches with vanilla Mascarpone & Amaretti.

 

I hope you try some of these delish Italian dishes this beautiful autumn weekend.

 

My heartfelt thanks to you again and your incredible crew Anne & Michelle, for the faith you have shown in both my blog and my cooking.  

Thanks to the editors who have done a superb job and I am only too glad they didn’t include all my bloopers!!! Hehehe ….

 

 I loved every minute of it!

As always

Buon Appetito

Jan

xxx

 

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by janicetripepi

Salsiccia e Polenta .. A Romantic Venetian Dinner.

April 18, 2012 in Polenta, Pork Recipes, Venetian Food, Winter Meals

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Salsice e Polenta .... a Venetian Memory!

As our water taxi chugged and puffed its way around the last corner she came into full view and my heart leapt, it honestly nearly leapt right out of my chest.   I must have stopped breathing for a few seconds as I remember catching my breath in a dizzying gasp, and from that very moment I fell hopelessly in love with her ….. And have been ever since.  

Venice is like a magnificent jewel incrusted Baroque ring perched on the index finger of an impossibly beautiful masqued courtesan.  She is an enigma of churches, cupola’s, canals and piazzas that seem to cling to each other for dear life.  A million facades, even more balconies holding even more secrets in their shadows.

I yearn for Venice and her bars, cafe’s, frito misto’s, pasta e fagioli, polenta’s and food markets.  I had occasion to partake in the first European Conference of Crisis Lines for Abused Children when I was working for Childline in Durban.  My director and I didn’t have a small budget, we had NO budget!  We stayed in a 16th Century Monastery on the small island just off Venice free of charge, and lived on freshly sliced prosciutto’s and salumi, beautiful plump flavoured olives, warm crusty Italian cornetti which are all but hollow bread rolls and what we ate dozens of what we affectionately called “Ferrari’s”, which were the reddest tomatoes you will ever see – this all shopped from the market in Venice.  We ate like Queens!

I shall pass on one sage piece of advice to you.  If you visit Venice, don’t make the same mistake that TrickyRicky and I did.  We chose to stay in a hotel that backed on to St Mark’s Square and as the bells of St Mark’s Cathedral pealed ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT -  wardrobe doors flew open, draws jumped out of their comfy nights stands and our bed hopped across the floor!  By the morning we woke up somewhere near the door!  But Oh my madumbi’s is she the most beautiful and romantic city in the whole world!

Salsice E Polenta

This is a hearty Autumnal dish that celebrates the ‘fruits’ of the early half of the Italian hunting season, plump Italian sausages and another of

A selection of exotic mushrooms add flavour and texture to this dish.

Venice’s prized favourites, Polenta.  My rendition of this dish includes a selection of exotic mushrooms and small side bowl of my

Truffle & Porcini Mushroom Finishing Salt

 

Dried Porcini & Truffle Oil Finishing Salt.

Ingredients

 

Italian Sausages, Pancetta, Lardo, Mushrooms, Onion & Rosemary.

150g Pancetta or Smoked Streaky Bacon chopped into bite sized pieces or lardons

150g Lardo or Pork Fat chopped into bite sized pieces or lardons

1 packet – 8 Italian Sausages – or your favourite Sausage

200g mushrooms

2 onions finely chopped

1Tbs finely chopped garlic

4 sprigs of fresh Rosemary

2 glasses of dry white wine

 

Method

Place a heavy bottomed pot on your stove on a medium/hot heat and add the chopped pancetta and lardo and gently fry.  This releases the fat from the pancetta, now add your sausages and fry for about 4 minutes until they are lightly browned on both sides.

 

Once your pancetta and lardo are browned and have released their fat add the sausages.

Remove the bacon and sausages and set aside.  Now you will see that the bottom of your pot is covered in the caramelisation from the meat – this is where your sauce is going to get all its flavour from.

Add the garlic, onion and rosemary and fry until the onions are golden, then add your mushrooms and fry for two minutes.Add back the sausages and

Add in the mushrooms and fry for two minutes

bacon, season with a little salt and plenty of black pepper and fry with the onions for 2 minutes.  Don’t go wild with the salt as the pancetta and lardo are quite salty.

So the secret here is to TASTE your food, before adding the salt and pepper.

Add your wine, cook until the alcohol had cooked off and then put the lid on and leave to cook for 25 minutes.

Add the dry white wine and cook with the lid off for 3 minutes to allow all of the alcohol to evaporate.  Use a wooden spoon to scrape all of the nice flavour off the bottom of your pot into your sauce while the alcohol is cooking off. 

Once all the alcohol has cooked off, pop the lid on and reduce to a very gently simmer for 25 minutes when it will be ready.

If you don’t like to cook with wine, you can deglaze the pan with a little vegetable or chicken stock. 

Italian sausages are very thick – so if you substitute with a thinner sausage eg. pork sausage or boerewors, I would suggest that you reduce the cooking time to 15 minutes.

 

 

 

Polenta

Feeds 6 people

Buttery Yellow Polenta.

This is Italy’s version of our South African staple, Mielie Meal.  Polenta is produced from yellow sweet corn as opposed to the white Mielie which is why is has such a beautiful soft yellow hue.

The rule of thumb here is 1 part polenta to 4 parts water and 1 cup of polenta will easily feed 6 people.

Ingredients

Add parmesan or pecorino cheese for flavour.

1 large cup of Polenta

3 cups of water

100g butter

1 cup of fresh cream

2 stock cubes

1 cup of grated parmesan cheese or pecorino cheese.

 

Method

My apologies for a lack of picture here – once the polenta is in the pot you must not stop stirring or your polenta will get lumpy – so picture taking was impossible.

Bring the 3 cups of water with the two stock cubes and butter to the boil.

Bring the water, chicken stock and butter to the boil.

Very slowly add the Polenta in a steady stream whilst stirring the pot constantly with a whisk.

Once all the polenta is in, keep stirring and add the cup of fresh cream and stir the polenta constantly for 4 minutes.  This is a great workout for your biceps!

That’s it!  Ready.

Pronto a tavola!

 

The polenta is traditionally poured onto a large wooden board and left for 5 minutes to cool slightly then it’s cut into portions using a piece of cotton.  Alternatively place one ladle of polenta into the centre of your plate and top it with two sausages and some sauce.

Polenta cut into portions on a board.

This is quite a rich dish so a man’s portion would be two sausages and a woman’s portion would be one.

 

Using a piece of cotton to cut the polenta into portions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TrickyRicky's Dinner Plate last nigh .....

 

Have a great Wednesday.

As always

Buon Appetito

Jan

xx

 

 

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