Cotechino Ravioli & Lentils

A twist on the wonderful cotechino and lentil holiday dish.

1 pasta for ravioli
1 cotechino
ricotta
parmesan
1 egg
1 cup lentils
very finely chopped onion, carrot, celery, courgette
minced garlic
3 cup broth
half cup white wine
1 bay leaf
maldon sea salt
ground black pepper
3 tblsp chopped tinned tomatoes
minced parsely

1. make lentil sauce by first sauteing the veggies and bay leaf then garlic
2. once translucent, add lentils, tomatoes, white wine
3. let wine evaporate a bit before adding stock and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until lentils are soft
4. put a couple tblsp of lentils aside, remove bay leaf, blitz the remaining lentils until smooth; should be a smooth sauce
5. make stuffing by breaking up the cotechino into small pieces, fold in ricotta, egg, salt and pepper; add parmesan so that stuffing is relatively dry
6. make pasta until you reach the 7 setting
7. make ravioli
8. heat lentil sauce, boil ravioli until 3/4 done
9. combine with lentil sauce, heat through some more
10. serve on heated plates with more parmesan, sprinkle of parsley

Celeriac Miso Veloute

I only had a celeriac and some onions, and it was a good opportunity to make use of my miso too. I think the pistachios are a nice touch.

1 celeriac
1 white onion
1 tblsp miso
chopped pistachios
EVOO
maldon sea salt
ground black pepper
good quality chicken stock

1. saute onions and celeriac in EVOO
2. add miso, then stock
3. whiz hard
4. serve in a tea cup with a drizzle of EVOO and pistachios 

Sea Urchin Bottarga Spaghetti

A recipe from the friendly Brit chef at Cepe in Beijing. He kindly explained his method of making seafood pasta. The trick for him is using crushed shallots and garlic marinated in EVOO overnight. When this hits the hot pan, it simply melts. It also helps to emulsify the sauce being prepared. Love it.

crushed garlic
crushed shallots
minced anchovies
clam broth
fish broth
fresh sea urchin
fresh bottarga

1. prepare home-made clam and fish broth ahead of time; note that the clam broth is made with white wine
2. boil spaghetti
3. saute garlic, shallots and anchovies, add clam broth to emulsify; add just a bit of fish sauce to taste
4. drain pasta when done, reserving a bit of pasta water
5. add pasta to pan, along with pasta water
6. stir on high heat until pasta is well coated
7. grate bottarga over pasta, stir very quickly and serve into heated bowls
8. put a spoonful of sea urchin atop each serving

Chicken, Mayo & Anchovies

From Ben O'Donaghue. These are the flavors I love and I'd like to make this as soon as I can. He calls it poached chicken and tuna mayo salad, but it's basically a chicken tonnato. I've had veal and squid tonnato, so why not chicken too?

1 whole best quality chicken
2 spare ribs or pork bones
handful parsley stalks
4 shallots
3 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
1 tsp black peppercorn
maldon sea salt
500 gr new potatoes
8 anchovy fillets
2 tbls tiny capers
celery leaves
parsley leaves
tarragon vinegar

Tonnato
1 tin Italian tuna
3 egg yolks
1 lemon
500 ml EVOO
ground black pepper
maldon sea salt

1. wash & trim chicken of excess fat, place in pot; cover with cold water then add pork bones, parsley stalks, shallots, garlic, pricked chilli, salt and peppercorns
2. bring to simmer for five minutes, turn off
3. let stand one hour
4. remove chicken from pot and plunge into ice water to cool (reserve chicken stock for another dish)
5. make tonnato; make mayo first using eggs, EVOO and lemon; blend tuna and EVOO, fold in mayo
6. cook potatoes in salted water until tender, drain immediately and cut in half
7. dress with EVOO, splash of tarragon vinegar, add capers; keep salad warm
8. when salad ready to serve, toss the potatoes with parsley and celery leaves
9. to serve, pick the meat from the chicken, discarding the skin
10. arrange breast and thigh meat on a large white plate with the potato salad, dress with lashings of tuna mayo
11. garnish with anchovy fillets and more parsley and celery leaves

Hazelnut Torte & Zabaione

I don't have the recipe at hand, but will make a River Cafe hazelnut torte, and have Michelle make her zabaione, with a dash of white wine.

hazelnut torte
zabaione

1. make the hazelnut torte
2. when still relatively warm, make the zabaione and drizzle over the torte before serving

Crisp Apple & Bagna Cauda

Watching a Gary Rhodes in Italy re-run, in Piedmonte. They were eating bagna cauda with cardoon, but then finished it off with a nice crisp Golden Delicious. Just sounds wonderful.

Golden Delicious

Bagna Cauda

1. make a bagna cauda with oil, garlic and anchovies
2. keep apples cool, then when needed peel, core and quarter
3. put a bowl of apples on the table, with a bowl of bagna cauda and dip in

Oxtail & Membrillo

From Bilbao in Barcelona. Haven't been there but reading about it in the Nicolas Lander column. I can easily use my oxtail recipe here, and adorn it with best quality membrillo.

oxtail recipe (see Braised Whole Oxtail, November 2009)
membrillo

1. make oxtail
2. roughly scoop some membrillo onto a plate with oxtail