The Chameleon Cheese

A couple of weeks ago, I tried out a very simple recipe from my trusty Caldesi cookbook entitled solely 'Ricotta al forno' (Baked Ricotta). Basically all you need do is plonk the cheese on an oiled baking tray, stud it all over with chopped herbs and seasoning of your choice and shove it in the oven for 45-60 minutes at 180 degrees.  Katie also recommended serving it with her 'Sugo di peperoni rossi' (roasted red pepper sauce) which true to her word, made a fantastic accompaniment and also served a dual purpose as an alternative topping for the bruschetta we had  made.

Pre-forno

Post-forno

 I chose to encrust my ricotta with parsley and sage which was an agreeable combination and got me thinking about the endless possibilities for different flavour combinations with this dish. Being who I am, my thoughts jumped straight to a sweet version using nuts to replace the herbs. My first invention was a classic coffee and walnut mixture, with chopped walnuts adorning the ricotta and a coffee caramel sauce to accompany it. Somewhat over extravagantly I topped this with flecks of dark chocolate resulting in an extremely rich overall effect. Luckily a night spent ruminating in the fridge like an overexcited child on the naughty step toned it down slightly making it a lot less cloying and giving the ricotta time to absorb some of the coffee, adding a lot more depth.

The second recipe I came up with was in contrast a much lighter and refreshing take on it,  taking inspiration from a successful rose and pistachio panna cotta I made last summer. So, having smothered the ricotta with  chopped pistachios, I went about reducing some Marsala, to which I then added sliced strawberries and a couple of tablespoons of honey to form a sauce. This one not only satisfied my taste buds perfectly but also appealed to my recent Masterchef-induced quest for more aesthetically pleasing presentation, something you can see from the above photos, is not really my forte. Vaguely symmetrical, with pretty colours and a contrast of textures, my vanity was satiated with the fruitier ricotta. As is excruciatingly obvious in the images below, mine still looks awfully clumsy compared to the real deal. Alas, I think that this is just a fact that I am condemned to live with as I am far too gluttonous to be minimalist with my sauce distribution.

My creation

Masterchef creation (as if it needed pointing out)

Moving on swiftly, and running with the theme of nuts, fruit and alcohol (because it works), I'm already envisioning 'Baked ricotta with ground cardamom and a mango and tequila coulis'  for my next experiment. Mango and Cardamom, like last year's rose and pistachio combination, has its roots in India, and is a flavour combination that I fell in love with whilst working for my Dad making mango lassies at festivals. I couldn't get enough of the creamy drink then and I'm hoping that a dash of tequila will give it a nice twist.

 To be continued...

Soup Dragon Ockenden

Of late, I have become somewhat similar to the famous 'Clangers' of my childhood with my eating habits. These strange little creatures were extremely fond of a green soup provided to them by the Soup Dragon as you can see here:

Yes, soup is the order of the day and here are the recipes for my latest and rather less extra-terrestrial concoctions. In both cases, they came about as a result of having run out of other things to eat, which is a great stimulus for invention.

Orange and Red Things Soup

This is actually a very classic combination of flavours, and you can find various similar recipes for it online, from which I took inspiration,  by the likes of Jamie Oliver and Jane Hornby.

Firstly take a small handful of cumin seeds and dry-fry them with a little dried chilli. Reserve half of these to add as garnish later. Then add a little oil and about 4 grated carrots, half a tin of lentils, enough vegetable stock to allow the lentils to expand a little, a knob of butter and some seasoning (and bit of sugar if you're in a naughty mood and want to soften the chilli burn). Simmer for as long as you can be bothered to and then whizz it all up with the blender.  Serve and sprinkle the cumin you set aside earlier on the top with preferably a bit of torn up coriander but parsley also freshened it up nicely for me.

Green Stuff Soup

Start with a base of two finely chopped shallots and two finely chopped garlic cloves with oil in your pan. Once they have softened slightly add a handful of freshly chopped sage. When it starts to get dry and noisy, stand back and add a slop of Marsala wine. Follow that with a good lot of frozen peas and dregs of leftover pesto. Then add a dash of milk to make it creamy, some vegetable stock, a squeeze of lemon and a generous pinch of salt. Simmer for a while and blitz. Ideally I would have topped this with some Parmigiano Reggiano but I had run out.

Secrets at steak

Having read one of my previous entries on steak, my 'LBD' of the food world, Papa Ockenden decided to give me a helping hand with my quest for perfection in this arena. Since road-testing his suggestion, I can confirm what I knew already, that my father is a culinary genius and furthermore, a generous one at that, for I have his full permission to divulge the secret recipe in aid of better steak for everyone. As the brilliant Sipsey enigmatically says in the film 'Fried Green Tomatoes' and quoted here in a rather less cannibalistic way, 'The secret's in the sauce!'

As luck would have it, this is a ridiculously easy recipe. You need only marinate the steak in soy sauce with crushed garlic and black pepper for a minimum of twenty minutes before you cook it. Having done that, it is a simple matter of sealing the meat on both sides in  pan and then leaving to finish cooking in a warm but not hot oven for fifteen to twenty minutes depending on how you like your steak.  This will ensure that your steak remains tender yet is evenly graded throughout. You can test how rare the meat is by prodding it with your finger; for a rare steak as I prefer, don't be afraid if it has a lot of give, this is how it should be. 

Obviously it goes without saying, the better steak you buy in the first place, the more rewarding this recipe will be. Even more so if you are living in Great Britain, where it would be pertinent to buy from British farmers who are struggling more than usual with the adverse weather conditions. This should also be taken as an opportunity to appreciate the nation's rare and native breeds (neglected by commercial farmers as being not sizable or prolific enough) which are more capable of withstanding harsh winters and tend to produce a higher quality, more flavoursome meat. 

The Lincoln Red: one of Britain's oldest native breeds of beef cattle

Pasqua

From the arrival of olive standards to line Siena's streets and candle-bearing choirs beneath our windows in the evenings, to the piles of brightly cellophane-wrapped eggs in shop windows, and the availability of elaborately plaited palm crosses from the supermarket, if there is one thing the wintry weather fails to dampen, it's the irrepressible Italian Easter spirit. Whilst the 'Easter Bunny' doesn't visit in Italy, there is no shortage of tradition for 'Pasqua'. Obviously every church will hold special services and mass, but particularly the further south you venture, you will find that almost every town will have it's own celebration, many of them consisting of theatrical street parades centered on the idea of the Madonna searching for her son. 

Whilst these displays bring the community together in the streets, it is what brings the family together in the home, the food, that has unsurprisingly caught my attention. Seasonal vegetables such as artichokes, asparagus and spinach are usually used alongside some spring lamb and a variety of special tarts are made, both sweet and savoury. The savoury 'Torta Pasqualina' is made using egg, ricotta and spinach which you can salivate over if you follow Gennaro Contaldo on Twitter or Instagram (OMG he liked my photo yesterday!). I myself gave the sweet 'Pastiera Napolitana' a go, which  uses one ingredient that I had never come across before, 'grano cotto' (literally 'cooked grain') which you can buy tinned and gives a rather porridge-y texture to the tart filling, which otherwise consists of ricotta, sugar,egg yolks, candied fruit and cinnamon. There is the option of adding orange-flower water but this I declined to include on Katie Caldesi's suggestion; I too am not keen on the incense and patchouli oil olfactory connotations it brings. I wasn't all too sure about the grano cotto effect to start with, but after the third slice I was suitably convinced, and thankfully my Sicilian friend Marta assured me that it was just as it should be.

For Easter Lunch itself, I was invited to eat with friends, another Italian tradition as the saying goes, "Natale con i tuoi. Pasqua con chi vuoi" ("Christmas with your family. Easter with who you  want"). Consisting of a perfectly cooked roast chicken with potatoes and caramelised onions and garlic cloves, a traditional Italian spinach tart and a salad for our main course, we were overwhelmed with good food before we even reached dessert. This consisted of a delicious 'Macedonia' and the traditional Easter cake, the 'Colomba di Pasqua' which is like a sweeter, moister version of the Christmas Panettone or Pandoro.  I loved the pearl sugar and almond topping that this dove-shaped cake has, along with the inclusion of candied peel inside. We finished off by breaking open the giant egg I had been given (Thank you Sam!) to find the surprise inside (an Indiana Jones themed ruler!) and sipping on the Italian after-dinner digestif named 'Amaro' which although forewarned by it's title, I found altogether too bitter to drink neat. 

Today, 'Pasquetta', is beautifully sunny and I'm hoping that it really will signify a 'rebirth' and the start of Spring. As expected by the general populus here, I will be doing nothing except enjoying just being on this national holiday and wishing you all a belated 'Buona Pasqua!'

#Photo by Gennaro Contaldo http://instagram.com/p/XecxUoNGst/
#'The Italian Cookery Course' by Katie Caldesi
#http://www.delallo.com/articles/easter-pasqua-lunch
#http://goitaly.about.com/od/festivalsandevents/a/easter.htm