member blog: latavolamarche
latavolamarche
From
Piobbico, Le Marche, Italy
Member since
24th Mar 2009
About
Jason & Ashley are 2 young American expats living in the countryside of Le Marche, Italy! We own an Agriturismo (farmhouse inn) & Cooking School. Jason my husband is a Professional Chef from NYC. We now live the good life - eating locally & seasonally in Italy among the rolling hills, farmland, truffles & wild boars!!
http://latavolamarche.blogspot.com
latavolamarche's blog posts
Heavenly Artichoke Risotto
Tue 23 Feb 2010GENERAL BLOG
Overflowing crates of artichokes fill the market streets - a sure sign that Spring is on its way! So what to do with these edible flowers - try one of my favs - artichoke risotto. We love to serve this for Easter feasts as well! If artichokes seem a bit overwhelming & you wonder where to begin?! Look no further: The Art of the 'Choke (Cleaning Artichokes)
This recipe takes about an hour total time & yes - you've gotta stir the risotto constantly. It's a labor of love & your work won't go unnoticed (hence the clean bowls!) You'll find some recipes with short-cuts however to really get the creamy chewy consistency you must work the starch from the rice & that means good old fashion elbow-grease!
Artichoke Risotto
Risotto di Carciofi
Serves 6
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove
8 fresh artichoke
5 cups or so fresh vegetable stock
3/4 cup dry white wine
scant 2 cups risotto rice - Arborio or Carnaroli are best
salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese
Start by cleaning your artichokes (click here for help) and soaking them in lemon water.
Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion & garlic and cook for 10 minutes or so over med-low heat with out browning.
Chop up your artichokes and saute them slowly until tender - so you could mush with a fork.
Add a couple of spoonfuls of vegetable stock to help the process along and keep from browning the 'chokes.
Now raise the heat, add the rice and saute for a minute or two. Add in the wine and let it cook out a bit.
Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, bring the stock to a boil in another pan.
Add a ladle-full of the hot stock and cook, stirring, until it has been absorbed into the rice.
Continue adding the stock, a ladle-full at a time, constantly stirring until each addition has been absorbed. This will take 18-20 minutes.
When the rice is al'dente, turn off the heat, add in a handful or two of graded cheese and give the rice one more stir, check seasoning. Rice should be thick & creamy but not runny. Cover the pot and allow the rice to sit for a couple of minutes.
To serve, spoon the rice into the bowls and sprinkle with parmesan, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately.
Buy a couple of extra chokes’ and You can top the dish with a couple of the hearts steamed or boiled separately.
Now MANGIA!! Serve immediately.
http://latavolamarche.blogspot.com/2010 … sotto.html
Pasta Sauce of the Mont: Norcina ~ Rich & Creamy
Tue 09 Feb 2010GENERAL BLOG
For a richly flavored creamy sauce with sausage - it can't get much easier than this! Plus it pairs perfectly with store bought dry pasta (we recommend rigatoni or penne). If you have access to fresh truffles, you can shave a few ribbons over the top to transform this rustic dish to something exquisite!
Most of you know this sauce as Norcina - but at our house we affectionately call it - pasta di Rossana in honor of our dear friend who first taught Jason this simple winter sauce! We'd arrive for dinner with a hungry look in our eyes begging for 'pasta di Rossana' and its meaty creamy goodness. She would laugh & say "Dear it is not MY sauce but the sauce of Norcia." We nod understandingly, smile back & ask for another serving of pasta di Rossana!
Pasta di Rossana
Norcina
Serves 4
6 oz. of sausage meat
1 carrot, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, peeled
olive oil
pepper
ladle of bechamel (panna per la cucina)
parmesan cheese
1 lb. pasta of your choice (penne or rigatoni work wonderful)
(Optional: Truffle shavings)
With a little olive oil in a pan, throw in the garlic clove whole & brown. Then discard garlic.
Add chopped carrot & saute over medium heat for a minute or two.
Add in sausage meat & crack of pepper. Cook sausage until brown, mashing & breaking up into little pieces.
Lower heat & add in ladle full of bechamel & some parmesan cheese.
Cook for a minute or two. Add a little pasta water if it gets too thick.
Toss with cooked pasta & serve.
(If you are able to find truffles, shave a few ribbons over the top.)
La Rocciata - Rustic Umbrian Apple Roll
Thu 04 Feb 2010GENERAL BLOG
http://latavolamarche.blogspot.com/2010 … erved.html
If you like to cook/bake with wine, olive oil & sambuca - this is the dessert for you!
A favorite fall/winter dessert at our farmhouse is la rocciata - a rustic apple roll stuffed with pine nuts, walnuts, cinnamon & golden raisins. Don't me mislead - the translation (the rock) has little to do with the consistency of the dough (as it is actually very light & flaky) but more to do with the word for 'round' in dialect. It is very similar to a strudel (and may even originate from it)-but better!
La rocciata may be most well known as a dish from our neighbors in Umbria. (Here's a fun fact- if you look across the 'street' from our farmhouse there is literally an island of Umbria in our front yard!) And since we love to share the little know recipes of our area, we'll let it slide this isn't traditionally known as Marchigiano - because it's just so delicious & simple! (Don't let the long ingredient list turn you off - half of it you just toss into the food processor.)
To really enjoy this spicy flaky treat buy a bottle of vin santo (wine of the saints or holy wine) & dunk your pieces in this rich woody-smokey dessert wine.
La Rocciata
Rustic Apple Roll with Pine Nuts
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 green apples, peeled, cored & chopped (cut to about the same size as the raisins)
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cut pine nuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons Sambuca, anisette or brandy
1 egg, beaten
Mix oil & wine in a bowl
Pulse the flour, sugar & salt in a food processor. Add the egg yolks 1 at a time. Pulse. Add butter. pulse until in tiny pieces.
With motor on, add oil & mix until dough forms.
Turn out dough & kneed for about 2 minutes until smooth, adding a little flour if needed.
Wrap in plastic & refrigerate for 1 hour
Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit or 185 Celsius
Toss apples, nuts, sugar, raisins, spices & liquor in a bowl.
Divide dough into 4 equal pieces.
Roll dough between parchment to form 4 12x8 rectangles. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Return the dough to a lightly floured surface. Spoon a cup of the apple filling onto each rectagnle in a thick stripe about 1/2 inch up from along the edge. Roll up the pastry to enclose the filling, pressing the seams to seal. Transfer the rolls to a large cookie sheet, seam sides down & brush the tops with the beaten egg.
Bake until golden brown - about 35 - 40 minutes.
Serve warm & cut in half or into chunks.
Basically the Best Bacon Ever: Italian Cured Pig's
Sat 23 Jan 2010GENERAL BLOG
Cured pig's cheek or guanciale di maiale (literally translates to cheek of the pig) is hands-down the BEST bacon Jason & I have ever eaten - and have yet to find someone who disagrees once they taste it's porky goodness! I know it sounds a bit weird to some to eat or order cheek - but trust me - just go with it - especially if you are in Italy. In our neck of the woods in Le Marche, it is served at home and commonly found on the menus of rustic traditional osteria's, family run restaurants just like our farmhouse, as an antipasta atop crostini. The recipe below calls for red wine vinegar which perfectly cuts the fat and combined with the sage makes for a rich meaty buttery deliciousness with a kick!
Bacon lovin' seems to run in the family - after 6 months of living in Italy, my sister Meagan returned to the States with only 2 things Italian: a new pair of shoes & a huge cured pig's cheek! Our good friend Fusciani proudly presented her with a home-cured cheek, proclaiming "my gift to America!"
Recipe for Cured Pig's Cheek Guanciale di Maiale
cured pig’s cheek (guanciale di maiale)
fresh sage leaves, few handfuls
olive oil
garlic cloves
red wine vinegar
Slice cured pig's cheek very thinly or ask your butcher.
In a frying pan, on medium heat add 2 glugs of olive oil, garlic cloves & sage leaves, add pig's cheek.
Cook for approximately 30 seconds - 1 minute on each side, until changes color to a nice golden brown, but not burned.
Blot with a paper towel.
Lightly sprinkle with red wine vinegar.
Serve immediately with the sage.
Pair best with crusty bread to soak up the juices or better yet blow your diet and serve for breakfast with eggs & toast!
Classic Ragu - Tried & True!
Tue 05 Jan 2010GENERAL BLOG
Buon Anno Nuovo! To Celebrate the New Year we will post a different pasta sauce recipe every month! We were inspired by our dear Italian friend (good ol' Dott. Gaggi), he loves pasta as every Italian does, he finds it his duty to tell our (non-Italian) guests how they could literally eat a different pasta & sauce every day of the year and then begins to ramble off pasta & sauce combinations - Amatriciana, Norcina, Ragu, Wild Boar, Porcini.....very "bubba shrimp" Forest Gump-esque! 365 sauce recipes is a bit ambitious - so let's start with 1 a month and what better way to start than the one & only - Ragu Recipe!
1st Sauce of the Month: Ragu
Everyone has gotta have one - here is our classic ragu (meat & tomato) sauce. Perfect for spaghetti, lasagna, tagliatelle .... the list goes on!
Ragu
1 small carrot, finely diced
1 med onion, finely diced
1 rib of celery, finely diced
1 clove of garlic
quarter pound of sausage meat
half pound ground veal
1.5 pounds peeled, seeded, pureed fresh tomatoes or 1 large can of peeled tomatoes
olive oil
salt & pepper
In a pot add a couple glugs of olive oil & sauté clove of garlic until brown then discard.
On medium heat sauté veggies slowly for about 10 minutes - so they are not brown but translucent.
Raise the heat slightly & add in meat - breaking up the pieces with a wooden spoon.
Season with salt & pepper.
Add tomatoes & half a glass of water.
Bring up to boil.
Lower to a very low simmer for 2.5 hours stirring occasionally.
Toss with your favorite pasta.
If sauce becomes too thick, add a little pasta water.
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