Happy new year!!!

On January 1, 2010, In food, italian, By hansguncia

Welcome to the year 2010!!!!

We had a very relaxing and easy going evening yesterday. But let’s skip sraight to business. As I was mentioning 2 days ago, I had a sea-creature based dinner in mind, and that’s what happened. Fantastic t’was. Tried a new receipe with a creature I had never cooked before. I decided to get some oysters first, and to folow them with an octopus dish. Oysters are always easy to prepare and very tasty with some horseradish (white wasabi) and 1 or 2 drops of Tabasco. Great!

Now, let’s move to the stew. I bought an octopus that was about 1 kg. Was already cleaned up, so that make life easier. I did check about 30 different receipes, as I ahd not much of an idea on how to cook the beast. I finally started over salivating when I read this guy in an Italian website. Here’s a translation and some easy instructions for you non-italian speacking friends:

Earthware Octopus Stew

You’ll need an octopus, rinsed and cut into bit-sized chunks. Beofre chopping it, I quickly brought it to a boil for about 1-2 minutes, let it cool down and tried to remove as much skin as plossible.

After that procedure, chop a red onion (on the big side), toss it into a pot (preferably clay), together with 3 table spoons of olive oil, 3 crushed garlic cloves and a bit of red hot chilli peppers (as much as you like). Let it golden on the fire for about 4-5 minutes.

Now, add the octopuss together with 4-5 diced tomatoes (Pachino preferably), about 60-100 g pitted black olives, and a glass of white wine. Bring the whole thing to the boil, then put on a lid, turn the ehat to low and cook for about 45′ (or until the beast is soft when pierced witha  fork).

Once it is ready, get four slices of home-style bread, toast it until nicely crips and golden and rub a garlic clove onto it (like if you were making a bruschetta – that’s brusketta, for whoever did not read my previous post), and put it at the bottom of a bowl. Now, overlay your stew on top of it and enjoy it!

I washed it down with a Chardonnay, again from the Chateau St. Jean cellar (california). I prefered their Cabernet Sauvignon.

Happy New Year to everyone!!!!

tshcuessi

Fred

PS: total cost if the dinner ~ 15 US$ :D

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Second dish: Puttanesca

On November 29, 2009, In food, italian, pasta, By hansguncia

As I tend to write at night, I tend to stick to the simple dishes. I will soon get into more complex things. Anyway, this sauce is one of my favourites and I have to thank the “master” Alan for it. for being a Brit, his puttanesca would make any mamma proud :)

So here’s how I make it. Might not be exactly how he does it, but pretty close.

- I golden 2-3 garlic thingies in a spash of olive oil, add a can of Pastene anchovies and 2-3 teaspoons of capers. Can add a bit of chilly, if you like that.

- When the anchovies have melted, I add a handfull of chopped black olives and give it ~ 3-5′ to all nicely blend and cook together, constantly making sure not to burn anything ie: stirring every once in a while

- I then add a big can of tomatoes and let simmer at medium, medium low for as long as possible. I usually try to get this cooking for at least an hour. You ideally want the water in the tomatoes to go away and just keep the tasty stuff.

- When you feel ready to eat, cook your pasta, drain it one minute before perfection, toss it into the sauce and finish cooking it while stirring it at good heat.

- Pop open a bottle of the good stuff.

- Eat

Very simple, very tasty, very leker.

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Some basic ABCs – Carbonara

On November 24, 2009, In italian, pasta, By hansguncia

Ok guys, enough. just to make things clear once and for all: THERE IS NO CREAM IN CARBONARA! just eggs, pecorino, parmigiano (and not parmiGGiano, like Jamie effing oliver writes it), pepper, guanciale and, I do add it, garlic. I personally love rigatoni to go with the sauce. Others like penne or spaghetti.
Here we go:
(this is for 2-3 people)
- start put a lot of water in a big pot and start boiling it :)
- take some oil, fry in a thingy of garlic and, when nicely golden, add the guanciale (3-4 slices cut in small pieces or cubes) and fry it until the fat has turned transparent. If you can’t find guanciale (I miss it, god if I miss it), use the best possible bacon you can put your hands on.
- while the pig is frying, break an egg in a bowl, start beating it (poor fellah) and add the grated cheese. Enough that the whole thing becomes dense and thick, but not as much as to turn the egg into a clump (I usually add.. boh… enough). Add enough pepper to make he cream start looking darkish. If you feel daring, you can add an extra egg red, for more taste.
- I am starting to realise that I have no clue on the amounts I use.. all done by eye. Sorry about it.

Now, we have the bacon ready, the egg/cheese/pepper “sauce” ready. Water is boiling, add salt in the water and then throw the pasta (half a kilo should suffice). One minute the pasta is ready, drain it aaaaaaaaaaaaannnd, here comes the hard part (and this is why philistines use cream):

- quickly toss the pasta in the sauce bowl and mix it quite rapidly
- toss the whole thing in the frying pan where the bacon is and mix th whole thing even more rapidly. The point here is to avoid turning the egg into an omelette. Should remain creamy and gooey. You can appreciate why incompetent cooks prefer to use the damned cream. Won’t omelettise :)
- Once you are happy with the creamyness of the egg, serve hot, with a bottle of red :)

I just realise this was a lousy way of explaining the dish, but I am tired. Next time I make it, I’ll take a few pictures and measures, so that I’ll be a bit more professional.

And, BTW, this here IS NOT carbonara:
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