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Courses/ Desserts & Savouries/ Food People/ Summer/ Tips & Techniques/ Uncategorized

PUDDING FROM PIEMONTE

Amaretti Stuffed Peach served with single cream and a glass of Moscato

My recent trip to Turin for the 2017 Turin Epicurean Conference included an amazing evening at www.quibitorino.it which is a space in Turin under the guidance of the lovely Margherita Frari. The vision for this place is as a restaurant, meeting place and exhibition space, all to encourage the integration of the increasingly multicultural city of Turin. It also serves as a food collection point for customers of local producers rather in the way that www.foodassembly.com does.

During our evening there we were fortunate to be under the expert tuition of Margerita and also Marco Giachello, one of Piedmont’s most well known and charismatic chefs. He works to conserve Piedmont dishes, products and methods and actively seeks to promote those things beyond Piedmont, so that we non-Piedmontese can learn how to create their wonderful dishes in our own homes. Sometimes it’s difficult to do that as the Piedmontese have the advantage of fabulous ingredients, produced relatively locally and in some cases, very locally!

I will probably post about everything we created that evening but am starting (perversely) with the pudding, given that peaches are in season right now. Do please try to buy Italian peaches for this as it does make a difference to the flavour, although Spanish ones can be flavoursome too. It will make life much easier for you if you can get freestone peaches; I have to admit that the first time I made this when I came back to the UK, I had made the mistake of unwittingly buying clingstone peaches. It was only with the help of a very sharp, very narrow knife that this didn’t end up as peach purée, so do check.

This is an easy summer dessert that can be served warm or at room temperature but don’t serve it chilled; it will kill the flavours stone dead. Roero, by the way, is an area of Piedmont to the south of Turin and famous for fruit (especially peaches, pears and strawberries) not to mention some wonderful wine.

I’ve given the option of using either cocoa or coffee as I am not that keen on chocolate, but the original recipe uses cocoa. Ditto with the choice of rum or brandy; I dislike rum so tend to use brandy but again, the original, as I was taught, was with rum.

Amaretti Stuffed Peaches

Print Recipe
Serves: 4 - 8 depending on appetite! Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 fresh freestone peaches (it is helpful if they are still quite firm but not unripe)
  • 200g amaretti biscuits (preferably not the soft ones but they will do if it’s all you have)
  • 1 egg yolk, beaten well
  • 2 tsp caster sugar (optional - I tend not to use it as I find the biscuits sweet enough)
  • 3 tbsp rum or brandy
  • cocoa powder or very finely ground (espresso grind) coffee
  • icing sugar
  • butter
  • extra caster or Demerara sugar

Instructions

1

Set the oven to 180 deg C

2

Line a baking tray with baking parchment (not essential - just helps with the washing up!)

3

Slit the peaches through their “seams” with a sharp knife and twist to separate the two parts

4

(This is where you discover if you really have bought freestone peaches

5

If you haven’t, take a long, thin and very sharp knife - a fish filleting knife is ideal - and gradually work it around behind the pitt until the two parts of the peach come apart

6

This won’t be as elegant a dish as it could be but the flavour will still be wonderful)

7

Slightly enlarge the cavities using a teaspoon; ensure you leave plenty of peach intact ; reserve the extracted flesh

8

Put the peach halves on the baking tray and turn your attention to the filling

9

Bash up the amaretti biscuits until they are crumbs (I put them in a bowl and thump away with the end of my rolling pin)

10

I like a mixture of crumb size but nothing bigger than about 2 ml in diameter

11

Add the peach flesh and mix well

12

Add the caster sugar, if you want to use it and mix well

13

Add 2 - 3 tsp cocoa powder or coffee and again, mix well

14

Add a couple of tablespoons of your chosen spirit, adding a little more if the mixture is too dry

15

Add as much beaten egg as will achieve a firm mixture

16

Taste and add more of whatever you think is lacking but try to avoid the mixture becoming sloppy

17

Fill the peach cavities with the mixture, heaping it up well; I like to cover the entire peach

18

Add a few flecks of butter over the top and sprinkle with Demerara sugar; this will create a slightly crackly top to the finished dish

19

Bake for about 25 minutes until they are bubbling and smelling wonderful

20

Leave to become warm or room temperature (but please don’t serve them from the fridge)

21

I like to then sprinkle them with a mixture of cocoa or coffee and icing sugar

Notes

They are wonderful if served warm with a scoop of good ice cream to match either the cocoa or coffee, or vanilla Good also with creme frâiche but I tend to find double cream a bit too rich

 

July 30, 2017
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Books & Blogs/ Food People/ Sources & Resources

THE WATCHFUL COOK IN CONFERENCE

Turin Epicurean Capital 2017

Writing can be a lonely business, even if one is active on Twitter and Instagram; nothing replaces the person to person contact that can be elusive as we scribble away, wondering if anyone ever takes any notice. It was therefore particularly exciting for me to be invited by Lucia Hannau to the Turin Epicurean Capital Conference. A double hit for me as not only was I going to meet other like-minded food and wine bloggers but it was to be in Turin, my absolute favourite city in the world. When I got her message, I doubt if any message has ever been replied to more quickly in the history of the digital world.

I’ve been back a month now so am dilatory in writing for my own site but did get my act together enough to write for Lucia at www.turinepi.com/2017/07/the-watchful-cook-at-turinepi17.html
Please do look also at Patti Boner’s post on the same site which gives a super chronology of our time there, and while you’re rummaging, please take a look at Patti’s own site www.foodiesneakpeeks.com which is full of good ideas and reviews for the foodie traveller.

I’m not going to repeat here the reflections I’ve posted elsewhere, rather introduce to you my colleagues at the Conference, in the hope that you will explore their sites and gain as much pleasure from their writing and recipes as I now do.

The first day’s Round Table was chaired by Chicago resident Margaret Goldstein who can be followed on Twitter here @pizzabianca and if you do, you will be guided through making her fabulous looking pizzas which I am quite sure taste every bit as good as they look. Her lovely husband, Bill Goldstein, is a Piedmont wine enthusiast and expert and I learned so much from him during our time in Turin. His oenophile exploits can be followed on Twitter at @Sassodoro but I do wish he would write a blog – he has so much expertise and knowledge!

It was certainly an American day, that first day, as adding to the panel was the lovely Sanem Lamborn who writes about her Persian/Italian food heritage at www.MyPersianKitchen.com from LA – if you like authentic foods, full of flavour, do follow Sanem – and her recipes work! Making up the team that morning was Christina Conte, also from LA who writes about her Scottish/Southern Italian food heritage at www.ChrstinasCucina.com

Day Two saw your writer guided by Daniel McVicar (a Turin resident American actor who was Chair that day) through food memories. I was delighted to be joined on the platform by Patrizia Balbo who is an astrologer with a strong interest in food – do check out her website for an eclectic mix www.linguaggisimbolici.com Making up the team was Ilva Beretta, the well known Swedish photographer whose beautiful work can be seen at www.ilvaberetta.com and also in the newly published book “Orange Appeal” by Jamie Schler which I can strongly recommend as an addition to your cook book collection when it’s published in August.

The third day was great fun under the moderation of Carolina Stupino, a Piedmont exile living in London, teaching and blogging about food, health and nutrition at www.tastesofcarolina.com. Her team were Patti Boner as mentioned above, and Amanda Courtney, Boston born, Piedmont dwelling wine expert who will organise fabulous wine tours for you through www.AmandasWineAdventures.com

My memories of the time in Turin were entirely positive and it was a instructive on many levels to meet with bloggers with much more experience than I (not to mention more followers!) and of course, the food in Turin is sublime. Patti has made an excellent job of describing the restaurants we visited, although for me, the highlight was the cookery lesson at www.qubitorino.it Real Piedmont food with real Piedmont chefs – and of course, ingredients. As you will see from my post on www.turinepi.com, it was fascinating to see another method of making risotto, about which I shall write soon, when I’m happy I can make an edible risotto using this method!

So as a sign off from this non-recipe post, please do take a look at my fellow bloggers’ sites and above all, if you love food, go to Turin!

July 25, 2017
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Spring/ Summer/ Suppers, Dinners & Main Courses

TREASURE FROM TURIN

Glorious Vitello Tonnato

I’ll be honest and say that when I first heard about this dish, I wasn’t at all sure that it would be to my taste. Veal and tuna together? Hmm, didn’t sound my kind of combination. If I had not tried it, however, I would have missed out on one of Piedmont’s true glories. I am also very glad that I waited until I was actually in Piedmont to try it. Turin, to be precise and frankly if you can’t find a superb, authentic vitello tonnato there, then something has gone badly wrong with the world. Fortunately, I did find one at the terrific www.leviteletonne.com which pointed me in the right direction when it came to finding an authentic recipe and tweaking it to our taste, and on advice from our Piedmontese friends.

It is true to say that there is still some reluctance to eat veal in the UK. Whilst I absolutely would not eat crate reared veal, free range rose veal is one of life’s true delights. And to be brutally frank, if you eat dairy, you are contributing to the creation of bull calves as a by-product. Sorry to be obvious but to lactate, a cow must be pregnant and deliver a calf. A heifer calf will become a dairy cow but a poor little bull calf, in industrial dairy production, faces a brutally short existence. We are talking hours. So to square with my conscience, all our dairy produce – milk, cream, yogurt, cheese – comes from high welfare farms (usually organic) that then rear the bull calves compassionately for rose veal. If you eat cheese, you should eat veal.

A good vitello tonnato also requires good tuna. It doesn’t have to be fresh and in fact I have never seen an Italian recipe that calls for it. I use Brindisa Ortiz Bonito Tuna Fillets which is line caught in the Bay of Biscay and comes in good size chunks which are also fabulous in other recipes. The flavour is superb and although it can be a bit tricky to track down, Ocado stock it and I’ve seen it in independent food stores too. Please don’t use that tinned tuna that strongly resembles cat food in looks, texture and smell. You know the stuff I’m talking about.

Another major component that I am going to be a tad militant about is the mayonnaise. It must be homemade with a mild olive oil and good eggs. That calf and that fish did not die for you to insult it with industrially made “mayonnaise”; the UK’s best selling brand is made with – amongst other things – rapeseed oil, calcium disodium and paprika extract. I don’t want to eat that in an egg mayonnaise sandwich, let alone vitello tonnato.

You will also need a butcher, one who knows his onions and can supply humanely reared rose veal and who knows how to cut and tie it. I will be astonished if you can find a supermarket that can do this, so do your best to either find a local butcher or use an on-line supplier. If you can’t do either of these things, make something else.

This dish, done properly, is a significant financial commitment so do it right, even if you only make it once a year! My version owes a huge debt to the late, great Marcella Hazan and I‘ve tweaked it on advice from Piedmont friends.

Vitello Tonnato

Print Recipe
Serves: 6 - 8 Cooking Time: Including all prep time, 3 hours

Ingredients

  • For me, this is two day recipe. Day One I make the mayo and cook the veal. You don’t need me to tell you how to make mayo but can I please, however, make a plea that you use olive oil and ONLY olive oil. I occasionally make mayonnaise with sunflower oil but never for this recipe. Day Two I make the tuna sauce and put the dish together
  • Day One
  • Your favourite home made mayonnaise recipe made with 2 egg yolks, 300ml olive oil and two tablespoons or so of fresh lemon juice
  • The mayo needs to be a tad on the sharp side to cope with the other flavours that will mingle with it, so don’t be afraid to use a little more than you might otherwise
  • And for the veal 900g - 1.25kg lean boneless veal tied firmly into a roll
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 2 sticks of celery, minus leaves
  • 1 medium onion
  • 4 sprigs parsley, including the stalks where so much of the flavour resides
  • 2 bayleaves
  • Day Two
  • The mayo you made yesterday
  • The veal joint you cooked yesterday
  • 200g tinned Italian or Spanish mediterranean tuna
  • 5 flat anchovy fillets, preferably in olive oil and patted dry (if they are salted, rinse them throughly in cold water)
  • 300ml mild olive oil
  • 3 - 4 tbsp lemon juice
  • 4 tbsp capers, rinsed

Instructions

1

Day One

2

Choose a flameproof pot just big enough to contain the veal; I use an ancient oval Le Creuset pot

3

Put in the veal, carrots, celery, onion, parsley and bayleaves and just cover with cold water

4

Now take out the veal and put it to one side (no, I’m serious)

5

Bring the water to the boil and add the meat again

6

Bring the contents of the pot to just under the boil, cover the pot and reduce to a barely perceptible simmer

7

At the point, I have found that none of the burners on my hob allow the low simmer I need for this so I do use a reducer plate which I now don’t know how I lived without

8

Simmer for about two hours, using your judgement if it needs a bit more or less - don’t wander off and have a nap while this is cooking. It does need you to keep an eye on it and it is way too high an investment to allow to simmer dry.

9

When the meat is cooked - you should be able to easily slide a skewer into it - remove the pot from the heat and allow everything to cool at its own pace

10

Day Two

11

Drain the tuna and put in a blender or food processor with the anchovies, olive oil, lemon juice and capers and run at a high speed until a creamy consistency is achieved

12

Now fold it carefully into the mayonnaise (not the other way around!) and test for salt; I find it is rarely required because of the anchovies and capers

13

Having drained the meat (don’t discard the stock - it makes fabulous soup or risotto) and ensured it is patted dry, slice it into thin slices

14

Arrange artfully on a serving dish and cover completely with the tuna sauce; if you need to layer the meat, ensure each layer is covered with some sauce and and cover the final layer completely

15

I like to keep the finishing very traditional so usually garnish with boughs of rosemary, lemon slices or parsley leaves, as per the photograph. I have been told by my Piemontese friends that this keeps for up to two weeks in the fridge; never last that long in our house!

Notes

I love this dish and will happily invest the time and money to create it. If I can’t afford either the time or the money, I make something else; it really isn’t worth trying to make a budget version as it will be disappointing and I really can’t stress that enough. If you do make it, I promise you, you will become addicted!

July 14, 2017
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