Eating Italy: A Chef's Culinary Adventure (35 page)

6 tablespoons (47 g)
tipo
00 flour (see
page 277
) or all-purpose flour

2½ cups (625 ml) whole milk

Pinch of grated nutmeg

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

5¼ ounces (150 g) Parmesan cheese, grated (1½ cups)

Salt

Morels:

1 pound (450 g) morel mushrooms

2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil

2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter

1 garlic clove, smashed

½ cup (50 g) sliced spring onions or scallions, including tops

1½ teaspoons (7 ml) sherry vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the spring onion flan:
Cut the spring onions into 1-inch (2.5-cm) lengths, keeping the green tops and white bottoms separate.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion bottoms and sweat until soft but not browned, 3 to 5 minutes, adding a little water, if necessary, to soften them and keep them from browning. When soft, add the green tops, and cook until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and puree until super-smooth, 4 to 5 minutes, scraping down the sides a few times.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour to make a roux, and then cook for 3 to 4 minutes, whisking to prevent burning. Gradually whisk in the milk, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is free of lumps. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Stir in the nutmeg, pour into a medium bowl, and let cool. Add the pureed onions, eggs, and Parmesan, and stir until combined. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, and then season with salt.

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Set a kettle of water to boil.

Butter six to eight 4-ounce (120-ml) ramekins and fill each with the flan mixture. Place the tins in a large, deep pan, such as a roasting pan, and pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the tins. Bake in the water bath until set on the sides but still slightly jiggly in the center, 20 to 25 minutes.

Transfer the flans from the water bath to a baking sheet and let cool. When cool, cover and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

For the morels:
Fill a large bowl with cold water and dunk the morels up and down in the water half a dozen times to rinse any dirt from their crevices. Pat dry or spin dry in a salad spinner. Leave any small morels whole but cut the large ones lengthwise into halves or quarters.

Heat the oil, butter, and garlic in a large sauté pan over medium heat. When the butter melts, add the spring onions and morels, and cook until tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with the vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste and let cool. Remove the garlic.

To plate, dip the bottom and sides of the ramekins in hot water to loosen the flans, then invert and unmold the flans onto plates. Serve with a spoonful of morels.

SNAIL SPIEDINI
with
CELERY ROOT PUREE
and
TRUFFLE BUTTER

Every year, Claudia’s aunt Irene and her mother, Pina, hike the Italian Alps, foraging for snails. One year, they came back with fifty kilos (110 pounds) of live snails. It took three days to get them ready to eat. Day one was soaking them in polenta for twenty-four hours. Day two was boiling them. Day three was picking out the meat and freezing it. What a pain! Thank God we can get snails already prepared (see Sources on
page 289
). I like to wrap them in pancetta to keep them moist and grill them quick before they get rubbery. You’ll need twelve small bamboo skewers to make the
spiedini
(kebabs). Soak the skewers in water for twenty minutes to help keep them from burning.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Snails:

4 tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter

½ medium-size yellow onion, minced (½ cup/80 g)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 bay leaf

36 large cooked snails

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

36 thin slices of pancetta or bacon (about 1½ pounds/680 g)

Vegetable oil, as needed

Celery Root Puree:

2 tablespoons plus ½ cup (141 g) unsalted butter, divided

¼ cup (40 g) minced yellow onion

6 ounces (170 g) celery root, peeled and diced (1 cup)

½ small potato, peeled and diced (¼ cup/40 g)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Truffle Butter:

4 tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, melted

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon (15 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon (4 g) chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons (30 ml) white or black truffle paste

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the snails:
Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion, garlic, and bay leaf, and sweat until the onion is soft but not browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Add the snails, toss to coat, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes more. Remove from the heat, season with salt and pepper, and let cool in the pan. When cool, wrap each snail with a piece of pancetta and thread onto short, presoaked skewers, allowing three snails per skewer.

For the celery root puree:
Melt 2 tablespoons (28 g) of the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and sweat until the onion is soft but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the celery root, potato, and enough water to cover the ingredients by ½ inch (1.25 cm). Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, and then lower the heat and gently simmer uncovered until the celery root is tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain and pass the solids through a food mill or potato ricer, along with the remaining ½ cup (113 g) of butter, until creamy, or puree until smooth in a small food processor. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

For the truffle butter:
Mix the butter, lemon zest and juice, parsley, truffle paste, and salt and pepper to taste together in a small bowl. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.

Heat a grill for direct, medium heat. When hot, coat the grill grate with oil. Grill the snails until nicely grill-marked on all sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Melt the truffle butter in a small saucepan or microwave. Spoon a pool of warm celery root puree on each plate, top with three skewers, and drizzle with melted truffle butter.

SWEETBREAD SALTIMBOCCA
with
SQUASH PUREE

Italian cuisine encourages you to experiment and make dishes your own. I took classic saltimbocca—pounded veal rolled up with prosciutto and sage—and substituted sweetbreads. The sweetbreads’ soft texture is similar to that of pounded veal, but they get even crispier in the pan. To add something creamy, I made a simple squash puree and served some diced, sautéed squash on the side. I like Hubbard squash here, but if you can’t find that, use Jarrahdale or butternut squash.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Squash Puree and Sautéed Squash:

6 tablespoons (90 ml) olive oil, divided

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 bay leaf

½ medium-size yellow onion, chopped (⅔ cup/107 g)

1 pound (450 g) Hubbard squash, peeled and cut into ¼-inch (6-mm) cubes (3 cups), divided

1½ teaspoons (7 ml) honey

1 tablespoon (15 ml) sherry vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Sweetbread Saltimbocca:

8 ounces (227 g) veal sweetbreads

4 leaves fresh sage

4 thin slices prosciutto (2 ounces/57 g)

2 tablespoons (30 ml) grapeseed oil

2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

About 1 cup (125 g)
tipo
00 flour (see
page 277
) or all-purpose flour, for dredging

To Serve:

2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter

16 leaves fresh sage

For the squash:
Heat 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of the oil with the garlic and bay leaf in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and sweat until soft but not browned, 4 to 6 minutes. Add 2 cups (11 ounces/310 g) of the squash, season with salt and pepper, and add enough water to cover the ingredients by 1 inch (2.5 cm). Cover and bring to a simmer over high heat, then lower the heat to medium-low and gently simmer uncovered until the squash is soft, 20 to 25 minutes. Drain off most of the water and discard the garlic and bay leaf. Puree the squash in a blender until smooth. With the blender running, add the honey, vinegar, and ¼ cup (60 ml) of the remaining olive oil, blending until you get a smooth, pourable, medium-thick puree. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm over low heat or refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the remaining 1 cup (5 ounces/140 g) of squash and sauté until tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm over low heat or refrigerate for up to 2 days.

For the sweetbread saltimbocca:
Rinse the sweetbreads in cold water, then soak in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes. Pat dry, then remove some of the outer membrane from the sweetbreads, keeping each portion whole. Cut the sweetbreads into equal 2-ounce (57-g) portions, about the size of three fingers. Place each portion between sheets of plastic and gently pound from the center outward to an even ⅛ - to ¼-inch (3- to 6-mm) thickness. Layer the sage and prosciutto over each sweetbread portion and then fold in half to cover the sage and prosciutto. Wrap each portion in plastic, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use or up to 8 hours. It’s important to keep the sweetbreads cold right up until you cook them.

Heat the grapeseed oil and butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Season the saltimbocca with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour, keeping the portions whole. Add to the pan and sauté until golden brown on both sides, 3 to 4 minutes per side.

To serve:
Add the butter and sage to the pan with the squash cubes, and cook over medium heat until hot, 2 to 3 minutes.

Spoon a pool of warm squash puree in the middle of each plate and top with a portion of sweetbreads, a spoonful of sautéed squash cubes, and the fried sage.

DUCK CASONCELLI
with
QUINCE, BROWN BUTTER
, and
SAGE

Casoncelli is the local stuffed pasta of Bergamo. It’s made a little differently from town to town but the backbone is the same: a thick ravioli dough filled with whatever scraps of food are hanging around—odds and ends of meat, stale cookies, breadcrumbs. . . you name it. The sauce is usually just crispy bits of pancetta, brown butter, and sage, and it brings the whole dish together. At Locanda del Biancospino, I sometimes made casoncelli with rabbit and prunes; other times, with duck and persimmons. Here’s one of my favorite versions with duck and quince.

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

About 2 tablespoons (30 ml) blended oil (see
page 276
)

1½ pounds (680 g) bone-in duck legs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ medium-size yellow onion, chopped (⅔ cup/107 g)

1 large rib celery, chopped (⅔ cup/68 g)

1 medium-size carrot, chopped (⅔ cup/82 g)

1 sachet of 2 sprigs each parsley, rosemary, and thyme (see
page 277
)

2 to 3 cups (500 to 750 ml) red wine

4¼ ounces (120 g) Parmesan cheese, grated (1¼ cups), divided

3 tablespoons (22 g) finely ground amaretti cookies

2 tablespoons (20 g) raisins, chopped

1 large egg

8 ounces (227 g) Egg Pasta Dough (
page 282
), rolled into 2 sheets, each about
inch (0.8 mm) thick