Shane is in Spain for 8 days - single parenting in regional Italy

Shane lives his dream and heads to Spain to ride part of the Vuelta on the 13th August. We drive him to Rome and successfully find our way back to Monte Castello di Vibio for a week of slow food, and looooots of TV for the kiddies.

8 days of near 40 degree temperatures get absorbed swimming, making gnocchi with Helena next door, the boys sneaking over to Helena's house to watch tv, and hanging out with Isla and her dad Ken in the  pool, and a trip to Citta della Domenica, a rundown fun park from 30 years ago that looks like it has had no money spent on it since it was opened.




MAKING GNOCCHI

I pull the boys away from the TV to sort cherry tomatoes for the tomato sugo for lunch that will go with the gnocchi.
















Helena's friend, Gemma, comes over to help us do the gnocchi.

The boys get busy rolling the dough

 Sam's a master with a knife

The finishing touches so that the sauce sticks to the gnocchi better

Dressing the gnocchi

Dessert...sugar melon from the garden

WHAT ELSE DO WE DO?

During moments of boredom I flick through one of Helena's cookbooks, very famous book with very famous painting on the cover

We go on a couple of car trips, mainly to the supermarket, one of the two playgrounds in a 30km radius of our town, and into Todi trying to get some clothes for my little niece, where I take a wrong turn and end up driving through the historical part of the town which is meant only for locals, end up having to navigate the narrow streets past throngs of pedestrians....we get out of the town and go straight home, empty handed.

Jetpack, game downloaded onto iPhone. a lifesaver for me and the boys.  

Boys getting bored and taking photos of the kitchen with my phone....about 5 minutes later the phone drops and I lose viber for 4 days = mummy very unhappy

Citta della Domenica funpark on a 39 degree day....

 Hooray, daddy is back, and not a moment too soon!!

MUMMY NEEDS A REST!

Castelluccio and medieval festival in August

We had some family friends staying with us during the week of the cooking course, the Duncan's live in Biella and have 3 kids. James is about Charlie's age, Willem is Sam's age, and baby Amy-Joy is 8 months old. They come and stay with us for the week. We head off to Castelluccio, which is famous for an amazing wildflower display in June. The road is torturously windy and long. Surprisingly Charlie doesn't get sick, but our friend, Federica does and has to head home early. Casteluccio is also prime lentil country and so incredibly remote.

The last of some of the wildflowers in August

Buying lentils from an old lady

Norcia for dinner

During the week, we're also lucky enough to be able to experience the Medieval festival of Monte Castello di Vibio. The photos below tell the story, enough said.

Medieval festival starts with a falcon demonstration

Then a parade of traditional dress by the townsfolk

Then a four course roving dinner with each course served in different parts of Montecastello di Vibio

The boys waiting patiently for dinner

Thank God there's wine to fill the empty belly while we wait

Nice face Sammy

Amy Joy, always happy

Excellent drumming action

Shane happily heads off to the Vuelta in Spain

Anyone for sweets?

DOLCI DOLCI DOLCI

I've never had cake for lunch before and I felt like I was channeling Marie-Antoinette when we sat down to taste the food I had made on day 4 of my cooking course. When I started the course I thought to myself that 3 hours over 4 days wasn't really much to learn how to cook a lot of typical Umbrian dishes and I had wished it was a bit longer. By the Friday (day 4), I was ready to hang up the apron and go and detox. I didn't of course which is why my jeans are now punishingly tight, but the thought was there. For you Facebookers out there, you might recall my post a few weeks ago of NO...MORE...FOOD! Well, that was posted a few hours after the tasting of day 4 of the cooking course.  See the recipes below and you will understand why.  After this I also realized why dessert is great sometimes, but you certainly can't eat dessert as a meal, and certainly not four or five different types at the one time, I feel sick writing this just thinking about the amount of sugar consumed on that day and how I was becoming the pin-up girl for boombah (I could see Jane Kennedy waving her skinny little finger at me as I went for another piece of the apple torta)

Charlie and Sam were a little confused as they sat down to a 'lunch' of cake...is this a joke mummy?

Crostata di marmellata (Jam tart)
Ingredients
2 eggs (1 whole egg plus one egg yolk)
100g butter soft at room temperature
130g caster sugar
300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
Lemon peel of half a large or 1 small lemon
Jam of your choice  1 small jar (the standard jars that you get at the supermarket should be fine)

Method
Butter and flour a pie dish (this is a round dish like one that you use for making tarts)
On a clean bench or wooden surface, make a well in the centre of a heap of flour with baking powder mixed at the edge
Stir in the egg, and the sugar and mix them together in the centre
Add very small dabs of butter and use your fingers as a 'whisk' to gently soften the butter and work it in with the eggs/sugar
When fairly smooth, begin to work this into the flour, blending from the centre outwards, together with the grated lemon peel
Mix until you have a smooth homogenous ball
Knead until the board/surface stays clean as you work
Divide the dough into a big half and a small half! (Best to do this recipe when it's cooler so the dough doesn't break, Spring would be the perfect time for all you Melbourners!)
Press the big half of the dough into a disc, place in dish, and begin to press it out to meet the edges, ensuring that the pastry base is uniform thickness
Spread the base with jam
With the remaining pastry, form thin strips, by rolling with both hands (using fingers close to palms) to elongate gently
Lift these over the filling, 5 in one direction, and 5 more at a diagonal to produce diamond shapes. Use the rest of the dough to make thicker strips which you place at the edge to form a border. Don't press it down just push it gently into place.
Using a lightly floured spoon, press the tip all round the border to create a pattern, and then press it gently at each intersection to create the appearance of weaving.
Back at 180c for 20 minutes. Allow to rest 5 minutes before inverting from pan, then invert again onto serving platter, or just serve in the dish you baked it with if you're a big chicken like me and don't want to see your hard work go 'splat' all over the floor.

Tiramisu (for ten ppl)
Ingredients
Cup of espresso coffee cooled
3 eggs
3 lightly heaped dessert spoons of caster sugar
Pavesini or equivalent biscuits (savoiardi) enough to cover the base of a square or rectangle serving dish (about 15-20cm in length)
250g marscapone
square of good quality cooking chocolate
Dash of milk

Method
Dip each side of the biscuit into the coffee mixture and layer the base of the dish
Separate the eggs
To the yolks, add the sugar and beat with electric mixture for 2-3 mins until you have a foamy zabaglione, then mix in the marscapone
While the yolks are being beaten, start to beat the whites in another container, until they are really solid
Gently fold the whites into the zabaglione with a spatula to incorporate gently without losing the texture
Gently spread mixture over the biscuit base
Melt chocolate with a dash of milk and then spoon over the tiramisu
Enjoy!

Semifreddo all'amaretto
Ingredients
200g cream (the type of cream you can whip)
40g sugar
3 eggs
40g amaretto biscuits
40g good quality cooking chocolate
Amaretto di Saronna (40g)
Dash of milk

Method
Beat the egg yolks and the sugar
Add the crumbled amaretto biscuits together with the chocolate coarsely chopped
Whip the cream and add to the mixture
Add the amaretto liquor
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and blend gently
Fill small containers with the mixture and place in the freezer
Just before serving, melt a little chocolate with milk, turn the semifreddo upside down onto a plate and drizzle with chocolate

Luisa adding the finishing touches to the Semifreddo all'amaretto

Torta di mele caramellata (the best of the bunch)

Ingredients
150g butter
100g sugar
5 apples, peeled
1 cup rum
Shortcrust pastry (bought or homemade)

Method
Preheat oven to 160c (top and bottom element only)
Cut the apples into quarters and then half again
Place a layer of sugar and some dabs of butter into an ovenproof skillet, and spread the apple pieces over it
Put this over a brisk flame to caramelize the apple
Add a small glassful of rum to the pan and light it so it flames
Remove from the heat, and cover with a sheet of pastry
Place in the oven at 160c for 40 mins
Remove from the oven and press flat gently if it has risen too  much
Allow to cool somewhat, then immediately invert it onto a serving dish. If you forget about it and the caramel hardens (like you could with such yumminess almost ready to be eaten), you can put it in the oven a little to warm
Serve it warm with ice-cream.

Secondi - Game, game, game

It's been a while since I've posted so apologies for the delay in updates. I thought that while Shane was away in Spain I'd be a bit more organized but looking after the kids had me tired by nighttime and I didn't do much after they were in bed other than drink my medicinal dosage of wine.

So, after a delay of several weeks, here is the follow up to the antipasti and primi post, with the meat dishes and my favorite accompaniment from my Umbrian cooking course...

My teachers were a bit surprised on the first day of the course when I told them I wasn't really interested in learning how to cook crumbed chicken breast or Umbrian hamburger and asked instead to learn how to cook wild boar and rabbit but being the good people they are, they happily obliged and on day 3 of my cooking course I learnt what to do with wild boar and a bunny.

The dutiful Italian wife serving Mr Heslop

Cinghiale (wild boar)

Ingredients
Wild boar cut into pieces about 2x2cm but roughly cut, not into cubes (apparently wild boar gets exported from Australia to Italy, so we should be able to get it in Aust) - if you can find it, ask for the pancia (stomach?)
2 Onions finely sliced
3 Rosemary sprigs tied tog.
Mixed herbs, finely chopped (thyme, oregano, rosemary, wild fennel which tastes a bit like dill, you can use the leaves of a fennel if you can't get anything else, and a tiny bit of mint)
EVO Oil
Butter
3 cloves wrapped in muslin
White wine
Tomato pulp/passata
1 tsp juniper berries

Method (keep lid on unless it asks you to uncover) - this needs to cook for a couple of hours to be tender
Cut cinghiale into pieces, put it in a bowl in the sink and fill with water and let the water run gently for half an hour (this is to remove the gamey flavour from the boar, if you are using pork you don't need to do this)
Put the cinghiale into a saucepan with oil and some water, 1 onion and rosemary sprigs. Keep it on a low flame to allow it to form a water (remove the first water which is the watery juice that comes up after it has simmered for a while)
Prepare another saucepan with the herbs finely chopped together and the remaining onion. Let it cook on low heat with some EVOO, butter and water. When the onion is cooked, place the cinghiale pieces with sale, pepper, chill pepper (not much), the sprig of rosemary, cloves onto the layer of the onion
and herbs. Add juniper berries. Cook on low heat.

When the juices have absorbed, add white wine sufficient to cover contents of the pan. Remove lid to evaporate alcohol and then cover with lid again.

If it is not cooked when the liquid has reduced, add some water or stock (any type - vegetable, chicken), and cover with lid again. When it has almost cooked, add tomato pulp, not too much, just enough to thicken the sauce.

Coniglio arrosto morto (Dead roast bunny)

Coniglio (rabbit) sung in the pot

Ingredients
Rabbit (farmed rabbit is better because wild rabbit is too tough and doesn't have any fat)
Pork cheek/lard
Pork fat for frying (cheek again is fine)
Rosemary
Wild fennel
Garlic
Oil, salt and pepper
1 Lemon,
White wine, 2 cups

Method
Prepare the frying mixture - pork fat, rosemary, garlic clove squashed, wild fennel, salt, pepper and olive oil. Dice pork fat and then chop everything together so it forms a paste.
Divide rabbit into 5 pieces: 2 hindquarters, 2 shoulders and centre (or you could ask the butcher to do it for you). Place the rabbit in water until it's ready to use or it will dry out and not be very tasty. This also prevents it from discoloring. Ask the butcher to keep the liver and heart in, and check the liver appearance - apparently, fat on the liver is evidence of a healthy rabbit. After 8 weeks in Umbria, my liver is looking pretty healthy too.

Bathe the meat in lemon juice, and spread the pieces of pork mixture over the rabbit. Also keep a bit of the frying mixture so that you can place some in the pocket of the rabbit's shoulder (or femoral muscle for those more medically attuned). Add salt and pepper, and place in the pan with the pieces of poor and more oil. make sure the centre is folded over so it doesn't dry out and cook before the rest of the rabbit. Use a pot/pan that means the rabbit is snug.

Place on low heat on the stove to allow juices to leave the meat.

When the meat is gently browned on both sides, add white wine; uncover and increase flame to max to bring back to the boil, then place the cover half over on lower heat to allow the wine to evaporate. When the smell of wine has gone, replace to cover and continue to cook on low heat for around 1-1.25 hours.

If necessary, add some water at the end of cooking. Allow the rabbit to cool, and then cut into small pieces. Put the sauce that has formed through a sieve and then pour over the rabbit.

(You can swap this recipe for chicken if you want)

Verdure Gratinate (Vegetables with breadcrumbs)

Ingredients:
1 red capsicum sliced lengthways into quarters and then halved again
1 eggplant cut into 1cm slices
3-4 tomatoes cut in half
Zucchini halved then sliced lengthwise
Salt
EVOO
Garlic
Parsley
Breadcrumbs

Method:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees (use top and bottom element, not fan forced)
Cut the vegetables
Salt the eggplants for 30 minutes to get rid of the bitter juices
Scoop the centers out of the tomatoes and keep separate
Place all vegetable pieces on an oiled shallow baking tray (or you can use baking paper)
Prepare the breadcrumb mixture - squash a clove of garlic with finely chopped parsley and add to breadcrumbs. Add salt and oil.
Drizzle oil over the vegetables, this helps the breadcrumbs stick to the vegetables, then a bit of salt for good luck.
Put a portion of the breadcrumb mixture aside to use for the tomatoes and add the sees and juices that were kept, squashing any solid bits to a pulp, and removing any part that doesn't pulp easily.
Spread the breadcrumb mixture over the vegetables, taking care with the tomatoes not to pack the mixture down too much.
Place in oven and cook for 25-30 mins, serve at room temp.

The finished product...Front centre verdure gratinate, middle left rabbit, middle back wild boar

Primi

The first course of Italian meals typically means pasta, so brace yourselves. I have to say that as I write this, I'm craving Thai, Indian, Japanese...anything that does not involve cooked flour and sauce, but I am suffering from pasta overload...despite Italians boasting the versatility of pasta, there are only so many ways you can do it. Regardless, I'm proud of the fact that I can now make pasta without a pasta machine and know how to cut tagliatelle :)

Pasta fatto a casa

Ingredients
Flour - half durum wheat, half strong bread flour, approx 400-500g each
4 eggs

Method
Make a well in the centre, and break the eggs into the well
Keep a small heap of flour to one side to clean hands every now and then, and incorporate these bits into the mixture
Knead the ball into a smooth homogeneous mixture, using the palms of both hands vigorously
Place a few drops of oil over the ball, and then leave to rest for 1 hour

Use the rolling pin on a floured board/table to flatten and roll out the dough
Start with rolling out the edges, leaving the centre more heaped, because later the edges will be thicker and the centre will start to tear

When the dough is around 8 inches in diameter, start to roll the centre as well as the edges.
When around 12 inches, begin the following method:
- Roll the edge furthest from you a little, then gather that edge around the rolling pin (put flour on the rolling pin)
- Roll the pin towards you gradually, and as you incorporate another roll of pasta, use both palms on the rolling pin in an action that extends the pasta laterally along the pin
- When the whole piece of dough has been gathered onto the pin (Except the closest part which must not be allowed to stick), lay the whole round out form left to right, so that the piece lies flat but turned at 90 degrees.

Repeat this convoluted process, always ensuring that the pasta is floured and does not stick

Be careful not to tear the centre which will be getting thinner from more rolling than the edges are (I am feeling rising anxiety levels as I write this - too much to think about - arrrghhh!)

Leave to dry for an hour or so, take or leave this step I reckon...

Use 4 semicircular edges for lasagna sheets, they won't be useful for tagliatelle, and make a nice rectangle with the rest that you can use for tagliatelle.

TO CUT TAGLIATELLE:

Fold furthest side of pasta rectangle over on itself by about 2 - 3 inches
Then do the same thing on the side closest to you, folding by the same amount, don't push down and make sure they don't stick together (use a bit of flour to stop sticking)
Fold these 2 folds over each other, repeat until the folds meet int he middle and you can then fold one on top of the other.

Use a sharp knife to cut 2-4mm strips. Gather a few of this onto the knife with the blade sliding between the last fold i.e. the middle - as you life the knife, you will see your miraculous creation unfold and know that you have created pasta, amazing!!

Make these into a loose nest and repeat with the other strips to form other nests. Use preferably within 24 hours, as if you could wait any longer!

Bring salted water to the boil, plunge nests into water and when water reboils and pasta is firmly al dente remove.

Add chosen sauce with some of the pasta water and stir to finish cooking with sauce to amalgamate sauce with pasta

SAUCES

Tomato & Basil sauce (I know this sounds so simple, but it really is the perfect combination of ingredients and I've never done it like this)

Ingredients:
Cherry tomatoes (about 2 punnets
Basil
EVOOil
Onion
Carrot
Celery
Basil
Salt and Pepper

Method
Place oil, diced onion, carrot cut in half, celery stick cut in  pieces and basil in a pan and cook gently
Add tomatoes then salt and pepper
Let this boil for what seems like forever until the oil no longer rises to the surface
At the end of cooking, put the mixture through the sieve (to avoid 4 and 6 year old children picking out every tomato skin or not eating altogether - hmmmmm)


Herb sauce
Garlic clove
Wild fennel
Rosemary
Sage
Basil
Wild mint
Majoram
Mint (one leaf only)
Thyme
EVOOil
Salt and pepper
Saffron
Water

Method
The herbs above are listed in order of a lot to only a little bit (very important!)
Use 1 clove of garlic with the centre stalk removed if present (the green part)
Mix with rosemary to form a paste
Place a little water in a frying pan to cover base and add some oil for frying
Slice all herbs finely, place immediately into frying pan to prevent oxidization
Add salt, pepper, saffron (and some sliced cherry tomatoes if you like), boil for 3-4 mins, leaving covered.

Place cooked pasta through frying pan so pasta absorbs the sauce.

More pictures on the process at www.umbriacucina.com/testimonials.html

ANTIPASTI

Here are a couple of recipes from my cooking class that focus on the start of the meal...best served with a prosecco or spritz aperol (aperol, prosecco and soda - recipe is on the back of the bottle of aperol) to whet the appetite...

These antipasti are all bread based so if you’re low carbing it, do not read on.

Sciacciata antipasti - top left

DOUGH

500g flour

20mls extra virgin olive oil (approx)

About 200-250mls water

25g fresh yeast (the type that gets mixed in water)

Pinch of salt

TOPPINGS!

Finely sliced/grated onions, sage, rosemary

Finely sliced zucchini

Finely sliced tomatoes

Preheat oven at 250 degrees (top and bottom element on)

Melt yeast in water

Place flour into a heap on a clean surface, pour water and oil into centre and mix from the centre outwards, adding a pinch of salt. 

Mix until a soft dough has formed, adding more water as needed.

Knead, using the heel of both palms to form a strong action which elongates the dough, for about 10 minutes.

Keep a small mound of flour to one side and use to clean hands periodically, making a new well in the centre and incorporating these little bits.

Form into a ball, incise a cross on the top with a very sharp knife, cover with a cloth and leave to rise for approx 1 hour.

Go and do something else for a while...

After an hour, spread the dough over a well-oiled flat rectangular baking tin and work gently to spread the dough uniformly over the pan, making sure to fill the corners. If you can’t reach it all out to the edges in one go, wait a bit and then come back to it about 5 minutes later.

Apply the 3 toppings to each third (surprise surprise they are the colours of the Italian flag), form small indentations by pression fingers over the onion section, dribble liberally with oil and sprinkle with salt (depending on how watery the tomatoes you use are you might not need much oil in that section.

Place in oven at 250 degrees (top and bottom element on) for 25-30 minutes. Serve at room temperature...

Cornetti (they look like little croissants when they come out of the oven, very cute) - bottom left hand corner

Preheat oven to 220 (top and bottom elements)

DOUGH

Flour

Extra virgin olive oil

Water

Fresh yeast

Pinch of salt

FILLINGS

Crumbled sausage meat (by this I mean an Italian sausage, not your standard Coles BBQ variety)

Ementhal cheese diced

Olive oil

Well beaten egg and sprinkle of salt

You could probably mix this up a bit depending on your tastes, but will leave that up to you to work out :)

Follow dough instructions as per recipe above but you don’t need to put a cross on the top of the dough ball for this one.

Roll dough out finely with rolling pin, cut strips about 3 inches wide, then cut these diagonally to form triangles.

In the base of each triangle, place a small quantity of sausage meat and a cube of cheese with a sprinkle of oil (very small quantity otherwise it’s too hard to roll).

Fold each corner of the base to cover the sides of this mixture and then roll over and over towards the point of the triangle, using the right hand to roll and the left hand to gently stretch the triangle tip.

Press the point of the triangle firmly closed and place on a greased/floured baking tray

Brush each with an egg and place in oven for 15-20 mins at 220 degrees.

ENJOY!!!

Stuffed Pumpkin Flowers

I've heard about stuffed zucchini flowers but I have never heard of people stuffing pumpkin flowers.

Well they are just as good as zucchini flowers and a hell of a lot easier to find around here. A punnet of about 12 flowers will set you back about 1.5 euros, happy with that, I have tried these 3 times and I think I have figured out how to do them justice. Regardless, I'll never serve them to Italians because they always know how to do them better and will make sure you leave the table knowing the 'right' way to do them - not great for my cooking confidence :)

Three important elements - get the filling right, get the batter right, don't wait to eat them.

THE FILLING...

First time I tried to stuff them with ricotta, finely grated lemon rind and anchovies as the stuffing, the ricotta melted and spat all over me...lesson 1 - ricotta is too watery and the boys love anchovies but don't like lemon rind.

Second time I tried to fill them I thought I'd keep it simple and use mozzarella - the fresh bocconcini style mozzarella that you find everywhere here. I thought the boys would definitely like it like this. Lesson 2 - mozzarella is still too watery so if you don't want burns all over your arms from spitting oil, best to avoid it.

Third time - ah ha! With superior culinary wisdom obtained by my week's cooking course I learn that ementhal, of all cheeses, is great for this kind of thing. I don't rate it personally but Shane loves it so it was in the fridge ready for my third try. 

I kept it simple with just the cheese cut into 1cm x 1cm pieces to stuff the flowers - you need to be very careful not to break the petals when you fill the flowers or it doesn't hold the filling. 

THE BATTER...

I'm a massive fan of tempura, so I call on all my Japanese eating experiences in Melbourne to muster up a tempura style batter.

Ingredients:

1. Very cold aqua frizzante (mineral water)
2. Plain flour

Simple. Basically all you need to do is mix enough of the two ingredients together to make a runny paste, that has the consistency of....shampoo is all that comes to mind. 

Dip the flowers into the batter so they are completely covered.

Heat sunflower or peanut oil in a frying pan so that the oil comes up about 1 or 2 cms on the sides and fry those flowers turning once when the underside is crisp. The batter won't turn golden brown (at least it didn't with me, probably because I was too hungry and impatient to try them), but give it a try and let me know if you get them golden!

Drain excess oil on paper towels, season with salt and pepper, put some lemon wedges and homemade mayonnaise or aioli in a little dish and SERVE IMMEDIATELY! 

This was the other thing I did wrong, EVERY DAMN TIME...I put them in the oven trying to prepare other things for lunch and then when it came to serving them, they were shadows of their former glorious selves and I found myself apologizing and explaining how good they DID look when they came out of the frying pan.