The Sunny Kitchen - An Italian cook in Amsterdam

Easter Monday Special: oven-baked salmon with honey and mustard

This is a very simple recipe I made with my experiments-in-the-kitchen partner Claudio Varone, a dear friend and a wonderful interior designer and artist, when we were spending a weekend together with some friends in a lovely house on the Dutch countryside.
It's his hands you see in the picture - I'm not THAT hairy ;) - and we prepared this dish in no time.

I'm going to make this on Easter Monday because I've decided to have a totally meat-free Easter. I'm eating a lot less meat in general since quite some time, and I try and buy only organic when I do. Moreover I have regular fish cravings and a nice piece of wild salmon is really perfect to satisfy them.

You'll only need a big piece of GOOD salmon (we chose the wild Alaskan one) and a few more ingredients among which some fresh herbs of your choice.
We used chives and oregano and since the lattest was flowering we added some of the flowers too for extra taste and texture (and beauty!).

You can serve this wonderfully aromatic salmon like we did, with boiled organic potatoes simply dressed with extra virgin olive oil and salt, and a colourful mixed salad.
Roasted potatoes with rosemary and garlic will be perfect too.

 

Salmone al forno con miele e senape

Serves 4

500 gr. fresh salmon in one big piece, or 4 chunks of about 125 gr each
juice of 1 big lemon
3 tablespoons of mustard
3 tablespoons of honey
a handful of mixed fresh herbs, coarsely chopped (chives and oregano)
salt and black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

 Preheat the oven at 180*C.

Mix lemon juice, mustard, honey, a bit of salt and pepper and three tablespoons of olive oil together making a nice, smooth emulsion.

Lay the salmon on a sheet of baking parchment big enough to easily wrap it all and "massage" it with the emulsion.
Spread the herbs on top of the salmon and wrap it well in the parchment.

Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes and serve immediately.

 

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Less is more: sole fillet with baby peas and basil

Simplicity. That's what I'm looking for these days and that's what I'm putting on my plate.
Like tonight. A very simple yet delicious dinner. So simple that I don't even need to explain everything in grams and deciliters.

To make this dish even simpler I've used frozen baby peas, one of the few things I regularly have in the freezer. I don't like to keep left-overs or to use lots of frozen food but certain things come in handy when you need them. Fresh filled pasta to plunge in boiling water directly from the ice compartment for emergency lunches or dinners, the odd ciabatta bread, Alaska pollock for the cats when I forget to buy their food, and peas.

Italians love to use peas in lots of recipes even when it's not exactly the right season. They're practically indispensable in the minestrone, for example, and thus in Italy it's quite common to have them frozen and ready for use.
So get yourself some nice baby peas (fresh ones are even better, if you have them), a couple of fillets of sole, some fresh basil ed ecco fatto, you'll have a quick and easy to make Italian classic.

Gently fry a small onion or shallot in a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil until soft and glazy.
Add the peas with some hot water from the kettle.
Let them cook until almost tender, letting most of the water evaporate. Season with a bit of salt.
Lay the sole fillets on top of the peas and put the lid on the pan, leaving them to gently steam for a few minutes.
Season with salt, black pepper and fresh basil and serve immediately.

The music that goes with this dish is from Pierangelo Bertoli with Tazenda, "Spunta la luna dal monte"

 

 

 

Quinoa risotto with whisky, pollock and mixed vegetables

For this post in Italian click this

Another “Surf & Turf”.
Oh yes baby! Apparently the one I told you about in my previous post wasn’t enough and on top of all that this one is even a fusion experiment.

This is not exactly a Summer recipe but I made this last week when here in Amsterdam it was practically Autumn and I was feeling cold and in need of some warm and earthy comfort food.
I had never used quinoa before besides from boiling it and dressing is with olive oil as a side dish. Since I’m experimenting with cereals - even though quinoa is technically not a cereal - that are not the usual wheat and rice I’m having fun trying recipes with ingredients that are quite new for me.
This “quinotto“, a quinoa risotto that is, is the first result of my experiments.
I can say that I’m quite satisfied with it since it tasted really nice!

The magic touch was given by using for the quinotto not the usual white wine but one of the “turfiest” Scotch whiskies on Earth, Ardbeg Ten Years Old (LUV it!). This divine liquid gives the dish such a wonderful and intense smoky flavour that just smelling it is a pleasure already. A classic Single Malt from Islay, the famous island called “the Queen of the Hebrides” with her fabulous whiskies, a place I definitely long to visit, hopefully very soon… 

Then there’s the porcini stock. You can make it yourselves by simply adding some dried porcini mushrooms to a home-made vegetable stock or you can use, as I did, the organic porcini stock from Vitam, which I find excellent (but I don’t know if it exists outside Holland and Germany…). I’d say dump the standard porcini stock cubes full of glutamate that would ruin the pureness of this dish, better to add some dried to porcini to a simple basic stock.
And of course we have the wonderful texture given by the quinoa that makes everything even more interesting.

The combination between this aromatic quinotto with the sauteed veggies and a humble fish like pollock, all piled up on top of each other thanks to my latest kitchen gadget (a food ring with pusher), is really an exceptional one.
But why should I keep on telling you about something that you’d better try yourselves?
And if you like, pair it with a little Ardbeg Ten Years Old mixed with some chilled water on a stormy winter night while sitting in front of the fireplace with someone special, pretending to be in Scotland. So romantic…

Quinoa risotto with whisky, pollock and mixed vegetables

Serves 2

1 big carrot
1 red onion
4 Spring onions, green parts included
2 small courgettes or 1/2 a big one
200 gr quinoa
vegetable porcini stock
1/2 dl. Ardbeg 10 yrs old Whisky
200 gr. pollock fillets
e.v. olive oil
salt
black pepper
1 dl white wine

Dice the carrot and the onion and keep them separated.
Fry the onion in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until soft, then add the carrot cubes.
Cook the carrot until quite tenderized but still al dente and put aside.

Warm up a few spoons of olive oil in a big enough pan, without onion or anything else. Toast the quinoa in it for one minute while stirring, add some whisky, stir further and let the alcohol evaporate. After that, keep on cooking adding stock and stirring regularly.
Once the quinoa is about half cooked add some of the chopped Spring onions’ green leaves (wash them first and remove the toughest and wilted parts).
Quinoa tends to stay quite al dente. Let it dry well (if it’s too moist it cannot be pressed in shape correctly) and leave it to rest for three minutes off the flame and with the lid on the pan.

In the meantime fry the Spring onions (the white parts with about 3-4 cm stalk) in e.v. olive oil, season them with salt and set aside.

Cook the pollock in the same oil you used for the Spring onions and add the white wine. Let it evaporate and season with salt and black pepper, then break in chunks.

Grate the courgettes in the pan with the carrot and onion mixture and cook for half a minute. Remove from the flame, season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

Place the ring on a hot serving plate a fill it with quinotto by a third. Level well with the pusher and cover with some vegetables (another third).
Level the veggies too and add some fish, pressing well with the pusher. Lift the ring carefully to keep everything in place. I rinsed the ring with hot water between ingredients.
Garnish with two fried Spring onions.

 

Calamaretti ripieni - stuffed baby squid

Calamari (squid) is not something I make regularly. The whole "creatures-of-the-sea" thing doesn't seem to be MY thing since in general I prefer to prepare meat or vegetarian dishes.
That's also why I included a whole "fishy chapter" to my cooking courses, so that I would finally have the chance to eat what I almost never cook at home. ;)

I found some beautiful fresh baby squid and thought it would be great to prepare it, also to show my cooking students how to clean it should they find themselves in need of doing that instead of buying it clean and frozen in a supermarket. You never know, you might end up on a desert island with lots of fresh shellfish and starve to death because you don't know how to prepare it! (or don't dare to, it can look quite intimidating...)

So here's a very simple and tasty recipe for baby squid. You can also buy bigger squid or even cuttlefish if you like, only the cooking time will be longer since their thicker meat needs a bit longer to get tender.
Instructions for cleaning the squid are also included in the recipe. The whole procedure sounds a bit messy but it's very rewarding. The pleasure of saying: "I cleaned these little monsters myself!" is absolutely priceless.

Calamaretti ripieni (stuffed baby squid)

Serves 10-12

Ingredients:                     

1-2 little calamari (squid) p.p.
6 spoons capers
800 gr. canned peeled tomatoes with their juice
fresh or dried oregano
e.v. olive oil
12 spoons breadcrumbs
100 gr black olives
fresh flat-leaf parsley
5 cloves of garlic
salt
black pepper and a few dried red hot chili peppers

Carefully remove the tentacles and the innards (guts) of the squids (everything should come out at once when you remove the guts inserting one or more fingers inside the body of the squid and pulling gently). If the translucent “quill” remains inside, pull it out to remove it. Wash the squids and remove their skin rubbing them with your fingers while washing them.

Cut off the eyes and the “beak”, discard and keep the tentacles.

Finely chop the tentacles and fry them in a bit of olive oil with a pinch of salt. Add the breadcrumbs, the chopped olives, the capers and 3 finely chopped garlic cloves. Mix well from time to time until everything is nicely cooked. Season with oregano, salt and pepper.

Stuff the squid with this mixture and seal with a toothpick.

Add some olive oil in a frying pan plus 2 peeled and crushed garlic cloves and the chopped peeled tomatoes and leave to simmer for a while.

Lay the squid in the sauce, add a few chili peppers if you like, cover with a lid and leave to gently simmer until the squid is ready and yet still moist and tender.

Garnish with finely chopped parsley and serve immediately.

The wine pairing I've chosen for this strongly flavoured dish is a Greco di Tufo 2008 from Vesevo drunk not too cold - around 12°C - so that all the aromas of this intense white wine can express themselves at their very best.
I love wines from the Campania region because they're so mineral and full of character thanks to the volcanic nature of the territorio, the soil the grapes grow on. This Greco di tufo is made with 100% Greco grapes (for this DOCG wine the quantity of Greco grapes has to be at least 85% , with 15% max of typically local coda di volpe).  









 

Another pasta??? Linguine with slightly hot tomato & tuna sauce

                                     

Yes, another pasta.
It seems like I'm eating only pasta, recently, and that's pretty much true. It's summer, I'm going out a lot in the evenings and I don't really feel like making complicated dishes, so a plate of pasta is always good, fast and easy.
Yesterday evening it was time for yet another classic, a pasta al sugo di pomodoro con tonno, peperoncino e olive nere.

I have cravings, from time to time. Like everybody else, methinks.
Sometimes it's chocolate, sometimes meat, sometimes a certain type of vegetable. A clear sign that my body needs specific nutrients, I guess.
Recently I have a real craving for canned tuna (preserved in oil, I usually find the one in water too flaky and dry) and so I'm using it in salads with tomato and chickpeas, in sandwiches with basil and self made mayonnaise and of course in pasta dishes like this one, which is easy to make and a classic year-round recipe.
I like it a bit hot - but not too hot - and so I add a couple of dried chili peppers (the tiny, very mean ones from southern Italy). The special note is given by a generous splash of red wine where you probably would expect white, and that gives the sauce a nice, sturdy and slightly unexpected twist, supported by the flavour of the small taggiasche olives used instead of normal black olives.
To make the preparation even faster I use passata di pomodoro (strained crushed tomatoes) instead of peeled tomatoes because this speeds up the whole cooking process a lot.
I like to eat this with long, thick pasta (linguine, bavette, spaghettoni) but short pasta is perfectly OK too.
The music today is from Fiorella Mannoia and Tiziano Ferro.

Oh, a little lingui-ne-stic note for some of my English speaking friends: the right spelling is linguinE and not linguini.  ;)

Linguine al sugo di pomodoro con tonno, peperoncino e olive nere

Serves 3-4

300 gr. linguine
500 gr. passata di pomodoro (strained crushed tomatoes)
1 medium-sized onion
1 clove of garlic
200 gr. canned tuna
2-3 dried chili peppers
1 handful of black olives
a big pinch of dried oregano
1/2 dl. red wine
olive oil extra vergine
sea salt

Chop the onion and fry it in olive oil with the crushed chili peppers until soft and golden brown.
Add the garlic clove, the passata di pomodoro, the dried oregano and the olives and let everything cook for at least 10 minutes.
Remove the garlic clove and add the tuna in little chunks and the red wine. Mix well and let the sauce cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Add some salt if necessary and mix with the pasta cooked very al dente.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
       

 

Culinary travel log: Rome, back to school, with recipe "anchovies in pistachio crust"

To me Rome is always one of the most beautiful, inspiring and interesting places to be, not only in general but also for her culinary appeal. I particularly love this city in spring and definitely during autum - my favourite season - when the streets smell of roasted chestnuts.

As far as I'm concerned, the Roman cuisine rules: very basic dishes and yet original and intense tastes due to the use of simple ingredients and not-so-complicated recipes.
Moreover, I just love real Romans because they usually have a big mouth and a big, big heart. :D
That's why I take any chance I can to fly to Rome, even if it's for just a few days. And these wonderful, warm and sunny October days (here they call them "le ottobrate romane") are definitely perfect for a short visit to "caput mundi". I'm staying at the apartment of a friend of mine, a beautiful Renaissance building with a view on the Campo de' Fiori, and in the morning I wake up with the busy noise of the market people preparing their stalls, loud and cheerful as only Romans can be. There's lots of vegetables, flowers and kitchen stuff for sale, and a couple of overprized, luxury stalls where only tourists and rich Romans buy their ingredients. In general, though, this still remains a cozy neighbourhood market even if it's right in the middle of touristic Rome. This is also one of the nicest characteristics of this great city: despite the hordes of visitors that invade her every day, Rome remains "property" of the Romans and keeps her popular character in most neighbourhoods. And this for me is the secret of her charme.
This time my visit to Rome also has a very specific purpose besides seeing some friends: a two-day cooking course at the Scuole del Gambero Rosso in the Città del Gusto, a huge complex including a cooking school, TV studios where the Rai Sat Gambero Rosso Channel cooking programs are recorded, a restaurant, a "cooking theater", a winebar with "wine theater", a roof garden and a little shop with the latest Gambero Rosso books and the most beautiful kitchen stuff. In a word: paradise. :D

The theme of this course is fish in all its aspects. Let's face it: if I'm here, it's with a reason. My knowledge of fish is not my strongest asset. I can clean and fillet it but there's more to cooking fish than this. That's why the cooking teacher - moi - is back on the school bench in this wonderful place where I've already followed a course on meat last February.
The teacher is chef Giulio Terrinoni, who after opening a fish restaurant four and a half months ago already received very positive critiques (according to a Roman food guide, Hostaria Acquolina is already "the best fish restaurant in Rome"). He tells us that very modestly and almost surprisedly during the second day of the course, right after hearing the news. Fish is a real passion for him. You can really tell he just loves what he's doing by observing the utterly respectful and careful way he handles what he uses. In his hands, even the simplest ingredients turn into spectacular and excellent dishes.

So today's recipe is logically one of chef Terrinoni's own creations. A heavenly one, as all the other dishes I've learnt to make during this course.
For this dish you'll need a bunch of fresh anchovies. Buy some very small ones, not the thick anchovies that are wonderful grilled on the BBQ (these are actually sardines). Most of all, you shouldn't be afraid of the "dirty work": cleaning the fish.
The first thing to do is to remove the head. While you're busy at it, gently push the belly open with a thumb: the guts will be easy to remove together with the head. Open the anchovies flattening them and carefully remove their backbones but not the little tails.
Wash the anchovies briefly under running water to make sure you don't loose too much taste in the process and pat them dry with some kitchen paper.
Now they're ready to be prepared as alici fritte in crosta di pistacchi (fried anchovies in pistachio crust).

Oh yes, before I forget: I visited the "Acquolina" restaurant after the cooking course with a fellow student to see with my own eyes and taste with my own buds how chef Terrinoni works in his own kitchen. What shall I say? Everything was simply fantastic: the chef who treated us like princesses, the great sommelier - the wine list is HUGE! - the very professional service and of course the food! Via Antonio Serra (mind you, there's another Via Serra in the Trastevere neighbourhood!) is not really in the centre of Rome but this restaurant is definitely worth the 20 euro taxi (total price from the center and back, taxis in Rome are quite cheap).

UPDATE: March 24, 2010: after almost four years this recipe has become one of my "classics" and I teach it during my own cooking classes in Amsterdam. Every time with enthusiastic reactions!

Alici fritte in crosta di pistacchi

Serves 4

16 little anchovies
150 gr. pistachio nuts, peeled and unsalted
8 slices of white sandwich bread
3 eggs
flour
peanut or sunflower oil for deep-frying
salt
black pepper

Clean the anchovies as explained above.

Crumble the bread slices (without crust) and the pistachio nuts a bit coarsley with the kitchen robot and mix well.

Beat the eggs with a bit of salt and pepper. Dust the anchovies with a bit of flour and dip them in the beaten eggs.
Lay them on the bread mix and press them gently so that the bread and pistachio crumbs stick to both sides of the fish.

Deep-fry the anchovies in hot oil until golden brown and crunchy, lay them on some kitchen paper to remove the excess fat, season with a bit of sea salt and serve on a bed of salad leaves, pomegranate grains and a dressing made with olive oil, salt and a balsamic vinegar reduction. Wonderful as a starter.
Buon appetito!