Xmas lunch/2

The second and last part of my Xmas lunch :)

Please please please do me a favour, especially if you are having a hard day, or if you think you owe a reward, as soon as you finish reading this post grab some sage and deep-fry it in a batter made with flour and sparkling water, it will blow your mind! 

TUNA OF BOILED MEAT AND ROASTED CAULIFLOWERS

This is also borrowed from a recipe of north Italy (Piemonte), but the original version is made with rabbit. Now, I like rabbits either alive jumping in the fields or already cooked in pieces, when they have lost all the cuteness embedded in their original shape. So, I replaced the rabbit with mixed meat (beef and chicken), letting them cook very slowly in a pot with water, celery, onion, carrots and mixed herbs (rosemary, sage, juniper, laurel, thyme). I let the meat cool down in its own broth and then cut them in little stripes with the hands. I took a jar and made layers of meat, black pepper grains, laurel, garlic and oil EVO. I let the jar rest in the fridge for one night and served it the day after at room temperature.

The side dish is made by boiling the florets of the cauliflower, roasting them in the oven for 20 mins with 2 spoons of oil EVO and breadcrumbs and then serving them on a tahini bed.

DEEP FRIED LAMB CHOPS AND SAGE

Ohhhhh…. fried sage! Please, try it, it is an unbelievably tasty and unbelievably easy: just melt some flour in sparkling cold water, dip the sage leaves in the batter and deep-fry them in oil. This was the side of the lamb chops dipped in eggs and rolled in breadcrumbs (by my mom… ok I cheated I made only 9 out of 10 dishes!)

PEA BALLS WITH TZATZIKI AND BAKED POTATO SLICES

The pea balls are taken from here, while the side this is made with thin slices of potatoes and sweet potatoes baked in the oven for few minutes with rosemary, coarse salt and oil EVO

HONEY, BRIE CHEESE & PEARS PASTRY

This dessert also falls in the category of quick-easy-but-unbelievably-tasty, as it is made by thin sheets of puff pastry cooked in the over for few minutes, slices of pears and slices of brie cheese, baked again in the oven until the brie starts melting. Before serving, some (biological) honey on top and that's it :)

Xmas lunch/1

True that xmas has been now over for more than two weeks, but the silver nail polish I am wearing gives me all the rights to still feel the festive mood and talk you through my xmas lunch :)

To my super-nerd mind, Xmas is like a function that multiplies everything by ten, which means it increases the happiness content of the happy moments but also increases the pain in case the mood is not that happy. This year I felt my family needed a change, thus I decided to divert the lunch from a regular, traditional smooth periodic function, made of tortellini and mixed boiled beef, to a more eclectic collection of delta functions (the steepest and shortest function on earth), ten of them for the sake of precision, ten tiny dishes cute for the eye and tasty in the mouth :D 

CAPRESE FINGERFOOD

this is taken almost exactly from here. I have to say the result was very cute but "meaningless" taste-wise (according to my brother, who instead loved everything else)

RAVIOLI DEL PLIN

I had this amazing ravioli in Torino, and I felt in love with them. The filling is made with mixed pork and beef meat cooked with celery-onion-carrot, blended with spinach and scarola salad, one egg and parmigiano. The sauce is made by overcooking the celery-onion-carrot left in the meat juice and blending them, adding some flour to make it more dense. 

TORTELLONI SPINACH AND BUFFALO MOZZARELLA

These were my winners ;). I made the filling simply cooking fresh spinach in a pan sealed with a lid and a spoon of olive oil for few minutes. When ready, I let them cool down and added cubes of very VERY good buffalo mozzarella, one egg and some parmigiano. Then I made the giant tortelli, boiled them and served with a plain cherry tomato sauce (I made it by first peeling the tomatoes dipping them in boiling water for 30 seconds, and then cutting them into cubes and cooking the sauce for 5 minutes) and some thyme leafs to decorate.

BARLEY WITH HAZELNUTS AND FENNEL IN CASTELMAGNO FONDUE

The taste of barley, hazelnuts, fennel seeds and cheese fondue all together is absolutely stunning. I borrowed the idea from my chef friend, and every time I make them I am surprised by the pair fennel/hazelnut. It is indeed very simple: I boiled the barley, added grated hazelnuts, oil EVO and fennel seeds. I used a round pasta cutter to make nice towers of barley and served with a fondue of cream fresh, milk and castelmagno (a strong cheese from the north of italy).