our italian culinary holiday ends, but the culinary journey never will...part duex

We have had amazing weather during our holiday.  Amazingly warm weather. This afternoon the temperature began to cool, which was welcomed.  Marcello and Rafaella's home was a quick and welcomed  walk from our hotel.  They have a tidy flat on the 3rd floor of a lovely building just steps from the University of Bologna.  Their kitchen is very well appointed, and there was plenty of room for us to work.  Rafaella is a very accomplished home cook...and I was excited to learn from her.
Tortellini in Brodo is something I make. I ate it as a kid and it is real comfort food.  As it happens my husband's step-father (also Italian), made it as well...so we both share have good memories of the dish.
As you may recall, we made tortellini and stored it in the freezer. We would be using this pasta today for our Tortellini in Brodo.
I have to say, Rafaella's broth is the best broth I have ever had.  I have been making fresh chicken broth forever...but have always thought it was good, but lacking richness.  Today I learned the secret to making it amazing. And the secret is not chicken...it is beef.  Traditional broth for tortellini in brodo uses more than just chicken.  Furthermore, the meat is not tossed away, it is used in either bollito misto (boiled meat) or meatballs.

Rafaella's Brodo

1/2 stewing chicken

piece of cow's tongue--about 4" long

2-3 meaty short ribs--or flaken ribs with bones

nice piece of beef filet about 1/2lb

1 beef soup bone

2 small carrots-- peeled and kept whole

1 medium onion--peeled and kept whole

2 medium stalks celery--whole

salt and pepper

Place all meat in a large pot.  Cover with cold water.  Bring to a simmer on the stove, skimming foam off top as it forms.  Once it comes to a simmer, place top over, but not completely covering and let simmer for 3-4 hours.  Occasionally check and skim foam off top.  Once done, Strain, keeping meat for other use. Discard vegetables.  You may use immediately or store in refrigerator or freezer.

For Tortellini--bring enough broth to a boil to cook pasta.  Cook pasta until tender and about doubled in size.   Serve in shallow bowls and top with a bit of pepper and parmesan cheese.  The broth should not be treated like a soup, it is a condiment to the pasta.  But don't be too skimpy either...you will love this broth and want to sop up a bit with each bite!

tortellini in brodo

We made and ate so many amazing things, but there are a few I want to feature.  Things that are simple and delicious.

Rafaella had picked up some zucchini flowers at the marketplace.  They are not quite as dear in Italy as they are here.  I have found them at local farmer's markets and sometimes at whole foods--but they will pinch the pocketbook a bit.

It is essential to preserve the taste of the fiore as they are so precious.  Rafaella's recipe--does just that.  She also threw in fresh sage and basil leaves for a bit of a treat.  These zucchini flowers remained crunchy even after sitting for a bit...which was a nice surprise.

Batter for Flowers and Herbs

1/3 cup flour

1 egg

1/4 cup sparkling water or club soda or beer

pinch of salt

2-3 ice cubes

Gently mix the ingredients together to form a nice batter (a little thinner than pancake batter). Add the ice cubes to make mixture quite cold.

Dip the zucchini flowers and herbs in the batter, allow excess to drip off.  Drop into pan of very hot oil and cook until light brown.  Remove from oil and drain on kitchen paper.  Sprinkle with salt and serve

For our protein, we made involtini.  Involtini is a piece of meat with something wrapped inside. In our case we used mortadella, sage and parmesan cheese.  Here's the deal with these.  When you start out...they honestly don't really look like much. I was a bit skeptical.  We took small pieces of very thin veal, chicken and pork and placed very small bits of mortadella and parmesan cheese in the middle.  Each filling was topped with about 1/3 piece of sage and then rolled to cover all ingredients and kept closed with a toothpick.  We crammed them in a medium size saucepan, dropped a bit of olive oil and a couple bits of butter on top and let them cook away.  I have since made these at home and they were a big hit...and great for a crowd.  My addition to the recipe is that when I took the involtini out of the pan, I hit the bottom of the pan with a bit of white wine and then just a small knob of butter.  It pulled all the crunchy bits off the pan and made a nice sauce that I then poured over the meat.  You really should use mortadella in this, but if you don't like it substitute with prosciutto, but then watch the salt in the recipe.  Please do not buy mortadella from the grocery store. Get it from a good Italian or German deli...you will be glad you did. Oh...and have them slice it very thin...very, very thin.

We enjoyed so many delicious side dishes, but one that was a complete surprise was the eggplant dish. As I watched it come together, again I was skeptical.  I thought it looked dry and sad.  But it turned out to be absolutely delicious.

Melanzane

Take a large eggplant and slice it to max 1/8" slices.  Place in a colander and coat with salt, or let dry for a few hours on paper towels to reduce bitterness. If you use the salt, be sure to wash the eggplant off, otherwise you will have the equivalent of a salt-lick.  Make sure the eggplant is dry and then cook in a dry pan over medium heat.  When the eggplant starts to color and is soft, it is done.  Arrange in concentric layers on a serving plate.  Meanwhile finely chop 2 cloves garlic, about 2 Tbs italian parsley leaves and about 1 tsp of kosher salt.
Sprinkle on top of the eggplant and then top with good extra virgin olive oil.  Serve room temperature or cold.

And for dessert we had gelato.  Rafaella whipped it up like it was no big deal.  She didn't make a custard by cooking the eggs, which I always do from a food safety perspective, which made her process very quick.  None of us have compromised immune systems and frankly they just do it differently in Europe, so we obbled down every last bit.  And boy did it taste so good!  The recipe was pretty standard, so I won't post it here...but I will show you a photo...

vanilla gelato with blueberry sauce

So the food was great, naturally.  Rafaella knows her way around a kitchen and she is very choosy with her ingredients.  The night was spectacular.  As we sat in their dining room, eating this spectacular meal and talking about our adventure of the past week, it felt as if we were going down memory lane with dear old friends.  I couldn't believe that this would be our final evening together as Marcello had become part of our daily landscape--translating things he didn't need to, not translating things I desperately wanted to understand but didn't need to know...driving us through village and dale....showing us a side of Italy only few non-natives get to experience....getting impatient with us for forever being a few minutes late...shaking his head as we debated if we should smuggle home a full prosciutto (we did not)...introducing us to amazing chefs and cooks throughout the region....and sharing with us his family and his life.

In the end we had to say arrivaderci  to our new friends; Marcello, his wife Rafaella and their adorable daughter Francesca.  They are now and forever a part of my quilt...my quilt of experiences and adventures that I carry with me always.
Thank you dear readers for following me on this journey.

Just one more plug for them...Marcello and Rafaella of Bluone Cooking Tours.  You won't be disappointed!

Not All Pasta is Created Equal

I promised you a piece about pasta and here it comes....

We were treated to an amazing pasta class from 2 young ladies, Francesca and Martina.  They have started a small business called  Manimpasta, where they teach the traditional Bolognese method of pasta making.  No, machines, no gimmicks, just good ingredients, a rolling pin and a lot of elbow grease.
Before I forget, you can reach them at manimpasta@hotmail.com.  The classes are taught either in English or Italian, your choice.  If you will be in Bologna, I suggest you book in advance, as the classes are kept small and will fill up once the word is out.  It is nice to see young people with such great passion for their work.

I have made my own pasta before to decent results.  But this pasta was something very different indeed. We used the freshest of eggs, with extremely yellow yolks, and the perfect flour.  The only flour to use is 00 (doppio zero)...but it is difficult to find in the States. If you have an Italian market that will supply you with this flour, then you are lucky indeed.  If not, you can order from King Arthur, but the price is pretty high.  I was also told by Francesca that she found cake flour to be the best alternative if you can't find the real thing.

Where I have been going completely wrong, in my pasta making, is that I use a machine to roll out the dough. I have to admit, it was a bit challenging at times because it is hard to crank the machine, and pass the dough through the rollers without creasing it.  If I am to be honest, rolling it by hand ends up being less frustrating, if a bit more work.  Also, when making the tagliatelle, you get nice long and even strands when you roll and cut by hand.  I am a convert. I am a convert because the results are so extraordinary.  The difference is remarkable.   Here is a short video of Francesca and Martina rolling out dough for tagliatelle.

F and M rolling out pasta dough 

See how easy they make it look?  Trust me, it's not that easy...but it is not impossible either

The tortellini we made were so small, I was ready to flag down a small child to help me.  My hands were like a catcher's mitt in comparison to F and M.  They were zip, zip, zipping through the folding process and I was like superman holding kryptonite. For the first 10 or 15, I couldn't even fathom how to fold the dough.  Then, after watching Francesca enough times,  I was able to do it.  And then, I looked down and I had a table full of tortellini.  Each piece was about the size of a penny and was filled with an amazing combination of ground pork (pork loin, mortadella, and prosciutto) and ready to be served in tortellini en brodo (chicken broth with tortellini).
The tagliatelle were cut and formed into "nests" and left to dry.  Once dried, they can be covered and stored for months to come.  I can tell you that we have eaten quite a few dishes of tagliatelle with ragu bolognese while here, and it is a perfect combination. YUM!

Here are a few recipes courtesy of Francesca and Martina.  This is just a sampling of what I learned and  just a primer to what I intend to learn.

 What I now know, is that living a rich life is as much about the effort as the result.

Pasta Dough

3 cups 00 or cake flour

5 extra large eggs 

Put the flour on your counter and make a well in the middle.  Break the eggs inside the well and using a fork, stir the eggs as if you are making an omelet.  Using the fork, bring the flour into the eggs to begin forming a dough. Continue bringing the flour in until you have a sticky mixture.  Begin working the rest of the flour in by hand and knead for at least 10 minutes.  The dough must be very smooth and well kneaded before leaving it to rest for 10 minutes.  Cover the dough with plastic or a towel or something to discourage a "skin" from forming.  When ready, use a bit of flour so the dough does not stick and roll very thin.  Cut or shape as desired.

Filling for the tortellini

2/3 cup good mortadella

1/3 cup pork loin

1/2 lb prosciutto

1 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

3 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

pinch of nutmeg

grind together very fine and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.