SCOPRENDO > gli Eventi > del Gusto

Chestnut Cake

Thanks to "Monferrato Mio!, traditional recipes from Val Rilate" by Elisabeth Toni Hilton, Paolo Ferrero e Leonardo Tessiore, diffusione immagine editore

Ingredients: (serves 8/10 portions)
- 1/2 kg hulled Chestnuts
- 200g sugar
- 6 eEggs
- 1/2l whole Milk
- 200g Amaretti (dry)
- 200g Sweet gallette biscuits
- 80g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 dose vanilla sugar
- 1 dose leaven - Peel of 1 lemon
- 1 small glass Amaretto liquore or good Rhum

Preparation: Boil the Chestnuts in water until soft. Pass them throught a food mill or grinder to obtain a soft purée. Mix together milk, eggs, sugar, cocoa, leavening. Mince finely amaretti, biscuit, and lemon peel. Fold all ingredients together. Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan (butter the cake pan and sprinkle it with bread crumbs on all sides, tapping out the excess). Bake in oven preheated to 180° for about 1 hour.

Bagna Cauda

Many towns in Piedmont claim to have invented this symbol of Piedmontese cuisine, but in fact it was born in the distant past on the coasts of Provence, where it was known as "Anchoiade". It was certainly the merchants from Asti in the Middle Ages who came across the dish during their expeditions to stock up on salt and anchovies, and brought it home with them, where it spread throughout the vast area where they traded (all of Southern and Northwestern Piedmont). The ancient Provençal recipe adopted by the country people around Asti, was gradually adapted to the customs and resources of the area, using the vegetables that were the basis of their poor cuisine. This rustic, popular dish, abhorred for a long time by the upper classes because of the all powerful presence of garlic, left little trace in Piedmontese gastronomic texts and it was not until 1875 that a novelist, Roberto Sacchetti, from Montechiaro d'Asti, described “Bagna Caòda” as we know it today. In the countryside it is not seen as a poor dish foreveryday consumption: it is something to be enjoyed in company, prepared to celebrate special moments of community life, such as the end of the grape harvest.

Ingredients: 12 “rosse di Spagna” anchovies, 12 cloves of garlic, 1/2 litre of extravirgin olive oil, 200 grams of butter, assortment of vegetables typical of Piedmont (both raw and boiled), eggs and slices of polenta

Preparation: The preparation of this sauce made of garlic, oil and anchovies has precise rules to maintain the recipe of the ancient vine workers. First of all, the anchovies must be of the “rosse di Spagna” variety, matured at least one year; remove from the salt at the last minute, clean, wash in water and wine, dry and remove the bones (at least 2 or 3 anchovies a head). Garlic is the real "soul" of the dish, and you must allow 2-3 cloves per person; do not boil them in water or in milk, but remove the hearts, cut the cloves into thin slices and soak for a couple of hours in cold water. The oil must be extravirgin olive oil, at least half a glass per person. The vegetables to dip into the sauce are all those found in a Piedmontese kitchen garden (excluding a few such as celery, fennel and radish, because they are too aromatic): cardoons of the "gobbi di Nizza" or "spadoni di Chieri" variety, red peppers, both raw and roast and peeled, pickled red peppers, Jerusalem artichokes, green, white and red cabbage, white hearts of escarole and endive, fresh leeks, long salad onions, white turnips, roast beetroot, boiled cauliflower, boiled cabbage hearts, roast onions, white potatoes boiled in their skins, apples, slices of roast or fried pumpkin, slices of hot roast or fried polenta, and raw eggs to scramble in the last spoonful of bagna caòda in the earthenware pot. The secret to cooking bagna caòda that is good, healthy and easy to digest, is to heat it over a slow flame and never to overcook it. Dry the sliced garlic and put it into a large earthenware pot with a ladleful of oil and a lump of butter. Heat over a slow flame for at least half an hour, stirring continually with a wooden spoon and making sure it does not turn brown; the garlic must soften and dissolve to form a homogeneous soft white cream. At this point add all the remaining oil and the anchovies, and continue to heat over a slow flame until the anchovies have dissolved, creating a light brown sauce with a pungent aroma. The bagna caòda is ready and must be eaten hot, as soon as it is ready. It may be served directly in the earthenware pot it was cooked in, standing on a food warmer, or ideally in “sciunfiette”, special individual earthenware bowls with a lit candle underneath. Using your fingers, dip the vegetables into the bagna caòda like a spoon. It is best accompanied by a "robust" wine, such as a young Barbera.

Bonèt

“Bonèt” is a characteristic soft desert made with amaretti biscuits, cocoa, eggs, cream and caramel. It is served cold and is the perfect way to conclude a real "Piedmontese" meal.

Ingredients: -4 eggs -6 tablespoons caster sugar -half litre of milk -50 grams macaroons -2 tablespoons bitter cocoa powder -2 tablespoons of rum

Preparation: There have been many versions of the origins of the word “Bonèt” over the years. In Piedmontese, a “bonèt” is a cap/beret (worn by men working the land) and, according to Vittorio Sant’Albino's Piedmontese/Italian dictionary of 1859, this desert is called “Bonèt” because that is the name given to the copper and aluminium mould that it is cooked in, which looks like a hat one would wear in the kitchen (“bonet ’d cusin-a”). The most curious, and most popular explanation in the Langhe (where the pudding originated) indicates that it was called Bonèt because it was served at the end of the meal, on top of everything that had gone before it. Before leaving the house, or a closed room, after dressing, on top of everything else, people would wear a hat, a bonèt, and by analogy, the dessert that concluded the meal took this name. Beat the eggs in a bowl, add 4 tablespoons of sugar, the cocoa, the macaroons finely crumbled by hand, the rum and the milk. Mix using a whisk. Then prepare the caramel. Heat 2 tablespoons of sugar in a small saucepan until it is a light brown colour, add a few drops of water so that the sugar forms threads, and stir. Pour the caramel into a mould, previously warmed so that the caramel will slide, and make sure it coats the bottom and sides. When the caramel has cooled, pour the egg mixture into the mould, place in a pan of water and cook in a moderately hot oven (180°C) for about 45 minutes. When the pudding is quite solid, let the mould cool. Then place it in the refrigerator for 2/3 hours, upturn it onto a serving dish, and serve. The recipe may vary in different parts of Piedmont; for example hazelnuts of the "Tonda Gentile delle Langhe" variety may be added, or some coffee, and the rum may be replaced by brandy.

Carne Cruda (Raw Meat

Ingredients: 1 kg of tender raw meat, extra virgin olive oil, one garlic clove, lemon juice, salt, pepper, salad or fresh vegetables

Preparation: Cut the meat into thin slices (with a sharp knife), then cut the slices in the opposite sense into stripes and then in tiny cubes, which are then cut with a heavier knife into a rather fine mince. In a bowl, mix the meat pieces, oil, salt, freshly ground pepper, lemon juice, and the garlic, which should be removed before serving. Stir well and taste to reach the perfect seasoning. Create small meatballs, flatten them and serve in a bed of salad. If in the truffle season, cut a white truffle over the meat and serve (in this case don't use the lemon)

Stewed beef with Barolo wine

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Tripe with Mustard Sauce

Ingredients: 1,5 kg very fresh mixed tripe, bay leavse, 4 gelatine leaves, lemon juice, grain mustard, slices of lard, extra virgin olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper, capers, tinned tuna in olive oil, salad

Preparation: Boil the tripe in a large pot with 4 or 5 bay leaves and some salt, for about 30 minutes. Prepare a oven-proof dish by putting some thin slices of lard on the bottom, drain the tripe and cut out a piece to cover the bottom of the dish (the tripe has to be still warm); now create layers of the tripe cut into stripes, salt and pepper, some oil, a gelatine leaf and so until you finish all the ingredients. Close the mould with slices of lard and cook in a bain-marie in the oven for 40 minutes at 150°. Take the dish out of the oven and let it cool by putting a weight on it to compress its content. In the meantime prepare a mixture of oil, lemon juice, mustard and salt; whisk all the ingredients together and gradually add all the other ingredients to taste. When the tripe is completely cooled off turn upside down on a tray and cut it into fine slices with a slicer. In a large bowl, dress the tripe with the tuna, from which the oil was previously drained, the capers and the mustard sauce. Arrange on a platter with salad and at pleasure with hard boiled quail eggs

Risotto with Salsiccia and Broccoli

Ingredients: 500 g Carnaroli type rice, 4/5 litres of good vegetable and meat broth, one leach, one carrot, white wine, extra virgin olive oil, butter, parmesan cheese, broccoli, 300 g salsiccia, salt, pepper, some good lard

Preparation: Prepare the leach, the carrot and the lard and cook them lightly in a large saucepan with the oil, add the rice and toast it, checking that it does not burn or stick to the pan adding some white wine every now and then. Once it's toasted, add the broth and the raw broccoli. Half way through the cooking time, add the salsiccia in small pieces without its skin, and previously browned in a pan. Follow carefully the cooking process of the rice turning it with a wooden spoon and adding more broth; taste with salt and pepper. When the rice is cooked, add the parmesan and the butter and mix carefully for 2 or 3 minutes. Serve very hot

Green garlic sauce

Ingredients: 100 g fresh Robiola sheep or goat's cheese, 100 g of cow's milk Robiola, parsley, 5/6 garlic cloves, sage, basil, 2/3 mint leaves, the tender inside part of one stick of celery, juice of one lemon, olio extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper

Preparation: Carefully wash the leaves of the herbs and dry them; put the garlic and the herbs in a large mortar and pound them, add salt and pepper and pour in oil and lemon juice. With the pestle mix everything with circular movements until you have a soft and smooth paste. Pout the mixture on the two chesees and mix it with a fork or wooden spoon. Serve the green garlic sauce in a bowl with toasted bread

Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms

Ingredients: 2 dozen still open zucchini blossoms, 2 boiled potatoes, 200 g di Seirass cheese or Sheep Ricotta cheese, 2 eggs, salt, pepper, flower, ice water

Preparation: Clean the zucchini blossoms, prepare a filling with the boiled potatoes, Seirass chees, the eggs, salt and peeper, and mix into a homogeneous mass. Spoon the filling into a pastry beg, fill all the blossoms and close by slighlty twisting the top part of the blossom. Prepare a batter by mixing a bit of flower, salt and ice water wiht a whisk into a dense creme-like texture. Immerge the blossons into the batter drip off and put into a large pan with nearly boiling peanut oil. Fry for 2/3 minutes, dry on kitchen paper, salt and serve warm