Poor Mans Feast, Cooking with Massimo & Friends Part 3
Poor Mans Feast - A Humble Recipe to Keep
Since every outing of the house now seems like an adventure I have taken to patronising the cafe/delicatessen/restaurants that sell provisions like local olive oil, fresh pasta and organic wines. Instead of just the usual supermarket shop I have been adjusting my radar to cater to small businesses that have changed their usual set up out of obligation to service the people and their employees while in the middle of Covid-19.
Our nearest fresh food market is open four days a week and is a forty minute drive. We do have a Saturday market in the village for local produce, cheeses, honey and olive oil. One has to be organised to get there or you miss out and end up at the supermarket up the road.
This can be quite boring so have been driving into the city once a week for new possibilities and some new wines like a Pinot Grigio delle Venezia a DOC number from Terra di Marca wines I fell into on the weekend. A light twist on Saturday night to my usual take on red notes. I may not be able to get to Italy but Italy can definitely come to me.
No less, food has become the back bone for days spent at home, no distractions. I have been cooking, gardening, weeding, growing things like kale and spring onions, leek and delphiniums, pots of sweet peas....my own dreams of a row or two are coming to life. Somewhere in between I have returned to a few days at work and the rest is just the domestic and the creative and a cook book to ponder. A blue one since the beautiful cream cover I have set aside. I am still cooking from ‘Bread is Gold’ and trying out recipes and gaining a whole new way of looking at food and the possibilities of simple ingredients and what is possible in the day to day.
18. Chocolate Cake with Caramel Ice Cream P. 232-233 The word I wrote next to this six part dessert was “winner” so unbearably good. I had it all over again the next day at around 11am when I took the photo. I plated it up, chocolate mousse with orange peel (instead of orange liquor - my genius), caramelized apples with cinnamon and star anise on the side, chocolate biscuit crumb, caramel and cinnamon ice-cream (the best I have ever made at home), chocolate cake with no flour, no almond meal - no filler.......I honestly thought it could be an error in the recipe but no I was wrong the eggs separated make this work and the chocolate ganache had me weeping with joy........yes the kids were suddenly next to me at 11.05 putting plates on the table for them too. Say no more - Divine (photo above) and the key to such a dessert is to make the ice-cream the day before as I did the cake too, and then the apples and chocolate crumb the next day when I got home from work. A big fat tick, delicious....
19. Squash Risotto with Pomegranate Butter P. 147This dish I started twice, once I found a pomegranate at the fruit market fortunate as they had just come into season. I slow cooked them for a few hours one day when I was on one of my cooking marathons. To be honest they were not as tempting as they are fresh, juicy and zingy. So I put them in the fridge and then got busy with something else. I believe I fed them to the chooks which is a bit silly. Now we have a beautiful pile of pumpkins from our garden and the risotto was calling me back again........autumn food and simplicity on a plate. Another visit to the market had me piling in my grocer bag persimmon, pomegranate and perfect pears. I love the colours of autumn singing on the table at home. This is an easy way to make the risotto and is the first time I have cooked it without arborio rice and rather just short grain rice. Since I have heaps of fresh sage in the garden, three massive plants in fact. I fried up the sage leaves and scattered fresh pomegranate seeds on top. So beautiful, colourful and easy to put away with a soft red wine like the Malbec I had opened the night before........
20. Strawberries with Banana Bread P. 41All I can say here is that never have I made strawberry sorbet that tasted like a strawberry. The colour reminded me of the quince paste Spanish style Membrillo with lemon juice I love and since it is autumn that made me happy. And the taste made me feel I was in Italy all over again......
21. Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Chili Pepper P. 218 Recipe of the week. Have been cooking like a Trojan getting much delight from the learning and musing over ingredients and pantry possibilities. I liked what Giuseppe Palmieri said about using simple breadcrumbs instead of Parmigiano cheese. Where he grew up in Matera, Italy it was more famine then feast, and parmesan cheese was not being sprinkled lavishly at the table. We use it regularly so that tells me a lot in one sentence.Utilising the left over bread for crumbs and cooking them in olive oil and garlic imparts a wonderful crunch and texture to what is considered a simple pasta dish. The red chili elevates it to a song. I gave Rich a bowl of this while he was outside building the fence to our new chicken pen and he yelled out to me, “Shell, I could eat this for dinner”. There you are, simple ordinary ingredients but elevated flavours.
Black Rice, Fennel and Radicchio Salad with Yellow Chilli Vinaigrette P. 344 Restaurant food with Peruvian currents of landscape and innovation right next to the traditional flavours of Italy. Top five dish so far.....thank you Virgilio Martinez.
23. Meatballs with Lemon Sauce and Ratatouille P. 104Every time I have made meatballs in the past I have cooked them in oil and then baked in tomato sauce, always the worry is they are not cooked through. This recipe I discovered is to bake on a tray with aluminum foil over top for fifteen minutes and they are delicate and tender. So simple it is ridiculous. The lemon sauce was Chef Ugo’s legacy from his Grandmother, it certainly added an element of surprise to my taste buds.....the ratatouille is always a welcome dish.
24. Spanish Tortilla with Cold Lentil Salad P. 262When there are too many eggs from the chickens this is a fine recipe to turn to. Simple, healthy and a fine breakfast or lunch or dinner.....
Since it’s school holidays, Richard has taken to the pasta machine and all I can say is Buon Appetito.........happy days for me.