Last night set the scene for an Italian feast starring such greats as gnocchi, melty cheese, prosciutto, rocket, fennel, pecorino and zabaglione....mmmmm. It was lovely and we got to share it with our friends Justin and Ana.
We started with an olive pizza bread, the same recipe from the previous pizza I made, but this time I didn't add any onions or cheese, I just studded it with halved kalamata olives. We served that with more kalamata olives, prosciuttio and some beautiful cherry tomatoes Leon made with an adapted recipe from Shannon Bennett's wonderful cook book on home french cooking, My French Vue. The tomatoes were blanched then had the skins taken off. A thin slice of garlic was then put into cross cuts in the top. Leon also made a thyme salt, made by combining 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp dried thyme in a mortar and pestle and bashing until well mixed. He then sprinkled the salt mix on each tomato and left them in a warm but switched off oven for about an hour or so.
To serve, he removed the garlic slices and nestled the tomatoes in the prosciutto with the olives and drizzled over some olive oil. They were delicious; soft and juicy, the garlic left a lingering aroma and the thyme salt added a lovely warmth. We drank a bottle of Yarra Burn pinot noir chardonnay vintage 2006 with this dish.
For the main part of the meal, which is stock standard for us as it's easier, we just put 4 dishes on the table for everyone to share and help themselves. We served 3 salads and a gnocchi dish.
Caprese Salad: the traditional salad from Caprese calls for tomato, bocconcini and basil. All I did was serve a slice of tomato topped with the cheese and the basil and drizzle olive oil on the top. There are myriad of serving styles that can be seen here, but the key ingredients remain unchanged.
Rocket, fennel and pecorino: I love this combo; the buttery crunch of the fennel, the bite of the rocket and the creamy salty hit of cheese. I used one bulb of fennel and a big handful of rocket and I guess about 30 or 40 gms pecorino I shaved with a potato peeler. You can use parmesan if you prefer, or any other hard bitey cheese. As always, the ubiquitous olive oil was scattered sparingly.
Rocket, red onion and orange: Another classic, the key to this one is getting the dressing spot on, although the marriage of onion and orange is indeed a happy one. We used 2 oranges for the segments, 1/4 of a large red onion and a bid handful of rocket. The dressing was the juices of 1/2 an orange and 1/2 a lemon, 1 tsp sugar and 2 tbs olive oil. Whisk together. The taste can be adjusted to your own preference.
Gnocchi with taleggio, pear and walnut: This dish is one that I ate at Melbourne restaurant Bottega a few weeks ago and I think it is now my favourite dish. Yes, it is. I couldn't find a recipe online that gave me the definitive amounts for the gnocchi and the taleggio topping together so I made the dish by cobbling together a couple of different recipes.
I made the gnocchi using a really easy recipe from Justin North's French Lessons. I used the morel and parmesan gnocchi recipe, but I omitted the morels. I have made gnocchi before but I found this recipe to be really quick and easy and there are also instructions on the best way to store it, if you need to make it in advance.
For the taleggio sauce, I once again visited my newest find, Italian Food Forever.
I adapted the recipe for Chestnut Gnocchetti With Creamy Cheese Sauce. I followed Deb's sauce recipe but I halved the cream amount to 1/2 a cup and I used 100gms taleggio. I just melted the cheese into the cream and once it had reduced by a third, I added a chopped pear, 150 gms toasted chopped walnuts and the gnocchi. Once combined, I left it in the pan and just served it straight onto the table.
Dessert, I feel, is something close to most people's hearts. For the finish, I went with the easiest Italian dessert I know: Zabaglione. This recipe came from a stalwart in our home: Everyday in the Kitchen by Allan Campion and Michele Curtis. Leon has owned this book for years and it saved him when he went to live in the States as a post-grad student. When we met, he introduced me to this handy kitchen dictionary and together we have made many of the lovely, homely recipes that the authors do so well. Zabaglione is so simple that it only uses 3 ingredients. I know!! So, as long as you have some egg yolks, sugar and a sweet booze (I used sherry but the original calls for marsala), you can make it too. The following will comfortably serve 4 people.
Zabaglione: 8 egg yolks
130 gms caster sugar
76 gms sherry (ok, I know how that sounds, but at the time I'd a few wines and didn't think to rummage around and find the liquid measuring thing. It was the perfect amount though, so, HA!)
Add the ingredients together and combine. In a saucepan, bring some water to a low simmer. On top of the saucepan, place your bowl with the mixture. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk together until the mixture has thickened and doubled in size. That's it. Serve with cream. (Alas! I forgot to take photos before we finished the dessert sorry!)
So that was the dinner party. We ate, drank and laughed. It's the life really:)
Oh and when I got up this morning, I made some muffins. They're called Morning Glory Muffins (!) and they are delicioso! The recipe came from Everyday in the Kitchen again!
Have a lovely sunny Sunday.
