Category Archives: Recipes – All About – Tried and Tested
Cooking for Family and Friends
Passata di Pomodoro
No good Italian can live without tomatoes, and plenty of it. So the annual Passata day always takes effect when tomatoes are in abundance, ripe, sweet and fresh. Making about 60 kilograms of Passata every year for our own needs, and some as gifts, has been a family tradition for many decades. It helps to be on a good footing with the local green grocer who is only too pleased to discount the tomatoes that would be considered over ripe in New Zealand, but just right in Italy.
RECIPE
Wash and roughly cut up the tomatoes, and at the same time remove the odd bad or discolored spots. Now boil the tomatoes, without water, for about five to ten minutes, depending on the ripeness, until soft, but not cooked.
Passata making can be a huge job without the magical Passata Machine – a device that separates the skin and seeds from the flesh. This little machine can do in excess of 100 kilograms per hour and is wonderfully designed, easy to operate, durable and very quick to clean. No self respecting Italian household is without one! Within minutes I had processed 30 kilograms of tomatoes into 28.5 kilograms of Passata leaving 1.5 kilograms of seeds and skins to compost, or dry to plant next year.
Bottle the tomatoes in clean canning bottles – do not use the cheap screw on type of bottles, but a good strong bottle with lid that can seal properly. There is no need to sterilise the clean bottles before hand, as it is going to happen after filling them. Put the filled and sealed bottles in a large enough pot that would totally cover the bottles when filled with water. It is good to have a tea towel or some screen in the bottom of the pot, so that the bottles do not stand directly on the heated surface. Now fill the pot with water of about the same temperature as the product is at this stage (prevent bottles from cracking). Heat until the water is boiling and then boil for twenty minutes more. Immediately remove the bottles from the boiling water, if the water starts to cool, water may be sucked into the product.
Cool and label. PRONTO !!
While washing the tomatoes, select the ripest and firmest tomatoes for Bruschetta with tomato, basil, olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic. Mrs BYF cannot be beaten for making the best Bruschetta! ENJOY!
LARGEST WHITE TRUFFLE IN HISTORY DISCOVERED
Sabatino Tartufi recently had an extraordinary discovery. The largest White Truffle in history was found on their farms in Umbria. Weighing in at 4.16 lbs, it is a world record!
The truffle is currently locked under security and it will be auctioned with proceeds given to charity. Further details regarding the find and auction to be released soon. Stay tuned!
NO MEAT LUNCH
Lunch without meat does not often happen in our house, but today’s meal was so good I almost did not miss it. Fritters made from radish leaves, of which the seeds were purchased from Italian Seeds Pronto the very good Italian Franchi seed supplier in New Zealand, complimented by home made yogurt with milk purchased from the most beautiful dairy farm ever. A salad with borage leaves and flowers, the plant being supplied by Kimberley of Good Life Gardens in Dunedin, mixed with radish from the back yard and a good vinaigrette – mix two parts good extra virgin olive oil with one part of home made apple cider vinegar, ad a bit of salt and pepper and shake well before dressing. Of coarse all were supplemented by good home made wine.
This was followed by artichokes again from our dairy farm in Port Chalmers. We like to cook it in water with a squeeze of lemon until the leaves come free when pulled lightly, then drained. Pull the leaves from the head and dip into good extra virgin olive oil with plenty of salt added to it and then rip the soft flesh from the leave with your teeth. After an enjoyable meal you eventually reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – artichoke hearts!
All of the above accompanied by delicious home baked bread and at the end there is no space left for the meat in any way.
ENJOY !!!
Frittata di Borragine e Cacciatore (Frittata with Borage and pork sausages)
This morning’s breakfast was a feast put together by Mrs BYF (I knew it was breakfast, because I did not have wine with the meal). Borage (Borago officinalis) is one of the plants that actually thrives in Dunedin’s whether, so one has to make the most of it. The flowers and young leaves are delightful in a salad and the older leaves can be cooked like spinach as a side vegetable. Making a frittata with home made Cacciatore sausages was not only very pretty, but also exquisite.
RECIPE
Fry some onions and garlic in butter and olive oil in a heavy pan, ad the sausage and fry until it starts to color, then ad the borage leaves and cook until almost done. In the mean time, lightly beat 24 quail eggs (6 chicken eggs) with six tablespoons of water. Ad a bit of grated parmigiano cheese, salt and pepper and pour into the pan with the other ingredients. Turn the temperature down to medium and leave, without stirring, for a few minutes until it just starts to set on the top. Now put in in the oven under the grill until lightly brown. ENJOY !!! (If after 10H00 a good red wine is permitted)
