Category Archives: Recipes – All About – Tried and Tested

Cooking for Family and Friends

Today we ” killed ” the pig

2014-11-05 - Sausage Making 1 2014-11-05 - Sausage Making 22014-11-05 - Sausage Making 32014-11-05 - Cacciatore

There is a saying in Italian “Cu si marita e cuntentu nu iornu, cu mmazza nu porcu e cuntentu n’annu” – Marriage gives you happiness for one night, but the pig gives you happiness for a whole year. There must be more recipes for salami and sausages than there are Italians on this planet, and every Italian is convinced that his / hers is the best. My believe is, as with all my cooking, that the simple recipes, using very good quality ingredients, are the best, allowing the enjoyment of the foods without having to camouflage it with unnecessary ingredients and processes.  Sausage and salami making is one of my great passions which I practiced for many a year. Traditionally the pig is killed once a year and every bit of the pig is used and the saying is that only the toenails are discarded. The way I eat sausages, fortunately, allows me many sausage making days during the year. Not having a pig to fatten in the back yard (only because Mrs Back Yard Farmer does not allow me to) means that you need to find and befriend a good butcher in the area as quality ingredients of the correct cut and animal are of utmost importance.

This week I made Sacicce di Manzo (Beef Sausages), Salcicce alla Cacciatora (Pork Sausages) and a few Salamini. For dinner on sausage making day, I traditionally serve some spiedini (skewers) using the various types of sausages produced on the day. The picky eaters (grand kids) could not get enough of the skewers so I consider the day a success!

SALCICCE ALLA CACCIATORA

4 Kg heavy smoked bacon

4 Kg veal topside

2 Kg lamb or venison leg

4 Kg pork leg

4 Kg pork shoulder

2 – 3 Kg pork back fat (Depends on the fat content of the meat)

100 g balck pepper

220 g salt

Half a bottle of good red wine

All the meat should be without bones. Grind all the meat through the coarse grid on your mincer. Mix well after adding the salt, pepper and wine. Let it rest for 12 hours in the fridge. Grind again and fill the skins.

The way to cook these is either on the open fire or in a pan, using one cup of water and one tablespoon of vinegar.

African Coup d’état

2014-10-27 - Wine 10

True to African tradition, as soon as the Head of State (Mrs Back Yard Farmer) left the country for a holiday with the grandchildren, the Opposition (Aka Back Yard Farmer), arranged a well organised COUP and took over the kitchen table. Fortunately, no blood was shed as all the remaining living subjects (quails, chickens, rabbits, etc) were on the side of the opposition, seeing they were the sole beneficiaries of the must from 130 liters of wine (only after Grappa has been distilled though). Recipes to follow soon with the next post.

 

Garden Slugs and Booze

2014-08-28 - Slug

Trying to grow vegetables has many obstacles, none being as difficult as the always  present garden slug. These sneaky little gastropods wander by night and eat the leaves and fruits of many plants.  Once you have them, it is time to take quick action as they can be devastating in a short period of time. There are as many techniques to kill slugs as there are gardeners.

Having the problem myself, I consulted with my neighbour, who is a DOC employee, and I value his opinion. He promised me that even though I see him sneaking around his garden at 7 AM  in the morning holding a bottle of beer,  he is not drinking it, but is feeding it to his slugs. He promised me that slugs are all alcoholics and love beer. I was advised to put  a plastic container with smooth sides, so they cant crawl out when drunk,  in a hole close to the plants and fill  it with cheap Kiwi beer, any Speight or Emerson would do, and the next morning you would find drowned drunken slugs by the dozen. Now, since my slugs are used to eating from the best Italian garden I argued that cheap Kiwi beer is not good enough for them and purchased some Peroni beer. Also plastic containers were not up to standard and glass was provided. After three days of feeding my slugs good beer I can come to one conclusion only – the more beer they drink, the more they eat, as I now have no Broccoli, Cabbage, Salad or Rocket left and have a lot of happy tipsy slugs.

I then remembered being a member of a Gardening group on Facebook and went researching. Soon I found a plethora of organic slug control remedies. The one I have opted for recommended blending chills, garlic and olive oil,  sprayed  on the leaves of the plants, which I duly did and will soon see what the effects on the slugs are. If these slugs have had any Italian influences in there lives, I would suspect they would compliment me on my the salad dressing, but comment on the shortage of enough salt and pepper, then continue ordering some red wine in stead of beer.

Bianchetti – Whitebait

2014-08-25 - White Bait

 

The simple things in life are more than often the best and I think this also applies to recipes. Even though it is white bait season, I have not been able to locate a site near Dunedin where one could forage whitebait. To satisfy my craving, I went to the local fresh fishmonger and was lucky to find some lovely fresh whitebait, at $120 per Kg I was hesitant to buy, but got a small portion anyway. I would be grateful if there is anybody close to Dunedin who could head me in the right direction regarding catching whitebait!

RECIPE

Make sure the white bait is dry by patting it with kitchen paper. Make a mixture of flour, salt and black pepper, mix it well and put it in a plastic bag with the white bait. Shake well to evenly cover the bait. In the mean time heat a pan with about 50 mm deep vegetable oil to medium / high heat while you taste the wine. Separate the bait from the flour by sifting  the contents of the bag. Test the heat of the the oil by placing one fish in and it should sizzle. Now put the white bait in the hot oil in not too large portions – I did about 100 g at a time. Deep fry until light gold – about one minute. Place on a paper towel to drain the excess oil and serve immediately with lemon and fresh bread – do not forget the bottle of good wine.  ENJOY!

 

Paccheri alla Puttanesca

Putanesca

 

Today I was alone and very busy, but also very hungry. So what do you do to get a quick, filling and delightful meal. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, ad thirty pieces of Paccheri pasta. While it is cooking, put a few spoons of Salsa al Pomodoro (Traditional Italian tomato sauce), something an Italian kitchen is never without, into a pan, ad a handful of caper berries, another hand of marinated black olives, one freshly chopped chili and two fillets of anchovies. While simmering slowly and you taste the quality of the red wine, adjust for salt and ad enough freshly ground black pepper.  When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain the water and ad to the sauce. The sauce must be thick and not watery. Mix through and ad a handful of torn fresh basil. Grate some home made Romano or Parmigiano cheese over the top and make sure the second glass of red wine is full.  ENJOY