Melanzane e Mozzarella al forno (Baked Eggplant)

2016-03-09 - Melanzane e Mozzarella 1

Lately I have had this constant craving for eggplant, probably as I have not been able to grow it in Dunedin (yet). So I have to believe the merchant selling it to me that it is organic and fresh, but fortunately the rest of the ingredients for this dish has been home produced. I am surprised by the amount of tomatoes coming from the Dunedin garden – mostly the result of love and tender care to the plants on the front veranda by Mrs BYF. The milk to make the Mozzarella is not from Bufala, but from our very good Jersey dairy in Port Chalmers. Basil was in abundance this year from my miniature hothouse in the back yard.

Cut the eggplant in rounds, ad salt and leave for half an hour. Rinse off the salt and dry properly. Dust with flour and fry in a pan of hot oil until soft. Now assemble in a buttered oven baking dish, the eggplant, then mozzarella and finish with a slice of very ripe tomato and a slither of garlic. Add salt and pepper. Drizzle with good extra virgin olive oil an bake in the oven at 200 C for 15 minutes. Finish with a decorative basil leave and some more olive oil and serve hot.

ENJOY with a glass of good home made red wine !!

LA FRITTEDDA Broadbean, cardoon flowers, fennel flowers, and tiny baby carrot pasta

Fresh vegetables in the pan

2016-01-18 - Frittedda 1

Ad cooked Orechiette

2016-01-18 - Frittedda 2

Frittedda fit for a King

2016-01-18 - Frittedda 3

Today my harvest amounted to one handful of broadbeans, one handful of tiny carrots that were meant to be big, some wild fennel leaves, a few cardoon flowers and an onion. Undaunted, Mrs BYO made one of the best pasta sauces we have ever had, modeled on the La Frettedda made in spring in Sicily. The main thing is to use fresh vegetables straight from the garden. Peas are normally used in stead of the little carrots, but my peas get grazed from the plant long before maturity by the grand kids. The fennel used in Italy for this recipe is wild fennel.

LA FRITTEDDA (the amounts are arbitrary – use what you have)

1 cup broadbeans out of the pod. Remove the skin from the bigger beans

1 cup small carrots whole, or fresh garden peas

6 cardoon flowers, boiled, outer leaves and choke removed, leaving only the tasty hearts. Normally artichoke hearts are used, but I hate wasting the tasty little cardoon flowers

1 onion finely chopped

pinch of peperonchino (chili flakes)

salt and pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

fennel leaves or flowers to taste

a strip or two of pancetta (home made off coarse), leave this ingredient out if you do not have any (any smoked meat like bacon will ruin the fresh taste of the vegetables)

adding tomato is considered a crime!

Soften the onion and pancetta in the olive oil. Add the chili and all the vegetables. Slice the artichoke hearts up if they are too big. If the vegetables are fresh they cook in a few minutes, so your pasta must be almost cooked by the time you add the vegetables to the onion in the pan. We liked the orecchiette (little ears) type of pasta with this sauce.

ENJOY and do not forget the home made wine!!

Rabbit Coratella with Artichokes

2016-01-13 - Rabbit and Artichoke Coratella

Old recipes that use meats that are these days regulated to the garbage or pets abound in Italy. The problem is that offal is not generally obtainable. Slaughtering my own animals has huge advantages!

With a few rabbit carcasses in the freezer, we decided to make a dish with the coratella (heart, liver, spleen, kidneys and lungs) incorporating some of the artichokes that we now have in abundance. Mrs BYO created the dish and did the cooking, serving it with the staple of the North, polenta. It was a delicious meal and we have all of the rabbit left to feed the more fussy members of the tribe.

CORATELLA CON CARCIOFI

As many cleaned rabbit offals as you can get your hands on, but at least 4, cut in small pieces

1/2 cup rabbit fat. The fat surrounding the kidneys are the best. alternatively use 1/2 cup olive oil

4 large garlic cloves roughly chopped

2 tablespoons of finely chopped rosemary

white wine

4 or 5 artichokes, cleaned and prepared, cut into 4 sections. All the green leaves of the artichoke must be snapped off and the choke removed, leaving only the tender white parts of the leaves and the heart

salt and pepper

Heat the fat in the pan on a low heat until the fat runs clear and only small bits of browned fat remains in the pan. Saute the garlic and rosemary in the fat until the garlic is golden. Add the rabbit, season with salt and pepper and brown everything quickly over a high heat. Sprinkle with a bit of wine. Lower the heat and cook the rabbit for about 10 minutes, regularly sprinkling the meat with wine, then add the artichokes. Sprinkle wine generously and cook uncovered, turning the artichokes often. When the artichokes are tender, serve hot with polenta or bread.

Puffball Mushrooms

2015-03-11- Puff Ball 1 2015-03-11- Puff Ball 2 2015-03-11- Puff Ball 4 2015-03-11- Puff Ball 3

We are so privileged that Puffball Mushrooms are growing in our friend’s garden across the road, and even more privileged that they are prepared to to share it with us for a MUSHROOM FEAST every year. So it was with great excitement that they called and announced that the puffballs are up. We went to take photographs today and will harvest them tomorrow for the feast in the evening. We shall report on recipes and results the day after tomorrow!!! How good can life be?