Today we covered the region of Lombardy (capital city: Milan), directly to the east of Piedmont. It is the most populated region in Italy and also considered to be one of the richest provinces in all of Europe. Rice is a very important crop throughout all of northern Italy and in some places, is actually the preferred starch over pasta.
Doratini Al Tre Formaggi:
These are little, deep fried cheese nuggets, made from a rich dough that also included three different types of cheese: Emmenthaler, Fontina and Parmesan. There were good, but maybe just a bit bland.
Insalata Di Capesante Con Funghi E Carciofi Crudi:
A salad made from scallops, mushrooms and raw, paper thin sliced, baby artichokes. The scallops were just barely poached in a court bouillon and sliced lengthwise. The salad was topped with a very simple dressing made from olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Busecca Matta:
Traditionally, busecca is a soup made from tripe and various giblets. I guess tripe can be a bit of a tough sell for some people, so the recipe that we used in class was a different interpretation of the dish, using a thinly sliced omelets as a tripe stand-in. The dish was good but I would’ve preferred to try the original version of it.
Osso Buco alla Milanese:
This is a very classic Italian dish made from veal shanks. I love osso buco and have attempted to make it at home a few times, with varying degrees of success. Eager to give it another shot, I volunteered to make the dish today. To begin, veal shanks are seasoned with salt and pepper, then dusted with flour and seared on all sides. Once seared, the shanks are removed from the pot and diced onions and carrots are sweated until tender. Finely minced garlic is added, then white wine, tomato paste, orange rind, saffron, basil, parsley and stock (I used veal stock in class but chicken stock would also work). Once the mixture comes to a boil, I returned the shanks to the pot, covered it, then placed it in a 325 oven for 2 hours (until the meat was cooked through and ‘falling off the bone’ as the saying goes). Prior to serving, the cooking liquid is reduced to thicken it, then it is spooned over the shanks, which are also topped with a mixture called gremolada, made from finely chopped parsley, lemon rind, garlic and anchovy. The osso buco was served along with some hollowed out tomato halves that were filled with finely diced zucchini, basil and cheese, and baked.
The meat was really tender in some spots and not as tender in other spots…it definitely could’ve spent some more time in the oven, but I thought the flavor of the dish was spot on and overall, was very pleased with the results.
As mentioned, rice is major crop in this region of Italy. To honor it, we would prepare 3 versions of the classic rice dish, risotto.
Risotto with Sausage and Lentils:
Risotto with Lemon and something else that I can’t remember:
The classic Risotto alla Milanese:
In the case of risotto, the ‘alla Milanese’ designation means that the dish contains saffron. It was also finished with Grana Padano cheese, which is something of a ‘poor man’s Parmigiano-Reggiano’, due to it’s similar flavor profile and relative lower cost. I enjoyed all three risotti, but I think my favorite was the first one.
Italians are so fanatical about their risotto, that they have terms for almost every stage of the cooking process. Tostatura, the first stage, involves browning (or toasting) the rice in fat, usually butter. Next is the cottura (cooking) stage, where hot stock is to the rice added in small increments. Between these two stages, it is also necessary to add white wine to the rice, which is then allowed to cook off, leaving its flavor behind. After the rice has absorbed the stock and the desired consistency is reached, the noce di burro stage calls for the addition of butter and any additional ingredients (cooked mushrooms or cheese, for example), followed by the mantecatura, or the final mixing. The risotto should be served immediately at this point.
A note about risotto rice. It is preferred to use canaroli or vialone nano varieties of rice, as opposed to arborio. Arborio rice will make fine riosotto, but the other two varieties are preferred because their individual grains are just a bit longer than the grains of arborio, thus the starches contained within the rice will release just a bit slower. This is important because it’s the slow release of starch that provides risotto with its creamy texture…if the starch is released too quickly, the rice will become pasty.
Tagliatelle Verdi Al Gorgonzola:
Fresh made spinach pasta finished with a Gorgonzola/Grana Padano cream sauce…very tasty.
Tortelli Di Zucca:
Tortelli is a kind of filled pasta, similar to tortellini, but a bit bigger. It is often filled with a pumpkin or squash and some additional ingredients that will provide sweetness (crushed amaretti cookies, for example). The cooked pasta is finished in a sage-brown butter sauce. Many people in class liked this dish, however, I just couldn’t get past the sweet filling.
