Garlic galore

Tonight is an occasion for one of the quick dishes. After driving all the way from Copenhagen to Helsingør (Elsinore) and going to the gym we arrive home a little late and this calls for something quick, which oftentimes mean pasta. As it is Friday we do not have any customer meetings or similar the after and we can go all in on the garlic. Thus it is Penne con aglio e prezzemolo. That is with garlic and parsley. This is quick and simple.

2 handfuls of parsley – coarsely chopped

5 cloves of garlic (adjust according to your preference – 5 will be quite strong)

2 spoonfuls of grated parmesan

1 spoonful of butter

salt

olive oil

Mix it all in a bowl. 

For three persons we take 500 grams of penne. When cooked pour in to the bowl, mix and serve.

We also make small saltimbocca just to have a little meat (post-training proteine). At the supermarket we have found a package of 6 small pieces of veal. They look nice and pink before T pounds them with the root of his hand. He may not be quite as angry as last time we made it, but he still manages to flatten them. This time we make it without the parma ham.

T has mistimed the pasta, so the meat is ready long before the pasta and that means that it is a bit too cold when we sit down and eat. The pasta, however, is just what we need and we generously award it 8,5/10

Since T's fridge is chronically too cold the green salad that we had planned to have with our meal has to be substituted by a small tomato salad with red onion and basil. The green salad is frozen and ends up in the bin. For the dish we drink a bottle of Volpolo 2007. This is the second wine of the Super Tuscan producer, Podere Sapaio. It is by now more well balanced than it was half a year ago when we first tasted it. At that time, the tannins were too harsh, but now, decanted and served at 15-16 degrees it is very nice. 8/10 and together with the food also 8/10.

Bridge with the Brothers

Every second month or so, T plays bridge with his two brothers and their childhood friend. Tonight is such a night and this normally calls for something that can simmer while they are playing. This time we opt for braised veal tail with polenta and a green salad.
The kids and two of their cousins make up a party of 9 people and the portions are made accordingly.

3,5 kilos of tails are browned first whereafter a soffreto of three red onions, 5 cloves of garlic, 3 stalks of celery and 4 carrots are fried with thyme, sage and bay leaves.

When fried a small tin of tomato paste is added and fried a little.
After 5 minutes all the browned pieces of veal tail are put back in the pot and 1 liter of beef stock as well as 1,5 bottle of (left-over) red wine is added and the pot is almost ready to be left simmering for 3 hours.

Before that the, by now customary, lid of baking paper is placed on top.
The tails contain much fat from both the marrow and the meat and a lot of starch from the bones which means that fat and starch can and should be skimmed off after the 3 hours of simmering.
Skim, remove the meat, skim again, cook down and skim and finally blend so that the vegetables are used for thickening the sauce. Add s/p and perhaps a bit of acid like balsamico. When finished return the meat and let it heat up while making the polenta.
The polenta is not a favorite with everyone in the company. Some would have preferred mashed potatoes, but the fact is that polenta is selected for how easy it is to make and as such making it is well suited for a night where we hope to focus on playing bridge. Actually that is a lame excuse as K is exiled in the kitchen while the men pursue the noble game. But, at least, that was what was planned..

For the polenta use 600 grams of coarse-grained corn flour and 0,75 liter of boiling water and mix over the stove. When cooked (after app. 5 minutes) add some grated parmesan and butter. The veal tails are very successful and we think it is a 8,5/10, but our guests might differ due to the polenta. But there is no arguing that the tails are a huge success.

A lot of wine is tried tonight and some goes better with the than others:
Poggio Valente 2007 Morellino di Scansano
Casanuova 2004 Chianti Classico Riserva
Waterbrook Shiraz 2006
Killikanoon The Covenant 2005
K thinks that the fruity shiraz'es are totally wrong with the intense taste of the braised sauce and T would normally concede but by this time his tasting buds have lost some of their edge. K's argument is that this extremely rich dish needs the acidity and bitterness from for instance the Sangiovese and insists on staying with the Chianti.

For dessert K prepares an apple-blueberry crumble.
6 large apples, 150 gr blueberries. These apples were kindly given to us by K's sister from her garden. Nice spicy cooking apples – a bit on the sour side but great for this dish.
For the crumble: 2 dl of flour, a good handful of almond 'flour' (almonds crushed to flour in the blender), 2 dl of sugar, 200 gr butter, a good handful of oatmeal. All mixed to a crumble.

The fruit is put in an ovenproof dish. Muscovado-sugar and cinnamon is sprinkled on top and finally the crumble is spread all over.
30 min. in the oven at 200°C. Served on this occasion with sour cream, but it may have been even better with whipped cream. 8,2/10

Leftover but not left out

We ate almost all the osso buco but some sugo (gravy) and little pieces of veal were left in the pot. The perfect base for pasta al sugo. And as always with braised dishes, it tastes even better the following days: Not much work in that – cook the pasta, heat the sugo, sprinkle some parmesan and a few leaves of basil. Primo – Basta! It doesn't get much better. 8,5/10
A glass of Echeverria Chardonnay 2005 on the side completes the dish.

For secondo we make (whole) chicken breast on the bone with fried potatoes and insalata mista (green salad).
Rosemary and s/p is put under the chicken skin.
The chicken is browned in a pan and put in the oven at 170° for about 30 min with pieces of lemon.
Organic chicken tend to need longer time at lower temperature than the 'industrial' chicken.
They live longer, have better lives and taste better.

Potatoes cut in pieces of choice and cooked in a pan with a small dash of olive oil, herbs, s/p. 7,7/10

To this dish we drank a very nice Grant Burge Filsell old vine Shiraz 2000. 8/10.
Good, mature wine – lousy mix. 6,5/10

Sorry for the unsharp photos. Winter is approaching and daylight is rapidly vanishing. The blitz outshines all details and we're practicing steady hands but are not yet there – as you can see.

A Monday Celebration

Today calls for a small celebration despite it being Monday. We often find something to celebrate. Even though it's going to be late, T sets out to make Osso Buco Milanese and Risotto allo Zafferano. The soffreto is of the known kind:
2 chopped (red) onions
2 chopped celery stalks
2 chopped carrots
3 chopped cloves of garlic
and then some fresh herbs: thyme, rosemary and sage.

The meat is browned first and the soffreto is fried in the left over. Afterwards a small can of concentrated tomato paste is fried with the soffreto and then the meat is added along with a bottle of various wine left-overs. Add ½ liter of beef stock and then let it simmer for 3 hours. A trick that K has learned from Jamie Oliver (well, not personally) is to make a lid of baking paper and after draining it in water to put that over the dish while it simmers. The advantage of this approach is that it keeps the steam with the meat and you therefore don't need to turn and drip to keep it moist and juicy. T is a quick learner so he has adopted this as well. On top of this we add 3 de-seeded chopped tomatoes.

When K arrives she helps with the finishing touches, i.e. grating the parmesan for the risotto and skim off some of the fat and, of course, to arrange the dishes. Never send a man to do a woman's job.

In the meantime we make the risotto. Take a small sauce pan. Heat some butter and fry one finely chopped shallot. Add rice (on this occasion, Aborio) and let them fry until they become transparent (should be 2-3 minutes), but not burned. Pour a glass of dry white wine in and also some saffron (what can be held between thumb and index finger). Stir regularly and then add ½ liter of  chicken stock in small amounts. This should take about 25 minutes, but you should start tasting in the last 5 minutes to make sure that the rice is al dente. With regards to texture: We prefer it a little runny (and so should you). This means that a little extra stock may be required (or just some water). When ready add a handful of grated parmesan and remember that this will actually make the texture less runny so take that into account when you determine "the runniness" before you add the parmesan.

The finishing touch, which is of big importance, is the Gremolata. Chop parsley, a couple of cloves of garlic and some lemon zest together and sprinkle on top.

The result today is marvelous. It is a favorite dish of T in particular and this was an especially successful version and therefore it gets a 9/10. With it we selected a Barbaresco Albesani 2006 from Franco Rocca which was decanted and chilled on the porch to 16 degrees. It was wonderful, 8,3/10 and the combination was even better 9,3/10

Take-away, part 3 – or Come home, Fine!

'Salad-pizza'; pizza with kebab, lettuce, chilipaste, some kind of sour cream dressing and two leaves of basil (the latter an attempt to insist on the Italian connection). An absolute must for lazy, perhaps even slightly hung-over, late sundays and a favorite of Fine's (and in fact also of M's but without the chili). Fine has been gone for over a month and is coming home from Paris this week.


We hope she's not too sad to see that this month's ration of salad pizza has been exhausted!

Tonight we have a glass of Poggio Valente 2006, which seem to be a little off, but after a bite of the spicy dish nothing could be detected.

Now, Fine, drool. We're  looking forward to sharing soon!

Spaghetti alle Vongole

One of our all-time-favourites is Spaghetti alle Vongole Veracci. A dish we both have sampled through the years on several trips to Italy. And have been trying to recreate on several occasions – both separately and together. In fact it was the favorite dish of MK for a couple of years until she turned her attention to Pesto.

To get venus clams in Denmark is not an easy task. If you are to buy it through regular channels you will have to order in advance as fishmongers will not take this home as part of their standard offering. Today T got it from Metro where it can be found now and then (but please don't tell anyone). Like all good Italian pasta dishes the recipe is very simple even if does have a thousand variations, depending upon the maker.

This is how we made it today.

For two hungry persons (OK we are often hungry but on this day we had been working out and could be so with a clearer conscience)

One shallot finely chopped
1½ half de-seeded chili
2 large cloves of garlic finely chopped
Olive oil
800-900 grams of venus clams
Chopped parsley
A squeeze of lemon juice
App. 2 glasses of dry white wine
2 spoonfuls of butter
s/p

3-400 gr Spaghettini

Once the pasta has been put into the water you have approximately 10 minutes to prepare the vongole

Fry the shallot, garlic and chilli in olive oil in a large Sauter pan for 30-40 seconds. Add the rinsed clams and let them cook for app. 3-4 minutes. Add the white wine and lemon juice and heat up. Add the parsley and butter and finally stir it all together with the drained pasta and serve.

– Today was one of the better editions, to say the least.

We had a bottle of Donnafugata Vigna di Gabri Contessa Entellina 2009 from the Ansonica grape. It was intense and with some fresh acidity that goes well with the dish. We make it 9/10 for the dish, 8/10 for the wine and together 9/10. At other times we have been drinking some of the other Italian whites. T prefers the Greco di Tufo for this dish, but alas we didn't have any on this occasion.

Torvehallerne – the new market halls

Until recently grocery shopping in Copenhagen has been a tedious affair. One can find very good shops, but often far apart. And very often one has had to make do with unripe vegetables that have been kept at too low temperature and transported from far away countries whereas the local produce was missing. When traveling we have often envied the local markets in the Mediterranean towns. But hopes are up as the old produce market has been made into a market hall of great ambition. Lots of different shops; butchers, fishmongers, bakeries, local produce stalls and other specialty shops. The aim is set high and so are the prices, but it is inspiring to just wander around and smell and taste. And this is some of the things that K came home with after a saturday stroll. And a home made pesto-like sauce made of garlic, chili, walnuts and a handful of herbs from the terrace: basil, majoran, a few leaves of everything else thats is still green and tasty.

Funnel chantarelles (from Sweden) fried shortly in olive oil with tiny corn on the cob (Danish organic produce), garlic and fennel top and served with bread as a starter.

Two different kinds of sausages; a Toulouse sausage and Merguez prepared on a pan along slices of a small, firm eggplant. The eggplant took in the spicy fat from the merquez beautifully. On the side thinly sliced (the mandolin again) fennel with olive oil. Cucumber salad (yes – the mandolin) with fresh herbs, chili and apple vinegar. Broad beans with a little red onion and very good olive oil from our recent trip to spain. And good bread.
To drink: First Sportoletti Grechetto 2007 and later Cornet & Cie Collioure red 2009 – from our latest trip. This was excellent (we only bought one bottle as it was the white wine we were after, so now we have to find out where to purchase in Denmark)