traditional cooking recipes and books from italy by Laura's Kitchen

Special menu

Sauces

Gravies for Pasta

Liqueurs

Appetizers & Crostini

Pizzas & Focaccias

First Courses & Soups

Second Courses, Meat & Fish

Eggs and Side Dishes

Cakes & Cookies

Tea and hot infusions

Menu for George Clooney

He lives less than 50 km from my home and it's said that he's the most handsome man on Earth. He chose a small, charming village on Lake Como as his residence. Who knows if that area appreciates decent cuisine as well? If I had to invite him to dinner at home, I'd be sure to offer a typical local menu, yet with a touch of afridisiac...afterall, inviting a man this sexy home doesn't happen everyday! As for coffee...well, I'd leave it up to him, having seen his latest publicity ads!

Appetizers

TROUT PÂTÉ

Ingredients for 4 people
2 small trout
4 cups of vegetable broth
2 onions
a small sprig of parsley
nutmeg
10-12 kernels kernels of walnuts
2 eggs
a large piece of butter
salt and pepper.

After having scaled and cleaned the trout, boil it in the broth for about a half-hour, then throw away its head, bone it carefully, and finally put the meat into a blender. Chop the onion and parsley finely and brown it all in a small amount of butter with salt, pepper and nutmeg. When the chopped mix is golden, mix it in with the trout. Ground the walnuts in a mortar and add them to the chopped mix or put all the ingredients into a blender. On the side, melt the rest of the butter and then add the mixture together, stirring well in order to amalgamate it all. Put the pâté in a fish-shaped bowl, then leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Serve it on slices of toasted bread.

SMALL BLEAK FISH IN CARP

Ingredients for 4 people
50-60 small bleak fish (small lake fish)
4 cups of flour
1 clove of garlic
a small sprig of parsley
1 onion
4 cups of vinegar
frying oil
salt and pepper

Clean the small bleak fish well, without removing their head but taking away only their interiors. Flour them and fry them in ample hot frying oil. Drain the excess oil on some paper towels and prepare, now, the sauce for the carp. Keep the oil already used for frying the fish and sauté the lightly crushed garlic clove, the parsley and the onion cut into rings. When brown, not for more than 10 minutes, pour the vinegar into the mix and bring it to a boil. Pour all of this over the fried fish in a bowl and let it marinate for a couple of days

First Courses

RICE AND PERCH

Ingredients for 4 people
8-10 Perch
2 cups of rice
a piece of butter
2 onions
1 clove of garlic
1 carrot
2 stalks of celery
a small sprig of parsley
1 sweet bay leaf
¼ liter of heavy cream
5-6 grains of pepper
3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese
1 glass of dry white wine
salt

Clean the fish put it in a large pot of water adding the carrot, the parsley, one onion, the garlic, the sweet bay leaf, the celery, the grains of pepper and salted to taste. Bring it to a boil and continue its boiling softly for another 4 or 5 minutes, depending on the size of the Perch. Once boiled, remove them from the water and skin and bone them completely. Brown the other onion in a piece of butter and add the rice. Sauté for a few minutes, then stir in the white wine allowing to evaporare almost completely. Filter in the liquid remaining from previously cooking the fish a little at a time and keep it boiling while stirring often. On the side, flavor the fish with the remaining butter and add to heavy cream. Heat without letting it boil and pour it over the rice until "al dente"; do not overcook. End the cooking by mixing all together and adding in the Parmesan.

PASTA CUNSCIA (seasoned) ALLA COMASCA

Ingredients for 4 people
400 g of fresh tagliatelle noodles
4 large potatoes
a large piece of butter
a clove of garlic
4-5 leaves of sage
1 teaspoon tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of grated cheese
salt and black pepper

Peel the potatoes, wash them and dice them. Bring a large amount of salted water to a boil and cook the potatoes. When almost done, add the tagliatelle. After a few minutes, drain it all into a hot soup tureen. In the meantime, in a pan, sauté the garlic in the butter until golden; when golden, remove the garlic and replace it with the sage. Let it gain flavor, then pour in the tomato sauce and raise the flame in order to evaporate the excess liquid. Once the sauce is thick, pour it onto the pasta with the potatoes, mix, add the cheese and a pinch of black pepper.

Second Courses

DUCK ALLA COMASCA

Ingredients for 4 people
1 duck
10-12 slices of Italian ham (prosciutto)
3 carrots
2 stalks of celery
a sprig of rosemary
2 cloves of garlic
l onion
a piece of butter
l cup of white wine
salt and pepper.

Cut the duck into pieces, wash and dry it. Wrap it in slices of prosciutto and keep it together using cooking string or toothpicks. Cut the carrots, the onion and the celery in small pieces, put the vegetables in a saucepan with the butter, add the duck, salt, pepper and brown it well. Wet it with white wine, allowing it to evaporate. Add finely chopped garlic and rosemary into the saucepan. Finish the cooking by salting to taste. Serve, preferibily, with polenta.

BRAISED DEER OF VAL D'INTELVI

Ingredients for 4 people
a shoulder cut of deer
4 cups of vinegar
a piece of butter
¼ liter of heavy cream
1 onion
1 carrot
4-5 grains of black pepper
10-12 slices of lardo
salt and pepper.

Marinare the deer, cut into pieces, in a tureen with a cup of vinegar and the grains of pepper and let it flavor for 12 hours. Chop the onion with the lardo and fry them with a little bit of butter in an earthenware saucepan for 10 minutes. Cut the carrot into pieces, add it to the deer meat and put it all in a saucepan and brown all the parts well. Pour in the remaining vinegar, a little water and, about 5 minutes later, pour in the heavy cream. Salt and pepper to taste and cover letting it cook for 1 hour. Remove the pieces of meat, arranging them on the serving plate. Filter the remaining sauce and thicken it with corn starch if necessary. Pour the sauce over the deer meat and serve.

Side dishes

STUFFED ONIONS

Ingredients for 4 people:
4 slices of ham
4 onions of medium thickness
a ladle of broth
an egg
a small sprig of parsley
2 tablespoons of grated cheese
a piece of butter
a fistful of breadcrumbs
salt and pepper.

Peel the onions, scald them in boiling water for 4 minutes and drain. Chop the ham finely, put it in a bowl with the finely chopped parsley, egg, the cheese, salt and pepper, and stir well. Carve out the central part of the onions, chop it up and add it to the bowl, combine all the ingredients and then stuff the onions with the mix. Grease a pyrex pan, put the onions in with a little broth and bake for about two hours. At the end of the baking, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and au gratin for 10 minutes.

PANFUL OF POTATOES

Ingredients for 4 people:
5-6 potatoes
10 slices of bacon
an onion
4 tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil
salt

Peel the potatoes, wash them, dry them and cut them into thin slices. In a pan, fry the onion cut into thin rings in the oil and add the bacon cut into cubes for a few minutes. Add the potatoes and mix it all, now and then, until it becomes golden.

Desserts

CREAM OF LARIO

Ingredients for 4 people
2 cups of heavy cream
5 tablespoons of sugar
1 lemon
2 shot glasses of liquer
dry cookies

Pour the fresh heavy cream into a bowl and whip it up until firm with an electric mixer. Blend in the sugar, lemon juice and a little bit of grated lemon peel stirring delicately. Add the liquer at the end. Pour the cream in dessert serving cups and put them into the fridege to cool until serving time at the table. Serve this cream accompanied with dry cookies.