Basil pesto | Pesto alla Genovese

We recently planted sweet basil seedlings in preparation for the Aussie summer sun.

I learnt in Italy last summer that basil is only ever sourced from the home ‘garden’. And from this, pesto is made at least a couple of times a week and used on pasta, bread and with cheese.

Here is a simple pesto alla genovese recipe, with the traditional pine nuts replaced with macadamia nuts (as they are readily available here in northern-NSW, Australia).

Ingredients

2 cups of basil leaves, washed and left to dry; 1/2 cup of macadamia nuts; 1/2 clove of garlic, crushed; 1/3 cup parmesan cheese (good quality); 1 cup of extra-virgin olive oil; pinch of unrefined salt

Method

You can use a mortar and pestle or a food processor to make pesto.

1       Pound or process the basil leaves, parmesan, garlic, salt and a quarter of the extra-virgin olive oil, stopping to mix and rotate the ingredients all the time to evenly crush.

2       Gradually add more extra-virgin olive oil as needed.

3       When the basil leaves are nearly finely crushed, add the nuts and continue to pound, leaving some texture to the pesto.

4       Once evenly crushed, transfer the pesto into a container and cover with a layer of extra-virgin olive oil and keep in the fridge.

5       To serve on pasta, for a two people portion, drop two tablespoons of pesto onto the drained pasta and toss.

Compliment with a chardonnay or sparkling white wine.

Liquore al basilico e limone | Basil and lemon liqueur

Basil is a classic and versatile Italian herb. For full satisfaction, grow it from seed.

Tips for growing basil are to pinch back the leaves regularly, by pulling off opposite pairs from the top layers of the bush, prune all flowers to encourage a bushier growth, and don’t over water.

When using the leaves fresh from the bush, don’t wash the leaves as they will lose some flavour.

Paired with organic lemon rind, this liqueur is a true taste of summer.

Ingredients

1lt pure alcohol; 1lt water (filtered if possible); 70 organic basil leaves; 4 organic large lemons, rind only; 1kg white sugar

Method

1       Place all ingredients in a sterilized bottle (with a capacity larger than 2 lt). Rotate the bottle to mix well and then rest overnight.

2       Continue to rotate the bottle everyday for 10 days. The liqueur will turn a green color and the sugar will dissolve completely.

3       Strain the liqueur to remove the basil leaves and lemon rind and then store the liqueur in a sterilized bottle in the fridge.

4       Serve chilled in small glasses at the end of a meal.

Chocolate and fresh mint brownies

Adapted from Trotski & Ash’s Fruit and Nut Brownies

As the storm clouds rolled in the mercury descended. What we expected to be a hot summer’s day wearing thongs and singlets, quickly required umbrellas and jumpers – tastefully moody weather for baking with summer’s fresh mint.

Combined with coconut, hazelnut and homemade fig jam (blog post coming soon), the fresh garden mint infused in these brownies is moorish.

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter; 185g chocolate –  white, milk and dark; ½ handful of fresh mint leaves; 3 organic free-range eggs; 250g white sugar; 120g plain flour; ½ vanilla pod split and seeds scraped out; ½ tsp unrefined salt; 100g hazelnuts, freshly crushed; 100g dried coconut; 100g fig jam

Method to the madness

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a shallow baking tin.

1       In a saucepan over low heat, begin to melt the butter and chocolate. Add the mint leaves and stir with a wooden spoon until completely melted and the mint leaves begin to give off an aroma. Continue to stir for another two minutes and then turn off the heat. Leave to slightly cool.

2       In a large bowl, sift in the flour, add the salt, hazelnuts, coconut and mix well.

3       In another bowl, add the eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds and whisk until combined.

4       Slowly add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture while stirring. Add the fig jam and stir well. Finally add the flour mixture and fold through until completely combined.

5       Using a spatula, pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. Don’t  over bake. The brownie should be gooey on the inside.

6       Leave to cool completely. Slice into bite-size pieces and serve.

A  chilled basil and lemon liqueur (blog post coming soon) is a good accompaniment for after dinner.

Cherry and vanilla ice-cream

Storms and cherries remind me of Christmas. In Darwin where I grew up, both usually made an appearance around lunch time.

This year living in Italy, the cherries have begun to fall in late June. And with their trees abundant with them, their inclusion in this ice-cream was a tasty end to a meal eaten outside in the warmth of summer.

This recipe is best made with an ice-cream maker, however without one, put the final mixture in an airtight container in the freezer and stir every 20 minutes over the period of two hours.

Ingredients | 5 small serves

Ice-cream: 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped out; 600ml full cream milk (local if possible); 6 organic egg yolks; 160g sugar

Cherries: 350g cherries, pitted and chopped finely or blended in a food processor; 30g  white sugar

Method

1 Cherries: Combine the chopped or processed cherries in a bowl with sugar and leave to cool in a fridge until the milk mixture is ready.

2 Milk: In a heavy-based pot bring the milk and vanilla seeds to the boil and then turn off the heat.

3 Eggs & sugar: In another bowl, whisk well the egg yolks and sugar. Add 1/4 cup of the hot milk to the sugar and whisk until smooth. Gradually add the rest of the milk whisking continually until it has all been added and the mixture is smooth.

4 Heat mixture: Return the mixture to a low heat and stir with a wooden spoon, until the mixture coats the back of the spoon, then turn off the heat. Strain the milk mixture through a fine sieve into another container, preferably glass or stainless steel, and cool quickly in an ice bath – made from a larger container with ice.

5 Ice-cream: In an ice-cream maker pour in the milk mixture and the cherries. When it has reached an ice-cream consistency, after about 40 minutes, serve. Alternatively transfer the ice-cream into an airtight container and keep for up to 24 hours.

Potato gnocchi with sage butter

This recipe was adapted from Giorgio Locatelli’s book Made in Italy for potato gnocchi dough

Gnocchi (pronounced N’YOK-ee) are a pleasure to eat, and when home-made twice as satisfying.

With some time on your hands, I hope you find the following recipe for melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi an enjoyable cooking experience.

Tips for making gnocchi

The potatoes must be starchy, such as desiree or russet, and relatively the same size so they take the same boiling time (with the skin on) to cook. Don’t  overcook them or they will be too wet/soft for gnocchi. If their skins split whilst boiling, have an oven pre-heated on low at 100C to dry them out for a couple of minutes – don’t leave them for any longer or they will start to become crunchy. The boiled and peeled potatoes should be worked with while still hot, so let them cool a little until you can handle them and then get moving. As soon as the potato dough comes together stop working it or it will soften and then require more flour, making the gnocchi heavy and rubbery. The dough is meant to be soft. Once the gnocchi has been made it shouldn’t be kept for more than an hour without either cooking, or freezing them. Freezing is recommended even if the gnocchi will be cooked in a couple of hours. Lay them flat on a floured tray not touching each other in a freezer. Frozen gnocchi should be dropped directly into boiling water for cooking, don’t defrost them.

Ingredients | Serves 5

Gnocchi dough

1kg organic starchy potatoes (such as desiree or russet ), cleaned; 280g plain flour (organic or unbleached preferable), plus extra for dusting your work surface and the rolled gnocchi; 2 small organic eggs or 1 large organic egg, lightly beaten; 1 tsp unrefined salt, such as kosher

Sage butter

100g organic butter; 15 Freshly picked sage leaves, slivered; 5 tbsp Parmesan cheese, freshly grated; Optional 50g Almond flakes, lightly roasted

Method (to the madness)

1       Boil: Put the whole potatoes with their skins on into a deep pot. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil, then turn down to simmer with the lid on for 35-40 minutes, until cooked. Strain them and if they are a little wet, put them in the oven for a couple of minutes. Let cool for a minute or two until you can handle them without burning yourself.

While waiting for the potatoes to cool, lightly flour the surface you will make the dough on. As soon as you can handle the potatoes, work quickly to make the dough while the potatoes are hot.

2       Dough: Peel the potatoes and remove any nodules with a small knife. Put the potatoes through a potato mill or potato ricer. Sift the flour as evenly as possible over all of the potato. Make a well in the centre of the potato and add the salt and egg. Use your hands to bring the outsides into the centre, press down and repeat until you can roll the dough. As soon as it comes together stop working it.

If the dough remains sticky after a couple of minutes of working it, sift over a light dusting of extra flour and gently roll a little more.

Shape the dough into a rectangle with a height of 1.5cm.

3        Gnocchi: Cut the dough into long pieces 1.5cm wide. Lightly dust with flour the freshly exposed sides of these long pieces and then roll them gently with your hands to round the sides to make long cylinders. Take 2 cylinders at a time and cut them into short pieces 1.5cm long. As you cut through the dough, flip the pieces up with the knife to roll them over. When all the dough are cut into pieces, lightly sift flour over the top.

Take one dough piece at a time and roll it onto a gnocchi paddle or fork to leave indents. You can roll the gnocchi back on itself, or leave it flatter. The more rolled it is, the more it will hold a sauce. Place the gnocchi on a floured tray not touching each other.

Put a large pot of water on to boil and while waiting make the sage butter.

4       Sage butter: In a frying pan, large enough to hold all the gnocchi, melt the butter on a low heat. When the butter begins to melt, add the sage leaves and stir until the butter starts to colour. Turn off the heat.

5       Cook: Once the pot of water has reached a rolling boil, slide in a handful of rock salt granules. Stir the water and then drop in half the gnocchi. When they float to the top, after about 1 minute, take them out using a slotted spoon and add to the pan with sage butter. Repeat to cook the remaining half of the gnocchi and add to sauce. Add a little of the cooking water and gently stir on a low heat for one minute.

6       Serve: Sprinkle the parmesan over the gnocchi in the pan and serve into bowls. If using almonds sprinkle them over the top before serving.

Suits a light young red wine or chardonnay.

rhubarb, vanilla and gin trifle

This recipe was adapted from Tiffany Jones’ original version (Etch restaurant, Sydney) published on Gourmet Traveller

We have a large rhubarb plant growing at the top of Nonno’s veggie patch here in the Tuscan mountains. After eating stewed rhubarb for weeks on end, this recipe with gin, lemon and vanilla was a tasty change.

The base is a sponge cake. Some tips when making a sponge are to grease the cake tin in advance with butter and line it with baking paper; incorporate lots of ‘air’ when whisking the eggs; sift the flour two times in advance and again in two batches into the mixture; use a gentle folding action with a spatula when adding the flour; the eggs and melted butter should be at room temperature; ensure no fat or oil (especially on utensils) come into contact with egg whites or they wont whip well; and, when the sponge is cooked it will turn a golden colour, shrink away from the sides of the tin, and spring back when lightly touched in centre, so no need to pierce with a skewer.

As there are three layers to make, begin by preparing the rhubarb and syrup, next the sponge, bake them together, and then make the custard and assemble.

Ingredients | Makes 4

Rhubarb & syrup – 6 rhubarb stalks, washed, ends removed and peeled – reserve the peel for the syrup; 1/2 organic lemon’s rind; 250g caster sugar; 100ml dry white wine; 100ml water; 1 gelatin leaf, soaked in water: 40ml gin

Sponge cake – 3 organic free-range eggs, separate the yolks and whites; 1/2 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out; 65g caster sugar; 55g plain flour, sifted; 45g corn flour, sifted; 15g butter, melted at room temperature

Vanilla custard – 1/2 l milk; 4 organic and free-range egg yolks; 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out; 150g sugar; 25g flour and 25g corn flour, sifted

Method (to the madness)

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Grease and line a baking tin (approx 20cm x 20cm) with baking paper.

1      Rhubarb & syrup: Prepare the peeled rhubarb by cutting into pieces 5cm long (slice thick pieces again in half length-ways). Place the rhubarb in a baking tray and set aside. In a pan place the reserved rhubarb peel, lemon rind, sugar, wine and water. Put the pan on a medium heat, stir and bring to a gentle simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and let the syrup cool and infuse for 10 minutes. Strain the liquid and pour over the rhubarb pieces. Discard the peel and rind (in a compost heap if possible). Cover the tray tightly with a lid or aluminum foil and set aside to bake in the oven at the same time as the sponge.

2      Sponge cake: With an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks in a bowl for 1 minute. Add 1 tsp sugar and vanilla seeds and beat for another 2 minutes. The yolks will slightly thicken. Clean the beaters thoroughly and dry. In a clean bowl, beat egg whites on high until they become frothy. Gradually add the remaining sugar while beating on high until soft peaks form. Gently add the yolk mixture to the whites and fold together until they are combined well. Sift both flours together into a clean bowl and then gradually sift them into the mixture in two batches and gently fold through. Finally, fold in the butter. Pour the mixture into a cake tin.

3      Bake: In the pre-heated oven, bake the sponge mixture (for 10 minutes) and rhubarb (for 20 minutes) on the middle tray. When cooked, turn sponge cake onto a wire tray to cool and leave rhubarb in the syrup to cool.

4      Vanilla custard: Prepare a large container with ice (to add water to later). Also have a smaller bowl ready, that will fit into the larger one while holding the custard, to cool it at the end. In a pan heat the milk and stir until it reaches boiling point, then turn off the heat. In a clean bowl beat egg yolks, vanilla seeds and sugar for 3 minutes until the sugar is mixed in well. Sift both flours into egg mixture and using a spatula mix well. Gradually add the hot milk and stir until equally dispersed. Return the mixture to a low-medium heat and stir constantly to avoid clogging. When the mixture has thickened to a custard consistency remove from the heat. Transfer the custard into the smaller bowl, add water to the ice bath, and place the bowl with custard in the ice bath to cool for 4 minutes.

5       Finish syrup: Take the rhubarb out of the syrup and set aside. Strain the syrup, add the gin and stir. Measure 100ml and set aside to pour over sponge. Return remaining syrup to a medium heat, squeeze water from gelatin and add to syrup. Stir until dissolved and then remove from heat to cool.

The trifle can be constructed in 4 individual glasses or in a tray or cake tin and later served onto plates.

6      Assemble base and middle: Layer the sponge cake into the serving glasses or tray – it can be cut in half for a thinner/lighter base, or into the required shape if needed. Drizzle the 100ml of reserved syrup evenly over the sponge. Spoon the custard over the sponge and smooth out the top. Pour the remaining syrup with gelatin evenly over the custard and then leave in the fridge to set for 2 hours.

7       Serve: Lightly place rhubarb on top of trifle and serve. Suits a semi-sweet sparkling white wine.