It seems that it took
me quite a long time to settle my kitchen out of the sand!
The last time I wrote here
on the blog (apparently four months ago, sigh) I was probably too
optimistic about the fact that we would have found an apartment and, most
important, settled in the new house in a decently reasonable time.
I changed house
several times in the past, in different cities and different countries, so I
know it's not an easy and quick job, but this time too many things didn't go
as they should ...
The positive part is that I've learned something new and unexpected about renting an apartment and
Italian bureaucracy that could be of some help in future (and of course, if any
of you needs some advice, do not hesitate to contact me; it would be a pleasure
to help).
Of all the things we
had to get arranged in the new house, the last I got was an home Internet
connection which, if you want to be a blogger, is of vital importance - at
least as much as the kitchen.
It took me longer than
starting the whole blog from scratch, but now I can say I am (almost) ready to
get back into blogging regularly.
To launch this new
season of my blog I want to share with you readers a lovely experience I had
few weeks ago, when I was chef for one night at Social Kitchen.
Social Kitchen is a web platform
where once a week a guest "social chef", during a one hour evening live show, makes
a recipe (whose ingredients and tools are listed in advance on Social Kitchen
website and Facebook page) while people at home can follow the streaming and cook
the same dish - and enjoy it later for dinner - chatting with the chef to ask for
advice or to share what they are doing.
A very interesting and original concept!
I have to thank for
the invitation I Love Italian Food, an international network and no-profit
organization aimed at promoting Italian products and food culture
internationally; during the evening Alessandro, one of the founder, talked
about the association and their activities while I was cooking something
Italian.
Being invited in the
role of Ambassador for I Love Italian
Food (I'll tell you something more about this in future), I couldn't choice but
a pasta recipe, and in particular a pasta made using another very Italian
product, precisely bottarga.
Bottarga, that by the
way is one of my favorite products and ingredients, is salted, cured fish roe, typically
of the grey mullet (or even tuna) that can be found, with different names and in different forms, in several other Mediterranean countries, including France
(where it is called poutargue or boutargue), Croatia (butarga or butarda),
Greece (avgotaraho) and others.
The best and most
renowned variety of bottarga comes from Sardinia (but also Sicily has a very
good one) where it is mainly served simply sliced with olive oil, lemon juice
and bread or grated in pasta dishes. But in reality bottarga is a versatile
ingredient and can be served in many different forms and dishes: it goes well
with several vegetables - the combination with artichokes is one of my
favorites, but it's perfect also with zucchini, broccoli rabe, Jerusalem artichockes, pumpkin and many others - and with many varieties of seafood and shellfish.
One of the most common use of bottarga in Sardinian cuisine is
paired with clams in a sauce for spaghetti; and this is the inspiration of my
recipe where I also use some sautéed zucchini and lemon zests to add
freshness and flavor.
A note on the preparation method: you'll notice that I cook the pasta in boiling water only for half the required time; the rest of the cooking is done in the pan, adding the clams liquid and some cooking water. This technique, which is actually the same used for making risotto, allows to retain in the pan the starch of the pasta (that otherwise would be washed away when the pasta is drained) that contribute to make a creamy, dense sauce without adding fats or any other "secret ingredient". Also, the pasta will have a stronger shellfish flavor since it absorbs all the liquid released by clams when cooked. This is a technique I like to use whenever I have a "liquid" sauce, and in particular a seafood sauce.
A note on the preparation method: you'll notice that I cook the pasta in boiling water only for half the required time; the rest of the cooking is done in the pan, adding the clams liquid and some cooking water. This technique, which is actually the same used for making risotto, allows to retain in the pan the starch of the pasta (that otherwise would be washed away when the pasta is drained) that contribute to make a creamy, dense sauce without adding fats or any other "secret ingredient". Also, the pasta will have a stronger shellfish flavor since it absorbs all the liquid released by clams when cooked. This is a technique I like to use whenever I have a "liquid" sauce, and in particular a seafood sauce.
You can read the
recipe on Social Kitchen website here, where you can also find the link to the
video of the evening. It is in Italian but it may be interesting for watching
all the preparation steps - and of course if you want to have some fun watching my cooking performance!
I leave below the
recipe in English for all my international readers. Trust me, this pasta is
really worth trying, all your guests will enjoy it a lot; and it's quite easy and quick to make too.
Lemon flavored
spaghetti with clams, zucchini and bottarga
4 servings
1,5 kg clams
(your favorite variety) - washed and cleaned in salted water for at
least 4 or 5 hours, changing the water 3-4 times
4 - 5 green
zucchini
1 whole mullet
bottarga
350 g spaghetti
(preferably thick and trafilati al bronzo)
1 glass of white
wine
1 unwaxed lemon
2 garlic cloves
peeled
extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Fill a large pot with
water and bring to the boil.
Wash the zucchini and
cut the green part into strips.
In a large non-stick
pan heat 3 tablespoon olive oil and sautée one of the garlic cloves halved (central
green germ removed), add the zucchini strips
and sautée for few minutes (they have to retain some bite). Adjust salt, remove
the garlic, transfer into a bowl and set aside.
Add the cleaned clams
into a large pot with the glass of wine and the other garlic clove, cover with
a lid and let boil until the shells open up. Drain the clams as soon as they open
up (otherwise they become too chewy) discarding those whose shell doesn't open.
Remove the garlic from the pan and filter the water using a sieve lined with
kitchen paper in order to eliminate all the remaining sand.
Shell part of the
clams leaving some with the shell to garnish.
When the water comes
to a boil, add salt and the spaghetti; mix and cook for half the time suggested
on the packet.
Drain, reserving the
cooking water, and transfer into the pan used for cooking zucchini, already
placed on a medium heat. Finish to cook, adding the filtered clams water and some
of the pasta cooking water, until al dente.
In the meantime grate
half the bottarga and finely slice the other half. Using a zester make fine
strips out of the lemon peel (only the yellow part).
When the pasta is
almost done add the zucchini and shelled clams to the pan. Adjust salt and
pepper, add a splash of olive oil and some cooking water in order to make a
creamy sauce. Add the grated bottarga and lemon zest (reserving some for the
decoration) and remove from the heat. Mix well then divide into your
serving plates. Garnish with
the sliced bottarga, reserved clams and lemon zests.
According to your
liking you can add some more freshly ground black pepper and a bit of
extra-virgin olive oil.
Yes, im of course aware of this, and I'm as excited as everybody. But I know very little about the topic, so I'm not sure if i want to know more about this.
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