Another Week of School, and Some Recipes

It has been a wonderful week of classes. Monday, I finished my ring in Jewelry Making!

Finished!  Look how shiny it is!

Tuesday in my architecture class, The Built Environment of Florence, we took a field trip to the Church of San Miniato. We took a bus to the church, which is on a hill on the other side of the river. Check out the view of Florence, from the church.

The church itself is incredible, both outside and in, but my pictures don't really do it justice.

Today I had food, wine, and Italian classes. We had our first Italian quiz! I think I got like 100%, because the pre-quiz our teacher gave us on Tuesday was almost the exact same thing as the real quiz.

Okay, here's what this post is really about.

Risotto alla Milanese, Ossobucco, and Caramelle alle Mele.

This lesson was about the food found in the regions of Lombardy and Trentino-Alto Adige. Last week we were in the Northwest of Italy; today we were closer to the center of the Northern part. Trentino-Alto Adige is the part that borders Germany. There is a very strong German influence on the food and on the culture. Both German and Italian are spoken here. Their main foods are polenta, rice, and soup. (Not so much pasta as in Southern Italy)

Risotta alla milanese is safron risotto. It is yellow in color and delicous in flavor. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped (yellow onion, not red)

Small piece of marrow from a beef bone (optional, but we used it)

50g (2oz) butter

1 litre (1 3/4 pints) meat or chicken stock (We used vegetable/beef stock)

150ml (5fl oz) dry white or red wine (We used white)

300g (10oz) Arborio rice

Salt

1/2 teaspoon saffron threads, or 1/4 teaspoon powdered saffron

50g (2oz) grated parmesan

Melt half the butter in a pan, and fry the onion and marrow until the onion is soft. Heat the stock in a separate pan. Add the wine to the fried onion and boil. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add a pinch of salt. Add the stock gradually, ladleful by ladleful, stirring constantly as it becomes absorbed. It takes about 20 minutes for the rice to cook. Then, add the saffron diluted in some of the stock. When the rice is done (There should be enough liquid to make it creamy, but the grains must still be firm), add the rest of the butter, and the parmesan. Buon appetito!

Ossobucco alla milanese is braised shin of veal.

Ingredients:

4 thick slices of shin of veal, cut with a piece of marrow bone

Flour

50g (2oz) butter

120ml (4fl oz) white wine

250g (8oz) tomatoes, peeled and chopped (We used tomato sauce)

Meat stock or water (We used stock)

Salt and pepper

4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon rind

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1 anchovy, finely chopped (optional, but we used it)

Melt butter in a pan. Coat the meat with the flour and brown in butter on both sides. Add the wine and simmer for 10 minutes, then add the tomatoes and stock or water to cover and season with salt and peper. Cook, covered, for 1 and a half to 2 hours, stirring occasionally to make sure the meat does not stick, until it is so tender it comes away from the bone. Add stock or water to keep the meat covered at first. The sauce should be thick at the end.

Make what is called a gremolata: mix together the parsley, grated lemon rind, garlic and anchovy, if you like. Place a little on each piece of meat and cook a few minutes longer.

Here is the risotto and ossobucco, once we finished and put it on the serving plate:

The risotto was really creamy and yummy. I could definitely taste the wine flavor in it, but it was really good. The meat was also very good. It was kind of chewy, and I think it would have been better cooked a little while longer, but we ran out of time.

This was the best part of the meal: Caramelle alle mele

Ingredients:

250g Flour

2 Apples (We used Granny Smith)

2 Eggs

Pine nuts

140g Butter

200g Apricot jam

Powdered sugar

Sugar

Let the butter soften and cut into pieces. Work the flour with the butter; add the eggs and a pinch of salt. If needed, add up to 2 tablespoons of water. (We didn't add any) Wrap it up and put it in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

Peel the apples, cut in slices, and saute with 1 tablespoon of butter until gold. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar and saute a few more minutes. Let cool.

Roll the dough and cut it in rectangular shapes. Place in the middle of each rectangle a teaspoon of jam, a few pine nuts, and a slice of apple. Close the edges. Bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees (celsius). Once they finish baking, sprinkle them with lots of powdered sugar. Here they are, beautifully plated:

I'm not going to tell you how good they were. I will tell you I had three of them. =)