Guineafowl Ravioli with Porcini and Capalbio

Ciao a tutti!
First, HAPPY LABOR DAY
to all my American friends! I hope you had
a relaxing holiday weekend!

I visited Comune di Capalbio and thought I'd
post a few pictures for you. It's located in the
province of Grosetto in Tuscany.

Valeria.

For my sweet tooth:

And now Guineafowl Ravioli with Porcini Mushrooms:

Guinea Fowl Ravioli

Ingredients
2 legs from 1 bird and bust (your choice, I used Guinea fowl. The breast will be used for another recipe)
1 stalk Celery
1 Carrot
1 white Onion
¼ c olive oil
1 clove of Garlic
Thyme
1 c white white

10.5 oz flour
3 egg
7 ozs ricotta
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 c parmesan

Preparation:
Wash and cut the celery, onion and carrot into small pieces. Place the clove of garlic in a pan with the olive oil and thyme for one minute then add the celery, onion and carrot pieces to cook. Chop the legs and bust of the bird into half. Flour them and place them into the pan with the vegetables. Stir the meat until it turns a golden brown color. Then turn down the fire and pour in 1 cup of wine (or enough to cover all the ingredients) and let it cook until the wine reduces. Strain the meat and let it cool. Store the sauce and chicken breast for another recipe.
Clean the porcini mushrooms carefully with damp paper towel. Cook the stem of the mushroom separately from the head. The stem will be used for the filling and the head for the sauce. Slice the stem and cook in a frying pan with olive oil, garlic and pinch of salt then let it cool. Cook the sliced head with olive oil, garlic and pinch of salt for 5 minutes until it becomes soft then leave in the pan for later step with no fire. Mash the cooked porcini stem with an egg yolk, ricotta, parmesan and the cooled for the ravioli filling. Add more parmesan to reach the right consistency, if needed. Place in the fridge to cool.
When the meat has cooled, remove the meat from the bones and place it in the food processor with parmesan, egg yolk , ricotta and cooked porcini stems. Add a pinch of salt and blend.
Pour flour on working surface and make a fountain with a hole in the middle of the flour. Break the eggs into the middle of the fountain. Gently beat the eggs inside to absorb the flour. While beating the eggs, add a little flour at a time with the tip of the fork. When all the flour is mixed and you have a dough consistency, knead the dough by pressing and folding gently with your hands. Now, work the dough with palm of your hands – holding with the left hand and pressing with the right, then fold the dough over and turn. Repeat this process for 5 minutes. Let the ball of dough sit for 30 minutes in the fridge. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a long rectangular shape, careful not to roll to wide for the pasta machine. If you do not have a pasta machine, continue to roll with the rolling pin until you reach the desired thickness. Don’t rush the process in the pasta machine – start on the thicker pasta setting and put the dough through the machine numerous times (changing the setting each pass), patiently reaching the desired thickness. Each time you will need to sprinkle flour on the pasta to keep it from sticking to the machine. Cut the dough into long rectangular pieces. Fold the dough in half to find your starting point. Place the filling in leaving one finger between each filling and one finger along the edges. Brush the pasta with egg white to hold the dough together. Fold the dough over to make edges meet. Begin on one end pressing firmly with fingers in the middle then work to the edges in order to assure there is no air left inside the pasta. Use a pasta cutter to cut the ravioli. Sprinkle some flour on the surface and remove the ravioli using a spatula so they don’t stick.
Put the cooked ravioli in the skillet with cooked porcini. Add the butter, a ladel full of the pasta water and 1/3 c. parmesan. Hover the pan over the heat moving the pasta continuously until the sauce becomes thick. Remove the ravioli from the heat then sprinkle with parmesan and serve.

Chicken Cordon Blue

Ciao!! I hope everyone has had a nice August. School starts a bit earlier in America than Italy so I guess you guys that have kids are back in the full swing of "Back to School" activities! Yesterday I had a client from Scotland and their school doesn't begin until October!

I'm happy to be back from holiday and wanted to share a few pictures with you of my wife Valeria, and our family! We spent some time in Aspromante in Calabria and we rode horses (cavalli)!!

This week's recipe:
Chicken Cordon Blue

Ingredients:
4 chicken legs
4 slices of ham
4 big pieces of melting cheese
3 eggs
1 c flour
Homemade bread crumbs:
2 c bread crumbs
1 c grated pecorino cheese
Fresh herbs from the garden
2 cloves of garlic

Preparation:
Debone and pound very thin the chicken leg. For each serving place a slice of ham and
melting cheese on top of the chicken. Fold the four corners of the chicken inward to meet
at the center. Pass into flour and squeeze. Then dip into the uncooked scrambled egg.
Use 3 cups of leftover bread. If the bread is too soft you can bake in the oven until it
becomes hard. Place the bread, pecorino herbs and garlic into a food processor and
blend.
Now pass into the breadcrumb mixture. Fry in a large frying pan with a lot of oil, over
medium heat. To measure the oil, it should come up to the middle of the meat in the pan. Cook for 5 minutes on
one side then flip and cook for 5 minutes on the other side. Then warm in the oven for 20
minutes at 212° F. Remove from heat and serve.

Broccoli and Sausage Gnocchi

Hey guys! I am busy trying to get my new website up and running so I won't be posting for the remainder of August but I will return in September!

Recipe:
Peel the potatoes and boil them in salted water. Drain the potatoes then place them on a floured surface. Mash them together with your hands to form a potato mound. Next separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and add to the potato mound and mix together well. Add more flour to the surface if needed and roll the mixture with your two hands to the desired thickness. Cut the roll into small pieces about ¾ of an inch long. Roll each individual piece on the back side of a fork to make the gnocchi groove. Place them in a pan of salted boiling water for a few minutes until they float. Remove from the heat, drain and return to the pan.

While the gnocchi is cooking. Add the sausage to a frying pan with the cooked broccoli, olive oil, garlic and red pepper. Cook well. Add the gnocchi to the sauce and stir.

Have a great rest of the month and see you in September!!

your Chef, Fabio

Lasagna with Eggplant, Cherry Tomatoes, Mozarella and Basil

Ciao my friends!

Today we make lasagna...

The lasagna pasta for two people is

made from 200gr of flour and 2 eggs.

(A litle shy of half pound .44 or 7 oz)

Cook the pasta in salted boiling water.
Cook 200 gr (1/2 lb) tomatoes in a pan with olive oil.
In another pan cook one sliced eggplant in olive oil.

Make bechemelle sauce with 1/2 liter of milk,
35 gr of butter and 35 gr of flour.
(2.11 cups of milk, 1.25 ozs of butter and milk)
Once mixed well add the eggplant and simmer.

Next butter the pan.

Add a layer of pasta, the bechemelle and

eggplant sauce and parmesan.

Add cherry tomatoes.

After dicing one package of mozarella, add with

some chopped basil.

Continue to layer pasta, eggplant bechemelle,

cherry tomatoes, mozarella, basil and parmesan.
Bake in oven for 40 minutes at 250°C (95°F).

Drizzle with olive oil.

I apologize for not having better quality photos.

My client and I only had cell phones

to take pictures with today!

See you next week!!

Your Chef, Fabio