It's all in the game: Italian evening to finish the summer

It had been decided that we would be having an Italian evening to finish off the Summer, due to holidays and work and prior engagments , we hadn't been all together since May, so were better to do a bit of an foody get together than at our dear friend Carolyn's and what better way to finish off a not too wonderful Summer than with an Italian evening of feasting (Carolyn had spent some time flirting with the Don Giovanni's).

So the Evening was to be started with Prosecco with Aperol (Aperol con Prosecco) from a Lady in Red and Kalle had made some very nice cheese talers to start us off, a sort of light the blue touch paper.

As I was first out of the starting blocks and having done most of the food up front during the day, I had been up since 05:00 travelling first from NRW and then off to the market, then to Citti Markt to get all of the supplies. Some like the Tuna and the baby Octopods, I had prepared at home. (the Tuna had been smoked at 05:00 on Thursday morning)

Carolyn being the host does the mains, so it was to be Arrosto di vitello al latte and as Linda had bagged the pasta (what she will not say, but I do know she is dying to try out her brand new pasta machine). So at the speed of light I got in and laid claim to the Antipasti. Then along came Martin with the Dolce.

My antipasti was made up of a fish platter, a meat and cheese platter and a vegetable platter, a warm shell fish dish and a marinated prawn dish.

The fish platter consisted of:

Marinaded Baby Octopi (Moscadini)

and smoked-tuna-fish-two-ways an Italian herb and pepper and an Oriental, oyster sauce and a sesame crust.

accompanied by:

Baked stuffed Anchovies (Acciughe Ripiene al Forno) (but unlike Antonio I used sardines)

warm mussels, clams and langustines

pil pil prawns and shell fish in white wine

roasted-italian-vegetables

I took a lot of inspiration from Kieth Floyd and Antonio Carluccio and have addapted quite a few of their recipes to suit what I could find at the market, as with the exception of the meat and cheese platter (for obvious reasons) I wanted to make as much as possible from scratch.

Charcuterie and Cheese platter.

You will require a good selection of Italian speciality hams, salamis and sausages sliced paper thin (I let the girls at the deli do this as they have the professional machine and the skill, a sharp knife and my amateur impatience is just no substitute).

I had Milan salami, Bologna Mortadella, San Daniel air dried ham, Pancetta Coppata, South Tirol smoked bacon (Sud-Tirol speck), Genoese sausage (salame genovese di Sant'Olcese) and Soppressata the dried salami from the bottom of the boot, in the regions of Basilicata, Calabria and Apulia, I first had this hard air dried salami, stuffed with hazel nuts when visiting Bari on a ship back in 1974.

The cheeses to add to the platter mini mozzarella balls, Gorgonzola, that blue veined cheese so loved by all blue cheese connoisseurs and hated by all others , a Cravanzina, a soft creamy yellow cheese from Piedmont and finally a Vinschgauer a hardish mountain cheese from the South Tyrol area (very good for fondue). The platter was decorated with small plum tomatoes, fig quarters, grapes and a bit of torn basil and parsley, it did look ever so pretty almost too good to eat but that is another story.

To finish it all off Linda had made a tomato, rosemary focaccia to the theme of the Hairy Bikers, this recipe has always worked and is so easy to make. This time linda used her own mini tomatoes grown on her balcony.

We had a surprise guest, well it was surprise to Linda and I in the form of Reinard an old friend of the rest of the crew and a founding member of the cookery club, he had moved to Canada quite a few years previous but had now returned to Europe and was living in Paris but still working for a firm in Montreal. Lucky that a kilo of sardines contains 7 fish.

Linda made the Focaccia at the same time as making her pasta (wonderful things these Birthday presents ;-)

The filling was cepes, and minced chicken breasts

Served with wilted spinach and a cepes, shallot sauce

It went down a treat.

Next came the veal cooked in milk, this is a speciality of Northern Italy I do believe Lombardy, were Carolyn had worked many years ago.

Arrosto di vitello al latte

Veal braised in milk

Ingredients (serves 6)

1500 g veal (topside, rump or similar)

50 g lean bacon

300 ml milk

Butter

Flour

Salt, pepper

Method:

Cut bacon into strips.

Lard veal by making incisions in meat and inserting bacon into them.

Salt, pepper and lightly flour meat.

Melt butter in pot and brown meat on all sides at medium heat.

Heat milk and pour half of quantity over meat.

Lower heat, cover and braise meat for approx. 2 hours, adding more milk when needed.

Serve sliced, with sauce made from milk and meat juices and thickened with a Beurre manié.

It was accompanied by carrots and fenchel flavoured with orange.

The meat was perfect and the wonderful flavoured carrots just perfect. The complete recipe I shall post at a later date as poor Carolyn is up to her neck in work at the moment, but she has promised as soon as she has a spare minute she will translate it from the Italian.

To finish off the meal martin has made a Panna cotta with damsons poached in rum with almond nibblets.

1 ltr of cream

3 table spoons of vanille sugar (with the seeds in)

4 leaves of Gelatine softened in cold water

Bring the cream to the boil with the vanille sugar, lower the heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, squeeze the water out of the gelantine add to the cream and disolve. Pour into moulds and put into the refrigerator to set (qbout 6-7 hours),

Poach the damsons and almonds nibblets in rum and allow to cool. Put a layer onto a desert plate and turn the Pannacotta onto it.