Sip n Savour, Taste of Edmonton July 22 Recipes and Photos
Oh we had fun. Teresa showed off how to cook Three R’s (Rocket, Rapini and Raddicchio) and a Fennel in this one hour cooking class. Smelt and tasted AMAZING. Recipes below photos. Photos courtesy David Tameling, http://davetameling.com/
FENNEL
Not only fragrant and flavourful, fennel contains 80 nutrients, is full of vitamins (especially C), and is a powerful anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory. It’s primary oil anethol, has also been shown in some studies to prevent cancer.
Fennel belongs to the Umbellifereae family and is therefore closely related to parsley, carrots, dill and coriander. Fennel’s aromatic taste is unique, strikingly reminiscent of licorice and anise, for which it is often mistaken.
A staple of Italian, French and Mediterranean cuisine, Greek myths say a fennel stalk carried the coal that passed down knowledge from the gods to men. Here’s a heavenly way to prepare it.
Fennel Gratin
2 fennel bulbs
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
½ cups fresh breadcrumbs
¼ cup fresh basil chopped or Italian parsley
¼ cup provolone
2 tbs. Parmesan cheese
½ tbs. lemon rind
Pepper to taste.
Instructions.
Cut fennel bulbs into quarters,
Steam for 20 min or until almost tender.
Place cut side up in shallow dish
Drizzle with oil
Stir together bread crumbs, basil, provolone and parmesan cheese, lemon rind and pepper, sprinkle over fennel.
Bake at 375 oven for 20 to 25 min.
T smling and sausages
ROCKET A.K.A aRugula
Okay, we cheated the English name Rocket, (so-named for the peppery lift off it gives) to fit with our three R’s title. Arugula is a wonderful way to change up normal salads of spinach or kale, while packing lots of vitamins and nutrients (Arugula contains about 8X the calcium, 5X the Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin K, and 4X the iron as the same amount of iceberg lettuce).
Pear, Arugula, and Pecorino Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette
Serves 4-6
15 oz. Baby Arugula
2-3 Anjou Pears
½ cup sliced almonds
1 cup finely grated Pecorino Cheese
Salad Dressing (adapted from Heather Christo)
6 tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 shallot finely chopped
4 tbs. champagne vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a salad bowl.
For the dressing, place all ingredients in a jar, shake and drench salad.
Serve immediately.
RADICCHIO
Otherwise known as leaf chicory, radicchio has a bitter spicy taste, (great for cleansing the liver and bile ducts), which mellows when cooked. The plant was first cultivated in Italy in the 15th Century. Radicchio actually grows as a green plant, but when placed in water in darkened sheds it turns bright red with white veins.
Radicchio is also great mixed into risottos, added to pasta, strudels, tapenades and like all chicory root veggies, can be roasted as a coffee substitute.
Radicchio Wrapped Bocconicini
Bocconcini (one per person)
1 slice prosciutto
1 Radicchio leaf
Balsamic glaze
Spring mix salad for presentation.
pano room
Instructions
In a pot of boiling water blanch the radicchio leaf for a few seconds, then dip into ice water to shock and stop cooking.
Wrap each bocconcini with a slice of prosciutto, then prosciutto a blanched radicchio leaf.
Serve on a bed of spring mix with a drizzle of raspberry balsamic glaze.
Who said delicious is complicated. This is simple Italian cooking, where the joy is the combination of whole fresh food and complementary flavours and textures.
RAPINI
Although the leaves look like broccoli, they are turnip root tops. Rapini is known for its nutty, bitter taste. It is packed full of Vitamins A, C and K, as well as potassium, calcium and iron. A favourite ingredient in southern Italian cooking, it is often sautéed with guanciale (pork jowels) or pancetta. Here’s an easy version you can mix with pasta if you like.
Rapini Sausage
1 large bunch rapini
5 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Whole chili peppers
Salt
8 x 3 oz pork sausages.
Instructions
Wash rapini, cut into small piecesand throw into big pot of boiling salted water. Cook for a couple of minutes, drain well and set it aside.
It might look like that’s a lot of rapini, but like spinach, it cooks down a lot, and if there’s extra it’s amazing the next day in a sandwich with some great cheese.
Heat a saucepan on high, add a good amount of olive oil to brown garlic and chili peppers.
Add rapini to oil, tossing a few times on high heat.
Lower the heat to medium, add salt, and cook for a few minutes, tossing it once in a while.
Set another frying pan on medium-high heat. Add a little olive oil. Put sausages in and let themget brown on the outside, then pierce each a couple of times to release some of the fat.
Lower the heat to medium and cook sausages through. (If sausages stick to the pan, don’t add oil, just a splash of water).
When sausages are cooked through, add them to the rapini.
Serve immediately, or with pasta.
Alternate idea: Cook up some orecchiette pasta, drain the water except for a cupful. Add rapini and sausage, and cook for another minute or so, letting the water reduce. Add a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
Adapted from David Rocco’s Dolce Vita (2008 Harper Collins Canada).