Tuna Tartare - Real Italian Kitchen

Tuna Tartare

Some of our friends gave me and my husband a bottle of vintage Dom Perignon as wedding present. What an awesome gift! I promised them that to thank them I would prepare a dinner to go with the Champagne, and what better then raw fish to pair with such wine artistry? 

There are many ways to prepare Tuna Tartare. The one I make has vegetables in it, cause eating raw tuna in a bowl makes me feel like a cat. A spoiled cat. 

 Ingredients for 4 people: 

-One small tuna filet, if fresh freeze it overnight to kill all the bacteria and avoid food poisoning.
(If you're not close to the see, every fish you buy has been previously frozen, just so you know…)

-Half a red pepper
-Chives
-The juice of one lemon
-Extra virgin olive oil
-salt and pepper

Step by Step

1. Cut the tuna into cubes, following the natural lines that are already present in the fish.

2. Put it on a strainer and pour the lemon juice over it. You want to marinate it lightly in the lemon, not cook it in it, and citrus is not a main flavor of this dish.

 3. Once the outer part of the tuna has turned "grayish" you can start adding the other ingredients:
the pepper also cut into squares, the chives.

4. Fix with salt and pepper.

 5. Serve on a leaf of lettuce, on a beautiful serving plate. I'm in love with the rectangular plates I got at Pier 1. I know you can also find them at Ikea, and pretty much anywhere nowadays.

Simple right? And delicious! Good things are meant to be shared with the people you love, I hope you will try this recipe soon! 

ENJOY!! 

Valentina

RealItalianKitchen

Vellutata di Porri e Patate - Leak and Potato Cream

Leaks are a winter vegetable here in Pennsylvania and this is one of the things I like to cook with them.

I porri sono una delle verdure tipiche della Pennsylvania in inverno, questa e' una delle ricette che amo preparare

It's a very delicate soup that has the consistency of a cream because of the potatoes, but also both a sweet and tangy flavor given by the white part and green part of the leaks. 

E' una vellutata molto delicata che ha la consistenza di una crema grazie alle patate, pur mantenendo il sapore dolce e allo stesso tempo leggermente agro della parte bianca e verde del porro. 

Ingredients for 2 people / Ingredienti per due persone:

2/3 leaks /porri

1 large potato / patate 

water or broth / acqua o brodo

extra virgin olive oil / olio extra vergine d'oliva

salt / sale

pepper /pepe

Utensils / Utensili :

One large pot / una pentola

knife and a cutting board / coltello e tagliere

1. Cut the leaks down the middle, remove the toughest green part on the top and around the root but save the light green heart you'll find between the leaves. 

Tagliate i porri nel mezzo, rimuovete la parte piu' dura verde ma salvate il cuoricino verde chiaro che trovate all'interno delle foglie. 

2. Rinse them thoroughly and cut in circles

Sciacquate bene e tagliate a rondelle. 

3. Soften the leaks in the pan with a bit of oil, salt and a splash of water (so it doesn't stick or burn)

Mondate i porri nella padella con un po' d'olio, sale e un pochino di acqua

4. Once the leaks are soft, add the potatoes (pealed and cut in squares), top with water or broth, cover with a lid and let it cook until the potatoes are fully done. 

Quando i porri sono morbidi aggiungete le patate (pelate e tagliate a cubetti), coprite con acqua o brodo, coprite e lasciate cuocere finche' le patate risulteranno cotte. 

5. Hit everything with the food processor until is nice and creamy. 

Passate le verdure nel mini miper o passatutto finche' otterrete una bella crema. 

6. Serve with pepper if you like, or a spoon full of Philadelphia cream cheese....mmmm... Yummy!!!! 

Servite con una sgranata di pepe o un cucchiaio di formaggio cremoso Philadelphia.....mmmm... che buono!!!!

Enjoy! 

Valentina

RealItalianKitchen

Pumpkin Pie made by an Italian -

Here it is! My first attempt to Pumpkin Pie! Not to shabby for an Italian, uh?

My american fiancee' says it's good, some corrections to be made in the future, but good starting point!

I made it 100% from scratch, I used a fresh pumpkin, not the canned one, I made my own pie crust.

I got the recipe from http://www.pickyourown.org and made some corrections

FOR THE PIE CRUST

1.5 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/6 cup cold margarin, or vegetable shortening, or vegetable oil, or coconut oil.
1/3 cup cold butter
some cold water to help holding all of the above together.

Very simple: mix all of the above with your hands or a food processor into a smooth pie dough ball. Let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before putting it in the oven.

FOR THE PIE FILLING

1large pumpkin or large butternut squash. To prepare it for the use slice it in half, get rid of the seeds inside it LEAVE THE SHELL ON and throw it in the oven for 30 minutes till cooked and mushy. Once done remove the shell (now it comes off almost by itself) and work it in the food processor until you have a smooth orange cream.

You'll need 3 cups of this wonderful orange cream
3/4 cup sugar
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I didn't have it, didn't use it)
1/2 tsp salt
4 large eggs (or 3 extra large ones)
12 oz of evaporated milk. I didn't find this so instead I used 1 cup of dried non fat milk and added 1 cup of water to it. Mix it well and you'll get the same results as with evaporated milk. If that's not 12 oz add a little more then 1 cup.

STEP BY STEP

1. Flatten the pie dough with a rolling pin and put it in a 10 inch pie pan. It's better to have a glass pie pan but if you're using an aluminum one like I did just be careful about step number 3.
Adjust the dough in the pan and make cute little ripple on the edges.

2. Mix all the ingredients for the pie filling and whisk till there are no lumps.
It's going to be very liquid, it's ok, it will solidify in the oven.

3. Pour the mix in the pie crust. If you're using an aluminum pie pan put the pan on the oven rack first, then pour the mix. I didn't do this and my filling SPILLED everywhere when I tried to move the flimsy pie pan filled with liquid to the oven, and made a mess, of course, I'm not surprised.

4. Bake for the first 15min at 425 F and for the remaining 45 at 350 F. If the crust gets to dark you can cover it with aluminum foil or a crust shield (I cut mine out from a piece of aluminum foil), you can buy a professional one, clic on the image at the end of the page to buy one.

5. Let the pie cool down for at least 1h before cutting into it. It's supposed to be served at room temperature or cold, with a little scoop of whipped cream on top!




Enjoy!

Valentina
RealItalianKitchen







P.S: Like every dish in the american tradition this is as heavy as a brick: don't eat too much or it WILL make you sick (I speak from personal experience...)!!!