Cooking Together Italian Recipes – Panzanella, Mozzarella, Pancetta

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Cooking Together Italian Recipes

Our cooking together cookery classes are as much about learning to cook as they are a sociable experience. We hope you enjoyed your class and are ready to recreate the meals at home.

We Cooked:

Prawn Panzanella Salad – Starter

For a vegetarian alternative use a portobello mushroom sliced or diced aubergine

Ingredients -serves 2

  • A handful of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1/2 red pepper, diced
  • 1/2 cucumber, diced
  • 1 lemon
  • Handful of king prawns or 1 portobello mushrooms sliced.
  • Handful of basil leaves
  • 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
  • 2tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Place a frying pan over high heat, and add a splash of olive oil
  2. Panfry prawns on both sides until they changed colour to orange-red
  3. Mix all the salad ingredients, and season with salt and pepper, dress it with olive oil and lemon juice
  4. Serve on top of whipped ricotta and with some piadina bread

Whipped Ricotta – Starter

Ingredients -serves 2

  • 1/2 pot of ricotta (125g)
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 2tbsp of cream
  • lemon zest and juice
  • few sprigs of thyme
  • salt and pepper
  • a splash of extra virgin olive oil

Method

  1. grate the garlic and place it in a mixing bowl with all the other ingredients
  2. whisk until well combined and aerated 
  3. Spread on the bottom of a plate, topped with your panzanella

Piadina Bread – Starter

Ingredients – Serves 2

  • 185g of plain flour
  • 80g of milk
  • 20g of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp of bicarbonate soda
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients together and knead the dough for five minutes before wrapping it in a cling film and resting for at least 15 minutes
  2. Cut your dough into 6 pieces, roll them thinly
  3. Place a non-stick pan on medium-high heat and cook bread until golden brown on both sides

Amatriciana Sauce- Main

For a vegetarian alternative use Arley’s plant based pancetta

Ingredients Serves 2

  • 100g of pancetta, diced
  • 1 shallot, sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 50g Pecorino Romano
  • 1 Can of chopped tomatoes
  • 50ml of dry white wine
  • A pinch of chilli flakes
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 Mozzarella ball
  • Rocket to garnish (optional)

Method

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
  2. Trim the thick skin from the bottom of the guanciale and discard or freeze (can be used to flavour soups). If preferred, trim some of the dark seasoned layers on the top then cut the guanciale into ¼–inch thick cubes or strips.
  3. Heat a large pan on a medium heat and add the guanciale. Fry it until the fat starts to melt and it becomes crispy.
  4. Once crispy, add onion and garlic, followed by white wine and simmer to reduce the liquid by half. Add the tomatoes and break them up with the side of a wooden spoon or spatula then add the red pepper flakes. Simmer the sauce for 10 minutes.
  5. While the sauce is simmering add the pasta to the boiling salted water and cook until al dente (see packet instructions and reduce the time by 2-3 minutes). Reserve ½ cup (125ml) of pasta water.
  6. Once the pasta is cooked add it to the tomato sauce and toss (add a splash of reserved pasta water if needed, see notes). Add the grated pecorino cheese and toss everything together until the pasta is well coated in the sauce then serve.
  7. Serve with mozzarella and extra virgin olive oil on top.

Pasta Dough – This was pre made for you

The rule of thumb is 1 egg, 100g flour and scale up.

  • 2 medium eggs
  • 200g ‘00’ flour, plus extra for dusting

Method:

For the Pasta Dough

  1. Place 00 flour onto a large wooden board and shape into a volcano with a large hole in the centre, then crack the eggs and pour them into the middle.
  2. Using a fork, lightly beat the eggs, then mix in the flour a little at time to obtain a consistent ball of dough.
  3. Work the dough with the heel of your hand for 10–15 minutes, or until the mixture is smooth and very elastic. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
  4. Divide the dough equally before rolling, wrap the extra dough back in the cling film so it doesn’t dry out.
  5. Flatten the dough to a rough square so that it fits through the pasta machine at its highest setting. Roll it through & fold it back over it to itself. Rotate it through 90 degrees and repeat this a few times to release the gluten which increases the elasticity of the dough and prevents cracking & tearing. Now reduce the thickness of the machine 1 click at a time until you reach the 2nd to last setting, if you prefer thinner pasta go to the last setting. Using a 9cm cutter, cut out circles.

Tagliatelle Rolling

Follow the pasta dough recipe above which uses 00 flour.

  1. Roll the pasta dough to the 2nd to last setting using the rollers, the ideal length is 40-50cm. Dust the cutting attachment and run the dough through, pile in small mounds ready to cook. Use the wide part on the attachment for tagliatelle and the narrow for spaghetti.
  2. Have a large floured board or tray ready and place loosely gathered bundles of tagliatelle onto it. Repeat the process for the remaining pasta dough.

  3. At this stage the pasta can be covered and stored in the fridge under cling film. You can also freeze individual portions, making sure they are well wrapped up.

    To cook the pasta, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. About 100g per person is good, shake off any excess flour. Drop your tagliatelle into the water, Cook for 2 minutes, Drain, season and combine with the sauce of your choice before serving immediately

Dessert Recipes

If you have any feedback about the class or questions for chef get in touch. Email: lovetocook@foodsorcery.co.uk

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