Italian Street Food – Cicchetti Style Recipes
Italian Street Food Recipes
We hope you enjoyed your class and are ready to recreate the meals at home. The recipes work really well as delicious dinners and make a great combination for dinner party ideas.
We Cooked:
- Goat Cheese & Red Pepper Risotto
- One pan Meatballs with Roast Pepper & Tomato Salsa.
- Grilled Aubergine Rolls with Spinach & Ricotta
- Goats Cheese & Red Pepper Arancini with Garlic Aoili
Goats Cheese & Red Pepper Risotto
Ingredients – Serves 4:
- – 5 litre chicken or vegetable stock
- – 2 tbsp olive oil
- – 30g/1oz butter
- – 1 onion, finely chopped
- – 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- – 320g/10½oz risotto rice (to have extra for arancini)
- – 1 large sprig thyme
- – 100ml/3½fl oz dry white wine
- – small bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
- – small bunch fresh dill, finely chopped (optional)
- – squeeze lemon juice (optional)
- – salt and freshly ground black pepper
- – 1 red pepper, sliced
- – 100g Soft goats cheese
- – Tbsp of grated parmesan
Method:
- Heat the oil and half the butter in a large casserole dish or saucepan. Add the onion and fry gently until very soft. Add the garlic and cook for 2–3 minutes. Add red peppers and sauté for 3 minutes. Stir in the risotto rice and thyme until coated in the oil and butter.
- Turn the heat to high and pour in the wine. Cook for 1–2 minutes, or until reduced. Turn the heat down to medium and add a ladleful of hot stock. Season with salt and pepper. Stir continuously until the liquid has been absorbed. Repeat until all the stock has been added. At this point the rice will have a creamy texture but still be al dente.
- Beat in the remaining butter and parmesan. Stir through half of your goats’ cheese and herbs, if using, and check the seasoning, you might want to add a squeeze of lemon juice. Remove the thyme sprig.
- Spread a third of the risotto over a tray to cool for Arancini and divide the rest between four warmed plates and crumble over the goats’ cheese and a sprinkle of Parmesan at the table.
- It works well with toasted pine nuts as garnish.
One Pan Meatballs with Red Pepper & Tomato Salsa
Ingredients:
For the Balls:
- – 125g Beef Mince
- – Salt & Pepper
- – 1 Clove Garlic – smashed into paste
- – Handful Fresh Parsley – rough chop (plus extra for garnish)
For the Salsa:
- – One Red Pepper – Roasted whole
- – 2 Small Tomatoes
- – ½ Shallot
- – 1 Clove Garlic
- – Olive Oil
- – 50ml Red Wine
Method:
- To cook, we used one griddle pan throughout – you can use a frying pan.
Prep:
- Pop your red pepper into the oven to soften, you can then pull the stalk and seeds out, and rough chop – 20 minutes is fine for this.
- Grate your tomatoes, fine dice the shallot, crush both your garlic cloves into a paste.
Meatballs:
- in a bowl mix the mince, salt and pepper, garlic (remember some is for the salsa) and parsley together. Divide into equal sized balls – approx. 8.
- Heat your griddle pan to medium high and pop the balls in, turning so all sides are coloured.
Add the Salsa:
- Move the meatballs to one side of the pan, if the pan is dry, add some oil, if there is sufficient juices from the meat, you don’t need. Add the shallot and the garlic, soften and then add the grated tomato and the red pepper, mix around and add the wine. The meat balls will now be in the middle of the pan.
- Leave on a medium heat – as the wine reduces, the balls will be cooked.
- Serve immediately with a sprinkle of parsley on top.
Grilled Aubergine Rolls with Spinach & Ricotta
Ingredients – Serves 4:
- – 1 tub ricotta cheese
- 300g washed baby spinach
- – 2 small aubergines
- – 1 lemon
- – 1/2 a fresh chilli
- – 6 basil leaves
- – 50g parmesan, grated
- 6 sun dried tomatoes in oil
- – extra virgin olive oil
- – salt
Method:
- Cut the aubergine lengthways into 1cm thick slices. Lay on a tray and salt, rest for up to an hour. this will help to extract the water from the aubergine. When ready, wipe away the salt and water, then grill in a griddle pan.
- Next wilt the spinach in a hot pan with a little oil and some seasoning, then put to one side to cool down. Once cold, squeeze the water out of the spinach and then chop.
- In a bowl, mix the ricotta, parmesan, shredded basil, spinach, and choped sun dried tomatoes with a teaspoon of the oil.
- Take the aubergines, place them on a plate and spread the mixture across.
- Roll the aubergine from the thin end and secure with a cocktail stick.
- Place in a shallow pan of tomato sauce on the hob, or put into the oven and top with cheese & breadcrumbs.
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:
- – 800g good quality
- – tinned tomatoes
- – 150ml red wine
- – Pinch of sugar
- – 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- – Oil, to fry
Method:
- Heat the olive oil in a medium pan over a medium-high heat and add the garlic. Fry for a minute, then tip in the tomatoes and wine. Bring to the boil, mashing the tomatoes, stir and then turn down the heat slightly. Add a pinch of sugar, a little seasoning and the oregano, and simmer gently for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Puree until smooth.
- Make extra and freeze!
Red Pepper & Mozzarella Arancini with Rustic Herb Pesto
Ingredients:
- – 1/2 bulb of mozzarella, torn into pieces
- – 1 roasted red pepper (could be from jar), sliced
- – 500g Risotto rice, cooked and chilled thoroughly
- – 1 egg
- – Bowl of plain flour
- – Bowl of breadcrumbs
- – Vegetable oil for frying
- – Parsley, handful chopped
- – Lemon zest
Method:
- Form a rough ball out of risotto rice, about 3cm big.
- Flatten the ball, stuff with red pepper and mozzarella, turn into a ball again, neater this time, carry on with the rest of the rice.
- Get a 3 separate mixing bowl ready, place flour in the first, beaten egg in the second and breadcrumbs in third.
- Dip your risotto balls in the same order, coating the arancini without any uncoated patches.
- Heat up enough oil to cover arancini halfway on medium-high heat and fry until golden.
- If you made larger balls of rice you might need to place them through the oven on 180C for 5 minutes to melt the cheese in the centre.
For the Herb Pesto:
Ingredients – Serves 4:
- – 1 clove of garlic
- – 1/2 big bunch of fresh basil
- – Handful of chives
- – Handful of coriander
- – 1 handful of pine nuts
- – 1 good handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- – extra virgin olive oil
- – 1 lemon
Method:
- Peel the garlic, then pound in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of sea salt.
- Pick, roughly chop and add the basil, followed by coriander and chives, then blend in a food processor.
- Add the pine nuts (very lightly toast first, if you like) to the mixture and blend again, same with the parmesan.
- Drizzle in some oil – you need just enough to bind the sauce and get it to an oozy consistency.
- Add most of the remaining cheese, then season to perfection with salt and black pepper. Have a taste and keep adding a bit more cheese or oil until you are happy with the taste and consistency.
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice at the end.
We hope you enjoyed the class!
We really hope you enjoyed your class at Food Sorcery. If you have any questions for chef get in touch lovetocook@foodsorcery.co.uk
Spread the word about us! on TripAdvisor or google. If you have any feedback about the class please do let us know.
Take a Look at our cookery classes. Gift vouchers are available and never expire.
