Italian variety artichokes

At the moment artichokes are in full season and relatively cheap. We bought 4 lovely artichokes for just €1! Artichokes come in a variety. The most commonly found are the classic green globe artichokes which are quite meaty and the oblong Italian bred artichokes which are purplish and have a tender heart.

For this recipe we used the Italian purple artichokes.

Mozzarella & anchovy stuffed artichokes

Artichokes with buffalo mozzarella and anchovies

Ingredients for 4 persons:

• 8 artichokes
• 200g buffalo mozzarella
• 25g grated parmesan
• 1 egg
• 1 lemon
• fresh parsley
• 8 anchovy fillets
• breadcrumbs
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Clean the artichokes, by removing the hard outer leaves. Put the artichokes into a bowl of water with lemon juice. Mix together the chopped mozzarella, egg, grated parmesan, minced anchovies, chopped parsley, salt & pepper.  Open the artichokes, season with salt & pepper and stuff with the mozzarella mixture. Put in an oiled baking dish sprinkle with the breadcrumbs, add some olive oil and water. Cook in a pre-heated oven of 180 degrees Celsius for around 30 minutes adding more water as necessary.

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Cotechino loaf

Serves 8 (as a starter)

• 6 leaves of savoy cabbage
• 200g cooked cotechino (as per packet instructions)
• 200g minced beef
• parsley
• 3 tblsp breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• salt & pepper

Savoy cabbage meat loaf

Boil the leaves of the savoy cabbage in some salted water for 15 minutes. When ready place them on a kitchen towel and pat them dry. In the meantime put some olive oil in a pan, add the minced beef, and the cooked cotechino, chopped. Remove from heat when meat is browned and add parsley, breadcrumbs, egg, rind of lemon, salt & pepper. Cut a rectangular piece of oven-proof paper and spread it with some butter so it does not stick. Place the cabbage leaves on this rectangular paper and put the edges slightly on top of each other so that you form a base where to put the meat mixture. Pour the meat mixture in the middle and with the help of the oven paper roll the leaves to form a sausage with the meat in the middle. Tighten the roll with some kitchen string and place in boiling water for 15 minutes. When cooked leave to cool, remove the string & oven paper and cut into slices. Serve with some fresh tomato & basil sauce.

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Stuffed Squid

On Saturday it was my turn to do the fishy shopping… the display was eye-catching & mouth-watering… all types of fish available from the traditional lampuki to the John Dory and the Pesce San Pietro. Yet, my shopping list consisted of ingredients for a typical Sicilian dish from Trapani… couscous di pesce! Well friends were coming over to dinner so it was time to impress! I bought a mix of fish ideal to prepare the stock, dentici fillets, prawns, and clams to add to the couscous… as well as some fresh mussels for the gratin, as an antipasto. This couscous di pesce was more complicated to prepare than I thought… next time I will post its recipe but for today here’s a crumbly starter… mussels au gratin.

Serves 6

• 2 kg fresh mussels, scrubbed and cleaned
• 100gr breadcrumbs
• 50gr parmesan, grated
• salt & pepper
• handful of chopped parsley
• olive oil

Put the mussels in a large pan on high heat until they are all open. Discard any which remain closed. Open the shells in two and put the half shells which contain the mussel in an oven proof dish. Scatter over the mixture of breadcrumbs, parmesan, parsley and salt & pepper and put in a pre-heated oven of 180 degress Celsius for 10 minutes. Pour some olive oil and serve with fresh crusty bread.

Mussels au Gratin

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