It took Giorgio Locatelli five years to put together his definitive, 600-page Italian recipe book and memoir, Made in Italy. Full of mouth-watering dishes from his home country, it's got everything from delicious pasta and fish, to amazing risottos and meat.
My first feelings for cooking came from my grandmother, Vincenzina. But my first understanding of the relationship between food, sex, wine and the excitement of life came together for me very early on. I grew up in the village of Corgeno on the shores of Lake Comabbio in the north of Italy. My uncle and auntie, with the help of my granddad, built our hotel and restaurant, La Cinzianella, in the village in 1963. I helped out in the restaurant from the age of five until I got my first proper job in a kitchen when I turned 16. In Corgeno, there were eight founding families. The Caletti family, on my mother's side, was one of them; and on my grandmother's side, the Tamborini family, along with my cousins, the Gnocchi family, who have a pastry shop in Gallarate, near Milan - the speciality is gorgeous soft amaretti biscuits. It was in this shop that I got my first taste of an industrial kitchen - the ovens were so big that you could walk into them. I loved it.
Recipes serve 4 unless stated otherwise.
Pizzette with bagna caoda
We serve these little pizzette with aperitifs. Not everyone likes anchovies, I know, in which case serve without the sauce.
Makes around 24 small pizzette
375g strong white bread flour
200ml water at 20°C
Around 60g (about 4 tbsp) extra-virgin olive oil
10g fresh yeast
10g fine salt
For the bagna caoda:
3 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons milk
1 small tin of good anchovies, drained
A little extra-virgin olive oil
Knob of butter
For the topping:
15-20 cherry tomatoes, sliced
Handful of olives, stoned and sliced
Put all the ingredients for the pizzette, except the salt, into a food mixer with a dough hook. Mix for 3 minutes on the first speed, then add the salt and mix for 6 more minutes on the second speed. The dough should be very soft and sticky. Turn the dough out (you don't need any flour), dimple with your fingers and spread the dough into a rectangle using fingertips, stretching and dimpling dough at the same time. Then fold in the top third and dimple lightly, then repeat with the bottom third. Turn the dough 45 degrees and repeat from beginning. Leave to rest for 20 minutes. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the rested dough thinly. Have ready two upturned baking trays. With a
5-6cm diameter biscuit cutter, cut the dough into rounds. Lay them on the baking trays and put into the fridge for at least 4 hours - but no longer than 8. If you like, you can roll the trimmings of dough into rough bread sticks and bake them.
A good hour before you are ready to bake, preheat the oven as high as it will go. Put a baking tray into the oven as soon as you turn it on.
To make the bagna càôda: put the garlic cloves in a small pan with the milk, bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook until the garlic is soft - about 10 minutes. While the garlic is cooking, put the anchovies with a little olive oil and butter into a small bowl over the top of the pan and stir to 'melt' them - it will only take a few minutes. (Alternatively, what I often do is just put the closed tin of anchovies into boiling water for 8-10 minutes, then take it out carefully, open it up and discard the oil.) Push through a fine sieve. Crush the garlic cloves with a little of the cooking milk and mix into the anchovies. Loosen, if necessary, with a little extra-virgin olive oil.
Remove the dough from the fridge and, with your fingers, prod each circle of dough, starting from the centre and working out and around in a circle, then back to the middle again. Prick the tops with a fork, and add the tomatoes, sprinkled with a little sea salt, and the olives. Slide on to the baking tray in the oven and cook in batches for 7-10 minutes, depending on the thickness, until golden brown and shiny. Serve drizzled with a little bagna càôda.
Pasta
Orecchiette with turnip tops and chilli
Orecchiette come from Puglia, where they are traditionally handmade. The joke is that everyone in Puglia has big, bent thumbs from pressing them into the little ear shapes that give these their name.
3 small bunches of turnip tops or broccoli
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 medium red chillies, deseeded and thinly sliced
400g dried orecchiette
2 anchovy fillets
Salt and pepper
Take the leaves and florets of the turnip tops or broccoli from their stalks and blanch them in boiling salted water for about a minute. Drain and squeeze to remove the excess water. Chop very finely.
Warm half the olive oil in a large sauté pan, add the garlic and chilli, and gently cook without allowing them to colour. Then add the turnip tops and toss around. Add another tablespoon of olive oil.
Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil, salt it, put in the orecchiette and cook for about a minute less than the time given on the packet, until al dente.
Ladle a little of the pasta cooking water into the other pan. Then turn down the heat and add the anchovies. Let them dissolve, without frying them, stirring all the time. Taste and season if necessary .
When the pasta is cooked, drain, and add the pasta to the pan containing the sauce. Toss around for 2-3 minutes, so that the turnip tops cook a little more and begin to cling to the pasta. Add the rest of the olive oil, toss well to coat and serve.
Pappardelle with broad beans and rocket
About 600g fresh pappardelle
2 handfuls of podded broad beans
2 tablespoons grated Pecorino Sardo
3 small bunches of rocket
Salt and pepper
For the butter sauce:
250g butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 black peppercorns
100ml white wine
2 tbs double cream
For the broad bean purée:
2 tbs olive oil
1 white onion, finely chopped
300g frozen broad beans, defrosted, blanched and peeled
100g cold diced unsalted butter
To make the purée, heat the olive oil in a pan, add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes without allowing to colour. Add the frozen beans and cook with the onion for another 4-5 minutes. Slowly add some water, a ladleful at a time until the vegetables are covered. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat, put on the lid and leave to cook slowly (adding more water if necessary) until the beans are soft (about 20-25 minutes). At this point, carry on cooking, without adding any extra water, until you have a fairly firm mixture. While still hot, purée with a blender or food processor, adding the diced butter as you go (if the purée gets too dry, add a little water - the consistency should be like mushy peas). Transfer to a small saucepan, check the seasoning and keep warm, covered with cling film to stop a skin forming.
Make the butter sauce: melt one knob of butter in a pan, add the shallots and sweat for 2-3 minutes with the peppercorns, then add the wine and reduce that by three-quarters. Add the cream and reduce for another 2 minutes or so. Take off the heat and keep to one side. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, put in the fresh broad beans and blanch them for 2-3 minutes, then drain and refresh under cold running water. Peel off the outer skins of the beans. Melt the other knob of butter in a sauté pan, and add the broad beans. Season lightly and turn off the heat. Put the pan containing the wine reduction back on the heat, bring back up to the boil, then slowly whisk in the cold diced butter. While you are whisking in the cold butter, turn up the temperature slightly to keep it from splitting, but once it is all incorporated turn it down again for the same reason. Pass through a fine sieve into a warm container and keep in a warm place. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add salt, put in the pappardelle and cook for a couple of minutes, keeping it moving all the time until al dente (checking after a minute). Drain, reserving the cooking water.
Put the pan containing the beans back on a low heat, and add the pasta, with a little of its cooking water. Toss, add the pecorino, some pepper, 2 bunches of the rocket and 3 or 4 ladlefuls of the butter sauce. Toss a little more for 1-2 minutes, adding a little more cooking water if necessary to loosen. While you are tossing the pasta, warm up the purée, then spread a little on each of your plates, and top with the pasta. Garnish with a little more fresh rocket.
Linguine with lobster
1 lobster (about 1kg), very fresh
400g linguine
4 tomatoes
4 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 wine glass of white wine
2 tbs tomato passata
Handful of parsley, finely chopped, reserving the stalks for the stock
Salt and pepper
For the stock:
1 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 carrot, cut into chunks
1/2 onion, cut into chunks
1 celery stalk, cut into chunks
1 bay leaf
2 black peppercorns
1/2 wine glass of white wine
1/2 tbs tomato paste
Remove the head from the lobster. To make the stock, heat the oil in a pan and add the vegetables, bay leaf, peppercorns and the parsley stalks. Sweat for a couple of minutes to soften, but not colour. Add the lobster head and, with a wooden spoon, crush it a little, to release the juices. Add the wine and cook until the alcohol has evaporated. Add the tomato paste and carry on cooking over a low heat for another 2 minutes, taking care that the paste doesn't burn. Add a little water - enough almost to cover, but not quite. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Pass through a fine sieve and keep on one side.
Take the tail of the lobster and split it in half lengthways through the shell. Cut each half into pieces, about 1.5-2cm. We leave the shell on at the restaurant because it gives a little more shape to the dish, and it will easily come out of the shell as you eat it (but, if you prefer, you can remove the shell at this point). Put a pan of water on to boil and when it does, put the claws in for about 30 seconds. Remove and cool. With the back of a knife, crush the claws and pick out the meat. Keep to one side.
Bring a large pan of water to the boil ready for the linguine. Blanch the fresh tomatoes, skin, quarter and deseed. Then cut each quarter in half, so you have 8 pieces.
Heat half the oil in a large saute pan. Add the garlic and chilli and cook gently for a few minutes, until the garlic starts to colour. Add the lobster, including the claw meat, and cook for 30 seconds, tossing the pieces around. Season. Add the wine, allow the alcohol to evaporate and turn off heat. Add the tomatoes and the passata, with a ladleful of stock.
Meanwhile, cook the linguine in salted water for about a minute less than the time given on the packet. Drain and add to the sauce, with the rest of the oil. Toss for about a minute to let the pasta finish cooking and allow the starch to thicken the sauce (if you need to loosen it slightly, add a bit more stock). The starch from the linguine will help the sauce to cling to the pasta, so when you serve it the linguine will stay coated in the sauce.
Sprinkle over the parsley and serve straight away.
Risotto
Langoustine risotto
We buy live langoustines, but these are difficult to find, so I suggest you use very fresh - or even frozen - ones from a good fishmonger. You can also do this recipe with crayfish. (Risotto alla certosina) if you can find them. Crayfish are the freshwater version of langoustines - in Italy we call them gamberi di acqua dolce, prawns of sweet water.
1kg medium-sized raw langoustines
50g butter
1 onion, chopped very, very finely
400g superfino carnaroli rice
125ml dry white wine
1 tbs tomato passata
2 tbs of olive oil (flavoured with a chopped garlic clove if you like)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbs chopped parsley - reserve stalks for the stock
Salt and pepper
For the stock:
3 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
A few black peppercorns
1 tbs tomato paste
5 tbs dry white wine
For the mantecatura
about 75g cold butter, cut into small dice
Take the heads from the langoustines and remove the eyes, then cut the tails through the shell lengthways, leaving the shell on.
To make the stock, heat the oil in a large, heavy pan, add the langoustine heads and crush them a little with a wooden spoon, so that they start to release their juices. Cook for about 5 minutes, tossing the shells around in the pan, to get all the flavour from them.
Add the vegetables, bay leaf, parsley stalks and peppercorns. Sweat for 3-4 minutes, then add the paste and the wine. Allow the alcohol to evaporate, then add 2.5 litres water (make sure all the shells are covered). Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Strain the stock through a fine sieve, pressing the shells to get all the flavour out.
To make the risotto, put the stock back on the hob, next to where you are going to make your risotto. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to a gentle simmer. Melt the butter in a heavy pan, and add the onion. Cook gently until the onion is softened, but not coloured. Add the rice and stir around to coat in the butter and 'toast' the grains. Make sure all the grains are warm, before adding the wine. Let the wine evaporate completely. Start to add the stock, a ladleful or two at a time, stirring and scraping the rice in the pan as you do so. Add the tomato passata with the first ladleful of stock. When each ladleful has almost evaporated, add the next ladleful.
Carry on cooking the risotto for about 14 minutes, adding stock continuously. Slow up towards the end, so that the rice doesn't become too soupy. The risotto is ready when the grains are soft, but still al dente.
Take off the heat and let the risotto rest for a minute without stirring, then season the raw langoustine tails lightly and add to the risotto, with 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil and lemon juice. They will cook in the hot risotto. Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.
For the mantecatura, with a wooden spoon, beat in the cold diced butter, making sure you shake the pan at the same time. Just before serving, if the risotto is too firm, beat in a little more hot stock to loosen it. Garnish with the chopped parsley.
Nettle Risotto
Food for free, but remember to handle the nettles with gloves and avoid touching the stalks, which are the part with the sting.
2 handfuls of young nettle leaves
2½ litres good vegetable stock
50g butter
1 onion, chopped very, very finely
400g vialone nano rice
125ml dry white wine
Salt and pepper
For the mantecatura:
about 75g cold butter, cut into small dice
about 100g finely grated Parmesan
Blanch the nettles in boiling salted water for 30 seconds, drain and put into a food processor. Pulse to a purée, adding a little water if the mixture isn't moist enough.
Bring the pot of stock to the boil close to where you are going to make the risotto, then turn the heat down to a bare simmer. Cook the onion and rice in exactly the same way as in the previous recipe. Carry on cooking for about 15-17 minutes, adding the stock continuously. After about 10 minutes, add the nettle purée and bring the risotto back up to temperature. Carry on cooking for another 5-6 minutes until the rice grains are soft, but still al dente, adding more stock as necessary. The risotto shouldn't be too soupy when you add the butter and Parmesan at the end, or it will become sloppy. The risotto is ready when the grains are soft, but still al dente. Turn down the heat, to allow the risotto to rest for a minute, then, for the mantecatura, using a wooden spoon, vigorously beat in the cold diced butter and finally the Parmesan, making sure you shake the pan at the same time as you beat. Season to taste and serve.
Meat
If we want to have a proper connection with our meat, we have to do everything we can to keep the tradition of good butchers' shops alive. It is better to have fantastic meat once a week than fill ourselves up every day with cheap, carelessly reared meat. We all have to get used to quality, not quantity.
Calves' liver with balsamic vinegar
I think of this as one of my dishes, with a sauce that is based on French rather than Italian technique, but with flavours that are truly Italian. You don't need to use best-quality balsamic vinegar for cooking. In fact, if you use an expensive vinegar that will have been aged, and therefore have a higher concentration of sugar, it might catch and burn while you are reducing the sauce.
Small bunch of Swiss chard
2 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbs sunflower or vegetable oil
8 pieces of calves' liver, each about 70-80g
80g butter
250ml balsamic vinegar
3 tbs pine nuts, toasted
3 tbs sultanas, soaked in warm water
Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7. Remove the leaves from the chard stalks. Blanch the stalks in boiling, salted water until just tender (about 3-4 minutes), drain and pat dry (this is important as you are going to put it into oil later). Put the leaves into the water for about a minute, drain and pat dry. Cut the stalks into thin batons. Put the chard leaves and stalks into a pan with the olive oil. Turn the heat to low and gently warm these up.
Heat an ovenproof sauté pan until medium-hot, then add the sunflower or vegetable oil and put in the liver. Seal until crusty on both sides - taking care not to get the pan too hot or the liver might burn. Season.
Turn down the heat, add half the butter and put the pan into the oven for a minute or so, depending on the thickness and how you like your liver cooked (in the restaurant, we serve it medium-rare). Take out of the oven, lift the liver out on to a warm plate, drain off the butter, add the balsamic vinegar to the pan and reduce by half, or until you have a syrupy consistency. Beat in the rest of the butter, add the pine nuts and drained sultanas, then turn the heat down and put the liver back in. Spoon the chard on to your warmed plates, place the liver on top and drizzle with the sauce.
Duck breast with broccoli
If you can find cime de rapa (turnip tops), you could use them instead of broccoli for a change. Sometimes we do a variation with balsamic vinegar (about 100ml) instead of Worcestershire sauce. We add the balsamic vinegar to the pan in the same way, let it reduce by half, then, instead of adding olive oil, we put in a couple of knobs of butter, beat them in and continue with the recipe. Rather than the broccoli, we serve it with a mixed salad, dressed with balsamic vinaigrette. We also sauté the farro with around 1 tablespoon of sultanas and 1 tablespoon of toasted pine nuts.
Bring the duck breasts out of the fridge an hour before you want to cook them.
4 duck breasts
4 tbs farro (spelt, the grain not the flour, soaked for 24 hrs before use)
145ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 heads of broccoli, separated into florets<br.
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
Salt and pepper
Soak the farro in cold water for 20 minutes, then drain. Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas 7. Bring a pan of water to the boil (no salt, as this will make the farro harden up), put in the farro and cook for 15 minutes. Drain and tip on to a tray or large plate. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and toss around to coat the grains and keep them separate. Move them around every couple of minutes, so they don't stick together.
Blanch the broccoli in boiling salted water for about a minute or so, just to soften it. Drain and keep to one side.
Season the duck. Get an ovenproof sauté pan medium-hot, then put in the duck, skin-side down (you don't need any oil, as the fat in the skin will melt), and cook until the skin turns golden. Turn over, cook for 1 minute, then turn down the heat. Take the duck out of the pan and keep in a warm place. Drain the fat from the pan, add the Worcestershire sauce and 3 tablespoons of the remaining olive oil. Stir to emulsify and turn off the heat.
Heat a sauté pan, add the remaining olive oil, followed by the garlic and chilli, and cook without allowing to colour for a few minutes. Add the broccoli and sauté without allowing it to colour, until just soft. Season.
In a separate pan, fry the farro without any extra oil until slightly crisp (drain off any excess oil as you go). Season. Put the duck into a roasting tray and put it in the oven for about 2-3 minutes, depending on whether you like it pink inside or more well done. Spoon the farro into the middle of warmed plates, and arrange the broccoli around it, with the oil from the pan. Take the duck out of the oven and slice it if you like, then place on top of the farro and finish with the sauce.
Fish
While meat can be quite forgiving if you overcook it, fish punishes you if you take your eye off it. There is no point in talking about how long to cook a piece of fish, because it depends on its thickness. Get your pan hot, then add the oil, and when you put in the fish, leave it where it is while the skin becomes really golden. While the skin is crisping up, watch the flesh. As the heat travels through the fish, you can see that it turns from translucent to opaque. Keep watching and, as soon as it has turned opaque almost all the way up the fish (by now the skin should also be crisp), flip it over then immediately take the pan off the heat, and it is ready.
Cod with lentils
In Italian cooking you find some stews of fish with lentils, but they are longer-cooked, whereas the pleasure of this dish comes from the crispy skin of the pan-fried cod.
2 handfuls of parsley
100ml extra-virgin olive oil
4 large cod fillets (from the centre of the fish), each about 220g
3 tbs sunflower or vegetable oil
50g butter, diced
A few rosemary leaves to garnish
Salt and pepper
For the lentils:
250g green lentils
1 white onion
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 small leek
4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
100g piece of unsmoked pancetta
Sprig of rosemary
Small bunch of sage
2 bay leaves
1.5 litres good fresh vegetable stock
Handful of parsley, chopped
50g butter, diced
Prepare the lentils: soak them in water for half an hour, then drain. While they soak, finely chop the vegetables. Heat half the olive oil in a pan and add the chopped vegetables and the piece of pancetta. Cook for 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft but not coloured. It is important that the vegetables are soft, so that they release all their sweetness, flavour and moisture into the lentils.
Add the lentils together with the herbs, all tied together, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring until everything is well mixed and the lentils start to stick to the bottom of the pan. Don't season at this point, as salt will make the lentils harden. Add around a litre of stock (to cover the lentils by about a finger) and keep the rest hot on the hob in case you need it. Bring the contents of the lentil pan to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 45 minutes until the lentils are soft, adding more stock if they begin to get dry. Remove the pancetta and keep the lentils on one side, but keep the stock hot in case you need to loosen the lentils before serving.
Put the 2 handfuls of parsley into a food processor with the olive oil and blitz as quickly as possible until you have a bright green sauce. Season the fish. If you have two large non-stick frying pans, heat them at the same time and divide the sunflower or vegetable oil between them.
When it is just beginning to smoke, put in the fish, skin-side down, and keep pressing down and checking underneath - the skin should turn crispy and golden brown. You will see the flesh beginning to turn opaque. When it has turned white almost all the way through, turn it over. Divide the butter between the two pans.
While the butter is foaming, put the pan of lentils back on the heat - the lentils need to be the consistency of a risotto, not 'soupy', or they will be too loose after you add the butter; so, if necessary, drain off a little of the liquid. Add the parsley and stir in the butter. If, on the other hand, the lentils are not loose enough, you can add a little of the reserved hot stock.
Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary. Spoon the lentils on to the plates, with the parsley sauce on the side. Tilt each pan containing the fish towards you so that the juices collect in one spot, then spoon this over the top of the fish. Lift the fish out and serve on top of the lentils.
Sardines with bread salad
Panzanella is a very old Tuscan tradition - a salad made with leftover bread, which would be unsalted, in the local style. If you want to make it the day before you eat it, it will taste even better.
12 large sardines
5 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
For the panzanella:
200g stale Tuscan bread or ciabatta, without crusts, torn up
4 tbs white wine vinegar
3 tomatoes on the vine
1 large red onion, cut into 2cm dice
Big bunch of basil
5 tbs extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
First, get a griddle pan smoking-hot, otherwise the sardines won't release their fat and will stick to the pan. To make the panzanella: soak the bread in the vinegar. Take the tomatoes from the vine, dice and add to the bread, together with the chopped onion. Tear the basil and add that too. Add the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Stir together and set aside. Scale and fillet the sardine. Season, brush with a little of the olive oil and put on the hot grill, six at a time. Let them get crusty on one side (about 3 minutes), then turn over and do the same on the other side (about 2 minutes). Spoon some panzanella on each serving plate. Put the sardines on top, drizzle with the remaining olive oil and serve.
· Made in Italy, by Giorgio Locatelli is published by 4th Estate, £27.99
