The Good Fork: Romance, the Roman way.

09.02.12

4Food

Nicola shows how spooning is so much better than forking in this Valentine's special

When I think about Valentines the first thing that comes to mind is a romantic, luxuriously presented, indulgent dinner with lovely candles on the table and a bunch of fresh flowers (and obviously a great bottle of wine!)

When I started thinking about what to write for this blog, the first dinner that came to mind is the one I prepared for the first date with my girlfriend more then 4 years ago (and we are still together so it must have impressed her enough)

I remember talking to her about food (surprising, eh?), to try and understand what I should cook the day after and she came out with something like "I love absolutely everything except one thing...artichokes!" At that point I thought of cancelling the dinner- she was not the right girl for me-I mean: how can you not love Artichokes?!

So...to cut a long story short: guess what I decided to cook the day after for our first date? An entire "variation on the Artichoke" themed dinner. Basically 6 different courses all including artichokes! Well...as crazy as it may sound...she now regards them as her favourite vegetable! Can you believe it? I think this is quite common as most people I meet don't like things because they have never really tried them as adults...they remember tasting them when they were kids and since then never dared to try them again!

Now...I won't foist upon you an artichoke recipe this time as they are not really in season and, anyway, the best ones come from Italy so are not really the most sustainable option (unless...obviously...you live in Italy!)

What I propose today is an entire dinner inspired by the Italian classics but with a creative twist, making it look like Michelin star cuisine but with the advantage of being über easy and quite quick to prepare, so that you can come back from work and have a jaw dropping dinner on the table by 8! Moreover you can find the ingredients pretty much everywhere, even in your local corner shop!

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PARMIGIANA:

1 aubergine

1 ball of mozzarella

1 piece of Parmesan (or a bag of grated parmesan)

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

garlic

basil

chilies

olive oil

seed oil

butter

white wine

salt

flour

FOR THE FILLET ROLLS:

1 fillet steak

spring onions

butter

vinegar

2 large potatoes

1 bag of spinach

olive oil

salt and pepper

FOR THE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE:

140 grams of Chocolate (dark)

1 teacup of water

sugar (if you want to make it sweeter)

ice

THE DESSERT.

So, let’s start with the pudding (which sounds strange but makes sense as you can prepare it the day before and let it set in the fridge)

Melt the chocolate with the water inside a heatproof bowl suspended over a pot of simmering water, keeping the flame very hot. The second the chocolate completely melts take it off the heat and put the entire pot inside a bigger bowl full of ice. Mix with a food blender at high speed until the mousse becomes nice and soft and has the consistency of creamy sauce (not too hard as otherwise it will be solid as a brick after refrigeration)

Now pour the contents into two ramekins and put in the fridge. Take it out an hour before serving and garnish with anything you like (I've used a raspberry and few mint leafs from my garden...gorgeous!)

STARTER

You can prepare both the starter and the main course in two stages (even the day before) and finish cooking them just before the dinner.

PARMIGIANA: When it comes to indulgence, the first recipe that comes to mind is this Italian classic. It tastes incredible and the different textures and the final presentation with its wonderful colours make it the pièce de résistance. It’s easy to make and almost impossible to fail.

I decided to deviate a little from the original recipe to make it even naughtier and better presented. If you follow me step by step you will also learn how to change the recipe to your taste.

1- Prepare a thick tomato sauce.  Take a small saucepan; add 2 spoonfuls of olive oil, two cloves of garlic and a small chili. Fry for a minute then add the tinned tomato and a full sprig of basil (also a pinch of sugar, one of salt) and let it cook for half an hour or until the sauce has a thick consistency.

2- Wash the aubergine and slice it into 12 circles, each half a centimeter thick.  Dust them with white flour and deep fry until golden (this will give the outer skin that lovely crisp effect) Be careful not to fry them too much, you don't want the slices to become brown. Variation: if you want a healthier version, miss out the flour and just grill the aubergines (but believe me, it's worth trying the deep fried version and starting your diet the day after!)

3- Grate the Parmesan and, using your hands, break the mozzarella into small pieces, Get few leafs of basil a chop it finely.

Assemble!

Take an oven tray, put some oven-proof paper on it and then start building your pyramid of glorious taste by alternating a slice of aubergine with a spoonful of tomato, one of parmesan, a piece of mozzarella and a pinch of basil. Continue until you have done 6 layers of it. You’ll need to add a little pinch of salt to every layer.

At this point you can stick a toothpick in it to make sure it keeps its shape and leave it on the side. Leave it the fridge until 20 minutes before the dinner, then just put the Parmigiana under the grill for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly crispy. Plate it up and add a piece of fresh mozzarella, a leaf of basil and few drops of olive oil- done! 

MAIN COURSE

FILLET ROLLS: I invented this recipe a week ago, when I had only one fillet steak at home and I was trying to figure out a way to make of it enough for two. Again, it’s rather easy to follow and you can vary the recipe yourself according to taste. For my first attempt I used back trumpet mushrooms - called ‘truffle of the poor ' in Italy- and, if you can find them at your local greengrocer, I’d advise you to use those instead of the spring onion.

1- The filling. You can use anything but I was in a hurry so decided to go for the ubiquitous spring onion (if you are using the mushrooms, just quickly fry them in olive oil with garlic, and then make into paste of it using a hand blender)

In this case, however, you will want to slice the spring onions as thinly as you possibly can, then take a pan, add a bit of butter and fry them until golden brown. Add a splash of vinegar and cook for a further minute and then leave it to rest on a side.

2- Take you fillet steak, put it in between two pieces of oven paper and bash it with anything suitable (I've used a kitchen roller) until you have a square-shaped "page" of fillet steak approximately half a centimeter thick. This process will also tenderise the meat.

3- Spoon the filling onto the fillet and spread evenly leaving a 1 cm border empty on the sides (otherwise the filling will come out the rolls and burn while cooking)

4- Roll the fillet and secure with a piece if cooking string, then add salt, pepper and olive oil and leave it to rest on a side. Again you can do this the day before and finish cooking them just before dinner.

For the presentation I've used mashed potatoes and spinach (but you can use anything you like really). I boiled 2 potatoes and once cooked (and drained the water) I added a knob of butter, 4 spoonfuls of milk, ground pepper and salt and mashed it with a food processor; for the spinach, just blanch them in salted boiling water and then pan fry them with butter; voila!

5- Put a pan on the gas and let it become super hot, then add the roll and cook it on every side until it is a nice dark brown (depending on how rare you like it, cooking times are up to you)

6- Once cooked, remove from the pan and let it rest on a side for 5 minutes. In the meantime prepare a little bit of gravy, adding a knob of butter to the pan to loosen the cooked fat and a little splash of white wine. Cook for one minute.

Assemble:  Spoon the mash onto the plates and spread it out (you want to have a kind of squared donut if you know what I mean) Add the spinach on one side (you can create a nice shape just by putting the spinach into an oiled espresso coffee cup and pouring it into the plate)

Next, cut the string and carefully slice the meat (starting by cutting it in half and then cut each half into thirds) and lay the pieces on top on the mash. To finish pour the gravy over it, sprinkle it with olive oil and finely chopped parsley and you are done!

Now surely I don't need to teach you how to entertain your partner during and after this amazing dinner!