By Dayne Hudson
How good is Venetian chef Luciana Sampogna?!
Her second appearance on FIT'N'FLEXED saw her cook some very tasty and healthy italian meals.
THE ITALIAN RECIPES
SPIANCH PESTO
Ingredients:
- 100g of fresh spinach
- 2 spoons of chopped parsley
- 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
- 50g of extra virgin olive oil
- 15 g of basil leaves
- 35g of parmesan cheese
- 25g of pecorino
- Salt pepper, water that you cooked the pasta
- Parmesan for serving
- Pasta suggestion: trofie
Instructions:
In a food processor, place the spinach, garlic, parsley, and basil.
Add the oil slowly till the consistency is creamy.
Place it on a bowl and add the cheese.
Cook the pasta as usual keeping some of the cook water.
Mix the pasta with the sauce adding the water to reach a creamy consistency.
Serve with parmesan.
PEPOSO
Ingredients:
- 1 kg muscolo di beef or veal
- 1 glass of Chianti wine
- 1 whole bulb of garlic
- 1 soup spoon of pepper in grains
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste diluted into a glass of hot water
- 2 cloves
- Sale.
Instructions:
Cut the beef eliminating some of the fat (not too much) and cut into pieces of 3 to 4cm.
Place all the ingredients into a pan and add necessary water to cover the meat.
Bring it to the boil, cover with a lid (if you have one of the special oven proof dishes that can be covered with a lid and go into an oven) or use foil.
Place it in a preheated oven 150 to 160C for about 3 hours.
From time to time, stir the dish so they will not stick on the bottom of the pan.
Check also if it is drying too much, in this case add a bit of water. If the dish is too liquid, then remove the lid or the foil and let it cook but turning up a little the oven heat.
All peposo are different in flavours, after all we are in Italy and from village to village we claim our version. Some will be more peppery, some less as few recipes will use half of the pepper in grain and half in powder.
Another note that the tomato here is a modern touch. The Peposo was created about 5 centuries ago! And back then no tomatoes existed in Italy ( the tomatoes were brought back to Italy by Christopher Columbus who discovered America). Another note that the pepper was then part of a way to protect and preserve the meat during times that fridges didn't exist!
The flavours are still the same, that little touch of tomato will not change so much the beautiful peppery flavour but in fact give a little colour to the dish.
COUSCOUS SALAD
Ingredients:
- 1 cucumber, cut into cubes and rested under salt for 30 minutes to eliminate the excess water
- 6 tomatoes, cut into small pieces
- 1 bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
- 1 bunch of parsley finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 1 fresh chilli, finely diced and seeds removed
- 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 500g of couscous
- 2 spoon of butter
Instructions:
Wash the vegetables, dry and slice them as per instructions above.
Cover all vegetables with 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Meanwhile prepare the couscous by placing 625ml of water in a pan and bring to boil. Add salt (it needs to be salty like every single carbohydrate) and 5 or 6 tablespoons of olive oil. Add now the 500g of couscous and cover the pan with a lid immediately and remove it from the heat.
It is always a good idea to follow the instructions of your couscous package – quantity of water per quantity of couscous as it will depend on how fine the grains are.
Let it rest for 2-3 minutes.
Return the pan to a low heat for 3 minutes, add 5 teaspoons of butter & with a fork separate all the grains.
Add now all the vegetables to the couscous, taste for salt and pepper and add more olive oil if needed.
Sprinkle some parsley leaves and serve it.
- Lucinana Sampogna
COOKING WITH LUCIANA SAMPOGNA
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