Francobolla di Zucca con
Salsiccia di Finocchio
(Postage stamp size pasta filled with roasted butternut squash,
ricotta cheese, and amaretti topped with fennel sausage and over dried
tomatoes)
Ingredients:
(serves 4)
1 medium butternut squash
4 oz. goat milk ricotta cheese
2 oz. amaretti cookies, crushed
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
6 oz fennel sausage, cooked and drained
1 large egg
2 oz. butter
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 lb. pasta dough
Preparation:
1) Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and push out the
pit with the
seeds. Place them skin
down on a baking tray and leave
overnight in a gas oven with
the door slightly ajar.
2) Place the butternut squash in a 450F oven until
soft; this usually
takes about 1 to 11/2 hours.
Allow the squash to cool, then cut in
half and remove the seeds
and the core.
3) Scoop out the soft cooked meat and mash with a
wooden spoon in
a large bowl. To the squash,
add the parmesan cheese, cookies,
ricotta cheese, and the egg.
Mix well and season to taste.
4) The squash mix should be a bit wet and sweet.
5) Roll out the pasta dough with a machine or by hand,
and lay a large
piece of pasta on the francobollo
mold, pipe the filling into the molds,
and cover with another layer
of pasta.
6) Seal with a rolling pin.
7) Turn over the pasta and cut the small ravioli out
to shape.
8) In a saute pan, heat the butter and sausage until
it begins to sizzle,
then add the tomatoes, cook
slightly, and remove from the heat. Cook
the pasta in salted boiling
water, removing the pasta as they float to the
top and placing them in the
sausage and tomato mixture.
9) Toss the pasta in the sausage and tomatoes, place
in a bowl and top
with parsley and parmesan
cheese.
Ingredients:
(Serves 4)
1 lb. Beef Filet, cleaned and trimmed
3 Artichokes
12 slices of Parma Prosciutto
8 oz. Veal Glace
2 oz. Black Truffle shavings
4 oz. Flour
4 oz. Olive oil
2 oz. butter
Soft Polenta for accompaniment
Preparation:
1) Slice the beef filet into 12 even pieces.
2) Using a mallet, pound the beef flat to a size approximately
the size
of your open hand.
3) Separate each piece with wax paper and cover with
plastic wrap,
then place in a refrigerator.
4) Clean the artichokes; remove the choke, and slice
into eight equal
pieces. Saute the artichokes
in a non-stick pan with a little olive oil,
cook slowly untl they become
tender, them remove from the heat
and drain.
5) Lay each piece of beef on a clean work surface
and cover it with a
piece of prosciutto, trim
the prosciutto if it extends off of the beef filet.
6) Arrange the artichokes on the prosciutto at the
top of the beef filet,
and roll the beef up around
the artichokes, like an egg roll, then fold
in the sides as the roll
approaches the end. Hold the end of the beef
in place with two toothpicks.
7) Heat a saute pan with the oil and butter until
the butter begins to sizzle.
Lightly coat the beef rolls
with the flour, and saute in the pan until each
side has browned.
8) Remove from the oil, place on a baking tray and
cook in a 450F oven
for 5 minutes. Remove
the oil from the pan and add the veal glace
and black truffle shavings.
9) Remove the beef rolls from the oven and cut each
one in half;
arrange around some soft
polenta, then drizzle with the veal and black
truffle sauce.
Ingredients:
(Serves 4)
4 bosc pears
1 btl. barolo wine
6 oz. sugar
4 egg yolks
2 tbs. cocoa powder
4 mint sprigs
Preparation:
1) Place the sugar and borolo wine in a pot,
and bring to a boil.
2) Peel the pears and place them into the boiling
barola syrup.
3) Cook the pears until they have lost some
of their firmness,
approximately 7 to
10 minutes.
4) Remove the pears from the syrup and allow
to drain standing upright.
5) In a zabayone bowl or a medium stainless
steel bowl, place the egg
yolks, 6 oz of
the barola syrup, and the cocoa powder.
6) Over a high flame, slowly whisk the ingredients
together until they
begin to froth, then
mix very fast, making a warm foam.
7) When the foam begins to pull off of the sides
of the bowl, remove
from the heat and continue
to stir briefly.
8) Place a portion of the chocolate zabayone
in the middle of the bowl.
9) Cut five evenly spaced lengthwise cuts in
the pear starting about one
third of the way down
from the top.
10)Place the pear on the zabayone and slowly turn
the pear to fan out
the bottom of the pear
in the warm zabayone, then garnish with the
mint and powdered sugar.