Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Cooking with Emma Freddi at Enrica Rocca

A selection of vegetables to go into the Minestrone soup, many from her garden
With Emma in her marvellous kitchen, drinking the wine made by her parents in Robertson
She explains how she makes the soup
Multi-tasking,  Emma does two batches of onions, one for soup, one for the next dish
We all get involved chopping vegetables for soup
Lynne’s contribution in the colours of the Italian flag just about to go into the pot
A splendid aubergine for the next dish Parmigiana di Melanzane
It is as hands on cooking as you wish
We all share cooking information and experiences
Janna grating egg yolks for the Biscottini del Lago
Emma always peels her aubergines for the Melanzane
Cooking the passata
Janna helps with the stirring
Emma explains why she uses a wire mesh cover rather than a lid as it helps the sauce to reduce without spitting
Janna coats the aubergine slices in flour, Emma fries them a minute or two on each side
Some of the bounty from Emma’s garden including heritage tomatoes, butternut squash and overgrown courgettes
The aubergines getting a good colour in the deep olive oil, while the soup and the borlotti beans for the soup cook alongside.  The beans were last year’s crop from Emma’s garden
Aubergines draining on kitchen paper
What we ate while everything was cooking – really good salami, coppa ham and prosciutto
A layer of tomato sauce covered in an overlapping layer of fried aubergine slices
Then a dusting of parmesan cheese, basil and then more tomato
Then a few slices of mozzarella cheese
And build up more layers
Emma showing us how to make Involtini (meat rolls)
Onto the beaten thin slices of pork go a slice of ham, a drizzle of parmesan cheese and a slice of provolone cheese
Fold the edges in
Then roll one end toward you forming the tight roll
Secure a large sage leaf with a toothpick to close the roll
then put into a pressure cooker
The minestrone soup has the spinach added at the last minute
Emma makes a quick batch of basil pesto
And she checks that things are cooking well
The Involtini are ready to come out of the pressure cooker
The melanzane comes out of the oven and has more mozzarella put on top to melt
The baking sheet is buttered and floured
We measure out each ball of dough to exactly 14 grams
This absolutely amazing Minestrone soup had no potato, flour or any stock added and was full of flavour and lovely fresh vegetables.  It is topped with basil pesto and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
We begin to eat at about 9
Soup, followed by a plate of Melanzane with an Involtini
And then the buttery biscottini come out of the oven and become our dessert with coffee for some
The end of a wonderful evening 
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2013

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