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
