Red chicory risotto

This creamy risotto has the special bitterness of the red chicory and the nice smoky smell of the scamorza cheese.

It takes nearly half an hour to make a good risotto, the time necessary to cook the rice. 

But I can also suggest a short-cut, purist would have to blame to me for that, but  in this case, 4+6 minutes in the pressure cooker instead of 25-30 minutes, give fantastic results, without affecting the original taste. 

In this case I took pictures of the recipe when I made a single portion, while I give the recipe for 4 people. Your quantities will be bigger.

Also, I will describe both versions, so you can try them both and decide which you like most! 

Risotto is a first course, not a side dish, so consider that you will have to increase a bit the quantities if it is your only dish.

Ingredients for 4

320 gr/ 0.71lb rice (carnaroli if possible) (or 400 gr/ 0.88lb)
butter
1 leek white part only finely chopped
1/2 glass white wine
1 red chicory
twice the weight of the rice of vegetable stock (SALTED)
250 gr/ 0.6 lb smoked scamorza (or any other smoked melting cheese)

How to:

Bring your vegetable stock to the boil and let it simmer on a low fire.

Wash your leek and slice it very thin.

Wash your red chicory as well as possible and cut it into thin slices.

Put 1 table spoon butter in a deep pan, use a good one with a thick bottom or your pression cooker, and let the butter melt over a medium heat.

Add the leek and let it cook for few minutes until soft.

Add the rice and stir well until it becomes translucent (2-3 minutes). Add the wine and let it evaporate quickly.

When dry, the first part of your risotto is over. You can do this part in advance if you like. Make sure that the wine evaporated completely.

Add the red chicory and stir again. Now. if you are cooking in the pressure cooker, double the weight of your rice and pour it all in the pan. It will cover the rice and the vegetables almost completely. Close the pan with its own lid.

Count 6 minutes from the first  whistle  and switch it off. Help the steam go out from the valve, mix well and add the cheese. Mix again, wait one minute and serve it.

If you are cooking it in the traditional way, add just a ladle of BOILING vegetable stock, let the rise absorb it stirring it well, before adding an other ladler of boiling stock.

Boiling stock will allow the rice to cook inside, it is very important that you keep it very hot. It will take about 17 minutes of adding and stirring. Taste it, when ready add the cheese, close with a lid for 1 minute and serve.

   

Chicory with pancetta - radicchio coi bruciatini

I am not sure if you can find this kind of chicory, which grows wild by the Italian rivers. Anyway, you can also use the red variety, no change in taste, but different look! Just cut the red chicory into thin stripes after washing it carefully!

My grandmother used to prepare this side dish in winter, after pig slaughtering, when she had fresh pancetta available and I dare say that it was all the supper they had, lots of fresh vegetables and a little bit of pork meat....

Fast and very simple to prepare, it will feel your kitchen with the pungent smell of vinegar! Can you smell it!?

Ingredients for 4

250 grs/ 1/2 lb. chicory
8-10 tablespoons cubed salted pancetta (unsmoked bacon)
3 tablespoons Modena balsamic vinegar 

How to:

1) Wash the chicory and drain it well. Arrange it into your dishes.






2) In a large, non stick pan saute the pancetta cubes. No grease is necessary as they will produce a lot of fat.







3) When the pancetta cubes  get crunchy, add the balsamic vinegar. Stir well and take away  from fire.





4) Dress the chicory with the pancetta cubes and its juice/grease and serve immediately. Add salt if needed, but usually pancetta is already salted.

Lasagna with red chicory - Lasagne con radicchio

I had some guests last Sunday and, as I did not want to cook the all day, I prepared this autumn/winter recipe in advance. Then I freezed the baking dish before cooking, took out of the freezer the day before, let them in the fridge overnight and put in the oven 1 hr. before eating them. 

If you prepare them the day before, just refrigerate covered with cling film or aluminium foil, which you will remove before putting the baking dish in the oven.

This recipe is a little lighter than the original lasagna with Bolognese sauce, and quite unusual because of the bitterness of the red chicory.  But the vegetables will melt in your mouth and then you will taste the smokey speck. Different tastes, different textures... A great winter treat!

I love to use the season's vegetables, because they usually are more tasty and less expensive.

It takes time to prepare, and as usual I start from the very beginning - making home made pasta. In case you want to use a pasta machine, or your food processor, you will get great results as well. As I believe I take more time in washing and cleaning all the device, I make it the old way, by hand. Remember it is a great exercise for your shoulders and neck as well!

If you use dried lasagna, skip this part and prepare all the other ingredients before boiling the pasta.

Quantities depends on how many courses you have during your meal, if lasagna is the only dish, well consider 5-6, if, as it happens when I entertain, there is plenty of different foods, then consider a 8-9 people.

For a spectacular result, you can also make single portions using little ceramic moulds: the layers of  dark red chicory will make a nice contrast with the yellow pasta. I  made this when preparing my vegetable lasagna last Spring (in this case portions were quite small, as they were part of a 5 course meal).

Ingredients for 6-8

For the home made pasta
2 eggs
About 200 gr / 7 oz 00 Flour (or all purpose)

For the layers

Bechamel sauce:
1,5 liters/ 3 pints milk
150 grs/ 5.30 oz butter
150 grs/ 5.30 oz flour

3 small red chicories /2 big ones
4 shallots
3 tb spoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 cm thick slices Italian speck ham

Butter to grease the baking dish (mine is 30x21x6 cm.)

How to:

1) Peel and cut the shallows very finely.

2) Wash and cut your red chicory.

3) Warm up the oil in a very large and high pan and, over a medium heat,  gently saute the shallots.

  4) When soft, add all the chicory, and stir now and them. They will reduce to less than half by cooking!

Add salt to taste.

5) In the meanwhile, cut the slices of Italian speck ham into stripes and warm them up in a non stick pan until they release the grease and change their colour.

6) Switch off the gas under both pans. 



7) Prepare the bechamel sauce.

8) To make pasta please click here and follow the instructions until you have rolled it out with the pin.

9) Bring a large pan of slightly salted water to the boil.

10) In the meanwhile grease your baking dish with butter.

11) Cut your pasta into squares to fit your baking pan and boil them little by little 2-3 pieces every time. It takes about two minutes.

If you have store-bought pasta for lasagna, follow the instructions on the box, but I recommend to cook it anyway until soft.

Drain them on a clean tea towel.

12) Start making the layers: the first one should be the pasta, then the bechamel sauce, then the speck ham, the vegetables (drain them well squeezing them with your hands), pasta again until you early reach the top. The last layer is bechamel sauce, you should still have a good quantity to close it.

13) Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 45 minutes or until you see it slightly boil for few minutes. Take out of oven and let it set for 10 minutes before serving, so the bechamel sauce will thincken a bit.