Had a blast with my 16KK in Italy and then had an 18hr journey home. 6:20am start in Italy and arrived home at 11:35pm in the UK. I didn't have a working indoor oven and so most of my cooking was done on the KK. Here are my cooking highlights from our stay in Italy:
Asparagus mimosa from Plenty by Ottolenghi
Sticky sweet and sour plums and sausages from Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love except I used apricots instead. Pan was on limit of its capacity. Excuse to go shopping.
Best roast potatoes in the world according to our friend Francesco
Cooked a couple of these beef ribs in quick succession.
Top right is the Castellucio lentils with tomatoes and Gorgonzola dish from the "Plenty" book, made with orzo/pot barley in place of lentils. It worked really well. Bottom left is the roasted potatoes with aioli and buttered pine nuts from Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love. Francesco's opinion was that I had ruined the previously perfect roast potatoes by dousing them in aioli. I quite liked it!
This dentice or bream was deeelicious. Served us for two meals. I didn't cook it as recommended which was a) to leave the scales on and peel off the skin when cooked and b) to cut a shallow incision on either side of the spine and use the colour of the flesh there to indicate doneness. I hadn't read the recipe when I chose the fish at the fishmongers and so had them take the scales off. The mat that I bought meant that the skin did not stick AND was crispy and tasty to eat.
Our local butcher is a magician. From left to right - chicken wrapped in bacon (the best lollipop ever), mixed veal, pork and turkey kebab, lamb kebab and a "carpaccio" kebab which was beef wrapped with lardo. I was given strict instructions for cooking times, from 20 minutes down to 5 minutes. I staggered the timings for putting the kebabs on and they all came out beautifully. Except perhaps for the lamb which I would have had rarer.
New pan and spatcocked, practically boneless chicken (dissosato). I omitted to take a photo of the finished product but can assure you that our friend Francesco declared it the "best chicken ever". He has been rude about my chicken cooks in the past but that was because I was cooking with crappy indoor equipment in Airbnbs. He was astounded by the juiciness of the chicken breast. KK magic.
Day before our long road trip. Kebabs on a bed of summer courgette with tomatoes and ricotta (I substituted feta) from Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love
Plus yummy fresh strawberries. Easy to pop in your mouth as you are driving along. Peaches and plums were banned, too dribbly.
I have referred to this Ottolenghi book and the other one that I have in Italy called Plenty because I have been using them to explore veg cooking. It is easy to get stuck in a rut with veg and so I forced myself to try new recipes with the great produce available from our local market. It was a real success and I would recommend this and his other books. There can be lots of chopping sometimes but it's worth it.