1.11.2017

Bigoli


Bigoli - The Bigoli is a long, fat pasta (solid in the middle), like a big spaghetti of Venetian origin.  It is spread throughout the region and is also found in East Lombardy.
The recipe for bigoli is traditionally prepared with wheat flour, water, and salt.
Bigoli Al'anatra
Italian's describe the main feature of this pasta as, "Pasta Forte" which refers to it's "roughness" that allows it to hold sauces.  Bigoli has a peculiar and time consuming method of preparation.  The traditional pasta press is a hand operated die press, with two handles that screw down, compressing the dough through the holes at the bottom (this is attached to a small bench).  The cylinder is loaded with dough and screwed down, the pasta comes out the bottom giving you roughly one portion per cylinder.
There are different recipe variations of bigoli that are obtained by varying the type of flour used.  Saracen flour is black and is used to make darker (brown) bigoli.  Some recipes also call for duck eggs to be used instead of water.
There are so many traditional sauces with bigoli, however, the most common is from the mountainous areas of Veneto, "Bigoli All'Anatra" - bigoli with duck sauce.  Other common recipes are: Bigoli al Baccala - from Vicenza; or Bigoli con Sardele - from Venice.

Every year, on the last week of April, the so-called "party of the bigoi Torcio" is held in Limena (Padova province).  Every Saturday and Sunday in May is "The Feast of Bigoli in Rovolon" (also in Padova) in the vicinity of Carbonara.  There is another festival held in May on the third weekend, also held in Abano Terme in Monterosso.

Bigoli dough recipe

Bigoli dough

Bigoli for four people:
400g (3cups) of flour ("00" or cake flour)
3 eggs (you can also use duck eggs, however their eggs a slightly bigger and modifies the recipe)
Water (small amount, appx 2-Tbsp)
Salt - 1 Tsp


In a bowl mix the flour and eggs with a fork until it has formed clumps in the flour.  Switch to using your hand(s) and mix rigorously.  When the dough has become one large ball, move to tabletop (preferably a wood surface) and continue to work and mix the dough with your hands just like any other pasta dough.  Bigoli is traditionally made using a torchio, make sure you load your pasta with it floured into the cylinder.  Begin to twist and cut twice for one cylinder load of dough.  flour liberally and ensure the pasta is not sticking while coming out. 









Duck Sauce 


Servings 4

500g Bigoli 
400 duck meat minced
1 tbsp butter
2tbsp Olive oil
1 cup  broth
onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 carrot
1 cup oz red wine
4 tbs of heavy cream 
thyme to taste
marjoram to taste
1 bay leaf
Grana Padano to taste
parsley to taste

    In a pan containing some butter, brown the onions, garlic and carrot, add the duck meat. Mix thoroughly.
    Pour the red wine over the mixture, allow to evaporate, and then salt to taste.
    Add the herbs, the bay leaves and finally the cream. In the meantime, cook the pasta in abundant boiling and salted water.
    When the pasta is cooked, when it is still “al dente”, drain it, put it in the pan with the sauce and toss it. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with grated Parmesan, finely chopped parsley and arrange on the serving dish.

    Bigoli alla Montanara

    1lb Italian sausages (in Italy, Salsiccia sfusa that means 'Regular Sausage')
    1 chopped onion
    4 cloves of garlic
    1 cup  Swiss chard chopped on big pieces or Radicchio di Treviso.
    1/2 cup walnuts
    1 cup red wine
    1 cup tomato pure
    1 tbsp oregano
    Olive oil
    Salt & Pepper
    500 grams Bigoli, Tagliatelli, Pappardelle or any long pasta that is not Spaghetti! 
    Smoked ricotta

    Start with a good pouring of olive oil on the pan, fry the onions and garlic. Add the sausages, when the sausages are brown add the wine and let reduce in half. Add the tomato sauce and oregano and let cook for 10 minutes. Turn of the fire and add the greens. 
    Sauté the pasta with the sauce and add walnuts and smoked ricotta to serve.

    Baked Zuchinni flowers

    10 zuchini flowers
    1 eggplant
    1/4 cup Parmiggiano Raggiano
    1 cup ricotta
    10 leaves of fresh basil
    10 Kalamata olives
    Olive Oil
    Salt & Pepper

    Cut the blossom lengthwise then gently open it up and remove the pistil. The flower is very delicate, so take care not to break it.
    Cut the eggplant in small cubes and sauté with olive oil and a little bit of balsamic vinegar.
    Mix all the ingredients together to create the flower stuffing. Stuff the flowers and drizzle some olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes in 350F or 180C.

    11.02.2016

    Sugestion for Fall classes

    Menu Suggestion for fall classes
    All the classes includes wine as coffee

    Classic meal
    -Focaccia with rosemary
    -Fresh pasta with sauce (Bolognese, Carbonara, Amatriciana, Putanesca, Pesto Genovese)
    -Baked chicken with vegetables, olives and sausages
    -Tiramisu

    Menu del Castello
    -Pesto bread filled with asiago cheese and walnuts
    -The best bruschetta will you ever had!
    -Bigoli with duck sauce
    -Apple strudel served with gelato or poached pears with red wine served with gelato

    Lasagna class
    -Salad with pears, walnuts, truffle oil and cheese
    -Traditional lasagna with homemade spinach pasta
    -Pannacotta with berries
    -Homemade limoncello (you will bring home what we prepare)

    The tower menu
    -Sage bread
    -Lentil soup with chestnuts
    -Ravioli filled with pears, served in cheese and walnuts sauce
    -Amaretti and chocolate mousse

    Menu Zucca
    -Zucca Focaccia
    -Zucca Ravioli with butter and sage
    -Zucca Cappellacci with Sausage ragu
    -Zucca Tiramisu

    Sicilian menu
    -Deep fried calzone with ham, cheese, oregano, olives and tomato sauce
    -Arancini (risotto balls made with saffron, filled with meat and cheese deep fried)
    -Cannoli

    Menu del Sud
    -Garlic, cheese and oregano grissini
    -Deep fried Pizza
    -Pizza
    -Homemade Amaretti and chocolate Semifreddo (the grandma of gelato)

    Fall in Europe
    -Homemade grissini with Parmiggiano cheese and walnuts
    -Zucca ravioli with butter and sage or sausage ragu
    -Pork fillet mignon served with mushroom sauce and healthy veggi mash
    -Tarte Tatin (French Apple pie)

    Brazilian fall
    -Empanadas with cheese, meat and sqash
    -Coconut shrimp served inside a pumpkin (Cooked with cilantro, ginger, lime, tomato, peppers, coconut milk)
    -Rice
    -Fried Cassava
    -Brazilian carrot cake with chocolate served with vanilla ice cream or Lime dessert

    East European
    -Poppy seeds bread
    -Slovakian soup (Kapustnica)
    -Homemade pierogi (Polish Style)
    -Cheese Blintz 


    Greek Party
    -Spanakopita
    -Skordalia with shrimps
    -Stifado with potatoes
    -Loukomades

    10.03.2016

    Touring Italy with Lucas

     Touring Italy with Lucas

    10 days of traveling in beautiful cities, drinking good wine and eating good food.

    1st day:
    We will meet in Vicenza, a beautiful medium size city out of the tourist track. We will arrange for you a nice hotel with a accomodation so you can rest of your long trip from United States.

    In order to help you to get adjusted on the Italian time zone we will go for a bar hopping. We will visit one of the best coffee shops of Italy and three different bars around downtown and in each bar we will drink a local wine and talk about it like on a wine tasting.

    After the bar hopping we go for a dinner where we will get to know eachother.

    2nd day:
    The second day you are maybe still jet lagged, but don't worry. We will take it easy. We will go to a Small family owned Frantoio (Olive oil Farm)- On the Frantoio you will learn how Olive oil is made and ba able to taste different kinds of Olive oil and products made with Olive oil. After the olive oil tour we will go to have lunch on a small family run Osteria and then for 'dessert' we will move towards Valpolicella where we will go to two wineries and taste one of the best wines prodeced in the world, Valpolicella, Valpolicella Ripasso and Amarone.
    For this night we will go all for a goumet pizza on a beautiful restaurant downtown Vicenza.

    3rd day:
    After our breakfast we will take a train to the city that is on my opinion the most beautifull city in this world, Venice.
    Arriving in Venice I will take you to a workers class bar where you can have the real feel of Venitians and taste the working class wine.
    After the wine we will visit the Jewish Ghetto and move towards the Saint Mark Square.
    We will walk around downtown and have luch on a very good restaurant. On the afternoon we will go for a cicchetti on a very cool little bar where just locals know about it.
    On this day we will walk a lot. In Venice pretty much everything is by foot or boat, so prepare yourself with comfortable shoes.

    4th day:
    After an intensive day of walking around Venice this day will Sparkle your trip. We will do the prosecco road and visit the beautiful hills of Valdobiadene. 

    5th day:
    Very early we will say bye to Vicenza and board on a nice comfortable bus to the food heaven. On this day we will visit the Parmigiano cheese factory, Parma ham factory, a small producer of Balsamic vinegar and we will finish our trip in Bologna where we will stay on a nice hotel downtown.

    6th day:
    We will be waking up on the food capital of Italy. On this day Lucas will bring you to a food tour around Bologna. We will walk around downtown, visit a historical stock market, the oldest college of the world and visit the oldest bar of Italy and taste a delicious Lambrusco with local ham cuts and cheeses then we will go to Lucas favorite restaurant and have a real lasagne Bolognese with a very good of San Giovese wine. On the afternoon we will taste one of the best gelatos of Italy as well, another historical place. Bologna is a very interesting city and is completely out of the tourist beaten path. At the night for the people that are still hungry we will go to a rustic and traditional osteria where they just have three things on the menu and one is the Tagliatelle alla Bolognese.

    7th day:
    After breakfast we will move towards the train station to catch the most modern and fastest train in Europe, Italo. Our ride to Florence will be just 37 minutes and we will be on the first class drinking prosecco. The trip is so short that we might have just enough time for one glass.
    Arriving in Florence we will check in on a nice hotel right in front of Duomo. Your windows will likely have a view to one of the most prettiest churches in Italy. After checking in we will go again for a tour around the city and have lunch on a whole in the wall where they make simple but delicious food. We will walk around the city and taste a typical wine from Tuscany with cantucci. Vin santo.

    8th day:


    9.09.2016

    Nutella Cookies

    180g Nutella
    150g 00 flour (cake flour)
    1 egg
    2 tbsp bitter chocolate powder
    150g Nutella for the filling

    1. Mix the egg, flour, chocolate and Nutella in a bowl. Start mixing with a spoon.

    2. Then mix with your hands until is soft. Put inside the fridge for about 30 minutes.

    3. Make little balls and make a little hole in the middle using a wood spoon for example.

    4. Bake in the convection oven in 180C for about 8-10 minutes.

    5. Take out of the oven and let it cool down. Add as well the nutella on the hole. And that's it! Very simple!

    Grissini al Parmigiano

    1 cup warm water
    1 yeast cube
    1 tbsp sugar
    1 tbsp salt
    1 1/2 cup semolina
    1 1/2 cup 00 flour
    1/4 cup melted butter
    1 cup parmigiano
    1 tbsp chopped rosemary

    In a bowl mix the yeast and sugar. The yeast and sugar will become liquid. Add water and mix. Add the flour, semolina, salt and rosemary. Mix with spoon. Add the butter in your hands and mix with your hands this time, add cheese. If is too stick add a little more semolina or flour. Let raise for about 45 minutes in a bowl. Make little snakes, and add cheese and olive oil around them. Bake for about 20 min in 180C or 450F. Spinkle more cheese on the top if you would like.

    6.01.2016

    Strawberry Limoncello Tiramisu


    3 eggs
    1/2 cup of sugar
    1/2 pound of Mascarpone or Philadelphia cream cheese
    1/2 cup heavy cream
    1/4 cup of Limoncello
    1 package Lady fingers cookies
    500g Strawberries



    1. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale, about 5 minutes.

    2. Add mascarpone cheese and fold until smooth into the eggs cream.
    In a separate bowl, whisk the white eggs until peaks and in another bowl whisk the heavy cream until peaks.

    3. Mix the eggwhites, whipping cream and the mascarpone cream creating the Tiramisu mix.
    In a small shallow dish, add Limoncello with water. Half limoncello and half water.

    4. Dip each ladyfinger into limoncello for only 3 seconds. Letting the ladyfingers soak too long will cause them to fall apart. 

    5. Arrange half of soaked ladyfingers in bottom of a 7x11 inch dish.

    6. Spread half of tiramisu cream mixture over ladyfingers, then half of the tiramisu cream Repeat layers and add chopped strawberries. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours, until set. Serve with strawberries on top! 



    Paella











    Patatas Bravas with Chorizo

    INGREDIENTS:

    • 500g baby/new potatoes
    • Olive oil
    • 400g of chopped tomatoes from the can or without skin and seeds
    • 4 tbsps balsamic vinegar
    • 1-2 tsps smoked paprika
    • 1-2 tsps brown sugar
    • 150g chorizo ring
    • A Hand of Parsley
    For the aïoli:
    • 3 garlic cloves
    • 2 egg yolks
    • 1 tsps dijon mustard
    • 275ml olive oil
    • ¼ lemon (optional)

      METHOD

      Step 1: Preheat oven to 220˚C/fan 200˚C/425˚F/gas mark 7. Season potatoes with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil. Roast for 20 minutes.
      Step 2: Pour the chopped tomatoes into a pan over a medium heat. Add the vinegar, paprika and sugar to taste, a drizzle of oil, and salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes.
      Step 3: Peel garlic cloves for the aïoli, blitz in a food processor with egg yolks and mustard. Keeping the processor running, slowly add half the oil then add the rest in a steady drizzle. Add a squeeze of lemon juice, if using.
      Step 4: Peel and chop chorizo into chunky pieces and stir into the tomato sauce. Cook for five minutes then pour over the hot potatoes and top with aïoli, tear over parsley leaves and serve.

    5.30.2016

    Parma ham, creammy and nutty sauce

    200g Parma ham cutted in stripes
    1 cup white wine
    1 cup heavy cream
    Olive oil
    Salt & Pepper
    Crushed walnuts

    In a big frying pan, add some olive oil and the parma ham. Let the ham to get brown. When the ham starts to stick on the pan, add the white wine. The wine is acidic and will 'clean' the pan for you, this process makes the sauce very tasty! Let the wine evaporate for 5 minutes. Add the cream and cook for another minute. Add the walnuts, salt & pepper. IF you like the taste, you can also add a little bit of nutmeg!

    5.18.2016

    Cooking classes in Bassano

    Cooking classes close to Bassano!

    Cooking Classes BASSANO!

      A chance for you and your friends to get together and create a private cooking class.  You reserve the day, decide the menu, and together you discover new recipes or how to make your favorite dish.  For information on how to book a class, send en email to lucas@cookingwithlucas.com
     
    The classes are hands on, includes wine, ingredients for the menu, and finished with Italian coffee, all while having a lot of fun!
     
    All the recipes will be available on the website for free for everyone that wants to replicate the recipes wherever you are in the world!

    The class is located in Vicenza just 30 min from Bassano.

    Vicenza is also a great city to visit if you are staying in Bassano.

    Cooking classes in Verona

    Cooking classes close to Verona!

    Cooking Classes Verona!!!

      A chance for you and your friends to get together and create a private cooking class.  You reserve the day, decide the menu, and together you discover new recipes or how to make your favorite dish.  For information on how to book a class, send en email to lucas@cookingwithlucas.com
     
    The classes are hands on, includes wine, ingredients for the menu, and finished with Italian coffee, all while having a lot of fun!
     
    All the recipes will be available on the website for free for everyone that wants to replicate the recipes wherever you are in the world!

    The class is located in Vicenza just 30 min from Venice and 30 min from Verona.

    Vicenza is also a great city to visit if you are staying in Verona.
    From Verona is easy access by train or car...! :)

    5.17.2016

    Amaretto and chocolate mousse


  • 200 g good-quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) , broken into small pieces
  • salt
  • 4 eggs
  • 50 g sugar
  • 150 ml double cream
  • Amaretto
  • 2 tablespoons good-quality cocoa powder , plus extra for dusting
  • Amaretti cookies


  • Place the dark chocolate and a tiny pinch of salt in a heatproof bowl and sit it over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water doesn’t touch the base of the bowl. Leave to slowly melt, stirring occasionally. 

    Meanwhile, separate your eggs so you have the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Add the sugar to the bowl of yolks and beat until the sugar has dissolved and its silky and smooth. Whisk the whites with a pinch of salt until they form soft peaks, beat the cream until slightly thick and just whipped. 

    Once the chocolate has melted, carefully lift the bowl out of the pan. Add 75ml (3 shots) of amaretto and the cocoa powder to your bowl of yolks and mix well. Add the cream and mix again, then fold through the melted chocolate until it’s well combined. Finish by folding in the egg whites, then keep folding, from the outside in in a figure-of-eight until the mix is smooth and evenly coloured. Spoon or ladle the mousse into a big serving bowl or divide between little glasses or cappuccino cups and put in the fridge for an hour or two until set.

    Just before you’re ready to serve, crack few amaretti cookies and serve on the top. You can also use strawberries, any berries, whipped cream and mint to garnish.