Sunday, April 13, 2008

NODINI DI VITELLO




From the Lombardia cookbook I received for Christmas, last night I cooked these veal chops slowly with cubed pancetta, rosemary and white wine. It was my idea to add the capers.

Then, from the same book - and you can tell we are moving northwards in our cookery because of the use of butter in both recipes - I tried these stuffed courgettes. "How can you mix sweet and savoury ingredients?" cried a student the other day whilst we were discussing British breakfasts; yet Italian cookery contains many recipes in which this happens, such as the "sweet" ravioli of Sicily, Sicilian sweet & sour rabbit [though admittedly, this denotes only a little honey added to a sauce primarily consisting of vinegar] and even the addition of chocolate to some Sicilian meat dishes. In this recipe de-pulped courgettes are cut in half lengthwise and blanched, then stuffed with a mixture of the pulp, more chopped courgettes, crushed amaretti biscuits, pinenuts, raisins [which I can't get, so I used sultanas] brown sugar and breadcrumbs. Butter is dotted over before placing the courgettes in the oven. The recipe states that any "roast leftovers" [by which they mean any cooked meat that has not been fried] can be minced and added to the mixture, so I minced up the meat from another of the cooked chops.

It all turned out much better than I expected!

13 comments:

Gledwood said...

roast leftovers... we had yummy roast lamb today... yeah!!

Unknown said...

Looks and sounds wonderful! What am I doing sitting here eating a granola bar!

CherryPie said...

Now it is nearly my bed time and you are making me feel hungry again... No wonder I can't shed a few pounds ;-)

jmb said...

Most delicious looking indeed. They don't do sweet and sour officially do they, but Italy is the first place I ate strawberries with fresh ground pepper. Is that not a contrast?

Nunyaa said...

I should of sent over a doggy bag and got you to save me some, looks delicious :-)

Unknown said...

must have been a lamb day, we had lovely roast lamb last night, always fills the house with delivious smells, but no leftovers alas!

that courgette recipe sounds divine, i love mixing sweet and savoury ingredients xo

Eurodog said...

WL,
I have just spent a few days in Lombardia ( see my blog ) and the food was excellent. The wine too although a bit too fizzy for me.
Am hunting high and low for a recipe for balsamic vinegar sauce to serve with sliced filet steak. Any suggestions?

Claire said...

Yum! Just about to have my lunch consisting of crispbread and peanut butter what can I say?!

Whispering Walls said...

Not sure about the sweet and sour Easter bunnies

Rowena said...

You know, with your oft-mentioned use of capers I took it into my head to add a few of the salted ones to my roast chicken with lemon just now. I simply slipped a few of them between the skin and breast, like how they do with sage, rosemary or other herbs. Let me tell you, it smells WONDERFUL in the kitchen. I think you may have inadvertently started a trend...at least with this food blogger!

Gledwood said...

strawberries and pepper sounds interesting!!

Ellee Seymour said...

I'm not a veal fan, but I'm sure it tastes good. I'm watching Delia on tv here at the moment, her quick fix cooking recipes. I wonder what the Italians would make of it.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, Gleds. That sounds good! Hello, Nick and thank you. Sorry, cherrypie! Strange that, isn't it, jmb? They don't like to admit they do it, but they do! Will send some next time, nunyaa! I can smell your delicios lamb from here, Kyles. GLad you like the courgette idea. Hi, eurodog and welcome back. I will have a think and let you know. Ciao, kissa! WW, no, those would be a bit much! Hi, Rowena. Well, you have made my day - me, starting a food trend?!! That sounds a wonderful idea with chicken and I am going to try it. Thank you. Hi, Gleds. Yes, it is and I assure you it works! Ciao, Ellee. Not a lot, probably, as they do so love their "slow food" - and I am with them on this!

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