Bread & Egg Soup (Bred &Eg Sup)

Bread and egg soup (a.k.a. Zuppa alla Pavese)
Preparation time: 10 minsCooking: 2 mins
Difficulty: Easy

Zuppa alla Pavese is a soup made with stock, bread and eggs. Despite the simplicity of the Ingredients, this soup is regarded as a real delicacy and I totally agree with this opinion. The recipe comes from Pavia, a city not far from Milan, and it seems that it was invented by a farmer during the time of the “la battaglia di Pavia” in 1525 (the battle of Pavia). The legend says that the king of France, Francis I, lost the battle against the emperor Charles V, and tired and wounded found refuge in a farm where he was served with this soup. Whether the legend is true or false, it doesn’t matter; certainly the recipe is very old and probably traces back to a few centuries ago, when wars and plagues made the food scarce and people were forced to cook with what they had. It’s a very nourishing soup that I usually prepare for lunch during cold weather.
SERVES ONE PERSON
Ingredients:

• 2 Eggs
  


• 1 Large slice of bread
  


• 1 Beef stock cube (to be dissolved in ¾ pint of boiling water)
  


• Enough Parmesan cheese (grated) for a generous sprinkle
  


• A generous knob of butter
  


• An oven proof dish to contain the soup
  

Note 1: the Ingredients in the list are for one person, but if you have guests, always consider 2 eggs and 1 slice of bread per person. About the stock, I had all the ¾ pint for myself so, in case of guests, prepare more stock.
Note 2: eggs must be absolutely fresh and I would not use anything that is not organic.
Note 3: in the past, stale bread was used for this recipe. Use whatever bread you want but a home made loaf of countryside bread is the best bet!

Directions:

Before we start, put your oven proof dish in the oven because we need it hot for a later stage (you can set the oven to the minimum, but I recommend the use of oven gloves when it is time to take the dish out of the oven). Next, cut a slice of bread.

Remove the hard crust and cut the big slice in two parts.

Prepare the stock, dissolving the stock cube in ¾ pint of boiling water.

Now, take a shallow pan (a frying pan will do the job) and melt the butter.

Fry the bread until both the sides are golden brown.

This is the kind of colour we have to achieve.

Once the bread is ready, take the oven proof dish out of the oven.

Put the bread inside the dish, pressing it down so that it stays on the bottom of the dish.

Break the eggs over the bread.

Now, a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

The dish is ready for the adding of the stock. The stock must be boiling hot (not simmering) so raise the heat before adding it into the dish.

We add the stock to cover. The heat of the stock will partially cook the eggs. You can cover the dish with a plate and leave the dish alone for one minute or two, then you can serve the dish.

With this soup the eggs will never be thoroughly cooked, but this is it and I cannot change the tradition. However, if you are serving the soup to children or old people, you may consider poaching the eggs before laying them onto the bread; then you add the stock. Alternatively, before adding the stock, you can pass the dish under a grill, in order to cook the eggs, but you need to be careful not to burn the bread. Try it and find the solution that best suits you.
Feel free to add some ground black pepper if you wish.
Buon appetito

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Mussels &Potatoes (Musels & Potatos)

Mussels and potatoes (a.k.a. Uncle Vittorio's mussels & potato bake - Cozze e patate)

Preparation: 30 minutes (this includes the steaming of the potatoes)

Cooking: 20 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Uncle Vittorio in action - Italy (July 2008)

This is another example of how to match seafood with potatoes. It is a simple and delicious dish and also very cheap to make; fortunately mussels are not expensive - not yet! and potatoes are probably the cheapest Ingredients you can buy in a veg shop. This recipe is from the South East of Italy and has been passed to me by my uncle Vittorio (he is from Puglia region of Italy), an excellent cook who I regard as my mentor. When I was a little boy I spent lots of time with him in the kitchen and many of the recipes you can see in this website come from his day to day home cooking repertoire.
SERVES 4-6 PEOPLE

Ingredients:

• 1 Kg (2.2 lb) Fresh mussels
  
• 1 Kg (2.2 lb) Potatoes
  
• 4 Eggs
  
• 60 g (2 ½ oz) Parmesan or Pecorino cheese (grated)
  
• A small bunch on flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)
  
• 1 Fish stock cube
  
• 2 Cloves of garlic
  
• Extra virgin olive oil
  
• Salt and black pepper for seasoning
  
  

Directions:

Take a deep pan that is suitable for use in the oven and spread some olive oil in the bottom. Alternatively you can use a roasting tin, but it is important the tin has a lid (later, you will see why having a lid is important).

Slice all the potatoes, making slices 2- 3 mm thick.

Form the first layer in the bottom of the pan, by laying the potato slices.

Once the first layer is completed, drizzle with some olive oil.

Then, sprinkle with black pepper. Now, make a second layer and repeat the oil and black pepper stages. If you have enough potato slices, make a third layer, as I did for this recipe. If you are using a larger roasting tin you may get a couple of layers only, which is fine anyway.

This picture shows my third and final layer. As you can see, I am not adding any salt, but just black pepper. The reason why I am not adding salt is because the fish stock I am going to add at the next stage will be salty enough to season the potatoes.

Prepare some fish stock. Dissolve one fish stock cube in 450 ml (¾ pt) of boiling water.

Now, put the pan on low heat and add a couple of ladles of fish stock.

Next, cover with a lid and steam the potatoes for about 15-20. Here, we want the potatoes “nearly” cooked because after, at a later stage, they will complete the cooking in the oven.

If you think that after 15 minutes the inside of the pan is to watery, you can remove part of the liquid with a spoon or you can complete the 20 minutes taking away the lid, to dry it a bit.

Meanwhile, chop the parsley.

Break the eggs into a small bowl and stir with a fork.

Add the parsley.

Stir.

Add the Parmesan cheese, while you are stirring.

Check that the batter is not too runny but at the same time not too firm.

Season the batter with black pepper.

Season the batter with salt, but not too much because the Parmesan cheese is already salty. Set the batter aside.

Put some olive oil into a large pan that can contain all the mussels. Heat the oil on high heat and then add the garlic (sliced).

After a minute or two add the mussels into the pan.

Give a quick stir using a big metal spoon, so that all the mussels are coated with the garlic flavoured oil.

Cover with a lid and leave it for 3-4 minutes. Here, we don’t want to overcook the mussels because later they have to go in the oven, we just need to open them using the heat.

This picture shows the mussels that have opened. If you want to know more about this technique check the following links:Fish preparation or the recipe Gratin of mussels because it is paramount that you know how to deal with mussels.

For each mussel, get rid of the empty half-shell and lay the other half with the good stuff attached onto a large tray.

Meanwhile, the potatoes are ready, they are now steamed and have also absorbed most of the stock. We can now proceed with the next stage.

Using a spoon, tip some of the batter inside the half-shell containing the mollusc.

Cover the surface of the top potato layer with the half-shells as shown in the picture. When you are doing this job, pre-heat the oven to 200°C (gas mark 6).

For this recipe I have used only half of the mussels available because I have used a small diameter pan, however if you are going to use a large rectangular roasting tin, I am quite sure that you will need all the mussels available (1 kg). Next, put the pan into the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes, uncovered.

This is the final result after 20 minutes cooking.

This is a closer view so that you can have a better idea of what it should look like.

Then, it is just a matter of serving it in the fashion you like and don’t forget a glass of chilled white wine.
Buon appetito!

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Crab Soup (Craab Sup)

INGREDIENTS

• Sweet corn 50 gms
  


• Ginger 2 tbsp
  


• Cloves of garlic 8
  


• Black pepper powder 1/2 tsp
  


• Lemon juice 1 tsp
  


• Carrot 1
  


• Salt 1 tsp
  


• Crabmeat 250 gms
  


• Corn-flour 3 tbsp
  


• Crab stock 4 cups
  


• Beaten eggs 2
  


• Oil 2 tbsp
  

COOKING DIRECTIONS

1. Dice the carrot into small pieces.
   


2. Fry crushed ginger and garlic in oil.
   


3. Add carrot, crabmeat, lemon juice, black pepper powder and salt.
   


4. Then add prepared stock and sweet corn into it and boil.
   


5. Mix the corn-flour in half cup of water and add to the boiling soup.
   


6. Add the beaten egg, stirring continuously.
   


7. Bring to a boil and remove from fire.
   

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Fish In Sweet &Sour Sauce (Fissh in Swet &Sor Sace)

INGREDIENTS

Fish 1/2 kg


A:


A dash of salt
A dash of ginger powder
A dash of black pepper powder


B:


Egg 1
Maida (all purpose flour) 3 tbsp
Corn flour 3 tbsp
Water 3 tsp


C:


Tomato ketchup 3 tbsp
Vinegar white 3 tbsp
Sugar 3 tbsp
Corn flour 1 tbsp
Water 2/3 cup


For dressing:

Green peppers 2 or 3
Oil (for frying) 4 cups

COOKING DIRECTIONS

• Cut fish meat into serving pieces 2/3 inch by 2 inches.
  


• Sprinkle with (a) Mix (b) well.
  


• Dip this fish in (b) mixture.
  


• Heat oil in a frying pan, deep fry over medium heat until lightly browned.
  


• Remove from oil and drain.
  


• Place on serving plate.
  


• Fry capsicum stripes in same oil just for 1 minute.
  


• Drain, and put it on fish.
  


• Heat 1-tablespoon oil in another pan and cook the (c) mixture until boiling.
  


• Pour this sauce hot over the fish meat and green peppers.
  


• Serve hot with fried rice or boiled noodles.

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Chinese Chicken Manchurian (Chineese Chickkin Manchuurian)

INGREDIENTS

• Chicken 1/2 kg, boneless, cubed


• Onion 1 medium, ground


• Ginger/ garlic paste 1 tbsp


• Tomato sauce 1/2 cup


• Pineapple juice 1/2 cup


• Pineapple cubes 6


• White pepper 1 tsp


• powdered Sugar 1 tsp


• Corn flour 2 tbsp mixed with 4 tbsp water


• White flour/ chicken stock cube mix 1tbsp


• Soya sauce 2 tbsp


• White vinegar 2 tbsp


• Salt to taste


• Oil 2 tbsp
  

COOKING DIRECTIONS

1. Marinate chicken in white vinegar, Soya sauce, sugar, salt and a tbsp of corn flour for half an hour.


2. Grease lightly and heat a steel hot plate, easily available in market, or a heavy shallow pan on low heat.


3. Heat oil in a karahi, fry the ginger and garlic, add onions and fry till it changes color.


4. Pour in the tomato sauce and pineapple juice, sprinkle white pepper and stir to make a sauce.


5. Stir fry the chicken in a separate pan and add to the sauce, along with the corn flour, pineapple cubes and white flour/ chicken stock cube mix. Stir till the sauce thickens.


6. Serve in the heated hot plate or pan.
   

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