Hey guys, check out these amazing meals that I've created for you
inspired by the wonderful Nonna's of Italy.
My delicious dumplings with roasted red onions and crispy pancetta.
The perfect grub to cheer you up at the end of a chilly day.
I've made the batter. You can see it's oozy and thick.
Essentially it's a thick pancake batter
with some nutmeg through it.
So, I've got a very typical colander that you get in pretty much every house.
Get it cold.
I'm gonna put a big old splodge in here.
I've got water boiling, just push it through.
It's working!
Now for the sauce. We've got in the oven, some onions in their skin.
180 degrees Celsius for about an hour.
Thyme there has just given us a whole load of flavour.
Inside, what you'll get is the most amazing, sweet and jammy onion.
Season it with a little bit of salt.
And I'm amping up the comfort by using a handful of smoked pancetta.
Crisp it up then go in with the onions and rosemary.
This is gonna be good. Yeah this is gonna be good.
Finally stir in the dumplings,
add fresh parmesan and get stuck in.
What a flavour.
This is very, very, very exciting!
Hahaha!
I know.
That's up there in the sort of top 90%
of flavours in my life.
Onions, bacon, rosemary, so beautiful.
Fantastic. It's insanely
delicious!
My zingy tortiglioni, with sweet peas, smokey bacon and fragrant mint
is the perfect pasta.
Super quick and ridiculously tasty.
Let's get the pasta in the water.
So this is the guanciale.
It's very, very classic to Rome.
I'm gonna lose the skin and then I'm gonna dice it up. Straight in.
Then we've got these lovely little onions here.
We want them to be about the same size as the peas.
I'll take my nice big handful of peas.
They're all different sizes.
Pork and peas is an amazing combination.
Okay the pasta is about half cooked,
but these pea pods, you know normally these go in the bin.
Right, the sweetness that comes out is incredible
and then I've got mint
add the mint stalks in with the pea pods
and by the time that pasta's al dente, they've added in all their wonderful fragrance.
And to bring all those glorious flavours together,
tangy grated pecorino.
That my friends is a great little dish that you must try.
Genar!
Im here!
Got a little portion.
That guanciale come out so nice,
but with the sweet peas...
and the peas...
you know how long that took to cook?
No.
12 minutes.
Same length of time as the pasta.
The Romans are very, very good at cooking
and that cheese on top goes ever so well.
What do you reckon?
I just love it.
My hearty risotto with succulent sausages, fresh fennel, red wine and hazelnuts
will lift your spirits to the snow topped mountains.
Let's kick it off with the onion,
a big knob of butter. Get the onion into a high-sided pan.
I want to use fennel. When you put fennel and sausage together
it is like a marriage made in heaven.
Soften your veg slowly, give them 10 minutes minimum and add some fresh thyme.
I'm gonna get the sausage. I'm gonna just squeeze it out of the skin.
This is gonna taste like heaven.
So rice, look at the colour.
It's so beautiful, heat the rice through and once every grain is coated
in all that buttery flavour
add a good old glass of red wine.
Now, stock.
I'm using chicken stock
and the trick is to add it one glorious ladle at a time.
We're kind of massaging rice.
When the rice is perfectly cooked add the cheese.
Parmesan and rich alpine fontina.
Heat off.
Calm.
Oh yes,
look at it!
Red wine, sausage and onion and cheese risotto.
Come on, you know that makes sense!
I'm finishing it off with a dusting of pounded local hazelnuts.
Little bit of the fennel.
Hahaha!
Oh my lord!
Genar!
Are you hungry?
Yes. I'm starving.
It's so cozy, it is, it's a big flavour isn't it.
You done well, not bad, not bad... You're quite good!
Haha!