Risotto with Castelmagno Cheese

Castelmagno cheese is a cheese that comes from a small village called Castelmagno that is located in Piedmont in north part of Italy. Castelmagno cheese is a traditional cheese from cow but it can contain also milk from sheep or goat. This Italian food is often used in Piedmont for the preparation of gnocchi of potatoes with melted Castelmagno cheese on the top. It is a delicious Italian food that you can eat alone or with honey or jam. Here I decided to prepare a delicious risotto with Castelmagno cheese to be served with golden potatoes and walnuts. The preparation is simple a little bit more long because you have to boil the potatoes that if you cut in small cubes it will be faster. Castelmagno cheese is used in this recipe at the end when the rice is ready. You have just to add Castelmagno cheese to the rice, mix well and leave on the flame 1-2 minutes more, so that the rice takes the flavor of the cheese.

INGREDIENTS FOR BROTH:
1 Carrot
1 Potato
1 Onion
1 Celery
INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320 g or 2 cup of Rice
100 g or 1 cup of Castelmagno cheese
50 g or half a cup of Walnuts
3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Half white onion
2 Potatoes
Hot pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 40 minutes

WINE: Nebbiolo d'Alba (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start preparing the vegetable broth, clean and peel the carrot, the potato, the onion, and the celery, cut them in big pieces and place them in a potful, add half a liter of water and a bit of coarse salt and let it boil for about 30-40 minutes.



If you don't have a lot of time the best thing to do in order to have the same result is to use the pressure cooker, with which you will need only 10-15 minutes.



While the broth is cooking prepare the potatoes. Clean and peel the potatoes, cut them in cubes and let them boil until they are cooked. You can check the cooking of the potatoes with a fork; if the fork enters in the potatoes they are ready.



When the vegetable broth and the potatoes are almost ready preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a casserole, chop the onion, add them to the oil and let it brown.



Then add the rice, let it toast for 2 minutes, add the white wine and let it evaporate. Now you can start adding time by time the vegetable broth and cook the rice for about 16-18 minutes stirring continuously, paying attention not to cook it too much, the rice should be firm at the end of the cooking.



In the meantime continue with the cooking of the potatoes. After draining the potatoes, preheat a pan, add in it the potatoes, sprinkle with a little bit of hot pepper and let them roast until they become golden.



Grate the Castelmagno cheese in big pieces as shown in the picture below.



When the rice is almost ready add the Castelmagno cheese and mix in order to let the Castelmagno melt.



When everything is well mix serve the risotto with the Castelmagno cheese and place on the top a bit of potatoes and the walnuts.



BUON APPETITO!

Fritters of Potatoes with Gorgonzola and Pears

In this Italian recipe the spicy taste of the Italian cheese Gorgonzola and the sweet taste of the pears and potatoes are joined in order to obtain a delicious second course. In addition what I like of this recipe is the match of the crunch consistency of the potatoes fritters with that soft of the Gorgonzola and the pears. To prepare this dish use yellow potatoes, Gorgonzola of medium ages, that is a blue veined Italian cheese, and the type of pears called Abate, that are sweet and.

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
4 Potatoes
120 g of Gorgonzola (Italian cheese)
2 Pears
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
20 g of Butter

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 minutes

WINE: Colli Morenici Mantovani del Garda bianco Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the extra virgin olive oil and the butter in a small pan. Clean and peel the potatoes, cut them as thin matches.

Fry a small quantity of them as shown in the picture and try to form a sort of fritter of potatoes.

Proceed in this way until you obtain other 7 fritters of potatoes. Then clean, peel the pears divide them in half and place them in a pan with some rosemary, cook them for about 5 minutes in order to let them golden.

When the fritters are ready prepare the dish.
Place 1 fritters on the dish, put over it 30 g of the Italian cheese Gorgonzola,

cover with another fritters.

Place over the pears and the rosemary and serve.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Veal Roast with Aromatic Herbs and Potatoes

This is the delicious Italian second course that I prepare in the occasion of my birthday. It is simple and fast to cook. What I prefer of this dish is the spicy taste of rosemary and sage, and the crunch consistency of potatoes. It is important that the potatoes have a small dimension in order to cook them well.

INGREDIENTS (for 8 people):
1 kg of roast of Veal (piece called Pesce)
2 Branches of sage
2 Branches of rosemary
1 Kg of small Potatoes
5 Tablespoons of Extra virgin olive oil
Water
1 Glass of White wine
Salt
Pepper


PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 2 hours

WINE: Colli Bolognesi Sauvignon Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven at 200°C. Place in a baking pan the extra virgin olive oil, the roast of veal. Sprinkle bought the side of the roast with salt and pepper; add the sage, the rosemary, some water and bake.

Let the bought side of the roast brown then add the wine and re-bake.


Clean and peel the potatoes after 1 hour add them to the roast and if necessary add some other water. Cook more or less for another hour.


Serve hot:
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Croquettes of Potatoes

Croquettes of potatoes are a good second course. They are prepared with potatoes, Parmesan and mozzarella (Italian Cheese). One difficulty in the preparation of them is to not break them when they fry.T he presence of thready mozzarella in the middle of croquettes gives them a very tasty flavour. Try it!





INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
6 Medium Potatoes
2 Eggs
125 g of Mozzarella (Italian cheese)
100 g of Parmesan
Salt
Pepper
Extra virgin olive oil to fry

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Melissa Rosso Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Boil the potatoes,

peel them and squash them with the potatoes masher.

Let them cool then add in it the eggs, the Parmesan, salt and pepper and mix all together.

Cut the mozzarella in small pieces.

Shape the mixture in croquettes and put in the middle of them one piece of mozzarella for each one, close them.

Dip croquettes in egg white

then roll gently in breadcrumbs to coat.

Preheat the oil in a pan and fry in it the croquettes paying attention to not break them.

When they become golden place them on a kitchen paper in order to remove the oil in excess.
Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Savoy Cabbage with Potatoes

This is a typical Italian recipe from Marches. It is made of potatoes and Savoy cabbage with the addition of rosemary. The rosemary gives a particular and good taste to this delicious recipe that can be served as a side dish or as a vegetarian secound course.








INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
6 Small potatoes or 3 medium potatoes
800 g Savoy cabbage
2 Cloves of garlic
Rosemary
4 Slices of bread
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt

PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes

COOKING TIME: 55 minutes

WINE: Bianco dei Colli Maceratesi (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Peel the potatoes and boil them for about 15 minutes.

In the mean time wash and clean the Savoy cabbage and cut it into strips. Then boil them for about 20 – 25 minutes.

When the potatoes are ready mash them.

Clean the garlic and place it in a pan with the extra virgin olive oil until it becomes golden.

Now add the Savoy cabbage and the mashed potatoes. Mix all together, sprinkle with salt and rosemary and let it flavour for about 5 – 10 minutes.

Place in a dish 4 slices of bread,

put on it the Savoy cabbage with potatoes and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!

Sea Basses in Foil with Potatoes

This is the typical second course that my family prepare for the Christmas Eve. The recipe presented below is very simple and fast to prepare and good to eat. You can prepare this dish with sea bass or if you prefer with black sea bass and you can serve them with potatoes as presented in this recipe or also with brocolli.


INGREDIENTS (for 10 people)
10 Sea basses
400 ml of extra virgin olive oil
200 g of Parsley
3 clove of Garlic
50 Small potatoes
50 g of Provolone (Italian cheese)
Salt
Pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 30 - 40 minutes

WINE: Greco di Tufo (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Clean the sea basses, remove the scales and cut the tails.
Chop parsley and onion. In a dish put the extra virgin olive oil, add the chopped parsley and onion and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the sea basses over a sheet of foil paper, then with the help of a tablespoon pour the mixture inside and over the sea basses.


Close the fish in the sheet of foil paper and continue in this way for all the sea basses. When they are ready place them in a baking tin and bake for about 30 – 40 minutes.


In the mean time you can prepare the potatoes. Clean and peel the small potatoes, then cut them over the surface like a fan. Place them in a baking tin, sprinkle them with a drizzle of oil, salt and pepper. Bake for about 10 – 15 minutes.

Now cut the provolone into thin slices, when the 10 – 15 minutes are elapsed, remove the potatoes from the oven and place over the surface of each potato a thin slice of provolone.

Re-bake for other 10 minutes. When the sea basses and the potatoes are ready place them in a platter and serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!