BACCALÀ MANTECATO, risotto

Baccalà Mantecato is a Northern Italian specialty and when I make it I poach the baccalà in milk.

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So what to do with the left over milk?

I made a risotto. I like to be creative in the kitchen and I need to add that this is an invented recipe. And it worked extremely well.

I had two jars of baccalà flavoured milk, far too much to make a risotto, so I reduced it to concentrate the flavour.

I used this antique gadget given to me a very long time ago by a friend. it is called a milk saver.  She used to find all sorts of treasures at the Stirling dump in the Adelaide Hills and this was one of them. It does work!

Just using the milk would not be enough to flavour the risotto. I wanted texture and more flavour and I had some of the Baccalà Mantecato left over in the fridge.

Ingredients: extra virgin olive oil,  carnaroli rice, spring onions, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, grated lemon peel, the milk used to poach the baccalà, the left over Baccalà Mantecato and roasted almonds to spread on top.

Method is nothing out of the ordinary when making risotto.

Check the taste of the milk to see if it is salty and you may not need to add any more seasoning.

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Saute the spring onion in the extra virgin olive oil, add the rice and coat it in the oil -at this stage you may like to add a little white wine and evaporate it.  Add thyme and bay leaves and gradually add the milk that you used to poach the fish in stages, just as you would add stock when making a risotto. If you do not have sufficient milk you may need to add a little water. Remember that rice is supposed to be presented “all’onda”, as Italian would say. “Onda” means wave….all’onda is wavy, therefore the  risotto should be moist, with waves on top and not solid.

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Add the parsley, grated lemon and the Mantecato last of all and stir through. The Mantecato will make the rice very creamy.

Sprinkle with roasted almonds when ready to serve.
There are several recipes for baccalà on the web and also for risotto.

BACCALÀ MANTECATO (Creamed salt cod, popular in the Veneto region and Trieste)

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BUDINO DI PANE, An Italian version of Bread And Butter Pudding

My partner loves bread and butter pudding. Most of the time he makes it with a good quality fruit loaf – sourdough with plenty of fruit.

I found two small ponettoni (plural) in my cupboard (90g each). These are uneaten presents from Christmas and need to be used up and were used for this pudding. The characteristic smell of panettone brings back many memories for me – as a child I used to dunk it into hot chocolate.

It is a simple recipe and pretty standard in the UK and Australia. Sometimes  he makes it with bread and he also adds a little vanilla and some good home made jam between the layers of bread.

 

INGREDIENTS
panettone, 180g cut into slices
butter, 50g spread on the panettone slices
milk, 1 litre (full cream)
eggs, 3
sugar, 2 tablespoons
PROCESSES
Preheat the oven to 160C
Grease a casserole dish with a little butter. Layer the slices of pannettone in the casserole dish.
Mix together the eggs, milk and sugar with a fork – use a jug.
Pour the liquid mixture evenly over the layers of panettone.
Bake for 30- 35 minutes until set.
Budino Di Pane

I inherited a recipe book called Millericette from my mother (A thousand recipes Aldo Garzanti editore, published 1965). I found a recipe for budino di pane – literally translated: pudding of bread.
INGREDIENTS and PROCESSES
Use 400g soft bread crumbs; soak in 1 litre of milk. After a couple of hours rub through a sieve, add 250g of sugar, 6 beaten eggs, 500g of sultanas and raisins, 1 cup full of orange peel chopped finely and 1 glass of rum.  Mix well.
Transfer contents to a well buttered mold or one lined with buttered paper. Bake in a moderate oven for 30 mins.
Serve with orange sauce.
Notice that there is no butter in the Italian recipe. ( I think that I would add 50- 75g.)
Orange sauce:

Use orange jam (sweet orange marmalade), press the jam through a sieve, add a couple of spoon fulls of boiled water and sugar, add gin or Grand Marnier and mix well.

Italians do like their alcohol in sweets!!