09/09/09 Duck Fillets with Figs
"The bowls have arrived. They take my breath away. So beautiful! Thank you so much for your above and beyond effort to make our wish come true." Marie and Richard F. (Phoenix, Arizona)
"Chi mangia solo crepa solo." (He who eats alone dies alone.) Welcome to another recipe edition from Angela's Organic Oregano Farm!
This week's Italian recipes:
-Onion and Milk Soup
-Duck Fillets with Figs
-Zuppa Inglese
Enjoy your recipes with health and happiness!
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Yours Truly,
Angela Reina
Recipe: Onion and Milk Soup
Onion and Milk Soup
Zuppa di Cipolle e Latte
Ingredients:
14 oz (400 grams) onions, sliced very thinly
1 and 3/4 pints (1 liter) whole milk
1 oz (25 grams) butter
Salt
Parmigiano cheese, freshly grated
Croutons (optional)
Directions:
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the onions, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, over a very low heat for about 30 minutes until very soft and lightly browned.
Bring the milk to just below simmering point in another saucepan.
Add the milk to the onions, season with salt, increase the heat to medium and cook for another 30 minutes, making sure that the soup does not boil over.
Ladle into a soup bowl and serve with grated Parmigiano cheese and croutons. Serves 4.
That's it!
Recipe: Duck Fillets with Figs
Duck Fillets with Figs
Filetti di Anatra ai Fichi
Ingredients:
1 small duck, with liver
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 oz (50 grams) butter, plus extra for greasing
8 fl oz (250 ml) red wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 and 1/2 lb (2.5 kg) fresh figs
1/2 white loaf, sliced and crusts removed
1 lemon
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 230°C (450°F) Gas Mark 8.
Set the liver aside.
Season the cavity of the duck with salt and pepper and truss with kitchen string.
Place the duck in a roasting tin, add the olive oil and 10 grams (1/4 oz) of the butter.
Roast the duck for 1 hour, then remove from the oven and lower the temperature to 200°C (400°F) Gas Mark 6.
Cut off the wings, breast and legs and break up the carcass with a meat mallet.
Stir the red wine into the roasting tin, add the carcass and cook in the oven for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven but do not switch it off.
Pass the cooking juices through a food mill into a saucepan and stir in the lemon juice.
Chop the liver and add to the sauce.
Cut the figs almost in half and open out slightly.
Grease another roasting tin with butter, add the figs and put a small piece of the remaining butter in each, then bake until lightly browned.
Remove the figs from the oven and season with salt and pepper.
Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan, add the slices of bread and cook until golden brown on both sides.
Carve the legs into slices and cut the breast into fillets.
Place the fried bread and duck in the middle of a warm serving dish arrange the figs around them and spoon the sauce over the duck. Serves 4.
That's it!
Recipe: Zuppa Inglese
Zuppa Inglese
Ingredients:
For the Confectioner's Custard:
4 egg yolks
3 and 1/2 oz (100 grams) caster or superfine sugar
1 oz (25 grams) plain flour
18 fl oz (500 ml) milk
A few drops of vanilla essence
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
For the Zuppa Inglese:
1 tablespoon cochineal
2 tablespoons rum
9 oz (250 grams) sponge cake, sliced
For the Decoration:
3 and 1/2 fl oz (100 ml) double cream
Mixed crystallized fruit
Chocolate chips or fresh berries
Directions:
Prepare the Confectioner's Custard:
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar in a pan until pale and fluffy.
Gradually stir in the flour until evenly mixed.
Bring the milk just to boiling point in another pan and add the vanilla or lemon rind, then remove from the heat.
Gradually add the hot milk to the egg yolk mixture then cook over a low heat, stirring constantly, for 3-4 minutes until thickened.
Pour the custard into a bowl and leave to cool, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming.
Prepare the Zuppa Inglese:
Reserve 8 fl oz (250 ml) of the confectioners custard.
Mix the cochineal with 1 tablespoon water in a shallow dish.
Mix the rum with 1 tablespoon water in another shallow dish.
Arrange a layer of sponge cake on the base of a broad glass dish, sprinkle with the cochineal mixture and pour on a layer of confectioner's custard.
Make another layer of sponge cake, sprinkle with the rum and pour on another layer of confectioner's custard.
Continue making alternating layers, ending with a layer of sponge cake.
Chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Remove the bowl from the refrigerator and leave to stand for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, stiffly whip the cream.
Spread the reserved confectioner's custard on top of the last layer of sponge cake.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle with the whipped cream and use to decorate the trifle, then add crystallized fruit and chocolate chips or fresh berries. Serves 6.
That's it!
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"My mouth is already watering… Last time, I was bringing some to party, but due to weather, it was rescheduled for a month later… I froze the cookies and took them out the day of the party. The cookies never made to dessert time… Everyone kept sneaking into the kitchen to steal them and by the time dinner was over…no more cookies! Thanks for making such a great product." Michele N. (Howell, New Jersey)
Only In Italy!
"Only In Italy" is a daily news column that translates and reports on funny but true news items from legitimate Italian news resources in Italy. Each story is slapped with our wild, often ironic, and sometimes rather opinionated comments. And now, for your reading pleasure, a sample of today's edition:
Speed Traps Must Have Warnings
Rome – March 13, 2009 – Speed traps must be signposted in time for motorists to slow down, Italy's highest court said Friday.
The Cassation Court said signs alerting drivers to the cameras must be placed "at least 400 meters (440 yards)" before the devices.
The court, whose rulings set precedents, issued its verdict in the case of a Calabrian company, Speed Control, which was found guilty of hiding cameras to make profits with municipal authorities who fined speeding drivers. The supreme court recalled that, by law, 400 meters is the minimum distance for alerting drivers to the presence of speed traps.
It pointed out that Italian traffic law is aimed more at preventing accidents than punishing offenders.
"Scassacazzo", can you believe it? A sign warning you you're about to get fleeced out of 150 Euros (195 USD). Welcome to the Italian Twilight Zone. So, why are the chances you will actually see one of these warning signs on the road very slim? Because while you're driving in the Twilight Zone you'll be too occupied with defending your car and dear life from the happy little bands of Italian jackasses screaming down the highways in their ignorant and customary fashion!- Use the rear-view mirror? FAIL!
– Wear a seatbelt? FAIL!
– Turn signals? FAIL!
– Slow down in the rain? FAIL!- Overtaking with inches to spare, forcing you off to the side of the road? PASS!
– Wearing sunglasses at night? PASS!
– Talking on mobile phones? PASS!Wearing sunglasses at night, talking on a mobile phone while overtaking you with inches to spare? PASS with HONORS, you "figlio di puttana!"Basically, the four main points of highway safety can be summed up as:- "Don't speed, cornuto!"
– "Look where you're going, faccia di culo!"
– "Be considerate of other drivers, testa di minchia!"
– "Try and make at least some use of the squirt of intelligence you were born with because life is short, coglioni!"After driving in Italy, the highways of the United States looked like a trip on a tricycle around a Kindergarten playground.