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Cooking with Giovanna
Rivetti…
Giovanna Rivetti was born in 1947.
She is our "vineyard manager" and our "in-house chef". She
learned the work in the vineyard from her father and the
work in the kitchen from her mother. Both parents taught
Giovanna skills which until today are great assets to La
Spinetta.
Being a true Piemontese woman, Giovanna loves and respects the traditional
recipes of the area. On this page and in every of our
One Liter Club Newsletter she is sharing one of those recipes with us.
Having made each single dish more than one hundred times, naturally Giovanna
claims that each recipe is very easy to make. If you plan to prepare one of
her dishes and have questions, don't hesitate to ask us...
olc@la-spinetta.com
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Frittata with Onions
Giovanna's
Frittatas are delicious, easy to make and with the most
simple ingredients. This recipe is for Frittata made with onions, and is a great recipe,
especially in the winter months.
You
will need the following ingredients (portion to serve 6
people):
6 relatively mild white onions (Giovanna of course takes the
ones out of her garden), 3 eggs (from Giovanna’s chicken) 50
gr of Parmigiano cheese,
50cl water, 50cl dry white wine, 7 tablespoons of extra virgin olive
oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
The easiest thing on earth to
make, says Giovanna, who loves to spend every minute that she is not
in the vineyard, in the kitchen. Start by
peeling and cutting the onions into thin slices.
Then use a
pan and warm up 2 tablespoons of olive oil adding the
onions, water and the wine.
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It is very
important to cook everything on low heat, stirring the onions now and then.
After 20 minutes, take off the lid and continue cooking so that the liquid
evaporates. After, beat the two eggs in a bowl and add the Parmigiano
cheese, nutmeg, pepper, onions and at the very end, the salt, while
continuing to stir everything. Take a second pan and warm up the remaining
olive oil, then fry the mixture by taking tablespoon portions of it and form
little round 5-8 cm Frittate (see photo). Fry until golden. Then take the
Frittate out of the pan and remove some of the oil by letting them rest on
paper kitchen towel for a minute. Serve warm.
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Vitello Tonnato
Piemonte’s famous Vitello
Tonnato is a cold veal roast with
tuna sauce.
This classic antipasti is a bit tricky to
prepare, but following Giovanna’s recipe, very rewarding.
You will need the following ingredients to make Vitello
Tonnato for 10 people (minimum portion and size of meat in
order to roast meat to a perfect rose color):
1,2 kg topside
of veal, 50 gr butter, 50 gr anchovies in oil, 30 gr salted
capers, some rosemary, 35 gr of canned tuna, 0,75 l Lidia
Chardonnay, 150 gr mayonnaise, 20 gr lemon juice.
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Thoroughly tie meat together with a thread. Then slowly roast it
with butter in a frying pan on low temperature. Add the capers and
rosemary to the meat, as well as the oil of the anchovies. As soon
as the meat has taken some color, add a glass of Lidia and continue
to cook for 30 minutes. Keep turning the meat so that the inner part
will remain pink. Let the meat cool down with the lid on the pan.
For the magic sauce:Use the remaining liquids from the meat and add
it together with the tuna and the anchovies into a blender. Blend
everything to a fine sauce. Add mayonnaise, lemon juice.
Whatever is left of Lidia Chardonnay perfectly pairs with this dish.
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Tajarin con Sugo di
Carne
You will need the following ingredients (portion to
serve 6 people):
For the pasta:
400gr flour, one table spoon of olive oil, 10 eggs (3 entire
and 7 yolks)
For the meat sauce:
500gr ground veal, 500 gr ground pork, a bit of fresh
rosemary, 1 onion, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 cloves,
250gr of purred tomatoes and sea salt
“To make fresh pasta is very easy”, says Giovanna. “The
only mistake one can make is to add water to the dough. You simply
take the flour and make a little volcano. In the center you put the
eggs and the oil, and then you mix everything until you have nice
solid dough”. Traditionally the Tajarin are knife cut, the dough is
pressed into one big flat, thin piece, folded and cut into
tiny stripes. Giovanna however prefers to use the machine.
She presses the dough flat and then lets it run through the
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“To make the pasta sauce is also very simple, one just
needs time”, says Giovanna. “Fry the chopped onions with olive oil, rosemary
and meat in a pan on low temperature. When the meat is still a little rosé
add the cloves and the pureed tomatoes. Cook everything on very low
temperature for 4 hours”. You heard right, 4 hours as in 240 minutes. “At
the end add salt to your personal taste”.
P.s. Who likes to enjoy wine, while cooking, might end
up drunk before dinner with this recipe!
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Insalata Russa
This "Russian Salad" – which, despite the
misleading name, has a very long tradition in Piedmont.
You will need the following
ingredients (portion to serve
6):
200gr potatoes (2-3 ), 100 gr carrots, 100 gr peas, 200 gr tuna fish
canned, 2 hard boiled eggs, juice of half a lemon, 100 gr
mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper
This is another very simple recipe. “I love Insalata Russa, because it is
easily made, very inexpensive and absolutely stunningly delicious and
refreshing”, says Giovanna. All vegetables need to be cut in little cubes
(0,5 cm) then boiled separately in water according to cooking time of
each vegetable. Please don’t overcook the vegetables. One can also steam
them, even better for maintaining the vitamins. After cooking, dry
vegetables on a clean kitchen towel. The eggs need to be cooked for 7
minutes. Giovanna uses the eggs from her very own chicken, but if you are
reading this recipe, while sitting in your NYC penthouse apartment, this
option might be obsolete.
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Mix the vegetables, the tuna fish and the boiled eggs, that you also need to
cut into cubes and add the lemon juice as well as 2 tablespoons of extra
virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.
Traditionally Piedmont never had any fresh fish. The Piemontese traded wine
and hazelnuts for olive oil, canned tuna, anchovies, and stock fish. The
traditional Insalata Russa is therefore made with tuna from the can.
Giovanna suggest though, that if you love fresh tuna, you can also grill the
fresh fish, cut it in smaller pieces and exchange it for his brother in the
can. Finally add the mayonnaise and leave everything in the
refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours
before serving. Another recipe, where Giovanna makes us wait a long time for
our food.
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Pollo - marinated chicken
This is
a delicious summer dish: pollo - marinated
chicken. This classic antipasti is a bit tricky to
prepare, but following Giovanna’s recipe, very rewarding.
You will need the following ingredients to make pollo for 6 people:
1 kg of chicken breast - sliced, 250 ml white wine (Giovanna
uses Chardonnay Lidia), 125 ml white wine vinegar, 125 ml
water, 2 cloves of garlic, 15 sage leaves, 150ml olive oil,
2 eggs and 200 gr bread crumbs
First one bathes the chicken breast slices in the raw eggs
and then in the bread crumbs. Then you fry the slices in a
pan, using ample olive oil until the chicken is cooked.
Don’t use too much heat. Remove the chicken and let it cool
down on paper towel to remove some of the oil. Cut the sage
and the garlic into small pieces and heat them up in a pan,
using olive oil. Again, watch the temperature.
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Cook sage and garlic for 10 minutes and stir
frequently, then add white wine, water, vinegar and a tea spoon of
bread crumbs.
Continue to cook on low temperature for 40 minutes.
Cut the chicken in small pieces (Giovanna uses round cookie forms to
cut out the chicken into round pieces) and pour the sauce over the
chicken.
Let the chicken marinate for at least 12 hours in the
refrigerator.
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Bunnet -
Piedmont Chocolate Pudding
This is a very simple and tarditional
chocolate pudding as well as a delicious treat that makes
any chocolate mouse or cake look like diet food.
You will need:
2x50g of sugar, 100g of Amaretti cookies, 3 eggs, 30g of
dark cocoa powder, 10ml of good rum, 400ml whole milk, 100ml
cream. Baking dishes rectangular or round (be careful not to
use a springform, because the pudding is cooked in a water
bath), larger roasting pan.
First you need to caramelize 50g of sugar in a Teflon pan. While the
sugar is liquid, fill the sugar into the baking dish so that it
generously covers the bottom of the dish.
Then crush the Amaretti cookies into little
crumbles. Beat the eggs with the other 50g of sugar. Add the cocoa
powder, the Amaretti crumbles and the rum. After thorough mixing add
milk and cream and stir once more.
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Fill the mass into the baking dish with the caramel and heat the
oven to 160 degrees Celsius (320 Fahrenheit).
Cook the pudding dish in a hot water bath until the pudding turns solid. A
good way to prepare a water bath is to put your baking dish with the pudding
into a bigger roasting pan, place the pan into the oven, and add enough hot
water to reach halfway up the dish. Do not overheat the oven, the pudding
should at no time rise and make bubbles. After removing from the oven, let
the Bunet cool off and afterwards refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours
before turning the dish over on a large plate and serving.
A Bunet goes very well with a chilled glass of Moscato.
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Carne Cruda-
Steak Tartar alla Piemontese
A typical, yet very simple Piemontese
antipasto that is all about the ingredients and does not
require any actual “cooking” is the carne
cruda (raw meat salad, also referred to as steak
tartar).
You will need:
1kg of good quality raw beef/veal tartar, either
knife-chopped or ground (in Piedmont we use veal from the
Fassone race), 250ml extra virgin olive oil, 1 clove of
garlic, salt, pepper and the juice of one lemon.
A day before preparing the carne cruda, peel
the clove of garlic and marinate it whole in 250ml of extra virgin
olive oil.
It takes 5 – 10 minutes only to make carne
cruda. Take the raw meat and place it in a large bowl. Using your
hands or a spoon, mix the meat with the garlic-infused olive oil,
pepper and salt. Blend well and work the flavors evenly through the
meat.
Add lemon juice and continue to mix, for about 5-10 minutes. |
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Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary (each batch of fresh meat
may need different amounts of salt and pepper). In general, Carne Cruda alla
Piemontese does not involve much seasoning as you do not want to cover the
delicious taste of the Fassone meat. However, if you prefer some more spice
and flavor, feel free to add chili, capers, egg yolk or onions.
Serve the carne cruda garnished with some salad leaves
or shaved Parmiggiano cheese.
Carne Cruda goes very well with Barbera.
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Peperoni
ripieni arrostiti al tonno
A typical Piemontese antipasto with
fish. Since Piedmont historically was trading wine against
olive oil and fish from Liguria and traveling to and from
Liguria took a long time, the typical local fish used in
Piemontese recipes are: canned tuna and anchovies as well as
stock fish. This antipasto is made with the first two.
You will need (recipe for 6 people):
3 nice and big bell peppers (ca. 500 gr each), 2 eggs, 250gr
top quality canned tuna fish in oil, 2 anchovy filets , 1
table spoon of fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, 10
gr of parsley and 10 capers.
Roast the bell peppers for 40 minutes at 180 degrees in the
oven. Remove from the oven, let the vegetable cool off.
Remove skin and all seeds inside. Dry peppers a bit and cut
each in 4 equal pieces. Place all 12 pieces on a serving
platter.
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For the filling (ripieno): cook 2
eggs and use the yolk only to mix with the tuna, capers and a bit of
parsley. Use olive oil to smoothen the paste. Fill the pepper with
the “ripieno” and garnish with more parsley. Add olive oil, if
desired.
“Peperoni ripieno” works very well with our Vermentino.
Buon appetito!
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Torta di Ricotta
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This is the recipe of a very typical and easy to make winter antipasti: torta di riccotta
(ricotta cheese
cake). By the way, Giovanna claims that all her recipes are
simple and when you ask her about the preparation of one of
her dishes, she always starts her explanation with the
words: “facile- easy”.
You will need (recipe for 8 people): 3 whole
eggs, 250 gr of Ricotta, 70 gr of cream, 100gr of graded
Parmigiano cheese, salt, pepper, herbs (sage, marjoram,
thyme, etc.) and for the crust:
1000 gr white flower, 400 gr butter, 250 gr water and 15gr
of salt.
First prepare the crust. Make a “volcano” out of the flower
and add butter, water and salt in the middle. Work the dough
with your hands and eventually form a ball. Let the ball sit
in a cool place for a minimum of two hours.
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After flatten and roll out the dough, as if you were
preparing a pizza.
Fill out a round oven pan with the dough, covering also the sides of
the baking pan. For the filling: Take a bowl and mix eggs and cream
well together, add the graded Parmigiano and then slowly mix the
Ricotta under. Cut herbs real fine and add together salt and pepper.
Pour the Ricotta filling over the spread out dough and bake
everything at 160 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes. Before
serving let cool off a bit and decorate with some rosemary and
thyme.
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“Torta di Ricotta” goes very well with Lidia Chardonnay or Barbera Ca di
Pian.
Buon appetito!
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Tiramisu
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Though we are sure that each of you
have enjoyed this famous Italian dessert and know where to
get your favorite version, you might not know what Tiramisu
actually means. “Tira” comes from “tirare” and means “pull.”
“Mi” means “me” and “su” means “up.” So on a cold and
bitter winter day, nothing can “pull you up” better than a
Tiramisu,
especially when made by Giovanna with Moscato or De Miranda
Asti!
You will need (recipe for
4 people):
3
egg yolks
135
gr. (4-3/4 oz.) of Moscato/De Miranda Asti plus 80gr (3 oz.)
to dip the lady finger cookies
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45 gr. (1-1/2 oz.)
sugar,
150 gr.
(5-1/4 oz.) Mascarpone
cheese,
100 gr. (3-1/2 oz.) Lady Finger
cookies,
40 gr. (1-1/2 oz.) cherry liquor
or brandy or grappa
To make the cream, also called
Zabaglione, you will need to whip up the yolks with the sugar. Heat up the
135 gr. (4-3/4 oz.) of Moscato (or De Miranda Asti) and add it hot to the
egg and sugar; continue mixing these ingredients together in a bowl that is
cooking in hot water (Bain-Marie*). When creamy, remove it from the stove
and let it cool down.
*The
French call this cooking technique “bain
marie .” It consists of placing a
container (pan, bowl, soufflé dish, etc.) of food in a large, shallow pan of
warm water, which surrounds the food with gentle heat. The food may be
cooked in this manner either in an oven or on top of a range. This technique
is designed to cook delicate dishes such as custards, sauces and savory
mousses without breaking or curdling them.
When the Zabaglione
cream has cooled completely, add the mascarpone cheese.
Separately, mix the
80 gr./3 oz. of Moscato with the cherry liquor (brandy or grappa) and
quickly soak the lady finger cookies into the Moscato liquor mixture. Take a
large square bowl (10 cm./4 inch height): first place a layer of soaked
cookies on the bottom of the bowl, add Zabaglione and Mascarpone cream on
top and then start with a second layer. Continue until the bowl is filled
with layers of cookies and cream.
Let the Tiramisu
cool/rest for 8-10 hours in the refrigerator.
Before serving,
decorate by dusting with dark chocolate powder.
Tiramisu pairs beautifully with
La Spinetta Moscato or
Contratto De Miranda Asti.
Buon appetito!
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