Finally, MU 2.0!  The mighty snout bursts forth from the blog that was just too small to hold it, followed by its four trotters and finally its curly end. For the past few years Maiale Ubriaco (drunken pig) has encouraged us to demonstrate our passions and invite people into our kitchens and we enjoyed it so much we thought it would be worthwhile introducing our refined little swine to this side of the world. Here we not only show the dishes that excite us and how we went about cooking them, but we share our love for food and tell you about the places that inspire such passion. For this very occasion we have taken our little pig and have dressed it up to the nines. The best bib and tucker in the form of Paolo Tripodi’ s vision and illustrations ensure Maiale is ready to tell its story and it does so with a very contented and smug grin! Welcome to MU. Take a good look through its pages, stroll along its lines and make it your own. Most importantly though start cooking, as it is by taking in the aromas of your kitchen and around your dining table with good food and animated conversation that you will truly capture its essence. 

I love chocolate! Sure you must be thinking you have landed on the wrong page or that I am insane considering the title for this article clearly states - Crème Brulée - Well you're on the right page, it's just that it is difficult for me to talk about puddings when the word "chocolate" does not appear in the list of ingredients down at the bottom at least once; but now you know, I am addicted. Today I have decided to go for something a bit different though, a recipe that in all its simplicity has clearly broadened my pudding horizons. Crème Brulée is delicate, mouthwatering and easy to make. Something you should try as it won't take too much of your time (unless you try and stuff an empty egg shell with it like I did) and would be really appreciated by your friends around the dinner table. Add a drop of honey and wash it down with a glass of sherry for extra sweetness. Enjoy!

Ingredients | 4 people

2 vanilla pods
300ml double cream
200ml whole milk
8 large free-range
75g sugar

Preheat the oven to 140°C. Score the vanilla pods lengthways and scrape out the vanilla seeds. Place the seeds into a saucepan together with the cream and milk and slowly bring to the boil. Remove from the heat. In a large bowl beat together the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, than add the milk and cream a little at a time whisking continuously. Add some hot water to your dirty pan, bring to a simmer and put the bowl on top of the pan. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes over the simmering water, stirring often, until it thickens. Divide the mixture in small ramekins, stand them in a high-sided roasting tray, and fill the tray with water halfway up. Place in the preheated oven and cook for around 30 to 45 minutes or until the mixture has set. Allow to cool at room temperature then place in the fridge until ready to serve. To serve, sprinkle each crème brûlée with a tablespoon of caster sugar and caramelize under a very hot grill.

Remo Morretta

I must admit, until a few years ago I wasn't a huge fan of risotto although perfectly understood the charm behind the dish. With secrete recipes, ingredients and stories hidden in the books of any respectable italian kitchen, risotto embodied some sort of mystery, a taboo for most amateur cooks, including me. The making of it evoked in some people a sort of pain or trepidation, from the careful selection of ingredients to the constant and slow stirring all the way through presentation, no shortcuts are allowed. The reassuring thing is that there are no secrets and making risotto is not such a meticulous process. Instead it's all about practice and fast cooking too, preparing the perfect risotto should not take you more than 20 minutes. Once you have mastered the basic principles you will be able to make the softest, ooziest risottos, adding different seasonal ingredients and turning it into a succession of sublime meals.

Ingredients | serves 6

1 lt. stock ( fresh vegetable or fish as appropriate)
1 knob of butter
2 tbs olive oil
1  onion (finely chopped)
400g rice (carnaroli, vialone nano or arborio)
1 glass of  white wine
salt

In a saucepan heat the olive oil and butter, add the onions and fry  slowly for 5 minutes. When the onions have softened, add the rice and turn up the heat. The rice will begin to lightly fry and will easily stick to the bottom of the pan, so keep stirring it. Add the wine and once this has cooked into the rice , add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer and keep adding stock, stirring and allowing each ladleful to be fully absorbed. This will take around 20 minutes. If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water. Once the rice is cooked, remove from the heat, add a knob of butter and allow to sit for a couple of minutes. Serve immediately.

Remo Morretta

It has been a lovely weekend. Yesterday with the sun shining early at 8 am and a hint of mist slowly fading away I went for a walk (I am always told I should make an effort), I grabbed my boots, jacket and gloves (how British) and headed for the English hills and rolling countryside. Destination, my local farm shop, which for the past two years has supplied me with wonderful meats, fruits, vegetable and not to mention incredible pies. It took me an hour to get there, I eagerly jumped the wooden back fence watching for any angry goats and entered the snug and warm shop. I had a cup of tea with a drop milk, a slice of carrot cake (I will pass on the recipe soon) and read my Sunday Times (I swear my mum would have struggled to recognize me). And this is how it all started. I then made it back home, tired and weary and just before lunch prepared this delicious Parmigiana. Mushrooms and potatoes are local. The cheese, matured underground for three months before coming to life again, comes from Talamello a small village in Emilia-Romagna. I know it might be difficult for you to find this in the UK, but there are some magnificent cheddars that could work just as well, Old Winchester is one of my favorites. Everything else you need to know to cook today’s recipe is outlined below. Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients | 6 people

7-8 medium mushrooms
3 large potatoes
100 gr di formaggio di fossa or extra mature cheddar
bread crumbs
fresh sage
extra virgin olive oil
1 nob of buttter
salt
black pepper

Preheat you oven at 220 C. Peel and wash the potatoes, cut into slices of about 1 cm and boil them for a few minutes or until al dente. Meanwhile chop up the mushrooms and gently cook in a frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil, then season with salt and pepper. Grease the bottom of a deep roasting  dish with the butter, cover with bread crumbs and layer after layer start adding your ingredients, potatoes first, then mushrooms, cheese, sage and breadcrumbs again. Carry on until you dish is full or you have run out of ingredients. Make sure you finish with breadcrumbs and some grated cheese. Cook for about 30 minutes or until golden, then leave on the side to rest for a few minutes before serving.

Remo Morretta

I started writing this article 10 minutes ago, hands on the white keyboard trying to formulate my thoughts and make some sense and am not sure I am succeeding considering every line I type is followed by a diffident look at the screen and some incoherent mumbling. The past few weeks have been really tough, with plenty of travelling on the diary, people to meet, hands to shake, witty comments (trying to be cleaver, you know) and never a minute by myself. One of those times when all you want to do is go home, enter the kitchen and shut the door behind you, open a bottle of wine, put on some jazz and get cooking. Simple. Well today I have managed to do exactly that and finally made time to collect my thoughts and come up with some new recipes for you readers and whoever is joining me for a bite tonight (it gets quite busy around my place at dinner time). As usual the recipe uses ingredients which are easy to source at this time of the season, but please don't restrict yourself to them and feel free to improvise. Fruit is a great accompaniment for meat and any good home made marmalade would also do the trick. Go on, spice up your barbecue or picnic  this week end!

Ingredients | 6 people

For the jam

500 g rhubarb
400 g sugar
3-4 tbs of lemon juice

In a sauce pan melt the sugar with the lemon juice. Add the rhubarb previously washed, peeled and cut into large chunks and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft. Continue cooking until you reach the desired consistency, then turn into a hot, clean, sterilised jar and seal.

For the kebabs

500 gr. pork loin steaks
400 gr. prunes
400gr. new potatoes
1 clove of garlic
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and black pepper
sage

First make a marinade with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Wash and halve the prunes. Cook the potatoes in boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain and allow to cool. Dice the pork loin and put the pieces into a bowl, cover with the marinade, season and leave for half an hour to one hour. Using some skewers, spike each piece of meat alternately with prunes and potatoes. Grill for around 5 minutes, turning regularly, to give you a charred meat on the outside and juicy pink on the inside. Rub with garlic, allow to cool and serve with the rhubarb jam. 

Remo Morretta

This is a delicate post! Maiale Ubriaco has been preaching about the importance of slow cooking for quite sometime now. Enjoying the peace of a kitchen and its fragrances, taking time when approaching food, making the most of every moment of pleasure is to us the essence to a better quality of life. I am not saying you should all of a sudden drop your frenetic lives and take up some sort of buddhist approach, but give yourself a minute to step back, look around and get inspired about your next creation. This compote will help you do exactly that. It is often used in the preparation of puddings but we love it with savoury food such as cheese, home made bread and terrines, maybe accompanied by a fresh glass of cider. You know, sometime there is no need to spend too long in the kitchen, simple food and good company can do the trick.

Ingredients

1 kg british pears
600 g caster sugar
1 lt. / 2 pints water
2 large lemons
1/2 vanilla pod
black pepper

Wash, peel and core you pears, then roughly dice them and soak into lemon juice for a few minutes. Meanwhile put the sugar, water, vanilla pod and some crushed pepper grains into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Rinse off the pears, add them to the syrup and cook on a gentle heat for abbot 30 minutes with a lid on. Remove from the heat, stir and pour into sterilised jars. Once it has cooled down, keep the compote in the fridge as it has a relatively low sugar content. It will keep for a few weeks.

Stefano Tripodi

I guess there is no better way to start this section but with a basic pasta recipe. Being able to create good fresh pasta from scratch is one of best things you could learn in cooking. It's fascinating to think that with flour, water and eggs, three ingredients we take for granted, you can experience something so sublime.  Mostly though, the moment you stop cooking sticky, predictable and uninteresting pasta or even worst microwave tasteless pot noodles, is the moment your cooking will change forever, unveiling a whole new dining experience.  Below is the description for egg pasta, although some recipes do require a more basic version. In that case just replace eggs with fresh water, as simple as that. Try and get hold of tipo "00" flour, also known in Italy as farina di grano tenero, which is great for making cakes by the way.

Ingredients | serves 4

500 gr. flour tipo "00"
5 large free range eggs (or 200 ml water)

Place the flour on a board, make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it. Beat the eggs with a fork until smooth and mix with the flour. Work with your hands and knead well until you have a smooth lump of dough. If you are having trouble don't panic, just add a little water to help the ingredients come together. Wrap your dough in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least half an hour. To roll your pasta divide the dough into 4 pieces and work with one ball at a time. If you are using a pasta machine flatten your first ball, dust with flour and run it through the thickest setting of your machine, fold in half and repeat a couple of times. Do the same for all other settings until you reach the desired thickness (about 2mm). If you are using a rolling pin, which by the way is my preferred method, dust your work surface and roll the pasta into a circular shape. It's tiring but well worth it as you'll get a good feel for the thickness you want to achieve, plus it will wear you out and really make you look forward your pasta dish! Once you've rolled your pasta, cover it with a  dump cloth  and shape it straight away to prevent it from drying. It will keep in the fridge for a day or two or it can be dried (just leave it out for  a couple of days) and stored in a airtight container.

Remo Morretta

This is an easy to make and mouthwatering recipe that anyone could have a go at, even those of you who tend to be shy around a kitchen fire. This soup is some sort of pacification, an armistice between you and your pots and pans and it is also good for you as it's packed with vitamins and nutrients. Chard is widely used in tisanes and is great in stews, risotto or salads. We have tried it as a soup adding some fresh ricotta cheese from Basilicata, one of the wildest and most unsophisticated italian regions…and its food reflects that. If you can't find fresh ricotta (please don't buy it from your local supermarket) try an organic, mature goat cheese. Once the cooking is done, sit back and enjoy the warmth of this earthy dish, wash it down with a good glass of red wine, surrounded by the dense aroma of a top-notch cooking session.  

Ingredients | serves 4

300 g fresh ricotta (or goat cheese)
120 g parmesan
600 g swiss chard
1 lt chicken stock
1 white onion
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
ground black pepper

In a casserole-type pan heat 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Add a finely chopped onion and gently fry without colouring for about 5 minutes, then add the swiss chard. Cook for a couple of minutes , season with salt and pepper, pour in your chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes with a lid on. Remove from the heat and whiz with a blender. Add the ricotta to your soup, stir and let it rest for a moment. To serve, divide the soup between four bowls and garnish with some chard leaves and plenty of parmesan cheese. Season and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Stefano Tripodi