Mini salted cheese cake, cream of zucchini and parmesan cheese and bavette garlic, oil and chilli and toasted hazelnuts. Here's how to make these three dishes special with the anchovies of the Cantabrian Sea Zarotti
Just a few days before Christmas and it is time to define the menu in every detail. The difficulty of this operation lies in the choose spectacular courses that amaze and please everyone, but at the same time they are simple to manage both in the preparation phase and in the time of service. Being in many, in fact, complicates things and often leads us to rely on the usual consolidated dishes, which end up boring a bit '.
Enough to avoid it insert a different plate in the Christmas menu from those we have already proposed each year, perhaps relying on an ingredient that gives character and taste, but at the same time arouses the positive emotions of a comfort food. Just like anchovies, which we have presented up to this moment among the starters, accompanied by a crispy crouton veiled with butter. And here they are get out of the box and characterize three very different dishes, united by the ability to bring to the table the taste of the sea with simplicity.
The recipes
The first appetizer we are going to make are the small boats with cream of zucchini and mint, anchovies and parmesan. This fast dish (it takes 20 minutes) lends itself to being prepared in advance and will wait for guests at the table when it is time to sit down. To avoid problems at the time of service, we will arrange the cream in single portions, as shown in the image following the recipe.
Ingredients for 4 people: 2 courgettes, 200 g of frozen peas, mint, dill, 4 fillets of rolled anchovies from the Cantabrian Sea Zarotti, 3 tablespoons of natural yogurt, 4 tablespoons of grated Parmesan, extra-virgin olive oil
Method: Wash and cut the courgettes into slices and boil them later with the frozen peas in salted water for 8-10 min.
Drain well and blend with mint and extra virgin olive oil until a smooth and homogeneous cream is expected. Extend the cream with the cooking water if necessary. Season with salt and keep warm. Separate the yogurt with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and finely chopped dill (and keep aside). Prepare the waffles by spreading the grated Parmesan on a plate lined with parchment paper. Bake at 200 ° C for about 10 min until it is golden. When they are cold, gently break them with your hands.
Serve the cream with a teaspoon of dill yogurt, a rolled fillet of the Cantabrian Sea Zarotti and a cheese waffle.
We continue with a savory variant of cheesecake, one of the most loved pastries of recent times. At Christmas, it turns into small cakes with a great flavor that we can prepare comfortably in advance and store in the refrigerator for up to 40 minutes before serving them. The mini salted cheesecake with anchovies they are prepared in just 20 minutes, but require a little attention in the final decoration phase. Follow the topping indications and the result will be perfect.
Ingredients for 4 people:
For the base – 12 taralli or 2 large slices of Altamura type bread, extra virgin olive oil, salt
For the cream – philadelphia or goat g 250, 4 fillets of anchovy anchovies of the Cantabrian Sea Zarotti, chive
For the topping – 4 fillets of rolled anchovies of the Cantabrian Sea Zarotti, chopped pistachios 30 g, a few strands of chives
Method: whisk the taralli (or bread) with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and two tablespoons of water (and keep aside). Work the spreadable cheese with the finely chopped chives and the chopped anchovies until a soft cream is obtained. If necessary add 2 tablespoons of water. With the help of a small coppapasta with a diameter of about 5 cm, create the mini cheesecake: crush the crumbled taralli with a teaspoon so as to make a compact base, fill with the spreadable cheese, gently unmold with the help of a teaspoon.
Decorate with the other anchovies, the chopped pistachios and the chives and serve.
We now think of a simple dish to prepare, but at the same time particular and intriguing. The bavette garlic, oil, red pepper, anchovies and toasted hazelnuts they are prepared using the basic technique of one of the most famous pastas of our tradition, adding some details capable of transforming it into a party dish. In this case too, the serving is essential: before serving the bavette, roll it up with the help of a ladle. Once in the dish, do not forget to add a fillet of rolled anchovies from the Canottibrico Marzotto to each portion.
Ingredients for 4 people: 400 g whole bavette, a clove of garlic, 6 fillets of anchovy anchovies of the Cantabrian Sea Zarotti, 4 fillets of rolled anchovies from the Cantabrian Sea Zarotti, toasted hazelnuts 50 g, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper
Method: heat the extra-virgin olive oil in a large frying pan with the crushed garlic, the red pepper and the Zarotti anchovy fillets spread until the latter have melted. Chop the hazelnuts with the knife (and keep aside). Cook the bavette in plenty of salted water, drain when al dente. Quickly sauté in the pan with the other ingredients, adding a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water to bind the sauce.
Serve adding the chopped hazelnuts and the rolled anchovies of the Cantabrian Sea Zarotti.
Anchovies
The anchovies that inspired these recipes dedicated to Christmas, come from deep waters of the Cantabrian Sea. And it is right here, in the north of Spain, that Zarotti selects the best fillets because they are processed by hand and stored in a delicate olive oil. We choose the packaging of the flat threads to insert anchovies in creams, sauces and condiments. THE fillets rolled instead, they lend themselves to decorating each dish, just as we did in the preparations above. And if you are looking for further inspiration, you can find it in the section of the site dedicated to the kitchen: #incucinaconZarotti.
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