Simple recipes using ingredients you can find in your pantry…

There’s nothing like heading over to your favourite restaurant and ordering a meal. But, just because we are confined to our homes at the moment, doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a delicious home-cooked meal that tastes as if our favourite restaurant prepared it.

Thanks to The Italian Way UAE, Italian restaurants from across Dubai have joined forces and are sharing recipes and secrets that you can use in your own homes. The best news? They use ingredients that can be easily found in your kitchen cupboards.

Let’s chop to it then!

Here are two home recipes shared by chefs from two top Italian restaurants in Dubai for you to try. 

Scalini Lasagna by Chef Giuseppe Giampietro

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the Bolognese sauce:

• 500g minced beef
• 50g carrots
• 50g celery
• 50g onions
• 200g white wine (optional)
• 250g tomato sauce
• Rosemary
• Sage
• 1 litre water
• 20g olive oil
• Salt
• Black pepper

For béchamel sauce:

• 1 litre full fat milk
• 80g flour
• 100g butter
• Nutmeg
• Salt
• Black pepper

• Lasagna Pasta Sheets (1 pack)
• Parmigano Regano 250 g (grated)

Preparation:

For the Bolognese Sauce:

• Tie the sage and rosemary in a bouquet de garni (meaning, simply tie the herbs together with a piece of string).
• Dice the onions, celery and carrots.
• Drizzle your olive oil into a large saucepan and once it sizzles, add the chopped vegetables and bouquet de garni on low heat for up to 20 minutes.
• Once the vegetables are well sautéed, add your minced meat and keep stirring until it turns golden brown.
• Pour your white wine into the pan and allow it simmer slowly until the liquid evaporates completely.
• Stir in the tomato sauce and mix until all ingredients are distributed evenly.
• Add water to moisten, and leave cooking on a low heat at least for 2 hours.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Remove the bouquet de garni.

For the Béchamel sauce:

• In a pot, warm the milk to room temperature before adding in a pinch of salt and dash of nutmeg.
• In a second pot melt the butter over a low heat.
• When the butter is fully melted, combine it with the flour, whisking at a quick tempo as you mix in the ingredients, until you create a silky texture without lumps (its called a roux).
• Once completed, place back on a low heat, while stirring regularly to make sure the sauce doesn’t stick to the pot.
• Add nutmeg and a pinch of salt to the warm milk.
• At this point, combine the roux and the warm milk, while whisking quickly, to maintain a smooth texture.
• Once fully mixed, allow the béchamel to cook on a low heat for 5 – 6 minutes.

For the lasagna:

• In a rectangular dish, start with a layer of tomato sauce, followed by a layer of the lasagna pasta sheets and a layer of béchamel sauce. Then spread the Bolognese sauce to complete.
• Repeat these layering steps 2 – 3 times (depending on the depth of your dish) and finish with grated parmesan cheese over the top layer.
• To complete the perfect lasagna, place your dish in a preheated oven at 200c for up to 25 minutes or until the top layer starts to brown.

Bice Ristorante’s Tagliatelle Al Ragu by Chef Davide Gardini 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 800g chuck of beef (or sirloin)
• 200g boneless chicken leg
• 100g celery
• 100g carrots
• 100g onion
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• 50g Tomato paste
• 700g Peeled tomatoes
• 500ml vegetable broth
• 3 bay leaves
• 5 cloves
• Nutmeg to taste
• Salt to taste
• Black pepper to taste

For the pasta dough

• 400g flour
• 5 whole eggs
• 2g fine salt

Preparation:

For the Ragu:

• Preheat a large pan, before drizzling it with extra virgin olive oil.
• Dice your carrots, celery and onions.
• Once the pan is sizzling, add your chopped carrots and cook until golden.
• Add celery and fry until soft.
• Mix in the onions and cook together for 2 minutes, stirring regularly to avoiding sticking.
• Add in the cloves and bay leaves.
• Once the vegetables are nicely coloured, add in the minced meat and cook until golden brown, and all the liquid from the meat evaporates.
• Sprinkle in salt, pepper and freshly ground nutmeg to taste.
• Mix in the tomato paste well to ensure even spread across all ingredients.
• Pour in the vegetable broth to add moisture to the dish.
• Once the pan starts to boil, add the peeled tomatoes.
• Adjust the heat to medium-low heat and allow to simmer for about 2 hours, taking care to add a little vegetable broth from time to time if the sauce appears to be drying out.

For the pasta:

• Add the flour in a bowl with the salt and add in the eggs one at a time.
• Combine until the dough becomes smooth and lump free.
• Wrap the dough with cling film and leave it to rest for 20 minutes.
• Once rested, cut the dough into 4 pieces of 120g each.
• Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough to a thickness of 2mm.
• Fold the dough in half, and then in half again.
• Cut strips 2cm wide.
• Prepare a pot of boiling, salted water.
• Add your pasta for 3 minutes.
• Once cooked, drain the pasta and add it to the pan with the ragu.
• Top of with Parmigiano cheese and serve hot.

If you want to learn to cook other Italian recipes from other top Italian restaurants such as Luigia and Circo, simply head on over to The Italian Way on their instagram @TheItalianWayUAE

Bon Appétit!

Images: provided