On a recent episode of Eat Drink D-FW, the Dallas Morning News food team sat down with chef Paola Saglietti of Eataly Dallas. Saglietti is a native of Torino, Italy, and has worked for Eataly for six years. She shared some holiday cooking and entertaining tips (like be sure to cook with other people around you!), plus some of her favorite “cozy food” recipes.
Appetizers/Antipasti
If you’re looking for cheese, meats and other bites for your charcuterie board, Eataly has lots of that. Saglietti likes blue cheese drizzled with honey and topped with some walnut. “It will change completely the flavor,” she says. For meats, prosciutto is a must, plus some spicy soppressata, and some coppa, which is underrated, Saglietti says. She also always adds nuts and easy marinated olives (see recipe below).
Always add something sweet, like honey, sweet compote or fig jam. Saglietti makes a red onion compote, one of her aunt’s recipes. “It’s only four ingredients — red onion, regular sugar, cane sugar, and white wine,” which cooks for an hour to reduce and caramelize.
Main dishes and sides
Saglietti often likes to cook with family, and her holidays involve each person bringing their own dish so one person doesn’t have to do all the work. She recommends simple oven-roasted vegetables as a side, but don’t cook them by yourself. “As a chef, I will mess something up if I cook by myself,” she says.
For mains, Saglietti loves brasato (braised meat) in barolo wine with polenta, as well as risotto, which is a one-pot, easy dish. Add something special to the risotto, like truffles or saffron, “something fancy that you don’t cook on a daily or weekly basis,” Saglietti says. See recipes below.
Pasta: Just buy the fresh pasta and don’t try to make it, Saglietti says. She likes the seasonal ravioli with the squash filling. Pair with brown butter, parmesan and sage, or maybe even something sweet like hazelnuts or ... cookies? “In Italy it’s very popular to pair an amaretti cookie with the squash, either gnocchi or squash ravioli. ... Basically crumble that on top.”
One dish Saglietti lets her mom make is arancini. “If I have to make it from scratch myself, it’s not going to be as good.”
Desserts
What’s the difference between pannettone and pandoro? Saglietti explains on our podcast. She also likes to pair the sweet breads with either a zabaglione cream (egg yolks, sugar and some marsala wine) or gelato, plus some prosecco, of course. (Get a 20% discount on wines Nov. 18-20 at Eataly.)
Marinated Olives
1 pound olives, whole in brine
1 pint extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 orange peel
1 lemon peel
2 ounces rosemary
2 ounces thyme
Drain the olives from its brine and place them in a mixing bowl or a container that is heat safe.
On a pot, place the olive oil and bring up the temperature to 180 F, then remove from the heat.
Add the garlic, all the herbs and citrus peels, then pour the warm oil onto the olives. Let marinate for at least 5 hours at room temperature, then drain all the seasoning and preserve the olives in the oil in the refrigerator.
Leave out at least a couple of hours before serving.
Source: Paola Saglietti, Eataly
Risotto al Tartufo Nero (Black Truffle Risotto)
6-8 cups broth (a vegetable or cheese broth works well)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
2 cups Arborio rice or Carnaroli rice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup white wine
½ cup Grana Padano DOP, finely grated
2 ounces fresh black winter truffles
Heat the broth pot almost to boil. Cover and keep it very hot on the stove near the risotto pan.
Add olive oil, onion, and ½ teaspoon salt in the saucepan. Set over medium heat. Stir well as the onion starts to heat and soften. Stir frequently and cook until onion is wilted and just starting to brown about 8 minutes or so.
Add in the rice all at once and increase the heat. Stir the rice and onions continuously, toasting the grains (but not browning them), until they make a clicking sound as you turn them in the pan, 2 minutes or more.
Pour in the wine and keep stirring for another couple of minutes all around the pan until the moisture has evaporated and the rice is dry. Immediately ladle in 2 cups of the almost-simmering broth – enough to cover the rice – and decrease the heat.
Cook, stirring steadily until the water is almost totally absorbed, 4 to 6 minutes.
Quickly ladle in more broth to cover the rice and add another ½ teaspoon salt. Keep stirring as the rice swells and releases its starches and a thick creamy suspension starts to form.
When the broth is almost completely absorbed again and you can see the bottom of the saucepan as you stir, ladle in another cup or so of broth.
Remember how much broth you add. After incorporating 6 cups (or a bit more) over a period of 15 to 19 minutes, taste the rice for texture and seasoning. Add more salt and/or incorporate more hot broth if needed.
The risotto is perfectly cooked when it is both al dente and creamy. Once done, turn off the heat and immediately drop the butter pieces into the saucepan. Stir vigorously to mix the risotto with the butter. (This final step of adding butter to the risotto is known as mantecare in Italian.)
Stir in the ½ cup of grated Grana Padano DOP cheese.
For each serving, spoon a mound of risotto into a warm bowl and immediately shave paper-thin flakes of fresh black truffle over the top. Serve right away, as the heat releases the aroma of truffle into the air.
SOURCE: Eataly
Brasato al Barolo (Beef Braised in Barolo)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 pounds round steak, preferably Razza Piemontese, trussed with kitchen twine
3 cloves garlic, crushed
4 yellow onions, minced
4 carrots, minced
1 rib celery, minced
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
5 whole cloves
Fine sea salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 bottles (about 1 1/2 quarts) Barolo red wine
Heat the olive oil, in a Dutch oven or other heavy pot large enough to contain the meat, over medium heat. Brown the meat on all sides, then remove.
Add the garlic, onions, carrots, celery, rosemary, bay leaves, and cloves. Season with salt and pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes.
Return the meat to the pan, pour in the wine, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Simmer, covered, turning the meat occasionally with tongs, until the meat is tender, about 2 hours.
With tongs, remove the meat to a carving board. Transfer all the liquid and vegetables remaining in the pot to a blender and puree to make sauce smooth.
To serve, remove and discard the kitchen twine. Slice the meat and pour the sauce over the slices. Serve warm.
SOURCE: Eataly
