RISOTTO
Ingredients:
300 gr of risotto rice
3 tablespoons of olive oil
100 gr of butter
100 ml of white semi-dry wine (of good quality)
130 grams of grated parmesan
800 ml of vegetable soup or even hot water
1 onion, finely chopped (about 175g)
2 finely chopped garlic cloves
Saffron, about 15 strands
Salt and pepper
For vegetable soup:
2-3 stalks of celery
1 onion
2 carrots
Salt, peppercorns
Preparation:
1. Prepare vegetable soup: bring water to a boil, add vegetables, salt, pepper and let it boil for about 15 minutes. Then add the saffron strands and let sit well.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet. Saute the onion and garlic. Add dry rice (do not rinse the rice grains when making risotto) and stir well to mix the rice with oil and spices.
3. Pour the wine over the rice and stir quickly to coat each grain of rice. Season with black pepper.
4. Reduce heat to medium or low. Fill a ladle with the vegetable stock and pour over the rice, stirring continuously and gently until the liquid is absorbed. Pour in another ladle and so on … Repeat the process until the vegetable soup is finished, it will take about 18 minutes, otherwise it means the fire was too fast.
5. When the soup is ready, add butter (without it, the risotto won’t be so creamy). Stir gently to distribute evenly. Add the grated Parmesan cheese and stir.
Risotto is served immediately, otherwise it will harden.
VEAL STEAK WITH SAFFRON SAUCE AND COGNAC
Ingredients:
800 g of veal, cut into small cubes
1 glass of cognac
500 ml of fatty yogurt
1 small onion
1 small bag of saffron
Butter
Greenery
Salt and pepper
Preparation:
Lightly salt the meat, put it in a greased baking dish, add finely chopped onion, pour cognac evenly and put in an oven preheated to 220 degrees.
Prepare the sauce: put the saffron in a bowl, pour a tablespoon of hot water, let it cool slightly, add yogurt, salt, add pepper and whisk everything until it is smooth. Remove the meat after 15 minutes, pour it over the sauce, stir and put it in the oven again. Reduce the temperature to 150 degrees and let it cook for another half hour so that each piece of meat is well greased. Serve the hot veal steak and sprinkle with herbs.
KULICH WITH SAFFRON
Ingredients:
1 kg of flour
140 g of brown sugar
200 g butter
4 yolks
15 ml rum or teaspoon of rum essence
2 bags of vanilla sugar
1 tablespoon of saffron flowers, scalded with hot milk
40 grams of yeast
½ teaspoon of salt
450 ml of warm milk
For anointing:
2 yolks
1 teaspoon of powdered vanilla sugar
1-2 teaspoons of milk
Chink:
100 grams of chopped walnuts
100 grams of dark chocolate
Raisins
Preparation: In a large bowl, mash yeast with 50 g of sugar until liquefied, mix it with 150 ml warm milk and 150 g flour. The resulting dough is covered with a towel and placed in a warm place for fermentation for 20 minutes, until it doubles in volume. In the meantime, scald the saffron petals with hot milk, leave covered to dissolve well. Add the remaining warm milk, yolks, scalded saffron infusion, 100 g ghee, rum, salt, vanilla and the rest of the flour to the raised dough. Knead the resulting dough for 15 minutes, until it separates from the bowl, add the rest of the melted butter, let it drain under the crust and no longer knead, but only fold, lifting from the sides to the middle, until the butter is mixed. The result is a sponge-like porous dough. Allow the dough to rise for an hour, until its volume doubles, cover the bowl with food foil so that air does not penetrate, put another towel on top and put it in a warm place protected from air currents. Then the raised dough is turned over on a floured table and divided into balls of 100 grams each, the balls are flattened and the desired filling is placed in the middle, the edges are brought to the center and glued so that the filling is hidden inside. The cakes are laid out oval, trying not to lose the filling, and 5 cuts are made along the length of the cakes with a pizza knife at an equal distance from each other. Twist the ends as you would on a cake to form a spiral, place the ends one on top of the other towards the back of the ball, fold them into small buttered muffin tins, let them rise until the dough comes out 1/3 over the edges of the pan from the total height, smeare with a fork with two whipped egg yolks with powder and milk and bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees, in a preheated oven.