Tomini elettrici

Soft cow’s milk cheese with herbs and crushed red peppers preserved under oil: most probably the most soul-touching food I miss from Piemonte (after truffled cacciatorini). The tragedy is that there’s no close relative being sold in the US and even fresh cheeses like farmer’s cheese are too grainy and lacking the twang of a real tomino from Piemonte. Needless to say, I undertook the challenge and started from scratch.
I followed the recipe of Dr. Fankhauser for Neufchatel cheese and made some tweakings.
I used ½ tablet rennet, got 2 pounds of cheese out of 1 gallon of Clover Stornetta Organic Vitamin D milk and mixed with 3 tsp of salt.

I molded the cheeses into logs and sprinkled the surface with kosher salt.
Wrapped the logs into cheese cloth and sprinkled the cloth with salt too. I aged the cheeses for one week in the upper part of the fridge into a tupperware for herbs (the ones with a grid on the bottom and some apertures on the sides to keep the right amount of moisture).

I finally cut the logs into rounds, sprinkled them with crushed red pepper and dried oregano and parsley and covered them with safflower oil. Now they are in the fridge and they just taste phenomenal.
Considering the amount of handling that the cheese has underwent I won’t keep these more than two weeks in the fridge.

Mangialonga SF

Menu and path:

(A) Cantine Barbone
- tomino elettrico 
- lingua in bagnetto verde
- vitello tonnato
Mutti Noceto 2007 Cortese Colli Tortonesi
 
(B) Antica Prosciutteria
- peperoni in bagna caoda
- zucchine in carpione 
- tartine di polenta con crema di porri, fondue e bagna caoda
- tagliatelle fatte in casa al castelmagno e ragu’
Bovio Barbera d’Alba 2005
 
(C) Pasticceria Baldini
- brasato al barolo con patate al forno e pure’ 
- cotechino con lenticchie
Massa Pertichetta 2004 Croatina
 
(A) Cantine Barbone
- torta alle nocciole
- pesche all’amaretto
- panna cotta
- fragole e panna
- caffe’ e amaro
La Morandina Moscato 2007

A huge thanks goes to Ceri Smith of Biondivino in SF for having made the wine selection possible within a very limited budget. Pure Piemonte, thanks Ceri!

Bagna cauda

A favorite from Piemonte.
We topped some polenta cakes and red peppers with this earthy and dense sauce.

• 6 garlic heads, peeled and core removed
• 12 oz of salted anchovies, deboned and washed with red wine
• 4 cups of milk
• 2+ cups of oil
• 1 cup of whipping cream

Open garlic heads, separate cloves, peel them and cut longitudinally to remove the core.
Place in a bowl, cover completely with milk and let stand in a fresh spot for the night having care to cover the pot with a lid or plastic wrap.
Drain the garlic and discard the milk.
Place the pot on a stove, cover completely with milk again and let slowly simmer until the garlic begins to melt.
Let the mixture cook slowly until a creamy texture is obtained.
It requires slow simmering and continuous care to prevent the sauce from drying up.
Add the anchovies and simmer until completely melted and blended in the garlic mixture.
Slowly add oil as needed to create a smooth cream, about 2 cups.
When the mixture comes to a slow boil again, pour the whipping cream and bring back to a slow boil/simmering.
Divide in small portions and serve on butter warmers to help the sauce keep the temperature.
The Bagna Cauda can be eaten with many different vegetables (raw, parboiled or boiled), such as: celery stalks, roasted bell pepper, fennel, boiled fingerling potatoes and jerusalem artichokes or parboiled green cabbage, red radicchio, onion, turnips, parsnips, and white cardoon.