Travel with your taste buds – Take a trip to Venice (Recipe)

Travel with your taste buds!

Take a trip to Venice with Filippo Berio

A trip to Venice may still seem an impossible dream but this summer make your taste buds travel for you!

Filippo Berio, the UK’s favourite Extra Virgin Olive Oil, brings you the real taste of Italy – recipes that create a little piece of Italy in your own home!

Baccalà Mantecato is a fluffy, white cloud of salt cod that is soaked and prepared like a sauce. An iconic appetiser from Venice, you’ll find this delicious snack in the city’s cicchetti (the Venetian word for small snacks) bars, which are also known as bácari.

It is beyond perfect served with polenta, which, although not a typical product of Southern Italy – Sgagliozze – is a signature street food that you can find all year round. The delicacy was born in Bari, but it is prepared throughout Puglia. In essence, it is polenta fried in a square or rectangle, eaten hot. Walking around Bari old town with a hot bag of Sgagliozze is one of life’s true experiences!

Follow these simple recipes, serve with an ice cold Italian wine and take your family and friends on a food trip they’ll love almost as much as travelling!

Baccalà Mantecato

Serves 8 as an appetizer

Prep: 10 minutes plus 24 hours soaking time

Cook: 10 minutes

400g salt cod fillet

600ml whole milk

6 black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

225ml Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil, extra for drizzling

2tbsp freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 Soak the salt cod in cold water for 24 hours, changing the water every 8 hours. Drain.

2 Place the fish in a saucepan with the milk, peppercorns and bay leaf. Bring to the boil and simmer very gently for about 10 minutes. Take off the heat, cover and leave for another 10 minutes.

3 Remove the fish from the milk and then break it into flakes with a fork or your fingers, removing any skin and bones that remain.

4 Place the fish in a food processor with 2-3 tablespoons of the milk. Pulse until it forms a paste.

5 On a low speed, add the oil little by little as if making mayonnaise. Once the oil is finished, the baccalà should be light and fluffy.

6 Season to taste and leave to cool. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.

7 Serve on top of the sgagliozze, drizzled with Filippo Berio Extra Virgin Olive Oil and garnished with parsley

Sgagliozze

Makes 12 slices

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook: 15 minutes, plus cooling

900ml boiling water

200g express polenta

1tsp salt

200ml Filippo Berio Classico Olive Oil, for frying

1 Cook polenta according to packet instructions. Spread onto a baking sheet lined with a sheet of baking paper.

2 Place another sheet of baking paper on top, followed by another baking tray. Squeeze together gently to flatten the polenta then place a heavy saucepan on top to weigh it down. Leave to cool completely.

3 Cut the polenta into 12 rectangles, about 4 cm x 8 cm.

4 Pour the Filippo Berio Classico Olive Oil into a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the polenta pieces, for about 3 minutes each side, until golden brown all over. Drain the polenta pieces on kitchen towel. Season with salt and serve topped with the baccalà mantecato.