Nogroni Balsamico - Vol-au-vent with mortadella cream and pistachios
Recipe, Food-Styling: Mattia Risaliti Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald
Oldschool X Newschool
Another pairing from the collaboration with the Department of Glass and Ceramic Design at Burg Giebichenstein University in Halle. After a workshop that I gave together with Mattia Risaliti at the university on the subject of food styling, food photography and product staging, we were both so enthusiastic about the young designers' creations that we absolutely wanted to turn this into something. In printed version, the whole range could already be seen in my Magazine No.2 .
Here it is a "pasty" with a sophisticated name. The term vol-au-vent actually means a complete dish, i.e. a pâté made of puff pastry filled with certain ingredients. Nowadays, it is often only the pastry shell that is called vol-au-vent. I know these puff pastry pots in connection with chicken fricassee or other sauce-like dishes. Honestly? That never really picked me up, kind of oldschool, but the badder oldschool. In dry style though, more along the lines of pigs in blankets, I'm definitely on board with that. The dish is also extremely host-friendly. All the ingredients can be prepared very easily. The filling can be prepared well in advance, the pies have to be pre-baked anyway and the ready-made dough from the freezer can also be used. So there is not really much to do. In the picture, the vol-au-vents are filled with mortadella, meaty, and mildly spicy (pigs in a blanket, that's a good description). Veggie is also possible, e.g. with cheese. To keep the balance between mild and spicy and to match the drink, Gorgonzola is an excellent choice. If you like it a bit stronger, you can go for Roquefort.
The drink is a Nogroni, which I have already presented in one form or another ( here and here ). It works so well without alcohol that even die-hard Alk Negroni fans like to try it. With a shot of balsamic vinegar, it gives a wonderful acid kick and an interesting topic of conversation for free. Who hasn't brought a rare vinegar back from holiday or heard about the hype that (rightly) surrounds vintage balsamico? And anyway, Modena, what a city, Emilia Romagna, oh the Italian cuisine .... .
Our Nogroni is prepared in the classic way, with 0.0 % gin, 0.0 % Italian bitters and 0.0 % red vermouth. You can get all the products for it at Undone from Hamburg, for example, or if you want a different gin alternative, Laori from Berlin or Applaus Gin from Stuttgart are in good hands.
The proportion of gin can be increased depending on the aroma and strength of the botanicals; fortunately, we never run the risk of having too many booze in the glass. Nice!
A snack with light oldschool vibes, paired with newschool in a double pack: drink and ceramic, both "very fresh".
Cheers!
Recipe, Food-Styling: Mattia Risaliti Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald
Vol-au-vent with mortadella cream and pistachios
Portion: 6 people
Preparation time: 35 min
Mortadella cream:
100 g Italian mortadella in one piece
30 g ricotta cheese
25 g grated Parmesan
20 g whipped cream
Pinch of nutmeg
Pepper and salt
10 g chopped pistachios
Puff pastry:
250 g puff pastry frozen
1 whisked egg yolk
Mortadella cream:
Cut the mortadella into cubes and place in a blender. Add the cream, cream cheese, a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg.Blend everything together until you get a frothy consistency.If the mixture is too thick, add a few tablespoons of milk. Vol au vents :
Preheat the oven to 190 °C. Roll out the pastry to 1 cm thick. Using a fluted 6 cm cookie cutter, cut out circles from the pastry. Using a round cookie cutter (4 cm), cut a hollow in the centre of the dough circles, but do not press down hard enough to cut through. Prick the inner circle several times with a fork. Place the dough on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Brush the outside of each dough ring with the beaten egg. Bake the vol-au-vents in the oven for 12-15 minutes until risen and golden brown. Leave to cool completely before filling.
Place the mixture in a piping bag and fill the Vol-au-vents with the mortadella mixture then sprinkle with some chopped pistachios.
Alternative cheese filling:
100 g gorgonzola
60 g celery
60 g peeled carrots
20 g ricotta
10 g chopped pistachios
Fresh oregano
SaltPepper
Clean and dice the vegetables.Mix the gorgonzola, ricotta and vegetables in a food processor to a mixture, season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into a piping bag. Fill the vol-au-vents and sprinkle with the chopped pistachios.
The drink:
3 CL Gin non-alcoholic
3 CL Red Vermouth non-alcoholic
3 CL Italian Bitter non-alcoholic
1 CL Balsamic
Orange peel
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass, fill the mixing glass completely with ice and stir with a bar spoon for about 30 seconds. Prepare a tumbler with a large ice cube, and strain the mocktail into the glass. Garnish with orange peel.