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Neapolitan Peperoni Sugo
For this sugo you will need ripe sweet red and yellow peppers.
You will need:
- 3 red and 2 yellow peppers
- 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
- 50g unsalted butter (or less)
- Maldon sea salt
- Bunch of fresh basil leaves
- Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Roughly peel the skin from the peppers with a potato peeler, de-seed them and cut them into strips, about 3-4cm thick. Rinse them in cold water.
Warm the oil in a large wide frying pan and add the garlic. Let it infuse and flavour the oil, taking care not to let it burn. Add the peppers, tossing them in the olive oil. Let them cook over a slow heat until they are soft and tender. This will take 20-25 mins.
Add the butter and a good sprinkling of Maldon sea salt. Taste and check the seasoning. Tear in a good bunch of basil leaves and serve this with plenty of grated Parmigiano with chunky pasta like penne rigate or rigatoni.
Peppers prepared like this can also be eaten as a vegetable or used as a pizza topping.
Salsa di Besciamella (Béchamel Sauce)
The basic white sauce used to make lasagne. You can make this with different flavours as described below.
You will need:
- 500ml milk
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 50g unsalted butter
- 50g plain flour
- Maldon sea salt and white pepper
- Freshly grated nutmeg
Heat the milk and the bay leaf together and leave to infuse.
In a seperate saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour, and with a wooden spoon stir them together until they form a ball, a 'roux'. Cook the mixture over a low heat for a few minutes.
Remove the bay leaf, add a little of the warm milk to the roux, and stir everything over a low heat until you have a smooth paste. Keep adding milk and stirring until the sauce is formed. It does have a tendency to get lumpy but keep stirring. As soon as it gets to simmering point, the lumps disappear and the sauce becomes smooth.
Once you have added all the milk, let the sauce cook on a low heat for 10 minutes or so. Season it with the Maldon salt, some ground white (or black) pepper and a grating of nutmeg. It needs quite a bit of seasoning, so taste it to check.
You can add layers of flavour to the milk by infusing a small onion, a clove, some black peppercorns or a sprig of tarragon in the milk before you use it. Strain the milk.
You can add freshly chopped herbs to the sauce once it is cooked: flat-leaf parsley, chives or fresh chervil.
Add grated cheese to make a cheese sauce: strong Cheddar such as Mull or Montgomery's. Gruyère or Roquefort give a delicious taste. Add grated Parmigiano Reggiano if you want to use the sauce with pasta.
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