Recipes - Main Courses

Pork loin with Savoy cabbage

Ingredients:
Ingredients for 6 persons: 900g of pork loin off the bone, 1 onion, 1 stalk of celery, 1 white onion, fine salt, black pepper, 1kg of Savoy cabbage, 2 leeks, 2 cloves of garlic, 300g of tinned peeled tomatoes, 2dl of San Gimignano Rosso DOC, 1dl of extra-virgin olive oil of San Gimignano

Preparation:
Tie the meat, season with salt and pepper, bake it into the oven in few water with cubed vegetables. Chop leeks and garlic separately in thin slices, pan-fry in oil, until golden-brown, then add Savoy cabbage in thin strips. Season with salt, cover and cook, then add tinned peeled tomatoes after putting them through a ricer. Continue cooking on a low flame. Wet the meat with the wine quite often, until it forms a glossy crunchy surface. When ready, remove from the oven and keep it warm. Remove vegetables from the bottom, remove the dripping and filter. Heat it up on a flame and pour on the slices of pork loin. To be served with braised Savoy cabbage.

This cooking method glazes the meat and keep it tender. To do so, cook the meat at a lower oven temperature for a longer time.

Rabbit with Vernaccia wine

Ingredients:
Ingredients for 4 persons: 1 rabbit, Spices, Extra virgin Olive oil, Garlic, Salt, Rosmary, Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

Preparation:
Cut a rabbit in small pieces and put them in a pan with chopped spices, garlic, rosemary and extra virgin olive oil. When the rabbit will be well browned add the Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Cover and continue the cooking.

Lamb ribs with garlic puree

Ingredients:
Ingredients for 6 persons: 18 lamb ribs, 50g of black olives, 50g maize flour, a small bunch of parsley, 2 fresh onions, the peel of 2 lemons, 12 cloves of garlic, 2dl of extra-virgin olive oil of San Gimignano, 400g of boiled potatoes, 2dl of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, 1dl of milk.

Preparation:
Flatten the lamb ribs, wet them with Vernaccia, then flour them with the maize flour mixed with chopped black olives. Heat the oil in a pan, put the garlic with skin, cook them on a mild flame. Remove them from the pan, and remove the softened pulp. Mix it with the boiled potatoes, wetted with some milk. Season with salt and pepper, then keep it warm apart. Cook the ribs in oil, until golden brown. Sprinkle with parsley, lemon peel, and chopped onions, and serve together with purée.

You can turn the garlic purée into a light cream, by removing potatoes and adding some milk. If you don't like the crunchy taste, the ribs can be just floured, and wetted with lemon. Chopped olives can be added later.

Stuffed veal rolls with artichokes

Ingredients:
Ingredients for 6 persons: 12 veal escalope (appox. 50g each), 6 slices of pork underbelly, 12 small slices of underripe pecorino, 6 artichokes, fine salt, black pepper, 500g of tinned peeled tomatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, a bunch of parsley, 2 dl of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, 2dl of extra-virgin olive oil of San Gimignano, 100g of flour, rosemary.

Preparation:
Flatten the escalope with a meat mallet. Lay half a slice of pork underbelly and a slice of pecorino cheese on each escalope. Add artichokes, after having cleaned and cut in thin slices. Season with salt and pepper. Roll escalope out and close with toothpicks. Flour the rolls and pan-fry in oil with some smashed garlic and rosemary. Remove the grease from pan and wet with Vernaccia. As soon as the wine evaporates, remove the meat from the flame and keep it warm aside. Add the peeled tomatoes, make them boil on a mild flame, season with salt and pepper. When the sauce concentrates, add the rolls again and let them cook for a while. Sprinkle with some chopped parsley and serve.

For the rolls, the stuffing can vary to fit your fancy, but it is important to keep the combination cold cut/cheese: like ham and mozzarella, mortadella and scamorza cheese, and so on . Be careful not to overcook, in order to avoid hardening the meat. Artichokes can be replaced with vegetables in season.

Chicken breast with spinach on a bed of onions

Ingredients:
Ingredients for 6 persons: 6 chicken breasts (100g each), 300g of boiled spinach, 90g of pork net, fine salt, black pepper, 400g of red onions, 2dl of wine (San Gimignano Rosso DOC), 300g of potatoes, 1dl of extra-virgin olive oil of San Gimignano.

Preparation:
Beat the meat until it becomes thin. Boil spinach, squeeze and roughly chop. Lay spinach on the meat. Roll and wrap it in the pork net. In the meantime, cut the onions in thin slices and pan-fry with oil. Season with salt and pepper, when golden-brown wet with wine. When alcohol has evaporated, cook covering the pan. Put the onions in a blender, wetting with water or stock, if needed. Bake the breasts with some water into the oven to 1500. Cut potatoes in cubes and bake them into the oven as well, after pan-frying in some oil. Once the chicken breasts are ready, cut them in thin slices and serve on the sauce. Garnish with roasted potatoes and serve immediately.

Thanks to the pork net, the chicken will be soft and savoury. Pork net can be replaced with fat pork underbelly or lard, but not with the same result. Onions can be replaced with peppers, zucchini or aubergine, always in cream.

Sliced Beef with beans and Swiss chard

Ingredients:
Ingredients for 6 persons: 600g of beef "noce" (inner part of the hindquarters), 6 leaves of sage, 2 cloves of garlic, rosemary, 600g of boiler Cannellini beans, 1 head of Swiss chard, 1dl of extra-virgin olive oil of San Gimignano, fine salt, black pepper, aged red-wine vinegar.

Preparation:
Chop garlic, sage, and rosemary finely, pan-fry in oil. Add cubed Swiss chard and cook, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add boiled beans and wet with some cooking water. Cook for a few minutes, then wet with vinegar. Grill the meat, season with salt after cooking and serve together with beans.

A short cooking is essential. For this reason, if the meat is cut in smaller pieces, you can sauté in a pan. Cannellini beans can be replaced with Borlotti or zolfini beans with excellent results.