Original subtitles

♪ ("La Donna è mobile" by giuseppe verdi) ♪

♪

Dr dria driati driatic driatic se driatic sea,

famed for its elegant gondolas, scenic canals

and the romance of its historic cities.

My venetian menu includes an antipasto

of sweet and sour sardines.

My primo is a unique white polenta with shrimp,

a secondo of the famous chicken cacciatore

and an equally famous dolce: Tiramisu.

♪

♪

The veneto region of italy is up on the northeast coast.

And it literally spills into the adriatic sea,

which, in return, gives up a bounty

of beautiful, delicious seafood and shellfish.

And this sweet and sour sardine dish

happens to be a favourite with the locals.

It's called "sarde in saor",

sweet and sour sardines.

So, my sardines are patted dry.

I have onions that have been browned off nicely

over a medium-high heat.

And in this little bowl,

i've got raisins that are plumping up nicely

with a little drop of white wine. in they go.

(Sizzling)

Whilst there's a little acidity in the wine, not quite enough.

So, the addition of

some good white wine vinegar gets the job done.

And one more secret ingredient

that also packs one heck of a punch,

and that is...

Cloves.

But is so powerful and flavourful,

i only need maybe one or two in this dish.

Now in order to fry my sardines up and get them nice and crispy,

a light coating in seasoned flour

and a good shaking is going to get the job done for me.

Come and take a look at this oil. it is actually shimmering.

You can see the heatwaves,

which tells me my oil is just about ready to go.

Shake off as much of the excess flour as you can.

And in go the sardines.

And to drop the sardine in, head first,

hold it by the tail and away from you.

♪

(Sizzling)

♪

My sardines have crispened up really nicely.

You can hear the sizzle continuing.

Look how crispy and crunchy they are,

and a beautiful colour. I lay these onto a little dish.

♪

And these sardines get buried

in this sweet and sour, bitter, aromatic bath for a while.

Now, traditionally, these sardines are served cold.

So, best practices have to apply.

Allow these to cool down before you put them in the fridge.

And here's some sardines

that have already become nicely chilled

and hopefully full of great sweet and sour flavours.

Sprinkle of parsley and toasted pine nuts.

♪

And a zesty squeeze of lemon.

Look at that beautiful, moist sardine.

You know, the flavour of that sardine is still there,

big and bold, rich and meaty.

But the wonderful acidity flavour,

the wonderful sweet onions and raisins

just amps it up to a whole new level.

This dish makes the perfect summertime antipasto.

Now for my primo, something a little creamy:

Venetian-style polenta with garlicky shrimp.

♪

White polenta is a venetian speciality.

And it's made from finely-ground white corn.

And that white corn polenta

is often topped with sweet, garlicky shrimp.

So, in my pot, i have my foundation.

It is garlic and onions that have been pureed

and gently simmering. that is the foundation of flavour.

I like to add a drop of dry white wine,

like this pinot grigio from the veneto region,

as part of the flavourings that come out in this polenta,

and especially when i'm using it with shrimp.

My wine is nicely reduced.

So, to add, a good amount of water,

'cause this is what's going to give me

that liquid effect with my polenta.

And before i add my polenta,

i need to make sure that my liquid

has come to a roaring boil.

So, it's a perfect time to add a little seasoning,

a little white pepper.

And the reason i'm using white pepper

is 'cause i want a little of that peppery heat.

But i don't want to get any of those little black specks

in my white polenta.

And this is the key ingredient right here: white cornmeal.

Sprinkle a little on. Give it a whisk.

Work a little more in.

In a very short time,

my polenta has begun to thicken quite nicely.

Now to add to that white, creamy consistency

that i'm looking for: A little whole milk.

And because i'm not adding any cheese to this polenta,

it allows me to be a little more generous

when it comes to rich, decadent butter.

Super fine, thinly-sliced garlic,

the better for this dish.

A little parsley.

All right, garlic, parsley,

i have my shrimp.

A little butter and olive oil in a pan.

As it comes to a little bubble,

that tells me it's time to put in the garlic

and start sweating it down.

In with the shrimp.

(Sizzling)

Splash of white wine.

(Sizzling)

And this is the perfect time to add a little more butter.

Final pinch of parsley and it is that quick, that easy.

One, two, three. Check my polenta. beautiful.

"A l'onda", meaning "the wave",

this is how it's served,

so you can literally see the wave in the polenta.

Yet under its own weight, just gently flattens out.

Top off with some shrimp.

Everyone loves a sweet, garlicky,

butter shrimp.

And all this extra sauce gets served on top.

And there you have it, venetian white polenta.

Take a little spoonful with shrimp.

Remove the tail.

The sweet taste of the garlic, the butter

and then that soft, creamy polenta.

Now for my main event, my secondo,

a dish that is popular all over Italy: chicken, hunter style.

You may also know it as "pollo alla cacciatora".

♪

Pollo alla cacciatora is a popular dish

in the veneto region.

And "cacciatora" actually means "hunter style".

So, the recipe can change slightly from region to region

and the time of year.

And the chicken i'm using is a bone-on, skin-on chicken breast.

That layer of fat that's there

will contribute so much great taste to the dish.

Whenever you can, cook with skin on and bone in.

(Sizzling)

And a good sear, skin-down first, gets my chicken underway.

♪

My chicken is really browning up, crispy,

and rendering down that wonderful chicken fat

from the skin.

I want to pick up a little colour on the other side.

And then the chicken comes out.

Anchovies, now that might sound like a strange ingredient

to be putting into a chicken cacciatore.

But let me tell you,

that hit of salt is going to add an amazing depth of flavour.

And you won't even know they're there,

other than the richness that they add to the finished sauce,

and a hit of saltiness.

(Sizzling)

♪

My chicken's nicely browned.

But in the bottom of my pan,

i've got all this wonderful, sticky, sweet, flavourful stuff

that i want to keep.

So, all i do is throw in my veggies and garlic, my mirepoix.

Get that to sweat down, bring out its own flavour

and clean off the bottom of the pan.

Time for some aromatics: Bay leaf and oregano.

And what i want to do

is just pull out those wonderful flavours

as part of the aromatic seasonings

to this chicken cacciatore. Time to put in the anchovy.

Those anchovies will just melt away to nothing,

leaving just their rich, deep flavour.

A little tomato paste, not too much.

That's going to help add a wonderful colour,

and thicken the sauce.

When it comes to the wine with pollo alla cacciatora,

it depends on which part of italy you're in.

Up north, they like to use a nice, white, crisp wine,

such as that pinot grigio.

That's the sound of wine getting to work.

(Sizzling)

To add to the sauce: Vine-ripened tomatoes.

In they go.

And in my mind, a cacciatore would not be complete

without some big, pungent, flavoured olives.

Let's add our chicken back in, settle them in nicely.

♪

Are you watching?

That's flavour right there. Look at that.

Do not waste any of those juices.

(Sizzling)

And a little chicken broth.

Lid on. Time to enjoy a glass of wine.

Look at that.

That is absolutely gorgeous,

a simple dish that everybody loves, a classic in italy,

a great way to cook chicken.

♪

All that sauce to be soaked up with some great, crusty bread.

And i'm serving a radicchio and orange salad.

The bitterness of that radicchio,

counterpoint with that sweet orange,

perfect little salad to dress up

a gorgeous, little chicken cacciatore.

Cooking chicken this way, it is so easy,

in this great, flavourful sauce.

♪

And with a sauce like this and a piece of crusty bread,

you've got to do some mopping up.

♪

Cacciatore, a true italian classic.

And now for my dolce, another great italian classic

that is adored by all venetians and people all over the world:

Tiramisu, which means "pick me up".

(Machine grinding)

(Man singing in italian)

♪

Now, venetian legend has it that tiramisu was invented

in a small restaurant in the town of treviso.

I don't know whether that's true or not. but i'll tell you this.

I love making tiramisu.

But even more than that, i love eating it.

So, whilst this cools down, i'll have a sip of coffee.

And i've got some work to do with some eggs.

The trick to a really good tiramisu is twofold.

One is having a really great brewed coffee like an espresso

to give you that coffee hit,

and then making the cream from the mascarpone

as light and airy as you possibly can.

And that means incorporating as much air into the mixture

at every given opportunity.

And as those egg yolks incorporate air,

they change colour, become a little lighter.

Next, the mascarpone,

rich, decadent and, of course, delicious.

♪

And now, to kick it up another notch,

it's time to whip up some egg whites.

♪

That's exactly where i want it, nice, stiff peaks.

Now i take my egg whites, super light and fluffy.

And i incorporate them

into my egg yolk, sugar and mascarpone mix.

I could not get these two mixtures to come together

as light as they are going to be

without separating the eggs from the yolks,

whipping the egg whites, whipping the yolks

and then gently folding and cutting in

these light, fluffy, cloud-like egg whites.

It's just impossible.

So, the least amount of times that you can cut and fold

to fold your egg whites into the mixture,

the better and lighter your fluffy mixture will be.

Remember that. that is done.

And these are ladyfingers, also known as "savoiardi",

these classic italian biscuits

that are always used as the foundation of the tiramisu.

My espresso has chilled down nicely.

A little soak of that savoiardi biscuit, in and out.

And you fill the bottom layer.

♪

Ladies' fingers are like little sponge cakes.

They're great for absorbing liquid.

Now it's the cream.

♪

And that's it. My tiramisu is done.

Well, almost: One last important step.

This needs to chill in the fridge.

And once good and cold, then we can serve and eat.

(Tapping)

Doesn't that sound good?

Oh, yes. that even looks good.

Now, i used to work in a restaurant

where we would sell just huge amounts of tiramisu.

And this is a little bit of a retro feel

of how we used to do it back then.

Bit of cocoa powder,

little shaved chocolate.

♪

There we go, tiramisu, can't wait to try it.

♪

You know, I think if you mention the name "tiramisu",

most people just give out a little sigh.

But when you taste this tiramisu,

with the unmistakable flavours of coffee,

lightly-whipped mascarpone cheese,

chocolate, cocoa,

and the way they come together,

it is an amazing dessert that has stood the test of time,

that people love and adore.

And it's made all over italy, all over the world.

It is simply delicious,

refreshing, light and extremely tasty.

This is a particularly good recipe.

To start, an antipasto of sweet and sour sardines.

As a primo, creamy, white corn polenta,

with sweet, garlicky shrimp.

And a classic secondo of chicken cacciatore,

served with a radicchio and orange salad.

And then to close everything out,

a perfect dolce of tiramisu.

These are a few of my favourite recipes from veneto,

an entire meal.

Buon appetito.

(Ng ng i ng in ng in it ng in ital ng in italia ng in italian)

♪