Читать книгу Made in Italy: Food and Stories - Giorgio Locatelli - Страница 32

Ovinfort is a fantastic Sardinian blue cheese that didn’t exist ten years ago. Now I think it beats any French Roquefort – though I would say that, wouldn’t I? In the North of Italy we are more used to blue cheeses made from cows’ milk, but this is made from very high quality ewes’ milk and matured for ninety days, so it has quite a strong spicy flavour. People sometimes forget that cheeses have seasons – like every other natural product – and this one is available most of the year except between September and mid-December, when the ewes need their milk for their lambs. If you can’t find Ovinfort, you could use a hard Gorgonzola, or even Roquefort – just don’t tell me.

If you want to serve this dish for a party, you could use each chicory leaf to hold the pear and cheese. Drizzle a little mayonnaise into each leaf, put a slice of pear on top, followed by a slice of cheese, and let everyone help themselves.

2 ripe pears, such as Comice

2 heads of yellow chicory and 2 of red chicory (if possible, otherwise 4 yellow)

2 tablespoons mayonnaise (see page 53)

1 teaspoon English mustard

2 tablespoons Giorgio’s vinaigrette (see page 51)

150g Ovinfort cheese (or mature Gorgonzola)

salt and pepper

Peel, quarter and core the pears, then slice them thinly lengthways.

Cut the base off each head of chicory, so that the leaves come away. Mix the mayonnaise with the mustard and add 2-3 tablespoons of hot water, to loosen it up enough to be able to drizzle over the salad.

Put the chicory leaves in a bowl, season and toss with the vinaigrette.

Put a layer of chicory on each serving plate, followed by a layer of pear, then more chicory. Drizzle with the mayonnaise and, using a potato peeler, shave the Ovinfort over the top.