Antonio Carluccio: Three of his favourite Italian recipes

The godfather of Italian cuisine in Britain died on Wednesday. Here we share three of his most-loved recipes, using the ingredients he was best known for: pasta and mushrooms

His motto for cooking was MOF MOF: minimum of fuss, maximum of flavour

He grew up in northern Italy, foraging for mushrooms with his father – before foraging made its way on to our menus as something to be desired, rather than a necessity.

This ingredient later became his forte and his passion and featured on his menus both in his first restaurant, Neal Street Restaurant in Covent Garden and later in his well-known high street chain restaurants, Carluccios.

His home-style of cooking revolutionised the way the UK saw and served Italain food in the Seventies, which gave him the name of the godfather of Italian food.

Wild mushroom soup - zuppa di funghi misti

Serves 4

300g wild and cultivated mushrooms, cleaned weight

10g dried ceps (funghi porcini), soaked in hot water for 20-30 minutes (save the water)
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, peeled and finely sliced
½ tbsp. cornflour (cornstarch)
1.5 litres chicken or vegetable stock
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat-leafed parsley
50g Parmesan, freshly grate
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

This is a very delightful soup, which I like best with lots of texture so I don’t blend it. I make it usually with a mixture of wild mushrooms, but you can also make it with a mix of cultivated ones plus a little dried funghi porcini for favour. Whether wild or cultivated, this soup is warm, comforting and makes a lovely starter. Finely slice the cleaned mushrooms. Chop the drained funghi porcini.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion for 10 minutes, until soft. Add the sliced mushrooms and the chopped funghi porcini, and fry for about 8 minutes. Then add the cornflour and stock, with the porcini soaking water, and mix well together. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

Should you prefer a creamy soup, blend it in a food processor. (You could perhaps add a couple of tablespoons of double cream/ heavy cream.) Serve sprinkled with the parsley and Parmesan.

Recipe from Vegetables by Antonio Carluccio. Published by Quadrille, £25

Pennoni giardiniera – giant quills with courgette sauce and spinach balls

Serves 4

300g dried giant penne pasta, known as pennoni
salt and pepper, to taste
40g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Spinach balls

600g young spinach leaves
2 medium eggs, beaten
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
tip of a knife of freshly grated nutmeg
50g fresh breadcrumbs
20g Parmesan, freshly grated
olive oil for shallow-frying

Sauce

4 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
1 little fresh red chilli, not too hot, finely chopped
300g grated courgette

Alternatives

You could use paccheri or rigatoni instead of the pennoni

Prepare the spinach balls first by cooking the spinach leaves in salted water for a few minutes. Scoop out and leave to cool down. When cool, squeeze out most of the moisture and chop the leaves with a knife, but not too small. Then mix in a bowl with the eggs, garlic, nutmeg, breadcrumbs and Parmesan. Make some balls the size of a large walnut and shallow-fry in oil until they start to brown on all sides. Set aside. Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for 12–15 minutes or until al dente. Drain. (Pennoni are large, so need a longer cooking time.)

Meanwhile, for the sauce, heat the oil in a large saucepan, and add the garlic, chilli and courgette to the pan. Cook quickly in the oil, about 3–4 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix the cooked pasta into the sauce, then divide between warmed plates. Sprinkle the top of each portion with Parmesan and place four or five spinach balls on top.

I have to include this recipe, because it has become very well known, at least in Carluccio’s restaurants. Some years ago the personnel at the Ealing Carluccio’s asked me if I could create a vegetarian dish with pasta. I went immediately to the kitchen, where I found enough courgettes and spinach to make a dish, matched them with pennoni (large pasta tubes from Puglia), and this is it. It has been on the Carluccio’s menu since then, and each time it is ordered, it collects 50p for charity. It has been so successful that in those eight intervening years it has collected almost a million pounds!

Recipe from Pasta by Antonio Carluccio. Published by Quadrille, £9.99. Photography: Laura Edwards

Risotto con funghi – risotto with mushrooms

Perhaps together with risotto with truffles, risotto with ceps is the best-known of Italian rice dishes. Italians eat this only in season when the porcino (Boletus edulis or cep) is around, but the following recipe I have devised will enable you to enjoy a mushroom risotto throughout the year. Should you manage to find some fresh porcini, however, I urge you to try them, the taste is sensational!

Serves 4

2 litres chicken or vegetable stock
4 tbsp olive oil or 50g unsalted butter
1 onion, peeled and very finely chopped
300g firm button mushrooms, finely sliced
50g dried porcini (ceps), rehydrated (see left) and chopped
350g carnaroli or arborio risotto rice
60g Parmesan, freshly grated
80g unsalted butter
salt and pepper

Put the stock in a pan, bring to the boil and keep at a low simmer. Heat the olive oil or butter in a large pan over a low heat, add the onion and fry until soft, about 10 minutes. Add the button mushrooms and the porcini and cook for 5 minutes, until soft and lightly browned

Add the rice and stir for a minute or two, then add one or two ladles of boiling stock. Stir continuously over the heat, adding stock a ladleful at a time as each addition is absorbed. After 18–20 minutes, check for the required al dente texture – the rice should be tender, but with a firm bite in the centre, and the risotto should be moist.

Remove the pan from the heat, add the Parmesan and butter and stir in well. Season to taste and serve on warm plates. Buon appetito.

To rehydrate dried porcini

Soak dried porcini in water to cover for about 20 minutes. Pick the mushrooms out of the water into a sieve over a bowl. Then very carefully strain the water, preferably through muslin, into a jug or bowl. This will remove any dust that may have come off the mushrooms. The liquid will taste intensely mushroomy, and can be used in addition to the stock to add extra mushroom flavour to this risotto.

Recipe from Antonio Carluccios Simple Cooking by Antonio Carluccio. Published by Quadrille, 9.99. Photography: Alastair Hendy