Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [206]
3. Thickly smear the inside of the souffle dish with butter.
4. Cut off ⅓ of the pastry dough, and over a sheet of wax paper or kitchen parchment, roll it into a circular sheet large enough to cover the bottom of the baking dish and come up its sides a little. Turn the sheet over into the dish, peeling the paper or parchment away. Fit the dough over the bottom of the dish, spreading it out evenly with your fingers.
5. Cut the remaining ball of dough in two, and, following the method described above, roll one half into rectangular strips about as wide as the souffle mold is deep. Line the sides of the mold with the strips, overlapping where necessary, and filling in any gap with bits of dough, handling it like putty. Smooth with your fingers, evening off any unevenness. Where the sides meet the bottom, press the dough all around to seal the connection tightly.
6. Pour the mixture from the bowl into the mold and press it with the back of a spoon to force out any air bubbles trapped within it.
7. Roll out the rest of the pastry dough into a sheet large enough to cover the top of the pie amply. Place it over the filling and press it with your fingers where it meets the dough on the sides, making a tight seal. Trim the edge of the upper sheet of dough so that it does not extend more than ½ inch beyond the rim of the mold, and fold what remains over toward the center. Go over any rough connections with a moistened fingertip.
8. Place the dish on the upper rack of the preheated oven, and bake until the crust on top becomes colored a light golden brown, about 45 minutes. If at the end of 45 minutes the crust requires a little deeper browning, turn the oven up to 400° and bake for a few more minutes until the color looks right.
9. The pie can be served without unmolding, spooning it directly out of the baking dish. If you’d rather unmold it, when the dish has settled out of the oven for 10 minutes, run a knife all around the sides of the mold to loosen the pie. Put a dinner plate, bottom up, over the top of the mold. Grasp the plate and mold with a towel, holding them together tightly, and turn the mold upside down. Lift the mold away to leave the pie standing on the plate. Let cool at least another 5 to 10 minutes, or serve even a few hours later, at mild room temperature.
VARIETY MEATS
Sautéed Calf’s Liver with Lemon, Piccata Style
Piccata is the term restaurants often use to describe sautéed veal scaloppine sauced with lemon juice. A similar procedure is here applied to calf’s liver. If possible, it is an even more refined dish than the version with scaloppine. It is certainly one of the freshest and lightest things one can do with liver.
For 4 servings
1 pound choice, pale pink calf’s liver, cut into slices no more than ¼ inch thick
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter
Flour, spread on a plate
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1. Remove any of the thin, stiff skin that may still be on the liver. It would shrink while cooking, and keep the liver from lying flat in the pan. If you find any large white gristly tubes, remove those also.
2. Put the oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan and turn on the heat to medium high. When the butter foam subsides, rapidly turn the liver in the flour on both sides, and slip into the pan as many slices at one time as will fit loosely, without crowding or overlapping. Cook the liver about ½ minute on each side, then transfer to a warm plate, using a slotted spoon or spatula, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat the procedure until all the slices of liver are done and on the plate.
3. Add the lemon juice and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to the pan over medium-high heat. Stir rapidly, 2 or 3 times, using a wooden spoon