Frankie Dettori’s Italian Family Cookbook

1 teaspoon lemon juice

a dash of Worcestershire sauce

200 ml vegetable oil

sea salt

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Chilling time: 2 hours

Wrap the beef fillet tightly in cling film and place in a freezer for approximately 2 hours.

For the dressing, whisk the egg yolk with the Dijon and coarse-grain mustard, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Then slowly pour in the vegetable oil, whisking all the time. Season with the salt.

To serve, remove the beef fillet from the freezer, unwrap it and – using a very sharp, serrated knife – slice it as finely as you can. (Your fillet should yield approximately 32 slices.) Divide the beef slices between 4 plates and brush lightly with the olive oil, using a pastry brush. Drizzle with the mustard dressing and scatter over the rocket leaves.

Frankie

“This is the dish that brought me and Marco together for the first time. To me, it’s the perfect supper for when I come home late from a day’s racing, as it’s relatively light but the meat and the intense flavours of the dressing are satisfying. I eat this as a main course, although in most Italian households it’s regarded as a starter, served with a few mixed leaves and a nice glass of red.”

COZZE ALLA MARINARA (#ulink_a896146f-af5a-5b28-9733-6256d090e070)

Moules à la marinière (#ulink_a896146f-af5a-5b28-9733-6256d090e070)

200 g unsalted butter

200 ml extra virgin olive oil

8 sprigs of fresh thyme

1 garlic clove, crushed

½ medium onion, finely chopped

1 fresh red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

1 kg fresh mussels, washed and de-bearded

3 tablespoons white wine

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Whisk the butter in a food processor, until doubled in volume and light and creamy. Trickle in the olive oil, keeping the food processor going, until the oil is fully incorporated. Pick off the leaves from 4 of the thyme sprigs and mix into the olive oil mixture with the garlic.

In a large saucepan, add the onion, chilli, mussels and white wine. Cover with a lid and cook over a medium heat until all the mussels have opened (the big mussels will take longer than the small ones). Pour off half the cooking liquid, then stir in the butter and olive oil mixture. To serve, divide the mussels between 4 bowls, spoon over the juices and garnish with the reserved sprigs of thyme.

Marco

“Mussels make a wonderful meal. My dad loved cooking mussels so I think of it as quite a male dish. It seems to be popular now to serve mussels with very finely cut chips. But, for my money, the only way to eat mussels is untidily, discarding shells as you go, with a good hunk of fresh bread to mop up all those gorgeous winey, fishy juices at the bottom of the bowl.”

MINESTRA DI LENTICCHIE (#ulink_cf5416fa-7c71-5692-abbf-d5aeaf59af0a)

Lentil soup (#ulink_cf5416fa-7c71-5692-abbf-d5aeaf59af0a)

1 kg puy lentils

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 carrots, roughly chopped

2 celery sticks, roughly chopped

2 leeks, roughly chopped

3 shallots, roughly chopped

10 fresh sage leaves

1½ litres water

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

4 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan, to serve

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, to serve

FOR THE VEGETABLE STOCK (MAKES 1½ LITRES):

2 carrots

1 large onion

2 celery sticks

1 bay leaf

1 whole garlic bulb, halved

6 peppercorns

2 leeks, whites only