How to make a good espresso at home

Many people have asked me what's the secret for a good espresso made at home. 


I specify at home, since if you really want a taste of the real thing, there's nothing like a real espresso at the bar - and mind you not every bar - best I have ever had so far being St Eustachio in Rome, a legend that lives up to its name.


As you know, in Italy having an espresso is not a social thing. The whole experience lasts 2-3 minutes with probably 30 seconds spent enjoying the espresso - one of the reasons in Italy the expression 'let's go for a coffee' is almost like saying goodbye ;)


Back to espresso at home. Obviously the starting point is ... the coffee itself. A necessary but not sufficient condition, as mathematicians would say. Good italian coffee brands are readily available in many stores these days, my favourite ones being Kimbo, Illy and Lavazza Qualita' Rossa. 


With a good coffee mix you are about 50% there. The rest is in the coffee machine, and the way you prepare it to some extent.


I'm not going to consider home versions of professional coffee machines - some of them are actually pretty good, but they fall into the category of 'substitute' of the real bar experience.

Let's instead talk about Moka espresso. A tradition that probably goes back thousands of years, even before the bar coffee machines were created. Moka espresso is its own thing, and if made properly can be a truly enjoyable experience.

I can safely say that when it comes to choosing a Moka, there's really no choice other than the Bialetti moka. 


That's a true classic, unchanged for decades and even without any data I can say that there's probably at least one Bialetti moka in every Italian home, in and out of Italy.


What's not as well known is that there are probably not two Mokas that are identical...because their life is different. Two mokas are like two identical twins, who may have completely different life experiences and end up with quite distinct personalities.


There's something scientific and magical at the same time in the way coffee interacts with the Moka's metal and bonds in a certain way to change its characteristics over time, deeply impacting the taste of the espresso.


Therefore, rule number one - and possibly the only rule - is to love your Moka and take good care of it as something that will keep improve over time and you will eventually pass it from generation to generation.


Here's how you do that:

• Once you buy your Moka, 'burn it in' by making at least 4-5 rounds of coffee which you ...sigh..can probably want to throw away because it really won't taste good. It will probably require at least 100 cycles before you can start tasting a glimpse of the real flavour.

• Never wash it with soap. Just rinse it gently with water and make it dry by leaving it disassembled on a cloth. Residues of coffee will accumulate in the chamber and start the ..transformation process.

• Use it frequently. Daily use is recommended, and remember that if you let is stay idle for over a week you'll have to do another quick burn-in cycle depending on the length of the period. 

Now to the actual making of the coffee. The procedure is very simple: you first fill the bottom part with water (I use brita-filtered water - calcium is not good for the taste and for the Moka) until just above the exhaust valve level. Put the coffee in the container without pressing it, making a little 'mountain' that raises a couple of CMs from the edge. Screw in the top part of the Moka.


Temperature level is important. In my Bertazzoni stove I have a special burner for coffee, which is small enough so that the flame stays below the Moka. If you don't have that, just use a flame reducer. 


For electric stoves, you may have to put the Moka at the edge of the burner to avoid melting the plastic handle...

Burner temperature must be relatively low, say 1/4 of full power. In about 5 minutes, the Moka will start making the characteristic 'bubbling' noise and coffee will start coming out from the small hole at the top. 


Here's where you will know if the temperature is right: if it's the right temperature, the coffee will come out with a steady flow without sputtering, so that you could potentially keep the lid open (not recommended) without making a mess all around.


Once all the coffee has come out and you only see bubbles being expelled, turn off the gas and serve immediately. 


Pre-heating the cups is very important so that the coffee does not cool down immediately (you can put hot water in them, remove it and dry the cups with a cloth).


Lots of people drink coffee 'black' with no sugar, I tend to put a spoon of sugar at the bottom of the cup before pouring the coffee, and then stir quickly to produce a bit of foam.


Enjoy your espresso,


M

"Polipetti" octopus Spaghetti

Octopus is a great tasting mollusc  but requires some careful preparation in order not to become hard or chewy, mushy or any combination of the above. A well prepared octopus is firm but gives in easily and consistently throughout, much like "al dente' pasta.


For this dish I used small octopus, also known as 'polipetti' that I found at Chelsea Market in New York. They have been previously tenderized in a very natural way, i.e. throwing them repeatedly against a hard surface :) You're going to need to do that if your polipetti are not tenderized, just be careful not to splatter octopus parts all over.


Each baby octopus is about 100 gr (3.5 OZ). I bought four for 4 servings.

The rest of the ingredients

• 2 shallots
• 1 bunch of chives
• 1 bunch of thyme
• 1 clove of garlic
•  a box of medium sized cherry tomatoes
• Coarse sea salt
• Fine sea salt
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 cup of dry white wine
• 500Gr of spaghetti. I used Garofalo spaghetti but Barilla #5 spaghetti are fine too (just check the box to ensure they are made in Italy..one day I will write a post about the art and science of pasta selection i promise).
• 1 can of Mutti Polpa di Pomodoro (400 Gr - 14OZ)

Let's get started!:

I begin by removing the skin from the shallots and chop them together with 4-5 leaves of chives and the same quantity of thyme leaves,  cut six cherry tomatoes in four parts and put a bit of oil and salt on top.

Take the polipetti and use a sharp carving knife to cut them in pieces of about 2-3 cm each (1 inch) - cut the head sideways to form small rings and the part where the tentacles are connected to the head radially in smaller pieces (it tends to be a bit harder).

I then put four teaspoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a medium sized saucepan and let it heat it up for a couple of minutes at medium heat. General note: a range with good temperature control is of course highly recommended, gas stoves being notoriously very good at it. I use a Bertazzoni Master Series because I like the low-BTU burners which give me even more accurate control and adapt to smaller saucepans.

Remove the skin from the garlic clove, crush it with the bottom of a glass and put it in the hot oil adding a pinch of fine salt until it browns a bit - be careful not to burn it.

It's now time to add the herb mix we prepared with shallots, chives and thyme, and the cut cherry tomatoes. I stir them using a flat wooden spoon and start adding the white wine very slowly so that it evaporates almost instantly, but at the same time I'm not letting it go completely dry to avoid burning. I use about half of the wine glass, keep stirring for about 5 minutes until the shallots become light brown.

Time to add the octopus: I keep stirring and adding the rest of the wine, adding water if necessary to prevent it from drying. Add two pinches of coarse sea salt. I generally lower the gas temperature now to just a bit above simmering. High temperature makes the Octopus meat become harder.

Continue for about 5 minutes, then add the whole can of tomato paste while keeping stirring. I generally remove the garlic clove at this point - do not sweat if you cannot find it.

I like the dutch-oven type of saucepan, but any lid that tightly seals the saucepan would do. The advantage of the dutch oven is the weight of the lid which creates an airtight chamber and allows for moisture to remain in the pan.

Cook with the closed lid for 20 minutes, checking after 15 minutes or so and stirring for a few seconds before losing the lid again. 

I cook the last 10 minutes without the lid, to allow the water that has developed from the octopus and the tomatoes to evaporate. Depending on how much water has been released, it may be necessary to cook it for longer until the sauce becomes quite creamy and not 'watery' in consistency.

In the meantime, I have set a pot of water to boil. When the sauce looks just about close to the perfect consistency, I drop the spaghetti in the boiling water (after adding a fistful of coarse salt in the water) and at the same time lower the sauce's gas level to simmer.

Presentation is a very important part of the work, for that purpose it's time to go through the extra effort of heating up a small saucepan and put about 1/3 of the sauce in it, separate from the main saucepan. Both saucepans to simmer.

Spaghetti will be ready in about 8 to 10 minutes depending on the brand. Make sure you taste them - they are ready when they feel exactly the same consistency throughout (no crunchy core), but still very firm. Better to start tasting at the 7 minutes mark.

Once ready, drain them in the colander and put them in the large saucepan where most of the sauce is, adding 3 or 4 tablespoon of olive oil, and using two serving spoons to mix the sauce throughout.

Back to presentation: I put the spaghetti in the serving plates, and add the rest of the sauce (the one I set aside on the other saucepan) on top, 'spraying' a bit of cut chives on it. Add a tiny bit of olive oil and serve away!


Recommended wines:
Drouhin Chablis Domaine de Vaudon

Venica & Venica Sauvignon Ronco delle Mele

Buon Appetito!

M