Canapés with cotechino

Cotechino is often received or purchased for the Christmas holidays and here is a delicate and delicious recipe for presenting an auspicious appetizer on the table.

Here is Alessandra Barbone's original recipe on her blog, the dreamers of cooking and clouds

“For this recipe I used a fresh Invistidura del Borgo cotechino which needs a long cooking but gains in flavor by far on the pre-cooked and vacuum-packed ones.

I used the lentils here in an absolutely unusual way, I don't even know if others have ever tried to use them like this. I recommend them. Seeing is believing.

As always in these cases I don't give doses for the ingredients, it depends on how many canapés you want to prepare.

INGREDIENTS:

Ready-to-roll shortcrust pastry

hulled red lentils

fresh cream cheese

cotechino Invistidura del Borgo (Salumificio La Rocca)

peanut oil to taste

PREPARATION:

First I cooked the cotechino. I pierced it lightly with a toothpick and placed it in an oval roasting pan completely submerged in cold water.

Even if you don't have an oval saucepan, the important thing is that it's large enough to hold the cotechino entirely horizontal.

I simmered it for about 3 hours on a low flame.

I drained it, peeled it and cut it into slices just over a centimeter thick.

While the cotechino was boiling, I soaked the hulled lentils in cold water for an hour. Then I drained them and dried them very well with a clean tea towel.

I put a little oil in a small pan and fried the lentils for a few moments until they turned golden. I drained them on kitchen paper and lightly salted them.

Meanwhile, with a pastry cutter I cut out the canapés in the shortcrust pastry kept at room temperature for about ten minutes and put them in a non-stick pan.

I cooked in a hot fan oven at 180 for 10 - 15 minutes, just long enough to make them lightly golden.

I let them cool completely.

So I cut stars out of the cotechino slices with a stencil which I then kept aside.

I filled a pastry syringe with cream cheese and made a tuft in the center of each tart.

Just before serving, I heated the cotechino stars in the microwave at medium power for about 30'.

I placed a star of hot cotechino in the center of each tuft and sprinkled with some fried lentils.