Agnello Ammollicato

I'm back in Basilicata and enjoying the down-home flavors of the Motherland.  Lamb features heavily in these mountain areas.  It is prepared in a variety of ways and it is so tender and flavorful.  One of my favorites that comes from the central mountain zone is called agnello ammollicato, or lamb with bread crumbs.  It uses the mollica di pane recipe that I've shared with you previously and makes a humble but delicious dish.

Lamb chops or pieces (best with a bit of bone)
mollica di pane
olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, sliced
oregano
peperoncino (chile flakes)

Rub the lamb pieces with a bit of olive oil and place in a baking dish.  Sprinkle on the mollica di pane, the garlic slices, the oregano and peperoncino flakes, along with a bit of salt and pepper.  Drizzle with olive oil.  Bake at 400 for about an hour, until the lamb is tender and the breadcrumbs are golden.

Pasta e Pesto

It's basil season and that means fresh pesto!  I love the smell of the fresh-picked leaves, and adore that sweet-peppery burst of flavor when it's ground into pesto.  This recipe incorporates two pestos - basil, also known as Pesto alla Genovese, and sun-dried tomato.  Both can be made ahead and stored in the fridge. 

Pesto alla Genovese
1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup grated parmigiano or pecorino cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper
dash of red chile flakes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Pulse everything in a food processor or blender, adding more oil as needed to get a smooth consistency and to emulsify it together.


Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
1 jar sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup red wine
1 tsp. fresh oregano
salt and pepper
Blend everything together until smooth.

FOR THE PASTA:
Cook any type of pasta you want al dente.  In a saucepan, heat equal amounts of the two pestos, adding a bit of cooking water from the pasta to thin it slightly.  Drain the pasta, stir in the sauce, top with grated parmigiano or pecorino, and sprinkle on some toasted pine nuts.

Poor Man's Parmesan

Much is made lately of the "cucina povera," or peasant cooking.  It's become rather trendy and even rather costly in restaurants for the typical "poor man's" dishes that sustained the tenant farmers and working classes through the centuries.  It's a quest for authenticity and simplicity that has brought it into vogue.

In Italy, most of these dishes never died off.  They were passed down from la nonna for years.  While certain recipes have gone national, it is the regional cooking that offers the most variety and flavor, changing from one region to the next.

In Basilicata, a quintessential element is the mollica di pane, which is often used instead of cheese to top pasta dishes.  It reflects the past poverty of the region; cheese was eaten fresh as the primary protein source, rather than being saved and aged.  They couldn't afford to reserve and "waste" their cheese for sprinkling on pasta, so they came up with this rather ingenious (and tasty!) condiment made from breadcrumbs.  The local wood oven-baked hearty bread made from semola flour is perfect for this.

Mollica di Pane

2/3 cup coarse bread crumbs (preferable homemade)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 handful of parsley, minced
1 leaf sage, minced
2 peperoni crushi, crumbled (or a sprinkle of chile flakes, if you want it a little piccante)
olive oil

In a saute pan, heat a little olive oil.  Add the garlic and saute lightly until softened, then add the other herbs and the breadcrumbs.  Saute, stirring, until lightly golden brown.  Add in the crumbled peperoni if you have some.  Set aside until cool.  Prepare cavatelli, orecchiette or pasta of your choice in whatever method you prefer, then sprinkle the mollica di pane over top and serve.

Bruschetta with Rapini

Bruschetta con la rape

What we call rapini is cima di rape in Italy (rah-pay).  It's a cool weather green that has little broccoli flowerettes peaking through the stalks.  While my husband Bryan doesn't like broccoli, he will eat la rape.  It is often boiled and served with a drizzle of olive oil and a squirt of lemon juice as a refreshing side dish to the main course, or sauteed and served with orecchiette.  I put it to work as an antipasto, too.  It's always a hit, even with my veggie-picky husband.

You'll need:
a generous bunch of rapini
a clove of garlic
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
freshly grated parmigiano
crusty bread

Clean the rapini and strip the leaves and broccoli flowers from the stems.  Roughly chop them and put them in a large saucepan with a bit of water and salt.  Bring it to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.  Drain well, squeezing the leaves in a tea towel or paper towels to extract the moisture.  (Reserve the stems, which can be trimmed and added to soups.)

Make the bruschetta:  Slice the bread and drizzle on a bit of olive oil.  Broil or grill until golden brown.

In a skillet or saucepan, heat about 2 tsp. olive oil.  Add the minced garlic and saute until softened but not browned.  Add the rapini and stir well, coating it in the olive oil, adding another drizzle if needed.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar.  Combine well.  Top the bruschetta with the rapini.  Sprinkle on a little parmigiano cheese and serve.

Photo Credit: Uprising Seeds, where you can buy seeds to grow your own rapini.

Ratafia - Cherry Liqueur

This delicious wine-soaked cherry liqueur hails from the Abruzzo region, where we tasted it in a family-run trattoria in a splendid town called Sulmona.  Local Montepulciano and wild cherries were marinated together to create the perfect after-dinner digestivo.   The owner put the bottle on the table and invited us to help ourselves, then brought crunchy cherry-studded biscotti to dip into it.

I have learned that creating delicious liqueurs depends on the Biblical principle of 40 days and 40 nights - leaving the fruit and liquor to macerate that proverbial period of time draws out all the fruity goodness and makes luscious liqueurs!

Ratafia di Ciliegia

1 1/2 pounds pitted cherries
1 bottle Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
1 cup grain alcohol (or high-proof, good quality vodka)
1 stick of cinnamon
1 vanilla bean
a big glass jar or bottle that will seal well

Split the vanilla bean open and put it in the jar, along with the other ingredients.  Give it a shake and put it in a dark place for 40 days and 40 nights, shaking it gently every few days.  After the maceration period, strain it.

Combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan, bring to a gentle boil, stirring well to dissolve the sugar, then turn off the heat and let it cool.  Add it to the liqueur, stirring well.  Divide into bottles and keep in a cool, dark place. 

We prefer the pretty gasket-topped bottles as they seal better and make a nice presentation for gift-giving.

photo credit: Faynor Orchards

Aparagi con le Uova

Asparagus with Eggs

I've seen this simple dish in various cookbooks, and the combination of asparagus and eggs just seems very "Spring" to me.  It is also called asparagi alla milanese, as well as asparagi alla bismarck, though I'm not sure that it is truly regional and I have no idea where Bismarck would fit into the Italian equation.  Either way, it's delicious and easy.

Asparagus
Eggs
Wine or broth
Pecorino cheese
Salt and pepper

Clean the asparagus and line them up in a skillet.  Add about 1/2 cup of wine or broth (or water), sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover and boil a couple of minutes.  Uncover, add a tablespoon of butter and shake the pan to distribute it.  Break the eggs carefully over top of the asparagus, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, then cover and cook about five minutes (or until the eggs are the desired consistency for you).  Sprinkle on some freshly grated pecorino and serve.

Photo credit:  Moon Angel

Cacio e Pepe - Absolute Simplicity!

Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe

Seriously folks, it doesn't get any easier than this!  Three ingredients is all it takes, but those three little elements combine to a big flavor combo.  This is a well-known Roman dish, and the real star is the well-aged Pecorino Romano cheese, so be sure to get the best quality chunk you can find.

You'll Need:
Spaghetti
about 2/3 freshly grated Pecorino cheese
about 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Cook the spaghetti in salted water.  Reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water. 

Put the cheese in a bowl and add 1/4 cup of the cooking water.  Stir it with a fork until it becomes creamy.

Drain the spaghetti and add it to the bowl.  Toss well, adding the pepper and a little more cooking water if necessary to make it moist and creamy.

Serve, topped with an extra grating of cheese and another twist of the pepper grinder.

Photo Credit: Jon Sullivan / Public Domain Image

Cicoria alla Materana

Matera-style Greens

Southern Italy has a way with vegetables.  They take fresh, simple ingredients and turn out a flavorful dish that allows the real taste of the veggies to come through.  Everything seems to burst with freshness there.  I have enjoyed a few variations of this cooked greens dish; some cooks like to add pancetta or a diced tomato to the mix so feel free to jazz it up at will.

Chicory is a popular cool weather vegetable there but harder to find in the US.  I substitute chard or mustard greens, or even spinach on occasion.

*Wash a bunch of greens and boil them in salted water for about ten minutes.  Drain well.  Set aside.

*Slice an onion and mince a clove of garlic.  Saute on low heat until tender and golden; you want to bring out the sweetness of the onion.

*Add the cooked greens to the pan and combine well.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a dash of red chile flakes. 

*Add about 1/2 cup of chicken or vegetable broth.  Partially cover and simmer until the broth is mostly evaporated.

*Sprinkle in about 1/4 cup grated pecorino cheese and grind some freshly-cracked pepper into it; serve.

Buona!

Pour On The Polenta!

One of the Christmas-time traditions we have came to look forward to is the polentone, or big polenta feast.  Each year on Santo Stefano, the day after Christmas, our friend Giorgio would simmer up some sauce, stir up a pot of polenta, and serve it up on a big board, crowned with plump sausages.  The board pulled double duty as serving tray and dinner plate, as everyone was provided with only a fork and told to go to town on the section in front of them.  He cleverly put the meat and mushrooms in the middle of the polenta, so you had to "fare una strada" (make a road) through the polenta to reach the rich stuff.

It's a fun tradition and a great meal concept that really encourages joviality and interaction.  Giorgio has two enormous wooden boards that he uses for his polentone.  We couldn't find anything suitable for our US version, so we went to a restaurant supply store and purchased two industrial-sized baking sheets for our festa, which worked very well.

This method of serving polenta originates from Abruzzo, where its toppings vary depending on province.  Some places serve it with sausages, other traditions use porcini mushrooms, while some prefer lamb pieces.  It is always generously dusted with roughly-grated aged pecorino cheese.

For the Sauce:

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

2/3 cup dry red wine

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes or tomato puree

Fresh sausage (spicy or mild) - enough for the number of guests

1/2 cup mushroom broth (soak dried mushrooms in 1/2 cup of hot water for 1/2 hour; or use a mushroom broth boullion cube), or rich vegetable stock

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft but not brown. Add the wine and allow to partially evaporate, then add the tomatoes and a little salt and pepper. Cut the sausages in half if they are long, poke each with a fork, and drop into the sauce*. Add the mushroom broth, cover and let simmer about 1 hour. Uncover and let simmer another 1/2 hour.

*I put the sausage in for about 10 minutes, then remove all but three or four pieces, so the sauce doesn't become too fatty, while leaving a few pieces in to flavor it nicely. Put the removed sausages into a big saucepan, add a bit of the tomato sauce along with some more red wine, cover and simmer about 1/2 hour. With a big crowd I put them into a baking pan, add some sauce and wine, cover them and put them in a 250` oven to cook, so they're off the stove until I'm ready to serve them.

For the Polenta:

You can prepare traditional, long-cooking polenta for an authentic taste, or the quicker-cooking variety.  Since the "real" polenta involves 45 minutes of constant stirring, I follow Giorgio's method of using the faster version; not the "minute polenta" which he says has no texture to it, but the variety that requires about five minutes of cooking.  An Italian polenta meal works best.  It comes in vacuum-packed bricks and is found in import stores.  For ten people I used 1 1/2 packages of polenta, albeit a few of the guests were light eaters.

Follow the cooking directions on the package, bringing salted water to a boil in a very large pot, then lower the heat and sprinkle the polenta grains in slowly, while stirring with a heavy wooden spoon. 

Pour It On!

When it is thickened but still soft and pourable, turn it out onto the sheets, smoothing it out with a wooden paddle or spoon.  You may have to add a little hot water first to get it to a pourable consistency.

Bring the pot of sauce to the table and ladle it out evenly over the polenta.  Sprinkle generously with grated pecorino cheese.  Top with sausages (or cooked mushrooms, if you prefer).  Dig in and enjoy!

Pesce al Forno

As Christmas approaches I'm reminded that Italy celebrates la Vigilia (or Christmas Eve) with fish.  While the "feast of the seven fishes" has become almost fabled, the reality is that most households do eat fish, but not necessarily seven plates of it.  Our own experience of the past three Christmases spent with Roman friends brought four to five fish dishes to the table each year.  There is usually one or two seafood-based antipasti, followed by a pasta with salmon or shrimp, and then the obligatory pesce fritto, fried small white fish that everyone devours while complaining about the grease and fat, being careful to leave no speck of breading on the plate.  The highlight is always the pesce al forno, baked or roasted fish that is meaty with a delicate flavor.

You can use any whole fish - bass, redfish, snapper, bream, or perch.  Obviously the herbs can be varied to taste, substituting fresh dill or the rosemary or thyme.  Roasting whole fish on the bone gives it a wonderful flavor and moistness you don't get with fillets.

Whole fish - cleaned and gutted
1 lemon, sliced
1 garlic clove, sliced
fresh herbs - rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley, or dill
olive oil
white wine

Rinse and dry the fish, then rub it with olive oil.  Sprinkle it generously all over with salt.

In a roasting pan or baking pan lay some sprigs of rosemary or thyme, then lay thin slices of lemon on top.  Put the fish on the "bedding".  Put slices of lemon, sprigs of thyme and slices of garlic inside the cavity of the fish.  Lay more lemon slices on top.  Drizzle with a little bit of white wine (about 1/3 cup).

Bake at 400 F. for about 1/2 hour.  Fish is done when the eyes turn white and the flesh flakes with a fork.  A good rule of thumb for cooking fish is ten minutes per inch of thickness.

Related Link:

How to Eat Fish on the Bone

Italyville's Feast of the Seven Fishes Roundup

Torta di Mele

I admit that I don't have a rabid sweet tooth.  I *do* like chocolate as much as the next girl and was happy to hear there are medicinal properties to it, but I try to avoid blatant binges.  I don't generally order dessert when dining out because they are just too big, fat-filled, and achingly sweet for me.  When I do go for a dolce, I prefer it to be fruit-based.  I also prefer to make my own so that I can control the type and amount of sugar.

This torta di mele, or apple cake, fits the bill perfectly for me.  Wholesome apples and whole grains combine to make a delicious cake that is nice enough to serve as dessert for guests but also makes a healthy breakfast.  It is naturally conducive to a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, though I've enjoyed it with a bit of honey-sweetened ricotta, too.

Torta di Mele

1 cup whole grain pancake and waffle mix (I use Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain Pancake Mix)
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup  sugar (I use Sucanat, a "whole" sugar, but maple syrup can be used, too)

2-3 apples, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Oven: 325 F.

Grease a 9" pie plate.

Beat the eggs until foamy, add the milk, then stir in the sugar.  Add the baking mix and stir until combined; the batter will be stiff.  Fold in the apples and nuts.  Spread the batter into the pie plate.

Bake for 50 minutes, until golden brown and set.  Best when served warm.  It naturally begs for a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but I've also enjoyed it with a dollop of honey-sweetened ricotta on top.

Thanksgiving - Remade

Or, what to do when you friends make enough Thanksgiving goodies to feed twenty but only invited six...and send copious quantities of leftovers home with you?  Improvise, of couse!

My turkey will be reborn as enchiladas smothered in green chile sauce tomorrow, so no problem there.  But the huge container of now-dry stuffing and a glob of mashed potatoes are another thing.  Instead of merely reheating them, making them even drier than before, I decided to put them together in a pancake, bound together with creamy ricotta cheese.  Really tasty!

I used approximately -
1 cup leftover mashed potatoes
1 cup leftover stuffing
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup flour
salt and pepper

Since the stuffing was really dry I combined it with about 1/4 cup of leftover gravy to soak and soften up.  Then I mixed everything together, formed the batter into patties, lightly coated them with flour, and fried them in a skillet in extra virgin olive oil.

The creaminess of ricotta and potatoes combined with the sausage-spiked stuffing was a very good combo. Thanksgiving almost tasted better the second time around!

Sott'olio

A very common method of preservation in Italy is sott'olio, which means "under oil".  Vegetables in particular are "canned" this way to keep them through the winter.  My friend Giorgio preserves many various veggies - from rapini to carrots to grilled pumpkin.  He rolls up grilled eggplant and stuffs them in jars, and submerges roasted garlic cloves, too.  His strict advice is that the olive oil must completely cover the vegetables, and you should run a knife through the jar to release all air bubbles.  It is a simple process to keep food fresh, he says "foolproof", and the oil blocks air from getting in and spoiling the goods.

Jars of homemade verdure sott'olio make nice gifts, too.  Following are two recipes for enjoying yourself or giving away.

Cipollini Sott'olio
This is an onion version of the delicious lampascioni that my famiglia makes in Basilicata.

Baby onions
white wine
2-3 cloves of garlic
zest of 1 lemon or 1 orange (peels not grated zest)
salt, pepper, red chile flakes, bay leaf - any combination of herbs you desire
extra virgin olive oil
canning jars (I prefer jars with rubber gaskets and metal closures)
 
Peel the baby onions and put them in a saucepan.  Add about 1 cup or so of white wine, along with the seasonings of your choice.  Bring to a boil and simmer about 7 minutes.  Drain and cool completely.  Remove the garlic and lemon peels. 

Once they're cool, put them in a jar with a tight-sealing lid.  Pack them in fairly tightly up to the top of the container, but not into the neck.  Pour the olive oil over top to cover them completely.  Run a knife through the jar to release the air bubbles.  Seal the jars and store in a cool, dry place. 

Zucchini sott'olio
3 medium zucchini
bay leaf, clove of garlic, salt, thyme sprig
2/3 cup white wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

Slice the zucchini at an angle to create oval rounds.  Lay them in an 8-inch baking dish, sprinkle with salt and add the bay leaf and sprig of thyme.  Bring the vinegar to a boil, then pour evenly over the zucchini.  Put a plate on top of them to keep them immersed.  Allow the zucchini to stay in the vinegar until completely cooled.

When cool, remove from the vinegar and pat dry with paper towels.  Discard the herbs.  Arrange the zucchini slices in the jar, adding thin slices of garlic if desired.  Pour in the olive oil to cover them completely, and run a knife through the jar to release any air bubbles.  Seal the jar and store in a cool, dry place out of sunlight.

If you read Italian you will find some other great sott'olio recipes here.

Photo credit: Vanz

Roasted Sausage and Potatoes

La salsiccia con le patate al forno.

This is a great cool-weather meal where the simple flavors of each ingredient meld to make a delectable dish. 

In Basilicata (or southern Italy in general) it is made with lucanica, a regional sausage that could date back to the ancient Lucanians, or maybe the Greeks who inhabited that area of Magna Grecia.  In Greece there is still a similar product called Loukanika, but it is unclear which came first.  Either way, it is delicious, and it turns out just as good when using vegetarian sausages, too.

1 pound potatoes (I like to use the small red potatoes)

a handful of cipollini onions* (or - even better - half a jar of lampascioni if you can find them)

4 Italian sausages

salt and pepper

1/2 cup white wine

peperoncino flakes or chile oil, optional

olive oil

Clean the potatoes and halve or quarter them, depending on the size.  Put them in a baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cut the baby onions in half and mix them with the potatoes.  If you are able to use lampascioni, drizzle some of the oil from the jar over top, otherwise drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and mix well to coat.  Sprinkle or drizzle on peperoncino or chile oil if you want a spicy dish.  Lay the sausages on top, pour the wine over it all and cover.  Bake at 400 for about 35 minutes.

Obviously, this is a versatile dish and the flavors can be changed based on the type of sausage you use, or the spices you may want to mix in (such as garlic and rosemary).

*Peel the onions quickly and easily by immersing them in boiling water for about 20 seconds.  When cool enough to handle, the skins slide off.

Photo credit goes to cobalt. 

Penne all'Arrostito

National Pasta Month continues!  This time around I have a zinger for you...roasted penne.  Okay, the penne isn't roasted, but the vegetables that you toss it with are.  I came up with this one by accident while using up some of the remnants in my sister's fridge, what my grandmother used to call an "icebox clean-up" recipe.

The sweet-smokey flavors that come out from roasting vegetables just screams "autumn" to me.  You can roast them all on the grill, or roast the tomatoes and onion in the oven, while doing the peppers over a flame or under the broiler.

2 ripe tomatoes, cored
1 bell pepper
1 or 2 green chiles
1 onion, halved
(You'll also need a clove of garlic later on)

Rub all the vegetables with a little olive oil and put them on the grill to roast.  When the pepper skins are blackened and puckered, remove them, put them in a paper bag or newspapers to steam for a few minutes.  When they are cool enough to handle, peel the skins off.  Roast the tomatoes until soft but not mushy.  The onion will take the longest; when it is browned and softened it is ready.

If you are using the oven, slice the tomatoes in half, salt them and put them cut-side down in a roasting pan to start; ditto for the onions.  Keep an eye on them; the tomatoes won't take very long.

Cool the vegetables, then chop them roughly and put them all together in a bowl.  Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and and some salt and freshly-ground pepper. 

Meanwhile boil a pot of water and start cooking the penne.

In a skillet, saute a clove of garlic (minced) in olive oil just until soft but not browned.  All the vegetables to the skillet and turn the heat to low.  Heat gently.

Drain the penne, reserving about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water.  Put the penne in a bowl and add the vegetables, along with a little of water if needed to moisten it and bind it all together.

Top with freshly grated parmigiano and sprinkled with a little minced basil, if desired.

Photo credit: Miheco

Ragu Lucano

In honor of National Pasta Month, I'm posting one of my all-time favorite recipes.  It hails from Lucania, or what is now called Basilicata, in southern Italy, where my roots are planted on a rocky mountain top.  In those high altitude peaks, sheep are still an everyday sight, so lamb plays an understandably important role in the region's cuisine.

Ragu Lucano is just the basic "Sunday sauce" that you will find there, but makes use of lamb in a small quantity in keeping with the area's poor past; it is, simply, cucina povera that tastes like a rich man's dish!  In this area they call that type of cooking "la zuppa del Re", or the king's soup, meaning you take a humble dish and make it seem fit for royalty.

I've made this (and seen it served there) with chunks of boneless lamb, but also cooked with the bones just to give the flavor without any actual meat pieces (making it very economical).  I have made it with leftover pieces of roasted lamb, too.

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
red wine - about 1/2 cup
1 carrot, cut into 2 or 3 large pieces
1 celery stalk,cut into 2 or 3 large pieces
a small quantity of lamb - chunks of leg meat, stew bones, or roasted lamb
passato di pomodoro (tomato puree) - about 2 cups
vegetable or beef broth - about 1/2 cup
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, minced
a small branch of fresh rosemary, minced
salt and pepper

In a saucepan, saute the onion and garlic until soft.  Add the wine and cook a few minutes to reduce.  Add the rest, stir and bring just to the boiling point.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer it for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding water or broth as needed.

When it has simmered and reduced, pull out the carrot and celery pieces.  Remove the bones, if any, and pick off any meat.  If using meat chunks, you may want to shred them.

Serve with freshly cooked cavatelli or orecchiette (traditional pastas for that area) or the pasta of your choice.  Top with freshly grated pecorino cheese.

National Pasta Month!

Well, I don't know how the inauguration of this month-long event slipped by me, but I just discovered that October is National Pasta Month!  Not that I really need an excuse to eat more pasta; I don't know if it's possible to eat *more* of it than we already do ;)

But it certainly warrants a mention and a few recipes in its honor, don't you think?

To kick it off, we broke out the hand-crank cavatelli maker that I ordered from eBay.  The little macchinetta is a classic, conceived by an Italian immigrant to Cleveland, Ohio who started the Vitantonio Company and built a business of providing pasta-making products to the Little Italy community. 


It's a very simple contraption:  you make up the pasta dough, roll it into ropes, and feed it into the machine while turning the handle.  Out pop perfectly-formed cavatelli, ready to to be boiled and topped with sugo!

My cousin Celia turned me on to this little gem; she has become something of a cavatelli collector.  Her dad has a real beauty, one of the original cast iron oldies, still in perfect working condition.

Yesterday was the first trial run for our newly-acquired macchinetta.  It performed very well, I'm happy to say.  Cavatelli transport us right to the Motherland, as it is one of the most common pastas found in Basilicata.  They are made from farina di semola, hard durum wheat which is milled more finely than the semolina flour you usually find in the US, salt and water.  It's not an egg pasta.

What is your favorite pasta type or shape?

Pan-Roasted Salmon

I'm a big fan of salmon, especially the wild Alaskan variety.  It has so much flavor, and the beautiful scarlet hue makes a lovely presentation. 

This is another one of those go-to dishes that I can make in a flash, but it's still impressive enough for guests.  The smokey-sweetness of the sundried tomatoes and balsamic vinegar compliment the hearty salmon well.

4 Salmon fillets, rinsed and patted dry

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup white wine

a jar of sundried tomatoes, packed in olive oil, chopped

2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1 tsp. capers, rinsed

In a large heavy-bottomed skillet, heat some olive oil.  Place the salmon in the pan and sear on one side, then turn over.  Once you've turned the salmon, add the garlic and saute until it starts to color.  Add the wine, then the sundried tomatoes.  Shake the pan, and simmer until the salmon is nearly cooked through, about 10 minutes, adding a little more wine if necessary.  Just before the salmon is done, add the balsamic vinegar and the capers to the residual wine sauce, and simmer about five minutes more, until it turns into a glaze. 

Serve, spooning the remaining sauce and the sundried tomato pieces over each fillet.

Photo credit goes to Harmony Markets

My Favorite Artusi Recipe

Everyone has one.  At least, everyone in Italy, where the name Pellegrino Artusi is synonomous with home cooking.  If you aren't familiar with this icon of Italian food, read about him in my post, Do The Artusi, on my 'other' blog, 2 Baci in a Pinon Tree.

Yes, everyone has a favorite recipe from Artusi's volume, and mine is maccheroni.  There are lots of great dishes that I regularly prepare, but one of my go-to meals when I want something simple and scrumptuous is the Maccheroni alla Napoletana II.  He offers two Neapolitan sauce recipes, the first one closely resembles my nonna's braciole recipe.  The second is a meatless sauce that takes on a distinctive, almost decadent flavor from the addition of...butter! 

Artusi himself said it is "so good that I suggest you try it."   You won't want to go back to plain-jane red sauce again!

Maccheroni alla Napolitana II - according to Pellegrino Artusi

One of the things about Artusi is that he doesn't give recipes so much as instructions.

Ingredients you'll need:

Maccheroni (any dried pasta shape you prefer, though Artusi states that penne absorb this sauce better than long strands).  I use one pound for four people
onion
butter
olive oil
1 1/2 pounds of peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes
basil
salt and pepper
grated Parmigiano

In his words: 
Saute 2 thick slices of onion in 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  The onion will split into rings as it cooks; when it has browned, press it down with a spoon, then remove it and discard it.  Stir the tomatoes into the pan, add a bunch of basil, minced, and season the sauce with salt and pepper.  Simmer it until done, about 1/2 hour, or until it is no longer watery.

Use the sauce, 1/4 cup butter and grated Parmigiano to flavor the maccheroni, which will be especially liked by those who would swim in tomato sauce if they could.

My words:
I generally use canned tomatoes because when I lean on this dish it is usually when I'm pressed for time, and I don't feel like blanching, peeling, seeding and chopping the tomatoes.  When I drain the pasta, I stir in the butter before adding the sauce and cheese; it seems to let it absorb a little more of that buttery goodness.  And finally, I sprinkle on more Parmigiano before serving.

Viva Artusi!

Photo credit: FastaPasta.com

Olive all'Ascolana Part II

If you missed the introduction and background about this delicacy, be sure to ready Part I.

Olive all'Ascolana (pronounced oh-LEE-vay) - Ascoli-style Stuffed Olives

I have eaten an uncountable quantity of these critters while living in Ascoli Piceno, and watched them being prepared, had verbal recipes recited to me, along with a couple of sketchy hand-written instructions. I decided to take the two most reliable recipes, one provided to me by my friend Linda Ancona, and the other from my former landlady, Dorina, as the best ones, and adapted them.

A few notes before you begin.
*This is by far the most "complicated" recipe I've ever posted on La Cucina. While it's pretty straight-forward, it is time-consuming to make them so allow plenty of time. Make a decent quantity (as discussed in Part I) and freeze them. It is nice to have them on hand ready to fry for a future aperitivo party or antipasto.

*In Ascoli, the meat mixture is traditionally made with chunks of meat, then ground in a meat grinder after cooking. It does actually make a difference in taste and texture to prepare it this way, rather than starting with pre-ground meats (but I admit that I use the pre-ground because I don't have a meat grinder; I whirled the meat in a food processor before stuffing the olives.)  If you do have a meat-grinder, though, make it the traditional way, as it truly tastes better.

*The Ascolani have a set system for making their olive all'ascolana:  1) Hand-pit the olives; 2) Prepare the meat mixture and make it into marble-sized meatballs; 3) Stuff the olives; 4) Bread them and let them sit (or freeze them) before 5) Frying them. This routine works because they hand-cut the olive off the pit in a spiral fashion and reconstruct the olive around the meatball. I slices my pitted olives open and stuffed the ball inside, but Janie of Panini Girl recommends piping the meat into the olive with a pastry bag (a sensible idea!).

*Finally, the olives. It can be difficult to find large pitted olives that are not already stuffed with something. The Cerignola is a mild, large olive, but I have only found them whole. (A cherry pitter would work if you want to pit them yourself.) The tenera ascolana is cured in a very mild brine of sea salt and water, so you don't get a "pucker factor" from them.  I found that most jarred olives tend to be much more strongly brined, so they will need to be soaked for a couple of hours to slake off some of the brine flavor before you stuff them.

                          About 100 olives - stuffed and breaded and ready to freeze

Authentic Olive all'Ascolana

Filling:

1 onion, minced

1/3 pound ground chicken (or chicken breast)
1/3 pound ground pork (or chunks of pork)
4 to 5 slices prosciutto crudo, minced
1 carrot, cut into 3-4 large pieces
1 celery stalk, cut into 3-4 large pieces
salt and pepper
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup grated parmigiano or pecorino cheese
1 egg
zest from 1/2 lemon
dash or two of nutmeg

Heat about 1 TBSP of olive oil in a large skillet, and saute the onion until soft. Add the meats and saute until cooked, using a fork to mash it and keep the meat as fine-textured as possible. (If you're using chunks, just brown them and saute until cooked through.) Add the carrot and celery, season with salt and pepper, and then add the wine. Cook until the wine has evaporated. Remove from heat, take out the celery and carrot pieces, and cool.

If you are using chunks of meat, grind them in the meat grinder. If you used ground meat, put it in a food processor and pulse to get a finer texture.

To the ground meat, add the parmigiano or pecorino, the lemon zest, nutmeg and egg. (Dorina cautions to use a light hand with the lemon zest and nutmeg, as too much will overpower evertyhing.) Mix well, like you would a meatloaf mixture.

Fill the olives with the meat.  To do this you can roll the meat into marble-sized balls, as is traditional, or use a pastry bag to pipe it into the olives.


To Prepare the Olives:

Flour
3 eggs
Fine Breadcrumbs

In a shallow bowl, beat the eggs. Place flour in one bowl, the breadcrumbs in another. Dip the olives in the flour, then the eggs, then the breadcrumbs to coat evenly. Put them on a plate. Refrigerate at least 1/2 hour before frying. Note:  You can prepare the olives up to this point and freeze them for future use.

To Fry:

Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Fry olives a few at a time, turning to fry them evenly, until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Italians use olio da friggere, a liquid frying oil that is made of a blend of seed oils (peanut, sunflower, grapeseed and olive oil, I think). They do not use hydrogenated fat for frying! I use olive oil (sometimes pouring in a bit of grapeseed oil which has a higher smoke point).

Makes about 200 olives.

Enjoy with a Piceno wine like Pecorino, Falerio, or Rosso Piceno.