Posts filed under 'tomatoes'
This is not tomato this or tomato that, it is tomato, and it feels right now like it may be the best thing I have eaten all year. It came into my mind when I saw the pile of San Marzano tomatoes in a bowl but I didn’t want to eat pasta. Summer is ending. The tomatoes are plentiful but soon will be no more. What’s to eat right now should be tomatoes.
What this really is is stewed tomatoes, but the canned version has frightened so many children over so many decades that I refuse to use the name. Freshly cooked tomatoes do not resemble those guilty tins at all. What I cooked and ate yesterday was sweet in the way only a tomato knows how to be, salty to bring out the tomatoey sweetness and had an underlying umami flavor provided by the two other vegetables. I was wowed by the first taste and not finished when the bowl was empty. I ate more, then more and finally it was all gone. My vegetable side dish had become lunch.
21 Tomato Salute
1 pound fresh, ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped bell pepper
a couple of sprigs each of herb leaves only (I used basil, thyme and parsley)
1 tablespoon or more butter
salt and pepper
Boil a pot of water for skinning the tomatoes. When it is boiling, toss the tomatoes in and leave them for a minute or so. Don’t let them stay too long, because they will cook too much and too much flesh will come off with the skin. You can test by pulling one up in a spoon and rubbing it with a finger. As soon as the skin starts to move a bit, it’s ready to peel. Remove the pot from the heat and put it in the sink under running cold water to stop the cooking. Peel the tomatoes with a paring knife. It should be very easy. If there appears to be a lot of core at the stem end, remove some of it with the knife tip.
In a medium pot, heat the butter and cook the onion and pepper in it until it is softened but not browned. Add the tomatoes and about a level teaspoon of salt (be conservative) or even better the same amount of the perfumed salt we made a couple of weeks ago. Put the herb leaves on top and then cover the pot. Reduce the heat to simmer and simmer about ten minutes and check to see if the tomatoes are cooked. Moderately sized tomatoes probably will be done. If not, continue to cook them until they are just done. Check for salt. Serve in small bowls with some freshly ground pepper.
The only way this can taste better is if eaten with buttered toast.
September 17th, 2008
Maybe not, but it feels that way. I have never seen them for sale anywhere in the whole country. To have them I have to get the right cucumber seeds from Germany, dill seeds from wherever — these are a gift from Canada — and grow them. I had a hard time getting the large number of cucumbers and the dill seedheads at the same time. The cucumbers slowed down when the dill was just blooming.
Once you get those things out of the way, however, the pickles are dead easy. What you see is a big jar of dilled cucumber pickles, and another jar of pickled green tomatoes, because they were there and the cucumbers weren’t.
Pickling, like jams and salting, is safe to do. You might occasionally lose a jar of product but you can’t kill anyone like you can with some kinds of canning. I find that reassuring and inspiring.
Kosher Dill Pickles
smallish cucumbers up to 4″ long
peeled garlic cloves — 2 per jar
chili pepper — 1 per jar
dill heads — 2 per jar
grape leaves or a piece of alum the size of a grape (I don’t even know the Italian word for alum and I do have grapevines, so that’s what I used.)
Brine:
250 ml (1 cup) apple cider vinegar
500 ml (2 cups) water
1 tablespoon or soupspoon of coarse salt — do not use table salt!
Wash and trim the cucumbers, then soak them in cold water overnight.
Mix the brine and bring it to a boil in an acid proof pot.
Clean very well and sterilize the number of jars and lids you need. Take one out and pack the garlic, the chili, the dill and the cucumbers in it as tightly as you can. Add the grape leaf or alum, then using a funnel, pour the hot brine over it all until the jar is full. Screw the lid down onto the jar and leave it upside down on a towel on the counter to cool. They’ll be ready to eat in a couple of weeks.
If you use tomatoes, I think you need to cut them in half lengthwise for the flavor to penetrate. The rest is exactly the same. I would happily also pickle celery chunks, blanched cauliflower, carrot or lots of things, but how many pickles can I really use? I am thinking of making my grandmother’s mustard pickles which were my real favorite as a kid. It all depends on the cucumber vines now.
September 2nd, 2008
eg tells me that these all come from The Washington Post, which is the newspaper that first published my recipes!
I don’t know what toybox tomatoes are.. I’ll bet eg does.
Zucchini Alla Scapece (Marinated Zucchini) 6 side-dish servings
This dish is even better made a day in advance, as it gives the zucchini plenty of time to absorb the flavors of the garlic, mint and vinegar. Cover the platter tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Let it sit at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes before serving. If you find the taste of raw garlic too strong, you can blanch the whole cloves in boiling water for 90 seconds before slicing them for this dish.
Ingredients:
1 cup olive oil or a mix of olive and vegetable oil, for frying
6 (2 1/2 pounds) small to medium zucchini (ends trimmed off), cut crosswise on the diagonal into 1/4-inch slices
1 medium clove garlic, sliced paper-thin
2 tablespoons finely shredded mint leaves, plus 1 mint sprig, for garnish
Kosher or sea salt
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon aged balsamic vinegar
Directions:
Line a large platter with paper towels or a large piece of brown paper bag.
Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet to about 375 degrees. Test it by putting a small piece of zucchini into the oil; it should sizzle immediately. Carefully put some of the zucchini slices into the hot oil, filling but not crowding the skillet. Fry for about 3 to 5 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom. Use a fork or tongs to gently turn the slices; adjust the temperature as necessary. Fry for 3 to 5 minutes on the second side, until tender and golden-brown in spots. Use a wire mesh strainer or large slotted spoon to transfer the zucchini slices to the lined platter to drain.
When the slices are cool enough to handle, arrange them on a large, deep oval serving platter in a single layer. Scatter a few slivers of garlic and a little of the shredded mint over the zucchini. Sprinkle with a little salt.
Combine the vinegars in a small bowl. Sprinkle 1 to 2 teaspoons of the vinegar mixture over the zucchini. Continue to fry the zucchini slices and layer them in the platter, topping each layer with the garlic, mint, salt and vinegar. You should end up with 3 or 4 layers.
Cover the platter loosely with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours. Garnish the platter with a sprig of mint just before serving.
Stuffed Peppers 8 side-dish servings or 4 main-course servings
You can serve these stuffed peppers as a side dish or as a vegetarian main course. They are a nice addition to a summer buffet table. Sauteing the bread crumbs before stuffing the peppers produces a filling that is light and crisp.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups lightly packed fresh bread crumbs (see TIP, at right)
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons minced flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup coarsely chopped giardiniera (Italian-style pickled vegetables in a jar)
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained and coarsely chopped
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
3/4 cup freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 large red bell peppers, or a mix of red and yellow bell peppers
1 1/2 cups diced canned tomatoes (not drained)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Use 2 tablespoons of the oil to grease the bottom of a baking dish large enough to hold 8 bell pepper halves.
Heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bread crumbs, garlic and minced parsley and cook, stirring frequently, for 8 minutes or until the bread is pale golden and starting to crisp. Transfer the bread crumbs to a large bowl. Add the giardiniera, capers, cheeses, salt, and pepper to taste, mixing gently but thoroughly. Set aside.
Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise, including the stems. With a paring knife, remove and discard the seeds and white ribs. Spoon the filling into the hollowed-out pepper halves. Reserve any leftover stuffing for sprinkling over the peppers before baking.
Spread about 3/4 of the tomatoes in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Arrange the peppers on top of the tomatoes. Spoon the remaining tomatoes over the tops of the peppers. Sprinkle with any remaining bread crumbs and drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over the peppers. Bake the peppers for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the tops are nicely browned and the peppers themselves are just tender. Turn off the oven and let the peppers rest inside it for 15 to 30 minutes, until they are completely tender. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Orzo With Toybox Tomatoes and Fresh Mint 8 to 10 servings
If you make this more than 30 minutes in advance, taste and adjust seasonings and stir before serving.
Kosher salt for cooking the pasta, plus 1 teaspoon
3/4 pound dried orzo pasta
2 cups toybox tomatoes or a combination of colored cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
1/4 cup assertively flavored extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, such as Trader Joe’s brand
Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add enough salt to make the water taste like the ocean. Cook the pasta according to package directions, until al dente.
While the orzo is cooking, cut the tomatoes in half through the stem and place in a large bowl. Add the mint, olive oil, garlic powder and 1 teaspoon salt. Toss to combine.
Drain the orzo and toss immediately into the tomato mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning with olive oil, garlic powder and/or kosher salt.
The first two are by Domenica Marchetti and the last one from Linda Carucci.
August 14th, 2008
I just clicked on that revolving photo presentation in the margin a moment ago. I couldn’t figure out what I was looking at. It was a portion of spoonbread! I haven’t even thought of spoonbread since I posted that article and recipe. It was just delicious. Why haven’t I even thought of it?
What food occupies the top layer of the mind right now?
Tomatoes. I bought a book yesterday that is just different recipes using tomatoes. They are late this year, so they are just beginning to ripen and should stay with us until November, when we will take advantage of Puglia’s longer summer and buy from the Pugliese farmers every Saturday. I’ve already Post-It marked several pages to try, and have started wondering if any of the newly discovered regional dishes will make up readily for twenty.
Lamb. I still have half the lamb I bought this spring. I am pondering slow-cooking a leg in the fireplace for lunch in the garden. Or I could invite just one person and flash cook the rack.
Green beans, or fagionlini. I helped Amelia pick hers this morning right after I picked mine. Mine provided two fists full, hers a whole basin full. We discussed various recipes in which the bigger and more mature beans are good. Amelia went in to prepare Fagiolini alla Greca for lunch! I decided to make a puree one day and a sformato another day. Mine, who live under a walnut tree, are never going to provide that many, but this time of year you can pick anyone’s beans and they’ll thank you for it. If they are not completely stripped they stop making new beans.
Pickles. The cucumbers are really coming on and the dill is almost heading. If the plums don’t hurry up and riped, I may make some pickles from them, too. There are too many to just eat, even if you made plum cake everyday until they were over.
Suppers. When the heat recedes and you can take pleasure in making food just-so for happy people who are happy to eat what you make. Here below is a supper from a few weeks ago. What pleasant people they were! Think what size that table must be to hold fifteen and still have room for another fifteen. What a gorgeous villa that is, and what a terrific kitchen it has! If you ever need eight bedrooms, just ask.
What makes you think of food, and what food are you thinking of this season?
July 22nd, 2008
We begin with this. It’s an inconveniently large, flat box filled with thinnest and crispest stuff called Pane Carasau or Carta di Musica
or music paper. It’s from Sardinia and in Sardinia it’s used in so many ways I may never work my way to the end of them. For me the only problem is how to store it, because 500 grams, or about a pound, can last a long time. Once you’ve broken into the plastic covering it is vulnerable to humidity, dust and critters. Fortunately, most uses require that it be broken into pieces, so you can stick it into a big sealable bag if you do that.
I can buy it at any grocery store and I know it is available at a horrific price in the UK, but I’m not sure how widely available it is across the Atlantic. The various labeling on the back of my brand is in German, French, English and Spanish, so do look for it. Otherwise, I am convinced you can use lavash bread instead, and that really is widely distributed in the US. If you are very ambitious, you will find a recipe for making it from scratch at home at The Ingredient Store. Please let me know if you do that! N.B. I think a pasta roller could help you get this thin as paper and who cares if it’s round?
OK, so why would you want this product? For its extreme usefulness and flexibility, say I. It’s delicious and crunchy as a bread or cracker, really tasty with baba ghanouj and hummus, just nice tucked in among other breads. But even more, it makes a series of traditional Sardegnan dishes that are perfect for how a lot of people live nowadays. You can make them in moments of few ingredients and for as many diners as there are. It can even be used to make a lasagna.
Today’s dish is Pane Frattau or just Frattau. I’ve made it and eaten it three times this week because I could not convince myself that was all there was to it. (OK, also because my poached eggs kept coming out warped.) I used the recipe on the back of the package and I can’t wait to get to the rest of them now. Each time I varied the cheese a bit, or how much I poached the egg, but no matter what, I couldn’t ruin it. 
Jump to the recipe:
Pane Frattau
tomato sauce (purchased or homemade)
Pane Carasau in the amount you want to eat
about 1 ounce per person/30 g of grated Pecorino (because that’s what they make in Sardinia which is very far from Parma!)
1 poached egg per person (crack it into a cup or a small bowl at this point)
I shall give you a simple recipe for the tomato sauce I used below. Whatever sauce you will use, you must gently heat it while you do the rest of this.
Grate the cheese you’ll use and set it aside. Start a pot of water to boil for poaching the egg(s) and put salt and a little vinegar in it. Put some water into a large pot and put it onto the flame. Make sure to have a slotted spoon or spatula for removing things.
When the egg water boils, stir it into a whirlpool and slide the egg into the vortex. This is how I wrecked my eggs. I broke them from the shell and couldn’t aim them, so they didn’t go into the center and became sort of sea slug shaped. Let the water return to a simmer while you drop the pieces of carasau into the big pot of hot water, a few pieces at a time, immediately removing them with the slotted spoon to a serving plate. When they are all dipped and drained, your egg will probably be done just right, with a firm white and a liquid yolk.
Pour tomato sauce over the wet carasau pieces, toss the grated cheese over that, top it all with the poached egg. Done. Yummy, too.
Oh, and the cleanup report is super easy, because although there are three pans, two have only had water in them, and a quick wash and rinse is all it takes.
The Tomato Sauce I made is simple and quick.
1/2 cup finely minced onion, celery and carrot
2 cloves of garlic cut up
2 tablespoons of good olive oil
1 28 ounce can of peeled Roma tomatoes, or others you like
salt to taste
You may add oregano or basil or any herb you like, but you don’t have to every time.
Sauté the vegetables and garlic in the oil until they soften, then add the tomatoes, stirring them in. Using a stick blender, puree the sauce and then heat it, tasting to correct salt, for ten to 15 minutes. Once cooled it can be kept covered in the fridge for many days or frozen in portions for almost forever.
And now, let’s slide this past the folks at Presto Pasta Night and see if they buy this idea for “instant” pasta.
March 6th, 2008
Today alisonk came to lunch. She is doing a low carbohydrate regime, so I had to whip up some flour-free goodies. For a first course in place of pasta or risotto, we had a mushroom soup. I made the basic soup a day ago because most soups get better for sitting. When I reheated it I added the part that might not have refrigerated well.
As you can see, it is very dark and filled with mushrooms. The following recipe made soup for two.
No Carbohydrate Mushroom Soup
1 pound (.5 kilo) champignon or button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced. stems chopped
2 tablespoons butter
about .75 quart or liter of strong beef broth
salt to taste
heavy cream to taste
In a heavy pot I sautéed the mushrooms in the butter until they were quite browned and almost dried. Then I added the beef broth. I allowed this to cook and cook down several times, adding water to bring it up to level each time. Because I used “Better Than Bouillon” for the broth I added and needed no salt. When the whole thing was thoroughly infused, I poured it into a container and refrigerated it.
Today, a few minutes before I needed it, I warmed it up almost to a simmer and then added heavy cream, stirring it in, until it tasted balanced and rich. I ladled it into two deep bowl/cups and this is what happened. 
The verdict was “Good!”
For main course, or secondo, we ate Pollo fra Diavolo from this page.
With it we ate a cabbage dish from Puglia that I once had made into a pasta, but today served it as it was meant to be. Because there is no chance at bread, pasta or dessert, I changed the fat used from oil to duck fat, but it will be good without it if you are not as lucky as we are.
Cavolo Pugliese or Pugliese cabbage
This would have been enough for four people normally, but this was a slender menu indeed.
about 3 cups of slivered fresh cabbage
2 small hot red peppers peperoncini
about 2 tablespoons oil or fat
salt to taste
5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
Heat a big frying pan with the fat you will use. Crumble the pepper into it (or take a pinch from a jar of crushed red pepper.) Add the cabbage and toss it about a bit to get the fat distributed. Continue to cook it, stirring once in a while, until some of the edges start to brown and there are no really hard parts left. Add about 1/2 teaspoon or a decent sized pinch of salt, stir and taste. Add salt until it seems right to you. Toss in the tomato pieces and stir until they wilt a bit. Serve.
I had prepared a salad, but there was no room left for it. We had eaten well.
March 4th, 2008
I have this theory, and I am willing to be told I am wrong in this. My theory is that the familiar foods we call comfort foods can make us fat. Why would that be? Because we invest those foods with emotional content. We pull them out when life is hard, when the weather is terrible or when we feel bad for some reason. It’s often the first thing that comes to mind when we want to comfort a friend, too.
So, if it’s been a hard week and things haven’t gone our way, we make mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, stew, or whatever we find comforting and that reminds us of easier times. These are all things we know very well. Our tongue responds with impulses to the brain that open the doors to good memories and good feelings.
And then we overdo it. After three to five bites we’re relying on experience, and our taste buds take a rest, but we don’t stop.
Foods don’t really have emotional content. They have triggers to parts of us that have remembered emotional content. Whether the memory is good or bad, we connect to it. I once had a liverwurst sandwich hours before coming down with a bad flu, and I have never had another liverwurst anything since, although I used to love it.
Knowing that this is true for me, I don’t fix comfort foods of my past when I feel down. I, instead, try something outside of my experience and try to lose myself in learning new tastes, which for me is as distracting as mashed potatoes.
I do not believe that nothing says loving like something from the oven. Things from the oven are a delight. They are not love, but might inspire a memory of love, and not a thing more. If I am capable of thinking, I can inspire memories of love that don’t have anything to do with doughnuts, brownies or even holiday roast turkeys. If I am incapable of thinking, I take an orange or an apple and get over it.
I am 5’-1 ½” tall. As much as I cook, I could easily weigh 200 pounds if I let food and love get mixed up. Since I have the opportunity every four weeks of carrying 50-pound bags of salt, I know how I would feel if I gained even only 50 pounds. It wouldn’t be nice. Sometimes it even hurts my back for a day or two.
Divest yourself of habit and your mouth will deal with surprise. You’ll taste more. If food is an adventure rather than a happy-pill, you’ll know when you’ve had enough and won’t keep putting it in your mouth to keep the love going. Unless it is just an extraordinary thing you’ve happened on, in which case you may need a life coach to pull you off the plate. That would be me with the Sardegnan risotto with vinegared pork, which I ate yet one more time yesterday in Florence! You know what? My recipe is pretty good. I need to leave the pork in the vinegar longer, two days, I’m told, and make a more interesting tomato sauce as well.
That brings me to spaghetti sauce, which is a rather stupid term in Italian. There is no one sauce, as you know if you read this blog. I have recently found, however, that in the USA people do tend to think that there is something called spaghetti sauce and that their recipe is it. They also think you can buy it in a jar or a can. Well, you can buy various sauces in jars, cans and the refrigerated cases in Italy. The best I can say of any of them is: it’s alright. I never said that in the US, because they were too sweet.
There are thousands of ways to serve pasta wherever you are. Sometimes it’s even spaghetti. Most of the ways to serve pasta can also be used to sauce cooked grains or polenta, too. Just a glance at Presto Pasta Night ever Friday should convince you that this time I’m right.
Here is a modernized ragù that I like more often than the original recipe by Artusi, a meat sauce I find very rich and that for me lacks the brightness of modern foods. I like the spike of a little acidity from tomatoes, the slight smokiness and the reduced fat. I am still a dedicated Artusi fan, and I will still on occasion make his ragù, but this is my new fall back recipe, because it lends itself to other foods besides pasta, and yet is a wonderful thing with pasta, too. This is a spag bol, a polenta sauce, and today I ate it on boiled farro or spelt. That looked bad, but it was delicious. I used a tiny bit of Parmigiano Reggiano, but not much, because it was full-flavored on its own. This is a sauce to make up in quantity and freeze in portions that make sense for your home. It takes about 15 minutes to chop the vegetables, another 15 minutes to sauté them, perhaps ten minutes to cook the meat, and then, other than the occasional visit, it cooks itself.
A 21st century Ragù
1 cup of chopped onions
1 cup of chopped carrot
1 cup of chopped celery and leaves
2 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons of salt
1 small chili pepper (peperoncino) broken in half
1 tablespoon dried oregano or 3 tablespoons of fresh basil – if you use fresh, add it toward the end of cooking
2 tablespoons of good olive oil
100 grams (3.5 ounces) diced smoked pancetta or bacon (cook it first and then drain the fat if you use bacon, then pick the cooking up from the oil *and proceed)
2 pounds (1 kilo) of lean chopped meat – all beef or vitellone or part that and part pork
A glug of fortified wine like Sherry or Marsala
About 1 cup of milk—fat free is fine
Water
1 can (14 ounces, these days) of peeled canned tomatoes or a similar quantity of peeled fresh tomatoes
Salt to taste
Nutmeg to taste
Heat a large frying pan with the oil*. Sauté the chopped vegetables and the pancetta or cooked bacon with the salt very slowly until they are starting to brown a bit. Add the wine and cook until it dries out. Add the dried herb and the chili pepper, and then the chopped meat. Stir it up to mix while the meat loses its red color.
Add milk almost to the top of the mixture, lower the heat and walk away until you can hear it sizzling again. This took about 30 minutes for me. Then add hot water to cover and leave it alone again, checking back every 30-40 minutes to keep it wet until it has cooked about two hours and then allow the juices to evaporate away. The meat should then be very tender.
Add the tomatoes and break them up with a wooden spoon. Simmer that mixture ten minutes, then taste for salt and correct for it.
Allow it to cool in the pan, and then fill plastic freezer bags with the quantity you think you will use.
When you thaw and reheat it, grate nutmeg at the end until it suits you. Some like a lot, some none.
This recipe made 4 packages of something over a cup for my freezer.
There’s nothing tricky or out of bounds about this recipe. It’s a great thing to have in your fridge freezer, ready to pull out when tagliatelle, cooked grain or polenta is the right thing to eat. It will make a lasagna much richer than my taste, but certainly a tasty one.
Give it a try. You have nothing to lose but the handy extra jars from the Prego you thought you liked.
December 14th, 2007
When I woke up and climbed the stairs this morning to make coffee, look who was looking into the window. Remember her? At first I thought she was blooming there to give me a little summery pleasure. Then I went outside and I realized she was trying to get in.
Day dawned with a really hard frost. I tried to dress for it as I prepared to go to the Pugliese fruit and vegetable vendors. They are only at market on Saturday, so it’s buy today or eat supermarket produce. Our supermarkets sell good food, but not as good as this produce that trucks up from Foggia every week. Only Monday I bought Italian white grapes at the Coop, but they were only juicy and sweet. There was nothing about them that shouts grape like the ones grown in Puglia under nets.
Anyway, I’ve decided that this is a budget tip. Shop outside when it’s cold and blowy and you won’t hang around photographing fashions or dawdling through the streets being tempted to buy ridiculous things you really don’t need.
Here’s what we’ll cook this week. It cost €8.80, or about US$13.20.
There are four small artichokes called violetta. Nice name for an artichoke, no? There’s a nice head of romaine or insalata romana. The white grapes I like fill a colander, and there’s an entire tray of tiny new spinach. Those tiny tomatoes will pop up now and again whenever wanted.
Before I left I checked the pasta shelf, where I seal up opened pasta. The unopened pasta occupies a very large space in my pantry armoire. That little chest holds the spices not used in Italian cookery, and it isn’t Italian, either. What’s this?
Gasp! There are two empty jars and the others are close to empty too. I haven’t even made pasta for Presto Pasta Night in two weeks. Polenta, yes, pasta no. What kind of Italian cook doesn’t make pasta? My face is red.
I rushed back from market, abandoning all foolish pastimes, to where it may be a cool 18°C but there’s a radiator to embrace. Later tonight there will be chow. Ciao!
December 1st, 2007
I decided to try something different for a change. As I work through developing a recipe, I thought I would post the versions as they happen, as long as they are good to eat. Tonight I started working on this one. The dish as I ate it at a restaurant called Terra Terra in Florence, was brilliant with flavors and spicy and red as a devil. The waiter told me that vinegaring was one of the ways the old timers used to preserve pork before refrigeration.
I loved that risotto. As eg could tell you, I didn’t want to eat anything else, but went back and had to be cajoled into trying other dishes by being given a free sample of it. I love Italian food, but I miss hit-you-in-the-face strong flavors. They’re rare here.
When starting a new recipe, I always try the simplest things first. Unless you are at a four star restaurant with a dozen or more chefs, most kitchens are taking the simplest route to the end they envision. Besides, this was supposed to be a country dish made by housewives, so I figured simple was good.
This one didn’t quite make it for me. It was good and I feel like I ate well, but my face is still in one piece and it wasn’t red enough, either. I need a couple of ingredients I don’t have in the house.
Iit may be that the original dish would be too strong for you. Maybe you prefer a nicely spicy, but not revolutionary flavor? This version might be just right for you. It wasn’t a failure at being good, it was just not what I ate at Terra Terra. So here it is. It’s easy, cheap and yummy. It isn’t stirred endlessly like normal risotto and it only dirties two pots. That counts for something. It can be either a first course or a main dish.
Risotto with Vinegared Pork
Version One
2 servings
2 ounces lean pork, chopped
strong vinegar to moisten well, any kind
Prepare the pork a day ahead, completely mixing in the vinegar and let marinate in the fridge
2 tablespoons butter
½ onion chopped
½ cup arborio or other risotto rice
1 pint boiling broth
boiling water as needed
½ cup of tomato puree (passata)
1 pinch sugar
1 small pinch cloves
2 pinches of cayenne or peperoncino in polvere
about 1 ounce of pecorino, finely grated
Heat the butter in a pan and sauté the onions until transparent. Add the rice and sauté it until it turns opaque and white. Add all of the broth and stir up. Stir once in a while to prevent sticking, but you don’t have to stand there stirring constantly. Cook it to a stiff risotto consistency rather than creamy. You might need a tablespoon or so of the extra water to get the rice to al dente, just to where there is no crunchiness left. Toward the end, it does need stirring or it will stick.
Add the tomato puree and stir it in. Add the pinch of sugar, cayenne and clove. As it heats, taste for salt. You probably won’t need it.
Dump the water out of the pan you were boiling, and dry the pan. Put just a little olive oil in it, then the pork, and sauté it briefly. It foams, rather than browns, but when it loses its color, it is done. It takes only moments. Stir the pork and vinegar into the risotto. Add the grated pecorino and stir it in. Serve immediately, piping hot.
November 6th, 2007
or
To begin you do exactly the same things that we did in Carciofi 101.
When the artichoke slices are partly cooked, add the garlic slices to them. Once you get to the browned stage, however, add 6 small, sweet winter tomatoes cut into quarters and the pasta water as described, and as they cook, it will thicken up into a sweet and sour sauce. Cheese doesn’t go in this pasta, in my opinion.
So for two:
2 small or 1 globe artichoke, cleaned and sliced thinly
2 tablespoons of great olive oil — I used spicy oil from Puglia
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
salt to taste
6 sweet tomatoes on the branch (pomodori al grappolo)
from 100 to 200 grams (7 to 14 ounces) of pasta. The pasta shown is casarecce, which has a tube shape but looks homemade.
Flickr had stopped feeding the photos in Carciofi 101, so I had to load them into this program. It didn’t want them one bit! Since winter is artichoke season, let’’s send this to Ruth at Presto Pasta Night.
I had a small disaster making this. For the first time I oversalted the pasta water and had to start that all over again. Bleaugh!
October 31st, 2007
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