Category: Italian style food

CAMPING AND COOKING IN W.A.

For me, it is very important to eat well, wherever I am.

I have recently returned from a nine week trip in Western Australia. It was in a very simple campervan with a basic pull out stove, but as always, I manage to eat well even if some supplies were difficult to purchase.

I realize that the range of vegetables I am accostomed to where I live (Melbourne and previously Adelaide) were not to be found even in the larger towns I visited.  Supply and demand is important and I consider myself lucky to live in cities where the the different ethnicities have contributed to what is grown and available.

But maybe I am expecting far too much.

I need to acknowledge that much of the produce I bought was in small, often remote communities and, as in the rest of country Australia, what was mostly available was limited to pumpkins, iceberg lettuces, carrots, cauliflower, cabbages and tomatoes (not the greatest). Potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes were everywhere. Beetroot, sometimes – but without their leaves. the sort of vegetables that my family was able to purchase when we first settled in Adelaide and I was eight years old.

In some places I found broccoli, green beans, spring onions and sometimes boc choy and red cabbage. On rare occasions there was asparagus and, if I was lucky, there were good bunches of silverbeet. I made sure to buy bunches of this leafy green vegetable wherever I could and cooked it in various ways: braised with chillies and anchovies, sautéed  in butter with a final dash of lemon juice, sautéed and deglazed with vinegar and a bit of sugar, or mixed with other vegetables.

Sometimes, I found curly Kale, but never Tuscan Kale, the Italian Cavolo Nero. Having said that, I acknowledge that growing seasons may be different in the West, especailly the North West, but if there was Kale there was never Cavolo Nero/Tuscan Kale which grows in the same season. I saw and bought Brussel sprouts in a few places but they were extremely expensive.

Capsicums/ peppers were pretty abundant, especially red ones.

In the larger cities produce was more varied. One of the things that I found quite perculiar is that zucchini were were exceptionally large and old singly. I only once found small zucchini (the size they should be) which was in Albany and I bought all they had. Green grocers seem few and far between and people shopped in supermarkets, but perhaps, on reflection supermarkets don’t necessarily have a wide range  .

The produce in the Fremantle market was certaily fresh and excellent in quality and i stocked up there as much as I could. Occasionally, we’d pass through a place that had a Saturday Market but most of the stalls had a limited range, usually more of the same. On one rare occasion I found a market stall that had broadbeans and English spinach, fresh bunches of basil, coriander and parsley. Heaven! I’m an opportunistic shopper and while I do pine for leafy green vegetables, I know I can always make a meal of whatever I have in the pantry. The occasional tin of  borlotti, canellini or black beans came in very handy as a mixer.

Whenever I saw red, teardrops tomatoes, as I did in the market in Fremantle and Saturday Market in Carnarvon I bought plenty.

I made many salads using what vegetables I had. In one supermarket in Denmark I found a celeriac. I teemed this with beetroot and dressed it with a mustard vinaigrette.

I  bought fennel in Fremantle and on another occasion radicchio in Albany. As well as salad I braised some with leeks and chicken breasts. Pretty good with mashed potatoes.

I bought a 2k tub of bocconcini and a burrata in Margaret River.

That was a real find!

My pantry in the campervan is always well stocked with extra virgin olive oil, vinegars, capers, olives, nuts, anchovies and a farly generous supply of spices including different types of pepper. The only dry herb I use is oregano. I am a big consumer of fresh herbs and I picked fresh rosemary wherever I saw it and kept it fresh in a container in the small fridge in the van. In some places I was able to buy fresh basil. I make harissa – strong and fragrant and take this with me.

For camping trips, I also marinade feta in extra virgin olive oil, bay leaves and black peppercorns and store it in the fridge. Feta is very versatile and when it is marinaded it lasts for a long time. I add this to salads, dress pasta with it and spread it on bread.

I also use wine or one of the vinegars (cider,wine, balsamic, chinese brown) for deglazing.

I bought fish wherever I could and even made fish stock for a risotto with the crayfish shells.

Meat was pentiful and there was some grass fed and organic in the larger places. I even braised a whole chicken. And there was stock.

And with stock, there is risotto.

Pulses are also plentiful in my camp kitchen as are different types of rice and pasta of various shapes. I have quinoa and couscous as well.

So as you can see, not much is impossible to cook when camping and I do enjoy making do with what I have.

Harissa made with fresh Chillies

HARISSA (A hot chilli condiment)

CAMPING and COOKING

GLAM COOKING ON THE ROAD; Camping

EATING WELL, Camping in Tasmania, BBQ chicken-Pollo alla Diavola

 

CUCINA POVERA – REDISCOVERING SOUP

Cucina Povera is steeped in culture and tradition.

I have a friend who once said to me “Soup is for poor people”. I must have looked stunned, so he clarified: “Only poor people eat soup.”

Coming from an Italian background, and he from a Brazilian, I understand where he’s coming from. In Italy, we refer to it as Cucina Povera, or poor cuisine/peasant cookery that is deeply rooted in heritage and customs.

Soups were traditionally the sustenance of the peasant class, utilizing what was inexpensive or accessible. The motto – In the kitchen, nothing is thrown away – resonates deeply with this tradition.

In the last decade soups and rustic cooking have made a remarkable comeback, evolving into main meals as cooks rediscover their versatility. Unlike in the past, when my parents served soups as the Primo (first course) and always followed by a Secondo (second course/main) today’s focus on minimizing waste aligns beautifully with the philosophy of  – fare qualcosa fuori di niente – making something out of nothing.

The ingredients for traditional Cucina Povera depended on local produce. As Patience Gray notes in Honey from a Weed: The fact that every crop is of short duration promotes a spirit of making the best of it while it lasts and conserving a part of it for future use.

The contadini, or peasants, often relied on less desirable cuts of meat, seasonal or discarded vegetables, wild herbs, grains, and pulses, the produce that they couldn’t sell. Despite their limited resources, these simple ingredients resulted in nutritious and flavourful soups. When cooking, they also had to take into account practical considerations, such as the size and number of pots and the methods of heating.

In many Italian households, it is still common to add stale bread to soups that originally was used for sustenance and as thickening. For example, Pappa al Pomodoro, a pureed tomato soup is thickened with bread. Pappa means pap. I also remember Pappa di Pane (bread), being a favourite and often the first solid food for babies.

A more perfect example of the ultimate zero-waste soup of Cucina Povera is is Ribollita, a thick, Tuscan soup made with cannellini beans, vegetables (including cavolo nero) and bread.

Ribollita means “reboiled” and the next batch of Ribollita sees the leftover soup being used to make the new batch. More vegetables are added, and it is once again thickened with stale bread.

Coastal regions also have a rich tradition of fish soups and many famous Italian fish soups originated from peasant cuisine, often made from discarded fish that were simmered to make a flavourful stock.

Elisabeth Laud highlights that: The limitations imposed by a single pot, a single heat source, local produce, and little or no access to imports are characteristic of peasant cooking, giving it a distinct identity.

Cucina Povera encompasses more than just soup, it includes a variety of regional pasta, polenta, and rice dishes, all made with frugal ingredients.

Growing up, my family enjoyed a multitude of Zuppe and Minestre. And you may wonder about the distinction between them.

A Zuppa refers to a soup or broth served over slices of bread, allowing the bread to soak up the delicious liquid. In contrast, a Minestra typically contains rice or pasta, making it heartier. The Oxford Companion of Italian Food by Gillian Riley notes that: a pureed vegetable soup is classified as a zuppa.

The term Zuppa is thought to derive from a Celtic word that translates as “slice of bread.” Historically, wealthy nobles would serve extravagant dishes on large pieces of bread, using the bread as a base for their meals. The leftover soaked bases of bread would often be given to servants, who would then cook the soaked bread with simple ingredients to create soups.

Minestre, on the other hand, comes from the Latin ministrare, meaning “to administer,” perhaps demonstrating what happened in family gatherings where a figure of authority (the father) would serve from a central pot.

The Minestra, therefore, could imply “a thicker soup” with rice or pasta or polenta or some other cereal as a thickener. So, what are we to make of Minestrone, which is signifies a big, hearty soup, implied by the ending –one as distinct from Minestrina, the -ina indicates a little light soup. Usually a Minestrina is fed to babies or young children, or sick people. It is never heavy.

And what about Vellutate? It derives from the word velluto – velvet. One could have a good time guessing.

The terminology has become increasingly ambiguous over time. There’s much more to explore, such as Brodo (broth) and wet pasta dishes that don’t fit neatly into the categories of soup or Pasta Asciutta – pasta dishes that are dressed but remain dry.

I consulted a number of resources and this book: Grande Enciclopedia Illustrata della Gostronamia. It is written in Italian and therefore it is probably not surprising that it has more clarification about Zuppa and Minestra.

I like this quote from this book:

Ma benché sia così radicata nella tradizione italiana oggi non è affatto semplice definire che cosa sia esattamente una minestra. (But although it (minestra and zuppa) are so rooted in the Italian tradition, today it is not at all easy to define what exactly a soup is)

I love the Italian language!

Moulinex for making vellutate (veloutés), baby food and Pappa al Pomodoro

CAVOLO NERO and three ways to cook it (Ribollita)

GLAM COOKING ON THE ROAD – Camping

In the last few months I have spent very little time at home and I have been on the road from one state to another (South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria) in a camper van but managed some “glam” cooking.

Always, even while camping and in some remote places,  I continue to cook.

Cooking whilst camping is all about simplicity and the following dishes (even the duck) may look glam but they were simple to prepare and cook.

FUNGHI AL FUNGHETTO (Braised mushrooms)

MELANZANE; eggplants AL FUNGHETTO or TRIFOLATE

PEPERONATA ; PIPIRONATA (Sicilian) Braised peppers

PEPPERS WITH BREADCRUMBS- PIPI CA MUDDICA – PEPERONI CON LA MOLLICA

CAMPING, Pumpkin risotto

South Australia in Goolwa

SPAGHETTI ALLE VONGOLE (Spaghetti with cockles)

VONGOLE con FINOCCHIO (fennel) e Vermouth

The beauty  of Tasmania

COSTOLETTE DI VITELLO (Veal chops – baked)

I like the taste of veal and veal chop bones are great for chewing, so when I saw Costolette di Vitello (veal chops) at the Queen Victoria Market, I bought them, marinaded them and baked them with potatoes.

I really like the gristly bits around bones, for example I like to chew around the ends of Chicken bones, shins and I particularly like pork hocks. Rather than gristle, perhaps it is the tendons or sinews– the bit that connects muscle tissue together and breaks down with cooking and turns semi-transparent and tender. I think it is flavourful, but many do not.

Living in Australia when I say ‘veal’ I do not mean the ‘white veal’ as in Europe, i.e. calves 18-20 weeks old, reared in small pens indoors and fed only milk. This Australian veal was quite pink – evidence that as in accordance with Australian regulations it should have been reared in open pens and fed a diet of milk and grass or grain and produced from dairy calves weighing less than 70kg or beef calves weighing up to 150kg.

Veal can be bland so the most usual way to cook veal with bone is to make a spezzatino –a braise or stew. Veal benefits from the added liquid (could be from stock/ wine/ tomatoes) and herbs for flavour.

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I chose to bake my veal chops, but unlike lamb or goat (kid), veal has little or no fat so it needs more oil if you choose to bake them.

I marinated the chops overnight in a bowl and baked them the next day.

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Meat and Marinade

For 4 people:

1.5k veal chops (there is little meat on them)
2 garlic cloves, sliced
½ cup dry Marsala or white wine
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
rosemary sprigs and bay leaves

Marinate the meat with the above ingredients for at least 2+ hours (can be done overnight). Drain the meat and solids from the marinade when you are ready to cook it. Reserve the liquid.

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For Cooking

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, cut into large slices
salt
pepper
4 large potatoes
more rosemary (or sage )

Prepare the potatoes and cut into large pieces. Put them in a bowl and dress with half the oil, add seasoning and more rosemary.

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Heat the oven at 180C.

Place a little more oil in a baking dish. Position the meat in the tray, arrange the slices of onions and between the meat. Add seasoning and drizzle the rest of the oil on top of the meat.

Bake the meat for 15 minutes. Turn the meat and add the potatoes (with the oil). Cook for about 40 minutes then add the drained marinade – try to pour it over the meat rather than the potatoes. Bake for another 15-20 minutes till the potatoes are cooked and the meat is coloured.

If you are wondering what the green blobs are on top of the baked veal in the main photo, they are spoons of chopped parsley which I keep in the fridge topped with extra virgin olive oil…… more for decoration, but it is also flavourful.

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I guess everyone liked them.

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See recipe:  VITELLO ARROSTO (Roast Veal)

PATATE as a contorno (Two recipes for ‘squashed’ potatoes, Patate in tecia).

Last week’s post mentioned patate in teccia (potatoes in a pan), a perfect accompaniment for vitello arrosto (veal roast). In fact in Trieste where this recipe is common, it can be the perfect contorno to accompany many other hot main courses which have a little gravy or juice.

In teccia is triestino (dialect used in Trieste) for cooked in a pan.

Patate schiacciate,  means ‘squashed potatoes’. I was away with friends over the weekend and one of my friends cooked these potatoes (see photo). He was surprised that I too knew them as ‘squashed’ and that they are cooked in various parts of Italy.

Here are two recipes for ‘squashed’ potatoes.

PATATE IN TECCIA (Trieste)

INGREDIENTS

potatoes 600g
onion, 1 large
extra virgin olive oil, 6 tablespoon
salt and pepper to taste

PROCESSES

Place whole, un-peeled potatoes in cold water and boil until cooked. Drain them.
In Trieste the potatoes are peeled and squashed into smaller, uneven sections. I sauté the potatoes un-peeled (and not forgiven for doing this by Italians).
Sauté and soften the onion till they are a light golden colour. Use extra virgin oil.
Add the potatoes and cook on medium heat until they begin to colour (form a crust) on the bottom. Stir them continually so that they can continue to colour (this process will take about 10 minutes).
*Sometimes I have used duck fat, the render of having cooked duck – the taste is superb, but it is not traditional.
PATATE SCHIACCIATE

INGREDIENTS

potatoes 600g
extra virgin olive oil, 6 tablespoon
salt and pepper to taste
Heat the oven to 200 C
Place whole, un-peeled potatoes in cold water and boil until cooked. Drain them.
Position potatoes in a well-oiled baking pan (not-overlapping) and squash them with the palm of the hand (or a cup).
Dribble with the remaining oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake the potatoes for about 20 minutes till golden (have formed a crust) and serve.
*I often use duck fat instead of oilve oil, but this is not traditional.
See  recipe for Vitello Arrosto
Roast veal but cooked wet on the stove top rather than the oven.

VITELLO ARROSTO (Roast Veal)

When we first arrived in Australia, we lived in Adelaide and one of the favourite things that my mother cooked when we had guests, was vitello arrosto (roast veal).

It was not vitello as we had been used to in Trieste (veal which was very pale in colour and young), however, we were very fortunate to have a good Hungarian butcher who did his best to supply us with cuts of meat that we were better acquainted with.

When I was a teenager I often had friends who came to stay and I used to tell them that what we were eating was roast veal, they were confused. Firstly because it was not roast lamb (my mother thought that what Australians called lamb was really pecorona – ultra big sheep), but secondly because what we called roast was not a roast cooked in the oven, so why did we call it roast?

Ovens were not commonly used, baking was not common, but wet roasting was, and if you look at recipes for vitello arrosto you will find that the most common way of cooking it is in a pan with a close fitting lid on top of the stove. The juices do not dry out and the roast will be tender and very flavourful.

This is not a recipe my Sicilian relatives cooked – their arrosto was always cooked slowly in the oven, with onions, a little tomato, bay leaves and usually with potatoes. This was also moist and cooked for some of the time partly covered. The photo above of the meat was taken in a meat market in Sicily; the cut of meat that my relatives often use for a boneless roast is called a reale.

Ask your butcher for a piece of veal that you can roast.  A leg of veal is suitable, but it will be gelatinous and not every one likes this.

it is also called Vitello in Pentola ( saucepan/pan),  in Australia it is often called a Dutch oven; is a good shape to use for vitello arrosto.

INGREDIENTS
roasting veal in one piece of 1.5 – 2 kg
extra virgin olive oil, ½ – ¾ cup
white wine,  up to 2 cups or 1 cup wine, 1 cup stock
onion, 1 cut into quarters
carrots, 3, leave whole
fresh rosemary, sage and whole garlic cloves to stud the meat
salt and pepper to taste
PROCESSES
Make holes in the meat (use a sharp, thin knife) and stud the meat with the flavourings – use separate flavours for each hole.
Heat the oil, brown the meat well on all sides.
Pour in 1 cup of the wine and evaporate.
Add the onion and carrots, a few more sprigs of rosemary and sage, salt and pepper.
Cover and cook over low heat for about 1½ hours, but keep on adding a little more wine (or stock) so that the meat is kept moist and does not stick to the bottom of the pan (add extra water or stock if necessary).

When the meat is cooked, cut the roast into thin slices and serve it with the sauce (I always include the bits of onion and carrots, some cooks use a mouli to passare (grind/ mash) the vegetables into the sauce.

My mother always presented the veal with spinach sauteed in butter and nutmeg and patate in teccia…but these are part of another story.

PATATE as a contorno (Two recipes for ‘squashed’ potatoes, Patate in tecia).

 

WHAT TO DO WITH A ZUCCA (An overgrown zucchini – a marrow).

What to do with those overgrown zucchini?
The easiest thing is to make them into a marinaded salad or a preserve.

Those zucchini grow rapidly and before you know it, they become zucche (plural of zucca,). The marrows I am talking about are no longer than 22 cms, still tender and have flavour – any larger than this they become tasteless and dry and are good for the compost. Usually, zucche are stuffed, but these can also be used successfully to make a salad or a preserve.

I use a mandoline (kitchen utensil used for slicing and cutting) to cut the marrows into matchsticks and then use a method similar to the one for making Italian vegetable preserves.

Sicilians (and southern Italians) are fond of preserves – the most common are made with eggplants or green tomatoes, sliced, salted, squeezed dry (the next day), then placed in vinegar for a day, squeezed dry and finally placed in oil and oregano.

I treat marrows in a similar way, but because I want to eat them fresh it is unnecessary to go through the lengthy process I have described above – the salting process takes about 30 minutes and the rest is completed in no time at all. If I am using zucchini, I slice them long-wise and very thinly (a potato peeler can be good).

The following amounts are for processing 1 marrow…..and not too large or seedy.

INGREDIENTS

marrow, 1

salt, 1 teaspoon

white, wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon

extra virgin olive oil, 1/3cup

oregano, ½teaspoon dried is more pungent,

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

PROCESS

Cut marrow  into half, remove seeds. Cut into match sticks or use a mandoline or a turning slicer which cuts into spirals.

Place in a colander with salt. Leave to drain for at least 30mins. Squeeze dry.

Dress with the oil and vinegar and crushed oregano.

Leave for about 10 minutes for the flavours to infuse.

CIOCCOLATA CALDA (Hot chocolate)


One of my friends is enjoying drinking hot chocolate. She drinks it as genteel ladies once drank it and in a fine cup. It is made the English way with good quality cocoa, water and a dash of milk. 

I too like my hot chocolates unsweetened and made with good quality cocoa. During my many visits to Italy I have ordered many hot chocolates in bars; each one I ordered was different in taste and thickness.

As a child living in Trieste, I grew up with drinking hot chocolate. It was my breakfast, it was drunk at childrens’ parties and at bars while the adults drank coffee. Trieste is close to Austria and the hot chocolate I was used to was always presented in a fine tea cup with a blob of whipped cream. It was always made with a generous quantity of quality cocoa powder and with milk.

Below: Il Caffè degli Specchi in Trieste. 

My mother always made it in a pentolino (we had a special small saucepan that we only used for heating milk) and she would stir the mixture until hot. When in bars the same ingredients were used, but the milk was foamed like in a cappuccino or caffé latte.

I tasted my first, thick hot chocolate when I first went to Mantova. It was almost the consistency of custard. . Those of you who have ordered hot chocolate anywhere north of Rome (except Trieste) would know what I am talking about – milk, sugar, thickening (usually corn flour or potato starch), and chocolate (often cocoa powder).

Places like Torino and Perugia are among the places in Northern Italy that produce fine chocolate so you will find thick chocolate drinks in these towns.

The Baroque city of Modica in southern Sicily is famous for its chocolate made with ancient techniques in the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, .  In the 1500s when the Spaniards were the rulers they introduced the method from the Aztecs;  the chocolate is often flavoured with cinnamon, vanilla, pistachios and citrus zest. When I had a hot chocolate in the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, I selected the version that had cinnamon and zest, and it was indeed wonderful.

Below: Modica and Antica Dolceria Bonajuto.

Traditionally, thick chocolate was made in the top of a double boiler, over boiling 
water – good quality, dark chocolate (not cocoa) is melted in water and stirred until it is dissolved. Still over heat, it is then whisked by hand for at least 3 minutes (in a modern kitchen, an electric wand can be used).

Another recipe for making a good tasting, thick, hot chocolate also contains some shaved good quality bittersweet chocolate (high level cocoa-70-80%) as well as the good quality cocoa, milk and sugar to taste (Italians like sugar). In a milk saucepan, mix the sugar and cocoa with a little bit of milk till smooth. Add milk and stir over medium heat. Add the bits of chocolate to taste (and preferred thickness). Keep on stirring till melted.

It can be an alternative to dessert.

 

PAPPARDELLE (Pasta with Hare or game ragù)

Tuscany and Umbria specialise in sauces for pappardelle made with game meat and I hope that those of you who have visited these regions of Italy were able to eat some when there.

Pappardelle are usually the favourite shape of pasta for strong sauces made with strong tasting meat especially game: either cinghiale (wild boar) lepre (hare), capriolo (venison), coniglio (rabbit), anatra (duck). If not game, maybe salsicce di maiale (pork sausages) or funghi (mushrooms), and preferably the wild ones stronger in taste. Often the pappardelle may have a fluted edge to prevent the sauce dropping away off the sides. These are sometimes called reginette (regina- queen, crowns) but once again, there is local variation in the names.

Pasta shapes are synonymous with certain sauces. Generally, thin sauces which contain a lot of oil (for example made with seafood or with a few vegetables) are better suited to long thin pasta shapes (spaghetti, spaghettini).

Thicker sauces, made with meat or with larger vegetables are better suited to shapes with large, uneven surfaces (rigatoni, penne). Their shapes help to trap the ingredients in the thick sauce.

Pasta shapes are also regional. While the south of Italy may prefer small pasta shapes for thicker sauces (fusilli, casarecci, orecchiette) other parts of Italy enjoy long, flat ribbons of pasta (tagliatelle, fettucine). Fresh ribbon pasta made with a large number of eggs is enhanced by sauces made with delicate subtle flavours, often with cream.

Niluzza rolls pasta_0002 copy

When I was in Tuscany in December 2008, I enjoyed many primi of pappardelle, one in particular in Sansepolcro (very close to Umbria) and the accompanying sauce was made from wild boar and it included pieces of chestnut.

The photograph is of Alex, my small friend: it was taken in Greve. He is outside of the butcher shop (we were staying across the road) and he is patting the stuffed wild boar which decorates the front of the shop. Wild boar is very popular in the winter months in Tuscany but I have also eaten some very fine boar meat in Calabria.

I bought a hare in Greve and cooked it the same way.

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Sauces made with strong tasting meats (wild boar, hare,venison, rabbit, duck) are usually cooked slowly in a ragout (ragù in Italian) and made in the same way as a Bolognese sauce. Because of their rich taste and choice of ingredients they are autumn and winter dishes, most probably enjoyed with a glass or two of red wine.

Sometimes porcini mushrooms are also added to the ragù.

Ragù, using hare, rabbit or boar

Sauté in extra virgin olive oil: ½ onion, 1 carrot, ½ stalk of celery (all cut finely).
Add the hare, rabbit, boar chopped into sections complete with bones and brown (some add pancetta as well). If using sausages leave them whole but prick them, if using mushrooms slice into thick pieces.
Add 1 glass of red wine and evaporate briefly.
Dilute about 2 tablespoons of tomato puree in a little warm water and add to mixture. Stir carefully and add 1 cup of broth, salt, pepper, 3 bay leaves and a little grated nutmeg and simmer until liquid is almost evaporated and the meat is tender and falling off the bone (this could take 2-4 hours for the hare or boar). Continue to check on the liquid and add more as necessary.
Remove bones from the meat and return to the sauce. Some add a little cream and more nutmeg at this stage.
Dress the cooked pappardelle.
Present with grated parmigiano, as a choice for each person.