Italia a tavola-Firenze-Black Kale Soup

Zuppa di Cavolo Nero

(Lacinato Kale soup)

Ingredients for 4 servings

2 bundles of black cabbage (Lacinato Kale), washed and cut in strips

2.5 oz of dry borlotti beans (cranberry beans) soaked overnight

2 potatoes, pealed and cut in wedges

3 ripe tomatoes (or whole can tomatoes)

1 stalk of celery

1 small onion

1 carrot

1 little branch of Thyme

Como bread

Olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Mince the celery, onion and carrot and stir fryin a pot with 6 TbS of olive oil until the onion is golden brown; add the potatoes, tomatoes and Thyme and pan fry for a few minutes stirring well.

Add the black cabbage, the beans and 8 to 9 cups of cold water.

Add salt and pepper and cook for 2 hours with the lid on.

For each serving cut a fairly thick slice of fresh Como bread and place in a bowl; dress the bread with olive oil and ladle the soup over it.

This soup is usually served without cheese.

Italia a tavola-Firenze-Artichokes Torta

Now a few recipes from Firenze (Florence), my city of origin. 

Florence was born in 59 B.C. as a colony founded by a few former legionnaires of Julius Caesar; it was named Florentia (Flowering), because it was located in the beautiful flowering fields around the Arno River. 

These legionnaires were not the first people to become attracted to those fields; approximately 1000 years B.C, the Etruscans had settled in that area and from the frescos found in their tombs we can learn that from them we inherited many of our traditional tools and recipes.  The Etruscans already made pasta and used a pasta wheel to cut it, they used colanders and graters, they grilled and roasted meats and made complicated soups and breads (including the “Schiacciata con l’uva” a type of sweet bread with grapes in it). 

The Etruscans loved fine cuisine and had a refined taste, ate at the sound of music in a semi-supine position, served by young men and women and used plates, glasses and utensils.

1000 years had to pass after the destruction of this formidable civilization, before we arrived at a similar level of gastronomic culture.

In the III Century B.C. Roma conquered the Arno colony of Florentia and built Firenze, square and surrounded by fortified walls.  Initially mostly a military center, Firenze expanded and flourished throughout the centuries to become the center of art, music and savory cuisine that it is today.

Torta di Carciofi
Ingredients for 6 servings

11 0z.of puff pastry

5 artichokes

2oz. of butter

2 TbS of flour

1 cup of milk

2 TbS of grated Parmigiano (parmesan cheese)

1 egg, lightly whipped

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Clean the artichokes (cut the stem and peal off the outside harder leaves, cut in a half and cut off the little hair in the center) and slice them in thin slices. Stir fry them in a pan with 1oz of butter and 2 TbS of olive oil; add salt, pepper and a little water if needed to make them tender.

In the meantime melt 1 oz of butter in the milk, put the flour in a bowl and slowly add the milk, salt, and the parmesan cheese, stirring well to prevent clumps. 

Grease a 9 inch pie dish and cover with a thin layer of puff pastry; put the artichokes inside and pour the milk and parmesan mix all over it. Cover everything with another thin layer of puff pastry, trim seal the edges well and brush the top with the egg.

Cook at 350F for approximately 30 minutes

Italia a Tavola-Mushrooms-Stuffed Tomatoes

Pomodori Ripieni ai funghi

Ingredients for 4 people

8 medium tomatoes

7 oz. of mushrooms of your choice cut in medium size pieces

Olive oil, butter, garlic finely minced, salt, pepper

2 TbS of finely minced Parsley

Bread crumbs

Lightly fry the mushrooms in the oil and garlic, let cook stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes or until tender (cooking time depends on the mushrooms you choose), add salt and some pepper.

When the mushrooms are cooked turn off the heat and add the minced parsley; stir well.

Cut a plug on top of each tomato and empty them of their seeds; drain them well by flipping them upside down on a clean towel for a few minutes.

Fill each tomato with the cooked mushrooms, sprinkle bread crumbs on the top and put a thin slice of butter.

Place the tomato in a buttered pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

An excellent side dish to beef steak or rice!

Italia a tavola-Boletus

Involtini di Prosciutto Minerva

Ingredients for 4 servings

8 slices of “prosciutto cotto”

(or cooked ham if you can’t find prosciutto cotto)

9 0z. of Porcini (boletus mushrooms)

4 Oz. of lingua salmistrata cut in 2 slices and then in little cubes

(you probably will not find the lingua salmistrata,

which is beef tongue cooked

in a special way. You can substitute with beef pastrami)

A small truffle, minced

1 medium onion finely chopped

2 TS of butter, small glass of brandy,

1 TS of butter, 2 TS of flour, 1 cup of milk, salt for the “besciamella” sauce

4 oz. of “Parmigiano” Parmesan cheese

Nutmeg, one egg yolk

Clean the mushrooms (by scraping the dirt with a small knife and then wiping it with a damp cloth) and cut them in thick pieces.

Stir fry the mushrooms lightly at medium/high heat in a pot with some butter and the onion, for a few minutes. Add salt, reduce the heat and let cook for 10 minutes.

At this point add the tongue (or pastrami) and the truffle, mix everything well and add the Brandy and let cook for another 5 minutes.

When the sauce has thickened remove from the fire and prepare the besciamella sauce, by adding the entire ingredient together and cooking at slow heat until the sauce thickens.

Add 3 TS of besciamella to the mushroom sauce as well as 2 oz. of parmesan cheese and the egg yolk and some nutmeg. Mix everything well.

Lay one slice of prosciutto cotto on the cutting board put a trail of the mushroom sauce in the middle, roll it and place it un a previously buttered pan. Repeat with the rest of the prosciutto cotto slices.

Cover everything with the remaining besciamella sauce and the remaining Parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven at medium heat for about 20 minutes....Enjoy it!

SPOTLIGHT on Spices! Pepper

Pepper

Black pepper is the unripe fruit of the vine Piper Nigrum, a perennial vine with dark green leaves and a spike of white flowers. White, green and pink peppercorns are berries from the same vine picked at different stages of maturity. The vine matures in seven to eight years and continues to bear fruits for 15 to 20 more years. The berries are harvested over two to three months in the Spring and Summer.

Pepper, the spice most widely used in the west, is native of the monsoon forests of the Malabar Coast in Southwest India. Pepper was once so valued that it was traded ounce for ounce for gold.

For centuries pepper was negotiable as currency in the East and the west. During the Middle Ages pepper was sometime used to pay rent, dowries and Taxes, and was extremely expensive. The demand for pepper provided the main impetus for the discovery of a sea route to the east by the explorer Vasco da Gama. The main producers of pepper today are Malaysia, Indonesia and Brazil.

Aroma & Taste

Pepper has a warm woody smell that is fresh, pungent and agreeably aromatic. White pepper tastes hotter and less subtle than black pepper. Green pepper is not as hot and has a clean fresh taste.

Pepper is neither sweet or savory, just pungent and can therefore be used in both types of dish.

Italia a tavola-Boletus-Funghi alla Genovese

Teste di funghi alla Genovese

Ingredients for 4 Servings

8 large Porcini (Boletus) mushrooms

16 grape leaves (young and tender)

olive oil

garlic,

Italian parsley

Oregano

Salt and pepper

Take the mushrooms stems off, wipe them clean and mince them finely with a clove of garlic and ¼ cup of parsley, add a little salt.

Wash the grape leaves and dry them well; Put a mushroom head on each leaf and fill it with the previously made filling, add a little oil and pepper.

Take a large pan (possibly an iron pan), oil the bottom and place the grapes leaves with the mushrooms inside. Cover each mushroom with another grape leaf, sprinkle a little oil, cover the pan and cook at low heat for about 20 to 30 minutes.

When done cooking, remove the top grape leaves and arrange them in a plate; put the mushrooms on top of the grape leaves and sprinkle with a little oregano.

Italia a tavola-Boletus-Funghi al Prosciutto

Funghi Al Prosciutto

Ingredients for 4 servings:

18 oz of Porcini (Boletus)

9 oz of prosciutto cotto, or ham, cut in 5 slices and diced

1 garlic clove finely minced

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 oz of butter

¼ cup of Italian parsley, finely minced

salt, pepper

Put the butter in a large pan at low heat until it melts; then throw in the mushrooms well cleaned and cut in thick pieces, the ham, the onions and garlic. Let everything cook on a live fire for a few minutes, add salt, pepper, lower the heat, cover the pan and let cook for about 20 minutes in the water produced by the mushrooms;

stir frequently. When ready, put in a serving bowl and add the parsley.

They make an excellent side dish to roast beef or rice.

SPOTLIGHT on Spices!

Nutmeg and Mace

Nutmeg is the kernel of the seed of the fruit of the Myristica Fragrans tree,

which grows in the Moluccas Islands; the mace is the lacy veil (aril) that covers the seed.

The fruit, that resembles an apricot, ripens six to nine months after flowering, and it is usually gathered when it falls to the ground.

The Myristica Fragrans is an evergreen that grows to 40 feet or more;it has dark green oval leaves and pale yellow flowers. It starts bearing fruits at its seven or eight year and continues for up to 40 years. This tree was eventually exported and raised in Penang, Sri Lanka and Sumatra and eventually taken to Grenada in the west Indies, where almost a third of the worl's nutmeg is produced today.

Nutmeg and mace were used since the 6th century as medicine for digestive disorders, liver and skin complaints, in China India and Arabia. They were probably brought to

Europe by the crusaders and were used as fumigants; they became popular in the kitchen only in the 16th century (it took a while), when they became the cure for just about everything. By the 18th century people carried their own nutmegs, together with small ornamental graters, sometime made of silver or bone, to flavor food and drinks.

Harvesting the nutmeg: 
The husk is stripped off and the mace, which is of a scarlet

color, is removed pressed flat and dried on mats, until it turns yellowish/orange.

The seeds are dried on trays for four to six weeks until the nutmegs rattles in their outer shell.

At this point the seeds are cracked, the nutmeg

s removed then graded according to size and quality.

Aroma & Taste: Nutmeg and Mace are similar in taste, the aroma is rich, fresh and warm; the taste is warm and highly

aromatic-sweetish in nutmeg and more bitter and pungent in mace.

In Italy nutmeg is used in vegetable dishes, with veal and in fillings for homemade pasta.

Italia a tavola-Boletus-Woods woman Tagliatelle

Ah! What a magnificent mushroom! Well know for its wonderful taste and fleshy hat. It's delicious raw, cooked or dessicated. It grows in shady woods particularly under oak trees or chestnut trees. The boletus is fairly easy to recognize due to the shape of its hat, the dense pores underneath and the shape of the foot. There are a couple of species of boletus which are toxic, but luckily one has an i ncredibly bitter flesh and the other is bright red under the hat...easy! The Boletus Eduli and Boletus Aureus, (Porcino and Porcino nero in Italian) are the most exquisite, and this is what we are cooking tonight!

Tagliatelle verdi alla Boscaiola

Ingredients for 4 servings:

14 oz of green Tagliatelle (with spinach)

18 oz. of Boletus

18 oz. of ripe Roma tomatoes, peeled seeded and cut in strips

1 small onion (1/2 red onion) minced

salt, pepper, nutmeg, butter, olive oil, one glass of good red wine (not cooking wine)

Use relatively small boletus, clean them by removing the earthy part of the foot and lightly brushing them with a mushroom brush, and cut them in 4 to 6 wedges.

Lightly fry the onion in three tablespoons of olive oil; when golden brown add the mushrooms. Raise the heat and stir well until the mushrooms have lost their water. After a few minutes, when the mix is getting drier, lower the heat and add salt and pepper and the glass of wine. Let cook until 1/2 of the wine has evaporated. At this point add the Roma tomatoes, add another pinch of salt and the nutmeg and let cook for about 15 minutes.

In the mean time cook the tagliatelle; drain the water and put them in a bowl; dress them with about a spoon of butter and some Parmesan (Parmigiano) cheese and mix all well, add the mushrooms sauce and mix well again. Serve them with more Parmesan on the side. Ahh!

Italia a tavola-Il Chantarellus-FarfallineFarman Style

Chantarellus

The Chantarellus mushroom or “Gallinaccio” in Toscana, Italia, has the shape of a funnel, hence the name from the Greek word Kantharos “drinking cup”.

There are several species of Chantarellus or Chanterelles mushroom in America; it grows on any kind of terrain under conifers or broad leaf trees, often hides under leaves and grass; it grows from spring to autumn and there are not poisonous species. What a relief!

The slightly sweet flavor of Chanterelles is well liked by Italian mushroom lovers and used in a variety of recipes.

This one I want to share with you:

Farfalline del Contadino

Ingredients for 4 people

14 oz of bow tie pasta

14 oz of chanterelles

2oz of butter

7 oz of smoked pancetta or bacon

(if you cannot find either you can substitute with smoked ham cut in one thick slice)

about a cup of beef or chicken broth

One clove of garlic

½ cup of parsley (minced), salt, and pepper.

In a bowl put a cup of water with a tablespoon of vinegar. Clean the mushrooms discarding the ends of the foot wiping them quickly with a rug damp with the vinegar water. Put the mushroom in a pan without any oil over medium/low heat for about 5 minutes so that they will let out their water. In the meantime cut the pancetta in very small cubes and slice the garlic. Put them in a pan with the butter until golden brown, and then add the drained mushrooms. Add salt and pepper and let everything cook at medium heat for about 30 minutes adding a small amount of broth.

In the meantime cook the pasta “al dente”, drain it, and put it in a serving bowl. Add the mushrooms and the parsley and mix everything well.

Buon Appetito!