A year of Italian cooking

[Adam Balic]

Kevin - that all looks great. I especially like the sound of pasta "en cartoccio". What is the testure of the past cooked in this manner though?

[Kevin72]

Kevin - that all looks great. I especially like the sound of pasta "en cartoccio". What is the testure of the past cooked in this manner though?

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You're trading al dente for a flavor that has gotten into each strand of pasta. At first I worried that I had overcooked it but my wife pointed this fact out and I couldn't disagree. You could cook it a little less, but once it's in the packet it's hard to test and see.

[Adam Balic]

I'm not too concerned about al dente (a modern idea anyway now?), what I should have said is how dry is the final mixture? Doe pasta completely take up the lquid or is it still a little soupy at the bottom?

[Kevin72]

Ah. Well, I reduced the sauce a little because I was worried about it oozing out of the packet (past experience and sloppy sealage on my part). It was just about right, though, and there was a little left at the bottom of the packet. Some of the extra starch that normally cooks out in the last few minutes and then gets left in the pot was now in the sauce, so it had a very luscious, nearly creamy texture. And not at all gummy, like when you overcook pasta or use inferior brands (not that "you" do!).

[Adam Balic]

Cheers Kevin, very good stuff.

Also, I often cook crappily, I just never put images of it on the web. Friends still remind me of how I destroyed an entire days picking worth of brambles by using salt instead of sugar for the crumble..

[...tm...]

Everything, as always, looks amazing. I had completely forgotten about the idea of pasta in cartoccio. I actually had a very similar-looking seafood ragu in Sicily which slipped my mind until today. I agree with previous posters who mention that the aracine look particularly great. Are they deep fried? The crust looks very even. I usually pan fry in a large amound of oil and I almost always have problems with the balls maintaining their integrity. This might be because I always use leftover risotto which often has a lot of additions that interfere with the ability to stick together. Yours look beautiful.

[Kevin72]

Yeah, the arancine are deep-fried. I've already gone through two changes of oil this month!

Edit: Much as I try to avoid deep-frying and its production, sometimes it's better that way, especially when you have something that's prone to come apart easily. These had an egg coating and then were rolled in breadrcumbs, and you had to be very, very delicate with them (actually I patted the breadcrumbs in place instead of rolling the rice balls in them). Once they hit that oil though, they more or less instanty seal up.

Edited July 12, 2005 by Kevin72 (log)

[Kevin72]

Sunday night we had a couple of sficione, double-crusted pizzas. Mario did a number of variations of them on his show and one version I liked was with potato in the dough.

The one on the right is stuffed with broccoli and ricotta, the one on the left is stuffed with salami and mozzarella.

Last night we started with panelle, which, as chufi mentioned on the previous page, are fritters made of chickpea flour. You bring some water to a simmer, then pour in chickpea flour and stir until it thickens. Then pour into a container and place in the fridge until it sets up. Cut them into squares and deep-fry them, dust with cheese. Holy cats, they're addictive.

PS: It took quit a bit of effort not to put cumin in while it was cooking! Too much experience with falafel, I guess.

For the main we had involtini of pork. I put it up, appropriately, on Chufi's involtini thread.

Very tender, and I love the sweet bursts of the raisins that swell up and caramelize in the heat.

The digestivi are ready!

L-R: Lemon, Almond, Fennel, and Coffee and Cinnamon. I was worried the most about how the coffee and cinnamon one would turn out but it's really good. And the almond one tastes just like Amaretto!

[hathor]

I love the digestivi! Just wonderful.

I'm curious, what did you use as the base alcohol? In NY, grain alcohol is illegal so I would use vodka, but it just doesn't have the same kick. Here, you buy plain alcohol in the grocery store.

Two observations: when we made the arancine, we put the ball into a bowl of bread crumbs and literally squeezed the bread crumbs onto the ball to make them adhere. One other cool thing we did with the left over arancine, should you have any left over arancine, is we took a cooked hunk of it, and pressed it paper thin, then microwaved it for a few seconds, and voila! arancine chips! I actually liked them better than the balls themselves.

The other observation, when we made the panelle, we took the batter and dumped it onto a stainless steel counter, then spread it maybe 1/4" thick, then let that cool, cut it, and fried. Just a variation on the panelle theme, I'm sure. No cheese on ours either. Guess it depends on what side of the island you're from.

I think you're right, its going to be hard to do Sicilia in just a month.

Ciao!

[Verjuice]

I have been reading through this thread for the last hour and a half. This is utterly fantastic! Kevin, you are amazing.

And I am famished again, even though I had dinner only an hour ago.

[Kevin72]

I love the digestivi! Just wonderful.

I'm curious, what did you use as the base alcohol? In NY, grain alcohol is illegal so I would use vodka, but it just doesn't have the same kick.

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Vodka is actually what's called for in most recipes, but you're right, it doesn't have the same kick. I'd imagine you'll have to scale back the sugar syrup to alcohol ratio but someone more knowledgeable than I in the chemistry of the whole thing would probably have something more to say about that.

Two observations: when we made the arancine, we put the ball into a bowl of bread crumbs and literally squeezed the bread crumbs onto the ball to make them adhere. One other cool thing we did with the left over arancine, should you have any left over arancine, is we took a cooked hunk of it, and pressed it paper thin, then microwaved it for a few seconds, and voila! arancine chips!  I actually liked them better than the balls themselves.

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Yeah, I had to really work each arancino and get the breadcrumbs to stick but not press so hard that they'd fall apart. And what an odd technique for leftovers!

[Chufi]

Last night we started with panelle, which, as chufi mentioned on the previous page, are fritters made of chickpea flour.  You bring some water to a simmer, then pour in chickpea flour and stir until it thickens.  Then pour into a container and place in the fridge until it sets up.  Cut them into squares and deep-fry them, dust with cheese.  Holy cats, they're addictive.

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When I made panelle I had a very hard time getting the batter smooth. The chickpeaflour made a lot of lumps.. I even ended up pressing the whole thing through a sieve before letting it cool in the fridge. It was such a hassle that I hesitate making them again.. How did yours work?

[little ms foodie]

Kevin do you make your own ricotta?? Forgive if it is earlier in this thread I am just starting to read your adventures. Also I wonder if you used leftover risotto for the balls if the breadcrumbs would stick better (taking the leftover out of the fridge??)

[Kevin72]

When I made panelle I had a very hard time getting the batter smooth. The chickpeaflour made a lot of lumps.. I even ended up pressing the whole thing through  a sieve before letting it cool in the fridge.  It was such a hassle that I hesitate making them again.. How did yours work?

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That's funny. Same thing happened here! But I didn't press them through a sieve (though I was tempted). Oddly enough the frying or second cooking took care of it and there were no discernable lumps at all, just hot, gooey, beany goodness! Try it again and don't worry about the lumps this time.

Kevin do you make your own ricotta?? Forgive if it is earlier in this thread I am just starting to read your adventures. Also I wonder if you used leftover risotto for the balls if the breadcrumbs would stick better (taking the leftover out of the fridge??)

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Yep, here's the discussion about it.

Risotto has come up as a possible option for dealing with the integrity of the arancine, and I think quite often it's used instead of long-grain rice. Just make sure that you don't have extra stuff in there or it still won't hold together.

Here's a good, thorough discussion on arancine from last summer.

[kellytree]

Ok- I quit

- I can't look at this thread anymore.

It just makes me hungry and crabby

Too much really really good looking food going on here!

[Kevin72]

Ok- I quit 

- I can't look at this thread anymore.

It just makes me hungry and crabby

Too much really really good looking food going on here!

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But you live in Italy for cryin' out loud! This is just a yearlong lament on my part.

[Kevin72]

Earlier this week we had a dish from my newly-acquired cookbook Flavors of Southern Italy by Erica de Mane. It’s a good book, exploring important cooking styles and ingredients from Southern Italy. She begins the book by outlining major flavor elements found in the South (bitter, spicy, sweet and sour, etc) and then offers various interpretations of southern dishes. Some are updates of Italian-American mainstays, some are tweaks of dishes she’s had in Italy, and some are just examples of improvised dishes using these flavors and elements. One such recipe that stood out almost immediately was an orange-scented swordfish impanata from Sicily. I tweaked it even further from her rendition and used for the filling roasted peppers, capers, and tomato sauce along with some seared cubes of swordfish. The pastry is almost a dessert crust: sugar and orange zest and juice in a standard pasta frolla. My wife commented that when you first bite into the pie you’re expecting a sweet filling, but then are pleasantly surprised by this savory flavor instead. It works really, really well; one of the best dishes I’ve done so far this month.

[Kevin72]

I was shopping for Friday’s meal and about to get the ingredients for the planned appetizer, when I noticed that our market was now, of course, carrying fresh sardines, exactly when I wasn’t going to use them. Still, I decided to “let the market dictate” and scrapped the original antipasto plan to do some grilled sardines as a starter.

One was stuffed with dried figs and breadcrumbs, then rolled in a crust of orange zest and fennel seeds. The other was simply marinated in lemon juice and rosemary. As with so much of cooking, simpler is better and I enjoyed the latter version more.

For the main it was salt-crusted snapper. This is of course not exclusive to Sicily, or even Italy for that matter, but I love this technique and it had been way too long since I’d made it, so I decided to do it this month with the salt fields near Trapani in mind (and no, I didn’t use $10/ 2lbs Sicilian sea salt, either). Take the same weight of salt for the weight of fish you are cooking, mix it with whipped egg whites, and then completely encase the fish in it. Roast in a hot oven for 30-50 minutes, depending on weight. When it comes out the crust is golden brown and rock hard; you’ll need a hammer to get through it!

The fish emerges steamed in its own juices, perfectly seasoned and not at all over-salty. Fillet it and serve it with some arugula (or my new favorite but difficult to get green, tatsoi), lemon juice, and olive oil. I also parboiled some fingerling potatoes, lightly smashed them, then doused them with olive oil and dried oregano and roasted them, as well.

Edited July 18, 2005 by Kevin72 (log)

[Kevin72]

My wife’s birthday was Sunday, and I kicked off a week of various special meals for her with her traditional brunch: ciambella, a shortbread-type pastry baked in a ring shape, topped with summer berry compote and then honey and Sambucca-scented yogurt.

Also had a frittata of fresh tomatoes and basil.

Sunday dinner we started with fried coins of zucchini that are then dusted with sugar instead of the customary salt. Another mind-blower from Mario Batali’s run of Sicily episodes on his cooking show.

The primo was a baked pasta with an almond and sausage ragu from Vincent Schiavelli’s Many Beautiful Things.

Making it even more offbeat, the tomato ragu is seasoned with cinnamon and orange zest. When cooking, it kicked up an aroma reminiscent of when I was doing Friuli, way back in January. Coincidentally, I remember at the time comparing Friuli and Sicily as two of the most distinctive, exotic-spice laden Italian cuisines I had run across. Everybody went back for seconds, even though I warned them more was coming!

The main was duck in a chocolate agrodolce sauce.

Mario attributes this dish to the Spanish rule. Duck pieces are browned, then carrot, celery, onion, fennel seeds and bay leaves are stirred in. Slightly submerge the duck in white wine vinegar and cook for an hour until tender. Remove the meat, reduce the pan juices a little, then stir in bitter chocolate and sugar. The chocolate adds just the right base note to the zing of the vinegar and makes it a rich, rounded sauce.

The Sicilians seem to have come up with infinite variations on the sweet and sour theme and ways to do it. Almost as common an embellishment as cheese is the customary pine nuts or almonds and raisins or currants. I omitted them from this recipe as I’ve still got many other dishes this month with that combo and I don’t want to get burned out.

The contorno was lemon-pickled eggplant, again from Schiavelli.

It’s important to use baby eggplants in this as you essentially “cure” the raw eggplant in the lemon juice and then serve it. Sliver it finely and toss with salt and sugar, then the juice of several lemons and some olive oil, and set aside to pickle for a few hours. It still has a firm texture to it but it was addictive in its own way.

Dessert was cassata, the millennium-old, elaborately layered Sicilian pastry. Sponge cake is layered with sweet ricotta cream (it’s done well for having been frozen), wrapped with strips of green-colored marzipan, then iced with a lemon icing and garnished with candied fruits. It also called for chocolate but I left it out.

I’ll give you three guesses what my culinary weak spot is.

More birthday dishes next weekend.

Edited July 18, 2005 by Kevin72 (log)

[hathor]

WOW! Fantastic as always... and I know why Kellytree is crabby. Its HOT here, and air conditioning is only a vague concept.... The duck recipe looks especially intriguing. I've never cooked with vinegar, always used it as a finish, but in Italy, they cook with it all the time. Its been fun to experiment with it.

I've done potatoes roasted in the salt/egg white mixture, and they look really cool when you crack into them, but I didn't think it enhanced the flavor very much. Sometimes when I want to do the salt crust, I'll lay the fish on a bed of salt in saran wrap (pellicola! I just love that word ) making sure the salt is on both sides, give the saran a twist so that it presses the salt into the skin of the fish, remove the saran wrap, and then just roast the fish on a light bed of salt. It gives you the same hard outside skin crust and steamed interior that the egg white crust gives you, and its a lot less work. You can also stuff some orange slices and aromatic erbes into the belly of the fish before you seal it in the salt. I'm thinking its Sicilian with the addition of the oranges and herbs. What do you think??

edited because I'm too hot to proofread....

Edited July 18, 2005 by hathor (log)

[Chufi]

well, I'm sorry, but I don't see a culinary weak spot anywhere

I am very much intrigued by the swordfish impanata. I have made swordfish involtini with capers twice the past 2 weeks, and have become really addicted to the flavor combo. Adding orange sounds fascinating..

Would you consider putting your tweaked recipe in recipe Gullet? or maybe PM it to me if you have the time?

[Kevin72]

WOW!  Fantastic as always... and I know why Kellytree is crabby. Its HOT here, and air conditioning is only a vague concept....

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All right, I was going to say that somehow I just couldn't pity anyone who was crabby in Italy, but no A/C makes this americano very crabby, esp. at night . . .

You can also stuff some orange slices and aromatic erbes into the belly of the fish before you seal it in the salt. I'm thinking its Sicilian with the addition of the oranges and herbs. What do you think?? 

edited because I'm too hot to proofread....

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I did lemons and thyme. I was going to use orange actually but used 'em on the sardines instead.

well, I'm sorry, but I don't see a culinary weak spot anywhere 

I am very much intrigued by the swordfish impanata. I have made swordfish involtini with capers twice the past 2 weeks, and have become really addicted to the flavor combo. Adding orange sounds fascinating..

Would you consider putting your tweaked recipe in recipe Gullet? or maybe PM it to me if you have the time?

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Oh, c'mon, there's something "not right" about that cake. To be fair I think the heat got to it, but I couldn't shape the marzipan right and the icing . . . it was damn near paste at first, then I added a squirt of water and suddenly its liquefied. In fact that's been my consistent pastry problem this month is getting the icing right.

Impanata recipe will be PM'ed shortly.

Edited July 18, 2005 by Kevin72 (log)

[kellytree]

My house has walls that are about a yard thick on most sides so it stays cool.

To keep my crabby level down I just have to look at this thread after I have eaten or like now - Im hungry but I have a wallet full of money so I can go shopping and buy nice things for dinner -

Its a little too hot to cook so it will just be some mozzerella balls and something simple- a couple cherry tomatos from the garden, steamed zuchini and some thing else equally boring and lame but tasty.

[Kevin72]

Its a little too hot to cook so it will just be some  mozzerella balls and something simple- a couple cherry tomatos from the garden, steamed zuchini and some thing else equally boring and lame but tasty.

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Hey, it's seasonal, so there's no faulting that! I've done many a summer meal like that.

[ludja]

...

Dessert was toasted almond and honey gelato.

I think I should've ground the almonds finer, but my wife liked the coarse texture.

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That looks and sounds great. Are the toasted almonds just stirred into the gelato as it freezes or are they steeped in the milk/custard mixture?

As a kid I really liked the Good Humor "Toasted Almond Bar" and would love to re-create this gelato...