The Cooking and Cuisine of Friuli Venezia-Giulia

[Kevin72]

Hats off on attempting the squash pasta from Roden's book, Foodman! When I saw that recipe I worried that it would be too wet or messy to ever come together after doing squash gnocchi.

And the pork dish sounds awesome. Refresh my memory on how to make prune vinegar again?

[FoodMan]

Hats off on attempting the squash pasta from Roden's book, Foodman! When I saw that recipe I worried that it would be too wet or messy to ever come together after doing squash gnocchi.

And the pork dish sounds awesome. Refresh my memory on how to make prune vinegar again?

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Funny, I had the same problem with too wet dough when making a squash gnocchi recipe. This recipe really works great because she only adds in about 3.5 oz of roasted squash to the dough.

The prune vinegar is basically made by simmering brunes with red wine vinegar and pureeing it. then it is mixed in with a little orange juice.

[Kevin72]

So did the squash flavor carry through in the pasta, or was it more just for coloring?

[Adam Balic]

If you want a medium-rare goose and tender legs, then they really have to be cooked seperately I think.

That was Steingarten's conclusion too . Adam, can the breast remain pink and be well done and not stringy at the same time??

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Sure, it's just a matter of preserving the myoglobin intact. Personally, I'n not so bothered with pinkness, just as long as the meat is tender.

[FoodMan]

So did the squash flavor carry through in the pasta, or was it more just for coloring?

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It actually did, it added a nice level of sweetness and a very subtle squash flavor.

[hathor]

Beautiful meal April! The rotolo looks beautiful and I like the shar-pei look...gives it character.

Kevin: cut the goose head off and throw it out long before the spouse gets home. There's lots of stuff that should stay only in the kitchen...if you know what I mean....

I agree with Adam...just tender goose meat, never mind the color. Now you guys have made me nervous...I never had a problem with goose before and now I'll be tense when I make another one....

Ellie, your pasta looks just perfect. If you were to do it again, would you make the same sauce or would you consider trying butter/sage. Somehow that seems the classic compliment to squash/pumpkin pastas.

What else would you use prune vinegar on? That sounds really excellent and like a condiment that could be used in a few places. What about with some roasted lamb?

[Kevin72]

Well, my final meal for Friuli this months yielded less than stellar results. I made a dish called "blecs di cjanals di guart" from Terra Fortunata: buckwheat noodles with corn flour sauce. When reading the dish, it sounded so interesting, and I was curious how it could possibly work so I gave it a spin, which unfortunately quite often leads to a disaster. The buckwheat noodles were no problem (if, again, a bit fragile: they drooped and then tore when I was hanging them after cutting them), but the sauce, corn flour toasted in butter, was another issue. I couldn't find corn flour, so I bought the finest cornmeal I could, then ground it into a powder in a spice mill.

Once the flour hit the butter, it immediately seized, clumped, and drank up all the butter, then promptly began to scorch. So I thinned it out with a little chicken broth. The a little milk. Then more milk. And more. Then I moved on to pasta water.

It just kept drinking up the liquid and clumping again. I finally had to break out the immersion blender just to take care of the clumps and finally wound up with basically a cornmeal bechamel (which is what I suspected it was going to be when I started). And it thickened very quickly. Realizing I now had probaly three cups of sauce for my pasta, I removed the majority of it from the pan and thinned it out even more, then tossed it with the pasta and water and topped it with coarse parmigiano and scallion greens.

The "blec" part of the name is right, at least. Soft, overcooked noodles (but cooked three minutes, per Plotkin's instructions) with a starchy, pasty sauce that glued everything together and needed buckets of salt for any kind of flavor to carry through.

I'll freely admit my own ineptitude in ruining this item, but I'm really curious how it's supposed to work.

[hathor]

Kudos Kevin for at least trying the blec-ky pasta! Corn starch sauce? I bet you were not too far off from the inteneded result. One of these dishes invented out of necessity perhaps?

[Kevin72]

It's possible, I guess. He does describe one soup in the book that is born of poverty that is basically a roux or bechamel soup.

[FoodMan]

Kevin, it actually doesn't look bad. Hey we cannot all eat frico all month (well maybe we can), we have to try different regional dishes.

Hathor, I actually would ADD some sage and brown butter to this "sauce" instead of replacing it, since the pasta itself is very mild. So, the cubed squash will work great with the classic butter/sage combo.

[azureus]

FoodMan--Your squash pasta looks great. It even coordinates with your dish!

Kevin--sorry to hear about your blecs trouble. Perhaps you were supposed to use coarse meal? It might then have fried up like bread crumbs, instead of thickening the butter. The cookbook that I just got (and can't really read) says ". . .in una padella soffriggete nel burro la farina gialla, mescolando continuamente; il tempo che il condimento ha preso colore. . ." Hopefully, an expert can translate, but I think it says to fry the butter and cornmeal just until colored.

For my Friuli Finale: Brovade Three Ways

Back on March 10th, I started a batch of brovada by marinating whole turnips in red wine vinegar. I don't think that the turnips have really fermented, as they would have if I had used the more traditional grape must. The brovada mise:

The turnips were very tangy, though you can see from the photos that the vinegar hasn't completely penetrated to the interior.

The brovada three ways: Raw, sauteed with garlic and sausage, and in Jota.

Raw, it tastes like turnip and vinegar. Sauteed with sausage, it's divine. The jota was quite good this time as well. I used cornfour to thicken it this time.

Here's a quick mention of some interesting recipes from the Friuli cookbook (I really wish that I'd had it at the beginning of this month!)

Bread--there aren't alot of recipes for bread, and the directions are sketchy for most of them. Many of the recipes are just proportions of ingredients, without time or temperature suggestions. One is called Hausproat, which is a mixture of buckwheat and corn flours, with yeast, water and salt. I'll bet it makes a dense loaf. There are also recipes for French bread, potato bread, a "focaccia" with eggs and cornflour, and Pan de Frizzis, which reminds me of eggy American biscuits, as it calls for 6 eggs in the batter and either pork cracklings or lardo.

There are several recipes for cavallo, guinea hen, and frog, and eight recipes for cjalsons, each named after the town of origin. There are a few recipes for an herb called "sculpit". I can buy seed for it from several different gardening catalogs, but I never knew how it was used. There is also a recipe titled "Suf which sounds suspiciously like the bechamel soup Kevin mentioned.

Whew! Sorry for such a long post. Now, on to Lazio.

April

[Pontormo]

Lazio, indeed.

Thanks April for showing us the products of your long fermenting---or at least, maceration. The turnips with sausage do sound & look quite good. It's interesting to learn a little more detail about the breads and see that the flours for Kevin's blec are incorporated.

I have to say the pasta made with squash sounds like one of the best dishes made this month. I'd love to try it.

[Kevin72]

Great looking brovada sampler, April! And the variation with sausage makes me want to whip up a batch just to have that dish! Did the brovada lend a different flavor to the jota?

For the blec, Plotkin specifies corn flour for his recipe and directs you to find the finest grind available.

[azureus]

  Did the brovada lend a different flavor to the jota? 

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Yes, but the results are similar (spicy/sour), though the texture of the turnips was much softer than that of the sauerkraut.

April

[hathor]

April, if I was anywhere near a farm in the middle of nowhere, I'd be banging at your door. I'm a fan of turnips in general, and pickled turnips?? That just is two of my favorites in one thing. The turnips were such a lovely color.

I HAD to sneak in one last Friuli dinner. I know. I know. We are supposed to be in Lazio.

But I was in the market and the bronzine looked really good, and I had that bottle of Blau&Blau burning a hole in my wine stash...so one thing led to another, and we had burnt garlic brodetto of bronzine and clams with spaetzle. I figured some sort of spaetzle must show up in Friuli! The Blau & Blau was a beautiful compliment to the brodetto, not particularly complex but fresh, fruity and strong enough to stand up to the strong flavors of the brodetto.

Ok. OK. I admit it. I got carried away with the faded edge thing on the photo.

Edited April 6, 2006 by hathor (log)

[Kevin72]

I like that effect!

What's the green in the brodetto?

These regional threads can and should be revisited any time, regardless of the month and what we're covering at the time.

[ludja]

Although I wasn't able to cook along this time, this will be a thread I come back to. Thanks for everyone's contributions so far.

I was researching an Austrian Easter Bread/Bun called "Osterpinzer" and came across an interesting discovery, namely that there is an Easter bread from the Istrian and Veneto region with a very similar name, "Pinza". The recipes look very similar too. I ran across a recipe from Lidia on-line from her book, "Lidia's Italian Table". Here it is: click

In her book she says it is a precursor to the Italian pannetone and colomba cakes but she doesn't shed any light on whether it originally came from more northern climes like Austria or vice versa.

Here is another Istrian link with some Pinza recipes that I ran across: Pinza Easter Bread .

The Austrian and Italian versions are both cut in the same manner as well before baking, with deep slashes that make an open flower type pattern on top of the baked bun or loaf. This type of bread, is I think, typical in style with that of several central and eastern European countries at Eastertime, but I thought it was interesting that the names were so related in this case.

[hathor]

What's the green in the brodetto?

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There is a sweet green pepper that I used to get in Italy all spring and summer, I don't know the name of it, but it was a short, stubby pepper. I bought these peppers at a Japanese market (!!) because they looked sort of similiar and they actually cooked up just the same. Pan fried for a few seconds in olive oil, then add some salt and maybe some tomatoes. Excellent. I've never seen the exact same pepper variety in the US. Too bad. Actually there was only one supplier in the Umbertide market, a very gnarled old man that would bring them in every week and I would take more than I could possibly eat.

[marlena spieler]

hathor and april: gorgeous fermented turnips!

i'm also a big fan of pickled turnips. do you know about the middle eastern ones, they are pink with beetroot, and so invigorating? they look like little jewels, or gems, when you cut them up into tiny cubes.

also, at artisanal restaurant in nyc not long ago i ate a sauerkraut of rutabaga (which is basically a type of turnip, at least considered here in the uk) and it was terrific! i've been meaning to experiment with making it myself since then.

this is such a good natured and tasty thread!

[hathor]

Marlena: the turnips are all April! I'm just a drooling spectator.

[azureus]

Hathor: Your brodetto looks wonderful. And you're welcome to stop by the middle of nowhere for turnips anytime!

Ludja: Thanks for the information on the Easter breads. The interlacings of cultures and cuisines is so fascinating. I need to try one of those recipes for Easter next week.

Marlena: I'm not very familiar with Middle Eastern cuisine. What are the pickled turnips called? Here in the mid-west, rutabagas are often called "Swedes" or "Swedish Turnips", though they are a different species. I'll bet that they would make a great brovada. I'm wondering if radishes might work as well.

I can't believe that I forgot to post this: The Friulian cookbook also has a recipe for brovada that uses pear must for fermenting the turnips. I'm trying to imagine what that would taste like.

April

[marlena spieler]

Marlena:  I'm not very familiar with Middle Eastern cuisine.  What are the pickled turnips called?  Here in the mid-west, rutabagas are often called "Swedes" or "Swedish Turnips", though they are a different species.  I'll bet that they would make a great brovada.  I'm wondering if radishes might work as well.

April

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hi april!

Swede: that is what they call rutabaga here in the UK, too. I was told it was because it is a popular Swedish vegetable, though i don't think that many brits give it a thought, as the swede is so popular here now, they might as well call it a brit! my husband loves swedes, but i'm less keen. i like the little white turnips better, for their bitter edge whereas i always think that swedes have a slightly sweet edge. which is okay, a turnip for everyone and every taste!

so, the middle eastern pickles are bright pink; they are turnips that have been pickled with a beet or two in the mixture; the pink colour gets paler as the red/pink colour works its way into the turnip. The turnips taste pickley, and are pretty crisp, and are the most refreshing thing to eat. salty, briney, pickley. yum.

also, do you know about the polish pickle soups? basically, a nice meat and/or meat and cream and vegetable soup, with a bunch of shredded or chopped dill pickles added towards the end.

this is such a great thread, i've learned something very important. now i have to make myself some brovada (not sure about spelling as have deleted that part of message...). i must learn more about the food of friulli now, have long been a fan of frico, but now: pickled turnip in soup. that is what i personally call an alluring thing.

one of my dissappointments in life is that my daughter is not as pickle-crazy as i am. i keep buying her different kinds of pickled vegetables and she just laughs and says, well she's not so crazy about pickles but that was really nice. i wonder where i went wrong, but she's perfect in every other way. my husband, too, is not crazy about pickles and pickled vegetables (here in britain we have fabulous pickled onions!) so i must eat pickles with others, and sometimes with strangers. i'll eat pickles with anyone who has the passion.

x marlena

[albiston]

What's the green in the brodetto?

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There is a sweet green pepper that I used to get in Italy all spring and summer, I don't know the name of it, but it was a short, stubby pepper.

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Friggiarielli or friggiarelli is the name of the peppers; another addition to the things I really miss about Italy!

[hathor]

What's the green in the brodetto?

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There is a sweet green pepper that I used to get in Italy all spring and summer, I don't know the name of it, but it was a short, stubby pepper.

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Friggiarielli or friggiarelli is the name of the peppers; another addition to the things I really miss about Italy!

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As usual...you are right! I had forgotten the name. (I'm missing fava beans today....)

[Kevin72]

It was already too warm here when we did FVG in March to do this dish, but with our coldest weather yet finally here, I whipped up a batch of jota:

I know it doesn't look it in the pic, but like the goulash meal I made on the TAA thread, I got everything out of balance. There wasn't enough sauerkraut to leave that faint tang to the soup that I like, and there was far too much liquid for all the solids. I really had to fish to get all that in there, and now I think I might have used up a significant proportion of the solids for the leftovers: last night's reheated servings were pretty long on liquid.