The Cooking and Cuisine of Puglia

[Kevin72]

i had another thought: would it be heresy to use a cuisinart to make this dough?  stirring/beating it for 15+ minutes is exhausting, and after all i've never used that plastic dough blade that comes with the thing.

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I'm sure purists would object. I'm not experienced with the cuisinart being used to knead dough, but I do doughs in my KitchenAid almost exlusively. Don't have the dexterity or patience for hand kneading.

Interesting that we've got Puglia on the mind. With temps @103 here, Sicily's more elaborate and layered flavors seem too much for my palate so I'm leaning towards Puglia's spartan cooking as well. Last night I made Pollo Assciute-Assciute from Nancy Harmon Jenkins' Flavors of Puglia. Quartered chicken is rubbed with parsley, seasoning, and olive oil, then laid atop potatoes rubbed with the same mixture and roasted. I did break from tradition and use oregano and a spot of garlic as well. The chicken emerges all crackly and herby from the oven, the potatoes wonderfully soak up the juices, and everything merges together in harmonious way.

There's a variation for lamb in her cookbook, as well.

[FoodMan]

I got some nice green tomatoes from my wife's grnadfather's garden and wanted too do something different with them. So, I remember that LR Kaspar has a cool looking recipe in her Italian Country Table book, a recipe for green tomato sauce that is traditionally eaten for San Giovanni's Eve (sorry if I have the wrong saint's name, the book is at home ) sometime in June in Puglia. So, a quasi-Pugliese meal ensued.

The pasta with a sauce made from green tomatoes, lemon zest/juice, homemade ricotta, onions, chives and caramelized garlic. Fresh, summery and delicious. Try it out if you have some green tomatoes and you do not want to fry them up.

Pork chops, brined, pan fried and sprinkled with parsley, garlic and lemon juice.

Served with brocoli and cauliflower cooked simply in a satuee pan with garlic and olive oil.

[Pontormo]

Thanks for bringing this dish to our attention, Foodman! It sounds--and looks--great.

Off-topic for Puglia, but relevant otherwise: Last week at our farmers market, cooks from Jose Andres' restaurant Jaleo* handed out recipes for 3 different kinds of gazpacho, including one that called for green tomatoes.

*Link may work only for a limited time since it is a menu for a tomato festival held August 14-28, 2007.