The Cooking and Cuisine of Puglia

[Franci]

I would never have thought of topping a thick, dried pasta with a breadcrumb mixture. 

Orecchiette are not left to dry they are cooked immediately.

[NYC Mike]

Nathan, great Torta Tarantina di Patate, we are going to try it today!

We took a shot at the focaccia. This was very, very good! We were going to eat it with our meal but in the end, we couldn't stop eating, so it became the meal.

..and a slice view. I think we would like to add more cheese next time.

Here is the tomato one, but we used a base focaccia method from Hazan's book for it. Note the half tomato, we have one child here that won't eat tomatos. We will make the potato dough version today for lunch!

Pontormo, thanks for the Ada Boni tip! Its on the way!

-Mike

[Franci]

Very interesting regional differences in pasta-making tables.

Frucidd are considered the male of the orecchiette.

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You know we've got to know more about this! Is there a female version?

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The orecchietta is the female!

The frucidd would be a phallic symbol.

[hathor]

Franci, grazie mille for all the great Puglia info and pictures. You've been most generous!

Things around here are getting a little crazy, so I don't have much computer or kitchen time...wah!

But its August, the whole town is gearing up for our big festa, and I really cannot complain.

I'll just drink some Primitivo and be content to look at these fabulous foccacia...and the torta with the potatoes? YUM!! That looks fantastic.

Franic, I was doing a bit of research on Puglia, and came across a long article, written in Italian, so I may not have translated it accurately. Can you tell us anything about 'public ovens"? Seems they came about because of fire hazards. thanks!

[Franci]

Can you tell us anything about 'public ovens"? Seems they came about because of fire hazards. thanks!

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Do you mean just ovens where people will bring they food to bake?

It's still pretty common. If you go to one of the bakery in my town (early in the mornig) and pay a fee to the baker (I don't remember how much I payed last time I bought bread) he will bake it for you.

There are many advantages:

Their oven is better, if you have a lot to bake is faster. Especially around holidays (Christmas and Easter in particular) there is a long line of people going to the bakeries to bake their traditional cookies: amaretti morbidi, dolcetti ricci, ecc.

The mom of my best friend will weakly bake her bread at the bakery, she also has an embossed stamp with her initials to tell her bread from the others.

In Bari, in citta' vecchia, people will still bring their "patate riso e cozze" to public brick ovens, other Italians like to call this dish tiella, but we don't use that word, being tiella a generic term.

I never thought this is for fire hazards but only because not everybody has a brick oven.

Edited August 7, 2006 by Franci (log)

[Franci]

We took a shot at the focaccia.  This was very, very good!  We were going to eat it with our meal but in the end, we couldn't stop eating, so it became the meal.

Nice focaccia Mike!

[Kevin72]

i think there's beena mixup--i haven't made anything yet!

the weather finally broke and it's only going up to 85 today, so tonight i plan to make the lamb stew with greens.  i have some curly endive i bought at the farmer's market that needs to be used.  it's nice and bitter and can stand up to some cooking, so i figure it will work pretty well.  i don't have my cookbook yet, so i'm relying on an on-line recipe--this one is the only one i can find--any thoughts about it?

last week i bought a couple of crazy eggplants that are small and are all yellowish purplish stripey and green, so i figure i'll make this one from paula wolfert for a contorno.

maybe a pasta course, or maybe a couple of antipasti if i can figure out something and do it.  it's a monday night after all--i got nothin else going on...

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My apologies; I think I scrolled too fast down the page and merged your post and Nathan's. So, good job twice, Nathan! And, get cooking, bigjas!

[mrbigjas]

i got cooking! i'm not a native apulian like franci, but what the heck, i'll put up some more pics.

first of all, penne with tomatoes and ricotta salata and basil. this was a combination of a couple of recipes i read--basically a pasta with a mostly uncooked sauce.

(actually first of all we had a few olives, and some sweet/sour cucumber/onion mix i made, but you know, i didn't have official apulian recipes for that so no pics).

anyway here it is, a picture like many that have been posted here on eg before.

then the braised lamb with greens--i'm putting this up even though i screwed it up some. basically the lamb wasn't completely thawed when i started browning it, so of course it threw off a bunch of water and it didn't brown the way it should have. so it looks kinda odd in the picture. also there don't appear to be that many greens but there were!

it's a real shame since i was using jamison farm lamb stew meat, which is great and kind of expensive. d'oh.

the flavor was great though, and this dish is going to go on my regular rotation, some night when i am not trying to come home from work and put together a braised dish by 8 p.m.

contorno: paula wolfert's stuffed eggplant recipe. this is of interest for one reason: the eggplants. no wait, that doesn't sound right--the recipe is delicious. but since the finished dish is... well, we all know that cooked eggplants aren't the most attractive vegetables in the world. so here's a shot of them cooking:

those orange things are eggplants too! but with a yellowish flesh inside. and the others are indeed green and yellow striped. i never saw anything like them, so i bought them last week. i figured, this dish will highlight their interesting colors as well as anything...

picked up a bottle of primitivo at the state store on the way home, which was a pleasant if inexpensive and uncomplicated wine.

the end.

[Franci]

i got cooking!  i'm not a native apulian like franci, but what the heck, i'll put up some more pics.

first of all, penne with tomatoes and ricotta salata and basil.  this was a combination of a couple of recipes i read--basically a pasta with a mostly  uncooked sauce. 

..............

then the braised lamb with greens--i'm putting this up even though i screwed it up some.  basically the lamb wasn't completely thawed when i started browning it, so of course it threw off a bunch of water and it didn't brown the way it should have.  so it looks kinda odd in the picture. also there don't appear to be that many greens but there were!

it's a real shame since i was using jamison farm lamb stew meat, which is great and kind of expensive.  d'oh.

the flavor was great though

MRbigjas, I don't want to make anybody nervous because I am pugliese!

But one think, I don't agree in complimenting at any cost. I think the purpose of a forum like this is too learn as much as possible from others. So, if someone tells me my bread looks bad for some reason in a nice and constructive way, it's ok.

You picked a nice pasta dish, called Alla Crudaiola (crudo=raw). I would have grated the cheese tough.

And to make you feel better, for the lamb dish, in my town we do not brown it, simply make layers of lamb and bleanched herbs (wild chicory) some cherry tomatoes and maybe a clove of garlic. Most important that it tasted good.

Edited August 8, 2006 by Franci (log)

[mrbigjas]

MRbigjas, I don't want to make anybody nervous because I am pugliese!

But one think, I don't agree in complimenting at any cost. I think the purpose of a forum like this is too learn as much as possible from others. So, if someone tells me my bread looks bad for some reason in a nice and constructive way, it's ok.

You picked a nice pasta dish, called Alla Crudaiola (crudo=raw). I would have grated the cheese tough.

And to make you feel better, for the lamb dish, in my town we do not brown it, simply make layers of lamb and bleanched herbs (wild chicory) some cherry tomatoes and maybe a clove of garlic. Most important that it tasted good.

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noted for next time! and there will be a next time, because it tasted great. thanks!

[Pontormo]

Great looking focaccia, Mike! Vegetable and cheese and meat inside, right? What else do you need?

Mrbigjas: What colorful eggplants! We have little round ones called Thai by one of the farmers. I have heard great things about Jamison's lamb.

Hathor: communal ovens go way back in history. Lots of references to them in Middle Ages and I think Andrew would confirm their presence in antiquity.

[FoodMan]

Well, I have not made a proper complete Puglian meal yet. Kudos to all of you who have, oh that lamb and the foccaccia look perfect. But inspired by Franci's stunning baking posts and pics I baked a couple of items.

Altamura durum bread. I used the recipe from Carol Fields "The Italian Baker" (great book BTW). I used half durum (fine semolina) and half bread flour. The bread had the most amazing aroma and texture and I am using it for sandwiches and for eating plain with sliced tomatoes.

I used Franci's recipe to bake the tomato focaccia. Talk about simple and delicious. This was consumed within an hour of baking. thanks for sharing the recipe. you guys have to try this....

I also poached some peaches in primitivo over the weekend and served them with homemade cherry-chocolate gelato and whipped cream

[Franci]

I also poached some peaches in primitivo over the weekend and served them with homemade cherry-chocolate gelato and whipped cream

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FoodMan, you knew about peaches and primitivo!

it is one of my father addiction in summer: percoche and primitivo!

And your bread looks very good

Edited August 8, 2006 by Franci (log)

[FoodMan]

Well, Franci, I have to admit. Mario Batali in Molto Italiano has a recipe for it and I based it on that. It is very good and refreshing.

[Abra]

What a lot of nice-looking food! That focaccia seems destined to be a hit dish.

I'm almost embarrassed to post this, but I'm sucking it up. I made versions of two recipes from the La Terra di Puglia site. This is how it looked

But this is what it started out to be: the orecchiete con cime di rapa and the meatballs in tomato sauce.

I had always planned to use Russian kale instead of rapini, but then I didn't leave myself time to make the orecchiete, and ended up using a dried pasta that we call Long Curly Blond Hair pasta, but cooking it all in the style of the original recipe.

Then, the meatballs. Failing to read the recipe all the way through, I added the onion to the meatballs, and in fact, I pureed it and everything except the meat in the food processer, then added it to the beef and kneaded it by hand. So naturally there was extra liquid from the onion, and thus I used more than double the breadcrumbs, which were fresh and flavorful.

Bottom line? Those are some addictive meatballs, light, a bit fluffy, juicy, and richly flavored. I urge you to try this recipe - my husband thinks my variation should become our house meatball. The sauce for the pasta, with anchovies and garlic and a hot chile, went gorgeously with the greens and pasta. And the two dishes were excellent together.

Is this where you guys kick me off the thread? A Pugliese would probably faint at my rendition, and Franci, I beg your forgiveness in advance. I don't know how strict this thread is about authenticity, so if I'm over the line here, just let me know.

[Ling]

^Abra, I think that looks delicious. I've also made dishes of dubious authenticity, so I should be cast off before you!

[Franci]

Is this where you guys kick me off the thread?  A Pugliese would probably faint at my rendition, and Franci, I beg your forgiveness in advance.  I don't know how strict this thread is about authenticity, so if I'm over the line here, just let me know.

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Don't worry Abra, I am harmless

I would like to add something. To me what is odd about your dish is the pasta and the meatball together.

I see foreigners putting all the meal in one plate. We don't because it's mixing up flavours. Meatballs to me would have been another dish. We do make a tomatoes sauce with meat and meatballs to dress orecchiette, but the sause is inteneded for the pasta.and the meat will become the following dish, after pasta.

Especially in Puglia if you order fish or meat, what we call "secondo", you'll get just the bare fish and you will have to order a side

I hope I am not boring or worse annoying you, I only like to explain the culture a little better

[Kevin72]

Like Foodman, I made some Pane di Altamura this weekend.

This is a bread I seem cursed to never be able to do correctly. Either it's so dense it barely rises (and sometimes even gets tossed and started over) or is so loose that it spreads out and flattens more than it puffs up. This was a little of both. But I do use all semolina, and kinda like the idea of doing it with half AP--with apologies to Altamurans whose heart I'm breaking of course.

Started the meal with a summer vegetable minestrone from Jenkins' book:

At first I was worried that it would be too similar in flavor to ciambella, the vegetable stew favored in Puglia, since many of the same elements were in there. But it would up being quite different, thankfully, and tasty.

For the main, we had "polpettone" and my variation on a stuffed "meatloaf" Mario made for his Puglia shows.

I stuffed mine with bitter greens, to cut some of the rich, fatty, meat flavor. Braised in red wine and tomato sauce. Didn't do the separate pasta course with the braising liquids; I'm kinda pasta-d out lately.

To drink with the meal:

I still have the other (similar looking) bottle of the Primitivo you had, Nathan.

[Franci]

Bread with semolina will come out heavy. For bread it's better semola rimacinata (kingarthur sells it online). In Sardinia they use semola but my friend told me she makes a dough the night before with semola and water (so the semola will have the time to rehydratate completely) and the next mornig she will work the starter (which matured overnight) the semolina dough, plus other regular flour, water and salt.

I made this when my wild yeast was still alive and healthy. It's not perfect but was not too bad

The crumb will depeds on the hydratation, the time you let it rise, etc. I do like baking breads, sometime I think I should have gone to the bread course instead classic culinary arts

I already said so, I am a huge fan of Hamelman, try his durum bread too. This was with his recipe

Edited August 9, 2006 by Franci (log)

[Franci]

Stuffed eggplants

There are many recipes of this dish. This is the way in my family.

We fry the shells in evo

Chop in the mixer the inside of the eggplants, cook it with ground beef, one egg for half kilo meat, pecorino and a little bit of breadcrumbs if too soft. Stuff the eggplants

Make a tomato sauce very simple and quite runny…wet the pan and more on the eggplants, no extra cheese, only capers (undersalt). Bake of about 30-40 minutes

Better lukewarm or roomtemperature with crusty bread. The next day are even better

[Franci]

Still eggplants

This is also a pretty good recipe, I took it from Tonio Piceci web site.

It is called merangianata di Sant’Oronzo, in honor of the Sain Patrono of Lecce.

I think this marangianata is the personal interpretation of the chef and I need to say I particularly liked it (I like more Piceci’s book than the food he served at his restaurant)

Eggplants are dipped in egg, flour batter and fried

Dress breadcrumbs with dry oregano, chilly peppers and lot of cacioricotta chips (not very mature) , some oil. One time I didn’t have cacioricotta and I used Dodoni’s feta that is less salty and creamier and worked very well.

Make a fonduta with more carioricotta and milk. And then layers of eggplants, breadcrumbs and fonduta. Goes in the hot oven until golden

Serve lukewarm. This time I kept if a little too dry, I should have used more fonduta. Very good

[Chufi]

Chop in the mixer the inside of the eggplants, cook it with ground beef, one egg for half kilo meat, pecorino and a little bit of breadcrumbs if too soft. Stuff the eggplants

Make a tomato sauce very simple and quite runny…wet the pan and more on the eggplants, no extra cheese, only capers (undersalt). Bake of about 30-40 minutes

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Franci, those eggplants look delicious. So how do you make the stuffing.. fry the ground beef together with the eggplant insides, and then mix with breadcrumbs, egg, and pecorino?

[mrbigjas]

franci, i have another question: in a lot of italian recipes, fresh marjoram or oregano are called for. but in many of these puglian recipes i've been reading--including the things you've made--dried oregano seems to be the most commonly used thing. is that specific to the area?

[Pontormo]

Klary singled out the one new dish that caught my eye, too. I'm used to recipes in which the flesh of the eggplant is either scooped out raw, or the vegetable is roasted until it collapses, then split, etc. This is an interesting alternative, if not appropriate for a week of low-fat cooking. Perfect for the small varieties of eggplant that even American supermarkets offer regularly now.

Everyone's dishes look wonderful from the efforts of Elie onward. This seems to be a month of baking!

It's so good to see you here in this forum, Abra. Thanks for the recommendation. We're turning to Naples and the region of Campania in September, as you may already know. Plenty of pizza, but perhaps you & Elie could teach us more about sausage-making then. N.B. Be sure to look at the beginning of the thread and vote for the months we'll cover as the year draws to a close.

[Pontormo]

franci, i have another question: in a lot of italian recipes, fresh marjoram or oregano are called for.  but in many of these puglian recipes i've been reading--including the things you've made--dried oregano seems to be the most commonly used thing.  is that specific to the area?

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I was going to ask about this, too!!! Actually, I noticed the same thing in Sicily where dried oregano was specified as the preferred seasoning because of its strong flavor. That's why I felt I had to justify using fresh oregano for the tomato, onion & potato dish I prepared, in part, because I didn't want the fresh herb to go to waste.

Edited August 9, 2006 by Pontormo (log)