The Cooking and Cuisine of Le Marche

[Pontormo]

I was actually a little disappointed that Trabocchi does not have a traditional recipe for Vincigrassi. He does say that the 'real' one has liver and giblets and such. The one he provides is adjusted for our American sensibilties with ground veal and such. Then again I can always add some giblets and other things on my own. Also I am not too sure if I'll use his pasta recipe with 16 egg yolks!!

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Elie: As we've seen in comments from others in eGullet, authenticity and the status quo take you only so far in the world of celebrity chefs and award-winning restaurants. I don't know if vincisgrassi is served in his hotel restaurant where you see that FT is "an Italian" as opposed to someone loyal to Marchigiano cooking, drawing from lots of other regions for his menu. He has to be a practical businessman and perhaps that makes him decide home cooks are not going to be any more adventurous.

This weekend I stumbled upon a little information about the contribution of Italians to the restaurant business in the United States in the 20th century, and in turn, the "better restaurants" in major Italian cities where so-called continental cuisine was served instead of "authentic" local dishes. I wonder how Italian restaurants have been compensating for what they assume tourists would want to eat.

I was going to offer to send you Anna Del Conte's recipe since she cites Antonio Nebbia's Il Cuoco Marceratese (1784), however, her source is Franco Taruschio, a chef in Wales. Thus, the dish is filled with prosciutto and porcini. She does recommend a different type of pasta, though, saying it ought to be made with either Vinsanto or dry Marsala, substituting 3 T of the wine for 1 egg. Her pasta is made with 500 gr 00 flour, 2 eggs & 4 egg yolks plus salt. Ada Boni ignores the dish in a brief chapter combining Umbria and Le Marche. However, Ludja's link includes sweetbreads and a mixture of brain and spine marrow . I'm sure there's more where that came from online.

(That pasta recipe you single out is what got Trabocchi in trouble with one critic, though we've seen Swiss Chef--or somebody demonstrate something related in Piemonte, no?)

ETA: Complete revision after consulting at-home sources.

Edited March 6, 2007 by Pontormo (log)

[hathor]

The passatelli dough wound up as 'crumbly croutons' in a celery root soup. I fried little crumbles...interesting, but not ground breaking.

Here is the ingredient list from our Slow Food vincisgrassi recipe. Nothing special required for the pasta.

Ingredients:

1 sheet of hand-rolled pasta 100 g. ground beef

300 g. chicken giblets (livers, heart, gizzards, coxcombs)

1 onion 1 carrot

1 glass white wine 500 g. tomato sauce

150 g. extra virgin olive oil 200 g. grated parmigiano

500 g. white sauce salt and pepper

[hathor]

This weekend I stumbled upon a little information about the contribution of Italians to the restaurant business in the United States in the 20th century, and in turn, the "better restaurants" in major Italian cities where so-called continental cuisine was served instead of "authentic" local dishes. I wonder how Italian restaurants have been compensating for what they assume tourists would want to eat.

/quote]

Tell us more!! Maybe not in this thread, but I'd love to hear some more about what you found.

Thanks!

P.S. I will chose wisely the next time I buy a ricer. I bought a cheap one in Italy, and it torqued and had to be thrown away. Twice burned....or however that saying goes....

[Kevin72]

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What a nightmarish concoction this looks like! All those jaws poking out of the liquid and fish heads . . . I assume this is the stock base, correct? Does it get strained or pureed into the base? In Marcella Hazan's first book, her Adriatic fish soup recipe calls for ample fish heads which are then pureed and passed through a food mill.

Interesting how it looks like there's mackerel in there, too, which I've always seen as being too strong and oily to make an effective stock.

[Franci]

  Meanwhile, I am sure Franci has the right utensil to give us a demo should passetelli be to her liking.  The recipes that Trabocchi & Ada Boni supply for Le Marche include meat, especially marrow, in the extrusions.

How do you know I have the tool

I don't have the right passatelli tool but the ricer with bigger holes.

My only problem is the bread, reason for which I have decided to give up also any attempt to bread gnocchi...Even if I use my own bread, no oil or added fats doesn't come out the same. Maybe, I will try to make a "pane comune" and let it stale...then see what happens.

[hathor]

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What a nightmarish concoction this looks like! All those jaws poking out of the liquid and fish heads . . . I assume this is the stock base, correct? Does it get strained or pureed into the base? In Marcella Hazan's first book, her Adriatic fish soup recipe calls for ample fish heads which are then pureed and passed through a food mill.

Interesting how it looks like there's mackerel in there, too, which I've always seen as being too strong and oily to make an effective stock.

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I know! I just love this picture, seething sea monsters!

The broth cooks and then you pick all the meat off the bones and return the meat to the broth. Sounds tedious but it actually goes pretty quickly one the meat gets soft. The teeth are still sharp though....

Franci: we ALL count on you to have the right tool!

[Eden]

I made two dishes from Le Marche for today's lunch. Unfortunately the camera cable has gone walk-about so no photos - sorry!

Last night I made Becùte, using a conglomeration of recipes since my cookbook (Le Marche in bocca) was really vague.

The result was not entirely happy. neither pretty nor as tasty as I'd hoped. I think I over processed the ingredients (whizzed em in a food processor) because my main recipe said I was trying to acheive a "homogenous dough" I later found a photo online that actually showed whole pine nuts & raisins - oh well. I also want to try this again with a finer grain of corn flour, I just used what I had, and the result is a little gritty. OK for dipping in tea/coffee though.

Today I made Polenta Marchigiana, with bacon & sausage mixed into the polenta this totally rocks. Next time I'll make it with real pancetta when I'm not cooking for someone who's allergic to sodium nitrite...

There's an artichoke & lamb stew that also sounds really good, but we've had a lot of lamb lately so it will have to wait

[FoodMan]

Today I made Polenta Marchigiana, with bacon & sausage mixed into the polenta  this totally rocks.

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Of course it rocks! Bacon, sausage and corn mush. I so wish I can have that for breakfast now actually

Last night's very simple and fast (well fast if you do not count the hours that went into makign a huge vat of stock on sunday) Marchigiani dinner:

Supa di Riso e Spinaci (Spinach and rice soup), the recipe is from Fabio Trabocchi's book. I love using Arborio rice here since it retains it's wonderful slightly chewy texture and shape. I used frozen spinach as I almost always do when cooking the green. The garnish was extra virgin olive oil, parm cheese and chile flakes.

Note: If you are planning on making this recipe, cut down the amount of rice to 1.5 cups. I had to add more stock to make it more soupy using the full quantity of rice.

[Pontormo]

Ummm. All sounds really good. Thanks for warning about the poorly adjusted quantities of rice in the soup recipe.

While on a shopping trip to Trader Joe's I decided to test out a friend's recommendation of the frozen fish and picked up some cod even though I've only had one (bad) experience with frozen fish in recent years.

I figure shrink-wrapping and freezing fish is today's answer to salting, so when I discovered there was no recipe in Trabocchi's book for cod fillets, but an interesting one called Stocco all'Anconetana, I thought I might use it. The plan is somewhat ironic since the chef romanticizes pungent salt cod in contrast to the kind of item I just picked up for the first time.

The thing is, the recipe calls for a long period of poaching the fish in milk after its days of soaking. Essentially one makes a layered casserole of onions, tomato and potato and fish w garlic, rosemary and anchovies, then cover it w a blend of white wine and milk and bake it for 3 1/2 hours.

I've done something similar with fresh summer tomatoes as a vegetable side dish before and the long oven-stewing/braising leads to amazing results. Do you think it's worth making this recipe, but, say, burying the thawed cod in the layers for the last--what ____ minutes---without drying out the fish? The long-developing flavors wouldn't permeate the fillets the way they would were the salted cod used.

Otherwise, there's a recipe for branzino that could be adjusted for thick, firm fillets since it's the sauce that makes the dish. There's also a great one for monkfish, but as long as I could justify buying the latter*, I'd rather wait and use fresh fish instead.

*At a bookstore Monday, I noticed a new book addressing the world's dwindling supply of fish. The Atlantic cod was one of the fish named and I think monkfish was another singled out as one of the species whose numbers are sharply decreasing due to popularity among human consumers.

[hathor]

Pontormo: go with the branzino recipe. The salt cod flavor/texture is necessary for the Stoccafissa recipe...IMHO. If you go to my intro, there's a picture of that stoccafissa dish. It's the one with the stuffed tomatoes. I'm planning on making this over the weekend, it's one of my favorite Marche recipes.

Last night, as a little appetizer I made some steamed clams, using a method taught to me by a very good Marchegiani fish chef. Saute some garlic, chili pepper, anchovies until the anchovies fall apart. Throw in the clams, remove and eat as soon as they open.

Kevin, I remember that you tried this method, but that you were less than thrilled. I think it has to do with the variety of clams. When I've done this in Italy, the clams release a lot of juice very quickly. Using basic east coast littlenecks last night, there wasn't enough liquid released to keep the garlic from scorching. So, I added a small shot of white wine which did the trick. The clam juice mingles with the garlic/anchovy juice and it all just tastes great.

Elie: that soup looks delicious! I could use some right about now.

[Kevin72]

I'd deconstruct it a bit further, maybe, and caramelize the onions (and anchovies) separately, then cook the cod with this mixture, potatoes and tomotoes with white wine quickly, like 400 or so for 20-25 minutes, covered with foil. Omit the milk; I think it would be lost in the translation here.

[Kevin72]

Kevin, I remember that you tried this method, but that you were less than thrilled.  I think it has to do with the variety of clams.  When I've done this in Italy, the clams release a lot of juice very quickly.  Using basic east coast littlenecks last night, there wasn't enough liquid released to keep the garlic from scorching.  So, I added a small shot of white wine which did the trick.  The clam juice mingles with the garlic/anchovy juice and it all just tastes great.

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I definitely I agree; I used end of summer softshell clams that were skimpy and rubbery and full of sand. But now? This time of year? Oooh baby.

[Pontormo]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll consider all options. The clams look absolutely great, but when you still have a big ol jar of fregole in the cupboard....

[Eden]

Today I made Polenta Marchigiana, with bacon & sausage mixed into the polenta  this totally rocks.

Of course it rocks! Bacon, sausage and corn mush. I so wish I can have that for breakfast now actually

Actually that's what I just had for breakfast

Last night's very simple and fast (well fast if you do not count the hours that went into makign a huge vat of stock on sunday) Marchigiani dinner:

Supa di Riso e Spinaci (Spinach and rice soup), the recipe is from Fabio Trabocchi's book.

This soup looks so amazing I just ordered the book from the library - we are big fans of spinach & rice around here...

[Franci]

  When I've done this in Italy, the clams release a lot of juice very quickly.  Using basic east coast littlenecks last night, there wasn't enough liquid released to keep the garlic from scorching.  So, I added a small shot of white wine which did the trick.  The clam juice mingles with the garlic/anchovy juice and it all just tastes great.

Yes, when I used to buy clams or mussels in NY no juice

Edited March 7, 2007 by Franci (log)

[Franci]

Since Easter is coming, I am all taken from sweet/savory pizze/torte etc.

This was my first, pour attempt, to a Pizza al formaggio marchigiana. I am waiting for the recipe of a friend from Macerata (btw, I really hope she is going to join us)...

Both Umbria and Marche have the tradition of this cheese bread for Easter. In Umbria it's generally called Torta al formaggio, in Marche it's known as Pizza al formaggio and it has also cubes of cheese in the dough. I asked around and I've been told that in Umbria is more common to find a "pasta da pane" or pasta da riporto (old dough) as a starter plus some cake yeast, in Marche they usually use more a direct dough with a massive quantity of yeast, sometimes in combination with baking powder..I am, as all modern snobbish bakers, trying ways to cut down on yeast and use a starter....

This was a mini pizza al formaggio. It needs improvements. I'll give it another shot next week and bring back results and a recipe if successful

[Pontormo]

What a rich, golden color! Is it due to large quantity of both egg and cheese? What kind of cheese, Franci?

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I hope your friend from this region does join us.

[Franci]

What a rich, golden color!  Is it due to large quantity of both egg and cheese?  What kind of cheese, Franci?

Yes, a lot of cheese and eggs, plus I brushed the top with egg yolk. Usually it's used a combination of grated parmigiano and aged pecorino and younger pecorino in cubes. Believe it or not, many recipe call, instead of fresh pecorino cubed, for emmental cheese no more religion

I didn't have the right mold (I have my limits to supply!), it should be used a truncated conical (is it English?) tin mold, something like a charlotte mold would work...In many bakeries they sell in paper panettone molds.

It can be eaten as appetizer on it's own or with salumi.

[Franci]

Not the best picture but it tasted really good. I used a poulet noir for this pollo in potacchio. Some recipes call for tomato paste other I've seen with a couple tomatoes, in some I found just garlic, in others garlic and onions...I used some onion and garlic, rosemary, white whine and 2-3 peeled tomatoes crushed, a small peperoncino and parsley.

[Pontormo]

Franci: Looks like a good meal for these final days of winter.

I've seen frozen cut-up black chickens in local Asian grocery stores, but that's clearly not the same as your poulet noir. Could you explain what your bird is and how it differs from other chickens?

[FoodMan]

very nice Franci. What did you serve it with?

[hathor]

Pontormo is right Franci, that chicken looks just beautiful!!

Remember the clams I made a few days ago? I just came across the recipe, and it's name is "Vongole alla Poveraccia", or Poor Man's Clams. I wish I had an explanation why these are poor mans clams...they taste pretty 'rich' to me....

[hathor]

STOCCAFISSO ALL’ANCONETANA

Stockfish Ancona-style

Well, I made the Stoccafisso...only with baccala. I've never seen stoccafisso in the States.

It's a fairly elaborate dish, but well worth it. It's incredibly flavorful, but even better, each component has been seasoned a bit differently, so each bite tastes a little different. Well worth it.

Here is a blow by blow.

The soaked fish is covered with a tuna-anchovy-caper-carrot-celery-onion paste. This alone would make a great sandwich...could have been the excellent Genova tuna fish that made it so tasty.

This is the full on mise en place.

Tuna-anchovy paste. Fish. Potato wedges. Tomatoes before being stuffed. As the tomatoes were small, I put them in the oven about 1/2 hour later.

Here is the finished dish, served with herb toasts and a delicious, elegant verdicchio.

And now for the full effect. I wish I had a little time elapse video...this dish disappeared!

Desert wasn't very Marchegiani... I made a honey/almond ice cream, with a bit of Saba (that's Central Italian) and bits of candied, spiced orange peel.

hmmmm....seems I got a little carried away with the photos.

We had fun....wish you had been with us!

[Franci]

Franci:  Looks like a good meal for these final days of winter. 

I've seen frozen cut-up black chickens in local Asian grocery stores, but that's clearly not the same as your poulet noir.  Could you explain what your bird is and how it differs from other chickens?

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No, it's very different than black chicken in Asian markets, those are very skinny black birds, my mother in law always buys live black chicken (she waits until it has been killed) it for a super nutritious stock, not a lot of meat in there.

I usually buy Label Anglais but just for a change last week I decided to try the poulet from France. It's a black feather chicken raised under the program "label rouge" for certain quality standards, I just found the meat slightly darker. But in this house, except for stock, chicken is not really appreciated.

very nice Franci. What did you serve it with?

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I only cooked some sweet peas with a little bit of onion (frozen peas)

STOCCAFISSO ALL’ANCONETANA

Here is the finished dish, served with herb toasts and a delicious, elegant verdicchio.

Judith BEAUTIFUL!

[weinoo]

Judith - that meal looks great!