The Cooking and Cuisine of Le Marche

[Franci]

I finally succeed in making a decent pizza al formaggio, not the ugly "frittata" of a couple week ago

[hathor]

Absolutely gorgeous Franci!! I am positive that I can smell it from here!

[Kevin72]

Kevin: I just had an "ah-ha" moment. You can't/shouldn't make fish soup with fillets. You need little fishies with lots of little fishy bones. That's where the flavor comes from. It's the reason why I haven't made a LeMarche brodetteo yet, I can't find any bony little fishes.

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Totally agree. But then of course that brings us back to the problem of having to contend with all the bones, scales, etc. that goes with the soup. It may be anathema to a Marchegiani fisherman, but there's just no appeal to me in having to stop after every spoonful of soup to pull bones out of your mouth. And I've also tried to make the stock seperate, using fish carcasses and whatnot (that's what I did for the previous soup in the link I posted) and I just find all that to be way too much production.

As an aside, but I've heard that the best fish to use for these soup is scorpionfish or, failing that, the very boney red mullets, which I'd imagine can be found fairly easily in NYC, no?

Franci: Wonderful bread and pores! Love that little nugget of cheese in there!

[FoodMan]

Franci- I'll add my compliments to the rest for that beuatiful bread. FT has a recipe for it in the book and I have to give it a shot after looking at those pics!

Last night's Marchigiani inspired dinner:

This is what I imagine would be a Le Marche spring time food, and I did get my inspiration from the the thick and hearty chickpea soup from the region. I also had some good Asparagus and frozen fresh egg pasta that needed using up. So here is my Marchigiani Spring Time Minestra with chickpeas, beans, farro, Asparagus and fresh pasta. Totally vegetarian, healthy and loaded with flavor.

[Pontormo]

This is how I need to eat these days, Elie. So, by "inspired" I take it that you made up the concept of the dish yourself?

Franci: I can't carry a tune for beans (or ceci), but I add my voice to the chorus of praise.

[Franci]

Franci- I'll add my compliments to the rest for that beuatiful bread. FT has a recipe for it in the book and I have to give it a shot after looking at those pics!

Last night's Marchigiani inspired dinner:

This is what I imagine would be a Le Marche spring time food, and I did get my inspiration from the the thick and hearty chickpea soup from the region. I also had some good Asparagus and frozen fresh egg pasta that needed using up. So here is my Marchigiani Spring Time Minestra with chickpeas, beans, farro, Asparagus and fresh pasta. Totally vegetarian, healthy and loaded with flavor.

Really nice soup, the only thing that sounds a little odd to me is pairing farro and pasta in the same dish

Thanks for the compliments for the bread, I am very happy with it, also today it was really good.

Pontormo, FT is the same guy you copied the reciped of pizza al formaggio for me? If so, Elie, I think you need to watch out for that recipe, I had the impression that the liquid was really off, too many eggs. I met recipes with almost a batter dough but they didn't require the dough to pull away from the mixing bowl when kneaded

If useful, as a comparison, This is the recipe I followed.

[FoodMan]

Yeah, the Marchigiani chickpea soup is what started this recipe and the rest was the need to use what I had on hand or in the freezer. The Farro in there was a filler, again I had a handful left fromt he last time I made a soup with it during the TA month so I just dumped it in.

Thanks for the warning about the FT recipe. Seems like the same problem as the sweet raisin rolls I made upthread. What is it with this guy and using a ton of eggs???

[Pontormo]

Franci, yes, in answer to your question, I sent you Trabocchi's recipe.

Elie, I met the chef only once and am not a Freudian, so...

[rgruby]

There's also a book called "A Taste of the Marche".

More info can be found here: http://www.artisanideas.com/Detail.tpl?rnd...&sku=8886174837

I haven't seen it - and given its hefty price, I'm not going to be getting it anytime soon.

Has anybody seen it? Comments?

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[weinoo]

I went on a little shopping odyssey this morning for some inspiration and found all of this stuff from the Marches at the great DiPaolo's...

A couple of pastas, some new extra-virgin olive oil, and a "salami di fico." I also bought a couple of cheeses from the region, which along with a trip to the farmer's market tomorrow morning will hopefully inspire some Marchegianian food!

Since I know that there will be a great fishmonger there on Friday, Kevin's shellfish stew is looking really great!!

[Pontormo]

Geoff: Thanks for the bibliography. Looks like no one down here stumbled upon the book.

Elie: I think I found the source of your soup: Paula Wolfert's book on Mediterranean greens and grains. At least, that's what I intend to use.

I also checked out a copy of Jamie Oliver's somewhat new book on Italy. Maddening!!! I know you like his publications and I admire the chef for his social causes. However, I got to say he's the long-lost son of Oprah: page after page of picturesque countryside and crumbling back streets with your requisite accordians, all framed as celebrity shots of our scruffy, charming Puck.

The other reasons I have to include an introduction which stresses the importance of regionality, nay, "villagism", when it comes to pride in local dishes, yet neither index nor text bothers to place recipes in such a context. It's frustrating since there are several captions that specify Le Marche as the location of the shot. Mr. Oliver is exuberantly cocky in the introduction to risotto where he lets you know the recipes are his and that he makes glorious, glorious risotto. Photo caption: shepherd's approval of said dish proved a highlight of his life. I would have liked to know what he learned by sampling rice dishes in all the parts of Italy he visited and how they influenced the recipes he offers instead. I was hoping to find something from Le Marche to prepare.

Mitch: Gorgeous ingredients! Please tell us more about the cheeses when you report back about your meal.

Edited March 23, 2007 by Pontormo (log)

[hathor]

Nice teaser shots, MItch!! Hope the fishmonger makes you happy!

Kevin....it's not so bad with the fish. Make the stock, let it cool, then pick thru discarding all the icky bits. My challenge is to wait until its cool.

Pontormo: you are on the money with 'village-ism"!

[FoodMan]

Pontormo:

I think I know what recipe you intend to make...the Farro with Potatoes and Greens from the Wolfert book. Correct? It does sound great.

As for J. Oliver, well what can I say. He's no Paula Wolfert and he has a different set of 'customer base' shall we say. I own most books by both authors and enjoy them for very different reasons. About the regionality issue, I think we've mentioned this before, but most books including Hazan's for example can do a much much better job of identifying what's from where.

Mitch: I am very very jealouse. Please, we need a full report and pics about the Salami.

[rgruby]

Geoff:  Thanks for the bibliography.  Looks like no one down here stumbled upon the book.

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Hey, no problem. I was just having a look at the Cookbook store's website here in Toronto, and they had it listed as a new book. I couldn't get their site to link, so I googled and found the site I linked to. Amazon doesn't seem to carry the book though (yet) - I suspect it has just been translated into English. Might be interesting for those interested in high-end restaurant style food and presentations.

And, I'm not sure if anyone else has mentioned this, but in and around Pesaro you can find a Pizza Rossini, whose defining trait is the addition of mayonnaise. I never could bring myself to try it though.

Cheers,

Geoff Ruby

[Pontormo]

"For well he knew a woman hath no beard." –Chaucer, The Miller's Tale

In spring a young man's fancy may lightly turn to figs, but there is something to be said for the mussel.

Piled in a colander and run under cold water as you scrub and tug the scruffy beards from the resistant shells, mussels shed the dull, muted quality of sea glass and assume a dramatic blue-black sheen. Thrown into an awaiting pot, flame turned high and licking the sides, plied with wine and steam, the tightly clamped shells yield to reveal pale quivering creatures that taste of the ocean. Pick one up, and you really ought to blush. A dark knob rises at the top, dividing the creamy flesh into two lobes. Soft, tender, inviting, vulnerable. How could you resist?

I gave Fabio Trabocchi another chance this weekend and prepared his very simple recipe for Spaghetti con i moscioli. Rather, I read his recipe and followed the parts of it that made sense.

Basically, you cook the mussels in wine in a heavy, covered pot just until they open. Scoop them out, strain the liquid, and remove (at least) half from their shells and set them aside until the last minute. Fry tomatoes in olive oil for only five minutes, add cooking juices and toss with spaghetti, minced parsley and mussels. Serve.

Quibbles: when you're writing for American home cooks why specify 3 ½ pounds of mussels when they are sold in two-pound bags? Why refer to spaghetti in the name of the dish but call for spaghettini in the smaller print of the recipe?

Bigger gripes: ¾ of a cup of olive oil to sauté three tomatoes (or four times that amount of canned Italian plum tomatoes which he should have mentioned as an option) for five minutes. Nearly a bottle of Pinot Grigio to steam the mussels in a pot you've been instructed to heat intensely beforehand. Since you can drown a bunny easy in a bathtub, why bother carrying it out back to the swimming pool? I may have made only half the recipe, but this was clearly a waste of wine.

The sequence of steps is flawed since you're supposed to work on the sauce while your spaghetti is cooking. If you bothered to read the recipe thoroughly and actually bought a pound of thinner strands instead, your pasta will be done long before the strained mussel juices and wine reduce sufficiently. Also, the novice might appreciate knowing that the spaghetti should be undercooked and then thrown back into the reducing sauce to finish even before the mussels are returned to the pot so that the strands become infused with the sauce.

The strength of the recipe is in the first step. I didn't realize that when I opened the lid on my enameled Dutch oven, a flame would shoot up since the alcohol had not yet burned out. However, Trabocchi does tell you to be both careful and quick.

As a result of minimal cooking time, the mussels were some of the best I have ever had this far from Mount-St.-Michel and youth. The dish is perfect in its simplicity with no need for shallots or garlic. I saved half of the shelled mussels to use in a salad the next day and they were perfect. Nothing rubbery about them; your nose and tongue still recognize the brine.

Edited March 26, 2007 by Pontormo (log)

[hathor]

"For well he knew a woman hath no beard." –Chaucer, The Miller's Tale

That was a naughty choice of a quote!

Beautiful write up. I've also discovered that a very simple, very quick cook on the shell fish works wonders and enhances the natural flavors. Like the "poor mans clams" that I made awhile ago.

Meanwhile, the flaws in the recipe are pretty serious, and that's not good.

And just to let you know, Mitch made some very, very delicious butter and sage pasta with that papardelle....as well as a savory seafood stew....and some yummy cheeses from LeMarche. All these great flavors tasted very much like the real deal. An excellent meal! We were very fortunate to be invited to share his bounty!

[Kevin72]

Is this our eG first dinner party related to the regional theme we've all been exploring? How fun!

Pontormo, the mussels do sound great. Hazan has a somewhat similar recipe in Marcella Cucina that involves a similar technique. It's been a while since I made it, but if I recall correctly half the mussels are pureed with tomato sauce and the cooking juices as well as basil. The sauce was very "buttery", but also had a nice spicy kick to it.

[weinoo]

Judith may have beaten me to the punch, but here's a report (with very few pix - I was too busy enjoying the company!) on Friday night's dinner.

After a trip to the farmer's market and WF Friday morning - I returned home with a bounty of fresh Long Island mussels, clams, squid and scallops - the trip to WF netted some wild caught Key West shrimp - all to be used in the shellfish stew ala Kevin, Marcella and Boni - kind of a stew of 3 recipes!

We had some nice negronis to start off with our anitpasti of focaccia, proscuitto, salumi, olives and pinzimonio with that lovely green olive oil from Les Marches seen above.

Our primi was that lovely paparadelle seen in the photo with a simple butter, sage and parmesan toss...quite good and the package was just right for 4.

Secondi was the aforementioned shellfish "stew" - I think this was quite lovely, but might have benefitted from a little more liquid - I should have just added some more water to make it soupier, as it reduced quite a bit while the squid alone was stewing. I have to say that this was the first time I've cooked squid this way at home, and it really was tender...here's what the stew looked like after the squid was cooked:

This was accompanied by some roasted asparagus seen in this photo with my homemade focaccia:

We actually ate the asparagus in lieu of a salad course preceding the cheeses, which consisted of a delicious casciotta from Urbino (very rich and earthy), a pecorino di fossa (funky and aged by burying for a number of months) and a 5-year old parmesan, accompanied by the fig salami, honey and balsamic vinegar. Quite delicious all! The fig salami (which was like the inside of a fig newton rolled into salami shape - but much drier), didn't really move me that much - especially at the price.

Judith made a delicious prune and armagnac ice-cream for dessert in those fabulous little pyramid shaped molds - awesome and I still have 2 pyramids aging in my freezer - it is claimed by some that they're even better a couple of months down the road - we're looking forward to it!

Sorry for the lack of pix - pasta waits for no man or woman.

And actually the dinner I did from Veneto last month was also attended by eGers!

[hathor]

In case anyone is interested, Mitch makes a damn fine negroni!! And I ate more than my share of the foccacia!!

I disagree about the shellfish stew. I thought the viscosity of the stew juice was just right and the shellfish had been cooked perfectly.

The gauntlet has been laid down....I guess I'm hosting the Abruzzo dinner for next month, right Mitch?

[weinoo]

Thanks for the props on the shellfish stew...we actually had the remains last night tossed with linguine.

As for Abruzzo, bring it on!!

[Pontormo]

Mitch: Sorry the fig salumi was disappointing, though I have to say I envy you your cheeses. It's the romance of the pecorino that ages underground that intrigued me.

Judith: I'm glad Mitch proved to be a really good cook. The stew looks delicious.

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Just logged in for a short report. I see why Elie previously wrote about a soup inspired by Le Marche rather than specifying a particular recipe he tried. I read a number and combined a few ideas while remaining otherwise as faithful as I could be to something in Paula Wolfert's book on Mediterranean grains and greens.

She tells a lovely story about Felice Orazi who forages for soup ingredients in the springtime, bringing home something called bubbolino, a leafy green that grows wild.

I am reminded of something Adam Balic wrote about his Tuscan brother-in-law who couldn't quite bring himself to launch into home-cooking while in Australia since the ingredients are so different, but I followed suggestions to substitute shredded leaves of arugula, asparagus and peas for texture and taste, respectively.

Since it is only March and arugula lacks the heartiness that it has when grown outdoors, I am not sure the substitution was suitable. However, the combination of caramelized vegetables, a bit of red chili, garlic and the slice of Prosciutto I added to the sofrito all worked out beautifully. Farro is cooked separately and then added to the pot along with chicken stock. Pecorino finished it off. Yummy and the way I made it, approximately 685 calories for a bowl filled to the brim.

[FoodMan]

The dinner looks and sounds great Mitch. I like the way the Bordetto looks as well, reall hearty. As for that Fig salami...well I guess I was expecting an actual pork salami with figs mixed in there not a dried fig log! Sorry it was not worth it.

Pontormo-

Both of your writeups are so detailed and descriptive that I can almost see the food. I agree with your assessment of FT recipes. They are certainly not for an inexperienced cook and seem like they need a lot of tweaking here and there. I made a dessert of his recently but have not managed to upload the pics yet, so I'll reserve my comments till then.

It is quiet a different story cooking a Paula Wofert recipe, huh? I bet the soup you made tasted great and needed minor if any adjustments.

[FoodMan]

It's funny how these threads have their own personality and are a bit different from each other in the focus. Well of course they are regionaly focused, but some of them seem to be a dissection of a recipe (ragu, carbonara) others concentrate on the local color (ligurias 'greenness') and some on ingredients (say Sicily and seafood). All that to say that Le Marche seems the only one that we've used to criticize recipe writing and a book in particular, Trabocchi's 'Cuisine of Le Marche'. At least that has been my impression and some might not agree with any of my points above.

In any case, FT's book has many failings that we've already discussed, mainly the seemingly untested recipes. Another negative to the book I've noticed after reading through it a few times is that most recipes just do not seem to give me the feeling that they are traditionally regional...stuff like grilled pork chops with honey or stewed squid with tomato sauce. Maybe the cuisine is really very simple and so is not that unique. On the other hand the few recipes that are true uniquelly from Le Marche, FT goes and 'alters' them for the American palate. I am talking of the recipe for Vincigrassi in which he says he eliminated all offal (gizzards, sweatbreads, liver,...) that make it truely Marchigiani and uses the innoucous ground veal instead.

The dessert recipes in the book look like they are more regionally specific and many of them sound tasty. Too bad few of us made any dolci from this region this month and I am hoping to squeeze a couple in before long. This weekend I tried the 'Fritelle Di Melle' (apple fritters) and actually followed the recipe with no alteration with very good results.

The apples are cored and sliced then macerated in sugar and FRESHLY ground cinnamon. I've never thought of grinding my own cinnamon on a microplane grater from a cinnamon stick, but now I will at least in some cases. The flavor of the cinnamon was very pungent, peppery and delicious, almost like a spicy cinnamon candy. The rounds are then dipped in batter and deep fried.

Dipping them using a chopstick

Served with vanilla gelato and cinnamon sugar

Served with vanilla gelato and honey

I like the honey version better, but both were very good straight out of the fryer with a fluffy slightly crispy batter around the soft apple.

[hathor]

Elie, those look delicious!

I agree with you that we haven't made enough dolce this month. I don't have any sort of sweet tooth, so I tend to forget about the dolce....but I have some great recipes from Ital.cook.

One particularly interesting one is a filled cookie that has an orange peel/parmigiana stuffing. If anyone wants the recipe, PM me. Warning: the filling tastes really good and you wind up eating a lot of it before it gets to the cookie!

[Kevin72]

Good points about the thread and the cookbook, FM. I think the reason why this cookbook has become the central "theme" this month is because that's really all there is out there for this region, or at least what's most readily available in the US. And I also think you've hit on why I haven't been too motivated to get the book: the recipes strike me as somewhat generic and more pan-Italian than uniquely Marchigiani. I've probably belabored this point by now, but it's irksome to me when you get a region-specific cookbook and then have to sift through recipes not from that region. It'd be one thing just to package a book like that as being more pan-Italian and I'd be okay with it and happy with the recipes if they took that bent instead. But if I get a region-specific book, particularly on a little-known region, then I'm looking for a real sense of the food and cuisine.

Look at Downie's Cooking the Roman Way cookbook, or Schwartz's Naples at Table, or of course Kasper's Splendid Table: you get an absolute sense of the cuisine and what makes it special and unique. Yes, there may be some recipes "shared" by other regions, particularly in Rome's case, but Downie makes a good case for why it's included or what makes it "Roman".

I'm not sure how much of this applies to FT's book, though thumbing through it a couple times casually, I get that impression. This is unfortunately also going to be the case, in my opinion, with the main cookbook for Abruzzo next month: Calen's Food and Memories of Abruzzo.