A typical example of cucina degli avanzi, leftovers cooking. I had some leftover mussels from the night before (cozze alla marinara, mussels cooked in a tomato, parsley and garlic broth) and, on the spur of the moment, I decided to transform them into a rice and mussels dish, for supper. Continue reading
Carni e pesci – meat and fish
La genovese (Neapolitan beef and onion braise)
“La genovese” literally means “The woman/girl from Genoa”. It is in fact a meat dish from Naples and it has nothing to do with Genova, the capital of Liguria, in North-West Italy. Rather confusing, I agree.
A solid piece of beef is braised for hours in a huge quantity of onions – this is la genovese in a nutshell. When you taste, smell and savor it, you realize that there is more, much more going on here. Continue reading
Anatra in salsa (grilled duck with chopped salame, anchovies, garlic and a little vinegar)
This is dish from Veneto. The duck should be whole, roasted and then bathed with a lively garlicky, mildly vinegary sauce. I rarely “do” whole birds and I decided to use (easily available and convenient) duck breasts instead and to cook them a la piastra, i.e. on a griddle stone. This is almost a ten minutes dish: little work & high rewards on the taste front. Continue reading
Paparot (Polenta and spinach soup from Friuli Venezia Giulia)
“Paparot”: This must be the most charming name for a dish – a substantial, garlicky soup from Friuli Venezia Giulia: spinach, corn/maize flour and sausage meat. It is one of those dishes where the final result is far greater than the list of its ingredients might suggest. The spinach is first cooked and chopped, then it is added to a base of lardo (or pancetta or butter), garlic and/or sausage meat. When the spinach has absorbed all these lovely, porky flavours (in Italian cookery terms, we call this all-important step insaporire, which translates as “to make tasty”), corn or maize flour is added and then water (or broth, if you have it). The soup is then cooked for a good hour. It’s quite basic, as you can see, and not much to look at, perhaps, but the flavour is very good, if you like this kind of rustic, elementary food. Continue reading
Mlinci, an unusual corn pasta that is grilled and boiled
Mlinci
Mlinci
Mlinci
Mlinci
Mlinci with wild rabbit sauce
Mlinci with wild rabbit sauce
One of the great pleasures of cooking Italian is that it offers an amazing array of culinary styles and it is not unusual even for the experienced cook to stumble across completely unheard of foods, recipes and dishes. Continue reading
