Category: Verdure – vegetables

Pollo o coniglio ai peperoni (chicken or rabbit with peppers, Piedmontese cooking)

~ stefano arturi ~ 18 Comments

Chicken with peppers

One of the great dishes of Piedmont: a braised chicken (but it could be rabbit too, a very popular meat in Piedmontese cooking) with peppers and lots of herbs.  This is classic home cooking done entirely on top of the stove and it follows a usual pattern: the chicken is browned, then wine and aromatics are added, when the chicken is half way done, some mixed peppers go into the pot. By the end, the pan juices are not copious but the few tablespoons left are deliciou and the meat has been infused with the flavor from the herbs, the wine and the peppers. Continue reading “Pollo o coniglio ai peperoni (chicken or rabbit with peppers, Piedmontese cooking)” →

Sformato autunnale di tre verdure (layered autumn three vegetable terrine from Piemonte)

~ stefano arturi ~ 13 Comments

Time to change gear: autumn is here and I want to explore more of the wonderful northern Italian repertoire, which I think lends itself better to this time of the year.

This vegetable terrine hails from Piemonte, or, to be precise, from this tremendous book about Piedmeontese cooking: if you read Italian, do get it. This is not your typical recipe driven cookery book but one where the emphasis is on food as culture.
it is a layered affair of cooked chopped vegetables, with each vegetable layer enriched with eggs and béchamel sauce: an excellent example of that Italian bourgeois , Sunday lunch cooking, now almost disappeared. Continue reading “Sformato autunnale di tre verdure (layered autumn three vegetable terrine from Piemonte)” →

Pasta cù l’agghia (al pesto trapanese) (Pasta with garlic, almond and tomato pesto from Trapani, Sicily)

~ stefano arturi ~ 6 Comments

“Pesto alla trapanese” is a vibrant, intensely garlicky Sicilian pasta sauce made with almonds, tomatoes, garlic and basil – it is lesser know that its Ligurian basil and pine-nuts cousin, but equally glorious. It comes from Trapani, on the west coast of the island ,and it is generally eaten with busiate, a spiral-shaped, chewy, durum-wheat, egg-less fresh pasta (here, if you want to learn how to make it). Pasta con il pesto alla trapanese is also known as pasta cù l’agghia, pasta with garlic (in dialect): if you are after a delicate sauce, this is not for you. Continue reading “Pasta cù l’agghia (al pesto trapanese) (Pasta with garlic, almond and tomato pesto from Trapani, Sicily)” →

Giri assassunati ovvero bietole ripassate con pomodoro, aglio e peperoncino alla siciliana (Sicilian chards with tomatoes, garlic and peperoncino)

~ stefano arturi ~ 9 Comments

Sicilian chards in tomato sauce
Sicilian cooking is not just opulence and extravagance. This dish of chards  with tomatoes, garlic and peperoncino (chili pepper) is a good example of cucina povera:  a handful of a few basic, cheap ingredients delivers a hugely satisfying contorno di verdura (vegetable side dish).  “Giri” is how chards are named in the dialect of Palermo and “Assassunare” derives from the French “Assaisonner” which means “to season”: in Sicilian culinary terms when something has been sautéed  in oil and garlic, to get impregnated with that lovely flavor,  they say it has been “assassunatu”.

Continue reading “Giri assassunati ovvero bietole ripassate con pomodoro, aglio e peperoncino alla siciliana (Sicilian chards with tomatoes, garlic and peperoncino)” →

Caponata di melanzane col cioccolato (Sicilian aubergine, celery, olive and bitter chocolate come stew come relish)

~ stefano arturi ~ 16 Comments

Aubergine caponata

Caponata is another hallmark of Sicilian cooking: a sweet and sour dish of deep fried aubergines and celery, simmered in tomato sauce, with sultanas, olives, capers, bitter chocolate  and sprinkled with toasted pine nuts or almonds: it id munificent and delicious, tasting exotic and complex. Continue reading “Caponata di melanzane col cioccolato (Sicilian aubergine, celery, olive and bitter chocolate come stew come relish)” →