Crostata di riso di Jeanne Caròla Francesconi (Jeanne Caròla Francesconi’s baked tomato rice with mozzarella – a Neapolitan speciality)

Jeanne Caròla Francesconi (1903-1995) is the doyenne of Neapolitan cookery and the author of the seminal La Cucina Napoletana(1965). Here, an informative article about signora Francesconi. 
From that book, I cooked this excellent rice dish. Plain boiled rice is dressed with a basil tomato sauce, butter and parmesan, then poured in a cake tin, with a mozzarella and extra tomato sauce layer in the middle and baked. The contrast between the deliciously crisp outside and the cheesy soft inside is just wonderful.
Straightforward cooking, delicious eating.

Continue reading “Crostata di riso di Jeanne Caròla Francesconi (Jeanne Caròla Francesconi’s baked tomato rice with mozzarella – a Neapolitan speciality)”

El Riso co’la ua ovvero risotto con le uvette, cucina veneziana (risotto with sultanas from Venice)

This is one of those recipes that these days exist only in the memories of some elderly people and/or in books: a “forgotten” risotto with raisins from  Venice, which is  delectable, eccentric as well as easy to replicate anywhere.   Continue reading “El Riso co’la ua ovvero risotto con le uvette, cucina veneziana (risotto with sultanas from Venice)”

Risoto de peoci (Risotto with mussels)

This is a risotto from Veneto, North-east Italy, a region that offers a magnificent but restrained fish and seafood cuisine, well exemplified by this sober, briny risotto with mussels – Peoci is local dialect for mussels, cozze in Italian.  If you happen to spend a few days in Venice, the capital of Veneto, do check the Rialto fish market,  which is a cornucopia of marine life and whose charm made Elizabeth David write one of most celebrated pieces of food writing in English. It is as magical now as it was sixty years ago. Continue reading “Risoto de peoci (Risotto with mussels)”