Trenette al pesto

Everyone these days knows about pesto, the Genovese basil sauce, but it is rarely well made. The first thing to know about pesto--and I have this from a Genovese friend--is that the real thing is redolent of garlic. The flavors should explode in your mouth. Too many versions you'll come across (including anything you might buy in a jar) are timid imitations of the real thing.

In the age of food processors, pesto is simplicity itself to make. You throw in some garlic cloves--don't be shy--and pulse a few times, until the garlic is minced fairly well. Then add several handfuls of basil, a handful of pinoli, salt, pepper and a generous amount of olive oil. Whiz that around (always using the pulse button) until you have a rough paste. Another common mistake: don't over-process. Pesto should have texture, with each element still perceptible to the eye and tongue. Then add grated pecorino cheese, or a combination of pecorino and parmigiano if you prefer--but never only parmigiano, which would not stand up to the assertive flavors of the garlic and basil. Pulse just enough to blend the cheese into the pesto. If the pesto is quite thick, add more olive oil and pulse again, repeating until you have the consistency that you want--the pesto should be thick, but just barely 'pourable'. I won't give measurements because I never measure and, in any event, the exact proportions are a matter of taste.

The classic pasta for pesto is trenette. There is some confusion over what trenette actually are. They are often taken as being the same thing as fettuccine or tagliatelle. Trenette are somewhat like linguine but rather plumper. But in a pinch, any of these pastas would work as a substitute. Pesto is also often eaten with trofie, another typical homemade Genovese pasta that looks a bit like a corkscrew. Here's the way to make it.

Trenette al pesto typically includes green beans and thinly sliced potatoes, which are cooked along with the pasta in salted water and then mixed well with the pesto before serving. If you haven't try pesto this way, do yourself a favor--it's a fabulous combination. You can top it with additional grated cheese if you like.

NOTE: If you want to make pesto the old fashioned way (and purists will tell you that real pesto can only be made this way), break out your mortar and pestle. (The word pesto, in fact, used to mean pestle in Italian, although it's now called pestello in modern Italian. And mortar is mortaio, in case you're interested.) In any event, start with your garlic and a pinch of salt and starting mashing the garlic. When it's a paste, add the pinoli, mash them, to a paste then start adding the basil leaves, little by little, crushing them into a paste before adding the next handful, adding oil as you go. Then add your cheese and test for seasoning. It's a lot of effort and, to my taste at least, not really worth it. But do try it once just to know what the real, real thing is like.

Pollo coi peperoni

This savory chicken dish is enormously satisfying. Although you could precede it with a rustic pasta like an ajo e ojo if you're really hungry, you can skip the primo, as we did tonight, but have lots of crusty bread on hand to sop up the delicious sauce--the Italians call it fare la scarpetta--then have a green salad and some fruit to round off the meal.

You cut up a small chicken into 10 pieces (see below) and brown them lightly in a braiser in olive oil. Add green pepper (say, 2 or 3 large bell peppers or 4 or 5 small cubanels) sliced into strips along with a clove or two of lightly crushed garlic, season with salt and pepper. Allow the vegetables to insaporire for a minute or two, then add a splash of white wine and allow it to evaporate completely before adding a bit of crushed tomato. Lower the heat, cover and allow the chicken to simmer for a good 45 minutes, or until the chicken is well done and the sauce well reduced. Allow to rest for a few minutes and then serve.

NOTES: Check the chicken after about 30 minutes or so. Some chickens--especially the 'factory farm' kind--can give off a lot of liquid. If this is the case, raise the heat a bit and cook uncovered until done. The sauce should be quite well reduced and cling to the chicken pieces--more of a 'dressing' than an actual sauce.

To cut a chicken into 10 pieces for this recipes, cut off each of the legs, the wings (including a bit of the breast with the wings) and then cut the breasts off the back of the chicken. (You can freeze and save the back for broth.) Then divide each leg into thigh and drumstick, cut the breasts into two down the center rib and then divide each breast into two, cutting through the bone. Leave the bone on. (If it's a young chicken, you should be able to manage this with a sharp knife. If not, use a cleaver.) Then trim 'tips' off the wings and discard (or freeze with the back). You'll wind up with 4 leg pieces, 4 breast pieces and 2 wings.

If you can find it and can afford it, buy an organic, free range chicken. They are the only ones these days that taste like anything. And they are less likely to shed a lot of liquid, not having been pumped up with water and who knows what...

Spaghetti alla cipolla rossa e alici

This was not a dish my grandmother Angelina ever made, as far as I know, but it is certainly the kind of pasta-cum-vegetable dish that formed the foundation of her culinary repertoire. You saute sliced red onions in a generous amount of olive oil in a wide skillet or braiser. When the onions have softened and become translucent, add anchovy filets to taste (I like a lot) and finely chopped parsley and cook for a few more minutes, just until the anchovies have melted into the oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (You should not need too much salt, given the anchovies.) Cook the spaghetti al dente and, when they're done, drain (but not too well, you'll want some of the water to cling to the pasta to help moisten the dish) and turn them into the skillet with the onion and anchovy sauce. Mix well, adding some of the pasta water if it's still too dry--the pasta should 'flow' nicely as you toss it. Serve immediately, with some more chopped parsley and un filo d'olio on top.

NOTES: The robust flavor and texture of the onion and anchovy sauce would go well with other long pasta shapes like linguine or even bucatini. The original recipe (which you can find here) called for ricotta salata grated on top, but the idea didn't appeal to me. But try it if you like.

A tip on slicing onions: for some reason, it makes a big difference if you slice an onion lengthwise or across. When you want to onion slices to retain their individuality--and that's what I wanted to for this dish--slice them lengthwise. If you want to onion for its flavor only, slice them thinly across the grain, and they will 'melt' into whatever sauce you're making.

Minestra di riso e cicoria

Chicory (cicoria) is one of my very favorite greens. It brings back memories of Angelina for whom cicoria and escarole were almost daily staples. Maybe that's why she lived well into her 90s...

The recipe is very fast, very simple and very healthy. (If you omit the cheese at the end, it's entirely vegan.) You cut up the chicory (or just the green parts--see below) into one inch pieces, thrown it into some well salted boiling water and cook for about 5 minutes or so. You then transfer the chicory (use a slotted spoon, as you'll need the "broth") into a pan in which you will have sauteed some garlic in olive oil. Let the chicory insaporire--absorb the flavors of the seasoned oil--for a minute or two, then add some of the chicory 'broth' until you have the quantity of soup you like. Add rice and allow to simmer until the rice and chicory are tender. (If you have some cooked rice on hand, just add it at the very end, as when I made this soup, using some leftover white rice from a Chinese restaurant). Serve in deep soup plates and top with pecorino cheese, freshly ground pepper and un filo d'olio--a drizzle of olive oil.

Variations: You can add potatoes in addition to, or instead of, the rice. You can also substitute soup pasta for the rice. For a softer taste, use chopped onion instead of (or in addition to) the garlic. You can add hot red pepper in addition to garlic to the oil as well if you want a little 'heat'. And you can use butter instead of (or in addition to) the olive oil. For a richer dish, use chicken broth instead of the chicory broth. If you omit the rice, etc. altogether, and instead add some beaten egg mixed pecorino, you'll have another favorite soup, cicoria cacio e uova.

Other ways to make chicory: Chicory is a versatile vegetable. Without the addition of broth, the recipe above becomes a great side dish. It goes very well with beans, as well. The white 'heart' of the cicoria is also a wonderful salad green, either as part of a mixed salad or--my favorite--as a substitute for punterelle, a special kind of chicory grown around Rome that is dressed with a very particular salsina made as follows: in a mortar and pestle, crush garlic, anchovy fillets and a bit of salt together until they make a paste, then add olive oil, a bit of vinegar and lots of freshly ground pepper. (NB: This is the only instance that I know of in Italian cooking that a salad dressing is made separately from the salad--the exception that proves the rule, I guess.) Served with some crusty bread and cold white wine, this salad is so satisfying, it's a meal in itself!

Angelina's pasta e lenticchie

Of all the wonderful dishes my grandmother Angelina would make when I was growing up, this was my very favorite. And that's saying a lot, since she made incredible lasagne di carnevale.

Angelina's pasta e lenticche (pasta and lentils) was very simple to make but involved three more or less simultaneous operations: First, you simmer lentils with garlic and a drop of olive oil until tender, then season well. Second, while the lentils are simmering, you saute lots of sliced onions in olive oil. Season these, too. Third, when your lentils and onions are almost done, you cook the pasta. Typically, Angelina would break up linguine into short lengths, and for me, this dish is never quite right with any other kind of pasta. But, of course, you can use all sorts of small, stubby pastas like ditali or even a tiny soup pasta like orzo or stellette. When the pasta is slightly undercooked, add it to the pot with the lentils, then add the sauteed onions along with a good ladleful of the pasta cooking water. Mix well, adjust for seasoning, and let it 'rest', covered, for at least an hour to let the favors develop. In fact, it tastes even better when you make it in the morning for an evening meal, or the day before. (Yes, you heard that right: this recipes breaks all the usual rules for making pasta.)

Measurements: Nana never measured, and, anyway, the proportions for this dish are to taste, but I find that using the same weight (uncooked) of lentils and pasta provides the right balance for me. I like to make a fair amount at a time, and 250g of each is enough for at least 6 portions. For that amount, one medium onion is fine. Add more if you like, but I find that adding too much onion gives the dish a sweetness that is not genuino.

The only tricky part to this dish, besides getting the lentil-to-pasta ratio to your taste, is to season each component (lentils, pasta, onions) well, as they all need salt to 'shine'. But be careful not to overdo it; the seasoning in each component somehow comes out stronger when they are combined.

Variations: The other day I had some stuff in the fridge that I needed to use, and felt like a more elaborate version of this dish. So I simmered the lentils with a sprig of fresh bay leaves and a chunk of 'country ham' (pancetta or guanciale would also do nicely) for extra depth of flavor. (When it was cooked, I boned and diced the ham and added it to the pasta.) And I added a bit of crushed tomato to the sauteed onions. The result was not a 'pure' as Angelina's original version, but awfully good.

This variation is actually quite close to the pasta e lenticchie you could sometimes find on the menu at family-run trattorie in Rome. There, the dish is more of a soup, and the pasta something like tubetti. Pancetta and tomato are usually included in the flavoring base. The soup is served with grated cheese, something that we never had with Angelina's version.

Insalata Caprese

It's a warm, wonderful Summer-like day, and I didn't feel like doing any 'real' cooking (yes, even I feel lazy about cooking sometimes) so I just threw together--almost literally-- a typical summertime salad that we're all familiar with: alternating slices of tomato and mozzarella, some fresh basil leaves, salt and a generous amount of fruity olive oil poured over the top. (Some people add a bit of vinegar--but don't do it, it overpowers the delicate flavor of the mozzarella.) This is a 'composed' salad like the salade nicoise, meaning you do not toss the ingredients but arrange them on a plate.

Italians call this an insalata caprese, or just caprese for short, after the island of Capri, off the Amalfi coast in the southern Italian region of Campania. Of course, mozzarella comes from the Campania region, as do the best tomatoes in Italy. But apparently it is wrong to think that this salad actually comes from Capri. Here's a story I found on the internet:

"Probably like many people, I assumed (apparently incorrectly) that insalata caprese originated on Capri, or at least nearby in Campania, since the ingredients- tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala and basilico are so good there. In the latest issue of Gambero Rosso magazine, there is a little piece about the origins of the salad whereby a native of Capri, Constantino Moffa, who worked as a maitre d' in a Swiss hotel had it for himself so often, and people took to it asking for what the person from Capri had. It made itself to the menu, and the rest is history."

NOTE: This is an extremely easy dish to make, obviously, but it can be difficult to find the right ingredients. Unless you use top quality ingredients, you will end up with a dish that is almost entirely uninteresting, which is why I never order this in a restaurant (outside of Italy, at least). You need the best quality olive oil--and only the deep green fruity kind, from southern Italy, will do. You also need ripe, deep red, tasty tomatoes, which is another challenge. In the US, you'll need to either grow them yourself or buy them from a farmer's market. Tomatoes are in season in the summer, as is basil, which is why this is a summer salad. I wouldn't even attempt to eat this out of season. But yesterday I found some Mexican tomatoes in Whole Foods and, in fact, they were not half bad. And, although unorthodox, you can use cherry tomatoes, which tend to have more flavor.

And, finally, last but definitely not least, you need top quality fresh mozzarella. This is perhaps the biggest challenge of all. Even in Italy, it can be difficult to find top quality mozzarella outside of its production zone, which extends from Campania up through the southern part of Lazio. We had some friends that live in Latina, not far from Rome but within the production zone, and they would serve the most wonderful mozzarella I had ever tasted, better than anything I could find in Rome, just a few kilometers away. Outside Italy, of course, things get even more challenging. In the US, the most common type of "mozzarella"--although I hesitate to even call it by that name--is the kind that is packed in plastic wrap. It has nothing to do with real mozzarella. You can use it for certain cooking tasks, but it is too tasteless and rubbery to eat raw. You can buy imported mozzarella but somehow more often than not, the texture is not quite right. Rather than being rubbery, the texture is too soft. Best quality mozzarella has a texture that is hard to describe, neither hard nor soft, almost 'spongy', and oozing with milk. Probably the best bet for those in the US are some of the new artisanal cheesemakers here, who make a decent imitation. In New York, the best place I know of for mozzarella is Joe's Diary on Houston Street. Haven't been there in years, but back in the day they made superb stuff on the premises. Their smoked mozzarella was to die for!

Mozzarella comes in two basic types: the 'real' mozzarella is made from the milk of water buffalo, and is called mozzarella di bufala and cow's milk mozzarella, called fior di latte. If you can find the real kind, by all means use it for this dish. But I find that quality is more important. Mozzarella can be smoked, and I love the smoked variety when it is well made. Close to mozzarella, and very popular in Rome, is scamorza, which is also smoked. Unusual for cheese, it is usually not eaten raw but split in two and browned over a grill or on a griddle, either plain or topped with a slice of prosciutto or anchovies, it's great.

Post-scriptum: A friend of mine who works at the Italian embassy recently told me that Costco carries fresh mozzarella flown directly from Caserta. Well, I tried it and, indeed, it is very, very good. The brand is fattorie Garofalo.

Zucchine cacio e uova

Zucchine and eggs were meant for each other, and they are found together in a whole assortment of Italian dishes. Here is an example of this pairing, perfect for a light lunch or supper:

Saute chopped onion in a generous amount of olive oil until translucent, being careful not to let them brown (tip: a pinch of salt and a tablespoon or so of water helps to soften the onion and prevent the browning). Then add sliced zucchine and (if you want) a bit of pureed tomato, season with salt and pepper, mix well and cover, allowing the zucchine to stew, stirring occasionally, about 10 min, or until tender. Then add eggs that have been beaten in a bowl with grated pecorino and chopped basil (or parsley) and mix well until the eggs have set the way you like. (I like them still quite soft.) Serve with some crusty bread. If you're a cheese maven like myself, you can sprinkle some additional pecorino on top.

NOTES: The same egg and cheese 'sauce' can be used with other vegetables. My Nana used to make peas this way. You can take this dish in different directions, too: for a more refined baked version, place the cooked sliced zucchine in a baking dish (or individual ramakins), pour over the egg and cheese mixture, top with more cheese and butter, and bake in a hot oven until the eggs are set and a nice golden crust has formed on top. If you use more eggs--6 or more--you'll wind up with a frittata; just let the egg cook without mixing until it has set and lightly browned on the bottom, then flip it over and cook on the other side. You can use this dish as a dressing for pasta: add your pasta to the pan with sliced zucchine, mix and then add your egg and cheese mixture, mixing yet again. Or you can make a delicious soup by adding water or broth to the sliced zucchine, allow them to simmer for a few minutes, then add your egg and cheese mixture and simmer some more, just long enough for the eggs to set. (Very much like cicoria cacio e uova (see my post on minestra di riso e cicoria) This may be the Swiss army knife of vegetable dishes...

VERSIONE ITALIANA:

Far soffriggere cipolla tritata in olio d'oliva, aggiungere delle zucchine tagliate a rondelle e un po' di passata di pomodoro (facolativa). Salare e pepare e lasciar cuocere con il coperchio a fuoco medio per circa 10 minuti, mescolando ogni tanto. Aggiungere le uova sbattute con pecorino o parmigiano a piacere e basilico (o prezzemolo) tritato. Far rapprendere il tutto per qualche minuto. Servire subito, volendo con ancora un po' di formaggio grattugiato.

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL:

Sofreír cebolla picada en aceite de oliva. Agregar calabacitas (zucchine) cortadas en rodajas y, si quieres, un poco de puré de tomate y mezclar bien. Tapar y dejar guisar por unos 10 minutos, mezclando de vez en cuando. Destapar y agregar huevo batido con queso rallado tipo pecorino o parmesano a gusto y albahaca o perejil picado. Servir inmediatamente, si quieres con más queso rallado.

Fagioli e tonno

Here's a dish that really is just about as simple as you can get. If you can open a can, you can can make this salad: mix one can of cannellini beans, washed and well drained, with one can of tuna packed in olive oil. Add chopped onion or scallion, parsley, salt, pepper, the juice of half a lemon and a generous amount of best quality olive oil, enough to coat the beans well. Toss well. If it's a little dry, add more oil. Adjust for seasoning.

You can serve this immediately or make ahead.

NOTES: The choice of tuna is pretty crucial here. You want tuna packed in olive oil. If you are feeling extravagant, there are some imported tuna of the ventresca type--fillets of tuna bell--that are wonderful but quite expensive. Otherwise, Cento, Progresso, Ortiz and Genova brands are all fine choices. If you can find Sicilian yellow fin tuna, which is wonderful, and if you're willing to shell out $6 a can (plus shipping), that's the best choice of all.

Of course, the 'real' recipe calls for dried cannellini beans that you will have soaked and cooked yourself. For special occasions, it's the best, but for an everyday quick meal, canned beans will do just fine. Be sure to wash off the can juice, however, as it will otherwise give the salad an off taste. (You should do that whenever you use canned beans, btw.) I've never tried it, but I have to suppose that other beans would make for an interesting variation, chickpeas and tuna being a fairly common one in Italy. I sometimes add chopped tomato, in season, which makes for a pleasant change.

The traditional recipe, which is originally from Tuscany, calls for red onions (which are typical of Tuscan cooking). They are your first and most authentic choice, but the mild flavor of white onions is also quite nice. Scallions aren't bad either (and that's what we had on hand tonight). You can use regular yellow onions in a pinch, but their taste is a bit too harsh to eat raw--soak them in cold water to remove some of the harshness and pat dry before adding them to the salad.

Fagioli e tonno is generally considered an antipasto, but we often have it as a main course for a light supper in warm weather. You can serve it just as is or over a bed of lettuce. It also is a nice component in a buffet.

Saute' di cozze

When I was living in Rome, there was a great little roadside restaurant close by called "Il Cantuccio". They made a number of dishes well, but one of our standbys was saute' di cozze, literally "mussel saute". They are, in fact, an Italian version of that near universal dish: steamed mussels.

You wash the mussels under cold water, throw them into a pot, add a generous splash of wine, cover and cook over medium-high heat until all the mussels have opened. This should take only a couple of minutes. Then take them immediately off the heat, fish out the mussels with a slotted spoon, leaving their liquor in the bottom of the pot. (Mollusks will get tough if you overcook them.) While the mussels are steaming, saute some crushed garlic in a second pot, big enough to contain the mussels later. When the garlic just starts to brown a bit, add some red pepper flakes (to taste), then immediately (but gently) pour the mussel liquor into second pot, making sure to leave the sediment you sometimes find at the bottom of the pot. Allow the liquor to reduce until it is very flavorful. If you think it needs salt, add now, but the mussels are usually quite briny, so you may need none at all. Then add the mussels to the second pot, then some chopped parsley, stir well to coat the mussels with the 'sauce'. Sprinkle a bit of additional chopped parsley on top and bring the pot to the table. Serve with crusty bread--a baguette is ideal--to sop up that delicious sauce!

We followed our saute' di cozze with a mixed green salad and a hunk of bucheron cheese (yum!), followed by mango sorbet topped with blackberries and laced with Cointreau. After dinner, a limoncello helped it all gone down nicely as we watched Slumdog Millionaire.

NOTES: Each diner serves themselves a nice portion of mussels and liquor. You can eat it by grabbing a mussel shell gingerly with your left hand while removing the mussel with a fork or a spoon. (I prefer a spoon, because you can immerse the mussel in some of the sauce before you eat it for maximum flavor.)

If you want to make a slightly fancier dish, you can remove one side of the shell from each mussel (the one that the mussel meat is not clinging to, of course) while the sauce is reducing. That also allows you to serve more mussels in a somewhat smaller pot.

As always, there are any number of variations you can use to keep the dish interesting. Most notably, clams be mixed with, or substituted for the mussels, which case you will have either a saute' di cozze e vongole or a saute' di vongole. Add spaghetti (or linguine) to a saute di vongole and you will have the classic spaghetti alle vongole, pasta with clam sauce. (Or as Os used to call it, "spaghetti alle gondole".)

You can also vary the seasonings. Most commonly, you can make a 'red sauce' by adding some chopped or pureed tomato to the flavored oil and allow it to simmer for a minute or two before adding the mussel and/or clam liquor. Or you can make a more delicate sauce by substituting shallots for the garlic and red pepper, in which case you might want to add a tad of butter to the oil. And, of course, if you want to branch out of Italian cuisine, other possibilities open up--cream, beer, curry... but that's a note for another day.

This dish is pretty easy, but if you want to make it even easier, you can add the raw mussels directly to the flavored oil, let them steam and serve. The resulting dish will be less intensely flavorful, but there will be more abundant liquor for dipping. (In fact, this is often called zuppa di cozze, or mussel soup.) But be careful, as there may be sediment in the bottom of the pot.

Speaking of sediment, some recipes call for soaking mussels and clams in water for some time (usually about an hour) before cooking, to purge them of their sediment. I usually find this step to be unnecessary, especially if you steam them separately and can leave any sediment traces at the bottom of the pot. (Or, if you are really fastidious, you can filter the liquor through some cheesecloth.) But if you have any doubts about your mussels--especially if they are very large--do soak them. Mussels also sometimes come with a 'beard'--the filaments that the mussel used to attach itself to the rocks on which it used to live. If you find a beard on any of your mussels, you'll need to pull or cut it off--but most mussels these days are sold pre-trimmed.

One final word to the wise: look for smaller mussels for this dish. Larger mussels (or clams) may seem like a better deal, but they tend to have flabbier texture and are less sweet than the small ones. And because of their size they do not marry as well with the sauce.

Rigatoni con spinaci e ricotta

Here's another quick and easy pasta dish. Ricotta and spinach is a classic combination, typically used as a filling in stuffed pastas like cannelloni and ravioli and also as a pie filling popular at Eastertime. Here the combination appears on the outside, as a kind of sauce, instead of on the inside.

Blanch some spinach in salted water, drain, run under cold water and squeeze dry. Chop the spinach finely. Saute chopped onion in a mixture of olive oil and butter in a skillet or braising pan, the add the chopped spinach and let it braise, covered, so that the spinach becomes well flavored. In the meanwhile, cook the rigatoni and when done, add to the spinach in the pan and mix well. Add a healthy dollop of ricotta and parmesan cheese. Mix again, adding some of the pasta water to loosen the mixture so that it coats the pasta well. Adjust seasoning and serve immediately with additional grated parmesan.

NOTE: You can use frozen spinach if you like. Just defrost, squeeze out the extra water and chop, then proceed as indicated in the recipe. I like to use white onions for this dish, as they have a more delicate flavor than either yellow or red onions, but it's not a must.

Given the simplicity of this dish and the subtle flavor of both spinach and ricotta, the two main flavor ingredients, you'll need to be generous with the salt or the dish may turn out pretty bland.

TIP on creating a flavor base or soffritto: Sauteing onions can be a bit tricky. It's important that they not brown or--God forbid--burn. To help prevent this minor misfortune, add a little salt to the onions as you saute. This helps draw out the water in the onions, which both concentrates the flavor and helps prevent browning. Then add a tablespoon or so of water, which will help prevent burning and also help soften the onions. It is important that the onions become quite soft and lend their sweet flavor to the oil before you proceed to add the spinach. This technique of preparing a 'flavor base' is the starting point for many, many sauces, soups, stews and countless other dishes in Italian cooking (as in French cooking as well). Besides chopped onion, there are also bases of onion and garlic and, the most classic of all, chopped onion, carrots and celery (to which chopped parsley, garlic and/or pancetta can be added, depending on the dish). The chopping of the vegetables can be accomplished using a knife or a food processor (using the 'pulse' function so that it does not turn into mush) or, in the traditional fashion, with a half-moon shaped instrument called a mezzaluna (see photo below). Italians call the raw chopped vegetable mixture a battuto (in French, mirepoix) and the cooked flavor base a soffritto.




VERSIONE ITALIANA

Una pasta molto veloce e decisamente gustosa.

Cuocere gli spinaci ben lavati e puliti per pochi minuti in abondante acqua salata. Scolarli, sciaquarli con acqua fredda e strizzarli bene e tritarli. In una padella fai appassire cipolla tritata in un filo d’olio e del burro. Ripassaci gli spinaci per farli insaporire. Salare e peppare. Aggiungere un bel po' di ricotta e qualche cucchiaio di parmigiano grattugiato. Cuocere rigatoni in abbondante acqua salata, scolarli al dente e condirli con gli spinaci e la ricotta, aggiungendo un mestolo dell'acqua della pasta. Servire subito con ancora un po' di parmigiano grattugiato.

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL

Hoy proponemos una pasta rápida y sabrosa a la vez.

En agua salada ponga a cocer espinacas por algunos minutos, luego escúrralas bien y píquelas. En una sartén sofría cebolla picada en aceite de oliva y mantequilla – sin dorarla - agregue luego las espinacas y deje que éstas absorban el sabor del sofrito. ¡Salpimentar! A este punto, agregue una buena cantidad de queso ricota y unas cucharadas de queso parmesano rallado. Ponga a cocer una pasta tipo rigatoni en abundante agua salada, escúrrala y agréguela a la sartén con un poco del agua en que coció la pasta mezclando todo bien. Sirva la pasta inmediatamente con un poco más de queso rallado.

Cannelloni ricotta e spinaci

Cannelloni is probably the easiest stuffed pasta to make. Use egg roll wrappers instead of sfoglia (homemade egg pasta) and you have a dish you can make in about 30 minutes. Tonight I used a classic filling made with ricotta cheese, mixed with an equal amount of chopped spinach, some grated parmesan, egg, salt to taste and a pinch of nutmeg. To make the cannelloni, just lay out the egg roll wrapper, pipe a goodly band of filling along one edge, and roll it up starting from the edge with the filling. Separately, make a very light and 'loose' tomato sauce, with just a bit of oil into which you put a slightly smashed clove of garlic, adding crushed canned tomatoes when you can just begin to smell a whiff of the garlic and simmering with a bit of salt and torn up leaves of fresh basil for about 10 to 15 minutes. Oil a baking dish that is a bit wider than the cannelloni are long (to allow them to expand as they bake), spoon out some tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish and then lay the cannelloni out side by side. Nap the cannelloni with more tomato sauce so that their tops and sides are fully covered with sauce, grate over some more grated parmesan cheese, and bake in a hot oven (400F, 200C) for about 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce bubbles and the top is just slightly browned. Let the dish settle for a minute or two and serve with additional sauce and cheese for those who want.

TIPS: There's another method of filling cannelloni, which is to spread the filling over almost the entire surface of the pasta square (leaving a bit of space one end so that when you roll it up, the filling will not leak out). The theory to this method is that being in contact with the stuffing will keep the pasta soft and moist, while pasta rolled around pasta may dry out. I've made them both ways and like both methods. When using egg roll wrappers, which are extremely thin, I think the method mentioned in the basic recipe works better.

The usual Italian method of pre-cooking spinach is to wash the spinach leaves, place them in a dry skillet or pan with just the water that clings to them and cook them, covered, over moderate heat until they wilt. You then run the leaves under cold water, squeeze them well and chop them. (If you are using a food processor, just throw them into the processor bowl whole.) As I've said before, frozen chopped spinach will do fine, although fresh spinach, especially baby spinach as I used tonight, gives the filling a wonderfully delicate flavor.

NOTE: Besides this spinach and ricotta filling, cannelloni come with various other fillings. A minced veal or beef filling is probably the most common, but you will also find pure cheese fillings, chicken fillings, sausage fillings, asparagus... the sky's the limit, really. Perhaps even more often than tomato sauce, in Italy cannelloni--especially the ones with more delicate fillings--are topped with bechamel and grated cheese and dotted with butter. According to Wikipedia, cannelloni were invented by one Chef Salvatore Coletta in Sorrento (near Naples) in 1907. These days, however, you will find cannelloni just about everywhere in Italy.

There are a number of similar dishes out there. Italians also make something called crespelle, sometimes called by the French word crepes, where the pasta is substituted by a thin egg batter cooked into, well, a crepe. I associate crespelle with Tuscany, but I'm not sure if they are from there. And then there are also my personal favorite, fazzoletti della nonna, literally "Grandma's handkerchiefs", or just fazzoletti, a bit thicker than crespelle and folded around their filling into a triangular shape and laid out like roof shingles in the baking dish. (See our 16 May post for the recipe.)

Final NOTE for readers in the US: Buying canned tomatoes is a tricky thing in the States. When I first moved from Italy, I ran into all sorts of trouble trying to find a brand of canned tomatoes that 'behaved' properly. The main problem being that, for some strange reason, no matter how much I cooked the canned tomatoes, then never seemed to melt as they should into a sauce. I then found out that Americans like their canned tomatoes that way, and manufacturers add calcium chloride to canned tomatoes to keep them from falling apart! Of course, when you are using canned tomatoes to make a sauce, firmness (especially artificially induced firmness) is not a positive quality. So I now stick to either imported Italian canned tomatoes or American 'crushed' tomatoes. If you buy Italian canned tomatoes, however, you also need to be careful. For reasons having to do with US tariffs, Italian canned tomatoes come packed in puree rather than simple juice as they are in Italy, so what you get is rather too thick and need to be diluted with a bit of water. For this dish, you'll need to add even more, as you want a loose sauce that can reduce as the cannelloni cook in the oven. Their taste is, unfortunately, not as pure as it should be because of the puree, but it is better than having chunks of raw canned tomato in your sauce! (I realize that some people like chunky tomato sauce, but it's not very Italian.) For more information and some recommendations on brands, see this post on buying canned tomatoes.

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