Cannellini and Escarole Soup

I got this recipe from a cookbook by Jacob Kenedy who is the owner and chef of London's very popular restaurant Bocca di Lupo. It is as simple as apple pie - in fact, simpler - and doesn't take more than a half an hour to make except the cooking time for the beans, of course. It should be made immediately before serving because you don't want the escarole to be overcooked or turn black. 

1 lb. cannellini beans (soaked overnight and cooked in a pot of water with 1 tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil brought to a boil and then cooked for three hours over moderately low heat.

2-3 cups of the bean cooking liquid kept in reserve for the soup

One head escarole, cleaned in a waterbath, stems at the root removed and sliced lengthwise into strips

Three cloves of garlic sliced very thin

One pinch of hot red pepper flakes

16 to 20 leaves fresh basil cut in strips lengthwise 

One bunch of chopped flat parsley

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Take half of the olive oil and heat it up in a large pot. Saute the garlic until it becomes golden at the edges, add the pinch of hot red pepper flakes and the cut up pieces of escarole. Season with a little salt and pepper and saute until wilted. Add the beans and the bean liquid and heat p to the boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and add the parsley and basil and the remaining olive oil. Stir well and serve with slices of toasted bread.

APPLE CHARLOTTE

I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED to make an Apple Charlotte. It isn't very difficult but it does take time. The basic recipe calls for stale bread; you know the French - Europeans in general, actually - they never waste anything! But, I am always tempted to gild the lily. I made a couple of pound cakes (Maida Heatter's Elvis King Pound Cake!) a few months ago and froze them with the express intention of eventually making one of these delectable concoctions with pound cake instead of bread.

I used Julia Child's recipe, which is completely over the top (minimal work but lots of steps). It was, in fact, the first time I ever used my Charlotte mold (fabrique en France). It's a happy occasion indeed when any batterie de cuisine designated for a particular use functions exactly as it should and succeeds. And even though the mold was silver tin, its heart-shaped handles render it rather fetching to the eye.

Funny thing here: Julia's recipe calls for 6 lbs. of apples. I stopped at 9 apples (not even 3 lbs.) and had more than plenty to fill the mold (I had enough left over to fill a jar of apple sauce). Frankly, I got tired of peeling and coring apples and gave up once my pot was almost full!

So to begin:

6 cups apples, cored and peeled and chopped coarsely into

   small pieces

1/4 cup rum

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup apricot jam (strained through a fine sieve)

3 tbl. unsalted butter

1/4 tsp. almond extract

1/8 tsp. salt

Place all the apples into a large pot (Le Creuset Dutch Ovens are the best for this or any stainless steel pot with a lid). Cover and cook over moderately low heat for 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Apples should soften a bit. Add the sugar, jam, rum, butter, salt and almond extract and cook on relatively high heat. Bring to a boil and stir vigorously and often. (I let it simmer covered for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.) After about 45 minutes the apples should have melted somewhat into a kind of apple sauce/paste. You will need to keep stirring until all of the liquid has evaporated and a spoon draws a line on the bottom of the pan when swiped across. You should have a thick paste which when spooned up it one large mass. Turn off heat and cover until ready to use.

1/2 pound clarified butter 

Cut off the crusts of the bread or cake to make even squares and cut into 3 equal rectangular slices. Cut a round piece for the bottom of the mold with varying shapes to fill in the open spaces before lining the mold. You will need to saute the round pieces for the bottom until golden brown. Place in the bottom of a 3 inch high charlotte tin and dip each piece of bread into the clarified butter and line the wall of the mold, overlapping the slices as you go round the entire wall. Make sure you cut the pieces on the top to make everything level. Fill the mold with the apple mixture until you have a mound which is above the surface of the slices (the apples will sink as the charlotte bakes). Top the mold with more slices of buttered bread until it is completely covered. Pour the remaining clarified butter over the mold filling it completely with liquid. Place the mold into a larger pan (a ceramic dish is perfect for this) and place into a 425º over for 30-45 minutes or until the entire charlotte is a dark golden color. Running a knife in between the mold and the charlotte twill indicate if the bread has browned and finished. Let cool for at least 45 minutes before unmolding or refrigerate overnight and un-mold after reheating in a warm 190º oven for 30 minutes.

1/2 cup apricot jam

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup rum

a dash of almond extrac

Place ingredients in a small pan and bring to the boil. Stir to mix thoroughly and pout through a fine sieve. Brush the outside of the unmolded charlotte with the apricot glaze until very shiny and serve.

BON APPETIT!

INTRUGLIO

HAVE YOU EVER WALKED into an Italian grocery store, I mean the small, little ones, family owned, smelling of the old world, reeking of olives and salami and hard pungent cheese? 

Well, this dish represents that scent, the succulent aroma of olive oil mixed with fruits of the vines and trees. What's more, it might be a little pricey to make because olives and sun-dried tomatoes and cheese have become rather dear not to mention the extra virgin olive oil, but it is so simple to make that it's crazy.   

Etymologically, Intruglio (pronounced een -TRUE-leeyo - The G is silent when preceding L followed by I or E) means slop, muddle, concoction. I found this recipe in Tessa Kiros' gorgeous and fabulous cookbook: Venezia - food and dreams (page 71). She states that Intruglio is of Tuscan origin.  But it's altogether possible that this mixture is made throughout Italy where olives and tomatoes live in ubiquity. In Calabrese the word intruglio means pigswill, which it definitely is not! It even has had connotations like "bad medicine" and "paint stripper" throughout the ages and can be dated back as far as the Romans. Being an olive-oriented society, I'm sure they made full use of oil and salt to preserve foods like this.

This "concoction" is basically made using:

1 cup of Kalamata olives 
1 cup of large green olives 
1 cup of any other kind of olive (red or green or black for variety of type and color; I recommend pitted olives)

Mix with a quarter pound of soft goat cheese and a half pound of Buffalo mozzarella. Since Buffalo mozzarella is so expensive I just use the little bocconcini which I flatten with the palm of my hand. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl and add either some fresh oregano or some rosemary with some thyme, a dash of hot red pepper flakes and a couple turns of black pepper from a pepper mill. Also optional: a heaping tablespoon of capers and some anchovies.

Pour the mixture into a large glass airtight container (those which are used for preserving are ideal) and add 1 to 1 1/2 cups extra-virgin olive oil to cover the mixture completely. Refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 days or up to a week and then you can start using it. I have used very little of it in the past and must say that it grows in flavor with a little aging. I use some and then cover it with more olive oil which will help the mixture to stay completely perfect for at least a month.

At this point you can top it on bread or crostini as an antipasto or dress any pasta of your choice with it.

Boil any kind of macaroni or pasta (shells, butterflies, rigatoni, penne) and cook until ready according to the instructions on the box. Drain, put back in the pot with a little bit of olive oil some black pepper and add about three large spoonfuls of the intruglio and mix thoroughly. Serve immediately with some grated Parmesan cheese.

A slight variation: Preheat the oven to 375°.

1/2 pound salt cod soaked in water for several days with changes of water every eight hours. Take a large piece of parchment paper put the cod on the paper, place about three very large spoonfuls of the intruglio over the fish, wrap the fish with more parchment paper and seal all around it. Put on a large roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes. When the fish is ready open up the parchment poor everything onto the pasta and mash the fish into the pasta with a wooden spoon so it's well incorporated. Serve immediately but without cheese. 

Buon appetito!