BLACK SQUID INK TORTELLI STUFFED WITH SHELLFISH

I SAID that I would be making Tortelloni and Tortellini soon and on Sunday that is precisely what happened. (Unless I'm trying to be very specific, all future reference to either pasta will be "tortelli".) I had leftover squid ink pasta dough in the freezer and brought it out to thaw in the fridge on Friday, went to the fish market on Saturday and bought a few things for this dish as well as some tuna and skate for dinner on Saturday night. It always amazes me when I successfully leave a fish store with at least 5 different types of fish (including shellfish) without having spent more than $20.00 for the lot!

In any event, let's talk about these tortelli. They are tiny pieces of dough, squares actually, hand cut, which are then filled with any variety of stuffings and formed into a shape that is supposed to look like Venus's navel and I suppose in a way they do. I could say that it is more for special occasions that one would make these at home (Christmas, Easter, a birthday meal), but one could argue that just making them from beginning to end with your very own hands is special occasion enough; it certainly is for me! In Bologna, tortelli of any kind is ubiquitous and tortellini are usually filled with veal. In Mantova, any traditional Christmas meal worth its salt begins with Tortelli alla Zucca (pumpkin stuffing, then cooked and dressed in melted butter with sage, or dressed with panna (cream), butter, sage, with pignoli and raisins). Tortelloni, the larger version can be stuffed with cheese (most often Ricotta and Parmiggiano), meat, vegetables or a combination of all three, but here is where you run into the danger of masking flavors instead of showcasing one or two together. The possibilities of stuffings are endless, however; especially if you are imaginative on how to make use of vegetables and leftover cuts of meat. The paradox to all of this is that even though these are complicated and labor intensive, keeping it simple is key: less ingredients help to bring out the flavors and aromas that are already there; you want to be able to taste the ink in the pasta, the filling and all the ingredients as well as the sauce you put on it. 

I first saw this particular recipe in Katy Caldese's cookbook Cook Italy which is a fabulous compendium of some of the most typical foods from all over the Italian countryside. This black pasta, however, has a more Southern and Sicilian bent to it, as it uses tomato, a tiny bit of hot pepper and shellfish for its sauce and the stuffing is made from chopped shrimp, chopped tuna belly, a little tomato and saffron and ricotta cheese. Are you salivating yet? It takes practice - and time - making these and I don't do it so very often, so every time that I do make these, it's not exactly like the first time but there is a bit of cajoling required. 

As you can see from the photograph above, mine are not terrible but they aren't exactly what Marcella Hazan* would give a rousing array of praise. 

Please refer to my blog entry of September 5th for instructions on making black pasta dough. Making the tortellini and tortelloni requires doing it in small batches. Using a pastry blade or a large kitchen knife, cut off an ample piece of dough which you can mold into a flat disc. If you are going to roll the dough out by hand use a small rolling pin instead of a large one as it will give you better control in stretching. If you are using a hand cranked machine, roll the dough out into a very long and thin rectangular piece of pasta which should measure about 14x4 inches. Cut the strip lengthwise in two pieces and let to air dry for about 10 minutes. Continue to roll out dough but always keep the ball of dough in a bowl covered with a damp towel. I've recently seen a piece of pasta dough in an article in Bon Appetit where the cook (not an Italian) wraps the dough in plastic wrap while rolling out sheets. It is unfortunate for her because one immediately sees that the plastic is not only retaining but adding moisture to the dough, which negates the entire method surrounding "air-dried" pasta. So, unless you're going to freeze the dough, NEVER use plastic wrap with hand made egg pasta.

So, for the filling you will need:

3 tbs. olive oil
1 very small onion or a shallot, minced
1 tiny clove of garlic, minced to a paste
8-10 small shrimp, deveined, shelled and chopped
4 tbs. tuna or tuna belly chopped
2 tsp. leftover tomato sauce used in a previous meal with fish
8 oz. fresh ricotta cheese
1 egg and 2 egg yolks beaten together
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup Grana Padano.
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil over moderately high heat saute the onion and the garlic. Add the shrimp and the tuna and cook gently over a low flame. Add he tomato sauce and correct seasoning if necessary. Let the liquid evaporate so everything comes together as one mass. Turn off heat and let cool.

Meanwhile, take the ricotta, the eggs, nutmeg and Grana and mix well with a wooden spoon or a pastry blender. When the tomato and fish mixture is cooled add that and mix well. Let rest for about 15 minutes.

When making the tortellini or tortelloni you should use a ruler to calculate measurements when cutting the pasta. Ideally you want a perfect square (for tortellini about 1-1/2 x1-1/2 inches; for tortelloni about 2-1/2 or 3 inches on all sides). Tortelloni requires less pieces per person (6 tops) whereas tortellini would be served in greater quantities since they are so small (perhaps a dozen). The thing here though, is this: tortellini is almost alwasy served in a rich stock made from meat or poultry, most often veal (especially in Bologna!). Since our scope is somewhat less orthodox, the sauce will be a shellfish tomato sauce made with clams and saffron. And remember this: no cheese on pasta with fish or seafood. To Italians, this would mar if not completely obliterate any taste of the sea found in the dish being eaten.

To make the tortelli, cut equal squares from one of the strips of pasta and have a little bowl of milk ready at the side to dip you finger in and line 2 of the edges of the square with a very little bit of milk. Use a demitasse spoon and place a small dollop of stuffing mixture directly in the center of the square. Fold over the dough into a triangle and press firmly so all edges are sealed. Lift the triangle and  connect the two bottom corners of the triangle. While holding the corners with your thumb. Fold over the top corner of the triangle so the corner faces out and on the opposite side of the other two connected corners. What you get should resemble a little navel or a cap. Continue to make the tortelli until all of the filling is used. 

At this point, you can let them air dry for several hours, turning them periodically so they dry evenly before cooking and serving. If you don't intend to use them the day you make them, freeze them in a flat box like plastic container. Do NOT use a ZipLock bag - they will be crushed.

Tomato Sauce with Shellfish
pinch hot red pepper flakes (optional)
3-4 tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion minced
Several strands Saffron or a pinch of powdered
1/4 cup white wine
2 12oz. cans chopped tomatoes
1 tsp. fresh chopped thyme
3 tbs. fresh chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
1 doz. clams (Little Necks work well here)

Heat the oil in a hot pan and, if using, add the pepper flakes and allow to heat through. Add the garlic and the onion and sauté until soft but not browned. Dissolve the saffron in the white wine and add that to the pan. Let reduce to barely 2 tbs. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil and reduce heat to moderately low. Stir in the thyme and the parsley and let cook and reduce by about a third of the volume. Add the clams and cover the pan and steam in the tomato liquid for about 20 minutes. I've found, this year in particular, that clams in general took longer to cook and open than in my previous experience. This may not sound as important as it really should. Shellfish, being the last thing one puts into the pot before serving, shouldn't be overcooked as it will get tough, so your timing with regard to the steaming and the boiling of water and cooking time for the pasta is crucial here. 

After adding the clams, immediately put a large covered pot of water on a high flame and bring to the boil as quickly as possible. Once the water starts to boil, take a handful of Kosher salt and put in the water and add the tortelli. Stir the pot once or twice to ensure that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot, cover and let the water return to the boil. Uncover the pot once the water regains a rolling boil, reduce heat by about half so you still have a gentle boil. The tortelli will float up to the surface, but, like gnocchi, allow them to cook for 3-4 minutes so the stuffing is thoroughly cooked before removing with a slotted spoon to a serving bowl or platter.

When the clams have opened, remove the flesh from the shells and put the clams back into the sauce. Stir well and dress the pasta with the sauce and serve immediately.

Buon appetito!

* I just finished reading her autobiography, Amarcord and will only say that if you are at all interested in Italian cooking as well as learning or experiencing vicariously the sounds and flavors of Italy in all its aspects, this is the book to read. Her descriptions of how Italians live, eat - and do business! - are highly charged accounts of life on a very high and passionate pitch! The stories about her adventures as she made several grand gastronomic gallops throughout the globe are really quite wonderful. 

GNUDI DI RICOTTA

YESTERDAY, NOT FOR WANT OF ANYTHING BETTER TO DO, I decided to make gnudi (pronounced: NYOO-di), those tiny, bite-sized pieces of gnocchi (pronounced: NYAWK-ee). I suppose one could call them gnocchetti if one wanted, but for our purposes, let us call them gnudi. Before I begin on food, though, let us consider pianos for a moment if you will. 

The apartment is being made ready for the great event next week, when my Steinway LR (the R is for reproducer) will be removed to have a complete overhaul - new pin block, strings, and hammers and anything else that comes up along the way. Trying to purge can be a daunting task; especially if you're attempting to sift through 30 years of your life. For a pianist, it is an alarming - and in this case, very expensive - situation to be sans instrument! I contemplated renting something for the interim, but since the job at hand only requires 4-6 weeks time, it seemed improbable that I would be able to rent an instrument for such a short period of time. Time will tell how I fair depending on the kindness of strangers! There have been offers, don't get me wrong - I do have a fan base, you know! - and it surely will come to pass that I will need to have some consistency in practicing but for the time being I'm happy to form a new sort of discipline requiring the actual removal of self from said dwelling space to venture forth to a new work space somewhere in Manhattan to work and play at the piano. It might become habit forming and force me to stop cooking!

So, as I said, I made gnudi yesterday. I've been making these morsels on a larger scale (two to a customer vs. 6-8 per person) for many years. The first time I ever had Gnocchi di Ricotta was many years ago - in 1982 to be precise - in Rome at a little trattoria behind Piazza Navona. They were served two to a plate with only burro fuso (melted butter) and grated Reggiano-Parmigiano with a dash of nutmeg. I will never forget it as long as I live. I can still see myself experiencing that first bite of warm cheese oozing with butter and more cheese and the padrona looking on serenely as I savored each curdy morsel. My dining partner, who instigated this excursion to the other side of Rome from where I was living, was prodding me on with each bite. Dai! Dai! Forza! Mangia pure! Only in Italy!

Gnudi di Ricotta

See ricotta recipe at the end of this entry  

2 cups fresh ricotta cheese

1 cup grated Grana Padano

1/2 cup flour

1 egg

4 egg yolks

1/8 tsp. salt

Several dashes of nutmeg

1/4 cup minced mortadella (optional)

You can also opt to make these with ricotta and spinach or arugula or even parsley

You will need 1 cup of the chopped greenery, cooked and squeezed completely dry before adding to the ricotta mixture.

Once all ingredients are incorporated into a thick paste, refrigerate for an hour in a plastic container or a bowl with a firm seal of plastic wrap over it.

Dust a cookie sheet with flour.

To form gnudi, take two demitasse spoons or two small teaspoons and form an oval dumpling - something akin to the shape of a quenelle - and place each one on the cookie sheet. Keep forming until you have a substantial quantity or you've used up the mixture. You should have anywhere between 30-50 gnudi. These don't freeze well at all so you will either need to cook them immediately or you can refrigerate them for up to 5 or 6 hours, but they should be loosely covered with a tea towel. If you don't use all of the mixture, you can use whatever ricotta you have left for another use, such as filling for ravioli or tortelloni. In my case, I'm going to add my own home made fish paste made from cod and stuff them into black squid ink pasta dough and make tortelloni and freeze them for a dinner party not too far in the distant future.

Fill a very large pot with cold water and bring to the boil. Add a handful of Kosher salt. Drop the gnudi in the boiling water and reduce heat to medium. You don't want to stop the boiling but you don't want it boiling like crazy either. The gnudi will rise to the surface as they cook but allow them to cook for about 5-6 minutes. Remove to a serving casserole dish lined with melted butter and tomato sauce, cover with more sauce and place in a 200º oven for about 10 minutes to allow them to absorb some of the sauce. Serve immediately with Reggiano-Parmigiano.

Basic Tomato Sauce

I've been using hot pepper flakes quite a bit lately and this sauce is delicious with or without the heat.

Olive Oil
1 or 2 shakes of a red crushed pepper container (optional)
1 small onion, minced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 12 oz. can chopped tomatoes
1/2 12 oz. can tomato sauce
18 basil leaves sliced into chiffonade
Salt and pepper
Pinch of sugar (optional)

Heat the olive oil and sprinkle the pepper flakes into the pan. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onions become transparent and soft. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Turn down heat, add salt and pepper to taste and the basil as well as the sugar, if using. Cook at a low simmer for about 20 minutes and turn off the heat and keep covered while cooking the gnudi.

Ricotta Cheese

3 1/2 quarts WHOLE Milk

2 cups half and half

1 cup heavy cream (optional - I like it creamy)

3/4 cup white distilled vinegar

Use a stainless steel or heavy enameled pot (Le Creuset is ideal) large enough to hold all liquids. Once you stir in the vinegar, you will see the milk products start to separate (sometimes I've had to use more than a cup of vinegar to get more curd out of the liquid; experimenting to find your own way and method is key here). Place the pot over moderately high heat and bring to a simmer (just short of the boiling point (180º F). Gently stir occasionally so the milk doesn't scald and stick to the bottom of the pan.. You don't want to disturb the curds. I use a rubber spatula instead of a wooden or metal spoon to get in the corners at the bottom of the pan. 

While the milk is heating, place a double sheet of cheesecloth or a tea towel under water and then squeeze out water and unfold over a colander. 

Large clumps of curd will form and float to the top of the pan. When the temperature reaches 180º, remove the pot from the heat. Place the colander in a large bowl and start removing the curds with a slotted spoon (do not pour all the contents of the pan into the colander). Once all the curds have been removed, and if the whey is still very cloudy, you can bring the liquid back to the boiling point to see if more curds will form. If so, place those in the colander as well.

Let the ricotta drain in the colander for at least one hour. You want a dense mass of ricotta cheese, so, the longer it drains, the denser the cheese will become. You can place the cheese in plastic storage containers and refrigerate for up to a week but it is best when at its freshest. In my experience making ricotta, there is always a lot of residue which can't be retrieved with a slotted spoon. After I have extracted as much cheese as is humanly possible, I pour the liquid into the colander and let the liquid drain while keeping the last vestiges of cheese in the colander. This recipe yields about 4 cups of cheese and is very delicious.

As I've said before, fresh ricotta will keep for about a week to 10 days if left undisturbed in the refrigerator, but it really should be used as soon after making it as possible.

DUTCH PEA SOUP

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THE TEMPERATURE TO DROP so I can actually stand turning on the stove but I couldn't wait any longer and made pea soup tonight. 

When I lived in Holland (which was literally ages ago), I had a dear friend named Bep. She taught me how to speak Dutch and she also gave me quite a few pointers on how to cook real Dutch food. This included a dynamite split pea soup. She excelled at soups in general and Sunday dinners would always begin with a soup before the main event. Sometimes it was tomato soup with meatballs, or chicken vegetable soup with dumplings (or not), and in the winter, there would be - at least once - split pea soup. And there was a ton of it which lasted as the first course until at least Tuesday. The Dutch are frugal people and, like other Europeans, they never throw food away. It's the practical thing to do. 

The basic thrust of her soup remains in this recipe but there are a few tweaks that I've given it, which definitely makes this soup a complete meal (if you want). It is also unabashedly non-dietetic as you will see once you read this lengthy list of ingredients.

First of all, to best describe what I've done, let me just say that this soup has been in the planning stages for the past three days. I went to Fairway on Friday night and got most of the ingredients but due to the unseasonably warm and extremely muggy weather (as I mentioned before regarding my lady fingers), I decided to shop my freezer for a morsel or two to get things moving. I had a huge ham bone and two large containers of consomme (beef, veal and chicken) so I cooked the bone and a smoked pig's foot in the bouillon with more chicken stock.* I cooked this for about 6 hours and then turned the whole thing off let it cool overnight and removed the bones and the pig's foot. I removed all the meat from the foot and discarded all of those bones as well. Then, after refrigerating the stock for about 36 hours, I skimmed off all the fat to find a vat of truly gelatinous stock jiggling away in the pot. It may sound like overkill here, but, even though I already had consomme in the mix I decided to clarify the stock once more. What resulted was heaven on a spoon. I then cooled that and stored it in the fridge (the meat from the pig's foot too in a separate container). I had to wait until today to make the soup because it was still just too close outside to slave away over a stove.

Segue to today. Here is what we do:

To clarify stock

1 small chopped onion

1 carrot peeled and chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1/2 lb. ground beef

2 tbs. chopped tarragon

6 black whole peppercorns

4 egg whites

Mix these ingredients together in a bowl and put them into the stock. Turn on the heat to moderately high and stir constantly to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom or sides of the pot.

When the water comes to the boil, you will see an amalgam of matter rising to the top and the liquid beginning to separate from the mass of egg whites. Stop stirring and lower the heat to a simmer. Do not disturb the liquid for any reason. Just let it simmer and produce small geezers or volcanoes of liquid. Regulate the heat, if necessary. Cook on the stove for about an hour. Turn off the heat and let rest for about 15 minutes. While the pot is resting, take two sieves and line the outer one with a wet paper towel or cheesecloth.

Gently pour the liquid into the sieve over a clean bowl or pot. There should be a clear and very rich broth with no residue or fat at all. This should yield anywhere from 12-16 cups of clear broth.

1 package dried green split peas

4 cups cold water

Soak the peas in a large bowl overnight to let soften.

When you are ready to make the soup you will need to assemble a mise en place so you can work quickly and ensure that nothing scorches or burns while you are cooking.

Place each of the ingredients below in separate bowls.

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup leek (white part only) sliced thin

2 cups very large carrots (large dice)

2 cups chopped celery

3 cloves garlic smashed and minced

1 tsp. thyme

Meat from the pig's foot, coarsely chopped

1/2 whole salt pork, diced

4 tbs. pork drippings

4 tbs. olive oil

Heat the oil and pork fat over moderately high heat. Add the salt pork and saute until somewhat crusty. Add the pig's feet, the garlic, onions, leeks and the celery. Lower heat to moderate and cover pan for about 5 minutes to sweat the vegetables and soften. Remove cover and turn up the heat somewhat and continue to cook until the vegetables are completely cooked. Add the thyme and then the split peas and the soaking liquid. Add the broth and the carrots. Stir well and  bring the soup to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cook for about 5 hours, stirring occasionally. The soup should become very thick. Remove pan from stove, allow to cool and then refrigerate (covered) until you are ready to serve or serve immediately. This soup is almost always better the second or third day down the road.

Optional: If the soup doesn't thicken sufficiently, you can add diced potatoes and croutons if you like, when serving.

As you can see, this is not for the faint of heart! It is the type of soup that puts meat on your bones and is perfect for a cold winter's day.

*I boil chicken for Ludwig every week and therefore have vast quantities of available chicken stock in the fridge and freezer.

MORE SALAD AND MORE STUFF

I HAVE BEEN KNOWN to take my dog almost everywhere and it's true that I do. The one place that I do like taking him to is our local green market. It isn't unusual for us to run into someone or some dog that Ludwig doesn't already know from our "off leash" morning romps in Riverside Park and so, we go as if on an adventure, always taking away a few gourmet treasures and always walking back home along the Drive or in the park. Anyone will tell you that dogs are very social animals and need to be in their own society as often as they can. It helps them interact with humans enormously and they definitely develop a better personality because of it. But I digress. 

I have mentioned before that I try to buy overripe tomatoes at the end of the day. I wasn't lucky enough to find them at $1.00 a pound, but I was fortunate enough to find yellow and red plum tomatoes (very, VERY ripe) which I scooped up in anticipation of something I could conjure up when I got home and conjure I did.

This salad is so simple it's almost ridiculous.

1 cucumber, sliced very thin (a mandolin works wonders for this)

4 yellow plum tomatoes

4 red plum tomatoes (all tomatoes trimmed at the base and head and sliced lengthwise)

1/2-1 fennel bulb sliced very thin (mandolin also)

2 shallots sliced thin

1 clove garlic, smashed and minced

16 leaves fresh basil (cut into chiffonade)

Olive Oil

White wine vinegar

Blue cheese (crumbled)

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Pinch of sugar

Put all sliced vegetable in a large bowl. Sprinkle on a little salt and toss. Let stand for about 15 minutes.

Add the oil and vinegar and the pinch of sugar. Toss again. Add the basil leaves and gently toss. Crumble the blue cheese and sprinkle over the salad. Taste for seasoning and serve.

See what I mean about simple. And it is totally delicious!

And what do you think? Ludwig, after eating his dinner (while I ate mine, of course), is looking up at me and I offer him a morsel of blue cheese. Not only did he eat it, he wanted more.  

FEGATO VENEZIANO

THIS WAS originally a post from October 2013 and could now be called the Dog Days of July. 

THE LAST FEW DAYS have been utter nonsense in New York. It hasn't felt like October at all. The mercury hit 85º on Wednesday, and Thursday and Friday were harbingers of more humidity and a piddly rain storm which made it all the more tropical. The air still lingers with a thickness that precludes any sort of ambitious cooking. 

I wanted to make Lady Fingers today and try though I might, even with the air-conditioner on full tilt, my egg whites wouldn't stiffen. So much for making a fabulous dessert or a torta con mascarpone e cioccolata. They were the sorriest lady fingers I ever made and are more suitable for dipping in espresso than dessert. 

On to something less ambitious, or is it?

Fegato alla Veneziana

There are two schools of thought here: to dredge in flour or not. The Harry's Bar Cookbook does not dredge their Fegato in flour. Other cookbooks do. It's all a matter of taste, really. The one drawback with the flour is that you must wipe the pan clean of all burnt floury residue after frying the liver to proceed with the recipe. This in itself isn't such a big deal but it is an extra step which takes a little bit of time and doesn't agree with the idea of being able to retain all of the flavors already accumulated in the pan. It's a personal choice. I have included the dredging step herein but feel free to omit it; especially if you're a gluten-free person.

3 large onions sliced very thin

3 tbs. olive oil

salt and pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine

Nutmeg

1-2 lb. Calves Liver (cut into 1/2 inch slices*, 1/4 inch thick and dredged in flour - approximately 1 lb. for 3 servings, 2 lb. for 6 servings)

3 tbs. unsalted butter

1 bunch flat Italian parsley chopped extra fine

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and sweat the onions in a covered pan for about 15 minutes to soften and render their juices and continue to sauté the onions uncovered over a low flame for about 45 minutes. Stir often You want them to become extremely soft and acquire an amber color. Salt and pepper to taste. When finished sautéing the onions, add half the wine and continue to cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from the pan and keep warm. 

Add more oil to the pan and sauté the liver over moderately high heat. Salt and pepper to taste and add a few dashes of nutmeg. You want the liver to take on a crispy crust while the pieces cook. When the liver is done (about 3-4 minutes), remove from the pan and add the pieces to the plate with the onions. Deglaze the pan with the rest of the wine, add the butter and half the parsley. Swirl around the pan until the butter is completely melted and incorporated with the parsley and then pour the contents of the plate with the liver and onions back into the pan and mix well.

Serve immediately with the whitest polenta you can find or mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes (dressed with butter and the other half of the chopped parsley) or even gnocchi or a wide buttered noodle such as pappardelle. The last time I made this, I served it with a salad of wax beans, cucumber and shallots with little bits of pickled red pepperoncini and garlic. Delicious!

*Holding the liver flat with one hand, carefully cut the liver lengthwise into long strips and then cut them in half.

NEW BACKGROUND!

IT REALLY ISN'T that I bore easily, it's only for the fact that I have thousands of pictures of food (taken all by yours truly) and it seems a waste if I don't use them periodically for my own purposes as I do here on this blog. 

My big burning question, though, is this: does anyone really read what I write. My comment sections remain woefully blank and "vuota!"

In the meantime, let us lament the death of MARCELLA HAZAN. She truly brought us a way to cook which is right up there with Julia Child but in a completely different way. Italian cooking isn't French, after all, and even though the approach to food isn't necessarily that different, the application of sauces and the differing uses of butter, lard and olive oil penetrate the Italian landscape as no other does. 

Marcella, a Northerner herself, from Emilia-Romagna no less, transcended all of that by embracing recipes and cucine from all of the Italian peninsula as well as the two largest islands in the Mediterranean: Sicilia e Sardegna. Who knew that a doctor in biology would become the queen of Italian food for decades? I think her son found out soon enough - as did her husband - and is now the heir to a very distinguished culinary legacy. When I went to study piano in Bologna, her Classic Italian Cook Book came along as a guide of sorts and it was her cookbook(s) that helped me find the many different pathways to all sorts of restaurants and neighborhood food. My local green grocer ("fruttivendola"), Maria, was also an arbiter of what a good Ragú was made from and how to massage a good pasta dough, but it was Marcella's instructions that led the way on exactly HOW Italians eat as well as being there to experience it first hand in my daily life. 

Here in America, we have forgotten - did we really ever know? - how to portion out food and I would venture to commit blasphemy here by saying that it isn't all about what we eat but more about how much we eat. A pound of pasta, for instance, between 2 or 3 people is fair game in the good ole USA. In Italy, a pound of pasta would feed 6 as a first or second course (that's less than 100 grams per person), allowing room for the next plate of meat or fish or game, accompanied by some other dish - with a starch and/or a vegetable - and then followed by a salad and/or a dolce and/or cheese.  I know French people who wouldn't even think of excluding a cheese course, deeming that completely uncivilized. In Provence, it would be a sacrilege, not to mention the Perigord or Burgundy! Small portions, many courses, is the way in almost all European kitchens and this is not exactly exclusive to France and Italy; one always starts with something. Americans could learn a great deal from this attitude. We shouldn't scarf down food, but taste, savor, and allow our palates to enlighten and uplift the soul (try telling that to teenagers at McDonald's!).  Marcella knew this as much as Julia did. They both brought great food to the table and from the bottom of my heart, I thank them for every morsel of morels and truffles, panna and crème fraiche and the all important artichoke (in season, of course)! 

So, let us remember to eat smaller portions, but cultivate a more varied diet and wash more dishes. Oh, and by the way, the biggest meal of the day is usually during the day before il riposo. Look at the statistics: we suffer from more heart disease and cancer than any other nation in the world. We eat garbage most of the time and always while on the move and most people, I would venture to guess, eat with the television glaring and blaring the latest disaster story or stupid sitcom. Lunch and dinner, like breakfast, should be accorded the respect it deserves: quiet (but lively) conversation and complete surrender to the food you are about to put into your mouth. Even if it's an egg!

Per il resto, io me ne vado a riposarmi un pó.

AS OF TODAY, WE'RE STILL EXPERIENCING SUMMER . . .

IT IS OCTOBER 1ST and the mercury hit 80º today. Oh well. 

I decided to make Caponata and Egg Salad this morning. Click on the link: Caponatina from last year (September 22, 2012) for the complete recipe. 

I made this because there was enough of everything to make it well and quite frankly, I think it was better than last year's. Considering I'm going to give a tiny jar of the stuff to a vegan friend of mine, I left out the anchovy and the preserved lemons (didn't have any in the house!) and the sugar, but doubled the raisin and vinegar content to make a super agrodolce and that is exactly how it turned out. 

I hope she likes it!

Egg Salad

I don't like egg salad with large curds of egg whites so this is almost like caviar as the whites are beaten to a pulp with a pastry blender. There are two schools of thought - actually three - on egg salad: Jewish or French and then there is Italian.

This recipe can be interchangeable depending on the spice or herb you use (French - Tarragon; Jewish/Russian - Dill; Italian - Basil or the very complicated and hearty Insalata Russa with peas and tons of mayonnaise and carrots and relish which will not be discussed further on this page).

4 hard boiled eggs

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped scallion (green and white)

1 small squirt anchovy paste

1 heaping tbs. Coleman's powdered mustard OR

2 tsp. French's yellow mustard

2-3 heaping tbs. Hellman's mayonnaise (but not too much)

1 tsp. creme fraiche or heavy cream

1 tsp. fresh herbs of your choice as mentioned above

Before boiling the eggs take a push pin and insert a tiny hole at the top of the egg and place in a pot with cold water. Bring the water to the boil and maintain at a rolling boil for a minute. Turn off the water and cover the pot and keep the eggs in the water for 8 minutes. Drain the hot water, pour cold water constantly from faucet for about 2 minutes. Drain and cover the pot and shake vigorously for about 30 seconds. Peel the eggs making sure that you peel off the membrane between the shell and the white. It should all come off in one or two pieces. Rinse the eggs, slice in an egg slicer (both ways) and put in a bowl. Add the scallion, the celery and anchovy and the Colemans. 

Using a pastry cutter, mash the egg mixture into a fine crumble. 

Add the mayonnaise, creme fraiche and herbs and continue to process with the pastry cutter. It should be creamy and thick. Finish off the salad by adding a dash or two of:

Tabasco or Sriracha* Sauce
Worcestershire Sauce
Paprika 
Nutmeg
And more of whichever herb you are using plus a sprinkling of chopped parsley of you like.

Refrigerate for about 30 minutes or longer but you should definitely use up the salad within 2 days.

*Sriracha can completely overpower a dish with pungency and heat if used in excess - so one dash should suffice for the quantity of eggs being used.

Buon appetito!