Polpette di Tonno (Tuna Croquettes)

Name: Polpette di Tonno (Tuna Croquettes)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Yield: 6 people
Ingredients: 2 x 7 ounce cans tuna packed in oil (preferably Italian); 2 1/4 ounces crustless white bread; 1/2 ounce Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese; 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley; 2 eggs (lightly beaten); salt (to taste); black pepper (freshly ground to taste); vegetable oil for deep frying (as needed); meatless tomato sauce

2 Comments

6 March 2024

Polpette!

The usual translation of the Italian word polpette is “meatballs.”

But polpette are so much more. Italians use the word polpette to refer to any “balls” made of chopped or ground up stuff including meat, fish, vegetables… you name it!

That leaves the translation a bit up in the air. If the “balls” are made of meat I usually translate polpette as meatballs but if they’re made of other ingredients, as in this recipe, I usually translate it as croquettes. Tuna meatballs just doesn’t sound right! And eggplant meatballs is even worse!

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By the way, the singular of polpette is polpetta but who ever had just ONE meatball… or croquette!

I have other polpetta recipes coming in future blog posts but in the meantime, if you’re up for more meatball recipes, take a look at these two:

Marisa’s Mystical Meatballs

Italian Wedding Soup

The meatball mixture in the Wedding Soup makes scrumptious meatballs that can be fried and then simmered in tomato sauce rather than put into soup!

Once again, I find myself apologizing for a prolonged absence from my blog. I have been working diligently on my latest cookbook, due out this spring, called
Dispatches from Calabria: Eating My Way Through Culinary School in Italy.

In the meantime, if you haven’t seen my first book,
Mastering Artisan Italian Gelato: Recipes and Techniques,
you can read about it HERE.

In the typical progression of an Italian meal, these croquettes would be served as a “secondo,” what we Americans might call the main course except that in a full-on Italian meal the secondo would be preceded with a “primo,” which is usually pasta, soup or a rice dish. A secondo is usually accompanied by one or more side dishes, “contorni.”

You might consider starting a meal with:

Pear, Celery and Arugula Salad with Lemon Dressing

For a pasta course, any of these would go well:

Pasta with Silky Zucchini Sauce

Bowtie Pasta with Peas

Angel Hair Pasta with Crispy Breadcrumbs

Along with the croquettes, you could select from the following side dishes:

Argentine Marinated Eggplant

Roasted Sweet Peppers

Green Beans with Parmesan Cheese

Rapini with Olive Oil, Garlic, and Red Pepper

Happy eating!

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Polpette di Tonno (Tuna Croquettes)

This recipe is from the Italian region of Molise. It can be made with fresh tuna instead of canned, if you desire. Gently cook and flake the fresh tuna. You’ll need about 12 ounces of flaked tuna to equal the amount in two 7-ounce cans. Simmer the croquettes in a simple, meatless tomato sauce. If you need a suggestion, try my Basic Tomato Sauce. A link to the recipe in the Notes below.

Course

Fish and Seafood

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

25 minutes

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

2 x 7 ounce cans tuna packed in oil preferably Italian
2 1/4 ounces crustless white bread
1/2 ounce Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
2 eggs lightly beaten
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground to taste
vegetable oil for deep frying as needed
meatless tomato sauce

Course

Fish and Seafood

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

25 minutes

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

2 x 7 ounce cans tuna packed in oil preferably Italian
2 1/4 ounces crustless white bread
1/2 ounce Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
2 eggs lightly beaten
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground to taste
vegetable oil for deep frying as needed
meatless tomato sauce

Instructions

Drain the tuna and squeeze out excess oil.
Soak the bread in water. Squeeze out excess water.
Combine all ingredients and mix with your fingers until you get a uniform mixture.
Form into 14 portions.
Roll into balls then flatten slightly.
Dredge in flour then refrigerate one hour, if possible.
Deep fry the croquettes then simmer in tomato sauce for about 10 minutes.

Recipe Notes

You can find the recipe for Basic Tomato Sauce HERE.

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Recipes

Ragù Bolognese: The Official Recipe

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February 11, 2022

I’m a little more than halfway through a week’s visit to Bologna. Bologna is referred to as la dotta, la grassa, la rossa: the learned, the fat, the red.

“The learned” relates to Bologna as the seat of the oldest university in the western world and the top-rated university in Italy. It has a highly educated population.

“The red” refers to the color of the terra cotta tiles on many of the roofs.

“The fat” is well earned based on the food. This is the land of mortadella, ragù Bolognese, tagliatelle, tortellini, lasagna al forno (aka lasagna Bolognese), prosciutto, parmigiano reggiano, and balsamic vinegar of Modena among other traditional, and dare I say, famous foods.

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Let’s not forget gelato. While I don’t think Bologna can claim title to the originator of gelato, they have perfected a style made with eggs that is consummately smooth. A gelateria is often referred to as a cremeria in Bologna.

**Tagliatelle al Ragu at at Osteria dell’Orsa in Bologna.**

My main goal being here is to eat. I want to taste some of the iconic foods of the region in the cathedral to food that is Bologna. To that end, I’ve had dishes with ragù Bolognese three times in the last three days. Though there were slight differences, the preparations tasted amazingly similar. That got me to thinking about consistency.

I know that there’s an official recipe for Pesto alla Genovese which I reference in my post on pesto. That got me to thinking about other official recipes. After some internet sleuthing, I discovered that there’s an Italian Academy that, after substantial research, codifies and registers what it considers to be the official recipes for traditional dishes. (Of course there is! This is Italy. Food is paramount.) Access to these recipes is quite limited. (Of course it is! This is Italy. Food is rigorously protected.)

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My primary culinary interest is traditional recipes. Discovering the existence of this academy has been a revelation for me. So much so that I decided to occasionally post their recipes, translated into English with notes on ingredients and techniques as appropriate to enable my readers to recreate the taste of the original.

So much of what passes for Italian food in the States is far from the original.

**Lasagna al Forno (aka Lasagna Bolognese) at Trattoria Anna Maria in Bologna.**

I’ll be quick to add that credible variations on these official recipes exist but the very existence of the official ones sets a standard of comparison. Several years ago, I posted a recipe for Ragù Bolognese. You will see the similarity. The main differences in my version are a greater proportion of tomatoes and the absence of dairy. It is a very good ragù, and one that I continue to make on a regular basis. But today, I’m giving you the official recipe.

Enjoy!

(Photo: Erikatrioschi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Ragù Bolognese: The Official Recipe

Butchering in Italy produces different cuts from butchering in the United States. I’ve noted some US cuts of beef that would be appropriate based on the recommended Italian cuts. For those of you who want to try your hand at this, the original cuts of meat listed are cartella, panica, fesone di spalla, and fusillo. Broth in Italy is light. It is not an intensely flavored stock as might be common in much of French cooking.

Course

Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

2 1/2 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

300 g coarsely ground beef diaphragm [e.g. hanger or skirt steak] or belly [e.g. plate or flank steak] or shoulder [e.g. chuck]
150 g pancetta diced then finely chopped
50 g carrot finely diced
50 g celery finely diced
50 g onion finely diced
300 g tomato puree
100 ml dry red wine
200 ml whole milk
Broth as needed
45 ml extra virgin olive oil or 50 g butter
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste
100 ml light whipping cream approximately 30% fat (optional, see below)

Course

Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

2 1/2 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

300 g coarsely ground beef diaphragm [e.g. hanger or skirt steak] or belly [e.g. plate or flank steak] or shoulder [e.g. chuck]
150 g pancetta diced then finely chopped
50 g carrot finely diced
50 g celery finely diced
50 g onion finely diced
300 g tomato puree
100 ml dry red wine
200 ml whole milk
Broth as needed
45 ml extra virgin olive oil or 50 g butter
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste
100 ml light whipping cream approximately 30% fat (optional, see below)

Instructions

Sauté the pancetta in a heavy-bottomed pot, approximately 7-8 inches in diameter (20 cm). Render as much fat as possible without browning the pancetta. A little gold color is fine.
Add the olive oil or butter along with the carrot, celery, and onion. Sauté gently until softened, without browning, approximately 10 minutes.
Add the beef and mix well. Sauté until it sizzles (that is, until all liquid has evaporated and the beef begins to cook in the fat).
Add the wine and cook gently until it completely evaporates.
Add the tomato puree. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for two hours, adding broth as needed when the ragù becomes too thick.
During the last few minutes add the milk. This will counteract the acidity of the tomatoes.
Taste and adjust the seasoning.
If the ragù is going to be used for dried pasta (instead of fresh pasta or lasagna), it is customary to add the cream, otherwise not.

Recipe Notes

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Pollo allo Scarpariello (Chicken Shoemaker Style)

1 Comment

October 8, 2021

Unappetizing pictures!

Sometimes really delicious food makes unappetizing pictures.

Take Chicken Scarpariello, for example. By the time the chicken is unctuous, the potatoes creamy, and the sauce tangy the dish is unappetizingly brown (at least in a photograph). I discovered this when looking at the photographs I had taken for this blog post.

This is really a shame because the taste is superb.

**We’re several weeks into planting our new vegetable beds but these herbs have been going strong since March 2021. They were cut back drastically last week to encourage growth.**

Brown food can be challenging to photograph, especially brown food in a brown sauce. Food stylists might solve this problem by using barely cooked potatoes that look pale and peppers that are still yellow and green, not really cooked as required by the dish. This doesn’t represent reality. The dish, cooked properly, will never look like the photograph. This is an approach that I think is inherently unfair.

I’m willing to admit that some of the problem relates to my picture-taking ability. My photographic ability isn’t great but even that meager ability sometimes suffers because I’m hastily taking photographs as I’m trying to put the food on the table.

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If I weren’t doing that, I could carefully plate a piece of chicken with the potatoes and peppers artfully arranged off to the side, lots of white space on the plate, and a few colorful garnishes or side dishes. I could even wipe a little of the sauce off of the potatoes to make them lighter in color. All this would mitigate the “brown problem” but it just isn’t practical because the food I post on the blog is something that I actually made to eat at the moment it is ready.

**One of three vegetable beds beginning to sprout. In the back, not in the bed, are four plants: rosemary, bay, chile pepper, and niepita.**

I guess I could spend time carefully taking pictures and serve cold food but that approach wouldn’t last long in my household.

I could cook specifically for the blog and not worry about serving the food, at least not the day I cook it. That would create a major leftover problem. Besides, many dishes aren’t at their best when reheated. On the other hand, many foods are better if made in advance. So, I guess this is a partial solution to the problem that could work on a case-by-case basis depending on what the dish is.

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I can think of other potential solutions but each has its problem. This could include having a photographer arrange the plate and photograph it (presumably while I’m having dinner with the rest of the household).

**We’re looking forward to a winter crop of tomatoes!**

Alternatively, I could serve everyone then spend time arranging a plate to photograph, hoping to join the dinner table before everyone is finished.

I’ll keep working on a fix to the issue but, in the meantime, I encourage you to try this Italian-American dish. It scales up easily so you can feed a crowd if you need to. The leftovers are pretty incredible, too!

**Greens for salad being started directly in the bed.**

American websites, including the New York Times, usually say the name of this dish translates as Chicken Shoemaker Style. However, you won’t find the word “scarpariello” in an Italian dictionary. To be sure, the word “scarpa” means shoe but the Italian word for shoemaker is “calzolaio.” Scarpariello, however, is the word for shoemaker in the Neapolitan dialect, which gives a clue as to which immigrant group might have been responsible for creating this Italian-American favorite.

Pollo allo Scarpariello (Chicken Shoemaker Style)

Scarpariello means shoemaker in the Neapolitan dialect. This may give a clue as to the origins of this Italian-American favorite. The dish builds on a classic combination in the cooking of many regions of Italy: chicken cooked with wine and vinegar. The capers are optional. Use sweet or hot pickled peppers as you prefer or, if you want to spice it up, add some crushed red pepper when sautéing the garlic. If you don't have a stove-to-oven pot large enough to hold all the ingredients, do the browning in a large saute pan then assemble everything in a large baking dish.

Course

Mains, Poultry

Cuisine

Italian-American

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

2 1/2 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

9 chicken thighs skin on and bone in
3 Italian sausage links approximately 12 ounces, hot or sweet as desired
flour for dredging
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 pounds potatoes peeled
3 Bell peppers red or yellow
1 1/2 large onion
12 cloves garlic smashed
3 sprigs rosemary
3 bay leaves preferably fresh
oregano to taste
9 ounces white wine
3/8 cup wine vinegar white or red
1 cup chicken broth plus more as needed
1 1/2 cup pickled peppers such as banana peppers or peperoncini, hot or sweet as desired
1 1/2 cups marinated artichoke hearts drained
2 tablespoons capers drained (optional)
3/8 cup chopped parsley
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste

Course

Mains, Poultry

Cuisine

Italian-American

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

2 1/2 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

9 chicken thighs skin on and bone in
3 Italian sausage links approximately 12 ounces, hot or sweet as desired
flour for dredging
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 pounds potatoes peeled
3 Bell peppers red or yellow
1 1/2 large onion
12 cloves garlic smashed
3 sprigs rosemary
3 bay leaves preferably fresh
oregano to taste
9 ounces white wine
3/8 cup wine vinegar white or red
1 cup chicken broth plus more as needed
1 1/2 cup pickled peppers such as banana peppers or peperoncini, hot or sweet as desired
1 1/2 cups marinated artichoke hearts drained
2 tablespoons capers drained (optional)
3/8 cup chopped parsley
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste

Instructions

Dredge the chicken in flour. Reserve.
Peel the potaotes and cut in large chunks.
Cut the Bell peppers in triangles
Cut the onions in eighths
In a large stove-to-oven pot, heat the olive oil. Brown the chicken, sausage, and potatoes. Do this in batches, if necessary.
Remove everything from the pot. Cut the cooked sausage into 1 ½ inch long pieces.
Add the garlic to the oil remaining in the pot and sauté until it is fragrant and golden.
Add the bell pepper and onion, season with salt, and sauté until the onion is beginning to soften and turns gold and brown in spots.
Add the rosemary and bay leaves and sauté briefly.
Add the wine and deglaze.
When wine is almost completely evaporated, return chicken, sausage, and potatoes to the pot along with any accumulated juices.
Add about 1 cup of chicken broth and the vinegar along with the pickled peppers. Season well with salt, pepper, and oregano.
Bring to a boil, cover, and put in the oven at 350°F.
An hour later, stir the contents of the pot. Add the drained artichoke hearts and capers, if using. Add more broth if needed to keep the contents from sticking. Adjust the seasoning.
Cook for another hour until chicken is very tender and potatoes are cooked through.
Stir in parsley and serve.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Funghi Ripieni (Stuffed Mushrooms)

1 Comment

September 29, 2021

“Your grams are killing me!”

That’s what a friend told me recently regarding some of the recipes on my blog.

His comment came as he was considering how much pasta to cook for dinner. I repeated what Great Aunt Fidalma told me: 80 grams per person.

Making the change to the metric system (International System or SI) of measurement isn’t easy and we don’t do much as a country to catalyze the change. In some areas, though, we’ve made the transition.

**The digital scale I use on a daily basis. I also have two battery powered scales that are just as accurate that cost $20 each.**

Have you looked carefully at a wine or liquor bottle recently? The contents are specified in the metric system even as we continue to refer to a bottle of liquor as a “fifth.” Until January 1979, a liquor bottle, indeed, held one-fifth of a US gallon, approximately 757 ml. Standard liquor bottles now contain 750 ml, just a smidge less.

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Cooking, and especially baking, is much easier with the metric system. And that doesn’t even take into account the ease of weighing ingredients rather than trying to measure cups and fractions of cups.

I find that I am frequently scaling recipes up and down, but usually up. If the recipe calls for 3/4 cup of water, and I’m upscaling by 20%, I end up with the unwieldy amount of 9/10 cup of water. If I were using metric measures, I’d be starting with something like 180 ml and increasing by 20% to get to 216 ml which is much easier to measure out than 9/10 of a cup.

**The manual scale that I used for many years. It has since been mothballed.**

Let’s face it, how do you measure 9/10 cup. You first start by determining what 1/10 cup is, which is 1.6 tablespoons. Multiplying that by 9 gets you 14.4 tablespoons. But since you’re not going to measure out that many tablespoons one by one (and you’re likely to get pretty inaccurate after a few tablespoons, if you do) you work backwards to figure out what standard measure comes close. That gets you back to the 3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) you started with plus 2.4 tablespoons.

For most purposes, you can treat 2.4 tablespoons as if it were 2.5 tablespoons since the difference is likely within the margin of error for measuring with kitchen equipment. But unless you have a set of measuring spoons that contains a 1/2 tablespoon measure, you’ll be measuring out 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon… if you can remember how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon.

So rather than just pouring 215 ml into a measuring cup (a reasonable approximation for 216 ml and one that can be found marked on some metric measuring “cups”) you’d be measuring out ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon plus 1/2 teaspoon. In my book, that’s crazy!

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It gets even easier if you give up the notion of measuring by volume and measure everything by weight, even liquids, as is typically done in professional kitchens. You can get a very accurate scale for less than $20. With that, you could weigh out the 216 grams of water (equivalent to 216 ml of water) and call it a day: no guessing, no eyeballing, no complex calculations needed.

**For weighing small quantities this little scale can’t be beat for accuracy.**

So really, what’s holding you back from giving the Metric System a go?

It’s time for me to get off my soapbox (for now) and actually cook something. How about stuffed mushrooms? I’ll even write the recipe in American measures!!

Funghi Ripieni (Stuffed Mushrooms)

These stuffed mushrooms come together quickly and can be made early in the day and refrigerated until it’s time to pop them in the oven.

Course

Appetizers and Nibbles

Cuisine

General, Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

35 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

16 large mushrooms 2” to 3” caps
1 1/2 tablespoons butter plus more for buttering the dish and dotting the tops
1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
2 eggs beaten
1 tablespoon minced parsley
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground to taste
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated (or to taste)
broth or water as needed

Course

Appetizers and Nibbles

Cuisine

General, Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

35 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

16 large mushrooms 2” to 3” caps
1 1/2 tablespoons butter plus more for buttering the dish and dotting the tops
1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
2 eggs beaten
1 tablespoon minced parsley
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground to taste
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated (or to taste)
broth or water as needed

Instructions

Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth.
Remove the stems.
Finely grind the stems in a food processor.
Sauté the ground stems in the butter with a pinch of salt until the liquid is drawn out and then completely evaporated.
Mix the cooked stems with the breadcrumbs, eggs, parsley, garlic, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste.
Cool slightly and add 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese.
Butter a baking dish large enough to hold the mushroom caps in a single layer, snugly.
Fill each mushroom cap with some of the stuffing mixture.
Arrange the stuffed mushroom caps in the buttered dish.
Sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese, dot with butter and add a small amount of broth or water to the bottom of the dish to keep the mushrooms from sticking.
Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Baste occasionally with the liquid in the pan during baking.

Recipe Notes

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Carciofi e Patate (Artichokes and Potatoes)

4 Comments

January 13, 2021

January 7th is International Porchetta Day.

It was declared so by the participants in a charcuterie class at the Italian Culinary Institute in January 2019.

There is a private Facebook group of individuals who subscribe to the cult of porchetta. We agree to make porchetta annually on January 7th.

The charcuterie class in question began on January 7, 2019, one week before my three-month Master of Italian Cuisine course began. I made a point of getting to Italy early, really early, as I didn’t want to find myself in class with a sharp knife in my hand the day after landing, jetlagged from a 29-hour trip and an eight-hour time change.

**A traditional porchetta at a street fair in Bagni di Lucca.**

I arrived the evening of January 8th, almost a week before my course started. I was invited to go to dinner with the charcuterie class. I described that first chaotic day in my first dispatch from Calabria.

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The next day, Chef John invited me to sit in on the charcuterie class. Although not officially part of the class, I shared meals and course time with the group.

When International Porchetta Day was declared, with the date matching the first day of the charcuterie course, I became a member.

Traditionally porchetta is made with a whole pig, and not a small suckling pig, but a BIG one!

**Roasted cauliflower is an easy and dramatic side dish.**

When porchetta is made at home, it’s done with a smaller cut of meat. I use the shoulder, aka Boston Butt. At the Italian Culinary Institute, they use two cuts, the capo collo and a pork belly. The capo collo is a long muscle group in the shoulder that, in essence, is a large cylinder. The shoulder, and by extension the capo collo, contain beautiful marbling that makes a luscious roast.

At the Italian Culinary Institute, the belly is rolled around the capo collo. The fat of the belly protects the capo collo. It also makes a beautiful presentation. It also adds about 8 pounds to the weight of the roast. So, unless you’re cooking for a very large crowd, using the shoulder alone will more than likely be ample.

Given the limitations of the lock-down in Palm Springs where I’ve been sheltering in place, six of us, members of our COVID Pod, celebrated International Porchetta Day.

**My porchetta ready for the serving platter.**

Porchetta was obviously the centerpiece of the meal and I made my traditional version. Here’s a link to my Porchetta recipe.

I focused on side dishes that would compliment the roast and settled on a whole roasted cauliflower and a Roman dish called Carciofi e Patate (artichokes and potatoes). For dessert we had an Olive Oil Cake.

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Carciofi e Patate is traditionally made with whole artichokes, lots of them! In season, one can buy 12 artichokes for €1 in Italy! That’s right, about 10¢ each!!! I once used 12 artichokes when I made the dish as part of Easter Dinner. I spent more than $50 on artichokes for that one dish. Clearly when Italians describe the dish as “economical” they have no idea about artichoke prices in the United States.

While I prefer the dish made with fresh artichokes, I won’t do that again until I’m in Italy during artichoke season. Frozen artichokes work well and are much more budget-friendly.

Carciofi e Patate (Artichokes and Potatoes)

Carciofi e Patate is a classic Roman recipe. It pairs well with most roasts.

Course

Potatoes and Other Tubers, Vegetables

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

45 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

12 ounces frozen artichokes
2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
3/4 medium onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced parsley
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste

Course

Potatoes and Other Tubers, Vegetables

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

45 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

12 ounces frozen artichokes
2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes
3/4 medium onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced parsley
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste

Instructions

Peel potatoes and cut in 8 wedges unless the potatoes are very large or very small.
Brown the potatoes in the three tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.
When the potatoes are well-browned, reduce the heat to medium. Add half the onions and garlic.
Sauté until the onion is golden.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Add approximately ½ cup of water. Cover and cook on medium heat until cooked through, adding more water as needed, approximately 25 minutes. There should be no water left when the potatoes are cooked.
Meanwhile, sauté the remaining onions and garlic in the remaining extra-virgin olive oil in a sauté pan.
When the onions are golden, add the artichokes and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté briefly.
Add white wine, cover and braise until barely tender, approximately 10 minutes. The artichokes will cook further with the potatoes so do not over-cook them.
Add artichokes to the pan with the potatoes.
Sauté, uncovered, about 10 minutes longer, to meld flavors. Adjust salt and pepper.
Stir in parsley and serve.

Recipe Notes

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Sformato di Patate (Italian Potato “Cake”)

Crostini with Fava Beans and Arugula

4 Comments

March 18, 2020

A few weeks ago, our dinner group decided that the theme of our dinner would be dishes from my blog. For complete disclosure, I recused myself from that decision.

Dating back to the beginning of our group, Santa Fe Ate, the name being both a play on what we do and how many we are [though recently we’ve been six due to a move out of state], Becky Gould has bid on appetizers. There is the occasional exception but one can count on Becky to sate our hunger at the beginning of an evening with some artfully created appetizers.

**Santa Fe Ate (minus two) our current configuration. (left to right: Pat Assimakis, Doug Howe, Gary Mihalik, Frank Pieri, Rich DePippo, Becky Gould)**

Becky went through every one of my blog posts and came to the conclusion that I had not posted very many recipes for appetizers.

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My review confirmed the same.

This post is the beginning of trying to rectify that situation.

**Appetizers that Becky whipped up from the first edition 1950 Betty Crocker Cookbook for a dinner where all dishes had to come from that book.**

Crostini are a favorite appetizer in our house. The formula is infinitely adaptable. It goes something like this:

Toast bread, preferably a rustic Italian-style loaf or a baguette.
Drizzle with good extra-virgin olive oil.
Rub with the cut side of a clove of garlic.
Add a topping of your choice.

Often, I stop at step three. Toasted bread rubbed with garlic and extra-virgin olive oil is good without any embellishment.

If I’m not making many crostini, I’ll toast the bread in my 1967 General Electric Toast-R-Oven using the aluminum tray and the “top brown only” setting, flipping the bread once to toast both sides. [Yes! I really do use a 53-year-old toaster oven.]

When making crostini for a crowd, I use the broiler and follow the same process of flipping the bread.

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Choose toppings to suit your whim and the season. Chopped fresh in-season tomatoes with a hint of basil is a classic topping as is coarsely mashed cooked cannellini beans with an extra drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

**Becky’s spring rolls for a meal focused on “French Indochina 1920’s to 1930’s.”**

Just last week I made crostini topped with goat cheese and spicy eggplant preserved in extra-virgin olive oil (melanzane piccante sott’olio) that I had made a few days earlier.

This particular combination of beans and arugula, zipped up with lemon, is very refreshing and a reminder that spring is not far away.

Crostini with Fava Beans and Arugula

Frozen fava beans work well in this recipe. If you cannot get fava beans, substitute edamame. If using fava beans, you will need to start with more than one cup of shelled beans to have one cup of peeled beans after cooking.

Course

Appetizers and Nibbles

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

10 minutes

Passive Time

6 hours

Servings

persons

Ingredients

1 cup shelled fava beans or edamame
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil plus more for final assembly
1 ounce baby arugula divided
12-16 mint leaves if available
3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste
1 clove garlic
1 baguette

Course

Appetizers and Nibbles

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

10 minutes

Passive Time

6 hours

Servings

persons

Ingredients

1 cup shelled fava beans or edamame
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil plus more for final assembly
1 ounce baby arugula divided
12-16 mint leaves if available
3 tablespoons grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste
1 clove garlic
1 baguette

Instructions

Cook fava beans or edamame till tender, approximately 3-4 minutes. Drain and shock in ice water.
If using fava beans, peel them.
Coarsely chop the cooked beans in a small food processor.
Remove half the beans and reserve.
Coarsely chop 1/2 ounce of arugula by hand. Reserve.
To the beans in the food processor, add 1/4 cup of olive oil, the remaining 1/2 ounce of arugula, mint leaves (if using), Pecorino Romano cheese, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Process until almost smooth.
Combine puree with the coarsely chopped beans and arugula and mix by hand.
Adjust salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Refrigerate several hours, or overnight, to allow flavors to blend.
Return to room temperature before using.
To serve, toast slices of baguette. Drizzle one side of the toasted bread with extra-virgin olive oil. Rub the bread with the cut side of a garlic clove, distributing the oil.
Top each slice of bread with some of the bean mixture.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Ragù alla Bolognese

4 Comments

March 11, 2020

I grew up eating exactly one type of tomato sauce for pasta: my mother’s long-simmered, Italian-American-but-based-on-Southern-Italian (Calabrese, to be exact) ragù.

OK, OK, I sometimes ate Aunt Margie’s or Aunt Mamie’s version of the same sauce but we’re talking very minor variations on a theme.

My mother made pasta other ways than with ragù, most commonly with beans as in pasta e fagioli. But if we were going to eat pasta for pasta’s sake, not mixed with beans or in soup, it was ALWAYS served with her ragù.

**My recipe for Lasagna Bolognese will be posted in a few weeks. Get ready by making Ragù alla Bolognese and putting it in the freezer!**

When I went away to university at the age of 17 this is one of the first things that I learned to cook. Well, sort of. There’s a bit of a learning curve but even my first attempt was respectable.

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I now make scores of tomato-based sauces on a regular basis but I keep going back to three of them over and over:

My mother’s ragù.
Ragù alla Bolognese.
Ragù del macellaio (the butcher’s ragù).

There are so many childhood memories attached to my mother’s ragù that I can’t imagine a time when it wouldn’t be my favorite.

As far as I’m concerned, Ragù alla Bolognese is the gold standard for those tomato-based pasta sauces made with ground meat. (My mother’s ragù, on the other hand, is made with large pieces of pork. Other meats can be added but the pork is always there.)

**It is really important that the vegetables for Ragù alla Bolognese be cut in tiny dice, 1/8 on a side, often called brunoise.**

Ragù del macellaio is very good but, as you might expect for a sauce linked to a butcher, it is made with an array of meats—pretty much anything you have. I always end up with odds and ends of meat in my freezer, a bit of beef, a bit of pork, some sausage, a piece of chicken, some pancetta, and so forth. I grind them all up and make the sauce. The fact that it cooks, unattended, in a slow-cooker all day is an added bonus.

Just as there is an official Pesto alla Genovese recipe, there is an official Ragù alla Bolognese recipe that was codified in the 1980’s. The ingredients go something like this:

300 grams ground beef, preferably thin flank aka skirt (finta cartella in Italian)
150 grams pancetta, minced
50 grams carrot, minced
50 grams celery, minced
50 grams onion, minced
30 grams triple-concentrated tomato paste
1/2 glass red or white wine
180 ml milk
olive oil
salt and pepper

Every family in Bologna probably has a slightly different version.

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Some aspects of the recipe are notable. There is no garlic. There are no herbs. The amount of tomato is quite modest. Probably the biggest differences I see in credible recipes for Ragù alla Bolognese is whether or not to add milk or cream. The official version clearly includes it but many otherwise solid recipes do not.

This is not a “tomatoey” sauce. It’s really ground meat held together with a bit of tomato “binder.”

The version that I make most often varies somewhat from the official one. I add a hint of garlic and more tomato. I don’t typically use pancetta though it’s a great addition. I never add milk or cream.

So, I’ve done it, I’ve laid down a gauntlet. I’m advocating a recipe that’s not the official one. I can tell you, however, that it’s darn good.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Ragù alla Bolognese

I make garlic oil and keep it in a squeeze bottle by the stove. It comes in really handy for cooking and for flavoring finished dishes. You can use plain extra-virgin olive oil if you wish. In fact, that would be more traditional than garlic. For added flavor, sauté 150 grams of minced pancetta in the olive oil until the fat is rendered. Remove the cooked pancetta. Brown the meat in the oil. Add the cooked pancetta to the meat just before adding the wine. Ragù alla Bolognese should be served with a wide long pasta such as mafalde or linguine.

Course

Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

5 hours, mostly unattended

Servings

liters

Ingredients

1 kg ground beef 15% fat (or half beef and half pork)
30 ml garlic oil
500 ml full-bodied red wine
60 g butter
60 g celery cut in brunoise (3 mm or 1/8 inch dice)
100 g carrot cut in brunoise (3 mm or 1/8 inch dice)
100 g onion cut in brunoise (3 mm or 1/8 inch dice)
3 kg canned San Marzano tomatoes passed through a food mill (3 x 35 oz cans)
1 bay leaf optional
salt
black pepper freshly ground

Course

Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

5 hours, mostly unattended

Servings

liters

Ingredients

1 kg ground beef 15% fat (or half beef and half pork)
30 ml garlic oil
500 ml full-bodied red wine
60 g butter
60 g celery cut in brunoise (3 mm or 1/8 inch dice)
100 g carrot cut in brunoise (3 mm or 1/8 inch dice)
100 g onion cut in brunoise (3 mm or 1/8 inch dice)
3 kg canned San Marzano tomatoes passed through a food mill (3 x 35 oz cans)
1 bay leaf optional
salt
black pepper freshly ground

Instructions

Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed sauté pan. Add the celery, carrot, and onion.
Sauté the celery, carrot, and onion in the butter until soft without browning. Reserve.
Heat the garlic oil, or extra-virgin olive oil, in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Add the beef and pork, if using.
While the meat is cooking, break it up into small bits.
Sauté the beef and pork, if using, in the garlic oil until a lot of fond develops.
Add the wine and boil it all away, loosening the fond from the bottom of the pan.
Pass the canned tomatoes through a food mill.
Add the sautéed vegetables, the tomatoes that have been passed through a food mill, and bay leaf, if using.
Season with salt and pepper.
Simmer 3 to 4 hours partially covered, stirring frequently, until reduced by 50%.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Porchetta: A Festive Pork Roast from Italy

Caponata: A Taste of Sunny Sicily

2 Comments

January 22, 2020

The origins of both caponata and its name are unknown but that doesn’t keep some “authorities” from making definitive statements about both its origins and its name. Other authors are more cautious about how they approach the topic. There are many theories. There are perhaps more theories about the origins of the dish and its name than there are versions of caponata itself, and that’s saying a lot.

Leaving the skin on the eggplant improves the texture of the caponata.

What we do know is that caponata, as we now know it, is Sicilian though there are traditional Neapolitan versions as well.

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At its most basic caponata is a vegetable dish (though some versions include fish) with eggplant typically being the predominant ingredient (though there are other versions, such as one with artichokes) in a lightly sweet and sour sauce that usually contains some tomato product (fresh tomatoes or tomato sauce of some sort) and capers.

Beyond the basics, caponata has numerous traditional regional variations from different areas of Sicily. There are also the endless variations introduced by individual cooks.

**Onions are a common addition to caponata.**

One could add or subtract celery, sweet peppers, zucchini, olives, pine nuts, almonds, and raisins (to name a few).

The eggplant can be fried, sautéed, or steamed (but almost always with the skin on).

Caponata can be served on a slice of toasted bread (crostino), as (part of) an antipasto, as a side dish (contorno), or as a main dish (secondo). Though not traditional, I like tossing it with pasta.

**Capers are in virtually every traditional version of caponata. Some authorities suggest the name “caponata” may be related to the word “caper.”**

I prefer caponata that is neither aggressively sweet nor sour and, while the vegetables should not be mushy, I don’t want to hear a crunch when I bite down.

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If I were drowning in home-grown tomatoes during harvest season, I’d probably work on perfecting a version that uses fresh tomatoes. Since that’s not the case, my version uses tomato sauce. The advantage is that I can make it year-round as the necessary vegetables are always available and of good quality.

Though it should not be frozen, caponata can be canned. In fact, one of the demonstrations that I did for students at the Italian Culinary Institute this past September was how to can caponata.

**Sweet peppers are traditional in some versions of caponata.**

Unlike Italy, where the best eggplants and peppers are available only “in season” that’s not true in the United States. Rather than canning a large batch of caponata, I just make it whenever I want some.

I hope you enjoy this version of caponata.

**Turbinado or Demerara sugars are good substitutes for Italian “cane sugar” (zucchero di canna).**

If you want to get more into the fray about the origins of caponata or its name, or the different versions, you can look here, here, here, here, here, or here.

Caponata: A Taste of Sunny Sicily

There is a link to the recipe for Basic Tomato Sauce in the Notes section below. Any simple tomato sauce, or even tomato puree, could be substituted. If vegetable broth is not available water can be used. To my American readers, I apologize for the metric measures. You can convert to American measures by using the dropdown menu below. Turbinado and Demerara sugars are most similar to the “cane sugar” used in Italy. American light brown sugar would work in this recipe since the quantity is small. You can use either vinegar-packed or salt-packed capers.

Course

Appetizers and Nibbles, Mains, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

45 minutes

Servings

cups

Ingredients

350 g unpeeled eggplant cut in 1 cm (1/2 inch) cubes
90 g red bell pepper diced
90 g onion diced
80 ml extra virgin olive oil
180 ml vegetable broth
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground to taste
4 teaspoons sugar preferably Turbinado or Demerara
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons capers rinsed
1 1/2 tablespoons pine nuts
180 ml Basic Tomato Sauce

Course

Appetizers and Nibbles, Mains, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

45 minutes

Servings

cups

Ingredients

350 g unpeeled eggplant cut in 1 cm (1/2 inch) cubes
90 g red bell pepper diced
90 g onion diced
80 ml extra virgin olive oil
180 ml vegetable broth
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground to taste
4 teaspoons sugar preferably Turbinado or Demerara
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons capers rinsed
1 1/2 tablespoons pine nuts
180 ml Basic Tomato Sauce

Instructions

Sauté the peppers and onions in olive oil with a pinch of salt until the onions become translucent.
Add the eggplant and sauté until most, but not all, of the eggplant has become translucent.
Add the vegetable stock and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook until just tender, 5-10 minutes.
Remove cover. Quickly evaporate any remaining liquid.
Add sugar and vinegar. Cook over moderately high heat until almost dry.
Add the capers and pine nuts.
Add the tomato sauce. Simmer briefly to blend flavors, 5-10 minutes.
Adjust salt and pepper while cooking.
Refrigerate.
Bring to room temperature for serving.