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Spaghetti all’Assassina

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25 August 2024

Spaghetti all’Assassina has been having a moment.  Well, if I’m honest, it’s been having a moment for about a year and a half now, judging from the dates of various recipe posts.  I was going to be early to the party given that I took the photos for this post more than two years ago!  Working on my second cookbook took up most of my available time and, once again, the blog suffered. 

Alberobello, a town in Puglia, is famous for its stone trulli houses. (Berthold Werner, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

I just began work on my third cookbook, but I have made a commitment to myself to post regularly on the blog, cookbook or no!

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Spaghetti all’Assassina is iconoclastic, both in its name and in its preparation.  It seems mostly clear that it made it into the public eye in the 1960s in Bari, the capital of Puglia, the region that occupies the “heel” of the boot that is Italy, most probably at restaurant Al Sorso Preferito.  Not much else is clear. 

  1. According to one account, chef Enzo Francavilla of Al Sorso Preferito created the dish by accident in 1967. He allegedly burned a spaghetti dish so badly that extra peperoncino (red pepper) was added to save it. It was then served to the staff who liked it so much that it became a regular dish on the menu. 
  2. Chef Enzo Francavilla himself says he invented the dish in 1967 when two customers at the restaurant asked for pasta. 
  3. Another version suggests that the restaurant’s owners discovered the recipe when a neighboring rotisserie closed down, tried it out, and liked it.
Octopus meatballs (polpette di polpo) at Il Polpo restaurant in Gallipoli, Puglia.

The name spaghetti all’assassina has a few potential explanations:

  1. It may refer to the “killing” or burning of the pasta during the cooking process.
  2. Some say it’s due to the dish’s spiciness, which is “killer” hot.
  3. One story claims that customers joked that the flaming hot spices were the chef’s way of “killing” them.
An Aperol spritz was a welcome relief on a very hot August day in Alberobello.

What makes this dish truly unique is its unconventional cooking technique.  The process is similar to making risotto.  In fact, pasta all’assassina belongs to a category of pasta dishes called pasta risottata (pasta risotto-style).  The pasta is not boiled but cooked directly in a pan with small amounts of liquid added, just like risotto.  What differentiates pasta all’assassina is that it is cooked with the goal of caramelizing, and possibly charring, the sauce and/or pasta, unlike risotto. 

An amazing tiramisù at Siné restaurant in Alberobello, Puglia.

For decades, spaghetti all’assassina remained a local specialty in Bari. However, in 2013, a physicist and food enthusiast named Massimo dell’Erba created a Facebook group called Accademia dell’Assassina (Academy of the Assassin) to promote the dish.  This social media presence helped spread awareness of the dish beyond Bari both in Italy and internationally.

There are several variations of spaghetti all’assassina that have emerged over time. 

Variations on the traditional recipe include:

  1. Spiciness can vary from very spicy to mild.  Note though, that the food in Puglia is not traditionally spicy so a “very spicy” pasta dish from that region would not really be very hot for true chileheads.
  2. Charring can range between a deeply charred, even burnt, pasta to just a light browning of the sauce.
  3. Tomato intensity varies due to the amount of tomato and type of product, typically tomato paste vs. tomato puree (passata in Italian).
Although it doesn’t look different, this plate of spaghetti with mussels, at Il Polpo restaurant in Gallipoli, was the best spaghetti with shellfish that I have ever eaten!

Some chefs have adapted spaghetti all’assassina by adding other ingredients such as broccoli rabe, seafood, fried olives, cherry tomatoes, and stracciatella cheese. 

In May of this year, I had the opportunity to eat spaghetti all’assassina in Puglia, the region where it originated.  I made two trips to the town of Alberobello.  On the second trip, Ryan Castillo, a chef friend from Rome made a reservation for me at restaurant Siné.  The trip lasted four days and I ate three days in a row at the restaurant.  The only reason it wasn’t four days is that they are closed on Wednesdays!  I obviously loved the food.  Alberobello is a heavily touristed town so to find a restaurant that makes great food not aimed specifically at the tourist crowd is very welcome.    

Some versions of spaghetti all’assassina are cooked until they are burnt. (ScotInPuglia, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
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 Spaghetti all'Assassina
While I like getting the sauce caramelized and quite brown in spots, I don’t like actually burning the dish as it imparts a bitter flavor that is overwhelming. Chewy bits of pasta are good, too, but not really crunchy and hard. I use both tomato puree (passata) and tomato paste to create a balanced tomato flavor. This is not a dish that calls for super-premium bronze die extruded pasta. However, a pasta that is slow-dried, such as de Cecco, works well. The traditional pan for making spaghetti all’assassina is cast iron or carbon steel but I prefer to use a heavy non-stick pan large enough to hold the spaghetti flat on the bottom.
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Course Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
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Instructions
  1. Remove 150 g of passata from the bottle and reserve.
  2. Combine the remaining passata with the water, tomato paste and salt to make a tomato “broth”. Bring to a simmer on low heat. Use some of the water to rinse out the jar to remove all the passata.
  3. Meanwhile heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan, preferably one that is large enough in diameter to hold the spaghetti flat. Add the minced and whole garlic and sauté until fragrant.
  4. Add hot pepper, sauté briefly.
  5. Add the reserved passata and sugar.
  6. Cook until much of the liquid has evaporated and the passata has darkened somewhat.
  7. Add the spaghetti, fanning it out. Add a ladle or two of the broth and cook on brisk heat until almost completely absorbed, frequently pushing the spaghetti around to keep it from sticking together.
  8. Proceed in this way, adding broth a bit at a time and occasionally turning the spaghetti over, until it is al dente. During this time, you should begin to notice the fragrance change toward more caramel notes.
  9. During the last few minutes, allow the pasta to sizzle enough to create some very dark spots. Note, if there is not enough broth, bring some water to a simmer and finish cooking the pasta with that.
  10. Off heat, add Pecorino and more liquid if necessary to create a bit of sauce.
  11. Drizzle each serving with some additional extra-virgin olive oil and pass more grated Pecorino at the table.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2024 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Focaccia Barese (Focaccia from Bari)

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January 11, 2023

Never Explain.  Never Apologize.

Somebody famous once said that.

Well, according to Wikipedia, lots of famous people said that but the first, perhaps, is John Arbuthnot Fisher, a British Admiral of the Victorian and Edwardian eras.

I’m about to do both!

It’s been nearly a year since my last blog post.  And many months had elapsed between my next-to-last blog post and that one.  I’m sorry!

Semola Remacinata, the finest grind of durum wheat flour in Italy.

It amazes, and gratifies me, however, that during that long dry spell I continued to get messages from new readers of the blog and new subscribers to my emails.

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Now let me explain.

Since August 2021 I have been working on a book about how to make artisan Italian gelato.  All the time that I would have devoted to testing recipes and writing blog posts, and more, went to testing recipes for and, ultimately, writing the book.

I sent the manuscript to the publisher on November 1st.  I’ve since revised the manuscript based on multiple rounds of feedback from the developmental editor.  The text is now undergoing line editing.  The photoshoot was completed a few weeks ago and photos were tentatively selected for the book.

A shot of the photoshoot for my upcoming book on artisan Italian gelato.

I’m anxiously awaiting options for page layout and cover design.  And not-so-anxiously awaiting feedback from the line editor.

Finding myself with more flexibility, I am planning on doing more baking than gelato-making for the next few months.  Winter in Palm Springs is the time to use the oven!

In fact, I had planned to make a coconut almond cake today, my second in less than two weeks.   My goal is to keep at it until I reproduce a taste memory of a coconut almond cake that I ate, one and only one time, in 1967 (or summer arrives in Palm Springs, whichever comes first).  It’s probably a fool’s errand but it is giving focus to my baking efforts.

My first coconut almond cake of the winter baking season.

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A water leak last evening, while I was making dinner, means that the water to the house is shut off until the plumber gets here later today.  No water means no baking.  No baking means that I can repurpose my time to do my first blog post in nearly a year.

I promise to do my best to be more regular in posting.

Gelato alla Zuppa Inglese, one of over 75 gelato recipes in my upcoming book. This is an egg-based gelato studded with cake soaked in Italian Alkermes liquore and dark chocolate chips.

Now, let’s pivot to a recipe:  Focaccia Barese (Focaccia from Bari).

I like to serve homemade bread with dinner as much as possible.  This is a recipe that I turn to over and over to put a really tasty bread on the table with minimal active time and often little advance planning.


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Focaccia Barese (Focaccia from Bari)

Focaccia is a yeast-risen bread that is made from a dough that has such a high proportion of water that it is almost a batter. Crushed tomatoes as well as capers and/or olives are strewn on top. A good sprinkling of dried oregano and a few glugs of good olive oil round out the flavor. In Italy, flour made from durum wheat comes in three grinds: fine, medium, and coarse, called semola (or semola remacinata, meaning “twice ground”), semolina, and semolino respectively. I usually use semola imported from Italy for this bread. If buying domestic semolina (in English, we use the same word, regardless of the grind) look for one that is finely ground.

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Course Breads and Rolls
Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours

Servings
loaf


Ingredients

Course Breads and Rolls
Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours

Servings
loaf


Ingredients

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Instructions
  1. Put flour, semola, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle, NOT the dough hook, begin to mix on low.

  2. Slowly drizzle in the water. When the water is fully mixed in, sprinkle in the sugar.

  3. Add the salt and beat on medium high you see strings of gluten form in the dough, approximately 4-5 minutes. The dough will get stretchy and if you pull a bit, it should look stringy.

  4. Drizzle in the extra-virgin olive oil and mix on medium until well combined.

  5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise for about two hours.

  6. Meanwhile, drain the canned tomatoes through a sieve. If the tomatoes are whole, coarsely crush them by hand and allow to drain further. If you are using diced tomatoes, crushing is not needed.

  7. Oil a circular baking pan, 12” in diameter x 2” high with more extra-virgin olive oil.

  8. Pour in the dough. Lightly oil your fingertips and press into the dough, without stretching, until it is evenly spread out in the pan.

  9. Arrange crushed tomatoes, capers, and olives, if using, on top. Drizzle with more extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with oregano.

  10. Cover the pan and allow to rise. If you have another baking pan of the same size, turn it upside down and use it as a cover. If not, invert a large bowl over the baking pan. Whatever you do, be sure there is some space above the rim of the pan so that the dough has room to rise.

  11. When the dough reaches the top of the pan, carefully transfer it to the oven so it doesn’t deflate.

  12. Bake at 375°F with convection (or 400°F without convection) for approximately 35 minutes, turning once or twice, until browned and just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan.

  13. Cool the bread in the pan set on a rack before removing it.


Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2023 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.


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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)

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 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.
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Course Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 1/2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 1/2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Votes: 2
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Instructions
  1. 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.
  2. Add the olive oil or butter along with the carrot, celery, and onion. Sauté gently until softened, without browning, approximately 10 minutes.
  3. 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).
  4. Add the wine and cook gently until it completely evaporates.
  5. 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.
  6. During the last few minutes add the milk. This will counteract the acidity of the tomatoes.
  7. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
  8. 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

Copyright © 2022 by Villa Sentieri, LLC.  All rights reserved.

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Pollo allo Scarpariello (Chicken Shoemaker Style)

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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.

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 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.
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Course Mains, Poultry
Cuisine Italian-American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 1/2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Mains, Poultry
Cuisine Italian-American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 2 1/2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Dredge the chicken in flour. Reserve.
  2. Peel the potaotes and cut in large chunks.
  3. Cut the Bell peppers in triangles
  4. Cut the onions in eighths
  5. In a large stove-to-oven pot, heat the olive oil. Brown the chicken, sausage, and potatoes. Do this in batches, if necessary.
  6. Remove everything from the pot. Cut the cooked sausage into 1 ½ inch long pieces.
  7. Add the garlic to the oil remaining in the pot and sauté until it is fragrant and golden.
  8. 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.
  9. Add the rosemary and bay leaves and sauté briefly.
  10. Add the wine and deglaze.
  11. When wine is almost completely evaporated, return chicken, sausage, and potatoes to the pot along with any accumulated juices.
  12. Add about 1 cup of chicken broth and the vinegar along with the pickled peppers. Season well with salt, pepper, and oregano.
  13. Bring to a boil, cover, and put in the oven at 350°F.
  14. 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.
  15. Cook for another hour until chicken is very tender and potatoes are cooked through.
  16. Stir in parsley and serve.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2021 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Sformato di Zucchini (Italian Zucchini Bake)

5 Comments

September 15, 2021

A lot has happened in the seven months since my last blog post.  I’m sure you’ll understand why I haven’t posted in a while.

We’re no longer in Santa Fe!

That’s right, we’ve moved full time to Palm Springs, California.

An aerial view of the “new” Villa Sentieri, foreground, with the hiking trail just beyond, that prompted the name of the Villa.

It was, and remains, exceedingly difficult to have left all our close friends in Santa Fe but Palm Springs called to us.

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We get two growing seasons each year.  Since we’re just a few hundred feet above sea level, I don’t need to be concerned about testing recipes at high altitude.  The weather is pretty darn great, too!

The variety of what we can grow here is amazing.  We have ten citrus trees, three fig trees and an apricot tree.  We’re considering adding a pomegranate tree.  We have table grapes trellised up a side wall.  There are four raised beds for herbs and vegetables.

Frank grew the most awesome tomatoes this year.  I have quite a stash of homemade passata (tomato puree) in the freezer.

Naso di Cane (Nose of the Dog) peppers from Calabria. Seeds I brought back in 2019 just got planted in our garden in Palm Springs. I’m hoping to make “Olio Santo” (Holy Oil, aka Hot Chile Oil) in a few months.

The timing of our seasons takes a bit of getting used to.  Our first season pretty much ended in June.  That’s probably the time that most of you were just getting started with your gardens.  Though the herbs have continued to grow through the summer heat, all the vegetables were done by the end of June.

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Right now we have an abundance of fresh limes.  The other citrus trees have fruit but it won’t be ripe for a few more months.

The vegetable beds sat fallow for the summer.  Just a few days ago, Frank planted them with seeds for what will be our second harvest of the year.  That will take place in November and December.

The “new” Villa Sentieri has an interior atrium with a koi pond filled with 17 koi.

Though we’re not harvesting vegetables at the moment, this is the perfect time for zucchini in most of the country.  When there’s an abundance of zucchini, sformato is the answer.

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 Sformato di Zucchini (Italian Zucchini Bake)
This was the first item that I cooked with Zia Fidalma at her home in Tuscany in August 2019. Green beans, cut in small pieces, can be prepared the same way except the beans are boiled and not sautéed. A combo of beans and zucchini is also possible. Zia does not usually add herbs to her sformato but since she had some niepita she added it. Though you’re not likely to have niepita (aka mentuccia romana), unless you grow your own, adding a small amount of marjoram or oregano is a welcome addition. If you don’t have fresh herbs, use a light sprinkling of dry herbs. In any case, herbs are totally optional.
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Course Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
Besciamella
  1. In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter.
  2. Add the flour and sauté briefly until the raw smell is gone. Do not brown the flour.
  3. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring well after each addition to avoid lumps.
  4. After all the milk has been added, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan. Boil for one minute.
  5. Remove from the heat and stir in the nutmeg.
  6. If not using immediately, pour the besciamella into a heat-proof bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface to avoid the formation of a skin.
  7. Refrigerate if the besciamella will not be used within an hour or two.
Sformato
  1. Do not peel the zucchini. Cut off the stem ends and slice the zucchini lengthwise about 3/16 inch thick then crosswise the same thickness to make thick matchsticks.
  2. Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant.
  3. Add the cut zucchini, chopped flowers and minced niepita if using. Season with salt and pepper and sauté briskly until just barely tender.
  4. Mix the cooked zucchini with the besciamella, nutmeg, and Parmigiano.
  5. Stir in the eggs after the mixture is cool enough to not cook the eggs.
  6. Taste and adjust salt and black pepper.
  7. Butter a baking dish, approximately 7 ½” x 11”.
  8. Sprinkle the buttered dish with fine dry breadcrumbs.
  9. Pour the zucchini mixture into the prepared baking dish. It should be about ¾ inch thick.
  10. Bake at 400°F till very brown on top, approximately 90 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before cutting.
  11. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2021 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Roman-Style Olives (Olive alla Romana)

5 Comments

February 3, 2021

This recipe is for Mike.

It’s for all of you, too, but especially for Mike.

Mike dutifully reads all of my posts and recipes but says he’ll never make any of them despite the fact that he’s a good cook.

I challenged myself to post a recipe that Mike COULD make if Mike CHOSE to make it.  (Hint:  that means it’s fast and easy!)

Crushed fennel seed.

Most of us are not going to cure our own olives.  Even in Italy that’s true.  But starting with good quality cured olives and seasoning them to make them unique is quite another thing.

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Many years ago, when we were living in Chicago, and had a very productive garden plot, fall “harvest” season saw lots of foods being made and preserved for the coming months.  One of the ways we made use of abundant fresh herbs was to put up gallons of olives with herbs and a light vinegar brine.  It was a technique I learned from a friend in Santa Fe, Joe Hoffman.

Tiny lemon wedges, about the size of an olive.

The vinegar allowed the olives to be kept for months and months without deterioration.  Done right, they weren’t sour.  In fact, I thought the vinegar treatment mellowed some of the bitterness that olives can have.

“Joe Hoffman’s Marinated Olives” were a staple nibble during cocktail hour for most of our dinner parties for many years.

Garlic slivers.

Our herb harvest since moving to Santa Fe hasn’t been as abundant as it was in Chicago so I haven’t made these olives in a while.  What I do make is an utterly different style of marinated olive that can be prepared just a few hours before serving time.  These olives will last in the refrigerator for several weeks, though not as long as Joe Hoffman’s olives.

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The original recipe, which I have since modified, came from Jo Bettoja’s In a Roman Kitchen.

These olives pack a major flavor punch and never cease to get raves from dinner guests.

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 Roman-Style Olives (Olive alla Romana)
These olives only need to marinate a few hours before serving. They will keep in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for several weeks.
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Course Appetizers and Nibbles
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours
Servings
Ingredients
Course Appetizers and Nibbles
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 3 hours
Servings
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients. Mix well. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature a few hours, stirring occasionally.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2021 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Olive Oil Cake (Torta all’Olio d’Oliva)

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January 27, 2021

“Can’t you come up with another name?”

That was my husband’s response when I said I was going to post a recipe for olive oil cake.

I suggested the Italian, Torta all’Olio d’Oliva.  He wasn’t amused.

I guess he thinks the idea of olive oil in cake isn’t appetizing.

Nonetheless, the cake is a staple in regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.  And a delicious one, at that!

Oranges at a biodynamic citrus grove in Calabria near the Italian Culinary Institute

There are endless variations.  Some are thin, barely an inch tall.  Some are savory-sweet.  Some barely reveal the presence of olive oil.  Others proclaim the flavor of olive oil loudly.  Some are good for snacking (with tea or coffee).  And a few are actually good enough to serve for dessert with no embellishment.

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Then there’s the olive oil to consider.  Even among really good extra-virgin olive oils, and I do suggest you use really good extra-virgin olive oil, there is a range of flavor profiles.  Words like grassy, bitter, peppery, fruity, and buttery come to mind.

Which you use will influence the flavor of the cake.  All will be good but some may be more to your liking than others.

Freshly grated orange zest is key to the flavor of this olive oil cake

Honestly, though, does the world need another recipe for Torta all’Olio d’Oliva?

That’s a rhetorical question, right?

I mean, really, we wouldn’t ask if the world needed another recipe for chocolate cake.  We’d just lean into it and make it happen.

If you’ve never had olive oil cake, and if you like to bake, I suggest giving this version a try.  It has a moist crumb, crunchy top (from brown sugar), and a hint of orange from orange zest and orange liqueur.

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This cake is suitable as dessert, not just snacking.  It’s not going to be a spectacle of a dessert, like the Maraschino Cherry Cake I made from the first edition Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, but I believe it will surprise many of your guests with just how good it is.

Large crystals of brown sugar, such as Turbinado or Zucchero di Canna add crunch to the top of the cake

Now for the apology:  I prefer to cook, and I DEFINITELY prefer to bake, using the metric system.  It’s just so much easier to scale recipes up and down.  Also, among professional bakers, most ingredients are weighed, even liquids.  Without a scale that measures in fractions of a gram, however, it is not practical to weigh small amounts of ingredients like baking powder and salt.  For these, I stick to teaspoons and tablespoons when I publish recipes though I often weigh these ingredients, too.  Remember, though, that a standard teaspoon is now treated as if it were 5 ml, and a tablespoon 15 ml, even though both are just a smidge less, at least in America.

We picked a few oranges for a course on preserves at the Italian Culinary Institute

Although the recipe app will convert metric measures to non-metric, I’ll be happy to supply anyone with ingredient quantities in the typical volume-based American system upon request.

Print Recipe
 Olive Oil Cake (Torta all’Olio d’Oliva)
This is a cake which definitely benefits from sitting, tightly covered, at room temperature for two days before serving. The flavors mellow and the olive oil diffuses throughout the cake. For the topping, use a brown sugar that is not soft and moist but rather granular. Use a good quality orange liqueur such as Arancello (sometimes called orangecello in the United States) or Grand Marnier.
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Course Desserts and Sweets
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 60 minutes
Passive Time 2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Desserts and Sweets
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 60 minutes
Passive Time 2 hours
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Oil a 9” springform pan with olive oil.
  2. Cover the bottom with parchment and oil the parchment.
  3. Sprinkle the pan with sugar and dump out the excess. Even if you spread out the oil precisely it will tend to bead up, unlike butter, so there will be some sugar clumps. Don't be concerned.
  4. Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well and reserve.
  5. Combine the liqueur, lemon juice and vanilla. Reserve.
  6. In a planetary mixer, using the whisk, beat the sugar, eggs and orange zest on high speed until thick and ribbon-like, approximately 3-4 minutes.
  8. Still on high speed, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and beat until fully incorporated.
  9. The batter should get thicker.
  10. On low speed, add the flour mixture, in three additions, alternating with the liquid mixture, in two additions, starting and ending with flour. Scrape the bowl once or twice to ensure an even mix.
  11. Pour into the prepared springform pan.
  12. Sprinkle the top with brown sugar.
  13. Bake at 350°F until brown, firm on top, and a cake tester comes out clean; approximately 60 minutes. Do not underbake the cake or it will fall as it cools.
  14. Cool the cake for 15 minutes in the pan then poke the top all over with a skewer.
  15. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil on the cake and allow it to absorb.
  16. Remove the side of the pan and cool completely.
  17. When the cake is cool, remove it from the base of the springform pan. Wrap it in plastic and allow to rest at room temperature for at least one day, preferably two, before serving.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2021 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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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.

Artichokes in a market in Calabria.

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.

Print Recipe
 Carciofi e Patate (Artichokes and Potatoes)
Carciofi e Patate is a classic Roman recipe. It pairs well with most roasts.
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Course Potatoes and Other Tubers, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Potatoes and Other Tubers, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Peel potatoes and cut in 8 wedges unless the potatoes are very large or very small.
  2. Brown the potatoes in the three tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil in a large sauté pan over high heat.
  3. When the potatoes are well-browned, reduce the heat to medium. Add half the onions and garlic.
  4. Sauté until the onion is golden.
  5. 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.
  6. Meanwhile, sauté the remaining onions and garlic in the remaining extra-virgin olive oil in a sauté pan.
  7. When the onions are golden, add the artichokes and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté briefly.
  8. 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.
  9. Add artichokes to the pan with the potatoes.
  10. Sauté, uncovered, about 10 minutes longer, to meld flavors. Adjust salt and pepper.
  11. Stir in parsley and serve.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2021 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Crostini with Fava Beans and Arugula

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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:

  1. Toast bread, preferably a rustic Italian-style loaf or a baguette.
  2. Drizzle with good extra-virgin olive oil.
  3. Rub with the cut side of a clove of garlic.
  4. 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.]

My 1967 General Electric Toast-R-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.


Print Recipe
 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.
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Course Appetizers and Nibbles
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 6 hours
Servings
persons
Ingredients
Course Appetizers and Nibbles
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Passive Time 6 hours
Servings
persons
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Cook fava beans or edamame till tender, approximately 3-4 minutes. Drain and shock in ice water.
  2. If using fava beans, peel them.
  3. Coarsely chop the cooked beans in a small food processor.
  4. Remove half the beans and reserve.
  5. Coarsely chop 1/2 ounce of arugula by hand. Reserve.
  6. 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.
  7. Process until almost smooth.
  8. Combine puree with the coarsely chopped beans and arugula and mix by hand.
  9. Adjust salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Refrigerate several hours, or overnight, to allow flavors to blend.
  10. Return to room temperature before using.
  11. 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.
  12. Top each slice of bread with some of the bean mixture.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2020 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Caponata: A Taste of Sunny Sicily

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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.

Print Recipe
 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.
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Course Appetizers and Nibbles, Mains, Vegetarian
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
cups
Ingredients
Course Appetizers and Nibbles, Mains, Vegetarian
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Servings
cups
Ingredients
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Rating: 0
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Instructions
  1. Sauté the peppers and onions in olive oil with a pinch of salt until the onions become translucent.
  2. Add the eggplant and sauté until most, but not all, of the eggplant has become translucent.
  3. Add the vegetable stock and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook until just tender, 5-10 minutes.
  4. Remove cover. Quickly evaporate any remaining liquid.
  5. Add sugar and vinegar. Cook over moderately high heat until almost dry.
  6. Add the capers and pine nuts.
  7. Add the tomato sauce. Simmer briefly to blend flavors, 5-10 minutes.
  8. Adjust salt and pepper while cooking.
  9. Refrigerate.
  10. Bring to room temperature for serving.
Recipe Notes

The recipe for Basic Tomato Sauce can be found here.

Copyright © 2020 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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