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Spaghetti alla Carbonara

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21 March 2023

Cacio e Pepe, Pasta alla Gricia, Spaghetti all’Amatriciana, and Spaghetti alla Carbonara are the Holy Quaternity of Roman pasta dishes.

The sauce for Cacio e Pepe is little more than Pecorino Romano cheese emulsified into some of the pasta-cooking water to make a glossy sauce.  Pasta alla Gricia adds cured pork, usually guanciale, to Cacio e Pepe.  Amatriciana adds tomato to Gricia while  Carbonara adds egg to Gricia.

And there you have it, arguably the four most important pasta dishes of Roman cuisine.

The origins of Spaghetti alla Carbonara are murky.  Given the obvious relationship between these four pasta dishes one might think that there’s not much to talk about, one just naturally leading into the other.  However, there is some intriguing evidence, and a little speculation, about the origins of Carbonara.

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The evidence and speculation go like this.  During the Allied liberation of Rome during WWII, the bacon and (powdered) eggs of American GI rations were combined with pasta to make a proto-Carbonara.  Some Italians agree with this, and some do not.  Those who do not usually insist that the cured pork product of choice is guanciale (cured pork jowl) not pancetta (cured pork belly) let alone American bacon.

But think about it.  How likely is it that the Romans had any cured pork hanging around near the end of WWII?  It’s more likely that they consumed anything that was consumable by then.  The existence of guanciale in any significant quantity is unlikely.  In addition, the first reference to Spaghetti alla Carbonara appeared in the newspaper La Stampa in 1950, indicating it was a favorite of American GIs.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that Spaghetti alla Carbonara existed prior to WWII and was made with guanciale.  After the Allied liberation of Rome, it’s reasonable to see how GI rations of (powdered) egg and bacon could have been substituted for fresh eggs and guanciale.  It’s also possible, even probable, that if it existed before the 1940s, Carbonara wasn’t written about because it was part of the cuisine of the poor (cucina povera).  Despite our current fascination with traditional cuisine, until recently culinary history largely focused on foods eaten by the upper classes, not the poor.

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Unless more evidence comes to light, we may never know the origins of Spaghetti alla Carbonara.  Even so, there are some things we can say definitively:

  1. Adding cream to Carbonara is an abomination!
  2. If not the original meat, American bacon has a legitimate place in the history of Carbonara.
  3. Carbonara is delicious, whether made with guanciale, bacon, or pancetta.  Yes, each is different but each is delicious!  I’ve used all of them.  I prefer bacon but I’ll never turn down a well-made dish (or three) of Spaghetti alla Carbonara regardless of what cured pork product went into it.

The most challenging part of making carbonara is to incorporate the eggs, getting them to thicken into a sauce without either remaining raw or turning into scrambled eggs.  I’ve got a little trick that eliminates these concerns.

Read on!

Print Recipe
 Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Spaghetti alla Carbonara is one of the four classic Roman pasta dishes, along with Cacio e Pepe, Pasta alla Gricia, and Spaghetti all’Amatriciana. It can be made with guanciale, American bacon, or pancetta though guanciale and bacon probably have the greatest claim on tradition. My preference is bacon. If using guanciale, I sometimes decrease the amount by 10% because it usually has more fat than either bacon or pancetta.
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Course Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Cut the bacon into matchstick-size pieces.
  2. Sauté the bacon in a dry sauté pan until some fat renders.
  3. Add the garlic and sauté until the garlic is quite golden, but not brown. Remove the garlic and reserve. If the bacon is not well browned, continue cooking.
  4. Meanwhile, combine the eggs, egg yolks, Pecorino Romano cheese, 2 teaspoons black pepper, and reserved cooked garlic in a blender jar. Reserve.
  5. When the bacon is brown, add the wine and remove from the heat unless you are adding the pasta immediately. The dish can be made several hours ahead to this point.
  6. Cook the spaghetti in salted water until just shy of al dente.
  7. Just before draining the pasta, reheat the bacon and cook off the wine.
  8. Add the pasta to the bacon and sauté on medium to medium-high heat.
  9. Add pasta-cooking water, about one ladleful at a time, and continue cooking the pasta, stirring frequently, until al-dente. There should be enough liquid to coat the pasta in a thick "sauce."
  10. Just as the pasta reaches al dente, turn on the blender. Blend the contents thoroughly and then add about 120 ml (½ cup) of the hot pasta cooking liquid while the blender is still running.
  11. Off the heat, add the blended egg mixture to the pasta along with the parsley, if using, and even more freshly ground black pepper.
  12. Mix well to turn the eggs into a creamy sauce, adding pasta-cooking water if needed. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
  13. Pour into a warmed serving bowl and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes

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

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Recipes

Sformato di Zucchini (Italian Zucchini Bake)

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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.

Print Recipe
 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
Votes: 0
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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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Recipes

Melanzane al Forno (Eggplant Baked with Parmesan Cheese)

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January 4, 2020

Growing up I didn’t like eggplant.  I didn’t much care for zucchini, either.  Or kale.

Things are a whole lot different now.

As an adult, I basically haven’t met a vegetable I don’t like, though, naturally, I like some more than others.

As with zucchini, eggplants seem to defy the season.  They’re available year-round and the quality is consistent.  Just look for firm, shiny ones with no soft spots or wrinkled skin and you’re basically guaranteed of getting a good eggplant.

Eggplants on the vine (Photo: Joydeep / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0).

Eggplant is a versatile vegetable.  It can be braised, baked, sautéed, fried and steamed … and probably cooked by any other method you can think of.

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Eggplant will sop up any flavor that you pair with it.  It will also sop up large amounts of oil so one needs to be cautious about frying large pieces of eggplant in abundant oil.  Thin slices of eggplant can be floured and fried to great advantage, however.

Years ago, eggplant could be bitter but that trait has basically been bred out of the modern varieties one commonly encounters.  The bitterness led cooks to salt and drain the eggplant to remove bitter juices.  While this is no longer strictly necessary for control of bitterness it is still a great technique to reduce moisture content which is useful for some preparations.

Eggplants at the market in Italy.

America’s Test Kitchen (the organization behind Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country) has developed a method for removing water from eggplant using the microwave.  I have lots of cooking equipment and have no qualms about using newer technology in place of older technology to simplify food prep.  However, I want the newer technology be a natural evolution from the older technology as a way to preserve (but improve) traditional food preparation.  For example, before food processors, one would “mush up” food as much as possible then put it through a sieve.  Food processors do a much better (and faster) job of “mushing,” sometimes to the point that the sieving step isn’t necessary.

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To me, that’s evolutionary.  It’s a more efficient way of getting to the same outcome but staying true to the traditional method.  Blasting eggplant in the microwave in place of salting it is not.

Beautiful eggplants ready to be made into something yummy.

While I have great respect for the rigor of America’s Test Kitchen, some of their hacks and shortcuts really trouble me from the standpoint of maintaining and transmitting traditional foodways.  Using V-8 juice in minestrone in place of tomato is an example.

With salting, rather than microwaving, we’ll proceed to today’s recipe,  It’s a very straightforward baked eggplant with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.  Somehow it manages to be WAY more than the sum of its parts.  I urge you to try it, even if you think you don’t like eggplant.

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 Melanzane al Forno (Eggplant Baked with Parmesan Cheese)
Eggplant can absorb huge quantities of oil. This method of cooking limits the amount of oil the eggplant absorbs, making it lighter. The eggplant finishes its cooking in the oven, which eliminates last minute frying just before serving dinner. Individual portions can be made by cutting the eggplant into rounds that fit inside of small ramekins.
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Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Passive Time 1 hour
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Passive Time 1 hour
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Peel the eggplant and cut crosswise into rounds ½ inch thick.
  2. Liberally salt the eggplant slices on both slides and put them in a colander.
  3. Set a weight on top of the egglant (such as a plate with a heavy can on top) and allow to drain for one hour.
  4. Meanwhile, gently sauté the garlic in the olive oil on low heat until the garlic is golden brown.
  5. Remove the oil from the heat. Discard the garlic and reserve the oil.
  6. Rinse the eggplant. Blot dry.
  7. Butter an ovenproof serving dish (or individual ramekins if making individual portions).
  8. Coat the bottom of a large sauté pan with 1-2 tablespoons of the garlic-flavored oil. A non-stick pan works best but a well-seasoned ordinary sauté pan will work fine. When the oil is very hot add one layer of eggplant slices. Cook until nicely browned being careful not to burn the eggplant which will make it bitter.
  9. When browned on one side turn the eggplant slices over. You may need to drizzle a little oil into the pan to keep the eggplant from sticking. The eggplant should still be firm in the center. It will complete its cooking in the oven.
  10. When the second side is brown put the eggplant in a buttered ovenproof serving dish, preferably one with a cover.
  11. Lightly salt the eggplant. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper to taste and some of the grated Parmigiano. Repeat layering eggplant, pepper and cheese until all the eggplant is used up.
  12. Finish with grated Parmigiano. Drizzle with the melted butter.
  13. Cover and bake at 350°F for approximately 30 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 10-15 minutes to brown the top.
Recipe Notes

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

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Recipes

Zucchini in Umido

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December 19, 2019

I try to cook seasonally.

That means no stone fruit or corn on the cob in the winter.  For the most part that means no tomatoes either, though I do make an exception for cherry and grape tomatoes which seem to taste about the same year-round and provide a burst of color and sweetness—if not a robust tomato taste—in the dead of winter.

Certain things defy the season.  Take zucchini.  Yes, they’re the quintessential summer crop (sometimes growing to the size of baseball bats in the hands of inattentive growers) but they show up all year-round, much like bananas do.

Zucchini in Umido bubbling away on Zia Fidalma’s stove in Tuscany.

I know that means they get shipped from “somewhere else” when they’re not in season locally but, for the most part, they taste good all year (unlike, say, peaches which don’t usually taste good if not grown locally and in season).

There’s also a limit to the number of cold-season vegetables that one can eat through the winter.

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Part of the problem is solved by canning, preserving, and freezing and, if not your own or a friend’s, commercially available canned, preserved, and frozen produce.  Let’s face it, eating seasonally traditionally included consuming all those products that were “put up” when they were at the height of season.

Maria making a large batch of tomato puree (passata) at her home in Calabria.

Though some of us conserve produce, few of us do enough to meet our needs throughout the lean winter months.  I have no objection to using good quality commercially “conserved” foods.  What I don’t use are convenience or premade foods.

Though I enjoy and prefer to make my own tomato puree (passata), we don’t produce enough of our own tomatoes to make a year’s supply (and I haven’t been overly impressed with what’s available in the market in sufficient and affordable quantity to make up the difference).

I do what I can, however, for example making passata when our tomatoes are at their best; candying citrus peels from the trees in our neighborhood in Palm Springs in the winter; making cherry leaf aperitif in the fall; and, in those rare years when Santa Fe has an abundance of peaches and apricots, making jam.

The early stages of making cherry leaf aperitif.

I “conserve” other produce as well like making hot chile oil (“olio santo”) when we have enough peperoncini, making limoncello and arancello from oranges and lemons in Palm Springs, and putting fresh (like cherries) and dried (like prunes) fruits in various types of spirits.

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My prohibition on using “prepared foods,” though is pretty definite.  I’ll use good quality canned, peeled tomatoes from Italy but (unless my back is up against the wall as sometimes happens when I have limited shopping venues like when we’re on Fire Island) I don’t use canned commercial diced or crushed tomatoes or tomato puree.  My view, and, granted, it might be wrong, is that the best quality tomatoes go into the cans of “whole, peeled” tomatoes, not into the ones that are ground, diced, or pureed.

Making limoncello.

In a matter of minutes, a can of whole peeled tomatoes can be turned into any of the other products.  It also means that, other than tomato paste, I only need to stock up on one tomato product.  OK, OK, so I have two types of peeled, whole tomatoes.  Both are from Italy but one is San Marzano and the other is a plum tomato that’s not San Marzano.  I use the less expensive non-San-Marzano-but-still-Italian tomatoes when the dish I am making would be indistinguishable with either type.

In December, zucchini are a welcome addition to mealtime, a situation that is difficult to imagine during the fall harvest season when zucchini seem to be coming from all directions.

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 Zucchini in Umido
Pommarola, a simple tomato sauce made with tomatoes, basil and garlic is ideal in this dish. See the notes section for a link to my Basic Tomato Sauce. If pommarola, or a similar simple tomato sauce is not available, substitute good-quality tomato puree. If using puree, I suggest adding a few basil leaves, finely chopped. Niepita is difficult to obtain outside of Italy but if you want to try to find seeds, look for it using the southern Italian name of "Mentuccia Romana" rather than the Tuscan name of niepita. Though the flavor is different, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano is a good alternative.
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Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
persons
Ingredients
Course Sides, Vegetables
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
persons
Ingredients
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
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Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Partially peel the zucchini, leaving alternating stripes of peel and no peel.
  2. Cut the zucchini into largish pieces. You can do this by quartering them lengthwise and then cutting crosswise or by doing a rotating angular cut. You should have approximately 2 pounds of cut-up zucchini.
  3. Sauté the garlic in olive oil until it begins to color.
  4. Add zucchini. Season with salt, and pepper. Increase the heat to high and sauté until the garlic golden brown and the zucchini has turned from white to creamy in color, approximately 5 minutes.
  5. Add the tomato sauce, water, niepita, and salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Cook at a moderate boil, uncovered, until the sauce is thick and the zucchini is tender but not mushy. Adjust salt and pepper while cooking.
Recipe Notes

You can find my recipe for Basic Tomato Sauce here.

Copyright © 2019 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Sancarlin: A Cheese Spread from Piemonte

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December 13, 2019

Back at home, after spending five months in Italy this year expanding my culinary skills and repertoire, we settled on a technique to keep the process going.

Each month we randomly select a region of Italy by pulling a slip of paper out of a jar.  For a month, unless there is an overriding reason, I cook all our dinners using traditional recipes of that region.

Small, dried spicy red peppers (peperoncini) from our garden add zip to many dishes.

The first region we selected was Piemonte (Piedmont).

Piemonte is in far northwestern Italy.  It borders France and the cuisine shows a definite French influence.

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Piemonte is one of the coldest regions of Italy.  Since the climate is not conducive to growing olives, animal fats, such as butter and lard are commonly used.  There are some dishes, however, that use olive oil based on historic trade between Piemonte and neighboring Liguria.

Piemontese foods tend to be hearty and rich, appropriate to the colder climate, especially in the mountainous areas.

Two of the Piemontese cookbooks that I relied on for the month of cooking Piemontese food.

Our month of eating the foods of Piemonte included:

  1. Bagna Cauda (anchovy, butter and olive oil dip for vegetables)
  2. Brasato di Manzo in Barolo (beef braised in barolo wine)
  3. Budino Freddo Gianduia (chocolate hazelnut cakes… literally “pudding”)
  4. Cipolline d’Ivrea (braised pearl onions with white wine and butter)
  5. La Panissa (risotto made with borlotti beans and some sort of cured meat)
  6. Patate ai Capperi (potatoes and capers)
  7. Peperoni e Pomodori alla Bagna Cauda (sweet peppers and tomatoes with anchovies)
  8. Polenta e Fontina in Torta (layers of sliced polenta and fontina cheese baked together)
  9. Pollo con Acciughe e Peperoni Arostiti (chicken with anchovies and roasted peppers)
  10. Pollo in Fricassea Bianca (chicken braised in milk)
  11. Risotto al Gorgonzola (risotto with gorgonzola cheese)
  12. Sancarlin (a cheese dip and/or sauce)
  13. Spinaci alla Piemontese (spinach with anchovies and garlic)
  14. Tajarin con Gorgonzola e Ricotta (long pasta with a sauce of ricotta and gorgonzola)
  15. Tajarin e Zucchine (long pasta with zucchini, garlic, and Grana Padano cheese)

As you’ll note, these are almost all substantial dishes.  And it’s not as if I purposely chose dishes that were hearty.  Almost all of the cuisine of Piemonte shares this characteristic.

Piemonte is famous for truffles.  I avoided dishes with truffles as they were out of season the month I cooked Piemontese food.  Good ones are also very expensive.  Plus, I ate mountains of them while at the Italian Culinary Institute this year.

Two excellent regional Italian cookbooks. It’s amazing how different the array of recipes is for the same region.

Piemonte is also known for hazelnuts and for the combination of hazelnuts and chocolate, the most famous brand of which is Nutella.  Note that the one Piemontese dessert that I made during the month (only one because I’m still working off the weight I gained over five months in Italy earlier this year!) is a combination of chocolate and hazelnuts which is generally known as gianduja or gianduia.

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Piemonte is one of the great wine-producing regions of Italy.  It is known for Barolo, Barbaresco, and Asti, among others.

Sancarlin (Piemontese dialect for San Carlo) is a spread or dip made from cheese.  It’s great as part of an antipasto with grissini (breadsticks), another Piemontese food.

If you cannot find artisanal ricotta (check a cheese shop), Polly-O is among the best of the supermarket brands that I have tasted.

Sancarlin is also excellent tossed with diced boiled potatoes and served as a contorno (side dish).  How many times can I say “hearty” in the same blog post?

If any of the Piemontese dishes that I mentioned above interests you, and you’d like me to post a recipe, just leave a note in the comment section below and I’ll schedule it.

Though not traditional, goat cheese adds complexity to the Sancarlin that would otherwise be provided by the traditionally used sheep’s milk ricotta.

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 Sancarlin: A Cheese Spread from Piemonte
Sancarlin is traditionally made with ricotta di pecora, sheep’s milk ricotta. It is nearly impossible to find sheep’s milk ricotta in the United States. You will get good results with a high-quality cow’s milk ricotta. Though not traditional, you can add an ounce or two of soft goat cheese to the recipe to increase the complexity of the dish. If you have access to sheep’s milk (which I don’t in northern New Mexico), and you feel ambitious, you can make your own ricotta! A link to my recipe is in the Notes section below. Adjust the amount of garlic and red pepper to taste. Serve with grissini, crostini, focaccia or tossed with boiled potatoes
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Course Spreads and Relishes
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings
cup
Ingredients
Course Spreads and Relishes
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings
cup
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Finely mince the garlic and combine with the olive oil. You can do this by processing the garlic and oil in a small food processor.
  2. If using the goat cheese, add it to the processor after the garlic has been minced and whiz to blend everything.
  3. Finely crush the red peppers and blend with the garlic mixture.
  4. Combine the garlic mixture with the ricotta and mix well.
  5. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Refrigerate, tightly covered, for two days before using for the best flavor.
Recipe Notes

If you want to make your own ricotta, you can find my recipe here.

Copyright © 2019 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Spiedini (Italian Skewered Meat and Vegetables)

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November 20, 2019

Spiedini means skewers.  By extension it also refers to food cooked on skewers.

Zia Fidalma’s spiedini ready to be served. The extra cut-up vegetables were roasted along with the spiedini.

There is evidence that humans cooked food on skewers as far back as 300,000 years ago in an area that is encompassed by present-day Germany.

It’s an ancient cooking method.  So, it’s not surprising that food cooked on skewers is found almost everywhere.

Zia Fidalma cutting sausage for spiedini at her home in Benabbio.

During my month of cooking in Tuscany with Zia Fidalma this past August, spiedini were on the lesson plan.

But first, there was the shopping.  Onions and peppers came from the weekly market in Bagni di Lucca.  Pork and sausage came from her favorite local butcher.  Pancetta tesa came from yet another vendor.  The pantry staples, including olive oil from her own olive grove, were on the ready at home.

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The sausage that Zia Fidalma used is Salsiccia Toscana, Tuscan Sausage.  It does NOT have fennel seed.  What it DOES have appeared to be a mystery, at least temporarily.

Pancetta Tesa produced in the Garfagnana area of Tuscany.

Butchers in Italy who make it say they don’t know because they buy the spice mix from a company.  Whether or not this is completely true is also unknown, to me at least.  Requests from friends and family in Tuscany also came up empty-handed.

A Google search, in Italian, turned up more useful information.  As expected, there is a range of ingredients.  Every recipe has salt and pepper.  Most have garlic (minced, chopped, or in one recipe, rubbed on one’s hands before one mixes the sausage!).  Many have a bit of wine, both white and red are called for.  I found one recipe that indicated that finely minced sage could be added if desired but NOT fennel!

Ingredients ready to be skewered in Zia Fidalma’s kitchen.

So, basically, Tuscan sausage is very sparingly flavored with salt, pepper, garlic and maybe a bit of wine.

For a traditional Tuscan taste for these spiedini, purchase (or make) an “Italian” sausage without fennel and without red pepper or paprika.  (Note, there is no such thing as “Italian” sausage in Italy.  Like most foods in Italy, sausage is hyper-local and varies from region to region, province to province, and often town to town.)

Zia Fidalma’s spiedini ready to be cooked.

Nobody is going to complain, however, if you use sausage with fennel seed as I had to do when I was unable to find sausage without fennel after trying four markets in Santa Fe.

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Pancetta tesa (sometimes called pancetta stesa) may be more difficult to find than the correct sausage, however.  Pancetta tesa is flat, not rolled.  It is better to use for spiedini because it is easier to cut into shapes that facilitate skewering.

On the same day that I made spiedini with Zia Fidalma, we looked at a house for sale in her village. I’m still smitten by the house and the views and the idea of spending summers there!

While you might spend 30 to 45 minutes cutting up the meat and vegetables and threading them on a skewer, the cooking process is easy.  Feel free to experiment with the herbs, but I’ve called for the herbs that are most commonly used in Tuscan cooking.

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 Spiedini (Italian Skewered Meat and Vegetables)
If you want a more elegant look, take the time to cut the ingredients to the same size, approximately 1-inch squares. For a more homestyle appearance, as shown in the pictures, some variability is fine as long as none of the pieces is extremely large or small. The exact sequence of how to skewer ingredients is up to you but I have provided a suggestion that worked well with the quantity of ingredients I had.
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Course Mains, Meats
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Mains, Meats
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Cut each link of sausage into four pieces.
  2. Cut the pork into 24 pieces.
  3. Cut the pancetta tesa into 36 pieces
  4. Cut each pepper into 12 pieces.
  5. Separate the onion into layers and cut 36 pieces of onion about the same size as the pepper pieces
  6. Thread the meat and vegetables onto 12 skewers in the following order: Pepper, Pancetta, Onion, Pork, Pepper, Pancetta, Onion, Sausage, Pepper, Pancetta, Onion, Pork.
  7. On the bottom of a shallow roasting pan large enough to hold the skewers in a single layer, put the rosemary, sage, bay leaves, oregano, juniper berries and garlic.
  8. Put the skewers on top. Season generously with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.
  9. Roast at 400°F until the meat is cooked, approximately 20 to 30 minutes, basting occasionally with the oil from the pan.
  10. Arrange the skewers on a serving platter. Pour the oil over top being sure to add the cooked herbs and garlic. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2019 by Villa Sentieri, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Turkey Noodle Soup

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May 24, 2017

Soup!

If my mother said she was making “soup” without any qualifiers, it meant her beef noodle soup.

She would cook a good-sized piece of beef in her soup pot along with large pieces of carrot, celery and potato till the meat was falling apart.

She would cook thin egg noodles separately.

To serve the soup, everyone would get a bowl of broth with pieces of carrot, celery and potato.  The large piece of beef would be in its own serving bowl and the noodles in another.

At the table, everyone added beef (shredding it with a serving fork) and noodles to their bowl of broth for the ultimate customization.

I haven’t had soup this way since my mother died.  I actually don’t ever remember being served soup in the same manner by anyone else, anywhere, ever.  If you’ve ever heard of, or had, soup being served this way, I’d really like to hear about it.

The other soup my mother made frequently was what is sometimes called “Italian Wedding Soup.”  It is a rich chicken broth with pieces of chicken, small meatballs, carrots, celery, pasta (typically, acini de pepe), and escarole.

Occasionally my mother would make Slovak Mushroom Soup, with dried mushrooms and potatoes, or Potato Soup with potatoes, milk and onions.  More often, however, we’d get these when visiting my grandparents.  Early on, my grandmother would make soup, but when she got older, Aunt Ann or Aunt Mary would make it and bring it to my grandparents’ house.

On a Sunday, when my father, his six brothers, and all of their spouses and children would visit my grandparents, a lot of soup could be consumed.  Mind you, there was no guarantee that there would be soup, but if there was, it needed to be an industrial quantity.

In the winter, my grandmother would keep the soup in a big pot in the root cellar in the basement.  It was the same root cellar where she would make sour cabbage but that was before I was born.  I know because my father and all of my uncles never tired of talking about my grandmother’s sour cabbage soup, or kissel.  They bemoaned the fact that nobody made it any longer.  I don’t have her recipe and while I can find recipes for soups that sound similar, none of them sounds exactly like the soup my father described.

Today’s soup, however, is not one that I grew up eating.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mother thought the carcass of a roasted turkey wasn’t intended to be reused.  I first had turkey noodle soup, made with roasted turkey leftovers, when I was in college.  The soup was made by Mary Lou d’Aquili, the wife of my college advisor and, many years later, the person with whom I went into psychiatric practice, Eugene d’Aquili.

Ever since then, I’ve turned the bones of most roasts into broth.

We have an array of fresh herbs year round thanks to the greenhouse.  I have totally given up dried bay leaves in favor of fresh ones.  They’re really easy to grow and the taste is incredible.  California bay leaves are stronger than Mediterranean bay leaves so if the balance of flavors in a dish is critical, and you’re using the former, opt for about half the amount called for in the recipe.  For most dishes, it’s not a critical distinction, however, and you can just substitute California for Mediterranean bay leaves.

Here’s a picture of our Bay Laurel plant, pruned down and ready to start its seasonal growth spurt.  In the fall I’ll harvest the leaves to make an Italian Bay Laurel Liqueur, Liquore al Lauro or Liquore Alloro.

The following recipe for Turkey Noodle Soup starts with the Roasted Turkey Broth I posted a few weeks ago.

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 Turkey Noodle Soup
Save the bones, skin and shreds of meat from a roast turkey to make broth for soup. You can freeze the bones and make the broth later. You can also make the broth and freeze for future use. What you don’t want to do is to freeze the turkey noodle soup. I prefer not to freeze the soup, as the vegetables become too soft. If you must, however, freeze it before adding the noodles and peas. I keep a container of Parmesan cheese rinds in the freezer so that I always have them available to add to soup or other dishes to amplify the savoriness.
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Course Soups and Stews
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Soups and Stews
Cuisine American
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Bring the broth to a boil.
  2. Meanwhile, slice the carrots.
  4. Slice the celery.
  6. Dice the onions.
  7. Mince the garlic.
  8. Dig a Parmesan cheese rind out of your freezer.
  9. To the broth, add sliced celery, carrots, onions, minced garlic, bay leaf, marjoram, cheese rind, and salt and pepper to taste.
  10. Return to a low boil and cook, partially covered for 30 minutes.
  11. Taste and adjust seasoning.
  12. Add cooked turkey and tomato paste. Cook at a low boil for another 15 minutes.
  13. Taste and adjust seasoning to your preference then add an additional ½ teaspoon of salt. (Remember, you’re about to add unseasoned peas and noodles.)
  14. Add the noodles. Bring to a boil.
  15. Add the peas. Boil gently till noodles are done.
  16. When noodles are cooked, taste and adjust seasoning. Stir in chopped parsley.
  17. Serve immediately.
  18. Pass grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese at the table.
Recipe Notes

Here is the recipe for Roasted Turkey Broth.  You should have 3 quarts of broth.

Copyright © 2017 by VillaSentieri.com. All rights reserved.

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Orecchiette with Broccoli and Anchovies

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May 10, 2017

A few times in my life I’ve been lucky enough to cook with my husband’s Great Aunt Fidalma.  It’s always been in my kitchen, though I keep hoping to make a trip to Tuscany to cook with her in her kitchen.

Zia Fidalma speaks Italian and German.  I speak English.  Though I studied German in high school and college, and at one point was passably able to translate scientific German, my command of spoken German (and at this point, scientific German) is hopeless.  I studied Italian for a while too, but the best I can do is read a menu, order in a restaurant, and find out where the restroom is.

So, cooking with Zia Fidalma starts with a language barrier but it doesn’t seem to matter.  Somehow we communicate.

Mostly that means Zia Fidalma speaks slowly in Italian emphasizing the words I am likely to understand most.

Like the time we were in my kitchen in Santa Fe preparing dinner for twelve.  The first course was spaghetti al pesto.  A pile of basil stalks from my father-in-law’s (Zia Fidalma’s nephew) garden were on the kitchen counter.  Zia Fidalma was plucking off basil leaves one at a time, inspecting each one.  At one point, she looked up at me holding a leaf and said “è brutta” (it’s ugly), clearly wanting my agreement to discard the less-than-perfect leaf.

One day at our home in Chicago, she was making risotto for lunch.  It had a very similar flavor profile to this pasta in that it contained broccoli, garlic and anchovies.

Zia Fidalma cranked up the 15,000 BTU burner to high.  She sizzled some minced garlic for a moment.  There was a vague hint of smoke coming from the pan.  She added the anchovies and stirred them about.  Smoke started to billow up.  She smiled knowingly.  She added the broccoli, undeterred.  Smoke continued.  She stirred.  I stood there horrified.  Then she lightly charred the broccoli.  I was even more horrified.  At long last some liquid went in and the rest of the risotto-making followed a familiar pattern.

I try to avoid smoking oil at all cost when cooking.  I was more than a little concerned about how the risotto would taste.

However, I have never had anything but fabulous food from Zia Fidalma, so I had to trust that this would be OK, too.

This wasn’t her first rodeo.  She’d been making risotto since before I was born.

In the end, all I can say is that the risotto was wonderful.  It had layers of flavor.  It provided an important lesson about how techniques different from what one would typically use can create incredible flavors.

So, if you see wisps of smoke coming from the pan as you singe the broccoli for this recipe, don’t fret.  Just raise a toast to Zia Fidalma, and enjoy!

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 Orecchiette with Broccoli and Anchovies
My husband’s Great Aunt Fidalma, who lives in Tuscany, showed me how to cook the broccoli in this manner. Previously, I parboiled the florets and added them and the beans to the sautéed garlic and anchovies. This method adds layers of flavor that cannot be obtained by just boiling the broccoli. I prefer to use home-cooked kidney beans following my recipe for Cannellini alla Toscana. You can use either red or white (cannellini) beans but the red ones add more color contrast. As an alternative you can use one 15 ounce can of beans. Do not discard the liquid in the can as it will improve the body of the sauce.
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Course Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Passive Time 15 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Passive Time 15 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Put 3 quarts of water and 1/3 cup salt in a 5 quart stockpot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil over high heat.
  2. Meanwhile, cut the thick stems off the broccoli just below where the stems start to branch into individual florets.
  4. Cut the individual florets off the broccoli by cutting lengthwise through the stalk from top to bottom.
  5. Cut off any remaining stalk just below the floret. These tender stalks can be cut crosswise into one-half inch pieces and added to the florets.
  7. You can use some of the thicker stalks as well, if you wish. To do so, use a vegetable peeler to remove the tough outer skin. Dice the peeled stems into 1/3 inch cubes. Reserve these diced stalks separately from the florets and diced tender stalks.
  8. When the salted water comes to a boil, add the diced, peeled stalks, if using. Return to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes until they just begin to get tender. Using a spider or large slotted spoon, remove the stalks from the water and plunge them into a bowl of ice water to stop cooking. When cool, drain in a colander.
  9. Keep the water on low heat so you can return it to a boil quickly when needed to cook the pasta.
  10. In a heavy-bottomed pan large enough to hold the finished dish, sauté the garlic over medium high heat until it turns fragrant, about 30 seconds.
  11. Add the anchovies and their oil and continue to sauté, breaking up the anchovies till they turn to a paste.
  12. Continue to cook until the anchovies darken slightly, about 1-2 minutes.
  13. Add the broccoli florets and diced tender stems. If using, add the partially cooked peeled stems. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
  14. Sauté on high heat, stirring very frequently, until some of the broccoli florets just begin to singe, about 5 minutes.
  15. Add the crushed red pepper. Stir to combine.
  16. Add the wine and cover with a tight fitting lid. Cook over medium high heat till the florets are cooked through but not mushy, shaking the pan occasionally.
  17. If all the wine evaporates before the broccoli is cooked, ladle in a bit of the pasta cooking liquid and continue.
  18. When the broccoli is cooked, add the beans and their cooking liquid along with the oregano. Bring to a simmer over gentle heat.
  19. Meanwhile, return the pasta-cooking water to a rolling boil and add the pasta. Cook until the pasta is slightly shy of al dente. The pasta will finish cooking in the sauce.
  20. Put about ¾ cup of pasta cooking liquid into the beans. Reserve another cup of the liquid.
  21. Quickly drain the pasta and add to the beans. Stir well. Bring to a gentle boil, uncovered. Cook stirring occasionally until the pasta is al dente. Add as much of the reserved pasta-cooking liquid as needed to have enough sauce to coat the pasta and broccoli.
  22. The starch in the pasta-cooking liquid will add body to the sauce. One way to incorporate more of the pasta-cooking liquid is to cook the pasta over higher heat so that you can add, and boil off, more of the liquid, leaving the starch behind.
  23. When the pasta is cooked, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese and 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Taste and adjust salt after adding the cheese.
  24. Stir in the finishing extra-virgin olive oil. This will make the sauce glossy and add additional flavor.
  25. The starch from the pasta water and bean-cooking liquid along with the cheese should create an emulsion with the oil. You may need to add more of the reserved pasta-cooking liquid to loosen the sauce.
  26. Serve immediately. Pass extra Parmesan cheese at the table.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2017 by VillaSentieri.com. All rights reserved.

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Slovak Caraway Soup

10 Comments

April 26, 2017

Growing up with an ethnically Italian mother and an ethnically Slovak father, we mostly ate Italian food with Slovak food appearing on the table every week or two.  On Sundays we usually went to visit my father’s parents and got a bit more Slovak food.

There were some classic American dishes that appeared on our table, too.  But, honestly, not that often.  The only thing my mother made that I didn’t like was hamburgers.  Well, that and liver.

But even my mother didn’t like liver.  She made it because my father liked it.  There was never the expectation that anyone else would eat it.

When she made liver…and that process involved running from the living room, through the dining room, to the kitchen to turn the liver as it sautéed and then running back to the living room to avoid the smell…she always made something else for the rest of us.  Well, that wasn’t so unusual either.  Remember…Southern Italian mother…food is important…everyone needs to eat.  There were nights when she would make one meal for my father, one for my sister, and one for me.  She would eat one of the three.

We always ate dinner together as a family and, despite the comment above, we usually at the same meal.  Sometimes, though, we each got individually catered food.

But back to hamburgers for a moment.  My mother was a great cook.  I know she used really good beef for her hamburgers.  She usually picked out a whole cut and had the butcher grind it.  She never bought ground beef that I recall.  I still follow the basic blueprint of her hamburger recipe today and enjoy it.  So, I can’t really tell you why I thought her hamburgers were awful.  But I did.

Soup was a big deal in our house.  My father really liked soup.  Interestingly, I don’t remember having Caraway Soup more than a few times while growing up.  I do know, however, that while I was in college I got the recipe from my mother after it appeared on our table one day.  It seemed like a revelation.

It has been a regular on my table ever since.

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 Slovak Caraway Soup
This is a light, refreshing soup based on a vegetable broth for which the ingredients are almost always on hand. I like serving it as a first course though it works equally well for lunch or as a light supper. Grating the vegetables on the large holes of a box grater was one of my mother’s tricks. It makes fast work of prep and the small pieces quickly flavor the broth.
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Course Soups and Stews
Cuisine Slovak
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Passive Time 45 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Soups and Stews
Cuisine Slovak
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Passive Time 45 minutes
Servings
people
Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Shred the carrots on the teardrop holes of a box grater.
  3. Shred the celery on the teardrop holes of a box grater.
  5. Thinly slice half an onion.
  6. Combine carrots, celery, sliced onion, 2 teaspoons of salt, ½ teaspoon of black pepper and 2 quarts of water in a stock pot. Cover. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
  7. Add the caraway seeds. Cover and simmer another 25 minutes.
  8. Strain the broth. Discard the solids.
  9. Return the broth to the stock pot. The soup can be made several hours ahead to this point.
  10. When your ready to finish the soup, return the broth to a bare simmer.
  11. In a heavy-bottomed stock pot large enough to hold the soup, sauté the minced onion in butter until soft but not brown, about 3-4 minutes.
  12. Add the flour to the sautéed onions and cook until lightly colored, about 2 minutes, stirring almost constantly.
  13. Stir the hot broth into the onion-flour mixture a ladleful at a time, stirring well while adding the broth to avoid lumps.
  14. After about one-third of the broth has been added, the remainder can be added all at once.
  15. Bring to a boil and boil gently for 1-2 minutes to thicken. Adjust salt and pepper.
  16. While the soup is boiling, beat the eggs with 1/3 cup of water. Season the eggs with salt.
  17. While constantly whisking the stock, drizzle in the eggs to create shreds of egg.
  18. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes

Copyright © 2017 by VillaSentieri.com. All rights reserved.

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Recipes

Italian Slow-Roasted Chicken or Turkey

12 Comments

April 21, 2017

For two countries that are geographically so close, Italy and France couldn’t be further apart on views of how to roast poultry.

The French typically roast quickly and at high temperature.

Italians are masters of the low and slow approach.

Italian roast chicken (or turkey, for that matter) literally falls apart.  The French version does not.  It’s a matter of style and technique, not quality or skill.

The usual style in the United States leans more toward France than Italy.  It’s the basis of the style of roasting described in most modern cookbooks and cooking magazines; higher temperatures rather than lower temperatures and yanking the bird out of the oven as soon as it reaches the minimum acceptable temperature to be “cooked” and “safe.”  Even when these magazines try to champion the approach of low and slow, they almost always miss the boat.  They miss the boat because they are still focused on the thermometer approach.

You can’t do low and slow if you’re focused on getting the bird out of the oven as soon as it hits the “safe” temperature.  Italian roast chicken is more like “pulled” chicken than the minimally cooked French version.  The whole mouthfeel is different.  So is the taste.

What I didn’t understand growing up is that my mother’s roast chicken and turkey drew from a broader Italian approach.

A few years ago we were in Tuscany having lunch with my husband’s Great Uncle Beppe and his family.

When the roast chicken was served, it was just like my mother’s!  Seasoned with garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and roasted slowly, till it basically fell apart.

My mother’s mother came to the United States from Calabria around the turn of the 20th century at four years of age.  Here I was, nearly a century later in a province at the other end of the Italian peninsula eating chicken that could have been my mother’s, the way she learned it from her mother, who learned it from her mother.

I think that was a turning point for me in wanting to better understand Italian food traditions throughout the country and even throughout the Italian diaspora around the world.

Another amazing thing, when I think about it, is that my mother brined her chicken for an hour before cooking.  We’re talking the 1960’s here (probably the 1950’s too but I’m too young to remember that) way before brining was ever mentioned in cooking circles.  I can’t tell you why she did it or how it started but when I was learning to cook under her guidance, brining was always the first step for any recipe that included chicken.

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 Italian Slow-Roasted Chicken or Turkey
This is a no-recipe recipe. I never measure the seasonings. It’s really pretty hard to use an inappropriate amount. The cooking time is pretty forgiving, too. Until you get the hang of it, I suggest planning on the longer cooking time and the higher temperature. If the chicken or turkey is falling-apart tender before you’re ready for it, just reduce the oven to 150°F to keep the bird warm. My mother would usually brine the bird for about an hour before cooking. Time permitting, I do the same. This basic recipe works for everything from a three pound chicken to an 18 pound turkey. Just for a point of reference, the pictures feature a 12 pound turkey.
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Course Mains, Poultry
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes per pound
Servings
people
Ingredients
Course Mains, Poultry
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes per pound
Servings
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Ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Brine the bird, if you like, for about an hour.
  2. Thoroughly rinse and dry the bird.
  3. Prop the bird with the cavity facing up. Generously season the inside of the bird with garlic powder, rosemary black pepper and salt. As a matter of habit, if I'm using dried rosemary, I always crust it with my fingers before sprinkling it on the bird.
  4. Put the bird in a roasting pan, breast up, preferably one able to hold the bird rather snugly. The roasting pan should have a tight-fitting cover.
  5. Generously season the outside of the bird with garlic powder, rosemary, black pepper and salt.
  8. Add water (or wine) to the bottom of the roasting pan not over the top of the bird. You don't want to displace the seasonings.
  9. Cover and roast at 350°F for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 275°F to 300°F.
  10. After the first hour, baste the bird with the juices in the roasting pan about every 30-45 minutes. Be sure to tip the bird, or use a basting bulb, to remove the juices from the cavity and add them to the juices in the bottom of the roasting pan.
  11. Roast for a total of 30-40 minutes per pound (including the first half hour). The bird should just about be falling off the bone.
  12. If there is too much liquid in the bottom of the pan or if the bird is not brown enough, uncover the pan for the last 30 minutes or so.
Recipe Notes

Poultry cooked this way will not submit to carving in a photogenic Norman Rockwell manner. It’s just a different style. It would be like trying to cut delicate slices from pulled pork. It’s not going to happen. That said, the joints will usually separate easily and you can cut along the grain rather than against the grain to portion appropriate-sized pieces for serving.

Copyright © 2017 by VillaSentieri.com. All rights reserved.

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