Food for thought

Invitation to a Virtual Supper Party

Not that I want to compete with Jamie or Nigella....  Just that there isn't much else to do these days but eat and sleep....  

So come to supper with me.  Just a few things Italian that I have learned to live with, starting with Bruschetta (bruise - ketta, not brooshetta!) al pomodoro:

From a personal point of view, as a retired grouch, sitting at home rewatching The Sopranos (and sundry westerns) and listening to The St John Passion and John Prine, reading P G Wodehouse and other books I never got round to before (or rereading those I remember I liked)....  Yeah, from a personal point of view, this lock down is possibly just an advanced copy of life in the departure lounge.... nothing to get excited about.  

You know, if I had some hand cut prosciutto and fresh figs I'd be in seventh heaven.....

But, for almost everyone, it's a trial, I do understand.  And I understand because I am not alone.  Meadow (the cat) 

is oblivious to the situation out there....  And so is Amanda, 

my little wife.  So I have to cater/care/look out for her too, which is the cross I must bear....

So, what about food at these trying times?  It's not that there isn't any (yet), but we are all constrained to manage at home, and so sharing a few favourites may not go amiss?

The ideas below are, of course, not original.  They are also flexible. They are also multipliable, as I generally cook for one, giving a tiny portion to Amanda to go with her staple tortellini with frozen peas and cream....

So, here goes:

The first thing is don't be a slave to any recipe - if you don't have some (exotic) ingredient, don't fret.

The second thing is realise that cooking isn't rocket science.  If you can't eat it raw, then it needs to be cooked (i.e. processed with heat).....

Why?  Because heat helps break things down to make them digestible, and it helps bind flavours.  Raw pasta, for example, is not a great treat.  Pasta cooked al dente with a nicely heated tomato sauce with basil, however, is a feast.....  But then overcooked pasta with a burnt tomato mush, isn't worth talking about.....

And speaking of pasta, one of my favourite dishes is Pasta all Norcina.  Norcia is a small town in a fold between the mountains of central Italy, where Saint Benedict was born.  It has a tradition of great food, partly because centuries ago the monks there found that flowing water doesn't freeze, so they set up rice fields with constantly moving water and produced three harvests of rice a year.  Which then meant they had plenty to feed the pigs on....

So Pasta alla Norcina is basically a pork sausage dressing for pasta.  Traditionally short, tubular pasta, like rigatoni, is used, and coarse pure pork sausages are best (one per person is plenty) but you can use any.  All you need to do is melt an onion in some olive oil (or butter) and then crumble in the sausage meat.  Let this heat, then add a little white wine and cook for a while.  Then add some cream (double for preference) and ground black pepper, and keep warm while you boil the pasta in a large pan of salted water.  100g per person is about right, and follow the time indicated on the packet.  

When the pasta is done (and not overdone!) mix it all up and grate some cheese (preferably parmesan, but any hard cheese will do) over each serving......

For an alternative, without meat, we are having Penne con Pomodoro e Ricotta.  All you need for this is tomato sauce (warm up some garlic in oil, then add chopped tomatoes or passata and a little salt) then when the pasta is cooked stir in about 100g (per person) of ricotta and the tomato sauce and sprinkle with parmesan....

A third easy pasta I like - possibly the first I learnt to make - is Pasta al Tonno (pasta with tuna).  This again is best with short pasta, like penne or tortiglioni or sedani rigati, conchiglie or fusilli....  But it works with pretty much any pasta you may have.

Start, as often, with a chopped onion heated in oil, with garlic too, if you like (or just garlic and no onion will do as well).  Add some dry chilli flakes (or fresh chilli) here if you like it a little spicy.  Then add a tin of (drained) tuna -  a little tin for one, a bigger tin for two or three, and so on.  Let this heat through and then add tomato.  For a rich sauce start with a squeeze of tomato paste, then stir in some tinned chopped tomatoes - about 150g for one and so on up...  Add salt and pepper to taste and bring to a good heat.  Cook the pasta, drain and mix.  Add some fresh parsley if you have it, but no cheese. 

I have cooked this for myself, and frozen some of the sauce for another day, but I have also cooked it for twenty or more, and if the atmosphere is right, and there's some light red wine to go with, it pleases most people.....

Now for the contorni - side dishes.  I have three today: Zucchini al pomodoro, 

Fagiolini,

and Caponata in agrodolce.....

The first of these is quite straightforward - slice the zucchini (courgettes) and stew in oil with chopped garlic for a little while.  Then, adding salt and pepper, turn the heat up and fry until golden, at which point add chopped tomatoes, a little more salt and pepper to taste, and heat through for a few minutes.

I steam beans, but boiled is fine. Then when cooked al dente I add salt, a little balsamic vinegar and the best olive oil I have to hand.

The caponata in agrodolce is a little more complex. Start by cutting a Melanzana (aubergine) into cubes and leaving slightly salted in a colander for a while.  Then rinse and dry and fry in oil with a sliced onion and chopped celery.  When these are soft, add some chopped tomatoes, a spoonful of sugar, a slug of white wine vinegar and stew for a little. Then, when this is hot and amalgamated, add some pine nuts, some green olives (preferably without stones) a few capers, some soaked sultanas and salt and pepper.  When you think it's ready, top it with a few basil leaves if you have any and serve, or leave to cool and serve tepid.


By the way.  Don't forget, the cook may need a glass of something....

For dessert I have prepared two options.  A lemon ricotta tart:

And a lemon cheesecake.

I am not really a dessert person, so I won't describe the cooking processes - suffice it to say that I looked up recipes and made these, adapting to the ingredients I had to hand. 

I much prefer to conclude a meal with some cheese, like this pecorino with fig jam, although I also like any hard salty cheese with good honey drizzled over it.

And then, almost inevitably, there needs to be a small coffee and a little shot of digestivo - grappa, brandy, amaro - whatever.....

I love eating Italian, and am grieving for all the wonderful restaurants that are currently closed and which in some cases may never open again.  At least I am blessed with memories of trattorie all over Italy which have given me pleasure.....  Let's hope there is a future!

Anyway, it has been a pleasure dining with you.  Thank you for being with me, and let's meet up again soon....

Richard

Bowling for Pasta

The Art of Eating Well....

Once upon a time there was macaroni cheese..... My mum used to make a gooey meal from "macaroni" baked in the oven with the same kind of bechamel cheese sauce that actually went quite well with cauliflower.....

At that time Italy was a very foreign country, and olive oil was only available in Boots (and that is not just an urban myth.....)

I didn't like macaroni cheese.....

Spaghetti alle vongole veraci

When I eventually got to Italy, in the mid 1970s, I found, to my surprise, that there was no such thing as macaroni cheese. I also found that not all Italians were fat. And I discovered that there were absolutely innumerable ways of serving (almost) innumerable types of pasta (none of which were called maccheroni.....)

Living in Rome, enjoying a very dolce vita for a time, eating out was what you did..... In fact, you could hardly afford not to; not only was it cheaper than trying to rustle something up at home, but also it was a part of the essential conviviality that seemed to be a Mediterranean way of life.....

Artusi - The Art of Eating Well - the book that started it all

I also worked with a remarkable woman, a bonne viveur whose first book, originally published in 1987, has gone on to sell over a million copies....

The book that first inspired me to cook pasta.....

Spoilt by the habit of frequenting cheap trattorie, it was not until I had moved to a villa in the countryside, and acquired Diane's book, that I began to cook pasta at home.

Eliche al pomodoro e basilico

And to my surprise it was not difficult.  To my delight, following relatively simple guidelines, the results were good. And suddenly, blessed with superb local produce, we found we could enjoy conviviality without necessarily going out.....

Tomato salad

Of course we still did go out, frequently, and spent weekends exploring the extraordinary variety that Italy holds. 

Bieta all'Agro

And amongst those trips, there were two towns that we visited that would become favourites, and which, curiously, give their names to pasta dishes. 

Use good quality Italian pasta

Amatrice is hardly more than a village, with less than 3,000 inhabitants, but it is a well known resort for Romans who like the mountains.  At just under 1,000 metres above sea level, and little more than 130 kilometres from Rome up the Via Salaria, it is in the National Park of the Gran Sasso, surrounded by spectacular scenery.

If you stay at the Hotel Roma, as we did on several occasions, you have to have Spaghetti all'Amatriciana.

To make this authentically, you should use guanciale, or cured pig's cheek, but Italian pancetta will do (not, however, cheap sliced bacon - that won't work....)

Cut the pancetta into cubes, or ribbons, (traditionally you should use a quarter the weight of the pasta you are going to cook - so 100 grams of pancetta to 400 g pasta) and fry lightly in olive oil with a red chilli. (You can add a clove of garlic, but do not use onion).  When the fat clears, tip in a small glass of dry white wine and let it boil (and here you can use a small amount of white wine vinegar if you like it particularly piquant).  Then add either a few skinned and deseeded ripe Italian tomatoes, or some chopped tinned ones, or some passata di pomodoro. Originally, before the Bourbons introduced tomatoes to this part of the world (in the 18th century), this sauce was made in bianco, but now it is a red sauce: just don't swamp the pancetta with too much tomato....

Now let the sauce simmer while you cook the pasta.  In Amatrice it is usually spaghetti, though bucatini is quite acceptable.  In Rome, short pasta such as rigatoni is sometimes used, though, veramente, long pasta is better for this sauce..... Whichever you use cook it in a big pan of boiling salted water, and don't overcook it.  The guide time on the packet will usually be fine, unless the packet is old, in which case it might take a minute or two longer, but test it, and serve it al dente, which means it has a little bite to it.....

To serve, toss the pasta in half of the sauce, and then dish it into bowls, topping each bowl with a spoonful or so of the remaining sauce.  Grated Pecorino (Romano) cheese is traditionally scattered on top, but Grana Padano, or, if you have nothing else, Parmigiano (Parmesan), can be substituted. Whatever you do don't be tempted to use Cheddar!  It will ruin everything!

The first time I sat in a real Italian restaurant, on my own, with hardly a word of Italian, I was served a wonderful dish of spaghetti with a Tuscan ragù (meat sauce).  With a glass of wine and a piece of bread, that was the perfect meal.  Not knowing the custom I refused anything else, which didn't really endear me to the waiter, as pasta is known as a primo, or first course, and it used to be expected that it would be followed by a secondo, or main course, with some contorno, or side dish.

The stalks of bieta are excellent with a little butter

Things change.  When D H and Frieda Lawrence travelled in Sardinia in 1922 typically they were served soup or broth for a first course and then boiled meat (from which had derived the broth) for a main course.  During the second world war deprivation was such that one dish depicted in Liliana Cavani's La Pelle leaves the bones of a human hand in the bowl.... In the latter twentieth century 'traditional' restaurants everywhere served four course meals with anti-pasti, pasta dishes, meat with side plates and then dolci, and it was pretty much the norm that that was what you might expect for lunch and for dinner.  Nowadays, there is a more flexible attitude but at the same time it is increasingly difficult to dine out in the traditional way, in a 'traditional' trattoria.  Good food is still plentiful, though it is not cheap anymore.....

Anyway, the second town that gave us its pasta was Norcia, the birthplace of St Benedict, six hundred metres up in the province of Perugia, an ancient walled, earthquake tested town of nearly five thousand.  One hundred and seventy kilometres from Rome, it is another world, with rich culinary traditions, partly based on the ingenious use of flowing water through the fields to allow for multiple harvests each year despite the altitude.  Ham and sausages are exquisite here, and on the ground floor of the Hotel Grotta Azzurra, is the Granaro del Monte restaurant, the oldest in Umbria, which specialises in truffles, grilled meats, and Rigatoni alla Norcina, a delicious pasta dish with sausage and cream sauce.

First lightly fry some finely sliced onion in a little olive oil (it mustn't colour). 

Then skin and break up some genuine coarse Italian sausages (it can be done with English sausages, but use the best quality pork ones you can find) and add them to the pan with a glass of white wine.  If you are making this for four people, then you will need a small onion (or shallot), a couple of sausages, a glass of wine and about 200 ml of double cream.  Cook the sausages for a good ten minutes before you add the cream, allowing the wine to evaporate and ensuring the meat is thoroughly cooked (though not browned).  Then add the cream and simmer gently for another ten minutes while you cook the pasta. This must be short, ridged tube pasta - penne or tortiglione will do, but it will not work properly with smooth or long pasta, and rigatoni is recommended.  When the pasta is cooked, drain it and toss it with grated Parmesan (or Grana) and then stir in the sauce, seasoning with black pepper and a little more cheese....

Before

After

As with the Spaghetti all'Amatriciana, for me a one hundred gram (weight of dried pasta) portion of this makes a good meal, especially when served with a glass of wine, a little bread, a portion of fresh green vegetables or a salad of some kind, and perhaps some fresh fruit to finish.....

The perfect contorno: steamed zucchini e fagiolini all burro

I am quite sure that the granddaddy of Italian food writers, Pellegrino Artusi, who self-published his book Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well in 1891 (since when it has seen 111 editions), would not disagree.  Though his book covers everything, with anecdotes and humour, his preface concludes with the words, Amo il bello ed il buono ovunque si trovino e mi ripugna di vedere straziata, come suol dirsi, la grazia di Dio.  Amen. [I love the beautiful and the good wherever they are found and I hate to see God's bounty, as it is known, destroyed.  Amen.]

Hear! Hear!