Armed and ready for the New Year

I’ve got a rusted old horse shoe hanging outside the front door. There’s a huge pot of lentils simmering on the stove. The cotechino is already cooked and waiting in the fridge. There are three large bunches of wrinkled prune-like grapes (passito), the remnants of September’s harvest, hanging in the cellar. They should be super sweet. I’m walking around in red underwear with an extra-heavy bunch of change dangling in my pockets. There’s mistletoe hanging in practically every room of the house (not that I’ll be doing a lot of kissing because women are strictly out-of-bounds for the duration of the evening). And I’ve got a bunch of crap (an old and worn non-stick pan, a broken chair and a cracked mug) sitting in a pile waiting to go out the window at the stroke of midnight! All the shutters are down and now all I need to do is find a bloody hunchback… emmm… that’s going to be a tough one.

Italians take their superstitions seriously. And it’s contagious. The problem is there’s very little agreement between the regions as to what constitutes good luck and bad. We all seem to agree on lentils though. Eating lentils on New Year’s Eve with cotechino [a large sausage], Italians believe, will bring good fortune – of the financial kind. Down the road in Bologna and Modena they eat zampone [pigs trotter], which is shaped like a purse, with their lentils.

The grapes I’ve been saving especially for the occasion also symbolise good luck. As the saying goes: “chi mangia l'uva per Capodanno, conta i quattrini tutto l'anno". “whoever eats grapes at New Year, counts the money/coins all year round”. I’ve got a lot of grapes so I bought a calculator just for the occasion. On the subject of food, raisins and jars of dates and dried figs covered in honey are also supposed to bring a smile to your bank manager’s face over the year. I’ve got little bowls of raisins in the hallway, upstairs and down, a nibble for anyone passing – might as well spread the luck. I’m going to eat a bowl of honey-covered dates and figs with chocolate sauce and cream after dinner.

I’m going out for dinner – for the traditional New Year’s Eve cenone [literally Big Supper]. Luckily I don’t live in Naples so I’m going to leave the crash helmet at home. The Neapolitans believe that throwing old furniture - TV’s, fridges, pots, pans and the like – literally out the window will make room for what’s to come. It’s a prohibited practice these days but in Naples it’s best to be careful, just in case. I’ve really filled my pockets with loose change because it is supposed to multiply over the year. As for the red underwear, they say it wards off the Evil Eye. If you’re recently married, give your partner a pair – they will also bring prosperity and fertility!

It’s a quiet neighbourhood and the restaurant is just around the corner but just to be sure I’m going to wear a pair of blinkers. After all, I wouldn’t want to spot any priests, grave diggers or doctors on the sprint home. I don’t know any grave diggers but doctors and priests are a sure sign of bad fortune (of the worse kind) to come! On the other hand, if I happen to spot a hunchback or a white horse, I’m sure to be in for a bit of luck. As for women, the jury’s out on that one – they say the year could go either way. I’m not taking any chances. I’m going to have a boy’s night out!

Thanks everyone for your support this year and for taking an interest. Let’s hope the next year is full of good luck and fortune for everyone. Happy New Year!!! Felice Anno Nuovo!!!  

P.S. If you know any male hunchbacks living in my area, please let me know.

P.P.S. If anyone needs a loan, feel free to ask. I’m feeling especially generous [not to mention, they say anything loaned on New Year’s Eve will be returned a hundredfold over the coming year].

Buon Anno.

Spending time in the kitchen

This Christmas I made anolini in brodo (stuffed pasta cooked in broth) along with fresh tortelli with a chestnut stuffing finished in butter and fresh sage. The mains included a traditional bollito misto (a dish of mixed boiled meats used to make the broth for the pasta) followed by faraona alla creta (stuffed guinea fowl baked in a clay mould). One of my young sons [the creative one] did the sculpture-work. The other [the destructive one] wielded the hammer over the table. Luckily everyone managed to avoid the shrapnel and the bird was perfectly cooked, juicy and tender. We finished with a chocolate zucotto followed by a traditional panettone made by the local artisan baker. It was a great meal, simple yet fitting the occasion. All in all, I estimate I spent approximately 4.5 hours in the kitchen. I can’t really complain as most of that time was spent watching the meat boil. That said, I’ve been invited to my neighbours for Boxing Day and I’m eating out on New Year’s Eve!        

My Christmas efforts were average (time-wise, that is!). A recent survey found that 42% of Italian households spent between three and five hours preparing Christmas dinner. It’s a figure that pales in comparison to the 12% of households that spent over eight hours! Only 6% managed to get dinner on the table in under an hour (how they did that is anyone’s guess). The remainder (40 per cent), spent somewhere between one and three hours. Nine out of ten Italians had lunch with family.

We all spend more time in the kitchen over the Christmas holidays. Yet I wonder just how much more time the average Italian spends in the kitchen compared to any other Sunday lunch throughout the year? Why do I say this? I say so because I know that what my local neighbours ate on Christmas hardly bears a difference to what they eat practically every Sunday. The anolini in broth and the mixed boiled meats are so commonplace in this area they are a given. And a roast of some sort almost always follows. Of course everyone enjoys a little extravagance over Christmas – perhaps a few slices of the finest culatello, maybe a shaving of truffle over fresh pasta and, for those with a sweet tooth, the occasional extra dessert. But we have a machine at home for slicing the ham and as far as dessert is concerned, as often as not, that merely entails a walk to the local pasticceria. I know because it’s a small town.

My point is this. Italy is still a nation of home cooks that live [or is it love?] to cook. Whilst the five-minute polenta flour and boil-in-the-bag cotechino sausages might have taken some of the sting out of cooking, Italians still spend a significant amount of their time in the kitchen. Ready-made-meals and pre-prepared vegetables in the supermarket are noticeable by their absence. So if you want to eat here, there is no alternative but to put in the effort. That said, I’m still going out New Year’s Eve!    

An Italian Christmas for the Italians

Italians are patriotic when it comes to shopping. And this is never truer than at Christmas. According to a recent survey, Italians will spend 2.2 billion on ‘Made in Italy’ products over the festive holidays. They’re looking for value for money, eschewing anything that’s out-of-season (peaches and cherries etc), opting instead for home grown and local. A whopping 73% said that they would only buy products ‘made in Italy’, a level of patriotism which is much higher than the European average of 60%.

Most Italians intend to give food as gifts for Christmas. Among the top contenders are Christmas sweets, torrone [nougat] and chocolates, Tuscan panforte and cantucci biscuits, pandolce from Liguria, panettone, struffoli from Campania and Puglia and various salumi or cured meat products made throughout the country. Specialty pastas, lentils and beans also feature high on the national gift list. Of those surveyed, 33% intend to buy local and 28% organic.

The gift of food, for Italians, is considered the greatest gesture one can make. Over the summer, Italians fortunate enough to own a large vegetable garden will gladly pick a few extra tomatoes for their neighbour every time they venture into the garden for the ingredients for a salad. So too, an excess of mushrooms, truffles or any wild food gathered is almost always shared with friends and family. The gift of food is always appreciated and it never gets old.

Why? Because the appreciation of food in Italian culture still stems from a time when food was scarce. The hard times, or cucina povera of old, is still engrained in the national psyche. And it wasn’t so long ago. The older generation in Italy is still young enough to remember times when food wasn’t readily available – and it’s a lesson that’s passed from one generation to the next. The frugality of the times was such that festive occasions such as Christmas became heightened in importance. The weeks, even months, in the run up to Christmas was a time of sacrifice. Eggs would be stored to make pasta, chestnuts and mushrooms would be dried and a good salami would be hung specially for the occasion. These were not foodstuffs that were eaten on a regular basis. Any surplus would have been sold to buy sugar for something sweet on the day.

Of course, there’s another angle to the Italian appreciation of food as a gift. It’s one steeped in religious tradition. The Italian Christmas begins on Christmas Eve and carries through to the Epiphany on the 6^th of January. Gifts of food given in the days before Christmas are intended to last throughout the festive season. They are not exclusively intended for Christmas day. Again, this in part reflects a culture that left nothing to waste and understood the importance of making things last. It’s no coincidence that many dishes made over the festive season are dishes that are made to last – panforte, tortelli, panettone, spongata, the various cured meat products, to name just a few – and will be enjoyed throughout the two weeks of Christmas.

Christmas in Italy is very different from Christmas in most other countries I’ve spent time in. Although modernity has taken its toll, with an element of commercialism creeping in, it certainly hasn’t changed the fundamental character of the festive season. Personally I’m not complaining. There’s something quite comforting about going back to basics. These days I’ve come to expect the inevitable knock on the door followed by a panettone and a bottle of something homemade. I’m guilty myself – this year I have a surplus of dried mushrooms packed into pretty jars, homemade apricot and cherry jams, as well as some great biscuits. It beats socks and soap any day of the week!  

Fish and chips and La Vigilia

Traditions die hard in Italy, particularly food traditions. That’s why most Italians will tell you that on Christmas Eve, known here as La Vigilia, they will eat ‘magro’ or ‘lean’. Don’t let that fool you. To interpret this as ‘light’ is completely mistaken! Since when have you heard of Italians eating light?  Rather, it just means no meat – of course, they compensate with extra vegetables and plenty of fish. 

The number of courses served on Christmas Eve tends to be symbolic – seven for the seven sacraments, 12 for the disciples, 13 with the addition of Jesus. The type of fish you eat really depends on where in Italy you happen live. A firm favourite in the past was il capitone (eel), either fried or in umido.  However, tastes have changed somewhat and it’s probably fair to say that today the preferred choice of fish for most Italians is baccalà or merluzzo (salt cod).

I’ve no intention of attempting 13 courses, or 7 for that matter! But, being a huge fan of salt cod, I do love cooking for Christmas Eve. That might have something to do with the fact that my family was, for many years, in the fish-and-chip business in Belfast. This year, like every year, I’m cooking salt cod two different ways – one for the Irish in me (deep fried in batter) and one for the Italian (alla Napoletana). As my family originated just outside of Naples, I guess you could say that this is a real family combo for me! 

Salt cod Neapolitan-style

Baccalà alla Napoletana

Baccalà is sold everywhere in Italy in the run up to Christmas. It is important to buy it in advance as it needs to be soaked in water for a couple of days before cooking. It’s also important to remember to change the water several times a day. Baccalà alla napoletana is a hugely popular dish cooked not only in Campania but across the country (albeit often under a different name).  The addition of sultanas and pine nuts really lifts the dish and makes it something special and festive.

Serves 4-6 people

Preparation time: 15 minutes + soaking time for the fish

Cooking time: 30 minutes

1kg salted cod fillet (ready to use)

800g tinned chopped tomatoes

150g black olives

50g sultanas

25g pine nuts

1 tablespoon capers

2 cloves of garlic

Flour of dusting

A little olive oil

Salt and pepper

To make the sauce, in a deep-sided frying pan gently fry the two cloves of garlic in a few tablespoons of olive oil for a few minutes.  Next add the chopped tomatoes, olives, sultanas, pine nuts and capers.  Allow to simmer gently for 15 minutes and check for seasoning.  If necessary add salt and pepper.

Whilst the sauce is simmering take the fillet of prepared salt cod (see above) and cut into steaks of about 5cm wide.  Dust with seasoned flour and fry in a separate frying pan with a few tablespoons of olive oil until golden on the outside.  You can do this in batches.

Once all the cod has been fried, place into the pan with the sauce, cover and continue gently simmering for 25-30 minutes until the cod is cooked all the way through. Serve immediately over polenta or with crusty bread.

Deep fried salt cod

Merluzzo fritto

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 15 minutes + soaking time for the fish

Cooking time: 15 minutes

1kg salted cod fillet (ready to use) cut into large pieces

Vegetable oil for frying

150g plain flour

75g corn flour

Good pinch sugar

Salt

Mix together all the ingredients for the batter with 225ml chilled water and 1tsp of salt and leave to rest for about 30 minutes.

Heat the oil to about 180ºC. Dip the cod pieces into seasoned flour to coat and then dip into the batter. Allow excess batter to drip off. Then fry in hot oil until golden and crisp, and cooked through in the centre.

Cook the fish in batches, drain on kitchen paper and keep hot in the oven while you cook the rest. When all the fish is cooked, sprinkle with salt and serve with lemon wedges or vinegar and oven baked chips.

Reinforcing salad

Insalata di Rinforzo

Insalata di Rinforzo hails from the Campania region in the south. Its name means to reinforce the appetite! Full of strong flavours typically of region, this dish will evoke memories for anyone who has ever visited Naples or the surrounding region. For me, this is one of those clever Italian dishes that feeds more than just the appetite. Both in the making and in the eating, the preserved vegetables bring back an all but distant memory of warmer summer days – a perfect tonic on a cold winter’s evening. For many people across the country, the preparation of the dish will have started on a hot July or August day when vegetables were being harvested and preserved fresh from the fields.

Strictly speaking, the peppers used are generally jarred and preserved in vinegar. However, along with the pickled cornicions, capers and salted anchovies, I find this over-powering and prefer instead to inject a little mild sweetness, which you can get by roasting the peppers. It’s just a question of taste because ultimately this is a great dish as it’s versatile, there are no hard-and-fast rules, it can be prepared well in advance and if you see it’s running low, you simply top it up!  What’s more, serve the salad on a large platter, put your feet up and let the guests help themselves.

Serves 6-8

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

1 cauliflower

3 red/yellow peppers

150g cornicions

200g black olives

150g large pickled onions

80g salted anchovies

4 free-range eggs

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salt/pepper

Put the peppers on a baking tray and place in a pre-heated hot oven for about 15 minutes, or until the skins are blackened. Remove and place in a covered bowl and cool. Once cooled, peel the peppers and slice into strips. Set aside.

Break the cauliflower into florets and boil in salted water until tender, but still retaining a bite.  Set aside to cool.  In the meantime, boil the eggs for around 8 minutes until hard-boiled, then peel off the shell and set aside to cool.

To finish the dish, arrange the cauliflower on a large serving plate. Distribute the roasted peppers over the cauliflower and then the remaining ingredients. Finish off with the hard boiled eggs sliced in half. 

To make the dressing, simply whisk together the oil and vinegar, and season generously.  Pour the dressing into a serving jug and allow guests to dress their own salad to taste.

Dolce Natale - Sweet Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner, it’s time to get serious about the menu. And a good place to start is with desserts. For most of the year Italians buy or eat their desserts at the pastry shop or in the café. Christmas is one of the exceptions to the rule. Luckily, however, as most Italian Christmas cakes keep well they can be made in advance taking at least some of the stress out of the day! Here’s two recipes you might like to try that are very popular and quick and simple to make. Incidentally, both recipes also make great gifts!

Pampepato

Ferrara’s famous cake, the pampetato, was first mentioned in a document dating back to 1465. It is believed that the original recipe was created by the famous renaissance chef, Cristoforo da Messisbugo as a tribute to the Pope. It was, at the time, known as Pan del Papa (Bread of the Pope). Over time the name changed but the essence of the cake has remained the same.

Despite its name, pampetato is not ‘peppered’ or ‘spicy’, unlike many of Italy’s Christmas desserts.  It is, however, a rich fruit and nut-based cake covered in chocolate and in its final form has been likened to a small pumpkin. It is still very much associated with the city of Ferrara and over the Christmas period bakery windows are filled with wonderful displays of their favourite cake. 

Pampepato

Spiced chocolate cake

Serves 6-8

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

200g plain flour

100g blanched almonds

100g caster sugar

80g plain cocoa powder

100g candied fruit

Teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 finely ground cloves

120-150ml warm milk

100g plain chocolate

Place the flour in a large bowl and add all the other ingredients with the exception of the chocolate and the milk.  Stir together well.  When all the ingredients are well combined, add 100ml of warm milk and stir in.  Continue adding the milk a little at a time until a soft but firm dough is formed.  Work the dough a little with your hands to form a ball and then shape into a dome.  Place this on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 170ºC for 20 minutes.  Once cooked, remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.  When completely cool, melt the plain chocolate in a double boiler and then drizzle all over the pampepato.  Allow the chocolate coating to set before serving.  This cake is very rich and dense, so it should be served in small slices!

Salame di cioccolato

The chocolate salami is something of a newcomer. It’s not strictly traditional but a more modern day invention. It’s still considered something of a novelty in Italian homes, especially for children, and its relative simplicity in the making, and the fact that it can be made well in advance and keeps well, has made it an increasingly popular dessert. It is eaten of course sliced, just like a salami, albeit not at the start of a meal! It is generally enjoyed along with coffee and liqueurs.

Salame di cioccolato

Chocolate salami

Serves 12

Preparation time: 10-15 minutes + chilling

Cooking time: N/A

150 – 180g dry biscuits

130g unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

75g plain cocoa powder

50g blanched almonds

2 egg yolks

1 shot of rum

Place the egg yolks and half the sugar in a large bowl and whisk with an electric beater until light and foamy.  Next, add the butter which has been melted and cooled, the cocoa powder, the rum and the rest of the sugar.  Beat again to mix everything together.  Finally, add the biscuits which have been roughly crushed and the almonds.  Stir together well.

Place a large sheet of greaseproof paper on the work surface and tip the mixture out onto the paper in the shape of a salami.  Fold the paper over the mixture and press down, compacting the mixture and at the same time trying to create an authentic salami shape.  When you’re happy with the final result, wrap the ends up well and place in the fridge for at least 3 hours before serving.  Before serving, if you roll the salami in icing sugar it really lends to an authentic salami look.

Cats, pasta and Garganelli

Every Italian food has to have a legend. A good story lends its own kind of flavour - colour, character and form. Sometimes the legends are just that – stories designed to entertain and feed the soul, as well as the appetite. Sometimes there are multiple stories - every small town in Italy, after all, has to lay claim to something. And sometimes they are grounded in something more concrete. The question is; how do you tell the difference?

Garganelli, the grooved quill-shaped pasta, is a case in point. They originated in Romagna, taking their name from the dialect word garganel, which is used to describe the cartilaginous rings around the trachea of a chicken.  They are made by rolling out squares of pasta around a pencil-like stick and then rolling the tubes over a wooden comb. This gives them their distinctive grooves.

There are a number of stories accounting for the birth of garganelli. One version has it that they appeared for the first time in 1725 in Imola in the home of the Cardinal of Aragon, Cornelio Bentivoglio, the Papal Legate of Romagna. A creative cook, so it’s claimed, had rolled out squares of pasta to make cappelleti (a stuffed ravioli-like pasta) for the Cardinal’s lunch. But when he discovered that the cat had ate the filling, he was forced to improvise. So he rolled the dough out with the tools he had at hand and served the quills in a capon broth. They were well received and the idea quickly spread to neighbouring wealthy families.

Another story attributes them to the cook of the court of Caterina Sforza (1463-1509), wife of Girolamo Riario, nephew of Pope Sixtus the IV, Lord of Forlì and Imola. Alternatively, it could be that their origins are more humble, originating in the local countryside. If so they would certainly have been reserved for Sundays and special occasions given the use of eggs and the fact that they can be quite time consuming to prepare.   

Making them by hand isn’t that difficult, if you have patience and a little time on your hands. It’s well worth the effort. However, the dried egg-pasta version sold in delis and some supermarkets are also well worth a try. As it happens, the first pasta making machine for making garganelli was invented by Edward Bacchini in 1984, a pasta maker from Romagna.

There are a number of ways for getting the best out of your garganelli. The typical classical versions from Romagna are to serve them with either a meat ragù or with a creamy sauce of peas and ham and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Prawns and courgettes in cream is also a popular combination. Ideally you want something with a sauce, the grooves in the garganelli designed for the very purpose of holding it. I’ve opted for a combination of prawns and peas. It’s a great combination. Just watch the cat doesn’t eat the prawns while you are waiting for the water to boil!    

Garganelli with Prawns and Peas in a creamy tomato sauce

Garganelli con gamberi e piselli in una salsa cremoso al pomodoro

Serves 4

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

300g garganelli

250g large fresh prawns, cleaned

200g fresh peas

200ml tomato pasta sauce

100g mascarpone cheese

Salt

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the garganelli.  If you haven’t made them fresh, cook according to packet instructions.  Whilst the pasta is cooking warm the tomato sauce and stir in the mascarpone cheese.  In a separate pan boil the peas until just tender (about 3 minutes), drain and add to the tomato sauce.  In the meantime, cook the prawns in a large griddle pan for 2-3 minutes and then add to the tomato sauce also.  When the garganelli are cooked, drain (reserving a small ladleful of cooking water) and add to the saucepan with the sauce.  Toss everything together well, adding a little of the cooking water to loosen the sauce if necessary. Serve immediately.

Bargnolino – Sloe berries

Italians like to make their own liqueurs. From mid November little vans parked by the roadside sell crates of lemons from Sicily, Campania and Liguria. It’s a sure sign that it’s time to make the annual supply of limoncello. In June, 70-year-old Italians clamber up trees for fresh green walnuts to make a liqueur known as nocino. In the early summer they will take a trip to the forests for wild strawberries, in September it’s grape lees for making grappa and in late autumn, early winter it’s sloe berries that are the focus of attention.

Every region has its own particular after-dinner preferences. And every Italian thinks that they harbour the secret to the best liqueur in town. In that respect, I’m no different.  Through a process of trial and error I think I can make a bottle of limoncello that can compete with the very best. This weekend it was bargnolino that had me mixing and bottling into the small hours of the morning. The secret to bargnolino, however, is not in the method. The secret to good bargnolino is nerve. 

Bargnolino, an after-dinner digestive, is made from sloe berries which grow on spiny shrubs throughout the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine area. This drink is widely made at home and its popularity seems to be growing by the year. In Ivvacari, they hold a bargnolino competition which takes place during the salami festival. He (or she) who is judged to make the finest bargnolino is crowned King of the Sloe! I’m fixing to run next year.

The key to this liqueur is collecting the berries when they are just right. The season begins in October and can, in some years, run through as late as mid-December, depending on the weather. The colder it is, the sooner the berries will ripen. The optimum time is after the first heavy frost. The berries should be soft to the touch, to the point where they stain your hand as you collect them. Most give in to their impatience. They succumb to the fear that if they wait, there won’t be a kilo of sloe berries to be found anywhere within a 100km radius. And so they go picking long before the berries have reached their best. Like I said, it’s a question of nerve.

This year, the weather has been particularly mild. It didn’t rain throughout August and well into September. Throughout October and the first half of November the berries were smaller than usual and firm to the touch – not exactly what you are looking for. So (nerves of steel) I waited… and waited, well aware it could be too late. But, if willing to take it, it’s a risk that can really pay off. I picked 8 kilos of berries in a place high above Morfasso in the lower Apennines a couple of weeks back. They were soft to the touch, perfect for bargnolino. The hint of envy on the faces in the bar was clear for all to see. All that’s left is for the King of Bargnolino to collect his Crown!   

Here’s the standard recipe for you. Experiment and make it your own.

Makes approximately 2 litres

1kg of sloe berries

1 litre of pure alcohol (or strong vodka or a dry grappa)

500 ml of Italian red wine (a fizzy Guttornio if you can find it)

A generous ½ kilo of sugar

Method

Lightly wash the berries discarding any debris such as stray twigs and leaves. Place the berries in a small demijohn (or a large glass jar with a lid) and cover with the alcohol. Seal the jar and place in a dark closet or under the stairs. Leave for 60 days, but remember to give the contents a good shake every 2 or 3 days.

After 60 days, strain the liquid through a muslin cloth and then add the wine and the sugar. Stir vigorously until the sugar has completely dissolved. The bargnolino can be bottled immediately. It is, however, best not to start drinking for about 30 days – just enough time for ‘the sugar to eat the alcohol’!

P.S. If you decide to give it a go, I’d advised taking a good pair of gloves as the shrubs are seriously thorny.

P. P.S. Keep the bottle in the freezer and serve ice cold in shot glasses after a meal.