Italian cooking

Windigo said:
Is that traditionally served plain or with cheese ?
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Traditionally the Pizzaiola sauce calls for “carne alla pizzaiola”, meat (beef/veal/chicken) that is cooked directly in the sauce. But also mushrooms work very well.
I’m cooking carne alla pizzaiola right now, I’ll post a photo later
 
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Carne alla Pizzaiola

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Between my Autentico Italian cookbook, and threads such as this, I'm getting inspired to explore more quality Italian cuisine. There's been nothing I've wanted to go back to in Connecticut or Massachusetts that calls itself Italian (I will except some pizzerias, but that's really a separate classification). Since it seems pizza in the two countries are two different animals anyway...
 
Recipe - Canederli – the Bread Dumplings from South Tyrol

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Canederli – this word derives from the German and Austrian ‘knödel’, i.e. dumplings – are stale bread dumplings from South Tyrol and it is a poor first course born from the peasant tradition. However, although they are made of simple and inexpensive ingredients like stale bread moistened with milk and bound with eggs and a small amount of flour, the mixture is often enriched with cheese and/or Speck – a kind of smoked cold-cured pork typical both of Trentino South Tyrol and the north-east regions – or with spinach or nettle and cheese as well.

Each valley has its own traditional Canederli, in Venosta Valley (famous for its apples) they are made by using spinach or even nettle and then steamed rather than boiled, whilst in Pusteria Valley they are made with buckwheat flour and Speck.

Both versions of Canederli can be served with broth or melted butter on top.
It is a proper winter dish.

You can replace Speck with Parma ham or smoked pancetta or even sausage (Luganega), which is used in Trento and its province.


Ok, but what exactly is Speck?

Speck is a typical South Tyrolean product cold-cured pork. It has been aged from six months to two years. It tastes similar to Parma Ham, with the exception that Speck has been smoked. It is produced only in that region which is a crossroads of culture and tradition between Italy and Germany, the South Tyrol.
It can be also served into thin slices or in little pieces. Speck carries the European Union’s Special Protected Geographical Indication status “Speck Alto Adige South Tyrol”.

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MypinchofItaly said:
I'm sure you are already a good cook!
Fresh basil and oregano? Grab them immediately! :happy:
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Oregano is fresh and about 18 inches high, wife's drying it in our dehydrater. Basil is crazy as wel, we have that much I pick a leaf as I walk past just to get that smell on my hands.
I freeze 2 litres pottles of tomato sauce/pasta sauce for use in winter.

Russ
 
rascal said:
Oregano is fresh and about 18 inches high, wife's drying it in our dehydrater. Basil is crazy as wel, we have that much I pick a leaf as I walk past just to get that smell on my hands.
I freeze 2 litres pottles of tomato sauce/pasta sauce for use in winter.

Russ
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Do you dry your basil, too? It doesn't seem to keep its flavor when dried the way oregano and other herbs do. Is that just me?

CD
 
caseydog said:
Do you dry your basil, too? It doesn't seem to keep its flavor when dried the way oregano and other herbs do. Is that just me?

CD
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Wife dries and I chop up and store air tight containers. When we have a glut I freeze it whole and use as needed. I always use fresh when making pasta sauces and then freeze. Never had blandness problems.

Russ
 
Cavolo Nero - Tuscan Kale

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Cavolo nero or ‘Tuscan kale’ or ‘Dinosaur Kale’ is a type of kale with dark-green curled leaves and packed with nutrients and flavor. It has a slightly bitter taste. It is a plant that reaches even the height of a meter, has a seasonality that goes from November to April, but it is essentially a winter plant.

Cavolo nero is at the basis of many recipes of Italian gastronomic culture, mostly in Central-South of Italy, but it is particularly relevant in Tuscan cuisine.

It is full of vital elements, decongestants and antioxidants: numerous scientific studies have attested to its healthful, preventive properties of numerous diseases and promoters of longevity.

The best Cavolo nero is the one harvested after a long frost.

Ok, how to cook Cavolo Nero?

It can be cooked like any other vegetable to get a tasty side dish, it is great sautéed with oil, garlic, anchovies and a pinch of chilli; it can also be added as a seasoning for pasta, as well as to break it up or to chop it raw before being combined along with the other ingredients. You can also stew it and make it a velvety cream as well as reduce it to purée and get a pesto to combine with pasta or why not, to garnish bruschetta.

I also like it very much cavolo nero rolls stuffed with cheese and ham.

But one of the recipes that come to mind as soon as you say ‘cavolo nero’ is certainly the famous Tuscan soup, called Ribollita.
 
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MypinchofItaly said:
Cavolo nero or ‘Tuscan kale’ or ‘Dinosaur Kale’ is a type of kale with dark-green curled leaves and packed with nutrients and flavor. It has a slightly bitter taste. It is a plant that reaches even the height of a meter, has a seasonality that goes from November to April, but it is essentially a winter plant.
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I love it and its a perfect candidate for the current recipe challenge (leafy greens).

I also wrote a little article about Cavolo Nero here: Cavolo Nero
 
Recipe - Liver with Onions Venice-Style

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One of the most typical recipes of Venetian cuisine and in particular, as the name implies, of the city of Venice.

Tradition wants pork’s liver, it has a strong taste and smell, even if nowadays is most used veal’s liver, which is more delicate.

The onions used in this dish are not the yellow ones, not even the red ones and no shallot at all.

Only white onions. They are cut into strips, not minced.

Venetian tradition strictly calls for Chioggia’s white onions.
Chioggia is an Italian municipality part of the city of Venice and is also known as ‘little Venice’.

The onions of Chioggia are mainly used in marinating called “in Saor” in Venetian dialect, i.e. fish marinated with oil, vinegar and abundant onion.

Worry not, simple white onions will be perfect!

Cooking liver along with a sweet side dish is a method that was already known by the ancient Romans who served it together with figs. Venetians replaced the figs with the onions over time, making this recipe one of the most appreciated in the Venetian cuisine.
 
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MypinchofItaly said:
Cooking liver along with a sweet side dish is a method that was already known by the ancient Romans who served it together with figs. Venetians replaced the figs with the onions over time, making this recipe one of the most appreciated in the Venetian cuisine.
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It would be most interesting to re-introduce figs to this dish.
 
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