Map courtesy of TasteAtlas.com, a great website that is map-driven. Zoom in on a part of Italy  that interests you, and click on links to various food specialties and recipes from that region.

Beef Ragu over Cheesy Polenta
A rustic, belly-filling recipe from simple ingredients. The cook time from pan to table is under an hour, so it's great for a quick family meal during the workweek...

Ingredients
Polenta

• 1 cup quick-cooking polenta
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 1/4 cup mascarpone

Ragu

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground chuck/beef
• 1 medium diced sweet onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
  
• 1 (28-ounce) can Tuttarosso crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup torn fresh basil leaves or two teaspoons dry

Directions

1. Cook polenta in a medium saucepan according to package directions. At the end, stir in 1/3 cup Parmigiano Reggiano and mascarpone. Cover to keep warm.
2. Next, heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
3. Saute onion until translucent, then add beef and garlic, stirring often to break up meat. Cook until meat is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
4. Transfer beef mixture to a plate using a slotted spoon and discard excess fat. Return meat to the pan, then add the crushed tomatoes and all the spices. Simmer for 20-30 minutes with the pan covered on low heat.
5. Divide polenta evenly among 4 shallow bowls. Top each serving with the ragu, top with a few fresh basil leaves and some grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Enjoy!

--Jerry Finzi

I remember one of the first times I had potato  gnocchi (pronounced "NYO-kee"), was at a New Jersey, Italian-American restaurant when I was a teen. I wasn't impressed. They were gluey and heavy. Perhaps they were frozen, but more than likely they had lost something in the translation from the old country. Still today, people in New Jersey might still pronounce them, "Nocky". In our family, we didn't have gnocchi until I was older. I remember one of my sisters making them on occasion. We nicknamed them, "sinkers" because they were so heavy.

Well into my 30s, and after I had learned how to cook pretty well, I asked my mother to teach me to make gnocchi--especially after learning that her mother, Nonna Mariantonia, had taught her. When I asked why she never made them when I was a kid, she just shrugged and said, "Sure, with all the free time I had raising five kids plus working all day?" She's right. She worked in a factory as a supervisor her whole adult life, yet somehow still managed to put dinner on the table for us after she got home. Better late than never, and I was eager to learn...

Ingredients (for two batches: one for eating fresh, the other for freezing)
4 pounds of Yukon Gold or similar yellow potato--stored 1 week in a dark place before using
1 egg yolk
2 whole eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons sea salt
"00" Italian style flour - 1/4 cup per pound of potatoes (or more, depending on humidity)
("00" makes a more tender gnocchi.)
Equipment needed
a Gnocchi board, or fork, fingers, or the back side of a cheese grater
 (each makes a different shape/texture)
2 half sheet pans
(For drying and for freezing half the batch)
Potato ricer (Do not use a masher)
cotton kitchen towels or parchment paper

My Mom didn't use a gnocchi paddle, or rigagnocchi. She used her fingers and the back of a fork. She actually taught me two methods for two different shapes--the back of a fork and her first two fingers. The fork makes ridges on the back side---good for holding a thick ragu. The two fingers made a sort of cavetelli shape, by taking a small cylinder of dough and pressing into it while dragging toward herself on the work surface. This made one smooth side and a little cave in the other--good for cream and thinner sauces. I can still remember Mom's bent, arthritic fingers rapidly producing them one by one. In this recipe, I'll be shaping with a fork and gnocchi board.

Shaping Gnocchi
As you shape your gnocchi, place them (not touching) on a cotton kitchen towel spread on top of a half sheet pan. Let them dry for 15 for about 1 hour before cooking. Then place them into a large pot of well-salted, rapidly boiling water, give a couple of gentle stirs, then cook until they all float to the top.

After all are floating, cook for another minute, then drain in batches using a spider, placing them into either a saucepan containing your preferred sauce, cooking and turning gently for a minute or two until the gnocchi have absorbed the sauce's flavors. Turn out into a pasta bowl, and top with your favorite cheese--Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino, cacciocavallo, etc.

Freezing the Second Half of The Gnocchi
After the first half of your dough is finished, repeat and fill a second sheet pan, then let dry as with the first batch. The second pan can then be placed immediately into a freezer for a future meal. (If a half sheet pan won't fit, place the gnocchi on smaller trays that will fit).

After they are frozen rock solid (at least 10 hours), immediately place them into a large zip-lock plastic bag, squeeze to remove all the air and zip it closed. To prevent against freezer burn, place it into a second bag. 

Once you hone your gnocchi-making skills, you can experiment with all sorts of different types--pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, ricotta and more. Gnocchi are great with both simple sauces (like butter & sage or olive oil, garlic and pepperoncino) or complex sauces like bechamel, pestos or even ragu Bolognese.

Enjoy, and don't forget to let me know how yours turned out!

--Jerry Finzi

Well... Almost.  Canederli are bread dumplings found in the north-east of Italy (Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli, and part of the Veneto), typically served in beef broth, dry or with a sauce. They are made using stale bread, milk, onions, parsley, eggs and a little flour. Often they are stuffed with speck (a smoked prosciutto), cheese, mushrooms or pancetta. You can also serve them as a side with sausages.

Canederli with Speck
Ingredients
1/2 pound of stale bread
2 eggs, beaten
6 ounces diced Speck
1 medium onion, diced
6 cups milk
fresh parsley
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon flour
pinch nutmeg
Pinch salt

Instructions

• Put the pieces of stale bread in a large bowl and soften them with some milk.  When completely soft, wring out excess milk. 
• Add the diced speck and then some salt, the butter, parsley and the onion. 
• Season with some nutmeg and salt.
• Mix with two eggs and stir thoroughly adding some flour if necessary.  Cover and leave to rest for 20 minutes in the refrigerator.
• Forms 2" balls from the mixture and boil them in salted hot water for 15 minutes or until they float to the top.
• Serve hot in a bowl with broth, tomato sauce. Top with grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Asiago. 

No comment...

Black wormy spaghetti, green monster eyeballs with bloody roadkill sauce... Yummy. Perfect for the little ghouls in your family.

Ingredients
1/2 tsp black paste type food coloring (they come in small jars).
1 16 oz box of thick spaghetti or bucatini (if it's too thin, it won't have that wormy look)
4 quarts of water
3 tablespoons sea salt or Kosher salt
Large green olives stuffed with pimentos (Buy the fresh large ones, not bottled), or as an alternative, use buccatini (mozzarella balls) for use as eyeballs.
Spaghetti sauce, preferably a textured, meaty sauce, like a Bolognese.

1. Fill a large pot with 3-4 quarts of water (pasta needs a lot of water to cook properly), and add 3 tablespoons sea salt.
2. For the black color, add 1/2 tsp. food coloring to the water. Be very careful when using paste food coloring... this black stains your hands easily.
3. Bring the water to a boil, then add the spaghetti and give a stir after a minute or so.
4. Cook uncovered approximately 10-12 minutes, or until al dente, stirring occasionally.
5. Remove from heat and drain well in a colapasta (colander) .
6. Top the pasta with a Bolognese sauce and place olives around looking like monster eyes staring at your little diners.
   

You might even try using meatballs topped with halves of buccatini with sliced, pitted olives as the eyeballs on a bloody plate of spaghetti.

Enjoy... and keep an EYE OUT for monsters!

--Jerry Finzi

The Ligurian region of Italy lies along the border of France and is home to a very special fresh pasta called Corzetti. In this article, we will only discuss corzetti stampae, coin-like fresh pasta cut and embossed with various decorative patterns, one-by-one, using a special wooden stamping tool, itself specially hand-made by artisan wood craftsmen using both wood-turning chip carving techniques. They are typically made out of maple, or fruit woods like pear or apple. In the Genovese dialect these coin pastas are called curzetti. Making corzetti is very laborious and time consuming, and as such are typically made only during the holidays or for special occasions.

There are also a different type of Corzetti from the Val Polcevera, one of the principal valleys of the area of Genoa, that are made in "figure eight" shape and look nothing like coins.

In Latin, the word for cross is crux. Cröxe in Genovese dialect also means cross. So one might realize that the word croxetti (in Italian), might be referring to the "little cross"--gold coins that were made in the 12th century called Genovini d'0ro. It's no surprise that many refer to Crozetti as "coins".

It is also possible that during the Renaissance they were used for weddings with the coats of arms of both bride and groom, one each on either side. Some claim that one local family made corzetti to impress Maria Luigia of Borbone, just before leaving for France to marry Napoleon.

There are some very simple and traditional recipes corzetti sauces. One of the oldest sauces is from medieval times, a pesto made with marjoram, pine nuts, walnuts, olive oil and parmesan cheese. Another similar recipes uses melted butter in place of olive oil, and places the ingredients in the hot pan rather than mashing into a pesto. Here is another fantastic sauce made using walnuts...

Sugo di noci
1 ½ cups chopped walnuts
1 medium size clove garlic
1/2 cup of fresh ciabatta bread, cubed, soaked in a bit of milk, then squeezed nearly dry.
1/4 cup fresh marjoram leaves
3 -4 tablespoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
a pinch of salt
Run all the ingredients in a blender until smooth, with some texture remaining.
This sauce can be used as any pesto, tossing with the pasta. If you like, you can also place the sauce into a large saute pan and heat along with the corzetti.

Making Corzetti
The ingredients for the pasta are for 4 persons.

3 1/3 cups all purpose flour.
5 egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup of white wine

• Place the flour on a wooden board and create a well.
• Place the egg yolks into the well.
• Add half the wine and slowly incorporate the mixture into the flour with a fork, adding the rest of the wine as you mix.
• Knead the dough for several minutes until very smooth and supple.
• Wrap with plastic wrap and let rest for  30 minutes.
• Using a bench knife, cut the dough into 3 equal pieces, flattening each into a rectangle.
• Using a pasta machine, starting thicker and moving to thinner settings, roll sheets until they are about 1/8" - 3/16" thick. If you roll the pasta too thin, your corzetti stamps won't leave a strong impression and the pattern on one side will cancel out the other. Also, the deeper the pattern, the better your corzetti will hold sauce.
  
• Dust the sheets with flour to prevent sticking. Cover with a cloth to prevent drying.
• Using the cutting side of a Corzetti stamp, first dip the stamp into flour (to prevent sticking), then cut a disk from the sheet. Some people dust the coin shapes in flour just before placing them into the stamp.
  
• Next, place the cut pasta disk between the patterned sides of the stamp. Pressing down on the pasta, you will emboss both sides with the design on the stamp.
  
• Repeat many, many times.
  
• Let the disks dry in a single layer on sheet pans lined with clean cotton kitchen towels.
• Have your sauce ready before cooking the corzetti--they cook fast.
• Fill a large pot with cold water, add 3-4 tablespoons of Kosher salt to the water and bring to the boil. Put the Corzetti in to the water, stir to prevent sticking.
• The corzetti should be ready when the water comes back to a  boil, plus one minute or so. Test a corzetti to see if they are just a bit before being al dente. They will finish cooking in the pan with the sauce.
• Place the sauce in a hot pan and cook with the corzetti, toss to coat with sauce, perhaps adding a tablespoon or two of the pasta water the help the sauce to cling.
• Serve.

I hope you take the time to make corzetti for your next special event or holiday meal. Let us know how it turned out!

Ciao...

--Jerry Finzi

Broccoli rabe (räp’ - eh) is actually a member of the turnip family (rabe in Italian means turnip). The stalks, leaves, florets or yellow flowers are all edible. The leaves and stalks are usually cooked to soften their toughness and the flavor can be described as nutty, bitter, peppery or spicy and reminiscent of mustard greens. Broccoli Rabe can also be called broccoli raab, broccoli rape, or rapini, although, botanically speaking, rapini is a different plant entirely.

Rapini and broccoli rabe are close cousins and their names are often used interchangeably. They are in the same subspecies as the turnip, hence they have the characteristically slightly bitter taste of this group. Neither Rapini or broccoli rabe form the large floret heads that are seen in broccoli. “Rape” is the Italian name for turnip.

Broccoli Rabe is not broccolini. Broccolini is a hybrid created in 1993--a cross between broccoli and Chinese broccoli. It has small florets, long stalks, and a few small leaves, where Broccoli rabe has large leaves. Broccolini stalks look like asparagus.

History
Native to the eastern Mediterranean and Asia and one of the earliest cultivated crops, broccoli rabe (Brassica rapa) was first eaten for its roots and leaves. It can also be allowed to flower and go to seed, with seeds collected and crushed for their high oil content (40 percent), commonly known as rapeseed oil, or in today's cooking as canola oil.  The oil, in its simplest form can be  used as lamp oil and a lubricant, in the same way olive oil has been used throughout history. Brassica rapa may have been used as oil in Italy as early as the 13th century and was the major lamp oil in Europe by the 16th century. Botanically speaking, Brassica campestris, Brassica rapa and Brassica napus are identical.

In Italy, there can be different names for it: in Naples it is known as friarielli; in Rome broccoletti; in Puglia, cime di rapa (literally meaning "turnip tops"). It is also known as i broccoli friarelli and sometimes broccoli di rape, rapi, or rapini (little turnips).

How to Use Broccoli Rabe

How to use broccoli rabe in Italy depends on the region... in northern Italy, they will throw away the florets and use only the leaves, while in southern Italy, they will throw away the leaves and each only the florets. It is a cool season crop, so you will find it locally--and fresh--during late fall, through the winter and into early spring. In U.S. supermarkets, you can usually find it year-round, grown in other countries and flown in.

Broccoli rabe contains tons of nutrients: 3-1/2  ounces provides half your daily requirement of vitamins A and C. It’s also a good source of folate, potassium, fiber, and calcium. It's also high in antioxidants, protecting you from cancer, inflammation and coronary disease.

Make sure you are buying fresh broccoli rabe. Look at the base of the stalks for a cream color (not dark). They should be crisp, not floppy.  The leaves should not be floppy or dried out and the buds should be bright green. If they are yellowed, pass them by.

It's natural bitterness is lessened with cooking and pairs well with strong flavors like pork sausages or starchy things, like pasta, rice and potatoes. If you like it milder, just cook a bit longer, or after blanching in very salty water (the way you cook pasta), remove from the water, drain and then saute in olive oil. (In Puglia, they tend to omit the blanching in water).  As for the stalks, if they are large, peel them first before cooking, they same way you would peel asparagus. If you are using the florets, throw them into the pan after stems or leaves... they are tender and cook fast.  If you are growing your own and your plants have started to bolt and produce yellow flowers, it's not a total waste (see below about plants "bolting"), just snip the edible flowers to toss into soups or salads or to top off your plating. 

How to Grow Broccoli Rabe from Heirloom Seeds
The only difficulty is that the seeds are very tiny. You can sow them directly in the garden, but then thin the seedlings as soon as possible to 4 - 6 inches apart. You can use the seedlings right away by washing and tossing into your salads and soups.

When to grow broccoli rabe is up for debate. While it is considered a cool weather crop, like turnips, lettuces or radishes, many old Italians will tell you that they grow it all year long--even when the weather turns hot. You can plant seeds right after the last frost, but need to grow smaller and faster growing varieties... and remember to cut and harvest just as the florets are forming... not after.

Interestingly, varieties might have numerical names that correspond to their growing cycle, such as Quarantina (40 days), Sessantina (60 days) or Novantina (90 days), but regardless of the name, you need to pay attention to the plants and harvest immediately as soon as you see the florets forming... and all varieties tend to form flowers earlier than the seed packets claim. Wait too long--a day or two--and your plants will bolt (stop growing leaves and put their energy into producing seed). If this happens, this bitter plant will instantly turn into that proverbial bitter pill.

Stalks will store in your refrigerator for about 10 days, so it's best to stagger the planting of your seed into batches a week or more apart to ensure a fresh supply during the growing season. 

One warning about growing broccoli rabe from seed... they tend to cross pollinate with other braccias like broccoli, turnips and even it's distant cousin, mustard. Don't plant braccias too close to each other.

If you want an authentic way to make the famous dish from Puglia, Cime di Rapa, check out this video with Gennaro Contaldo, from the Two Greedy Italians cooking show from BBC...  Favoloso!