Without a doubt, one of the best ways to discover truly authentic Italian recipes is to subscribe to Pasta Grammar's YouTube channel. Follow them on social media too... @PastaGrammer. You see, aside from the nonnas on the Pasta Grannies YouTube channel, this raven haired Calabrese, Eva is one of the best cooks who uses traditional techniques for traditional Italian dishes. Her recipe for ciabatta is one you'll want to make every week. --Jerry Finzi ![]() My son, Lucas loves the animated film Ratatouille, and so do Lisa and I. It's a wonderful jaunt through a vintage Parisian kitchen through the eyes of "Little Chef", a rodent who loves to cook. After seeing the film, Lucas wanted to make ratatouille, so we set out to do a rustic, delicious version and have made it many times since. But ever since re-discovering our Italian roots during our Grand Voyage of Italy, we have been concentrating more on Italian recipes. Well, this time we though we'd combine the best of both worlds--French country cuisine with the height of Italian culinary skills--in the making of a great risotto. I think we succeeded with our Ratatouille & Risotto. It's perfect for autumn or winter--a stick to your ribs supper. But this dish has two distinct personalities... the obvious simplicity of making the ratatouille--basically a vegetarian peasant stew--and the technically demanding risotto. For the Ratatouille Ratatouille is a very basic vegetable stew made in Provence and around Nice in southern France. It uses several basic ingredients: eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, onion and pepper. There are many variations on the recipe, but the one I use is fairly rustic and traditional. Ingredients: 1 large Vidalia (sweet) onion - diced 1 bell pepper, diced 2 medium sized eggplant-skinned, cut into 3/4 -1" cubes, (the larger the eggplant, the more seeds and more bitterness) 5-6 whole garlic cloves 3-4 young, slim zucchini - skin on, sliced once lengthwise, then into 3/4" half moon slices, (smaller & younger are more sweet and less seedy) 1-16 ounce can of diced tomatoes (I use Del Monte, oregano & basil spiced, in summer use fresh heirloom paste tomatoes) 1 cup chicken (or vegetable) broth 1/4 cup port wine 1 tablespoon salt 2 tablespoons oregano 1 tablespoon rubbed sage 3 bay leaves (remove after cooking!) 40 cracks of fresh pepper (from a pepper mill, fine grind) 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes Olive oil for sauteing
![]() For the Risotto We mainly use Arborio rice when we make risotto, but even better is if you can find Canaroli rice--it makes an even creamier risotto and is a bit more forgiving. The trick with making risotto is patience. It can take the better part of an hour or more--constantly adding broth and stirring--until the starchy exterior of the rice breaks down enough to make a creamy risotto, while still keeping a pasta-like "tooth" in the cooked rice. You don't want any crunch, there shouldn't be any mushy rice, and the texture when finished should be loose, glistening and creamy. While there are some tricks for making risotto faster, but there's no substitute for a strong arm and standing at the stove top for up to an hour... Ingredients: 2 cups arborio or carnaroli rice 2 tablespoons light olive oil 1 medium sweet onion (or half a large Vidalia)-diced finely 1 cup dry white wine (Frascati or Pinot Grigio, or one of your choice) 6 cups of chick or vegetable broth, heated in a saucepan (for ladling into the rice) 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 stick unsalted butter 1-1/4 cups of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (plus additional for topping off the dish)
Toward the end, you will notice the starch in the rice being released to make a creamy consistency. Occasionally, taste the rice to make sure it is cooked through while still having a little bit of "tooth". You do not want it mushy, but you don't want crunch on individual grains. You will also know when the rice is nearing completion when you experience a sort of "wave" when you stir the rice, making a circular motion with the flat edge of your spoon around the bottom of the pan. Italian chef's call this the all'onda (wavy) effect. When your spoons passes and the rice behind it slides back in a slow motion like a silky wave, the risotto is at the right texture.
Some recipes say that this will take only 30-35 minutes, but I have found it takes me 45-65 minutes until the rice is cooked and getting creamy. Risotto should be served immediately when completed, so timing is key. But in the event you have to let your risotto sit for a bit, just leave covered, unheated... then before serving, revitalize it by heating it with a little bit more hot water on a medium low flame until the water is incorporated and it has reached the "wave" stage once again. To service, place a portion of the risotto on your plates and add some ratatouille on top, toward one side (let the creamy risotto show itself off too). You decide to have a hearty Italian Chianti or a nice French Bordeaux with the dish... after all, it does have a split-personality. I'd also like to add that the risotto recipes used in this dish is a basic risotto recipe. Once you learn how to make this, you can experience with adding all sorts of other things into the risotto... mushrooms, saffron, peas, shrimp, etc. And the ratatouille recipe is great topping a pizza, with pasta or even as a filling for a stuffed baked potato! Buon appetito! --Jerry Finzi Copyright 2016, Jerry Finzi/Grand Voyage Italy - All Rights Reserved
![]() by Jerry Finzi While exploring the villages of the Amalfi Coast, Voyagers are certain to notice that the lemons there are larger than they are used to. They are sure to come across the Sfusato lemon (about two to three times the size of a supermarket lemon) and will be further shocked when they are confronted with the giant-sized, Cedro Citron variety of lemons. They are beastly looking things, with a pebbly surface, strange shapes with a large nipple at one end, and are often as big as your head! ![]() Cedri are primarily found in Italy, from the Italian Riviera down to the Amalfi Coast, though they are occasionally spotted in France, Isreal and even exported to Britain. There are three different citron types: acidic, non-acidic and pulpless. Of the different cultivars, the acidic Diamante is more common in Italy. Cedro citrons are usually up to three to four times the length of common lemons and can measure between 10 and 15 inches in diameter. They can weight up to 3-4 pounds each. The pebbly surface ripens from green to a bright yellow--both colors can be harvested, the peak season being fall and winter. Most--about 70%--of the lemon is white pith from 2-5 inches thick with a soft texture and almost sweet lemony fragrance. In its center is a small amount of segmented pulp with a few pale seeds. This lemon is fairly dry and not used for its juice and the taste is milder than a common lemon. ![]() The pith can be eaten raw or cooked: in salads, atop bruschetta, in jams and preserves, in risotto or pickled. The rind of this citron is very aromatic and a bit sweet, and is used to produce "citron", or candied lemon (used in Italian celebration breads and cakes, like panettone). Some claim it can be a remedy for hangovers, coughs and indigestion. Since the Renaissance, the oils from the skin have also been used in perfumery and cosmetics due to their delicate and fragrant scent. If cooking while in Italy (or if you can get some cedri at home), try these recipes: Risotto alla Sorrento with Fennel and Sage 1 Cedro lemon 1-1/2 cups rice for risotto (Carnaroli, Vialone Nano or Arborio) 1-1/4 cups freshly grated parmesan 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus another tablespoon to finish 4 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil 1 head of finoccio (bulbing fennel) - finely diced 3 stalks celery - finely diced 1 cup white white Vermouth 1 quart chicken stock 4 large julienned sage leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried-crushed) Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste Directions
Candied Chocolate Cedro Strips Recipe (A great holiday snack) 1 - 2 pound cedro 1 cup sugar 1 pint water 3-5 ounces bitter sweet chocolate
You can store these in an airtight container and serve at the end of a meal with fruit, nuts, biscotti and espresso. © GVI 2018 You might also be interest in:
When Life Gives Them Lemons, Italians Make Limoncello Amalfi Lemon and Chicken Pasta Lemon and Turkey Pasta with Prosecco When I was a boy, my father would often cook when my Mom was out with her "lady friends" to take in a Broadway show or an evening in a Manhattan night club. His style of cooking was something very different from my mother's... He would look into our old Philco refrigerator, see what was leftover or what vegetables we had, and somehow--without a recipe--whip something up to satisfy us for dinner. When I'd ask what we were going to have for dinner, he just say a dialect word which to my ears sounded like "ba-BOOK-ya", with the "ya" part trailing off becoming nearly imperceptible. I knew the adventure was about to begin... Recently, I was determined to research this word, even though I was unsuccessful in finding out its meaning in past attempts. But this time, I asked the friendly people in the I Love Molfetta Facebook page... and hit pay dirt! As it turns out, the word is papocchio... (or papocchia), pronounced "pah-POH-kee-yo". Now that I see it spelled out, I can picture my father pronouncing the "P"s almost like "B"s, with his soft-mouthed, mumbling Molfettese manner of speaking. Words are blended in his dialect. The end of words sort of trail off. So, "ba-BOOK-ya" fits perfectly with my memory! Papocchio can have multiple meanings: Intrigue, cheating, trickery, a mess. Shockingly, I have even discovered that the word was used by northern Italians to refer to someone messing up a situation, in the "typical Southern Italian style", or "papocchio". Wow! Northern Italians had many such words and idioms that denigrated the Southern Italian. So, in this context, a "papocchio" is described as a screw-up not worthy of being considered a Northern Italian. The sarcastic use of the word was used as the title of the 1980 comedy film Il Pap'occhio--the Pope's Eye. They took the meaning of the word "papocchio" and added the ' between the "pap" and "occhio" forming the compound word for Pope's Eye. It was such an irreverent look at the corruption of the Pope and the church that the film was shut down with two weeks of its release. ![]() What does all this have to do with Dad's "ba-BOOK-ya" recipe? Not much, but it does give a lot of historical perspective to the word papocchio. When I asked my Dad for its meaning, he motioned with his hands with his fingers stretched out with a twisting movement, "When I was a kid we'd put everything in one bowl or pot... (hands twisting) all mixed up". He told how his poor immigrant family would gather around the table for the family meal, each having their own fork but only one big bowl in the middle of the table. He said that they would use whatever they had that day to make the meal... a tomato or two (if in season, grown in their tiny Hoboken backyard), some ramps (wild onions picked near the railroad tracks), broken up pieces of stale bread, potatoes, smelt or eel or crab (if he or his brothers caught any that day on the river), a bit of cheese, some salt and olive oil. Sometimes he would fry the leftover ingredients to heat everything together in a large pan. Other times he would make a sort of cold rice or pasta salad. He also liked to make a frittata using eggs as the base for all the found leftover ingredients. Mom had her mainstay recipes, but with Dad, it was as if he was a stand-up comic doing an improvisational skit--being able to handle whatever the audience threw at him. Ecco... Ba-BOOK-ya... Papocchio! Recipe? Not really... Here is the simple method of how my father, Sal might have thrown a papocchio together for a weekday meal.
If you have small bowls, portion out the dish. Otherwise, everyone grab a fork and dig in, but no fighting! Serve with crusty bread and a glass of red wine on ice mixed with 7-Up. That's the way Dad would have done it... --Jerry Finzi ![]() The history of Risotto more than likely parallels the influence of the Arabs, who introduced rice to Italy and Spain during the Middle Ages. The high humidity in the Mediterranean basin suited the growing of shorter grain rices, with a booming rice industry having its roots in the north from Genoa and Venice. These types of rice varieties became the basis for both paella in Spain and risotto on the Italian peninsula. Risotto, when prepared correctly, is a simple dish with complex flavors built up during a specific, slow cooking of the rice and ingredients. In its simplest form, the ingredients are arborio or carnaroli rice (the most popular types), butter (or olive oil), onions (or shallots), grated Parmigiano Reggiano and white wine. There are literally hundreds of other ingredients and variations that encompass the world of risotto, with varied spices (saffron being a favorite) and proteins complimenting the dish. The method of slow cooking and stirring tends to gelatinize while being stirred, which helps give risotto it's memorable creamy texture. There are also other rice types well-suited for making risotto: Baldo, Maratelli , Rosa Marchetti , Sant'Andrea and Vialone. The basic technique is to first roast the rice in a bit of fat until it looks translucent, adding wine to deglaze, then adding preheated broth a little at a time while stirring constantly throughout the cooking. Other ingredients, such as Parmigiano Reggiano, and butter are added at the end. Patience is key in making a great risotto at home. The rice needs to feel creamy on the tongue (never mushy) while still being a bit al dente. I could take an hour or more to nurse the risotto into full fruition. There are some tricks for making risotto faster, as restaurant kitchens do, but I won't get into that here. Making risotto at home is an act of love... ![]() Ingredients 2 cups arborio or carnaroli rice (Click the photo, the see on Amazon) 2 tablespoons light olive oil 1 medium sweet onion (or half a large Vidalia)-diced finely 1 cup dry white wine (Frascati or Pinot Grigio, or one of your choice) 6 cups of chick or vegetable broth, heated in a saucepan (for ladling into the rice) 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 stick unsalted butter 1-1/4 cups of finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (plus additional for topping off the dish)
Toward the end, you will notice the starch in the rice being released to make a creamy consistency. Occasionally, taste the rice to make sure it is cooked through while still having a little bit of "tooth". You do not want it mushy, but you don't want crunch on individual grains. You will also know when the rice is nearing completion when you experience a sort of "wave" when you stir the rice, making a circular motion with the flat edge of your spoon around the bottom of the pan. Italian chef's call this the all'onda (wavy) effect. When your spoon passes through the rice, and it leaves behind a silky wave that slowly fills in the wake of your spoon, the risotto is at the right texture.
This is an all around recipe that can be varied and added to as you like. I'd suggest practicing this recipe a few times until you consider yourself an expert at making it. After that you can experiment or try your own variations of other recipes you find online. Try a seafood variation by adding shrimp, fish stock and lemon. Or... Roast pumpkin and asparagus (folded in at the end); tomato, basil and pignoli; smoked chicken and eggplant; or classic Milanese style with saffron and peas. Boun appetito! --Jerry Finzi (If you liked this recipe, please SHARE with your friends... grazie). |
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