TORTELLINI, THE PASTA INSPIRED BY A GODDESS

The cuisine in Emilia-Romagna is permeated with sexual innuendos, expressed in its iconic stuffed pasta, tortellini. Local legends say that the creation of tortellini was inspired by the goddess Venus herself, who was spotted by an innkeeper while staying at his inn. Stricken by this vision, he rushed to the kitchen, rolled out a sheet of pasta and shaped it like the only part of his beautiful guest’s body he had seen from the lock. Today, the hole in the centre of a tortellino is still called “Venus’ navel”.

I follow my grand-grandmother’s recipe, who was from Modena, and made an all-pork stuffing, whereas in other parts of Emilia they prefer substituting pork loin with beef.

Tortellini are a typical Christmas dish in Emilia, but nowadays you can find them at any time during the winter season.

At Christmas, my family cooks them in a warm capon stock that I prefer preparing one day in advance, in order to refrigerate it in a smaller container overnight to remove the solidified fat from the top of the chilled stock. On normal Sundays, we have tortellini in our traditional meat stock (link).

Making tortellini is quite complicated and time-consuming, and it has always been a team effort. Traditionally, the entire family gathered around the “arzdora” (the mother, the real family boss in Ravenna dialect) to put the filling on the small squares of pasta and shape the tortellini. With their small fingers, women and children were the most capable when it came to sealing the tortellini.

In order to be efficient, the filling and the dough can be prepared one or two days in advance. I love using a piping-bag for the filling, and recently, a chef suggested I refrigerate the dough in a vacuum-bag, since the absence of air in the bag prevents oxidation and the dough from changing colour. Still, it is better to work as a team – at least two skilled people – in order to shape tortellini in time to prevent the sheet of pasta from drying.

 

Prep Time: 4 hours | Cooking Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 5 hours | Yield: Makes 10 servings.

Ingredients

 

For the filling

  • 3.5 oz (100 g) pork loin
  • 1 tbsp dry white wine
  • Sea salt and black pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp (30 g) butter
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 small rosemary sprig
  • 2.8 oz (80 g) Parmigiano Reggiano
  • 3 oz (90 g) Parma ham
  • 3 oz (90 g) Bologna mortadella
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated

For the pasta

  • 6 eggs
  • 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour

For the capon stock

  • 1 medium onion, peeled
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled
  • 1 celery stalk
  • Half capon
  • 3 parsley sprigs
  • 4-5 black pepper corns
  • 1 kg (2.5 lbs) various beef cuts used for Italian braised meat like beef tongue, tail, shin bones with meat, marrow bones and bones with a little meat on them, such as oxtail, short ribs, or knuckle bones (cut in half by a butcher)

Instructions

For the capon stock (one day in advance)

Place a large stockpot on the biggest burner. Fill with 4-5 litres/4.5 to 5.5 quarts of cold water (about two-thirds full) and add all the ingredients. Bring the water to the simmering point.

Gently simmer the stock, covered, for 3-4 hours, or even longer if you have time, topping up with water if necessary. Skim the white foam that bubbles to the surface with a slotted spoon.

Strain stock using a fine-mesh sieve and discard bones and vegetables. Let the broth continue to cool until barely warm, then refrigerate in smaller containers overnight. Remove solidified fat from the top of the chilled stock.

For the filling

Add the butter, rosemary, and garlic to a small pan, and sauté the meat. When the meat is roasted externally, add the wine and season with salt and pepper. Cook for five minutes and let it cool down. When it reaches room temperature, coarsely chop and put in a food processor with all the other ingredients. mince at maximum speed until the filling is perfectly blended and is pink in colour. Fill a piping-bag and keep in the fridge. Take it out and keep at room temperature an hour before using it, or it will be too hard to squeeze it out of the piping bag.

For the pasta

On a wooden pastry board, pour the flour into a mound, make a well in its centre and crack the eggs into it. Blend by hand, making a dough that you are going to smooth with a rolling pin.

Divide the dough into two halves, wrap them in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Roll them out, remembering to sprinkle them with flour. Roll each ball of dough into a sheet about 2 mm (1/24 inch) thick.

Cut each dough into small 2-inch (5 cm) squares, and put little piles of filling in each  centre.

Fold the squares into rectangles enclosing the filling. Gently lift one of the long sides against the stuffing at a time, roll around your baby finger and overlap the two corners. Lay on a paper tray or a normal tray covered with parchment, make regular rows and avoid that they come into contact with one another or they will stick together.

Cook them in the boiling stock and serve them still fuming hot.



THE CHRISTMAS LOG, A GREAT CLASSIC

This Christmas Log, also known as Swiss Roll, originates from the French Bûche de Noël.

It represents the ancient tradition of burning a large log in the fireplace which started on Christmas eve and was supposed to last for the entire festive period, later replaced by this suggestive dessert. Nowadays, the different fillings for the sponge cake can vary from pistachio to tropical fruits. In the European tradition, we can find similar cakes all over the Western countries, such as in Spain with its Brazo de Gitano literally the Gipsy’s Arm, which probably share a very common concept.

Although it is not an extremely difficult recipe, it is fundamental to respect the temperature and cooking time for the sponge cake. If it dries out too much, it will be impossible to roll, and it will break.

Prep Time: 45 minutes | Cooking Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour| Yield: Makes 6 servings.

 

Ingredients

For the sponge cake

  • 5 eggs
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ tbsp (10 g) honey
  • 1 cup (100 g) cake flour, sifted
  • ¾ cup (140 g) white sugar

For the chocolate ganache

  • 1½ cups (350 ml) fresh whipping cream
  • 12.5 oz (350 g) dark chocolate, chopped

 

Instructions

Put a bowl in the freezer.

For the sponge cake

Pre-heat the oven at 425° F (220° C)

Separate the eggs, and put the yolks in the bowl of a free-standing mixer and in another bowl, whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt.

Add the honey, the sugar, and the vanilla to the yolks, and beat for 7 to 9 minutes with the whisk attachment.

Gently fold in the whipped egg whites in two batches using a large spoon, with large circular movements from top to bottom.

When it is well-mixed, add the flour in 3-4 batches. Pour the batter in a 12×15 inch (30×37 cm) baking pan, covered by parchment. Level it, creating a ½ inch (1 cm) layer.

Bake for 5-6 minutes until golden and firm.

While it is baking, prepare a film layer on the kitchen top, the surface must be larger than the one of the sponge cake.

When the sponge cake is ready, lay the top of it on the film, take the parchment off immediately, and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar, in order not to make it stick together. Roll it immediately, using the film to help your work, close and leave it in the film.

For the chocolate ganache

Put the cream on the stove and bring it to almost a boil. Switch off and pour the chocolate in it. Mix it with a whisk until chocolate will be perfectly melted.

Move to the bowl you take off the freezer and whip with an electric hand whisk for 10 minutes.

Spread half of the ganache on the sponge cake, except 1-inch (2 cm) from the border. Roll it again, cut a small piece which shall be connected to the log, in order to make a small branch.

Spread the rest of the ganache on the log and use the prongs of a fork to simulate the surface of a log.



A HERETICAL IMPERIAL SOUP

Imperial soup has an Austrian origin, and was introduced to Emilia-Romagna by Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma, the second wife of the Emperor Napoleon I. As usual, this soup which can be traced back to Krinofel, went through a major process of adjustment to adapt to local ingredients. Yet, this recipe is “heretical” in a country where caconic recipes are considered with religious devotion: the traditional preparation includes semolina and butter, as Marcella Hazan shows in her Marcella’s Italian Kitchen, which my mum replaced with ricotta cheese.
This soup is therefore lighter and gluten-free, not a bad option for celiacs, still extremely tasty and comforting. Cooked and served in a sumptuous meat stock, it is a luscious dish, a festive delicacy once offered during the Christmas and Easter festivities, but now quite common at Sunday lunches.

 

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Yield: Makes 8 servings.

 

Ingredients

  • 1 lb (500 g) ricotta cheese
  • 3 eggs + 1 yolk
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1 cup (110 g) freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
  • 8 cups (2 L) meat stock

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients (except the meat stock) in a mixer. Preheat the oven at 350 F (180 F)

Pour the ricotta mixture into a baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 20 minutes.

Towards the end of cooking, preheat a grill. Remove the ricotta mixture from the oven and finish under the grill until golden.

Remove from the oven and transfer from the baking pan to a cutting board or countertop to cool. When lukewarm, cut into ½-inch squares.

Bring the stock to a boil. Drop in the cubes, cook them for 3 minutes, then turn off the heat and let rest for another 3 minutes before ladling into soup bowls and serving.

 

Note: You can freeze them when baked and cut. Just pour them into the stock while still frozen.



MEAT STOCK FOR HEARTY SOUPS

Meat stock or broth (nowadays the distinction is quite blurred) is a very popular dish in Northern Italy. It is not only used for adding juices to roasted meats, stews and meat sauces during prolonged cooking, but it also creates wonderful dishes on its own. Northern Italy offers a wonderful variety of pastas created to be cooked and served in broth. There is a whole world of different stocks, made with vegetables, beef, chicken, or fumetto made with fish.

This is a family recipe, it includes hen and beef, and the Italian tradition provides many ways to reuse meats that have lost their juices in the stock.

In order to make a sumptuous stock, meats and vegetables are added to the stockpot when water is cold and left simmering for hours.

The traditional family recipes are very simple, you just need to use a very big stockpot, put the ingredients in it and cover with water. Then it must be put on the stove and left gently bubbling for a long period of time.

Now chefs have enhanced the recipe by cutting the onion into two halves and roasting it for few minutes in a non-stick pan. It adds a stronger flavour to the stock, as it extracts the essence of the vegetable.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 4 hours | Total Time: 4 hours and 20 minutes | Yield: Makes 2 servings.

Ingredients

 

  • 1 medium onion, peeled
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 2 medium potatoes
  • 3 cherry tomatoes
  • Half hen or 2-pounds chicken wings
  • 1 to 1.5 kg (2.5 to 3.5 lbs) various beef cuts used for Italian braised meat like beef tongue, tail, shin bones with meat, marrow bones and bones with a little meat on them, such as oxtail, short ribs, or knuckle bones (cut in half by a butcher)
  • Makes 2.5 litres/10.5 cups

Instructions

 

Place a large stockpot on the biggest burner. Fill with 4-5 litres/4.5 to 5.5 quarts of cold water (about two-thirds full) and add all the ingredients. Bring the water up to the simmering point.

Gently simmer the stock, covered, for 3-4 hours, or even longer if you have time, topping up with water if necessary. Skim the white foam that bubbles to the surface with a slotted spoon.

Strain stock using a fine-mesh sieve and discard bones and vegetables. Let the broth continue to cool until barely warm, then refrigerate in smaller containers overnight. Remove solidified fat from the top of the chilled stock.

Freeze it in ice cube trays and add it to your risotto, stews and roasts.

Dogs love the boiled carrots, and can be given some of the beef bones. The boiled beef is recycled as a stew, in a dish called lesso rifatto or francesina. I add the hen to vegetable soups, to improve the texture.



ALMOND COOKIES, THE TUSCAN CANTUCCI

These almond cookies are the quintessence of Tuscan food. They are extremely simple, and the goodness of this recipe relies on the choice of quality ingredients.

I always make them on a wooden board because I love the sensation of working with dough, even if it is easier to use a food processor.

It likely began as a bread-like dough, a natural sourdough that was at the foundation of all European cakes, enriched with eggs and honey or very expensive cane sugar and almonds, which were introduced to Italy by the Arabs, whose presence or contact was constant for centuries.

This is a common recipe in Western culture, with some differences due to regional variations, but these cookies are very popular, known as biscotti in North America, probably imported by Italian immigrants. The recipe is very similar all over Italy: in Sicily they are simply called almond biscotti,  pepatelli in a more rustic version in the Southern region of Molise, but here the recipe is even closer to what must have been popular during the Middle Ages thanks to the presence of black pepper, orange zest, honey, and no baking powder.

I particularly love the Tuscan version because it offers a lactose-free dessert for my guests, and they are very low-fat, perfect if you need sugar to burn immediately

 

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Yield: Makes 90 pieces.

Ingredients

  • 500 g (3⅓ cups) all-purpose flour
  • 400 g (2 cups) white sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 60 ml (¼ cup) Vin Santo
  • 15 g (1½ tbsp) baking powder
  • 300 g (2 cups) unpeeled whole almonds

 

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180° C (350° F)

Knead all the ingredients together and shape into 4 rolls about 30 cm (12 inches) long, and 5 cm (2 inches) wide. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake them for 30 minutes. When cool, slice the logs diagonally. Spread the slices out and bake for 10 minutes



ONION SOUP, THE NOBLEST OF ALL

This onion soup sinks its roots deeply in Tuscan tradition, even though it only  became famous when it was adopted by the French and became known as soup à l’oignon.

According to Tuscan tradition, the recipe includes the red Certaldo onion, whose reputation was so renown that it was quoted in Boccaccio’s Decameron.

Certaldo (link a Visit Tuscany) is not only Boccaccio’s birthplace, but also the location where this onion, which has been famous in Tuscany since the Middle Ages , grows. The father of the literary genre of the novella, which became the model for The Canterbury Tales, already celebrated this amazing vegetable in a novella where the main character was a monk called Friar Onion who narrates the abundance and fame of this vegetable. This red onion was celebrated later by Caterina de’ Medici, who exported the Tuscan onion soup to France with her Italian cooks.

Certaldo, which you might be familiar with, or may have heard of, is a town and comune in Val d’Elsa, in the Metropolitan City of Florence. This area grows an abundance of onions, more so than all of Tuscany, a food that was greatly influenced by those Friars, hungry men with a good appetite.

This onion is so important to this small town that it was even added to the town’s emblem in the 12th century – a red and white shield with an onion in the centre, and the motto “By nature I am both strong and sweet/ and am appreciated by both the rich and the workers”.

Every year this onion is celebrated in many country fairs in Certaldo, especially at the end of August, where I had the opportunity to eat the famous soup, made according to the simple Tuscan recipe.

Going back to the woman who contributed to making this very rustic recipe so famous, Caterina de Medici probably ate this soup with other ingredients that were very popular in the cuisine of Renaissance courts, which would likely be quite hard to accept for contemporary palates. While the “workers” probably ate the soup as it was cooked in the following recipe, the cooks of “the rich” enhanced it by adding almonds, sugar, verjuice (a highly acidic juice made by pressing unripe grapes used since the Middle Ages all over Western Europe), cinnamon and sugar, all remarkably expensive ingredients at the time.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 1 hour + 15 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour + 30 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

 

Ingredients

  • 4 large onions, red if possible, finely sliced (a mandolin would be perfect)
  • 5 tbsps. olive oil
  • 1 litre (4 cups) water or broth (either beef, chicken, or vegetable)
  • 8 tbsps. fresh pecorino cheese, grated
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 4 slices of Tuscan bread, possibly day-old, grilled

Instructions

In an earthenware or a cast iron saucepan, heat the olive oil and add the onions. Stir frequently to prevent burning, sauté until they become golden; this will take approximately 30 minutes. Then add the wine and simmer until it has evaporated by half, about 3-5 minutes. Add the stock and simmer for 40 minutes. If you like it thicker, add 1 tablespoon of flour before adding the broth and dissolve it well.

Arrange the bread slices in each bowl, ladle the soup on the bread, and sprinkle with the pecorino cheese.

TIP: if you want to make it more sophisticated, pre-heat the oven and pour the soup in 4 ovenproof dishes. Place the bread slices on top of the soup, instead of pecorino cheese, sprinkle the bread with gruyere cheese and place under the grill until the cheese melts to a crisp golden brown (about 3 minutes).



MARCHIGIANA RABBIT STEW

This rabbit stew (the rabbit can be substituted with chicken) is a vintage dish. I found it in a 1970s collection of recipes from an elementary school project in Pergola. Each child was asked to bring one of their grandmother’s recipes to school to assemble a traditional regional cookbook.

Pergola is a tiny hillside village in the heart of the Marche region, a beautiful area that is unfortunately or fortunately out of the tourist mainstream, where a local first-class cuisine still thrives.

In an age where there was no intensive livestock farming in Italy, we followed the seasons for meat consumption so, the end of summer was the best moment to eat rabbit, since those born during the spring had fully grown.

Toss the wonderful fresh home-made noodles with the stew’s sauce in a bowl adding a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cooking Time: 90 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours | Yield: Makes 8-10 servings.

Ingredients

 

  • 2 rabbits, chopped into small pieces
  • 2 cans of tomato purée
  • 2 onions, finely minced
  • 2 carrots, finely minced
  • 1 celery stalk, finely minced
  • Rabbit liver, finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp parsley, finely minced
  • 2 slices pancetta or prosciutto, finely chopped
  • ½ cup (125 ml) olive oil
  • 3 cups (750 ml) water
  • Salt and pepper
  • Fresh tagliatelle (noodles) 800 grams

 

Instructions

Place the rabbit pieces in a non-stick saucepan and sauté them until their water content evaporates, about 15 to 20 minutes.

When they are cooked, add all the other ingredients except for the water and tomato, and sauté for 25 to 30 minutes at medium-low heat. Season with salt and pepper and when the vegetables and pancetta are browned, add the water and cook for an hour, then add the tomato and cook for 30 minutes.



FIG COOKIES

This fig cookie recipe brings out the magic flavour of an incredible, sugary fruit. Figs are at their best at the second part of August and the beginning of September, and if you have the possibility to buy them or better yet get them ripened on the tree, you are a very lucky person. The filling could be replaced by fig jam, but it would not have the same incredible taste enhanced by lemon zest and almond flour, which create an unmistakable taste.

Since the flour reacts differently depending on the country of origin and the percentage of gluten, it is difficult to be precise. Moreover, the size of the egg can also contribute to a great variation. Add one or two tablespoons of milk to the pastry if the dough is too dry.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Yield: Makes 4  servings.

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry

  • 1 cup (140 g) multi-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup (40 g) corn starch
  • 1½ tbsp (10 g) almond flour
  • 1 tsp (3 g) baking powder
  • ¼ cup (50 g) white sugar
  • 2 tbsp (60 g) butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp (15 ml) milk

Ingredients for the filling

  • 9 oz (250 g) fresh figs, peeled and chopped
  • 2 tbsp (30 g) white sugar
  • ½ lemon zest, grated
  • 3 tbsp (20 g)  almond flour

Instructions for the shortcrust pastry

In a mixer, mix all the dry ingredients with the butter until it crumbles. Place in a bowl or on a marble surface and knead with the egg and milk. Wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Instructions for the filling

In a pot, cook the sugar, figs and lemon zest together for 10 minutes. When it cools, add the almond flour and mix again.

Roll the shortbread pastry between two sheets of parchment paper. Cut the pastry edges into a rectangle, then cut again into two rectangles. Place the filling in the centre of each rectangle lengthwise and seal it, overlapping the two edges.  Move the two rolls to the fridge and let sit for 15 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 F (180 C) Bake the cookies for 25 minutes and cut them only when they reach room temperature.

 



ROMAN-STYLE CHICKEN WITH BELL PEPPERS

This chicken with bell pepper recipe is truly a typical summer one. The lively colours of the peppers and tomato create a unique blend that you can really appreciate only if you can find fresh sun ripened vegetables.

It is a typical Roman dish, and there is a whole generation of Roman’s who are in their sixties that can still remember meals eaten on the beach, with their mums bringing this pot wrapped in a dish-cloth.

Nowadays, modern recipes add more ingredients, rosemary, sage and garlic in the chicken, and later bell peppers are added in the same pot.

I preferred following an “old school one”, I do not like the idea of adding rosemary and sage to peppers, I think that my recipe is simpler but better.

If you are interested in watching a short video shot in the 1960s, you’ll find some scenes interesting to watch. Do not even make the effort to try to understand it, the cook speaks with a “Roman dialect”, and do not even think of touching or biting vegetables and fruits in the market, or the police will fine you and the vendor… hygienic rules have changed a lot since then.

I love the idea of cooking the meat and the vegetables apart, and joining them in the last 10 minutes of cooking.

 

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cooking Time: 2 hours | Total Time:  2 hours and 30 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium-size chicken, chopped into pieces
  • ½ medium onion, finely chopped
  • 3 bell peppers, red or yellow, chopped.
  • ½ glass of white wine
  • 7 tbsps. EVO oil
  • 1 tin  finely chopped tomatoes

Instructions

Brown the chicken pieces in a heavy pot with 4 tablespoons of olive oil. Once the meat is golden brown, add the wine and season the meat with salt and black pepper. Allow the wine to evaporate. It is important to add salt and pepper with the wine because it enhances the flavour and you use less salt. Wait until the wine has completely evaporated before adding the chopped tomatoes. Cook over medium low heat for a couple of hours with the lid on, and add some water or stock if needed.

In another pot sauté the onion with the remaining  oil, and when it becomes golden add the peppers. Season with salt and black pepper. Cover with the lid and let it cook for half an hour. Remove the lid and let it cook for another 20 minutes, then add them to the pot with the chicken and cook meat and peppers together for 15 minutes.



WALNUT SAUCE, A LIGURIAN FRESH DELICACY

Traditionally, this walnut sauce was meant to be served with pansoti, typical Ligurian stuffed pasta, yet it is excellent with fusilli, potato gnocchi and other specialties.
In these super-hot summers 🔥 , we all need something fresh, a fast yet nice sauce that does not need cooking.
This walnut sauce, a delicious vegetarian dish, cannot be kept for more than 4-5 days in the fridge. Store it to a glass container and cover it with some olive oil.

 

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

FOR THE STUFFING

  • 20 walnuts, shelled
  • ½ cup (100 g) cream or curd
  • ¼ cup (30 g) grated Parmigiano
  • ½ cup milk
  • 2 tbsps olive oil
  • 2 slices of stale bread, Ciabatta-style, deprived of the crust
  • 1 tbsp fresh marjoram, minced
  • ½ garlic clove
  • Sea salt to tast

Instructions

In a small bowl, soak the bread in the milk. After 5 minutes, squeeze the milk out of the bread.

In a food processor, begin to mix the walnuts, garlic, bread and marjoram together. Add the other ingredients, oil and cream or curd in successive batches, mix for one minute, and the sauce is ready.

If you have a mortar, the ideal method is to mix all the ingredients together.

Often, the marjoram will turn brown. An excellent way to prevent this is to add a few ice cubes in the food processor or by keeping the food processor bowl in the freezer.

Traditionally, this sauce was meant to be served with pansoti, typical Ligurian stuffed pasta, yet it is excellent with potato gnocchi and other specialties.

In these super-hot summers, we all need something fresh, a fast yet nice sauce that does not need cooking.

This walnut sauce, a delicious vegetarian dish, cannot be kept for more than 4-5 days in the fridge. Store it to a glass container and cover it with some olive oil.