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.

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.

This Imperial Milk is a family recipe and originates from what Italians traditionally call “Portuguese Milk” or what is more internationally known as “crème caramel”. It goes by different names and is very common in all Western cuisines.

The ingredients are simple: eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla combined in a pleasant dessert, which is given a unique touch thanks to the addition of finely ground almonds and Amaretto cookies. This finishing touch was conferred by my great-grandmother who  used a coal burning range. She had to perfectly regulate the coal inside the oven and cooked the Imperial Milk by placing burning embers on the mould’s metal lid.

This dessert was extremely popular in European restaurants during the last decades of the twentieth century, probably due to the convenience for restauranteurs, who could prepare it quite in advance and to keep it until clients requested it.

The basic ingredients of this recipe bring back the use of eggs and milk, combined to make use of what were considered medicinal virtues of eggs since ancient times. During the Middle Ages these ingredients were appreciated because of the need to eat meatless alternatives during fasting periods, especially during Lent.  Nevertheless, in Spanish-speaking countries, the attention is focused on the eggs, “flan de huevo” or more simply “flan”, and not on the milk.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cooking Time: 1 hour + 5 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour + 35 minutes | Yield: Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients

• 4 cups whole fat milk
• ½ cup Peeled almonds
• 4 Amaretti cookies
• ½ cup white sugar
• 7 medium eggs, room temperature
• 1 vanilla bean
• For the caramel
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/3 cup white sugar

Instructions

Bring milk and vanilla to boil in light medium saucepan. Remove from heat and let it cool down.

Pour the almonds in a baking pan, on parchment) and bake it in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes at 350 F (180 C) – until pale gold. Let them cool down.

Pour the ingredients for caramel directly in the mold. Protecting your hands with gloves, put the mold over low heat and dissolve the sugar in it. Increase heat to medium-high and bring mixture to boil. Boil without stirring until mixture turns deep golden brown, swirling pan occasionally. Carefully tilt mold to coat bottom (not sides) with caramel.

In a grinder, pour the almonds, the Amaretti and 1 tablespoon of sugar and grind the mix, until it turns into a powder.

With an electric mixer, whisk the eggs and the rest of the sugar until pale. Add the mix of powdered almonds and Amaretti, and the milk through a sieve. Pour the custard in the mold you have prepared.

Place the mold in a baking pan and add enough hot water to it to come halfway up sides of mold.

Bake at 320 F. (160 C) for 1 hour and grill for 5 minutes at 400 F (200 C).

In the case of the Italian Milk Portuguese style, the mould is covered by a lid in order to keep the top of the custard soft. In this case, the almonds and cookies must raise to the top and form a crispy crust.

Run a small sharp knife around edge of custard to loosen. Invert custard onto plate and serve.

This side dish was created in Emilia, and it is the perfect complement to a vast variety of roasted meats, such as beef braised in Barolo wine.

It is a unique side dish, rich in fibre without the boring stigma associated with “healthy” foods.

In order to peel the onions, I found an American recipe that blanches them in a pot of boiling water followed by immersing them in a bowl of cold water to stop them from cooking. The temperature shift makes them easier to peel. In Italy, I usually find them peeled.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 kg – 2.2 lbs Borettane onions, peeled
• 60 g – 1/3 cup sugar
• 300 g – 1½ cups water
• 150 g – ¾ cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

In a non-stick pan, heat the olive oil and add the onions. Brown the onions and add the sugar. Stir to melt the sugar, and when onions are caramelized add the vinegar and cook for a few minutes, until most of it evaporates. Add the water, stir gently and cook for 10 minutes, then cover with a lid and cook for 10 more minutes.

Test with a fork; the onions are ready when they are soft.

Fried custard is a versatile dish. According to where you are in Italy, it has different variations: it is considered mainly as an appetizer in the Marche and Emilia regions, a part of a sumptuous mixture of fried treats like apples, stuffed fried olives (olive all’ascolana), different meats, vegetables and zucchini flowers. The different components vary according to seasonal availability. There are also slight differences in the batter for this fried appetizer. Our ancestors, who probably had iron clad stomachs, created these dishes in times when there was no heating in the houses, and everyone had a very active life.

A question that many foreign clients ask is “Do Italians really eat all these courses and food in a single meal?” The average person of my generation cannot, unless there is a special occasion. However, we enjoy offering our guests a taste of the richness and variety of Italian cuisine. A generous attempt that is sometimes misunderstood as trying to kill them with kindness through food.

In Venice, this is considered a Carnival dish and it is part of an incredible variety of fried sweets that Italians adore. Like cenci (link ad altra ricetta), it is part of a collection of fried recipes.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Yield: Makes 8 servings.

Ingredients for the custard

• ½ cup (100 g) white sugar plus more for sprinkling after frying.
• 3 medium egg yolks
• 4 tablespoons (35 g) pastry or 00 flour
• ¼ cup (35 g) corn starch
• 2¼ cups whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 or 3 strips of organic lemon zest

Ingredients for the batter and frying

• 1½ cups breadcrumbs
• 2 medium eggs
• sunflower oil for frying

Instructions

Gently whisk egg yolks, eggs, corn starch, flour and sugar in a saucepan until smooth, then whisk vigorously until light in colour, 1–2 minutes. Whisking constantly, gradually add the milk in a steady stream; scrape the sides of the saucepan. Scrape in vanilla seeds discarding the pod or add vanilla extract. Add lemon zest. Cook mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it starts to thicken. Continue whisking vigorously until the mixture coats the back of a spoon, 6–10 minutes. Immediately remove the custard from heat (do not bring to a boil). Remove and discard lemon zest.

Using a rubber spatula, pour the custard into a baking dish lined with parchment paper.

Let it cool.

Slide a knife around the sides of custard to loosen, cover with a plate and flip over onto the plate. Peel away the parchment paper and cut into cubes or diamonds.

Pour breadcrumbs into a shallow bowl or on a piece of kitchen paper.

Break the eggs in a bowl and whisk. Using your fingers, dip each cube in the egg mixture, then coat with breadcrumbs, shaking off any excess.

Fry until they are golden, and sprinkle with some sugar.

Make Ahead

The custard can be cooked and left in the dish one day ahead.

Porchetta is a typical dish of Central and Northern Italy. It consists of a whole pig, emptied, deboned and seasoned with rosemary or wild fennel, according to its origin.

According to the traditional way of making it, porchetta is seasoned with rosemary in Southern Tuscany, in Roman Castles area and other areas in Central Italy; in Northern Lazio, Umbria, Marche, and Romagna they prefer to season it with wild fennel, which gives it smell and taste absolutely unique.

Like the word parmigiana, in porchetta describes also the cooking and seasoning style for other meats, like the rabbit, in this case.

I bought a farmyard rabbit, for this dish. This was a summer dish since in August and September rabbits who were born in the springtime had reached the right weight. Nowadays, industrial agriculture has altered these natural cycles.

I have never tasted the famous porchetta in Ariccia, near Rome, which is seasoned with rosemary.

In Ravenna market, my family has always been buying porchetta from Marche, made by a gentle lady who prepares this fantastic product, together with ciccioli and lard, two products which are used so widely in our family piadine and focacce. The presence of the wold fennel, added with a gentle touch, gives an unmistakable note.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 1 h + 30 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes | Yield: Makes 4 servings.

Ingredients

• 3 ½ pounds (1,5 kg.) rabbit, with its liver
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped wild fennel fronds, or a 12-inches branch of wild fennel, in chunks. If you cannot find it, replace with 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
• 4 oz. (100 g.) pancetta, roughly chopped
• 2 oz. (50 g.) lard, roughly chopped
• 6 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 glasses white dry wine
• Salt and black pepper for seasoning

Instructions

Wash rabbit and liver with the wine. Season the rabbit (inside too) with salt and pepper.

Roughly chop liver, and sauté it in a pan with pancetta, 1 olive oil, 3 garlic cloves and 2/3 fennel, season with salt and pepper. Stuff the rabbit with it and sew it with needle and thread, in order to avoid the rabbit to lose the stuffing while cooking. Transfer the rabbit to a roasting pan with lard, 3 garlic cloves, oil, fennel, and bake for 1 1/2 hours at 350 F (180 C).

With the Bologna Certosino (Chartreuse cake) I want to introduce you to a typical Christmas cake of Bologna cuisine, with almonds, pine nuts, unsweetened chocolate and candied fruit. It is almost unknown out of Emilia-Romagna region: sadly, the fame of many regional cakes is clouded by industrial products, which I am not a great fan of.

This cake is called panspeziale (apothecaries’ bread) – a kind of gingerbread, since in Middle Age it was created and baked by apothecaries (speziali).

Later, the Bologna Chartreuse friars began to bake it, and it was named after them. Other scholars believe the origin of his name is due to “special bread” (pan spzièl ) in Bologna dialect.

After careful historic researches, in the summer of 2003, Bologna delegation of Academy of Italian Cuisine deposited at Bologna Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, the official recipe of Certosino.

This one, nevertheless, is not the canonic recipe but my mum’s, since that, like in all families, there is always the addition of little personal touches.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 40 minutes | Total Time: 50 minutes | Yield: Makes 8-10 servings.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup (100 g.) whole almonds, peeled
• ¾ cup (100 g.) pine nuts
• 1 cup (100 g.) dried figs, in chunks
• ¾ cup (100 g.) raisins
• 1-cup (100 g.) walnuts
• 7 oz (g. 200) diced candied fruit mix
• 21 oz. (g. 600) whole candied fruit (orange, cherries, cedar)
• 1-tablespoon anise seeds
• 1-teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 cups (250 g.) pastry flour
• ½-cup (100 g.) white sugar
• ¾ cup (80 g.) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1-teaspoon baking soda
• Tepid water

Instructions

Heat the oven, 350 F. (180 C.)

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients, adding the diced mixed fruit, except the candied ones which must be left in a whole.

Pour the mixture in a baking pan, previously covered with parchment. Use the candied fruits to decorate the top of the mix and bake it for 40 minutes at 350 F. (180 C.).

Check with a wooden toothpick if it is cooked. If the stick is still wet, add 10 minutes.

A luxurious braised beef in a precious wine like Barolo, again a recipe from Piedmont.A real comfort food,above all if served with polenta and its sauce or with borretane onions.

Beef braised in Barolo is typical of festivities and holidays. This special dish contemplates the cost of the ingredients and the time – both the marinading and cooking time – involved in its preparation.

The secret of its success rests in the quality of the ingredients and the cooking method: after marinading, it is necessary to pat the meat dry and brown it in olive oil to “seal” the meat and avoid its loss of juices.

Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cooking Time: 2 hours | Total Time: 14 hours + 30 minutes (including 12 hours marinating | Yield: Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients

• 4-pound (1,2 kg) boneless beef roast – chuck or sirloin trimmed of excess fat.  These cuts do well for braising – 1,2 kg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
• 1/2 cup (5 spoons) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium onions, peeled and diced
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 large celery stalks, diced (the vegetables should be chopped in similar sized pieces to ensure even cooking)
• 2 plump garlic cloves, peeled with internal germ removed
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary with lots of needles
• 5 – 6 whole peppercorns
• 1 750 millilitre bottle of Barolo wine (if substituting wine for another select a good drinkable red wine and extend the marinating time by 6 hours)
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 – 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon (50 gr.) butter
• 3 – 4 whole cloves

Recommended equipment

A heavy saucepan, enamelled cast-iron dutch-oven, glass or ceramic round or oval pan with a cover.  Select a pot in which the roast will fit with no more than 2 inches of space around it.  (The less space in the pot the less wine you’ll need). Select a bowl in glass or ceramic of similar size.

Instructions

Start marinating the meat in the wine and herbs the night before to ensure it marinates a minimum of 12 hours.

Dry the meat with paper towels and place in the bowl.  Add half of the diced vegetables, garlic cloves, the rosemary, peppercorns, and the bay leaves.  Put the remaining vegetables in a covered container and place in the fridge for later when they will be added when cooking the meat.  Pour the bottle of wine over the meat and vegetables ensuring everything is completely submerged. Season with salt and pepper.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge (in the warmest section) for at least 12 hours.

When ready to cook, remove the meat from the marinade, dry using paper towels and put the roast into a pan that you have previously added the oil and butter and warmed slightly.  Brown it on all side for 4 – 5 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon remove the vegetables and aromatic herbs from the marinade and add them to the roast.  At this time, add the reserved vegetables from the fridge.  Cook this mixture for 10 – 15 minutes, stirring frequently just until the vegetables soften.  Once the vegetables have softened add all   the marinade, bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for approximately two hours.  Rotate the roast so it is submerged in the braising liquid.  Braise this way, turning the meat every 30 minutes, never using a fork that would pierce the meat and cause it to lose its juices.

Once the meat has finished cooking, remove the meat to a platter and cover with tinfoil to keep warm.  Take the saucepan off the burner, remove the rosemary and bay leaves.

Make a puree with the vegetables and marinade together with an immersion blender.  Heat to a boil, reducing the sauce to a consistency that coats the back of a spoon.  Season the sauce to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.

To serve – slice the meat crosswise (against the grain).  Heat the sauce to a gentle simmer, then spoon over the beef so the slices are lightly coated.

In Italy it is usually served with mashed potatoes or sweet and sour borettane onions.

These chocolate truffles are lovely special presents to give at Christmas time: there is nothing like a homemade gift for our families and friends to express our love for them.

The combination of chocolate, rum, coffee, and Amaretti cookies is reminiscent of Turin’s Bonet. These chocolate truffles are very festive and particularly appropriate to celebrate the winter holidays. The dark chocolate can be replaced with white chocolate and you can play with different ingredients to make the most of their versatility.

These chocolate delicacies have a very “exotic” yet transalpine touch. Piedmont cuisine is deeply influenced by its proximity with France, and not only because of geography; in fact, the Savoy dynasty, which ruled Italy until the end of WW2, was blood related to the French dynasty. Not only did the Savoy family try to compete with its French cousins in building palaces that wanted to resemble Versailles, but the two languages spoken in the parliament of Turin were French and the Turin dialect, until the constitution of the Kingdom of Italy.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cooking Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 2 1/4 hours (including chilling time)| Yield: Makes 20-25 truffles.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup (250 ml.) heavy (fresh whipping) cream
• 1 tablespoon (8 gr.) instant espresso coffee
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml.) dark rum
• 12 ounces (350 gr.) Good-quality finely chopped semisweet chocolate, or chocolate chips
• 4 ounces (80 gr.) amaretti cookies

Instructions

Set a heat-safe medium bowl over a medium saucepan filled with an inch or two of water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water in the pot). Heat over medium heat until water is simmering, then add cream to bowl and heat until warm, about 3 minutes. Add instant coffee and chocolate and cook, stirring constantly, until melted, about 3 minutes (or up to 5 minutes if using chocolate chips).

Carefully remove the bowl from the saucepan and pour chocolate mixture into a second heatproof bowl or pie pan (preferably made from metal, since it cools more quickly). Add the rum and mix carefully. Let cool at room temperature 15 minutes, then freeze until truffle base is firm, about 1 hour.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Once chocolate mixture has chilled, use a teaspoon, melon baller, or small scoop to drop truffle mixture by the heaping teaspoonful onto the prepared sheet. Form truffles into balls by rolling them quickly between the palms of your hands. This process is a little messy, so wash your hands in cold water halfway through rolling, if desired. Freeze truffles on prepared sheet for 20 minutes.

Topping:

With a blender or food processor, finely chop the cookies and pour the powder in a plate.

Once chilled, roll truffles in the topping pressing slightly to adhere the ingredients to the truffles. Store finished truffles in the refrigerator up to 5 days; remove to room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

Note: if you do not find amaretti cookies or do not like them, you can replace them with chocolate powder, shredded almonds, grated pistachios or hazelnuts.