Capon is a traditional Christmas bird in Europe. It is used either to make a very tasty but fat stock to accompany minestre, such as tortellini, or as a main course, usually stuffed. This stuffing is very simple. I had some cured meats leftover and I thought of giving them a second life. It is a very simple dish, and although there are other ways to cook it, for an Italian Christmas lunch, where there are also children who do not love exotic tastes and spices, this is the ideal cooking method.

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

Ingredients

• 1 4lb (1.8 kg) capon, cleaned and trimmed
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the stuffing

• 12.5 oz (350 g) ground pork and beef
• 3 oz (90 g) Emmental cheese
• 3 oz (90 g) rolled pancetta
• 3 eggs
• 2 potatoes, boiled and peeled

For cooking

• 2 garlic cloves
• ½ cup (125 ml) dry white wine
• 30 g butter
• 4 tbsps. olive oil
• 4 sage leaves
• A sprig of rosemary
• 2 ladles of chicken broth.

Instructions

Remove the giblets from the capon. Rinse out the cavity with cold water and pat it dry. Season it with salt and pepper.

Add all the ingredients to a food processor and mix. If you like the giblets, coarsely chop them and add to the stuffing.

Stuff the capon and sew the cavity. Put the capon in a big saucepan, brown the capon in butter and olive oil, with the aromatic herbs. Roast it for 20 minutes, then turn it on the other side and roast it for another 20 minutes. Add the wine and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Cook for two hours, basting and turning very carefully, to avoid the skin from breaking, adding some broth and cooking on a medium-low temperature.

To serve the capon, present it at the table whole, then carve it. Remove the stuffing in one piece if possible and slice it.

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.

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.

This simple dish demonstrates the deep interconnection of Italy with the Middle East and the Arab world. In all Italy, mainly along the coasts, we have the introduction of pine nuts and raisins in many dishes; see for example the Liguria cuisine, or Venice one, as a demonstration that along the century the contacts have been intense.

The case of Sicily is special since the Muslim Arab directly ruled it for centuries. This is not a history blog, so I need to summarize briefly a complicated but very interesting period.

Sicily, which was part of the Byzantine Empire, fell under Arab control first in the 7th century, in a short-lived conquest, that ended briefly. The systematic invasion of the island was concluded in 965 after a prolonged series of conflicts from 827 to 902.

The Muslim Arabs created a multi-ethnic society, where the previous Byzantine Sicilian inhabitants and a Jewish minority were “tolerated” and were able to flourish. In agriculture, the Arabs promoted a land reform, encouraging the growth of smallholdings and the subsequent increase in productivity. We also owe them the introduction of oranges, lemons, pistachio, almonds, and sugarcane to Sicily, as well as the improvement of the irrigation system thanks to the Qanats.

Due to intra-dynastic quarrels, which took place within the Muslim regime, the island fragmented into four areas. These internal divisions led to the progressive weakening of the Arab rule and the success of the plot of the princes from the inland, who enrolled Christian Norman mercenaries. The Emirate was conquered in 1071.

The Normans were great admirers of the Arab culture and under their rule, Sicily enjoyed a period of prosperity and the flourishing of Siculo-Norman architecture and art. 

This vocation towards multi-ethnicity perpetuates nowadays: the local dialects and cuisines in centuries have been embracing ingredients and other languages in its local culture, from France and Spain because of dominations, and the culture of the Mediterranean. Nowadays the cultural melting-pot has one of its most poignant symbol in the couscous festival, which is held every September in San Vito Lo Capo.