• To boil pasta, a stockpot that accommodates 4 quarts of water comfortably, plus 1 to 1½ pounds pasta. It should be made of lightweight metal that transmits heat quickly and is easier to lift for draining. Indispensable companion to the pasta pot is a colander, with a self-supporting base.
• For risotto, I recommend either enameled cast iron, which retains heat evenly for the 25 minutes or so risotto needs to cook, or heavy steel ware in whose bottom several layers of metal are bonded together.
• Italian roasts are more frequently cooked on top of the stove than in the oven. The most practical shape of pot is an oval casserole that hugs the shape of the roast, with no waste of cooking liquid, such as broth or wine, and no waste of heat. Enameled cast iron is excellent material for this purpose, or heavy-bottomed, thick steel ware.
• An assortment of oven-to-table ware in various sizes and depths is needed for vegetables, for some fish dishes, and of course, for lasagne.
THE FOOD MILL
I don’t recall ever seeing a kitchen in Italy that didn’t have a food mill, not even the most modest peasant kitchen. What the food mill does, no other tool can equal. It purées cooked vegetables, legumes, fish, and other soft ingredients, separating unwanted seeds, skins, strings, and fish bones from the food being pulped through its perforated disks. Nor does it entirely break down the texture of that pulp, as the food processor would; instead, it preserves the lively, differentiated consistency so desirable for Italian dishes. Food mills come with fixed perforated disks, or with interchangeable disks. The fixed disk usually has very small holes that make it useless for most Italian cooking. Of the interchangeable disks, the one you will need most often is the one with the largest holes, which is supplied only with those mills that have three disks. This is the only kind of food mill you should get, preferably made of stainless steel and fitted with very useful fold-away clamps on the bottom that let you rest the mill securely over a bowl or pot while you mash food through it.
OTHER TOOLS
• A Parmesan grater whose holes are neither so fine as to pulverize the cheese, nor so broad that it makes shreds or pellets of the Parmesan.
• A four-sided grater with different-size holes, including very fine ones for nutmeg.
• A peeler whose blade pivots on pins set at each end. The flesh of vegetables skinned with a peeler rather than by blanching or roasting is firmer and less watery and better for sautéing.
• Slotted spoons and spatulas. Immensely practical for removing food from a pan without any of the cooking fat, or for lifting food away temporarily from cooking juices that need to be boiled down.
• Long wooden spoons. Essential for stirring homemade pasta, particularly delicate stuffed pasta. Useful for all stirring, especially sauces, for mashing food while it is cooking, and for scraping tasty residues from the bottom of pans. Take care never to leave the spoon in the pan while food is cooking. Have several so you can discard those that become worn and hard to clean.
• Meat pounder. For flattening scaloppine, braciole, or chops. The best designed is the one that consists of a thick, heavy, stainless-steel disk with a short handle attached perpendicularly to its center.
BAKING NECESSITIES
• A single, large, heavy baking stone for bread, pizza, sfinciuni, and focaccia. Even when you are baking focaccia in a pan, as in this book, you will get better results if you slide the pan on top of a hot stone. The most practical size is one that is as large as your oven rack, or as close to it in size as possible.
• The wooden baker’s peel for pizza and bread. I had always thought of it as a paddle, which is what it looks like, but I have found that real bakers call it a peel. Although you can improvise with a sheet of masonite or stiff cardboard or an unrimmed baking sheet, a paddle (peel) is easier and more fun to use. Mine is 16 by 14 inches, with an 8-inch handle. If you are going to have one, there is no point in getting a smaller one.
• For focaccia, rectangular baking pans made of dark carbon steel in two sizes, both the commonly available 9- by 13-inch size, and the professional-size one, 19 by 13 inches.
• Scrapers. The rectangular steel one with a large slot for your fingers to go through is particularly easy to handle, and most useful when you need to pick up a sticky mass of dough.
APPETIZERS
Cold Appetizers
Crostini Bianchi—Ricotta and Anchovy Canapés
For 28 canapés
½ pound fresh ricotta
1 tablespoon butter, softened to room temperature
8 flat anchovy fillets (preferably the ones prepared at home)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
7 slices good-quality, firm white toasting bread
1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. If the ricotta is very moist, wrap it in cheesecloth, and hang it to drain over a sink or bowl for about 30 minutes. Put the ricotta and all the other ingredients, except for the bread, into the food processor, and chop to a creamy consistency.
3. Spread the bread out on a cookie sheet and bake in the preheated oven for a few minutes until it is toasted to a light gold.
4. Trim the bread slices of all the crust, cut each one in half, and then in half again, producing 4 squares from every slice. Spread the ricotta and anchovy cream over the bread and serve.
Ahead-of-time note You can prepare the crostini 2 or 3 hours in advance. Spread the ricotta and anchovy cream over the bread just before serving.
Hard-Boiled Eggs with Green Sauce
A SAVORY, attractive way to serve hard-boiled eggs whose yolks, after cooking, are blended with a piquant green sauce.
For 6 servings
6 extra-large eggs
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ tablespoon chopped capers, soaked and rinsed if packed in salt, drained if in vinegar
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
3 flat anchovy fillets (preferably the ones prepared at home), chopped very fine
¼ teaspoon chopped garlic
¼ teaspoon English or Dijon-style mustard
Salt
A sweet red bell pepper, diced not too fine
1. Put the eggs in cold water and bring to a boil. Cook at a slow boil for 10 minutes, then remove the eggs from the water and set aside to cool.
2. When cool, shell the eggs and cut them in half lengthwise. Carefully scoop out the yolks, taking care to leave the whites intact, and set aside the whites.
3. Put the yolks, olive oil, capers, parsley, anchovies, garlic, mustard, and a tiny pinch of salt in a bowl and, with a fork, mash all the ingredients into a creamy, uniform mixture. (If doing a large quantity for a party, you may want to blend them in a food processor.)
4. Divide the mixture into 12 equal parts and spoon into the cavities of the empty egg whites. Top with cubes of the diced red pepper.
Roasted Peppers and Anchovies
HERE, roasted peppers and anchovies steep together in olive oil, achieving a powerfully appetizing exchange of flavors: The peppers acquire spiciness while sharing their sweetness with the anchovies. The dish is most successful with the mellow anchovies one fillets and puts up in oil at home.
For 8 or more servings
8 sweet red and/or yellow bell peppers
4 garlic cloves
16 large anchovy fillets (preferably the ones prepared at home)
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
Oregano
3 tablespoons capers, soaked and rinsed if packed in salt, drained if packed in vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1. Roasting the peppers: The most delicious flavor and firmest consistency are attained when peppers are roasted over an open flame. It can be done on a charcoal-fired grill, in the broiler of an oven, or directly over the burner of a gas stove. The last is a very satisfactory method: The peppers can rest directly over the gas or, if you have one, on one of those grills or m
etal screens that are made specifically for cooking over gas burners. Whichever way you do them, roast the peppers until the skin is blackened on one side, then turn them with tongs until the skin is charred all over. Cook them as briefly as possible to keep the flesh firm. When done, put them in a plastic bag, twisting it tightly shut. As soon as they are cool enough to handle comfortably, remove the peppers from the bag and pull off the charred peel with your fingers.
2. Cut the peeled peppers lengthwise into broad strips about 2 inches wide. Discard all the seeds and pulpy inner core. Pat the strips as dry as possible with paper towels. Do not ever rinse them.
3. Mash the garlic cloves with a heavy knife handle, crushing them just enough to split them and to loosen the peel, which you will remove and discard.
4. Choose a serving dish that can accommodate the peppers 4 layers deep. Line the bottom with one layer. Over it place 4 or 5 anchovy fillets. Add a pinch of salt, a liberal grinding of black pepper, a light sprinkling of oregano, a few capers, and 1 garlic clove. Repeat the procedure until you have used all the ingredients. Over them pour the olive oil, adding more if necessary to cover the top layer of peppers.
5. Let the peppers marinate for at least 2 hours before serving. If you are serving them the same day, do not refrigerate them. If serving them a day or more than that, cover tightly with plastic film, and keep in the refrigerator until an hour or two before serving, allowing the dish to return to room temperature before bringing it to the table. If keeping it over a day, after 24 hours remove and discard the garlic cloves.
Note Red and yellow peppers alone, roasted and skinned as described above, lightly salted, laid flat in a deep dish, and covered with extra virgin olive oil make a sensationally delicious appetizer. It would look most appealing on a buffet table, or take an important place in an assortment of dishes for a light lunch.
Roasted Eggplant with Peppers and Cucumber
WHAT MAKES THIS one of the freshest and most interesting ways to serve eggplant is the play of textures and flavors—the luscious softness of the roasted eggplant flesh against the crisp raw pepper, and the pungent eggplant flavor subsiding next to the cool, refreshing notes of the cucumber. It can be served as a salad appetizer, or as a spread on a thick slice of toast, or as a vegetable dish to accompany grilled meat.
For 6 servings
1½ pounds eggplant
½ teaspoon garlic chopped very fine
½ cup sweet red bell pepper, diced into ⅓-inch cubes
¼ cup yellow bell pepper, diced like the red pepper
½ cup cucumber, diced like the bell pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
Salt
1. Wash the eggplant and roast it over a charcoal grill or a gas burner or in the broiler of an oven. (See Roasting the peppers.) When the skin on the side next to the flame is blackened and the eggplant has become soft, turn it with a pair of tongs. When all the skin is charred and the entire eggplant is soft and looks as though it had deflated in the heat, remove from the fire and set aside to cool off.
2. When you can handle the eggplant comfortably, pick off as much of the skin as you can. If a few very small bits remain attached to the flesh it doesn’t matter.
3. Cut the flesh into strips less than 1 inch wide. If there are many blackish seeds, remove them. Put the strips in a colander or a large strainer set over a deep dish to allow all excess liquid to drain away for at least 30 minutes.
4. When you see no more liquid being shed, transfer the chopped eggplant to a mixing bowl and toss with all the remaining ingredients, except for the salt. Add salt just when ready to serve.
Marinated Carrot Sticks
For 4 servings
¼ pound carrots
1 garlic clove
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
1. Peel the carrots, cut them into 2-inch lengths, and cook them in boiling salted water for about 10 minutes. The exact cooking time will vary depending on the thickness, youth, and freshness of the carrots. For this recipe, they must be cooked until tender, but firm because the marinade will soften them further. To cook them uniformly, put the thickest pieces into the water a few moments before the thin, tapered ones.
2. Drain and cut the carrots lengthwise into sticks about ¼ inch thick. Place in a small, but deep serving dish.
3. Mash the garlic clove with a heavy knife handle, crushing it just enough to split it and to loosen the skin, which you will remove and discard. Bury the peeled clove among the carrot sticks. Add the oregano, salt, a few grindings of pepper, the wine vinegar, and just enough olive oil to cover the carrots.
4. If serving them the same day, allow the carrots to steep in their marinade for at least 3 hours at room temperature. If making them for another day, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until 2 hours before serving, allowing them to come to room temperature before bringing to the table. If keeping for longer than a day, remove the garlic after 24 hours.
Carciofi alla Romana—Artichokes, Roman Style
THE STOUT, globe artichoke common to North American markets is but one of several varieties grown in Italy. It is, however, precisely the kind that Romans use to prepare one of the glories of the antipasto table, i carciofi alla romana, one of the tenderest and most enjoyable of all artichoke dishes. In it, the artichoke is braised whole, with the stem on, and served thus, upside down, at room temperature. When you step into a Roman trattoria, if it is artichoke season, you will see them displayed on great platters bristling with their upended stems. The stem, when carefully trimmed, is the most delectable and concentrated part of the entire vegetable. The only exacting part of this recipe is, in fact, the trimming away of all the tough, inedible parts that usually make eating artichokes a chore. When you master the preparation of carciofi alla romana, you will be able to apply the same sound principles to a broad variety of other artichoke dishes.
For 4 servings
4 large globe artichokes
½ lemon
3 tablespoons parsley chopped very fine
1½ teaspoons garlic chopped very fine
6 to 8 fresh mint leaves, chopped fine
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1. In preparing any artichoke it is essential to discard all the tough, inedible leaves and portions of leaves. When doing it for the first time it may seem wasteful to throw so much away, but it is far more wasteful to cook something that can’t be eaten. Begin by bending back the outer leaves, pulling them down toward the base of the artichoke, and snapping them off just before you reach the base. Do not take the paler bottom end of the leaf off because at that point it is tender and quite edible. As you take more leaves off and get deeper into the artichoke, the tender part at which the leaves will snap will be farther and farther from the base. Keep pulling off single leaves until you expose a central cone of leaves that are green only at the tip, and whose paler, whitish base is at least 1½ inches high.
Slice at least an inch off the top of that central cone to eliminate all of the tough green part. Take the half lemon and rub the cut portions of the artichoke, squeezing juice over them to keep them from discoloring.
Look into the exposed center of the artichoke, where you will see at the bottom very small leaves with prickly tips curving inward. Cut off all those little leaves and scrape away the fuzzy “choke” beneath them, being careful not to cut away any of the tender bottom. If you have a small knife with a rounded point, it will be easier for you to do this part of the trimming. Return to the outside of the artichoke and, where you have snapped off the outer leaves, pare away any of the tough green part that remains. Be c
areful not to cut off the stem, which, for this dish, must remain attached.
Turn the artichoke upside down and you will notice, inspecting the bottom of the stem, that the stem consists of a whitish core surrounded by a layer of green. The green part is tough, the white, when cooked, soft and delicious, so you must pare away the green, leaving the white intact. Pare the stem thus all the way to the base of the artichoke, being careful not to detach it. Rub all the exposed cut surfaces with lemon juice.
2. In a bowl mix the chopped parsley, garlic, and mint leaves, and add salt and a few grindings of pepper. Set aside one-third of the mixture. Press the rest into the cavity of each artichoke, rubbing it well into the inner sides.
3. Choose a heavy-bottomed pot with a tight-fitting lid, such as enameled cast iron, tall enough to accommodate the artichokes, which are to go in standing. Put in the artichokes, tops facing down, stems pointing up. Rub the remaining herb and garlic mixture over the outside of the artichokes. Add all the olive oil, plus enough water to come up and cover one-third of the leaves, but not the stems.
4. Take a sufficient length of paper towels that, when doubled up, will completely cover the top of the pot. Or a muslin cloth will do as well. Soak the towels or cloth in water, and place over the top of the pot, covering it completely. Put the lid over the towels or cloth, then pull back over the lid any portion of them hanging down the sides of the pot.
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking Page 7
