Aroma Cucina

Rustic Sausage & Peppers

Some flavor combinations are classic; and sausage and peppers fall into that category.

Remember the old cartoons where the vapor would rise from the dish,  and then beckon you to eat? That’s what happens when you saute peppers and sausage.

This dish is perfect just as the weather turns cool, and the last of the tomatoes are still on the vine.

Keep this dish simple, ok? Just be sure to use some good, fresh Italian sausage.

Rustic Sausage & Peppers
4-5 links of sausage, chopped into bite size pieces
1 ripe red pepper, chopped into bite size pieces
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 handful of chopped bitter greens like spinach or chard
1 ripe, red tomato, coarsely chopped
1 good glug of red wine

In a deep, flat bottomed frying pan, with just a tiny bit of olive oil, over medium heat, begin browning the sausage.
When the sausage has begun to brown, add the onions and peppers and saute until they are soft and little bit caramelized.
Now add the garlic and greens, the glug of wine and cover the pan.
Cook until the sausage is done. About 10 minutes
Taste and add salt as needed. Umbrian style sausages can be extremely salty so I never add salt until this stage.
Right before serving, toss in the raw, red tomatoes and mix thoroughly. Adding the tomatoes this late in the process will give them a texture contrast with the rest of the dish.
If you feel like it, add a tiny glug of red wine vinegar to the dish to give it a little boost.

Serve a big, hearty red wine and a hunk of bread with your sausage and peppers and relish a moment of good, honest, simple food.

Buon apetito!

Kitchen Garden Gazpacho

Happy World Kitchen Garden Day! 
Here’s hoping that all our family, friends and everyone else can ride out Hurricane Irene with not too much damage.

Is there a more appropriate way to celebrate International Kitchen Garden day than by making a Garden Gazpacho? I don’t think so!

Our tomato plants never grew very high this year, but they have been yielding a ton of delicious fruit.  We’ve got all shapes, sizes and flavors out there, and that’s plenty to choose from when you want make a gazpacho.

Gazpacho is another one of those unclassifiable dishes; everyone has a version. If we can all agree that gazpacho is a pureed salad, served cold, then no one needs to quibble about what an ‘authentic’ gazpacho should be.

This version is a riff off that Ancona baccala dish we were served in Portonovo. Baccala,  salt-cured cod fish, is delicious teamed up with tomatoes and olives, so it made sense to feature a little baccala in the gazpacho.

Garden Gazpacho with Crisped Baccala
Ingredients:
1 small piece of skinned, and soaked baccala, about 6 oz
1 basket of tomatoes, about 1 lb.
2-4 small green and red peppers
1 small red onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 peeled carrot
2 stalks of celery
Salt, pepper, Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar

For garnish:
2 T thinly sliced red and green peppers
2 T pitted and thinly sliced black olives


Instructions:
Clean and chop the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Lightly salt the tomatoes, stir and let stand for 1 hour.
After an hour, when the tomatoes have softened and given up some of their juice, pass them through the food mill on a fine setting so that the pulp of the tomato passes through, but all seeds and skins remain behind. Discard the seeds and skins.

Roughly chop the peppers, onion, garlic, carrot and celery, and put them in the blender. Add the tomato puree, add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Taste..and add salt and pepper as needed and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. 

Pour the soup into a container and chill until it’s time to serve.

I’ve gone native...Italians don’t like freezing cold anything unless it’s gelato.
Even water is negotiable; beyond determining if your dinner partners like still or bubbly water, you then have to determine if they would like it ‘fresca’ or ‘ambiente’.  In Italy, just ordering water can require the negotiating skills of Henry Kissinger.

So, I didn’t actually put the gazpacho in the fridge, just in a cool, dark part of the kitchen. I think the flavors are more mellow and expansive if the soup isn’t served very cold. But, that’s just me...you serve the soup the way you like it.

To serve:
Crumble the cleaned, soaked, ready to be cooked baccala and saute in olive oil until there is some brownage and crispy edges.
Salted baccala needs to be soaked for 6 hours or even over night to remove the salt. If I don’t have much time, I’ll soak it for at least 4-6 hours with frequent changes of water. Then give the cod fillet a very quick poach in boiling water to remove the remaining salt.
It’s easier to add a little salt than to try and deal with excessive curing salt.

Mound the crisped baccala in the center of the plate, scatter the shreds of pepper and olive around the bowl, and gently pour the gazpacho into the bowl. 
Now mangia and enjoy the taste of your garden!

Buon Appetito!

And the Beet Goes On!

 
What do you do when a whole row of beets in the orto need to be eaten now? You yank those babies and throw a party!
 

We had Speecy-Spicy Pickled Beets. (Note to self: back off on the chili peppers from the garden! I wonder what would happen if I pickled hard boiled eggs in that spicy brine? Now that would truly be a deviled egg.)


Sweet Roasted Beets covered in Gorgonzola and Toasted Walnuts. (There was a small skirmish when it was down to the last few bites.)


Richly decadent beet consume’. (A rich meat broth laced with dried porcini mushrooms to give it an earthy zest. Recipe courtesy of our friend The Polish Countess. So named because you could always count on her in the kitchen).

And as a finale, pale pink beet panna cotta! (Relax. I just used the beets to color the cream, not flavor it!)  And no picture either, it was too dark and toooo late in the evening.

I’m getting worried though. The tomato plants have kicked into high gear...anyone up for  Tomato Fest...running from today through September??

How Does Your Garden Grow?

     Warning: there is music with the video & hit full screen for the full effect!

Harry, Mary quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With parsley green and basil bright?
And so our garden grows!

It’s orto time!  Orto is Italian for a kitchen garden and our garden looks set to keep our kitchens supplied all season long. May the gods of sun and rain smile upon us because we’ve got our pride on the line. 

Gardening in the dead center of a medieval village has it’s own... charms and peculiarities. It’s the nature of life in our village to comment on all goings on, no matter how mundane. So, having Americans gardening in town is cause for amusement, comment, criticism and the occasional full scale assault. The assault occurred last year when the very ancient Virginia came into the orto wielding a sickle and mowed down our parsley because she said it was time for it go.
Or the time Lina asked for basil. Not some basil leaves; she wanted the whole plant with the roots attached. Jeff obliged her with a smaller plant, not the one she truly wanted. She wanted Arnie, our gorgeous beast of a basil plant. You almost come to expect visits like these.

We are sharecroppers on our little plot;  It’s owned by the magnanimous Quinto Bruschi (so named because he was the fifth child), who kindly lets us use the plot. Here’s the full story of our amazing good fortune.

We share our orto with the Dues, four American architects who own the little house that you can see in some of the pictures. Which means that if we don’t get the rows and beds completely straight and parallel there will be no end of long sighs and raised eyebrows when they arrive.

Dear Dues:
We tried our best and if any of the rows are crooked, it’s my fault, not Jeff’s.   We did add a third bed. And I put the overbearing zucchini on the bern against the wall, along with some melons.  The little wild flower mix is sweetly charming. The black tulips were gorgeous. The rose buds just came out this week. The first two irises bloomed today. The grape vine is looking productive, but Quinto really cut it back this year!  Our Orto guardian, the little rubber ducky is still tucked away in the ancient stone wall and is  watching over us.  Niccolino is still keeping Jeff company while he’s working. And Carolina is paying us regular visits. What is it about cats and rolling in the dirt??

Here’s the full tally:
11 kinds of tomatoes!
Celery
Fennel
Lots of basil
Curley Parsley (I bought the wrong kind!!)
Little frying peppers
Hot Chili Peppers (not enough of those)
Long Red Tropea Onions (that probably don’t have a chance of growing long and straight in our dense, rocky soil. One year we grew carrots that tied themselves into knots.)
Round White Summer Onions
Cucumbers (the plant package says will get 80 to 100 cucumbers per plant....I want to see that!)
A red garlic patch
5 kinds of leaf lettuce and some wimpy spinach
The rucola wintered over. It’s extremely peppery and pretty fibrous. I’m sure Virginia has her eye on it, just itching to mow it down.
Sugar Baby Watermelons
Canteloupe
Green Melons
The stupid zucchini  (which is required, by law, in all Italian ortos)
Red Beets
And a mystery squash that Bruce gave us that he says is the best squash on the planet.

That should keep us pretty well fed, and just a little busy, don’t you think?

Happy gardening one and all!  

Buon’ lavoro!

Simple Food v. Modernist Cuisine?

There is much ado over Nathan Myhrvold’s Modernist Cuisine and if I had a spare room and a lot of extra cash...well, I still don’t think I’d buy it.
In case you missed the coming of this encyclopedic behemoth, it’s 5 volumes, at around 500 bucks and it’s on back order. I respect and admire the Boyz with Toyz crowd, but in general, I’m a simpler, comfort seeking cook. Let me be clear, there’s a time and place for modernist cuisine, and a time and place for comfort food. There is room to enjoy both; there is no line in the sand and both schools learn from each other.

Recently I’ve come across fooderati prose that gushes in wonderment at the miracles that can be performed with just three ingredients! As if there was some prize for discovering joy in simplicity. Well...duh. Good quality ingredients, prepared respectfully have been in vogue since women discovered how to cook meat over a fire.

Umbria is probably one of the better examples of making good food from humble ingredients. Note, I did not say Michelin 5 star fine dining, I said good food. Everyday food.

Pancetta is a staple meat in Italy; not the cured, bacon-like pancetta, but raw slices of pork belly. It’s always the first thing to get gobbled up at BBQ’s. A traditional stove top way to make pancetta is to fry it in the pan, throw bits of  fresh sage in at the last moment, and then finish the dish with a good size hit of red wine vinegar. It’s pork belly perfect.

My big experiment today was seeing how potatoes would pair with the super peppery arugula that wintered over in our orto.  It worked beautifully with boiled potatoes moistened with some of our olive oil, a little bit of mustard and a pinch of salt. Take note: no self respecting Umbrian would ever add mustard to anything, it’s just not in their DNA.

The tomato salad was a salad of necessity. The tomatoes are coming up from Sicily and they’re just so-so, but I wanted a salad. The sweet peas are in season and I’ve been throwing them in everything, just because I can.

So, the moral of the story is don’t apologize for simple food, don’t elevate simple food to a state of godliness and save your pennies because this new oven that Shola is testing at Studio Kitchen looks to be just about everything I’ve ever dreamed of. It peels grapes for god’s sake.

Happy Weekend!

PS Next week we’re hosting an Artichoke Festival here at Aroma Cucina. How to clean them and a week’s worth of recipes. Should be some tasty fun.

Bye-Bye City Life

Our nomad urges can no longer be denied; it’s time to go plant tomatoes and other yummy things. So we’re heading back to Montone to open the windows and hear bird song instead of car horns.  I’m looking forward to fava beans, artichokes and other spring surprises in the market. But I know I’m going to miss those blueberries and mangoes that have flooded the Chinatown markets.

We’ll be back in NYC sooner than later as we are coming back to shoot the video for our next Cook Vook. I’m excited to do another video cookbook. It’s another chance to work with my favorite videographer, even if he is Producer-Nazi. He knows how to make food look gorgeous. Moral of the story if you are shooting a food video, make sure the man behind the camera loves and understands food. 

Next post will be from Italy, as soon as we get all systems up and running. Keep your fingers crossed for me as I go back to battling The Medieval Web Connection!

Arrivederci!

Embracing Bittersweet Fall

Hard to believe but our time in Italy is growing short and little by little we are closing down and ticking things off the list. Jeff has winterized the orto and that feels so final. Sure we have a few leeks and bitter greens left, and the parsley is still happy and vibrant, but for the most part it’s rest time for our vegetable garden.  Even our roof top and balcony gardens have gotten their winter trim.

We picked olives this week, which is another sure sign that it’s time to get ready to head back to New York.  Olive picking is a marvelous excuse to be outside on a gorgeous fall day, to climb a tree, to spend time with friends.  Now if we could solve our olive pressing problems, life would be perfect.  Finding a mill that will press only 100 kilos of olives is turning into a challenge.

Last night we headed to Citta di Castello for their Tartufo Bianco festival which is always a treat.  Huge tents filled with truffle vendors, cheese, porcini, salumis...the smells are intoxicating.  We got side tracked at the immensely crowded Syrah wine bar, then a fabulous dinner at Le Logge, so looks like we need to go back to the festival today if we are going to buy any truffles. Oh, the things we must do.

And speaking of smells, Montone has taken on that smoky, wood fire smell that I love. It  makes me crave roasting meats, chestnuts and big red wines. The past few mornings we’ve seen the heavy morning fog that is typical of this time of year making for spectacular scenery.
Bittersweet signs of fall, no doubt about it.

Braise, baby, braise! Artichokes are back.

Grazie Dio! Carciofi are back! The first few fall ‘chokes are back in the market. The spring harvest is about 5 times bigger than the fall, but at least now, we also have cardoons.
To celebrate, we had braised artichokes.

White Wine Braised Artichokes
1 choke per person, clean and prepped
1 lemon

Filling:
1-2 plum tomatoes
1 shallot
1-2 cloves garlic
3T grated cheese
2T bread crumbs
Olive oil, salt pepper

White wine, enough to partially submerge the chokes.

To clean an artichoke: Pull off the tough outer leaves and slice the artichoke down the middle. Using the tip of a sharp knife, carve out the downy thistles in the center. Rub all the cut exposed pieces with a cut lemon.  Peel the stem of the outer layer. Don’t throw the stems out! They are delicious.

For the filling:  Throw all the filling ingredients in a blender and puree for a few moments. Add enough olive oil that you get a loose, thick porridge consistency.

Place the filling into the artichoke heart cavity. Arrange the artichokes in a baking dish that has a cover. Add enough wine to come at least halfway up the sides of the choke.
Braise at 325F/165C for about 20 minutes or until the choke is soft. Serve with some of that white wine, a piece of cheese and a hunk of bread. Buon’appetito.

Garden Soup

  It’s takes about six months to make this soup. Start in the spring. Eat in the fall.

Step 1: In the spring, plant tomatoes, basil, parsley, leeks, carrots, zucchini, and maybe some onions.

Step 2: Right after the peak of summer, plant some bitter greens like chicory or chard.

Step 3: One gorgeous fall day, go round up whatever you find in the garden.

Step 4: Clean and chop all the vegetables. Reserve the parsley and basil. Gently saute the vegetables in olive oil, then salt and add water, simmer for about an hour.

Step 5: Puree the parsley and basil with a clove or two of garlic.

Step 6: Clean out the random bits of dried spaghetti that you have in the pantry. The odd handful of dried pasta that isn’t quite a full portion but you can’t throw out.... break it up into bite size pieces and toss into the soup. Note: Revel in the moment of satisfaction that comes from finally using up that remnant package of pasta.

Step 7: Now, mangia! Eat the soup! Serve with the parsley-basil-garlic sauce, plenty of grated cheese and enjoy the fruits of six months labor.

Orto Lessons Learned

It’s been awhile since we’ve talked about our orto (vegetable garden). It started out as a strange season and it stayed that way.  A cold wet spring, followed by a few short weeks of blasting heat, then cool and wet again. 
To be honest, I thought it was something we did; but we heard from others in Umbria they had the same problems. Tomatoes stopped tomato-ing, zucchinis would bud but never grow, the eggplants rotted before they were ready to be picked.
It is a lesson in humility.  The ground around here is very fertile, everything grows, but not this year.  The old timers talk about a famine in the area in the 1960‘s and I could never understand why. These are careful farmers, they know the ways of the land, so how could there have been famine? Now I have a glimpse of what may have happened.

Aside from humility, we also learned the following:
1) Carrots need much sandier, looser soil. We grew carrot knots.

2) Zucchini: next year they are going on the bern by the wall. I’ve never, ever seen such huge zucchini leaves. They grow ‘em big in Italy!
3) Cucumbers can’t be planted anywhere near those spore spreading, fiendish, cross-pollenating zukes.

4) I want to grow ginger and garlic next year. And maybe a bay tree, I hear they grow very fast.
5) I still have no idea what to do with the massive amount of grapes we have!

6) Anyone who sends me stinging nettle recipes again is going to get a large gift of fresh stinging nettles. And you know how you are....!

Our bitter greens are coming in, the leeks are nearly ready, there’s been a last burst of fruit from the tomato plants, so I can’t complain too much.

I’m already looking forward to next year’s garden!