Aroma Cucina

Black Celery from Trevi

 

No, black celery is not the stuff you find in the back of the fridge. 

It’s a much revered type of celery that can only be grown in Umbria in the area around the picturesque town of Trevi. The town seems to be literally spilling down a mountainside, almost in defiance of gravity.

This celery variety, Apium graveolens L. var. dulce (Mill.) has earned IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta) status along with Cannara onions, Lago Trasimeno beans, faro from Monteleone di Spoleto, saffron from Cascia and other products unique to Umbria.

 

Trevi loves it’s black celery so much that they’ve been holding the Sagra del Sedano e della Salsiccia” since 1965.  This year we made it our business to get to Trevi to experience this famous black celery. The first thing you notice, aside from the fact that this is some honkin’ big celery, is that it’s not black. The leaves are a very dark green but even in the dark, they don’t look black.

There is something quaint, and slightly mad about seeing crates of celery stacked up and people lugging around big bags of celery. I’m sure it’s my US perspective, where celery is this generic crunchy stuff without much flavor, so to see true passion for celery, well, it just warmed my heart on a very cold night.

 

Now that I had my bunches of celery, and was carrying around a bag just like a local, I started to wonder what exactly was I supposed to do with them? We took a walk around the vendors who were selling black celery products and most of them were a ‘crema’ de sedano with sausage or truffles.  Restaurant menus also offered mainly ‘crema’ preparations, so we staggered around with our celery bag still a bit mystified by the cult of the black celery.

 

Arriving back in Montone, I was seized by inspiration! Give one of my huge bunches to Margie and let her figure out what to do with it! Ha! Half of my dilemma solved. We stood around in her kitchen munching on the flavorful (but my no means earth shatteringly tasty) celery stalks. Assessing the celery like wine we came up with: somewhat woody character with a good celery flavor. Maybe you need to cook it.

 

The next morning I had to face my celery and deal with it.  I cut off the huge, dark leaves and made a vat of richly flavored celery stock. The stalks I chopped into finger length pieces, put them in a clay pot with a very small amount of water and braised them for about 2 hours. Then I pureed the braised celery into a fragrant green mush.

 

My first experiment was “sedano nero e patate puree”, or “celery mush mixed with pureed potatoes” which I used as a bed under roasted quail. Not bad at all!

 

These are approximate quantities:

1 cup of celery puree

1 cup of potato puree (boiled, salted, potatoes put through a ricer and combined with a few tablespoons of olive oil)

 This would be a nice side dish all on its own, for those times when you are tired of just plain potatoes.

 

Next, I had to try the sausage and celery combination as this seemed to be the most classic preparation.

Celery & Sausage Sauce

1 medium sliced onion

1 cup of pork sausage meat

1 cup of celery puree

½ cup white wine

¼ cup heavy cream

4-5 thinly sliced artichoke hearts (optional)

 

Put a large pot of water on to boil the pasta and begin cooking the pasta as soon as the water boils because this sauce only takes about 5 minutes to cook.  I used orchiette pasta, which made for a toothsome, hearty dish.

 

Sauté the sausage meat and the onion, when the meat is brown add the pureed celery, artichoke hearts, and white wine. Gently simmer. About 2-3 minutes before the pasta is cooked, add the cream and check the seasonings.  In Italy, it is common to buy pre-seasoned ground sausage filling, which is usually heavily salted so I’ve learned to be extra careful about not adjusting salt levels until ready to serve. If the sauce seems too thick, add a bit of the pasta water to loosen things up.

 

I realize that not everyone is going to have access to ‘sedano nero’, so I think you could adjust the braised celery described above by adding a bit of parsley and the celery leaves to the braising pot.  You’d need to experiment on your own if you want to discard the parsley and leaves before pureeing. You might also consider using Chinese celery which has much thinner stalks, more leaves and is very flavorful; however it is meant to be cooked and not eaten raw as it is rather tough. And here is your celery trivia of the day: most of the nutrients in celery are in the leaves so consider using them in salads and stews.

 

Deborah Mele on ItalianFoodForever describes a black celery pesto that she made and that sounds yummy.

 

I’ve been singing the praises of celery for ages, and it’s good to know I’m not alone!

 

P.S. My trusty camera is in the hospital. It had a focus seizure and had to be rushed to the ER. I’m using a little hand held video camera thing to take stills and its like shooting with a blindfold on. So, for the next 10 days or so, my shots will be more ‘artistic’ than usual. Pray for a speedy recovery!

 

 

 

Orgasmic Baked Potato

I wouldn’t call it that if it weren’t true. Maybe calling it the Orgasmic Truffle Baked Potato would explain the reaction. 

Although having some truffle butter on hand is essential for the ultimate orgasmic potato, there are some titillating variations.

1-2 whole roasted potatoes, either an Idaho or good sized russet

Titillating Variations: Truffle butter, Caviar and sour cream, basil and garlic, parmigiano and pancetta

Basic technique: Thoroughly wash a whole, unpeeled potato, and then pierce it a few times. If you forget the piercing part, you risk having the potato blow up in the oven because the interior steam cannot escape. You will only ever make this mistake once.

Roast the potato at 350F until it’s soft, could be 45 minutes, could be a bit longer, depends on the size of your potato.

 

When it’s done, using oven mitts, remove the potato, cut in half and scoop out the inside.

Place the empty shells back in the oven until they get crisp and crunchy, about 10 minutes. In the meantime, using the scooped out hot potato insides,  blend in a decadent amount of the titillating variation of your choice.

Once the shell is crispy, crunchy, place the sinful potato back in the oven to get a little brownage on top and to be sure the potato puree is hot.

That’s all.

What you do while eating the potato is strictly private.

 

Tomato Tart

  We have officially reached critical mass in the orto. This means that for the first time, I hauled in more tomatoes than we could eat in a day! The tomato plants are actually taller than me, although that's not really a lot to brag about given my 'stature'!  Our first ‘cuore di bue’ or oxheart tomatoes were ready, a bunch of San Marzanos, and a ton of the little guys. The small cherry and ‘pachieri’ tomatoes are literally so sweet that they taste like dessert, which made me just itch to make a tart.

 

Very Simple Tomato Tart

Lots of little tomatoes, enough tomatoes that when you slice them in have, you have sufficient to fully cover the crust

1 very thin layer of thinly sliced onion

Salt, Pepper, Drizzle of Olive Oil

 

Pate Brise type crust

Click here for a basic Pate Brise recipe. I can buy very good quality pate brise, meaning it has no funny ingredients, already rolled out. I keep it around for quickie tarts and treats. Find a good source and stick with it, stay away from anything with hydrogenated oils, it leaves an oil slick on the roof of your mouth besides other nasty stuff.)

After you’ve rolled out the crust, very, very thinly slice the onions, thin as a sheet of paper, and lay them on the crust, next arrange your cut tomatoes, cut side facing up, small sprinkle of salt, a few twists of pepper and a tiny drizzle of olive oil. That’s it. Resist all temptation to add anything else. No basil. No oregano. Stop right with the tiny touch of salt and pepper!

Bake in a 350F oven until the crust is brown, about 25-30 minutes.

 

I served this with a ricotta and basil ‘cream’. Take fresh ricotta, throw in some basil leaves and puree until smooth and creamy.

 

When the tart comes out of the oven a few drips of good quality, syrupy balsamic vinegar would taste very nice. But only use that really expensive, thick as molasses balsamic or you’ll just have a warm tomato salad on your hands!

 

The tart was as good as I wanted it to be, and it was made all the better because the tomatoes came from our orto. My Dad would be so proud….he was the Tomato King!

 

 

Fast, Crunchy and Easy Potatoes

What’s not to like about a fast, crunchy and easy potato recipe?  From a portion point of view, it could even be a slimming potato recipe as only half of a potato satisfied both of us.  It does help to have two pieces of kitchen equipment: a slicer of some sort and a Silpat (One of those non-stick silicone pads. They’re expensive, but last forever and as long as you don’t cut on them, pretty indestructible.).  I love the Kyocera adjustable slicer, it’s lightweight, has 4 settings and a ceramic blade so it will stay sharp a lot longer.

Preheat oven to 350F
1 medium Yukon gold potato
Salt, pepper, olive oil, thyme, grated Parmigiano cheese

Thinly slice the potatoes, drizzle a few drops of olive oil on the Silpat and arrange the potato slices, sprinkle a bit of salt, a grind of pepper every few layers.  Sprinkle a bit of cheese on top of the potatoes and bake until crispy, about 20 minutes.

I like to serve this on top of a green salad with mustard vinaigrette, but you can serve it on a plate and it’s pretty tasty just like that.

Home for the holidays: Potatoes au gratin

So, are you finding yourself deep in the pot cabinet or the back of the pantry looking for that big roasting dish? Tis the season for digging out the big pots and feeding lots of people.

This is a potato recipe that works well for holiday buffets. Besides, who can resist potatoes and cheese?

Potatoes au Gratin
4 lb of russet potatoes
1 small sweet potato
1 small onion thinly slices
1 ½ cups milk
4 oz grated parmigiana
4 oz thinly sliced Swiss cheese
4 oz thinly sliced cheddar cheese
4 oz thinly sliced Gruyere

Salt, pepper, nutmeg, olive oil

Peel and thinly slice the russet potatoes. Drop the slices into a bowl of cold water. When all the potatoes are sliced, drain the water and rinse the slices in cold water again, repeat one more time. You are doing this to remove some of the excess starch from the potatoes, which means they will stay crisper and not melt together into a big shapeless pile of potato mush.

Peel and thinly slice the sweet potato.

The cheeses listed above are not set in stone, if you have a favorite, go for it, but choose well-mannered cheeses that play nicely with the other cheeses.  For example, blue cheese and cottage cheese would be terrible together! Don’t even think about cottage cheese, or anything that comes pre-sliced. Promise me, ok?

Preheat oven to 350F.

Use a nice roasting dish that holds all the potatoes and that can go directly to the table; a glass or ceramic dish would work very nicely.

Drizzle a little olive oil on the bottom of the dish and then start to layer the ingredients. Make a thick layer of white potatoes on the bottom, that way if anything sticks you’ll have a good solid base layer. Add a little bit of salt to one or two of the layers. Go easy on the salt, as the cheeses will also add a salty element.  About mid-way through, add the layer of sweet potatoes. They add some color and sweetness; I like to layer them near the onions.  Keep the grated parmigiana for the top layer, but before you add the parmigiana, pour the milk over the potatoes. Don’t worry if the liquid doesn’t come all the way up to the top layer of potatoes. As the potatoes bake and soften they will start to collapse down and into the milk. Do not overfill the baking pan or you will be cursing me from now till kingdom come because that pan is going to overflow and make a mess in your oven.  Add another little drizzle of olive oil on the last layers of potatoes, and then add the parmigiana and a few scrapes of nutmeg. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, when the top should be nice and brown and the potatoes soft.

This recipe is enough for about 10 servings.

A question about the milk: classic recipes call for scalded milk, or milk that has been brought to the boiling point. I remember being told, I think by my Mom, that scalding would prevent the milk from boiling up and spilling over. I just did a little google research and based on my own experience, there doesn’t seem to be any scientific reason for boiling already pasteurized milk. Any other thoughts on scalding milk?

Humble Ingredient: Potato

The classic tall chef’s hat that dates back to the 16th century has 100 folds in it; each fold is supposed to represent all the ways there are to make an egg.  If a young girl in Calbria wants to get married, she is supposed to know how to make 100 pasta shapes before she’s eligible to be a bride (I wonder if that still holds…!).

I’m thinking 100 ways to make potatoes might be more practical.

The first thing to consider is that not all potatoes are created equal. Some have a higher starch content, or a higher moisture content, some are waxy, and they come in lots of colors.

Yukon golds and russets are probably the most versatile potato because they are in the mid-range of moisture and starch. For years I wondered how the French got that lovely golden color to their pureed potatoes, I tried everything short of yellow dye#4, then I figured out they used a yellow potato. Duh.

Russets, or Idahos, are supposed to be the best for mashed potatoes and baking, along with Yukon Golds.

To peel or not to peel? That is the question, and the answer depends on where you are from. I like peels on in most cases because I believe they add flavor. I don’t want peels in my mashed potatoes because they tend to look like something nasty fell in the pot.

Don’t put your spuds in the refrigerator, put them somewhere dark and cool, you know, like the root celler you have but never use. Yes, step right up ladies and gentlemen, your brand new condo comes with a parking space and a root cellar. In my dreams.  The cabinet under the sink will now be called my root cellar. 

Here’s Basic Mashed Potatoes 101:

1)    Olive oil mashed potatoes. Your body like olive oil, it’s good for you, use it instead of traditional butter.
2 medium potatoes (for 2 people, make more if you really like mashed potatoes)
3-4 T Olive Oil
3 T milk
Salt, Pepper

Peel and roughly chop the potatoes, boil in salted water until tender. Usually about 10 minutes, don’t let them get too mushy and falling apart.
Drain and return to the pot. Using a hand held whipper, start mashing the potatoes, adding the olive oil in a thin thread. This just means don’t dump in all the oil at once, you’ll spend too much time mixing it into the rest of the potatoes. Once the oil is incorporated, add the milk. Adjust the milk depending on how loose or firm you like your spuds.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Watch it with the pepper, it can look like cigarette ashes in the potatoes, so you may want to hold off on the pepper.

Variation: Garlic and Parsley mashed potatoes.  Finely chop 1-2 cloves of garlic and roughly a tablespoon of parsley. When you drain the potatoes, before you put them back into the pot, add the garlic and parsley and 1 T of the olive oil. Let the garlic and parsley gently cook for a minute or two. Add the drained potatoes and mash as above.

Variation: basil potatoes. Great in the summer when there is more basil than you know what to do with. Make as above, but as you finish mashing, toss in a handful of finely shredded fresh basil. Don’t reheat, the basil flavor is clearest when it hasn’t been heated.

Variation: Parmigiana potatoes. Make as above and toss in a handful of grated parmigana right before serving.  You can also just add the cheese to the top of the potatoes and run the plate under the broiler to get a bubbly brown crust.

We could probably do 100 variations on just the mashed potato. What’s your favorite variation?

Humble Ingredient: Celery

Celery has gotten a bad rap over the years and it’s not fair. It seems to always get chopped up where it acts as a supporting player, never getting the spotlight all to itself.  Part of the problem in the States is that it is hard to find anything but the supermarket variety of celery: apium plasticbagus, which is crunchy but not all that flavorful.

We grow celery in our orto that has skinny, tough, fibrous stalks, but it is full of flavor. It’s too tough to just crunch on, so it needs to be finely chopped before use, but it adds a true celery zing to whatever you are cooking.  The Umbrian city of Trevi celebrates their particular ‘black celery’ with its own fall festa; this ‘sedano nero’ is actually an IGP product meaning that it can only be grown in the Trevi area.   It’s time we had some choice in our celery!

What else can you do with celery, besides leaving it undiscovered in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator until it turns to mush? Celery makes a great soup base either pureed or as a clear consume'.
But, here is today’s’ 5-minute celery secret: it makes a great salad all on its own. Just finely slice the celery and add a little vinaigrette and you are good to go. Make a blue cheese dressing and you’ve got a variation on the classic 1950’s appetizer: celery stalk with cheese stuffing (cream cheese, blue cheese, peanut butter, Chez Whiz…mmmm….).  It’s a nice change from a leafy green salad and particularly good when you might want a little extra crunch.

Want to serve celery soup, but think it sounds too plain? Just call it cream of apium graveolens and everybody will think you have just discovered the latest chic ingredient!

Roasted Eggplant

This recipe is inspired by the lovely restaurant I Sette Consoli in the ancient town of Orvieto. And guess what, it includes tomatoes!  (Yes, it's the place we went to where we literally licked the plates clean.)

It’s a little bit of a multi-stepper, but it makes an excellent side dish, and completely worth the effort.  It’s our new favorite way to eat eggplant. If anyone is inspired to make this, please let me know what you think, ok?

1 medium eggplant
¼ cup grated Parmigiano cheese
Olive oil for frying

5 or 6 cherry tomatoes
1 clove of garlic, minced
olive oil, salt, pepper, sprinkle of oregano

Red Sauce
1 small tomato
1 hot chili pepper
Olive oil

Green Sauce
2-3 T chopped parsley
1 T mint
1 T raisins
1 small clove of garlic
Olive oil, salt

Slice the eggplant lengthwise, in slices about ¼” thick…no thicker! Rub the slices with salt and let the slices drain in a colander, for about 30 minutes.

Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and place in a small baking dish. Add a tablespoon of olive oil, pinch of salt, sprinkle of dry oregano and toss to cover the tomatoes. Bake in a warm oven (300F) for about 30 minutes, until they are soft and starting to collapse.  Make a few extra because you’ll need to taste at least one or two….just to be sure they are ok.

Red Sauce: Peel and seed the tomato. You remember, dunk in boiling water for a minute or so, then slip the skin. Puree the chili pepper, tomato and a few drops of olive oil.

Green Sauce: combine ingredients and puree.

Assembling the Eggplant:
Do not rinse the slices; lightly fry them in a little olive oil. You’re just looking for a little brownage on the slice.
On a non-stick baking pan, lay down the first slice of eggplant, then a little cheese and a tomato half or two, next layer, do the same thing. Don’t go much higher than 3 slices and finish with only cheese on top. Bake in the oven until bubbly, about 12 minutes at 350F. Serve with a little of each sauce on either side.  This could be served at room temperature, or hot.  Italians like a lot of their vegetables marinated and at room temperature, and in the summer, that actually tastes pretty good.
And this recipe totally needs a better name….suggestions??

Arichoke and Anchovy

Artichokes and Anchovy Salad
It was one of those ah-ha moments. When you find two flavors that completely compliment each other. Here it was the crunch and freshness of thinly sliced raw artichoke, brought into focus by the salty earthiness of the anchovy. Match made in heaven.

Make a lemon vinaigrette dressing: 3T olive oil, 1T lemon juice, 2 whole salted anchovies, one small chopped clove of garlic, dash of salt and pepper.  Chop up the anchovy, then mash it together with the garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. 
I like the salt packed anchovies, they seem to hold their flavor better over a longer period of time.

Remove all the outer leaves from the baby artichokes. You need to use the little baby artichokes because the big ones that you find in the U.S. are usually too tough to eat raw.
After you’ve taken off all the tough leaves and you’re down to the tender green ones, very thinly slice the artichokes and toss them in the vinaigrette.  Let marinate for at least ½ hour before serving.

Great with a crisp white wine like a Grechetto or a Vouvray. And a crusty piece of bread.

Artichokes and the 1st day of spring

You know spring has sprung when you see the first baby artichokes in the market. I love artichokes, and all the wonderful things that you can do with them.  Two things that you should know about artichokes: they are really flowers and the plant looks like it’s from outer space, and they will turn your hands black when you cut them up so latex gloves will help if you don’t like dirty looking fingers. Ok, that’s three things.
Last night we celebrated the beginning of spring with a side of artichoke chips.

Baby Artichokes
1 Lemon
2-3 sprigs of fresh mint
Oil for frying
Flour for dusting
Salt 

Clean the baby artichokes by tearing off all the tough outer leaves and making a clean cut on the stem. It’s looks like a lot of wastage, and it is, but you can’t really chew through those tough leaves.  Slice the artichokes as thinly as you would like and then place in a bowl of acidulated (lemon) water.

Drain well and pat dry, or spin dry in a salad spinner.

Dust with flour and a dash of salt. You can do this by placing ½ cup or so of flour in a plastic bag, with the sliced artichokes, and gently shaking the bag. Then pour the artichokes into a strainer and eliminate any excess flour.

Fry the slices in abundant, hot (350F) vegetable oil. Work in batches so that you don’t lower the oil temp too much. Keeping the oil hot is key; this way you don’t have greasy, soggy artichoke chips, so resist the temptation to dump them all in the oil at once.  Remove when brown, and drain on absorbent paper.  I like to line a metal mixing bowl with paper towels, toss the finished artichoke slices into the bowl with a tiny sprinkle of salt, and keep warm as I cook the rest of the slices.

When you are done frying and ready to serve, add a little more salt if necessary, remove the paper towels, add some finely chopped mint, and give everything a toss in the bowl to distribute the salt and mint. Pour into a serving bowl, garnish with some fresh lemon and you are good to go.

Happy Spring to those of us on the North Side, and Happy Fall to those of us “Down Under”!