Aroma Cucina

Why? A Tomato Canning Revelation

Once upon a time there was a woman who always cut the ends off the ham before she put it in the roasting pan. Her daughter, having learned the recipe from her mother, cut the ends of the ham before putting it in the roasting pan. When it was the grand daughter’s turn to make the ham, she asked, “Why do we have to cut the ends off, Grandma?”  Grandma replied, “Because my roasting pan was too small.”

 

It’s good to remember to question, to not work from rote.  Case in point:  I just figured out that I don’t have to peel the tomatoes before I can them. I learned how to peel tomatoes (pour boiling water over them and the skins will slip off) at my mother’s knee. I remember the hours, the tub of hot water with tomatoes bobbing around, the wrinkly fingers, the smell of a gazillion warm tomatoes as we put them up for the winter.

 

I also remember a few Italian summers ago, having to deal with a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes, and I peeled every last, stinkin’ one of them.  It was a good day not to come and talk to me in the kitchen.

 

This year, I had the  “Ah-Hah Moment God” come and bonk me on the head with my food mill. I put the tomatoes in a pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes, ran them through the food mill, all the tomato juice and pulp goes into the pot and you are left with nothing but seeds and skins in the mill. No peeling. No seeding. The tomato juice and pulp went back on the stove until it thickened, then into the sterilized jars.  Sooooo much easier than peeling all those tomatoes!! No wonder those clever Italians call it passato.

 

So the moral of the story is: just because you’ve always done it one way, doesn’t mean it’s the only way. And that’s not just in the kitchen.

 

P.S. I needed to show off our gorgeous beefsteak tomatoes. Stunning to look and just as stunning in your mouth.

Where Credit is Due: Name that Dish Contest

There is a legal minded school of thought that believes  recipes should be copyrighted. That he who creates a dish can somehow  ‘own’ that dish and could possibly even be paid a royalty for it every time another person makes it.

I think it is a fool’s goal.  Virtually since the moment that a woman figured out how to put meat on a fire and cook it, the art of cooking has been a communal affair.  (And you know it was a cavewoman because woman were the food preparers, so it stands to reason that she stood there saying, oh god, I don’t want to eat carpaccio again tonight and so she tried putting a little heat to the meat.)  Every recipe stands on the shoulders of another recipe, on inspiration from somewhere or someone. 

Which brings me to the name that dish contest. I wanted to make something a little special for lunch last week because it was our anniversary. A romantic dinner is not an option during festa week, so we had to settle for a quick, but joyous lunch and we both love roast quail.

I wanted to make a rich, spicy sauce as a counterpoint to the roasted quail, and I’ve been in a Renaissance spice mode recently, so there was mace, nutmeg, ginger, lots of pepper, but I used tomatoes as a base which weren’t around during the Renaissance, and I finished the sauce with a good jolt of whiskey, New Orleans style.  So what could you call this creation if you wanted to honor its roots?  Roast Quail with a Post-Renaissance Creole Sauce accompanied by Creamy Polenta? Now, that is a catchy name that should earn me the coveted “Pretentious Dish Description” award.

And now that I have a unique name, could I copyright the dish?

I don’t think so because all those medieval and Renaissance cooks influenced my choice of spices, and while dreaming of merchants in Venice, I wandered into modern times with my tomatoes and then remembered how the whiskey flavor acts like jazz music to bring all the flavor components into focus.   For me, paying homage to the roots of a dish is critical because no one, since the harnessing of fire, has operated without knowledge of someone else’s contribution.   Cooking is one of the ultimate grand traditions and we do right by knowing and understanding its history.  So the next time, you slice a tomato and throw a few leaves of basil on it, stop and think about how that dish evolved, and take comfort that you are truly not alone in the kitchen.

P.S. If anyone does think of a good name for that quail dish, let me know, ok?

And the winner is.....

Del Verziere! Del Verziere! Del Verziere! Del Verziere! 

Although I'm sure the news has gone global by now, our rione, Del Verziere has won the 2009 Palio della Santa Spina.
The winner was announced Saturday night,  the piazza erupted and the party went on all night long. Sunday we all dressed up yet again and had the huge procession or corteo through town that climaxes with our priest displaying the Holy Thorn which was brought to Montone by Fortebraccio.   It also meant walking around town in scorching heat wearing more upholstery fabric than most of us have on our couches. And tonight is the victory party back up at the Taverna. More food, more wine, more feasting, more laughter. It's good to be the winner!!

For anyone wishing to see  photos of the Donazione della Santa Spina, I invite you to take a look at my Flickr gallery. Honestly, it's like being asked to sit through someone's wedding video...but for those of us passionate about Montone, have fun!  

Donazione Update: The Waiting Game

Ciao! For everyone who has been sending me emails asking about the festa competition…. Tonight is the night that the winning rione will be announced. So stay tuned.

It has been a crazy, crazy, hectic, HOT, fun filled week.  All the plays have been played, everyone has done their best and now it’s up to the judges.   Del Monte’s play or spettacolo was a moody, after the battle scene with fantastic gory wound make-up, great use of a shadow screen to simulate the battle and a tale of intrigue and deception. Del Borgo was a visual extravaganza with eerie witches, flag throwers, Death on stilts, and a dramatic, lone knight in shining armor.  Del Verziere’s spettacolo was the Cecil B. DeMille inspired tale of the battle of Perugia. We had a cast of thousands, a horse, chickens, scary looking soldiers and a tragic love story. As always, I’m utterly amazed at the overall production quality, the amount of hard work and dedication that it takes to pull off these spettacolos is staggering.

The tavernas are packed every night, turning out mountains of food, filling the air with smoke and the aroma of roasting meat.  The piazza has been packed, literally bursting with people, until the wee hours of the morning. And each morning, everyone is sleeping in just a little bit later.

It’s late afternoon, and I can hear the sounds of the Del Verziere taverna being readied for tonight and I actually just got a whiff of tomato sauce. But most of all, you can feel the tension in the air. Small groups are huddled together discussing the merits of each of the plays as they glance around at their neighbors wondering what the outcome will be.  Objectivity may be in short supply, but passion is alive and well in Montone.

Donazione Update: Il Bando

Last night was the “Bando”.  Three short plays are performed, one for each rione, and it’s tradition to make fun of the other riones. These are bawdy, comedic skits where last night we saw our friend Giusipina beat up another lady with a rubber chicken, the Del Verziere tavern was accused of adding peepee to their secret sauce, a raucous romp in bed (between married people, of course, this is a family event), horse thievery, a young devil becomes an angel after drinking some vin santo, a man in brown face imitates a Sultan and gets caught, and then there was the show stealing devil incarnate who scared small children and startled old friends. 

While the actors did their best to convince the judges that their play was superior in all aspects, the various tavernas kept everyone well fed. Last night we served up a delicious vat of cinghiale and black olive stew, mountains of crostini, piles of pasta and a massive quantity of grilled pork. And late in the evening, someone delivered a whole tray of home made doughnuts. It doesn’t get better than fresh home made doughnuts!

Tonight’s event is the finale of the archery contest.  I think the losers of last night’s Bando have to line up with apples on their heads, or maybe it was chestnuts….

Bellini Slush

Poor Giovanni Bellini, the Venetian master painter. If he only knew his lasting claim to fame would come when the famous barkeep Harry Cipriani named a peach and Prosecco cocktail after him.  Harry liked peaches, and in a moment of inspiration (which probably meant he had a ton of peaches around and he had to use them or lose them) he combined the peach puree with some sparkling wine and a summer cocktail classic was born.

 

Bellini’s are only as good as the peach, so if you don’t have good peaches, you may get by with some very good quality peach nectar.

 

I’m lucky, there’s a peach farm down the road, it’s peach season, and I had a boatload of peaches in the kitchen. Six kilos of peaches to be exact.  Some went into a peach cake, some went into peach ice cream and some went into a Bellini sorbet.  The sorbet is a simple concoction of pureed and strained peaches, a little bit of lemon juice and a tiny bit of simple syrup combined with about half a bottle of Prosecco, then still-frozen. Meaning I didn’t use an ice cream machine, I just poured the liquid into a container and put it in the freezer.

 

When it’s time to indulge in a Bellini slush, cut out a chunk of the sorbet (it’s stays firm but not ice hard due to the Prosecco’s alcohol content), and combine in the blender with some ice cold Prosecco.

 

I bet Harry Cipriani would approve of my Bellini slush. As for Giovanni Bellini, I hope he liked peaches.

 

2009 Donazione della Santa Spina

The banners are up. Drums are beating. Early Sunday morning, the sound of bands of archers roaming town, their arrows clattering in their quivers, drifted in behind our closed shutters.

It’s festa week in Montone. The 2009 Donazione della Santa Spina has officially begun.

Streams of tourists flow down the streets, snapping photos of our lovely village. Behind the scenes there is a beehive of activity with rehearsals as each of our 3 riones prepares for their performance. Town is divided into three sections or riones: Del Verziere, Del Borgo and Del Monte and we compete amongst ourselves in a fierce battle of theatrical performances. Yes, archery counts, but it’s the spectacolos that bring in the big points.

So, our flags are flying and our spirits and hopes are high that this year Del Verziere will be victorious!

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.

 

The Great Tomato Taste-off

Here in the land of the tomato rich, we decided to settle the great debate, which tastes better: a beefsteak or an ox heart tomato. Finally, we had two of the tasty orbs ripe at the same time.

 

The beefsteak tomato is huge, soft ball sized, round and incredibly meat. I guess that’s how it got its name.

The oxheart is tear dropped shaped,  or now that I think of it, ox heart shaped, more pinkish than tomato red, but also very meaty.

 

We approached the Taste Off quite scientifically. First tasting only the sliced tomato, then with salt, then with salt and olive oil and finally with oregano.

 

And the winner on all counts, except oregano, was the beefsteak. It was simply more flavorful. The oregano teased out the nuances of flavor in the ox heart, but overall it lost out to it’s meaty cousin.

 

What an absolute luxury to be able to do a side by side tasting, and Signor Bruski was right, we didn’t plant enough tomatoes! This has been duly noted in the things to do better next year notebook.

Easy Whole Roasted Fish

  A whole fish, with all of its bones still inside where they belong, is going to taste better than a filet. This is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. You can adapt this recipe by laying 2 filets on top of each other, but its nowhere near as much fun.

 

Ingredients:

All the fresh herbs you can lay your hands on: parsley, marjoram, oregano, thyme, sage, mint (yes, a little mint is a wonderful addition), rosemary.

1 fish, such as an orata, small sea bass, red snapper

Tiniest sprinkle of salt

Some tin foil

 That’s it.

 Take your clean and gutted whole fish and lay it on a sheet of tin foil large enough to wrap the fish, stuff all the fresh herbs into the cavity. Sprinkle both sides of the fish with a little bit of salt.  If you are using filets, place the herbs between the two fillets.

Wrap the fish up, taking care to keep the seams of the foil wrap facing up. Add another layer of foil, also facing up. This keeps the juices from dripping out, and makes it easier to unwrap and eat later.

Now you have choices. This is a wonderful preparation for the grill. Place the fish packages (one fish per package) on the grill and turn once or twice.

Or you can roast the fish in a preheated oven, 350F, for approximately 30 minutes, depending on the size of the fish. Filets should take about 20 minutes.  This is a forgiving recipe, so if you are worried about the fish being done, turn the oven off and leave the fish in the oven for another 10 minutes, it won’t dry out because you’ve sealed in all the juices in the foil.

A variation on this preparation is to include a few tomatoes and potatoes and then you have an all in one dish and very little cleanup, which totally works for me! Dice the potatoes into small bite size pieces and par boil for about 5 minutes. Lay on top of the fish along with small tomatoes, sliced in half. 

You can either wrap the fish in foil as above, or in oven parchment paper, but if  you use paper, then don’t cook the fish on the grill, ok?

 

Simple, delicious and an excellent choice for that quick and easy summer, don’t-want-to-be-in-the-kitchen mood.