Tag: recipe

Vignarola romana

When thinking of food that represents spring, fresh new vegetables come to mind immediately.  In Rome one of the most frequently seen spring vegetables are fresh fava beans, often eaten raw with pecorino cheese.  A favorite springtime dish – almost a symbol of the beginning of spring – is vignarola.  It consists of a mix of fave, fresh peas and artichokes that are sautéed in olive oil with spring onions.  The name is said to come from the word vigna (grapevine) because the vegetables used were typically grown in the spaces between the grapevines.  As in most Italian dishes, there is no one recipe written in stone:  the vegetables are generally in equal proportion with the artichokes prepared Italian-style, outer leaves and fuzzy choke discarded until only the tender parts remain so that they can be sliced. The most traditional recipe also uses shredded lettuce.  Some people add mentuccia (a wild mint similar to pennyroyal) and some versions contain guanciale or pancetta.  It’s a simple, bright-green, fresh and delicious medley that can be a starter, main course or a side dish.

Migliaccio napoletano, a Carnevale tradition

In Italy Carnevale means not only costumes, masks, playing jokes, parties and parades but also eating lots of sweets at a time of year when excess is celebrated. Most of these – like frappe (or chiacchiere), castagnole and cicerchiata – involve different forms of fried dough.  Instead, the Neapolitan ricotta cake called migliaccio is a baked dessert.  Its origins can be traced to the Middle Ages and its name derives from the Latin word miliaccium – the traditional bread made of millet flour.  Up to the 1700s the term indicated a sweet made by peasants using millet and pig blood (considered particularly nourishing).  The Catholic church discouraged the use of blood because it associated it with pagan traditions. Gradually it was substituted by the use of eggs and ricotta, eventually becoming today’s cake which is made with semolina flour.  Traditionally the cake is cooked in a copper pan but nowadays it’s more common to see it in an aluminum cake tin. It’s a light(ish) cake, not too sweet, usually with a  citrus fragrance.  There is no one “original” recipe but this one makes a nice airy cake and a good way to participate in the revelries.

Pasta all’amatriciana

Bucatini all’amatriciana (or, more commonly in Rome, alla matriciana) are considered a staple of Roman cuisine.  In fact the sauce’s name probably derives from Amatrice, a town near Rieti in the mountains of Lazio.  Its original form was “in bianco” – pasta alla gricia, dressed just with guanciale (pork jowl) and pecorino cheese.  Eventually as tomato became more common in pasta dishes it was added to the sauce.  In Amatrice the typical ingredients used are guanciale, pecorino, white wine, tomato, hot pepper and pepper.  The Roman version adds onion.  Note that anyone from central Italy will tell you that pancetta is NOT the same thing as guanciale!  The pastas traditionally used are bucatini, spaghetti and sometimes rigatoni.  This dish has been in the news recently because Carlo Cracco, a well-known chef, said that he used a clove of garlic in the sauce.  Scandal!  All sorts of protests ensued, especially from Amatrice, insisting that it is heresy to put garlic in this sauce. And if you’re used to the Roman version, it does sound odd.  Here‘s the classic recipe.  An aside: spaghetti are far easier to eat than bucatini.

Cookie recipe for Valentine’s Day

This is an Italian recipe (see a version in English) for Baci di dama or “ladies’ kisses” – classic cookies originally from Piemonte.  Two cookies are sandwiched together with a chocolate filling, hence the name.  This delicious dolce is perfect with an espresso.