4. Place the broiler pan—or the grilling rack, if it is adjustable—about 8 inches away from the source of heat. Put the spareribs on the pan or grill, brushing them with what remains of the marinade in the platter. Cook for 25 minutes, turning the rack 3 or 4 times. The meat should be juicily tender, but well done, not pink. Serve at once when done.
Pork Sausages with Red Cabbage
CABBAGE DOES wonderful things for meat, especially sausages. Here the cabbage and the pork are cooked separately first; the cabbage in olive oil, the sausages in their own fat. They finish cooking together, engaging in a reciprocal and beneficial assimilation of flavors.
For 4 servings
1 tablespoon chopped garlic ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1½ pounds red cabbage, cut into fine strips, about 8 cups
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 pound mild pork sausage, containing no herbs or strong spices
1. Put the garlic and olive oil into a large saute pan, turn on the heat to medium, and cook the garlic, stirring, until it becomes colored a light gold, then add all the cabbage, turning it over several times to coat all of it well. Add salt and pepper and cook uncovered, turning the cabbage from time to time, while you proceed with the next step.
2. Put the sausages in a small skillet and pierce them in several places with a sharply pointed fork. The fat that will spill through as the sausages cook will be all the fat you require. Turn the heat on to medium, and cook the sausages, turning them, until you have browned them deeply all over. Transfer them to a plate, using a slotted spoon or spatula.
3. When the cabbage is nearly done—it should be reduced to half its bulk and limp, but not yet completely soft after about 45 minutes—sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, and add the browned sausages. Continue cooking for 20 minutes or so, until the cabbage is very soft, turning the entire contents of the pan over from time to time. Transfer to a warm platter and serve at once.
Pork Sausages with Smothered Onions and Tomatoes
For 4 servings
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups onion sliced very, very fine
1 cup canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, chopped up, with just a little of their juice, OR fresh, ripe tomatoes, peeled and cut up
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1 yellow or red sweet bell pepper
1 pound mild pork sausage, containing no herbs or strong spices
1. Put the oil and onion in a saute pan, cover, and turn on the heat to medium. When the onion wilts and becomes much reduced in bulk, uncover the pan, turn up the heat to medium high, and cook the onion, turning it over from time to time, until it becomes colored a deep gold.
2. Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper, stir to coat well, and turn the heat down to cook, uncovered, at a steady, but gentle simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the oil floats free from the tomatoes.
3. Skin the pepper raw with a swiveling-blade peeler, split it, remove the seeds and pulpy core, and cut it into thin long strips.
4. Add the pepper to the tomato and onion. Put in the sausage, puncturing the skin in several places with a fork. Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, turning the sausages and tomatoes over from time to time.
5. Tip the pan and spoon off most of the fat. Do not discard the fat; if sausages are left over, you will need it for other dishes, see note below. Transfer the contents of the pan to a warm platter and serve at once.
Leftover note If sausage is left over, cut it into small pieces and combine it with the fat you had kept aside to form the flavor base of a risotto, see instructions or crumble it, reheat it with a little of its reserved fat, and toss it with pasta; or drain it well of fat, combine it with grated Parmesan cheese, and add to a frittata.
Ahead-of-time note The sausages may be cooked all the way to the end several hours or a day or two in advance. Do not degrease until after they have been reheated.
Pork Sausages with Black-Eyed Peas and Tomatoes
For 4 servings
2 tablespoons chopped onion
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon chopped garlic
⅓ cup chopped carrot
⅓ cup chopped celery
1 cup canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, chopped coarse, with their juice, OR fresh, ripe tomatoes, peeled and cut up
1 pound mild pork sausage, containing no herbs or strong spices
1 cup dried black-eyed peas, soaked for at least 1 hour in lukewarm water
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Choose a heavy-bottomed or enameled cast-iron saucepan, put in the onion and olive oil, and turn on the heat to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it becomes colored a light gold, then add the garlic, and when the garlic becomes colored a pale blond, add the carrot and celery, stir thoroughly to coat well, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes with their juice, stir to coat well, and adjust heat to cook at a gentle, but steady simmer for about 20 minutes, until the oil floats free of the tomatoes.
2. Add the sausages to the pot, puncturing them in several places with a fork. Cook at a steady simmer for about 15 minutes, turning the sausages from time to time.
3. Drain the peas and add them to the pot, together with enough fresh water to cover. Bring to a steady simmer and cover the pot tightly. Cook for about 1½ hours, until the peas are tender. Cooking times will vary because some peas cook faster than others. Check the level of cooking liquid in the pot; if it becomes insufficient, replenish with ⅓ cup of water as needed; if, on the other hand, when the beans are done, the juices in the pot are too watery, uncover, turn the heat up to high, and quickly boil away the liquid until it is reduced to a desirably dense consistency.
4. Tip the pot and spoon off as much fat as you can. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir thoroughly, then serve at once.
Oven note If you prefer to use the oven, after the peas have been added and the contents brought to a simmer as described in Step 3 you can transfer the pot to the middle level of a preheated 350° oven. Make sure the pot handles are ovenproof. If, when the peas are done, the juices need to be reduced, do so on top of the stove.
Ahead-of-time note The dish can be cooked entirely in advance several days ahead. If the cooking juices need to be reduced, do it only after thoroughly reheating the sausages and peas.
Pork Sausages with Red Wine and Porcini Mushrooms
For 4 to 6 servings
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1½ pounds mild pork sausage, containing no herbs or strong spices
½ cup dry red wine
A small packet OR 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, reconstituted
The filtered water from the mushroom soak, see instructions
1. Choose a saute pan that can subsequently accommodate all the sausages without overlapping. Put in the oil and sausages, puncture the sausages in several places with a fork, turn on the heat to medium, and cook, turning the sausages, until you have browned them deeply all over.
2. Add the red wine and adjust heat to cook at a gentle simmer. Turn the sausages from time to time while allowing the wine to evaporate completely. When the wine has completely evaporated, add the reconstituted mushrooms and the filtered liquid from their soak. Cook, always at a steady, but gentle simmer, turning the sausages occasionally and using a wooden spoon to scrape loose cooking residues from the bottom and sides of the pan until the mushroom liquid has evaporated.
3. Tip the pan and spoon off all the fat you can, unless mashed potatoes or polenta accompany the sausages, in which instance remove only part of the fat. Serve at once.
Cotechino—Boiled Large Sausage with Lentils
A SPECIALTY of Emilia-Romagna, and particularly of the town of Modena, cotechino is a fresh pork sausage about 3 inches in diameter and 8 to 9 inches long. The name comes from cotica, pork rind, a major component. The rind for
cotechino is taken from the snout and jowl, to which one adds some meat from the shoulder and neck, together with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and cloves, the proportions and choice of seasonings varying according to the style of the maker. When the same mixture is stuffed into a casing made from the pig’s trotter, it is called zampone. In the Veneto, a similar product is called musetto. It is made largely from the snout, or muso, and it is even softer than cotechino.
A properly cooked and skillfully made cotechino is exquisitely tender, with a succulent consistency that is almost creamy, and a sweeter taste than you might expect from any pork sausage. Butchers and delicatessens specializing in Italian food sell cotechino, but what sausage-makers outside Italy produce is leaner, drier, and saltier than the Modenese archetype, closer in style to a French saucisson. Nonetheless, when cooked and served as described below, it is a marvelously heartening dish. In Italy, it is believed that if cotechino with lentils is the first dish you eat on New Year’s Day, it will bring luck for the whole year.
For 6 servings
1 cotechino sausage
1 tablespoon chopped onion
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon chopped celery
1 cup lentils, washed in cold water and drained
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Cooking the cotechino: Soak the sausage in abundant cold water a minimum of 4 hours, but better overnight.
2. When ready to cook, drain the cotechino, put it in a pot that can contain it roomily, add at least 3 quarts cold water or more if necessary to cover amply, and bring to a boil. Cook at a slow boil for 2½ hours. Do not prod with a fork, because the skin must not be punctured while it cooks. When done, turn off the heat and allow the cotechino to rest in its cooking liquid for a while, but not more than 15 minutes before serving. Do not remove it from the liquid until you are ready to slice it, but make sure it is still hot when you serve it.
3. Cooking the lentils: Wait until the sausage has boiled for 1½ hours, then in a saucepan bring 1 quart of water to a simmer.
4. Put the chopped onion and oil in a heavy-bottomed or enameled cast-iron pot, and turn the heat on to medium high. Cook and stir the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold, then add the chopped celery, stir to coat it well, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes.
5. Add the lentils to the onion and celery, and stir thoroughly to coat well. Add enough of the water simmering in the saucepan to cover the lentils, adjust heat to cook at the gentlest of simmers, cover the pot tightly, and cook until the lentils are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. Add water from time to time as may be needed to keep the lentils fully covered. For more flavor, use some of the water in which the cotechino is cooking.
6. When the lentils begin to become tender, but are not yet done, stop adding liquid, because they must absorb all the liquid before you can serve them. If there is still liquid in the pot when they reach tenderness, uncover, turn the heat up to high, and boil it away, stirring the lentils as you do so. Do not worry if some of the lentils burst their skins and look mashed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Combining the cotechino and lentils: Transfer the sausage to a cutting board and cut into slices ½ inch thick. Spoon the lentils onto a heated platter, spreading them out, arrange the sliced cotechino on top, and serve at once.
Pizza Rustica—Pork and Cheese Pie, Abruzzi Style
THERE ARE a great many dishes in Italy called pizza that do not coincide with any familiar image of pizza. This one is a meat and cheese pie from Abruzzi and is enclosed in pasta frolla, Italian sweet egg pastry. Combining sweet pastry with a salted filling is a practice that goes back centuries, and however startling it may sound, it is an appealing and lively coupling of flavors. I have adjusted the traditional pastry formula to one whose taste I am more comfortable with, using far less sugar. I have also eliminated the hard-boiled eggs that usually find their way into these fillings because I find the pork and cheese satiating enough, and, hallowed usage notwithstanding, there is no cinnamon, a spice I have an aversion to.
For 6 servings
FOR THE PASTA FROLLA, SWEET EGG PASTRY
2 cups all purpose flour
2 egg yolks
Salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons ice water
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Combine all the ingredients and knead them together, preferably on a cold surface such as marble. When they are amalgamated into a smooth, compact dough, wrap it in wax paper and put it in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to 4 or 5, before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
Food processor note: All the mixing and kneading can be done with the steel blade, spinning it on and off until balls of dough form on it. When taking the dough out of the processor bowl, shape it into a single compact ball before wrapping and refrigerating it.
MAKING THE FILLING AND COMPLETING THE PIE
2 egg yolks
¾ pound fresh ricotta
¼ pound prosciutto OR country ham OR boiled unsmoked ham, chopped rather coarse
¼ pound mortadella, chopped coarse
¼ pound mozzarella, preferably buffalo-milk mozzarella, cut up in small pieces
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
A 1-quart ceramic soufflé dish
Butter for smearing the dish
The cold sweet egg pastry made as directed above
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Put the egg yolks in a bowl and beat them briefly with a whisk. Add the ricotta and beat until it becomes rather creamy. Add the chopped cold meats, the cut-up mozzarella, the grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper, and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are evenly combined.
3. Thickly smear the inside of the souffle dish with butter.
4. Cut off ⅓ of the pastry dough, and over a sheet of wax paper or kitchen parchment, roll it into a circular sheet large enough to cover the bottom of the baking dish and come up its sides a little. Turn the sheet over into the dish, peeling the paper or parchment away. Fit the dough over the bottom of the dish, spreading it out evenly with your fingers.
5. Cut the remaining ball of dough in two, and, following the method described above, roll one half into rectangular strips about as wide as the souffle mold is deep. Line the sides of the mold with the strips, overlapping where necessary, and filling in any gap with bits of dough, handling it like putty. Smooth with your fingers, evening off any unevenness. Where the sides meet the bottom, press the dough all around to seal the connection tightly.
6. Pour the mixture from the bowl into the mold and press it with the back of a spoon to force out any air bubbles trapped within it.
7. Roll out the rest of the pastry dough into a sheet large enough to cover the top of the pie amply. Place it over the filling and press it with your fingers where it meets the dough on the sides, making a tight seal. Trim the edge of the upper sheet of dough so that it does not extend more than ½ inch beyond the rim of the mold, and fold what remains over toward the center. Go over any rough connections with a moistened fingertip.
8. Place the dish on the upper rack of the preheated oven, and bake until the crust on top becomes colored a light golden brown, about 45 minutes. If at the end of 45 minutes the crust requires a little deeper browning, turn the oven up to 400° and bake for a few more minutes until the color looks right.
9. The pie can be served without unmolding, spooning it directly out of the baking dish. If you’d rather unmold it, when the dish has settled out of the oven for 10 minutes, run a knife all around the sides of the mold to loosen the pie. Put a dinner plate, bottom up, over the top of the mold. Grasp the plate and mold with a towel, holding them together tightly, and turn the mold upside down. Lift the mold away to leave the pie standing on the plate. Let cool at least another 5 to 10 minutes, or serve even a few hours
later, at mild room temperature.
VARIETY MEATS
Sautéed Calf’s Liver with Lemon, Piccata Style
Piccata is the term restaurants often use to describe sautéed veal scaloppine sauced with lemon juice. A similar procedure is here applied to calf’s liver. If possible, it is an even more refined dish than the version with scaloppine. It is certainly one of the freshest and lightest things one can do with liver.
For 4 servings
1 pound choice, pale pink calf’s liver, cut into slices no more than ¼ inch thick
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons butter
Flour, spread on a plate
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1. Remove any of the thin, stiff skin that may still be on the liver. It would shrink while cooking, and keep the liver from lying flat in the pan. If you find any large white gristly tubes, remove those also.
2. Put the oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan and turn on the heat to medium high. When the butter foam subsides, rapidly turn the liver in the flour on both sides, and slip into the pan as many slices at one time as will fit loosely, without crowding or overlapping. Cook the liver about ½ minute on each side, then transfer to a warm plate, using a slotted spoon or spatula, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat the procedure until all the slices of liver are done and on the plate.
3. Add the lemon juice and the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to the pan over medium-high heat. Stir rapidly, 2 or 3 times, using a wooden spoon to scrape loose cooking residues from the bottom and sides of the pan. Return all the liver at one time to the pan, turn the slices over just long enough to coat them, then transfer the liver and the pan juices to a warm platter, sprinkle with parsley, and serve at once.
Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking Page 48