Most often, orecchiette con cavolfiore is made lean. Much like its better-known cousin orecchiette con cime di rapa, it’s made by cooking the pasta in the same pot as the vegetable and then dressing it with garlic, anchovy, hot pepper and plenty of good olive oil.

Orecchiette con cavolfiore is delicious that way, but since we’ve already covered that approach, I thought it would be nice this time to feature another, less common way of making it. In this version, said to be popular in the provincia di Bari where my grandfather Lorenzo was from, the anchovies give way to lardo, slowly rendered until golden. The dish is then finished with a generous grating of pecorino. The result is heartier and more rustic, just right for a chilly evening.

Simple but satisfying

Like so many dishes in the cucina povera tradition, orecchiette con cavolfiore doesn’t ask much of the cook other than a little tender loving care. You render diced lardo gently in a skillet until it’s nice and golden brown. Meanwhile, you boil cauliflower florets and orecchiette in the same pot. They then go into the skillet with the rendered lardo, and you toss everything together, crushing some of the florets as you go so they melt into a creamy coating. A handful of pecorino, and you’re done!

In Bari, cooks would make their orecchiette con cavolfiore the particularly tender and flavorful local green cauliflower called cima di cola, but you can turn out an almost as delicious (if rather monochrome) dish with ordinary white cauliflower. And if you can’t find lardo, then pancetta or even guanciale gets the job done.

So if you’re looking for a cozy, satisfying weeknight pasta this autumn, give orecchiette con cavolfiore a try. I think you’ll enjoy this little gem of Apulian home cooking.

Ingredients

Serve 4-6

• 1 kg (2 lbs) cauliflower, cut into small florets
• 400 g (14 oz) dried large orecchiette (or 500 g (1 lb) fresh)
• salt

For the skillet:

• 150 g (5 oz) lardo, preferably fresh, trimmed of its rind and cut into cubes or lardons
• olive oil
• salt, if needed

To finish the dish:

• freshly grated pecorino cheese

Directions

In a wide skillet or sauté pan, let the lardo sauté very gently in a little olive oil over a low heat for about 10 minutes, or until most of the fat as rendered out and the cubes are golden with crisp edges. Remove the browned lardo and reserve.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Add the cauliflower. If using dried orecchiette, add it to the pot along with the cauliflower. If using fresh, wait at least 5 minutes before adding it. Cook until the cauliflower is fully tender and the orecchiette are al dente.

Using a skimmer, transfer the pasta and cauliflower to the skillet, along with a small ladleful of the cooking water. Raise the flame and toss vigorously, crushing some of the florets against the pan so they melt into the fat and coat the pasta. Cook over a lively flame to let any excess liquid cook off.

Take the pan off the heat, add the pecorino and toss again, loosening with a little more cooking water if needed, until the cheese has completely melted into a creamy sauce. Taste and adjust for seasoning if need be.

Serve right away, topped with the lardo, with some extra grated pecorino on the side for those who want it.

Notes on orecchiette con cavolfiore alla barese

There’s not too much to trip you up here, but if you’re using lardo (or guanciale) be sure to go low and slow. Both have low smoke points, and you want to render out the fat as they brown. If you’re doing things right, the lardo should turn translucent, then chalky white, then eventually a golden brown. If the fat begins to smoke, take the skillet off the heat and let it cool down a bit before putting it back on the burner over a gentler flame.

The other tricky bit is making sure the pasta and cauliflower finish cooking at the same time. The cauliflower should be fully tender—tender enough so you can crush some into the sauce—but not mushy. The pasta should be, as always, al dente. The cauliflower usually takes about 10-12 minutes. Dried orecchiette usually take about the same amount of time. Fresh orecchiette, on the other hand, usually only take 3-5 minutes. You can roughly calculate cooking times accordingly.

Fortunately, orecchiette are a forgiving pasta that’s hard to overcook. But if you want to be totally safe, you can always cook the cauliflower first, transfer it to the pan with the rendered lardo, then cook the pasta. This way you have total control over the doneness of veg and pasta. A number of authorities say this is the ‘right’ way to do it anyway.

Choosing your cauliflower

As noted at the top, the ideal choice here is the cima di cola, a cauliflower varietal native to Bari and its environs. It is light green in color, quite assertive in taste and cooks rather more quickly than other varietals. But since most production is hyper-local, you’re not likely to find it in your local market. In fact, its production, never at scale, is on the decrease and it’s been listed as a kind of endangered species. A Romanesco or other green cauliflower would do well, as would another color of cauliflower for that matter or—as I’ve done here—you can just use standard white cauliflower.

Another lovely choice would be the Chinese cauliflower sometimes marketed as fioretto cauliflower. It has lovely slender green stems and delicate florets and an agreeable almost sweet taste. It cooks quickly and lends itself very well to stir frying. Since I discovered at one of our nearby Asian supermarkets, I’ve become a convert. It works very well in this and other cauliflower dishes.

Choosing your pasta

If you have the choice, go for the larger, slightly elongated orecchiette called strascinati. They are perfect for chunky sauces like this one. Otherwise standard dried—or even better fresh—orecchiette work well. Simply cut the cauliflower into pieces about the size of the orecchiette you’re using.

If you can, avoid the ersatz orecchiette sold by the big pasta brands. They are really just another factory pasta extruded in an orecchiette-ish shape. (I’m looking at you, Barilla and DeCecco.) Real orecchiette should be thick and chewy with a visibly rough exterior. If you can’t find orecchiette where you live, I’d suggest going with another shape altogether, one with cavities like gomiti (elbows) or conchiglie (shells) that can catch a chunky sauce. Or maybe something similarly chunky like rigatoni.

Choosing your pork

The recommended pork product here is lardo fresco, or fresh (uncured and unrendered) fatback. But if that’s not available, then I’d just go for cured lardo and go a little easy on salting the pasta water.

Another, easier to find alternative would be pancetta. If using pancetta, which is less fatty than lardo, increase the amount of oil you’re using. (I’ve seen recipes calling for smoked pancetta, so if you like that smokey taste, slab bacon would also work here.) But as a Roman at heart, a nice chunk of guanciale would be my go to, substitute. It’s almost as fatty as lardo and lends a wonderfully lusty flavor to the dish.

Choosing your pecorino

The ideal choice here be another local product, the PDO Apulian pecorino called canestrato pugliese. Principally produced in and around the town of Foggia, canestrato pugliese takes it name from the traditional practice of shaping the cheese in rush baskets called canestri, which create marks on the hard outer rind. 

But if you can’t find canestrato—and it’s not easy to find—then the similarly spicy, tangy pecorino romano works quite well.

Variations

If you want to go with the more classic lean version of this dish, then follow the same method outlined in our post on orecchiette con cime di rapa, using the same measurements for the pasta and cauliflower given here. In that recipe, instead of sautéing the pork, you sauté some garlic and peperoncino, then add a few anchovies to the skillet. If you like, you can brown some breadcrumbs in olive oil for a crunchy topping.

Other variations include a red version, where you add a few tomatoes to the sauce after the lardo has rendered, creating a rich, porky tomato sauce.

Making orecchiette con cavolfiore ahead

Like most pastas, this is a dish best served as soon as you make it. And this is so quickly made so there’s no real need to make it ahead.

That said, as mentioned orecchiette are a fairly forgiving pasta, so if you really need to make it ahead for whatever reason, or you have leftovers, you can gently reheat the dish without much loss in quality.

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Orecchiette con cavolfiore

Orecchiette pasta with cauliflower

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 577.7kcal

Ingredients

For the pot:

• 1 kg cauliflower cut into small florets
• 400 g dried orecchiette or 500 g (1 lb) if using fresh
• salt

For the skillet:

• 150 g lardo preferably fresh, trimmed of its rind and cut into cubes or lardons
• olive oil
• salt if needed

To finish the dish:

• freshly grated pecorino cheese

Metric – US

Nutrition

Calories: 577.7kcal | Carbohydrates: 58.1g | Protein: 12.9g | Fat: 33.2g | Saturated Fat: 9.9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17.5g | Cholesterol: 15.1mg | Sodium: 2392.4mg | Potassium: 664.5mg | Fiber: 5.5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 7.2IU | Vitamin C: 80.4mg | Calcium: 61.6mg | Iron: 1.7mg

The post Orecchiette con cavolfiore appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

The mysterious origins of Baked Manicotti

Ordinarily, when I feature one of these diaspora dishes, I like to trace it back to its Old Country roots, comparing and contrasting it the continental Italian original from which the American version sprang. With Manicotti, I’m afraid, I’ve come up dry.

Baked Manicotti bears an obvious family resemblance to cannelloni, the tubular stuffed pasta found in parts of Italy, particularly the area around Naples. It involves the same basic idea—a tube of pasta stuffed and baked under sauce. In fact, Jeanna Caròla Francesconi has recipe in her classic cookbook La cucina napoletana for cannelloni alla sorrentina that is very close indeed to Baked Manicotti. But the resemblance may be no more than that.

Go looking for manicotti on a shelf in Italy and you won’t find it. What you will find is cannelloni, a smooth-sided. slender tubular pasta, quite distinct from the ridged, sturdier tube sold in North America as manicotti. What’s more, the word ‘manicotti’ itself has no real currency in Italy, at least as a culinary term. It first appeared in American restaurant guides and food columns. The dish seemingly came into its own sometime in the 1920s, right as Italian immigrant cooking was taking firm hold in North American cities. Whether Baked Manicotti is a genuine descendant of cannelloni or something developed independently in an Italian-American restaurant or home kitchen is, as far as I can tell, simply not known.

A lighter baked pasta

In the Italian-American repertoire, what distinguishes manicotti from its baked-pasta cousins is a certain lightness. Whereas Italian-American lasagna and baked ziti typically include a long-simmered Sunday Sauce, thick with meat and simmered several hours to develop deep flavor, manicotti is usually meatless, its cheese filling left to be the star of the dish, dressed with nothing more than a simple, light tomato sauce, the kind Italian-Americans call ‘marinara’. That makes for a touch lighter than its cousins—and, happily, a good deal quicker to put together. This isn’t quite a weeknight pasta, but there’s no real reason to save it only for holidays and special occasions, either.

The dish itself is straightforward enough: manicotti are briefly parboiled, then filled with the ubiquitous trio of ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan, bound with egg and brightened with a bit of parsley, then nestled into a dish with the marinara, topped with more mozzarella, and baked until bubbling and lightly golden.

I hope you’ll give it a try—it’s a wonderful dish for a crowd, and, for the Italian-Americans out there, a fitting way to mark the month.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 12 manicotti pasta tubes
• salt

For the filling:

• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded or cut into small cubes
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino romano cheese
• 2 large eggs
• A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley, finely minced
• salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

For the sauce:

• 1 large can of peeled tomatoes, passed through a food mill, or 1 bottle of tomato passata
• 1 small onion, finely minced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• olive oil
• salt

For the topping:

• mozzarella cheese, finely shredded, to taste
• freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino romano cheese, to taste
• olive oil

Directions

Prepare the sauce

In a large saucepan or saucier, gently sauté the onion in abundant olive oil until soft and translucent. Take care not to brown the onion.

Add the garlic and, as soon as you can smell its aroma, add the tomato. Simmer gently for 20 minutes or so, until it has well reduced into a saucy consistency. By the end, the oil should separate from tomato.

Pre-boil the manicotti

While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Throw in the manicotti and cook until very al dente.

Drain the manicotti well, then immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water for a moment, until they are cool to the touch. Then drain in a colander until needed.

Prepare the filling

In a mixing bowl, mix the ricotta with the mozzarella and grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Add the eggs and chopped parsley and mix again. Season generously with salt and pepper. The mixture should be very savory.

Assemble and bake

Take a baking pan or casserole large enough to hold all the manicotti in a single layer. Spoon a thin layer of the tomato sauce on the bottom.

Now take the manicotti, one by one, and fill them with the ricotta mixture. (A pastry cream bag or just a ZipLock with one of the corners clipped off makes this job easier but a simple spoon will do.)

Lay the filled manicotti in the baking dish. Nap them well with sauce, making sure that the paste is entirely covered without smothering them.

Sprinkle with the mozzarella and then the grated Parmesan. Drizzle the top with olive oil. Drizzle a little water (say 1/2 cup) around the edges.

Bake covered in a moderate 350F (180C) oven for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 15 minutes, or until any excess liquid has cooked off and, if you like it that way, the top has browned a bit.

Serve

Remove the baking dish from the oven and let the manicotti settle for about 5-10 minutes before serving. Accompany with additional grated cheese and any remaining sauce for those who want them.

Notes on Baked Manicotti

Even when making a homey, unpretentious dish like this one, it still pays to choose your ingredients with care. I shudder at the recipes I see that call for jarred sauce, for example. If you’re going to the trouble of making baked pasta, then do take the extra time to make your own sauce!

Choosing the pasta

It’s easy enough to find manicotti on this side of the Atlantic. Barilla, Ronzoni, Prince, DeLallo and in Canada Catelli all carry it, and any American supermarket will likely have at least one of these on the shelf. There’s a funny irony here: even Barilla, as Italian a company as they come, makes their manicotti not in at their home based in Parma but at a plant in Canada, purely for the North American market. It seems even Italy’s most famous pasta maker has concluded that manicotti is a dish for us, not for them!

Readers outside the US and Canada may have a harder time of it. (A reader in the UK tells me that, whlle usual, it is sold there.) Cannelloni, happily, makes a perfectly good substitute—same basic tube, just smooth rather than ridged, and about as common in Italy as manicotti is here.

Cheeses

There’s no real need to splurge on hand dipped ricotta to make Baked Manicotti, though it would certainly elevate the dish. But do be sure your ricotta is well drained. Otherwise, you may wind up with the stuffing oozing out to make a soggy mess.

For the mozzarella, this is one dish where the dry variety sold wrapped in plastic works better than fresh. Some mozzarellas are sold specifically for the meltability—those are the ones to look for. Avoid pre-shredded mozzarella like the plague. Like all pre-shredded cheeses, it’s treated with corn starch or other additives to prevent it sticking. Trouble is, those additives also prevent it melting properly.

As for the grated cheese, you can use grated Parmesan or, for a bit more oomph, pecorino romano. But whichever one you choose, do grate it fresh. Pre-grated cheeses, especially Parmesan, lose their flavor very quickly, though here pecorino, with its sharper flavor, is less forgiving. It’s fine to use if you prefer.

You will notice I’ve used the term ‘Parmesan’ here rather than parmigiano-reggiano. Since this is an Italian-American dish, a domestic Parmesan works well here, though a bit like using hand-dipped ricotta, if you want to elevate the dish, go ahead and use the good stuff.

Tomato

As indicated in the ingredients list, the tomato can take the form of canned tomatoes which you’ve passed through a food mill, which is my preference, or a bottle of tomato passata, which is less work. You could also go for crushed canned tomatoes.

If you do go for the passata, be aware of that many brands are very thick indeed. If so, add a cup or so of water to the saucepan so you have a fairly thin sauce to begin with that can simmer down. I like to drizzle the water into the bottle the passata came in, and swish it around then pour it into the pan. This way you don’t lose a drop of the passata.

And speaking of simmering down, also take into consideration that the sauce will thicken and reduce considerably in the oven. The pasta will absorb quite a bit, then evaporation will reduce it more. So make sure the sauce has a loose consistency and use a fair amount of it. Enough to cover the pasta well without, on the other hand, smothering it.

Crepe Manicotti

Many Italian-Americans, especially those with Sicilian roots make manicotti with crepes—crespelle in Italian—rather than the store bought pasta, which, of course, crepes make the dish even lighter. This may, in fact, be the older version of the dish, as some food historians trace the origins of manicotti to Italian crespelle.

You can refer to this recipe for making the crepes. You then lay them out, slather them with the cheese filling, the roll them up and proceed as per the main recipe above.

Other Variations

Probably the most common variation on this basic recipe is adding spinach to the stuffing. You briefly cook about 1 lb (500g) spinach in a dry pan just until it wilts, let is cool, then squeeze it dry and chop it finely before you add it to the mix. For lazy cooks, about 10z (280g) chopped frozen spinach works well, too.

While the trio of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan are classic mix for the filling, you will see recipes that stray into more or different cheeses. For instance, some recipes have you add cream cheese or mascarpone for a richer, creamier consistency. Pecorino, as noted already, adds more oomph than Parmesan. In a similar vein, you can use a mild provolone instead of, or in addition to, the mozzarella for a sharper flavor. And cottage cheese sometimes replaces the ricotta, though if you ask me, the less said about that variation, the better…

As noted above, a classic Baked Manicotti is meatless, with a light marinara type tomato sauce, but if you want a more substantial dish with deeper flavor, you could use Sunday sauce instead of a simple marinara. This is also what Francesconi’s cannelloni alla sorrentina calls for.

Making Baked Manicotti ahead

Baked Manicotti, like its cousin Italian-American baked pastas, actually lends itself rather well to making ahead. You reheat it gently in the oven at say 160C/324F for about 15-20 minutes. And if you have a steam oven, even better; setting it at 60% humidity will help your Baked Manicotti from drying out.

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Baked Manicotti

An Italian American classic

Course Primo

Cuisine Italian-American

Keyword baked

Servings 6 as a first course, 4 as a main

Calories 657.5kcal

Ingredients

• 12 manicotti pasta tubes
• salt

For the filling:

• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded or cut into small cubes
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino romano cheese
• 2 large eggs
• A couple of sprigs of fresh parsley finely minced
• salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

For the sauce:

• 1 large can of peeled tomatoes passed through a food mill, or 1 bottle of tomato passata
• 1 small onion finely minced
• 2-3 cloves garlic finely minced
• olive oil
• salt

For the topping:

• mozzarella cheese finely shredded, to taste
• freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino romano cheese to state
• olive oil

Metric – US

Instructions

Prepare the sauce

• In a large saucepan or saucier, gently sauté the onion in abundant olive oil until soft and translucent. Take care not to brown the onion.
• Add the garlic and, as soon as you can smell its aroma, add the tomato. Simmer gently for 20 minutes or so, until it has well reduced into a saucy consistency. By the end, the oil should separate from tomato.

Pre-boil the manicotti

• While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Throw in the manicotti and cook until very al dente.
• Drain the manicotti well, then immediately plunge them into a bowl of ice water for a moment, until they are cool to the touch. Then drain in a colander until needed.

Prepare the filling

• In a mixing bowl, mix the ricotta with the mozzarella and grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Add the eggs and chopped parsley and mix again. Season generously with salt and pepper. The mixture should be very savory.

Assemble and bake

• Take a baking pan or casserole large enough to hold all the manicotti in a single layer. Spoon a thin layer of the tomato sauce on the bottom.
• Now take the manicotti, one by one, and fill them with the ricotta mixture. (A pastry cream bag or just a ZipLock with one of the corners clipped off makes this job easier but a simple spoon will do.)
• Lay the filled manicotti in the baking dish. Nap them well with sauce, making sure that the paste is entirely covered without smothering them.
• Sprinkle with the mozzarella and then the grated Parmesan. Drizzle the top with olive oil. Drizzle a little water (say 1/2 cup) around the edges.
• Bake covered in a moderate 350F (180C) oven for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 15 minutes, or until any excess liquid has cooked off and, if you like it that way, the top has browned a bit.

Serve

• Remove the baking dish from the oven and let the manicotti settle for about 5-10 minutes before serving. Accompany with additional grated cheese and the remaining sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 657.5kcal | Carbohydrates: 31.6g | Protein: 30.1g | Fat: 45.7g | Saturated Fat: 18.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21.1g | Cholesterol: 145.6mg | Sodium: 4141.3mg | Potassium: 277mg | Fiber: 1.4g | Sugar: 2.4g | Vitamin A: 888.2IU | Vitamin C: 1.5mg | Calcium: 558.6mg | Iron: 1.4mg

The post Baked Manicotti appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

Yet another Italian dish born out of necessity, in this case as a way of preserving meat for the winter, tonno di coniglio is enjoyed today for its own exquisite taste and sumptuous mouthfeel.

The recipe proceeds in two steps: First, you simmer a rabbit in an aromatic broth until perfectly tender,. Second, you strip the meat off the bone and layer it in a mason jar or other airtight container with garlic, sage, pepper and olive oil and leave it to cure for a few days in scented olive oil so as to let the oil and seasonings infuse the meat with its lovely flavors.

It’s a simple recipe that makes for a delicious antipasto served with toasted bread and perhaps some pickled vegetables, or as a protein forward salad on a bed of lettuce.

For those who are squeamish about eating rabbit, the same method can be used with chicken, with equally delightful results. And don’t throw out the poaching liquid—you can use it to make lovely soups and risotti. The leftover oil, too, can be recycled for dressing salad, sautéing or making sauces.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 as an antipasto

• 1 young rabbit or chicken (about 1-1..5 kilos/2-3 lbs)

For the aromatic broth:

• 1-2 carrots, trimmed and cut into large pieces
• 1-2 celery stalks, cut into large pieces
• 1 yellow onion, cut in half and each half studded with a clove
• 3-4 juniper berries, lightly crushed
• 1-2 bay leaves
• a pinch of whole black peppercorns
• salt

For the olive oil cure:

• 2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• a sprig or two of fresh sage leaves
• whole peppercorns, black or pink
• olive oil

Directions

Simmering

In a large pot, place the onion, carrot, celery, juniper berries, bay leaf and peppercorns and enough water to cover the rabbit. Bring the water to a simmer. Salt very generously and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Add the rabbit to the pot, topping it up with water if need be so it is completely covered. Simmer until very tender, usually about 1 hour for a rabbit, 30-45 minutes for a chicken.

Let the pot cool completely.

Deboning

When the rabbit or chicken has completely cooled, remove it from the pot and place in a colander to drain. Rinse if need be to remove any scum from its surface. Then pat it dry with paper towels.

Now, working with gloved or impeccably washed hands, pull the meat off the bones in strips. (If using a chicken remove the skin and discard it.)

Curing

Place a sage leaf, a slice or two of garlic and a few peppercorns in the bottom of a mason jar or other airtight container. Drizzle over some olive oil.

Place down a layer of the shredded meat, the top with another sage leaf or two, a few slices of garlic and a few peppercorns, then drizzle with more olive oil. Repeat until you have used up all the meat.

Top up with enough oil to completely cover the meat.

Close the container and store in the fridge (or another chilly place) for at least 2-3 days.

Serving

Remove the jar from the fridge and bring back to room temperature before serving.

Notes on tonno di coniglio

This is a simple recipe, but one that requires a bit of fussy work deboning the rabbit or chicken, then some patience waiting for that two—or much better—three day cure that’s key to its success. The other key point is the quality of the oil, of course. As this is Piedmontese cookery, ideally you’d go for a lighter olive oil, perhaps one of the excellent olive oils from neighboring Liguria (or even Provence) rather than one of the fruity ones from Sicily or Puglia.

Finally be very generous with the salt for the broth. The broth itself may taste overly salty, but the meat needs it. And if you’re a salt fiend like me, you may want to sprinkle a bit into the cure or serve your tonno di coniglio sprinkled with a little salt.

To prevent spoilage, it’s important that the oil completely cover the meat. I find it’s a good idea to top up the jar, then wait for a few minutes for the oil to settle. Then if you need to, top it up again. Don’t worry about your waistline, you let most of it drain off when you serve your tonno di coniglio.

Sourcing the rabbit or chicken

Rabbit isn’t easy to find where I live, but there is at least one upscale supermarket that carries it, albeit at an eye-watering price of $60. The same can be said for online sources. A better bet are ‘ethnic’ supermarkets, where you can find rabbit at a fraction of the cost.

If you are using chicken instead of rabbit, try to find one with real flavor and a proper unflabby texture. An organic, free range bird is best. Also excellent are the ‘yellow chickens’ I can find at my local Chinese supermarket, especially the European-Hong Kong style whole chickens from Bo Bo Poultry based in Brooklyn. Complete with head and feet that you can use for broth, they also have wonderful flavor and excellent firm texture.

Variations

The most common variations in recipes for tonno di coniglio mostly change up the aromatics that go into the broth or oil. Some recipes, for instance, call for rosemary in one or the other, or both. Juniper berries don’t figure in all recipes and sometimes the bay leaf is omitted. In some recipes, white wine or white wine vinegar is added to the broth. Orange or lemon peel also figure in some recipes. And in Liguria, where this dish is also popular, olives, capers and anchovies can go into the jar.

More far afield are modern recipes where change up the cooking method. You can cook the rabbit directly in the oil at a very low temperature, resulting in a kind of confit. You can also cook the meat sous vide instead of simmering it for a particularly tender and juicy result.

And of course, as mentioned, you can vary the main ingredient. Chicken is perhaps the most common substitute, and the closest to the original. But turkey also works. And you can even find recipes for making veal or pork this way.

Making tonno di coniglio ahead

This is a dish that has to be made at least 2 or 3 days ahead. It will keep for several days longer in the fridge. Always make sure that the oil completely covers the meat to prevent spoilage.

If you want to keep your tonno di coniglio any longer than say a week or so, it’d be prudent to sterilize the jars properly. That’s something I never find I need to do since as soon as it’s ready to eat tonno di coniglio disappears quickly in our house.

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Tonno di coniglio

Rabbit or chicken simmered in aromatic broth and cured in scented olive oil

Course Antipasto

Cuisine Piemonte

Keyword cured, simmered

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total Time 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 285.8kcal

Ingredients

• 1 young rabbit or chicken about 1-1..5 kilos/2-3 lbs

For the aromatic broth:

• 1-2 carrots trimmed and cut into large pieces
• 1-2 celery stalks cut into large pieces
• 1 yellow onion cut in half and each half studded with a clove
• 3-4 juniper berries lightly crushed
• 1-2 bay leaves
• a pinch of whole black peppercorns
• salt

For the olive oil cure:

• 2-3 garlic cloves peeled and thinly sliced
• a sprig or two of fresh sage leaves
• whole peppercorns black or pink
• olive oil

Instructions

Simmering

• In a large pot, place the onion, carrot, celery, juniper berries, bay leaf and peppercorns and enough water to cover the rabbit. Bring the water to a simmer. Salt very generously and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
• Add the rabbit to the pot, topping it up with water if need be so it is completely covered. Simmer until very tender, usually about 1 hour for a rabbit, 30-45 minutes for a chicken.
• Let the pot cool completely.

Deboning

• When the rabbit or chicken has completely cooled, remove it from the pot and place in a colander to drain. Rinse if need be to remove any scum from its surface. Then pat it dry with paper towels.
• Now, working with gloved or impeccably washed hands, pull the meat off the bones in strips. (If using a chicken remove the skin and discard it.)

Curing

• Place a sage leaf, a slice or two of garlic and a few peppercorns in the bottom of a mason jar or other airtight container. Drizzle over some olive oil.
• Place down a layer of the shredded meat, the top with another sage leaf or two, a few slices of garlic and a few peppercorns, then drizzle with more olive oil. Repeat until you have used up all the meat.
• Top up with enough oil to completely cover the meat.
• Close the container and store in the fridge (or another chilly place) for at least 2-3 days.

Serving

• Remove the jar from the fridge and bring back to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 285.8kcal | Carbohydrates: 3.1g | Protein: 36.7g | Fat: 13.3g | Saturated Fat: 2.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7.9g | Cholesterol: 135mg | Sodium: 1254.7mg | Potassium: 695.5mg | Sugar: 1.3g | Vitamin A: 1702.9IU | Vitamin C: 2.3mg | Calcium: 30.6mg | Iron: 5.5mg

The post Tonno di coniglio appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

A coviglia napoletana is made with a rich combination of egg yolk whipped with sugar until creamy, folded together with whipped cream and a meringue of egg white whipped with sugar until thick and frothy, classically flavored with either espresso or melted chocolate. The mixture is then popped right into the freezer. There’s no need for churning, since the air produced by the whipping, along with fat and sugar, prevent the mixture from freezing hard. What you get instead is a rich, velvety and gorgeously dense mouthfeel.

Traditionally, you serve coviglia in small metal cups which gives it its name, which is derived from the Spanish word cubillo, literally a small bucket, a legacy of the long Spanish dominion over southern Italy. Today freeze-proof glass, wax paper or even plastic are more common serving vessels.

A forgotten classic

Coviglia has an illustrious history. Its name suggests origins during the Spanish Bourbon period, and it was developed gradually between the 17th and 19th centuries. Food historians treat it as one of the key transitional desserts between the old-style sorbet and modern gelato. Naples at the time was considered the capital of frozen desserts.

By the 1800s coviglia had become genuinely popular, especially in coffee and chocolate flavors, spreading through Neapolitan society and persisting after Italian unification in 1860, when Naples was no longer a capital but continued to draw European visitors curious to taste local specialties, famously including the Empress Elizabeth of Austria, popularly known as Sisi.

You’ll find recipes for coviglia in both of the great Neapolitan cookbooks of the period, later editions of Vincenzo Corrado’s 1737 Il Cuoco galante and Ippolito Cavalcanti’s 1837 La cucina teorico-pratica.

By the 20th century coviglia had become a fixture of home entertaining. No baptism, communion, or birthday buffet was complete without coviglie in a few flavors, usually alongside its cousin the spumone. The following recipe is adapted from Jeanne Caròla Francesconi’s iconic 20th century cookbook La cucina napoletana. which is where I first came across it.

Sadly, today coviglia has almost been forgotten. The Gran Caffè Gambrinus, a veritable Naples institution since 1860, is famous for its coviglie, including a special violet flavored one named in Sisi’s honor. And you can find it at a few other coffee shops and gelaterie around town. They say ironically, coviglia is a bit more popular up north than in its native town, but personally I’ve never come across it. Needless to say, it’s virtually unknown outside Italy.

What a shame, since it’s a delightful dessert, and an easy one to make at home. Perhaps it’s time for a coviglia revival?

Ingredients

Makes about six single servings

• 2-3 shots of espresso
• 1-2 Tbs sugar or other sweetener

For the meringue:

• 3 egg whites
• 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar

For the whipped cream:

• 500ml (2 cups) heavy cream
• 2 Tbs powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

For the egg yolk cream:

• 4 egg yolks
• 4 Tbs granulated sugar

Optional toppings:

• whipped cream
• chocolate covered coffee beans
• dark chocolate shavings
• cocoa powder
• chopped pistachios

Directions

Prepping the components

Prepare two shots of espresso coffee in a ‘moka’ coffee pot or espresso machine. Sweeten to taste. Let the coffee cool completely.

Prepare the meringue by whisking the egg whites with the sugar in a standing mixer until you have a glossy white foam that forms ribbons as you whisk.

Prepare the whipped cream by whisking the heavy cream and powdered sugar until it forms soft peaks.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until it, too, is pale, thick and perfectly cream, forming ribbons as you whisk.

Mixing the coviglia batter

Add the coffee to the egg yolk cream and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add the meringue and mix gingerly until fully incorporated as well.

Now add the whipped cream and fold gingerly fold it into the mixture with a spatula. Use a circular motion, scooping up from the bottom of the bowl until you have a uniform batter.

Freezing

Pour the batter into individual freezer proof serving cups, leveling off the tops so the batter is flush with the rims of the cups.

Freeze for at least three hours or overnight. If freezing for more than a few hours, cover with plastic wrap (cling film) to prevent freezer burn.

Serving

Let rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes before serving, garnished with one or more of the optional toppings if you like.

Notes on la coviglia napoletana

First off, a word to the wise: As you will have seen, this recipe calls for raw eggs. And freezing, unfortunately, does not kill salmonella. So if you have any doubts about the safety of your eggs or just don’t want to risk it, pasteurized eggs are the way to go.

Though the recipe for coviglia is quite simple, it does involve quite a bit of whipping, of all three elements of the base. It’s that whipping that creates the air which, along with the fat in the whipped cream, gives coviglia its dense but not hard texture when frozen.

Unless you have particularly strong arm muscles, a standing mixer definitely comes in handy. You’ll need to run it at top speed for all three elements. Since I only have one bowl, I make the meringue first, the whipped cream, removing each to another bowl after they’re done, and only then whip the egg yolk cream. Then I fold the meringue, followed by the whipped cream, back into the bowl.

Since the air is critical to getting the right texture, you need to take special care not to deflate the moisture as you fold it. Use a gingerly scooping motion, as you do so.

Variations

For this recipe, I’ve slightly modified a recipe from Jeanne Caròla Francesconi’s La cucina napoletana. More contemporary recipes generally call for much less whipped cream than she does, usually about half the amount given here, for a denser, darker, more coffee forward coviglia, which you can then top with more whipped cream if you like. Francesconi’s version is so light and creamy that it doesn’t really need a whipped cream topping, though personally I don’t mind gilding the lily.

Depending on your sweet tooth, you can vary the amount of sugar as well. Francesconi’s recipe actually calls for about double the amount of sugar called for in the recipe above (!) Personally I find that much too sweet. That said, I would use much less than indicated here, as you need the sugar for a proper, creamy smooth texture. Sugar lowers the temperature at which the batter freezes and prevents ice crystals from forming.

Other flavorings

As mentioned, the other classic flavor is chocolate. For a chocolate coviliga, gently melt about 200g (7 oz) dark chocolate and let it cool a bit before adding it to the egg yolk cream instead of the coffee.

Other flavorings include hazelnut, chestnut, pistachio, torrone, strawberry, amarena (sour cherry) and vanilla. You could even forgo flavorings altogether; the base is perfectly delicious on its own.

You can really go to town with the toppings as well, using whatever you find complements your flavoring. I’ve listed some of the more common ones in the main recipe.

Making coviglia ahead

You need to make your coviglia at least three hours ahead so it has time to firm up in the freezer. Longer than that and you should let the coviglia soften a bit at room temperature. If you’ve left it to freeze overnight or longer, it should rest say 15-20 minutes. Increase the rest time if you’ve used less whipped cream as most modern recipes call for.

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Coviglia napoletana

Course Dessert

Cuisine Campania

Keyword frozen

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

3 hours hours

Total Time 3 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 460.8kcal

Ingredients

• 2-3 shots espresso
• 1-2 Tbs sugar or other sweetener

For the meringue:

• 3 egg whites
• 100 g granulated sugar

For the whipped cream:

• 500 ml heavy cream
• 2 Tbs powdered (confectioner's) sugar

For the egg yolk cream:

• 4 egg yolks
• 4 Tbs granulated sugar

Optional toppings:

• whipped cream
• chocolate covered coffee beans
• dark chocolate shavings
• cocoa powder
• chopped pistachios

Metric – US

Instructions

Prepping the components

• Prepare two shots of espresso coffee in a ‘moka’ coffee pot or espresso machine. Sweeten to taste. Let the coffee cool completely.
• Prepare the meringue by whisking the egg whites with the sugar in a standing mixer until you have a glossy white foam that forms ribbons as you whisk.
• Prepare the whipped cream by whisking the heavy cream and powdered sugar until it forms soft peaks.
• In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until it, too, is pale, thick and perfectly cream, forming ribbons as you whisk.

Mixing the batter

• Add the coffee to the egg yolk cream and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add the meringue and mix gingerly until fully incorporated as well.
• Now add the whipped cream and fold gingerly fold it into the mixture with a spatula. Use a circular motion, scooping up from the bottom of the bowl until you have a uniform batter.

Freezing

• Pour the batter into individual freezer proof serving cups, leveling off the tops so the batter is flush with the rims of the cups.
• Freeze for at least three hours or overnight. If freezing for more than a few hours, cover with plastic wrap (cling film) to prevent freezer burn.

Serving

• Let rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes before serving, garnished with one or more of the optional toppings if you like.

Nutrition

Calories: 460.8kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 6.8g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 21.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9.2g | Cholesterol: 226.8mg | Sodium: 65.7mg | Potassium: 167.6mg | Sugar: 31.2g | Vitamin A: 1429.3IU | Calcium: 102.8mg

The post Coviglia napoletana appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

The magic of this simple dish, like so many others in the cucina povera tradition, lies in the quality of its ingredients and the care you take in preparing them.

And here I have to confess a true rendition of pipi e patate requires two ingredients most of us are not likely to be able to source. One is the round, intensely flavored and just slightly spicy pepper from the area around Reggio Calabria called peperoni reggini, or pipi in the local dialect—hence the very name of the dish. The other is the prized local potatoes called patate silane, grown in La Sila, the mountainous plateau that stretches across three provinces in the northern half of Calabria.

Without these two main characters, I should probably call my version of the dish simply peperoni e patate. My Calabrian friends say it’s just not the same dish without the pipi in particular. No doubt.. But if you ask me it’s delicious all the same.

Two methods for making pipi e patate

There are two methods for making pipi e patate. In the better known one, said to be typical of the province of Crotone, you sauté the potatoes first, then add the peppers to the same skillet and let the two ingredients simmer together until both are tender.

But in the method I want to present in this post, more typical of La Sila, you sauté the peppers first until almost tender, remove them from the skillet, then sauté the potatoes in the same skillet until they, too, are almost tender. Then the peppers go back into the pan, so that peppers and potatoes can finish cooking together.

Origins of the dish

Pipi e patate started out as a farmer’s lunch. They would carry bread stuffed with fried peppers and potatoes with them into the fields as their midday meal. The loaf provided a kind of edible lunch box, shielding its savory filling from the sun’s heat while working long hours outdoors. And it added valuable extra calories for the day’s hard physical labor.

While you will still see the dish occasionally served this way, today pipi e peperoni is usually served as a side dish for roasted or grilled meats. That said, bread should never be too far away, better to mop up its delicious juices.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 as a side

• 500g (1 lb) yellow fleshed potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
• 500g (1 lb) red and/or green peppers, seeded, trimmed and cut into largish strips or squares
• salt
• olive oil

Optional:

• 1 small fresh red hot pepper, seeded and sliced
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced

Directions

Sauté the peppers

In a wide skillet, heat a generous pour of olive oil then add the sliced peppers. Sauté over a lively flame until the peppers are almost tender and their skins have crinkled and have started to brown around the edges. Regulate the flame so the peppers don’t brown too much.

If using, add the onion and red peppers a few minutes before the peppers are done.

Remove the peppers to a plate or bowl, leaving the oil in the skillet.

Sautê the potatoes

Lower the heat a bit and add the potatoes. Give the potatoes a stir to cover them in the oil, the cover. Gently simmer until the potatoes are half cooked.

Uncover the skillet and raise the heat. Sauté the potatoes over a lively flame until they are almost fully tender and lightly browned.

Finishing the dish

Add the peppers and any accumulated juices back into the skillet. Turn to mix the potatoes and peppers together. Season to taste and let the peppers and potatoes simmer together until they are both perfectly tender. If you like, you can raise the heat at the end to get some caramelization on them.

Turn off the heat. Let the potato and peppers rest, covered, for at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve still slightly warm or, if you want to eat your pipi e patate hot, gently reheat before serving.

Notes on pipi e patate

The dish could hardly be simpler, but as I said at the top, if you want to know why this dish is so beloved by the Calabrese, you need to take care in its preparation and in your choice of ingredients.

As for the preparation, here are my main tips:

Use the right skillet. Use a skillet that’s wide enough to hold the ingredients in more or less a single layer, so they actually sauté rather than steam. It’s wise to use a non-stick skillet (potatoes are notoriously sticky) or well-seasoned carbon steel. If using a carbon steel skillet, let it heat up first before adding the oil.

Don’t be stingy with the oil. Use a generous pour, enough to cover the bottom of the skillet entirely. You need the oil to prevent sticking and also for flavor transfer; the peppers flavor the oil, which then flavors the potatoes. If need be, you can always skim off excess oil before serving. But then again, a lot of people (including me) find that the best part.

Finally, don’t skip the rest. Most recipes don’t mention this—it’s actually my little personal touch. But trust me, it improves the flavor and texture immensely. And not coincidentally, it mimics the old practice of storing the dish inside a bread before eating.

Choosing your ingredients

The other key point is choosing the two main ingredients with care.

Choosing your peppers

As mentioned at the top, a true pipi e patate is made with peperoni reggini, a small, round, somewhat squat pepper variety typical of the area around Reggio Calabria in southern Calabria. Like other peppers, they come red or green. They have thin, digestible skins, with notably meaty and flavorful flesh. While not hot peppers per se, the red ones in particular carry a bit of heat.

Unfortunately, peperoni reggini are hard to find outside their area of production, even in Italy. So we need to find substitutes. They closest thing visually would be a cherry pepper, but they are far too spicy. Personally, i’d go with horn-shaped frying peppers or the smallest bell peppers you can find, which is what I used for the dish.

Choosing the potatoes

As mentioned at the top, the other key ingredient are the prized patate silane, which enjoy an IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta) designation.

Patate silane are prized for their excellent culinary qualities and exceptional keeping ability. Their high dry-matter content makes them especially well suited to frying, since they hold their texture during cooking. They’re also well suited to roasting, gratins, and other preparations where you want the potato to hold its shape rather than turn watery or mushy.

Patate silane are popular in Italy, especially in the south. But sadly they aren’t exported, even to other EU countries. Look for another varietal that holds its texture, so called yellor waxy potatoes like Yukon Golds or Maris Piper.

Variations

They say every household in Calabria has its own version of pipi e patate, but as mentioned at the top, the main variants involve the method for cooking the peppers and potatoes, given that peppers cook fairly quickly, while potatoes take some time to cook. The beauty of this alla silana method is that you cook them separately and avoid the dilemma altogether.

The Crotonese method

Most recipes, though, follow the method a Calabrian friend says is typical of the area around the town of Crotone: you slice the potatoes rather thinly, then sauté them until at least half done, and only then add the peppers to the skillet to cook along with the potatoes. With this method, you have a pretty good shot at having fully tender, but not mushy veg by the end.

Since the raw peppers introduce a fair amount of humidity, this method results in a dish that tastes rather more simmered than fried. Still delicious, though!

Other variations

Other variations involve ingredients. As already mentioned, many recipes (perhaps the original) omit the onion. In other versions of this dish, you add a bit of passata di pomodoro or peeled and chopped fresh tomato to finish the dish during the final stage of cooking. Some cooks add fresh herbs—a bit of basil or a pinch of oregano.

Finally, my Calabrian friend told me about her little ‘secret’ ingredient. She adds a dollop or two of nduja to the skillet right before the end of cooking. The nduja shouldn’t actually cook, just let it melt and infuse its intense flavors into the veg.

Just to note: The hot pepper isn’t a variation; it’s just there to mimic the mild heat of the peperoni reggini. You can omit it if you prefer.

Making pipi e patate ahead

Although most recipes will tell you to serve pipi e patate while it’s still hot, as mentioned I find the dish is much better made after a rest of at least 30 minutes. This lets the ingredients get better acquainted and for the potatoes to absorb the flavors of the peppers and seasoned oil.

The dish will keep for serveral days in an air container in the fridge. Let is come back to room temperature, and if you like, you can reheat it gently before serving.

Although I haven’t tested it, I doubt this dish would take terribly well to freezing.

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Pipi e patate alla silana

Peppers and Potatoes, Sila Style

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Calabria

Keyword saute

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 168.3kcal

Ingredients

• 500 g yellow fleshed potatoes peeled and cut into wedges
• 500 g red and/or green peppers seeded, trimmed and cut into largish strips or squares
• salt
• olive oil

Optional:

• 1 small fresh red hot pepper seeded and sliced
• 1 small red onion thinly sliced

Metric – US

Instructions

Sauté the peppers

• In a wide skillet, heat a generous pour of olive oil then add the sliced peppers. Sauté over a lively flame until the peppers are almost tender and their skins have crinkled and have started to brown around the edges. Regulate the flame so the peppers don’t brown too much.
• If using, add the onion and red peppers a few minutes before the peppers are done.
• Remove the peppers to a plate or bowl, leaving the oil in the skillet.

Sautê the potatoes

• Lower the heat a bit and add the potatoes. Give the potatoes a stir to cover them in the oil, the cover. Gently simmer until the potatoes are half cooked.
• Uncover the skillet and raise the heat. Sauté the potatoes over a lively flame until they are almost fully tender and lightly browned.

Finishing the dish

• Add the peppers and any accumulated juices back into the skillet. Turn to mix the potatoes and peppers together. Season to taste and let the peppers and potatoes simmer together until they are both perfectly tender. If you like, you can raise the heat at the end to get some caramelization on them.
• Turn off the heat. Let the potato and peppers rest, covered, for at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve still slightly warm or, if you want to eat your pipi e patate hot, gently reheat before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 168.3kcal | Carbohydrates: 19.6g | Protein: 2.5g | Fat: 9.7g | Saturated Fat: 1.4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6.8g | Sodium: 1171.3mg | Potassium: 527mg | Fiber: 3.6g | Sugar: 4.1g | Vitamin A: 2610.8IU | Vitamin C: 123.1mg | Calcium: 16.6mg | Iron: 1.1mg

The post Pipi e patate alla silana (Peppers and Potatoes, Sila Style) appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

Porchetta has been enjoyed since ancient times, when it was quite literally food for emperors. It was said to be Emperor Nero’s favorite dish. But it actually predates even the Romans, with origins in Etruscan civilization.

Back when I was living in Rome, I could find porchetta easily at stalls around town, served as a sandwich. For a special treat, I would head up to nearby town of Ariccia in the Alban Hills, where the area’s best porchetta is made. (Porchetta is made elsewhere in Italy, most notably in Abruzzo and Umbria, as well, but I’m less familiar with those versions.)

Making porchetta at home

These days, alas, a juicy porchetta sandwich is no longer right waiting around the corner. Sure, I can buy a cold cut they market as ‘porchetta’ where I live now, but it pales in comparison with the real thing. Fortunately, though, for us unlucky folks who live far from the Eternal City, we can make a kind of mini porchetta at home.

Homemade porchetta is definitely a project, but it’s not really hard to make. Instead of roasting a whole pig, you take a piece of pork belly and a pork tenderloin, season them generously with salt, pepper, garlic and herbs, roll and truss them up, then roast the roll in the oven.

Porchetta something you make for a crowd, as even a smaller pork belly will weigh about 2-3 kilos (6 lbs) or more, but you can consume the leftovers for days afterwards. And porchetta freezes well, so you can cut yours up and defrost it as needed.

Ingredients

• 1 pork belly (about 3 kilos/6-7 lbs)
• 1 pork tenderloin

For the rub:

• white wine

For the herb filling:

• 3-4 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced or chopped
• the fronds from one fennel bulb
• 2-3 sprigs of rosemary, leaves only
• 2-3 sprigs of sage, leaves only
• a few bay leaves
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt

For roasting:

• white wine
• water

Directions

Prepping the porchetta

Rub the pork belly all over with white wine. Use as much as you need to moisten the surface without getting it dripping wet. Do the same with the pork tenderloin.

Lay the pork belly skin side down on a flat surface, with the tenderloin down the middle. If the tenderloin is longer than the belly is wide, trim off the excess. Sprinkle both very generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Now scatter the garlic all over the surface of meat, followed by the other filling ingredients so that the whole surface of the meat is well covered with herbs, like so:

Roll the pork belly around the tenderloin, then truss it as tightly as you can manage, like so:

The ends of the pork belly should meet, totally encompassing the tenderloin, like this:

For details on trussing, see the Notes below.

Resting the porchetta

Set the porchetta on a baking sheet and leave it, uncovered, in the fridge at least overnight, up to two days.

Roasting the porchetta

Remove the porchetta from the fridge and let it come back to room temperature (about 1-2 hours, depending on its size).

Place the porchetta on a rack in a roasting pan. Add a glassful of wine (or a mixture of water and wine) in the bottom of the pan.

Roast in a low (150C/300F) oven until you reach an internal temperature of 70C/160F, usually about 2-1/2 hours. Convection is useful to help brown the skin but not essential. If you have a temperature probe, place it in the thickest part of the roast.

Remove the porchetta from the oven. Raise the oven temperature to 250C/475F. Use convection if you have it. Pour a small glassful of water over the roast, then place in the oven. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until the skin is a deep golden brown and well blistered, as pictured above.

Check on the porchetta frequently after about 20 minutes, to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Serving the porchetta

Let the porchetta rest for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Slice thin as a sandwich filling or thick to serve as a main course.

Notes on porchetta

Choosing the pork cuts

The pork belly is a must. Some recipes omit the tenderloin, but I think it’s also almost a must. The OG version is made with a whole pig, so a homemade porchetta mimics this by wrapping the pork belly around a tenderloin, and sometimes more than one.

Pork belly alone makes for a very rich—and for me rather too rich—porchetta. But it does eliminate a dilemma, as the tenderloin cooks much faster than the belly. (More on this below under Roasting.)

While tenderloin is easily found where I live in, pork belly is not. There’s only one mainstream supermarket that carries it. Once again, however, “ethnic” supermarkets are your friend, in particular Asian ones. Otherwise, here in North America online sources such as Snake River, D’Artagnan and Crowd Cow all carry it, albeit at rather exorbitant prices.

Filling the porchetta

I’ve provided measurements for the first timer, but you should feel free to adjust everything according to your taste. But do be generous with the seasonings, especially the salt. They’re what give the porchetta its characteristic flavor.

If you prefer, you can use dried herbs rather than fresh. That’s what they do in Ariccia—see the demo video—but they start start with their own fresh ingredients and dry them themselves, ensuring their quality. For us home cooks, it’s more practical just to use fresh. And much tastier than any dried herbs you can find in stores.

Trussing the porchetta

Trussing the porchetta is a bit of a chore, but actually quite easy to do. You need sturdy cotton twine, not the thin variety you might use for a chicken or say, a braciole alla napoletana.

Just tie loops of twine around the rolled up porchetta at intervals of about 3cm (1 inch) down its length, making sure to get as close to the edges as you can. Once that’s done, I also like make a long loop down the entire length of the porchetta and across the ends. This helps keep the filling in, and prevents the sides splaying outward. (Or at least it reduces it.)

The key thing in trussing is to make sure the loops are as tight as you can manage. It’s important to keep that pork belly in place and help the porchetta maintain its cylindrical shape.

Resting the porchetta

A word to the wise: don’t skip this step. It’s important not only to allow the herbs and spices to penetrate the meat, but it also helps the roll to compose itself, so to speak.

If you’re in aa rush, you can speed up the process a bit by freezing it for an hour. That helps with the consistency but it’s not enough time to allow for the flavor to develop.

Roasting the porchetta

Pork belly should be well done, reaching an internal temperature of 73C/165F, to achieve the right consistency. An underdone pork belly will be tough and chewy, and you want it to be meltingly soft. The longer roast gives the fat time to render and for the pork skin to crisp up nicely, even before the final blast of heat. You should, however, end the intial slow roast a few degrees below that target temperature, since it will continue to rise in the final high heat finish and even further as it rests.

The downside of this approach is that the tenderloin tends to overcook. One way around this is to roast the porchetta to a lower internal temperature, say 65-68C/150F, but this risks the pork belly being underdone. Personally I can live with slightly overdone center, as the fat of the pork belly keeps things quite juicy.

Roasting temperatures vary quite a bit. Some recipes have you begin high then lower the roasting temperatures after an hour or so, while others call for high roasting temperatures throughout, more like 180C/350F or even 200C/400F or more, for the entire roasting time. I haven’t tested all these variations, but I find the ‘reverse sear’ method given here works very well, ensuring the pork cooks inside and gives you total control on how crispy the skin gets.

Crisping the skin

A crisp skin is the very soul of porchetta, and it’s important to get it right: Nice and crisp but not hard. To achieve that perfect skin, it’s important to let it brown to the point where the skin blisters, this will break up the skin a bit so it’s easy to cut (and chew).

Some recipes have you score the skin even before you start the initial roast—though others scorn that approach as unauthentic. Another tack has you prick the skin after the initial roast and before returning the porchetta to the oven for its final browing. Yet another has you pour some water over the porchetta, which encourages blistering.

Variations

I’ve already covered some of the variations above, including the use of tenderloin or not, using dried rather fresh herbs, and roasting temperatures. Other variations you’ll see in recipes for homemade porchetta include:

• The herbs in the filling can vary a bit. Every recipes I’ve seen calls for garlic, rosemary and fennel, salt and pepper. But not all have sage and bay leaf. Some recipes call for granulated garlic rather than fresh, for a more garlic forward taste. Some call for paprika or hot red pepper flakes for a bit of spice–not something I’ve seen in any Italian language recipe.
• Some non-Italian recipes call for fennel pollen, I suppose as a substitute for wild fennel, but I find fennel fronds work perfectly well. They’re easy to find so you have one less specialty item to search out. But if you wanted a more assertive fennel flavor you could include some fennel seeds.
• I’ve seen one recipe where you substitute whiskey for the white wine rub, and put been in the bottom of your roasting pan. Some recipes have you rub the porchetta with olive oil, supposedly to encourage browning.

A demo of an OG porchetta

As mentioned in the intro, the best porchetta is said to be made in Ariccia, which enjoyes an indicazione geografica protetta (IGP). It uses female pigs about 1 year old, weighing between 27 and 45 kilos. The pig is eviscerated and boned, then seasoned and trussed, then roast either on a spit or in a wood burning oven.

If you want to see how they make porchetta in Ariccia, check out this video:

Making porchetta ahead

Porchetta can be—and typically is—made ahead and served at room temperature. It keeps in the fridge for several days. And, as mentioned at the top, it freezes well. Bring itback to room temperature before serving. If you would like to eat your porchetta warm, pop it in a low (150C/300F) oven for say 10 minutes, then raise the heat very high say 250C/475F on convection for just a couple of minutes to crisp up the skin.

You can also freeze uncooked porchetta if you like. It will take a day or two to defrost in the fridge.

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Homemade porchetta

Course Main Course, Snack

Cuisine Lazio

Keyword roasted

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 3 hours hours

Ingredients

• 1 pork belly about 3 kilos/6-7 lbs
• 1 pork tenderloin

For the rub:

• white wine

For the herb filling:

• 3-4 clove of garlic peeled and sliced or chopped
• the fronds from one fennel bulb
• 2-3 sprigs of rosemary leaves only
• 2-3 sprigs of sage leaves only
• a few bay leaves
• freshly ground black pepper
• salt

For roasting:

• white wine
• water

Instructions

Prepping the porchetta

• Rub the pork belly all over with white wine. Use as much as you need to moisten the surface without getting it dripping wet. Do the same with the pork tenderloin.
• Lay the pork belly skin side down on a flat surface, with the tenderloin down the middle. Sprinkle both very generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Scatter the garlic all over the surface of meat, followed by the other filling ingredients so that the whole surface of the meat is well covered with herbs.
• Roll the pork belly around the tenderloin, then truss it as tightly as you can manage.

Resting the porchetta

• Set the porchetta on a baking sheet and leave it, uncovered, in the fridge at least overnight, up to two days.

Roasting the porchetta

• Remove the porchetta from the fridge and let it come back to room temperature.
• Place the porchetta on a rack in a roasting pan. Add a glassful of wine (or a mixture of water and wine) in the bottom of the pan.
• Roast in a low (150C/300F) oven until you reach an internal temperature of 70C/160F, usually about 2-1/2 hours.
• Remove the porchetta from the oven. Raise the oven temperature to 250C/475F, using convection if you have it. Pour a small glassful of water over the roast, then place in the oven. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until the skin is a deep golden brown and well blistered.

Serving the porchetta

• Let the porchetta rest for at least 20 minutes before serving.
• Serve warm or at room temperature. Slice thin as a sandwich filling or thick to serve as a main course.

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