During my recent Substack Live with Judy Witts Francini and Giovanna Solimando, Judy reminded me of this dish, and I realized that, in all these years of blogging, I’d hever gotten around to writing about it. It’s an almost unforgivable omission. Not only did I live in Rome for many years, but for most of those years I lived only a few blocks from the Ghetto, where this dish originated! But better late than never, as they say.

Like scapece, concia di zucchine is essentially fried and marinated zucchini, but it has some of its own unique characteristics, first and foremost the use of the lovely Roman varietal called zucchina romanesca and the quintessentially Roman mint called mentuccia. Sadly, both are difficult, if not impossible to find here in the US and I’m guessing elsewhere, and it’s not really possible to reproduce the precise taste and texture of concia without them. But no worries, even a dish made with standard zucchini and mint will be delicious.

Concia di zucchine is a versatile dish. You can serve it as an antipasto, on top of bread, as a side for grilled, roasted or boiled meats or fish, or as part of a summer buffet. I’ve had it on grilled bread with stracciatella cheese and it was amazing.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 1 kilo (2 lbs) zucchini, preferably Roman zucchini (about 5-6)
• oil for frying

For the marinade:

• Fresh parsley, to taste
• Fresh mint, preferably Roman mint, to taste
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• wine vinegar
• olive oil

Directions

Prep and fry the zucchini

Trim off the ends, then slice the zucchini on an angle into thin, but not too thin, ovals.

Place the zucchini slices in a single layer on a clean dish towel, then cover with another towel. Let dry for at least an hour.

Heat oil at least 3 cm (1 inch) deep in a large pan until very hot but not smoking, about 180C/350F. Add as many zucchini slices as can fit comfortably in a single well-spaced layer and fry them until golden brown, turning them with a skimmer to ensure they brown evenly on both sides. Repeat until you’ve fried all the slices.

As you go, transfer each batch to a bowl or platter lined with paper towels and salt them lightly.

Marinating the zucchini

Trim off their stems, then finely mince together the mint and parsley leaves. Chop the garlic separately into small pieces.

In a casserole or container, place down a layer of zucchini slices. Sprinkle them with some of the minced herbs, then a little chopped garlic here and there. Drizzle lightly with the vinegar, then with the olive oil.

Repeat until you’ve used up all the zucchini. Omit the garlic from the last layer.

Let the zucchini sit covered for at least a few hours, even better overnight in the fridge.

Serve

Serve at room temperature.

Notes on concia di zucchine

The usual tips for frying apply here. Most importantly, maintain a constant moderately hot temperature of around 180C/350F. So don’t crowd the pan. If you have a candy thermometer or deep fat fryer you can set to that temperature, it’s good to use it. I just recently bought a Breville countertop induction burner called the Control Freak and it works like a charm for maintaining a constant temperature.

Other than the frying, the recipe is a piece of cake, really. You just need patience. Both the intial drying and the marination take time but are critical for success. This is not a recipe you can rush.

Choosing and prepping your zucchini

Classically, as mentioned at the top, you use Roman zucchini, the gorgeous zucchina romanesca, for making concia. This varietal has characteristic white flecks and ribbing down its length, which produces a lovely star-shaped slices. It is usually sold with its blossom still attached. It has a unique nutty, slightly bitter flavor that may win you over even if you’re not a zucchini lover. Unlike most zucchini, doesn’t turn mushy when cooked, which makes it perfect fot making concia.

Sadly, I’ve not been able to find zucchine romanesche where I live. But you can buy seeds online and grow them yourself. Zucchini are very easy to grow and once they get going, produce a prodigious amount of fruit. As a bonus, you get the blossoms which are very hard to source, at least where I live.

As mentioned above, the drying is critical. The zucchini need to lose their excess moisture so they brown nicely. Aside from the kitchen towel method, you can leave them out in the sun for an hour or two if you live in a dry, sunny climate.

You should slice your zucchini fairly thin so the marinade can soak through, but not so thin they break apart after frying, bearing in mind that the slices will shrink quite a bit as they fry. Unless you’re using zucchine romanesche, any thinner than say 3/4 cm (roughly 1/4 inch) and the slices will tend to break apart. Many recipes call for slices about 1 cm and some, including Ada Boni‘s in her La cucina romana, even 2 cm thick.

Preparing the marinade

Another hard to find, typically Roman ingredient is mentuccia, called Lesser Calamint in English. I’ve never seen it sold as a culinary herb where I live, but again, it is fairly easy to find the seeds as Lesser Calamint is used as a decorative plant.

The taste of mentuccia is sometimes descrbed as a cross between mint and oregano, as it has a musky flavor. If you don’t have mentuccia on hand, you can simply use another mint instead, perhaps combined with a little fresh oregano or marjoram to mimic the taste of mentuccia. Don’t use dried oregano, however, as it would overwhelm the other flavors.

I’ve left the measurements for the herbs to your discretion, as it’s really a matter of taste. But if you need a guide, you could use enough say about a half cup of freshly minced herbs by volume.

As for the garlic, again it’s a matter of taste, but don’t overdo it. There are even some folks who omit it entirely. Again, it’s up to you.

Variations

The recipes for concia is remarkably consistent across recipes. Maybe that’s because the recipe as such is so very flexible? But there are a few minor variations of note.

There are two ways to slice the zucchini for making concia. You can slice it on the bias into ovals as called for here, or cut each zucchini into two, then into lengthwise strips. Thickness can also vary, as noted above.

The herbs you add to the marinade can vary as well. Mint is typical, but you will see recipes that call for basil instead. And some that call for all mint or basil, rather than a mix.

Ada Boni’s recipe has you bring the vinegar to a boil before pouring it over the zucchini slices, better to soak in, I assume.

In older recipes, you fry the zuchini slices in olive oil, then use some of the frying oil for the marinade. But this modern take using fresh uncooked olive oil for the marinade is not only more economical given the price of quality olive oil these days, but surely has a cleaner taste.

The charming Roman YouTuber called Ruben likes to mix all the marinate ingredients—vinegar, herbs, garlic and olive oil—all together in a bowl, then toss the fried zucchine slices as if making a salad.

In her wonderful book The Classic Cuisine of the Italian Jews, Edda Servi Machlin says that, a bit like scapece, concia can also be made with eggplant, although “the texture is less desirable than that of zucchini”. If you do go this route, although it’s obviously not traditional and I haven’t actually tested it, I imagine that long Asian eggplants would work particularly well.

Origins of concia

There are various theories about how concia got its name as the words has several meaning in Italian or romanesco, the Roman dialect. Probably the most common relates to the verb conciare, which means to season or preserve.

But my favorite theory brings us all the way back to Ancient Rome and the famed cookbook De re coquinaria attributed to Apicius, which has a recipe for preparing vegetables using a method referred to as concinaria or tanning (aka drying), in the sun, followed by pan frying. He’s also credited with the original recipe for scapece.

Since the Jewish community in Rome has been there since ancient times, it is not inconceivable that they have preserved this ancient dish as part of their culinary tradition. But at the very least, this recipe goes back centuries.

Making concia ahead

Concia has to be made ahead, obviously. But you shouldn’t keep it too long as the marinade (in particularly the garlic) grows stronger with each passing day. In her book Edda Servi Machlin says that concia freezes well if you want to keep it longer than a few days, though I’ve never had occasion to try it myself.

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Concia di zucchine

Roman Style Marinated Zucchini

Course Antipasto, Side Dish

Cuisine Lazio

Keyword vegan, vegetarian

Servings 4

Calories 72.4kcal

Ingredients

• 1 kilo 2 lbs zucchini, preferably Roman zucchini (about 5-6)
• oil for frying

For the marinade:

• Fresh parsley to taste
• Fresh mint preferably Roman mint, to taste
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• wine vinegar
• olive oil

Instructions

Prep and fry the zucchini

• Trim off the ends, then slice the zucchini on an angle into thin, but not too thin, ovals.
• Place the zucchini slices in a single layer on a clean dish towel, then cover with another towel. Let dry for at least an hour.
• Heat oil at least 3 cm (1 inch) deep in a large pan until very hot but not smoking, about 180C/350F. Add as many slices as can fit comfortably in a single well-spaced layer and fry them until golden brown, turning them with a skimmer to ensure they brown evenly on both sides. Repeat until you’ve fried all the slices.
• As you go, transfer each batch to a bowl or platter lined with paper towels and salt them lightly.

Marinate the zucchini

• Trime off their stems, then finely mince together the mint and parsley leaves. Chop the garlic separately into small pieces.
• In a casserole or container, place down a layer of zucchini slices. Sprinkle them with some of the minced herbs, then a little chopped garlic here and there. Drizzle lightly with the vinegar, then with the olive oil.
• Repeat until you’ve used up all the zucchini. Omit the garlic from the last layer.
• Let the zucchini sit covered for at least a few hours, even better overnight in the fridge.

Serve

• Serve at room temperature.

Nutrition

Calories: 72.4kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Fat: 7.2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5.1g | Sodium: 4.3mg | Potassium: 134mg | Sugar: 1.2g | Vitamin A: 98.1IU | Vitamin C: 9.2mg | Calcium: 10.6mg

The post Concia di zucchine (Roman Style Marinated Zucchini) appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

These little skewers are said to have originated among the shepherds of the Gran Sasso, the highest reaches of the Appenine mountains found in central Abruzzo. The shepherds would sustain themselves during their long migrations away from home by foraging shoots and twigs to skewer tiny bits of the meat from the oldest of the their flock. The meat of those old animals was tough, but cutting it into tiny cubes interspersed with fat on a skewer and grilling it over an open fire rendered it not only edible, but delicious.

I’ve said many times over the years that simplicity is the hallmark of Italian cookery. Well, arrosticini may well be the best example of that axiom. They are astonishingly simple to make, involving literally just two ingredients: mature lamb and salt. Plus one not so secret ingredient: fire.

Arrosticini are traditionally made on a special purpose grill called a fornacella (or lu furnacell’ in Abruzzese dialect). It looks a bit like a narrow canal filled with charcoal. The ends of the skewers sit on the sides, away from the hot coals so they don’t burn. Now, if you don’t own or want want to splurge on a fornacella, an ordinary charcoal grill will work, provided you folllow a few simple tips I’ve outlined in the recipe and Notes.

Ingredients

Makes 4-6

• 1 kilo (2 lbs) boneless mature lamb leg or shoulder, or both (see Notes)
• salt

For serving:

• best quality rustic bread, cut into thick slices
• olive oil

Directions

Cut the lamb into small cubes, then thread them, tightly packed, onto wood or bamboo skewers.

Prepare a charcoal grill. When the charcoal has ashed over, spread out the coals in a row across the grill about 8 inches wide.

First, grill the bread slices quickly on both sides. Set aside and drizzle with olive oil.

Then grill the skewers until cooked through and nicely browned on both sides, turning them from time to time. If your fire is hot enough and your meat cubes small enough, it should only take about a total of 2-3 minutes per side. Otherwise, proceed until you have the desired result.

Sprinkle your arrosticini generously with sea salt and serve right away. accompanied by grilled bread.

Notes on arrosticini abruzzesi

Each skewer typically weighs about 20-30 grams (about 1 ounce) but large arrosticini can weigh as muchas 50-60g (2 oz). The skewers are typically about 20-30 cm (8-11 in) long and the meat about 10cm (4 in). As pictured below, the rest of the skewer hangs over the side of the fornacella.

The only slightly tricky bit of this recipe is threading those tiny pieces of meat on to the skewers. It’s more fussy than actually tricky, in fact. It goes more quickly once you get the hang of it.

Since you traditionally eat arrosticini right off the skewer, it’s best to use wood or bamboo skewers. Unless you’re using a fornacella, it’s a good idea to soak your skewers for at least 30 minutes before using to avoid burning them. The heat of the fire will probably singe them anyway, but it will at least prevent them from incinerating.

If you’re not using a fornacella, it’s best to cover the whole length of a short skewer with the meat, which will protect the skewer. And if you really wanted to protect your skewers, you could cover the exposed ends with aluminum foil, but that’s a bit too pignolo, as they say in Italian, for me. And when I tried it, I found that the foil slipped off the skewers anyway.

Choosing your meat and cut

The traditional meat for making arrosticini is from pecora, or an adult female sheep older than 18 months, or from a castrato, a castrated adult male. In other words what we would call hogget or mutton in English. Here in North America while proper hogget or mutton isn’t very easy to find, most lamb is more mature than the lamb sold in Italy, so it works well in this recipe.

Ideally you would use a mix of lean and fatty cuts, including typically the leg, the shoulder and the belly. Lamb belly can be hard to come by, so you could go with a mix leg and shoulder, or just shoulder if you want maximum juiciness.

Equipment for making arrosticini

If you really get into making arrosticini—or other skewers, for that matter—you could invest in a kebob grill, which works very much like a fornacella. They are readily available online and smaller ones don’t cost very much at all. If you want to spend a bit more, a Japanese yakitori grill, though unorthodox, works quite well, too.

And if you’re really into arrosticini you can even invest in a ‘cubo‘, a special metal box that turns out perfectly formed arrosticini.

Otherwise, you can use a regulation grill but as mentioned above, line up your charcoal in a line across the bottom of the grate about the width of the skewers you’re using. If you have a kettle grill, leave it open.

A charcoal grill is pretty much a must for this dish, if you ask me. You will find some recipes for stove top or oven roasted versions of arrosticini, but the dish is so simple the taste of the fire is really an essential ‘ingredient’

Serving your arrosticini

As mentioned, you should eat your arrosticini right away. They turn cold very fast and tend to lose their juiciness as they cool. You will definitely want the grilled bread, it’s the perfect accompaniment.

And here’ a little tip from yours truly: Lay a bed of grilled bread on your serving plate, then lay the skewers over the bread and they come off the grilll. This way the bread will soak up the juices, making them even more delicious.

Variations

Truly authentic arrosticini are made with just mature lamb seasoned with salt, nothing more. But you will occasionally see recipes where the meat is marinated first with salt and pepper and perhaps some olive oil. Some add rosemary or hot pepper to the marinade.

Not surprisingly this dish has given birth to versions using other meats such as liver, chicken. turkey, pork and veal, as well as young lamb. Even fish.

Making arrosticini ahead

You really should eat your arrosticini right off the grill. And they tend to cool and dry out quickly once off the grill. If you must wait (for example if you are making your arrosticini in batches, wrap them in parchment or aluminum foil until you’e ready to serve to keep them warm and juicy.

You can, of course, prepare the skewers for grilling well ahead of time. Indeed, you can find ready-to-grill arrosticini skewers in supermarkets and butcher shops in Italy. And not just in Abruzzo. I’ve seen them in Rome, too. With their perfectly cubed meat all lined up in a row, they are a thing of beauty.

Acknowledgement

Many thanks to my dear friend Susan Di Zio, an Italian-American of Abruzzese origin who contacted her family in Abruzzo to provide valuable advice on making arrosticini as well as the photo above of their making them on a fornacella.

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Arrosticini abruzzesi (Grilled Lamb Skewers)

Course Main Course

Cuisine Abruzzo

Keyword grilled

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 1 kilo 2 lbs boneless mature lamb leg or shoulder, or both (see Notes)
• salt

For serving:

• best quality rustic bread cut into thick slices
• olive oil

Instructions

• Cut the lamb into small cubes, then thread them, tightly packed, onto wood or bamboo skewers.
• Each skewer should weigh about 20-30 grams (about 1 ounce). When you buy them pre=made they come in perfectly formed cubes. Our homemade arrosticini won’t be so perfect but every bit as tasty.
• Prepare a charcoal grill. When the charcoal has ashed over, spread out the coals in a row across the grill about 8 inches wide.
• First, grill the bread slices quickly on both sides. Set aside and drizzle with olive oil.
• Then grill the skewers until cooked through and nicely browned on both sides, turning them from time to time.
• Sprinkle your arrosticini generously with sea salt and serve right away. accompanied by grilled bread

Notes

 Unless you’re using a fornacella, it’s a good idea to soak your skewers for at least 30 minutes before using to avoid burning them. The heat of the fire will probably singe them anyway, but it will at least prevent them from incinerating.

The post Arrosticini abruzzesi (Grilled Lamb Skewers) appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

There are a countless ways to dress a rice salad. We’re seen a few on this blog, including one wtih seafood and another with meat. But there’s another, less obvious way to create variety, and that’s the changing up the rice. One of the most visually striking possibilities is a black rice romantically monikered riso Venero, literally meaning “Venus rice”. It is an excellent rice for salads as it stays firm and separate even when it’s fully cooked.

In this lovely rice salad, riso Venere is tossed with quickly sautéed shrimp and zucchini, fruity olive oil, mint, lemon zest and just a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice. The black (actually a dark violet) rice provides a striking contrast to the pink crustacean and green vegetable. It’s a dish that’s bound to impress your guests.

And it tastes as good as it looks. Riso Venere has a pleasing nuttiness that pairs beautifully with the briny shrimp and sweet zucchini, there’s just enough lemon and herbs to brighten things nicely.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 as a first course, more as part of a buffet

• 450 g (1 lb) riso Venere (Italian black rice)
• 300 g (10-1/2 oz) baby shrimp, shelled
• 450 g (1 lb) zucchine, cut into dice
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled and slightly crushed, or one shallot or small spring onion, finely minced
• the zest of one lemon
• freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
• a few sprigs of fresh mint, torn up or minced
• olive oil
• salt

Directions

Cook the rice

Boil the rice in well salted water until tender but still al dente, about 30 minutes.

When the rice is al dente, drain it in a colander and rinse it with cold running water to stop it cooking.

Lay the rice out on a large baking sheet or other flat surface. Spread the rice out as thinly as you can. Let it cool completely.

Prepare the condimento

Meanwhile, in a skillet gently sautê the garlic or shallot or spring onion, until the garlic is just beginning to brown or the shallot or spring onion has turned soft and translucent. This should in both cases take only a minute or tow. If using garlic, discard it.

Raise the heat and add the diced zucchini, tossing it from time to time and seasoning it lightly. Drizzle in a few drops of water to speed cooking and prevent browning.

When the zucchini is almost tender, add the shrimp and toss again, Continue only until the shrimp turn pink, usually just a minute or so more. Remove from the heat. Taste and adjust for seasoning.

Transfer the shrimp and zucchini, along with its cooking fat, to a bowl and set aside until needed.

Dress your rice

Once cool, transfer the rice to a large mixing bowl.

Pour in the sautéed shrimp and zuccchini, the lemon zest, minced mint and mix.

Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, then mix again. Taste and adjust for seasoning, including more oil and/or lemon juice if you think it needs it.

Let the rice sit for a hour or so to let the flavors meld. Any longer than that, place in the fridge.

Serve cold or at room temperature.

Notes on riso Venere con gamberetti e zucchine

When judging portions, do bear in mind that riso Venere doesn’t expand nearly as much as regular rice after cooking, so when calculating portions, use a bit more rice than you would normally. That said, it does absorb lots of water, so be generous.

And speaking of water, do be aware that it will turn a dark violet and will stain your hands and cloths, so take some care when draining your rice!

More about riso Venere

Riso Venere is a hybrid rice varietal developed in the late 1990s by Sapise, a Sardinian-Piemontese agriculture research centure. They crossed an Asian black rice called Oryza sativa originating in the Yangtze River valley with native white rice from the Po Valley, where Riso Venere is principally grown today, around Novara and Vercelli in the Piemonte region, as well as around Oristano in Sardinia.

Riso Venere gets its distinctive color from anthocyanin. the same pigment that colors certain fruits and vegetables like blackberries, black beans, plums and concord grapes. Depending on its ph value, it can also turn plants dark red or purple, as in cherries and purple corn and red cabbage. It is also used as a food coloring.

Besides being delicious, riso Venere quite a healthy choice as well, being high in fiber and antioxidants, as well as a good source of Vitamin B and iron.

Riso Venere is a whole grain rice, so it take a bit longer to cook than other rice varietals, usually between 30 and 40 minutes. It has a distinctive savory nutty, savory flavor. It is most commonly used in rice salads like this one, where its ability to stay firm works so well, but you can also use it to make risotto or pilaf.

It’s not as easy to source as other Italian rices, but it is becoming more popular. Where I live, one of our local upscale supermarkets near me carries it, and you can purchase it online.

Variations

Measurements for this recipe are all over the map, but an easy to remember approach is going with the same amount of rice, shrimp and zucchini by weight. To my mind, this produces a nice balanced dish, neither too heavy not too light on the dressing. Once you’ve made this once, of course, you can adjust the measurements as suits your taste.

There are many variations on the dressing for this rice salad. You can use a medley of summer vegetables including cherry tomatoes and bell peppers rather than just the zucchini. For a lighter dish, you could poach the ingredients rather than sautêing them. Or just the vegetables raw. Switch out the shrimp in favor of some best quality canned tuna. And feel free to experiment with other fresh herbs; basil and marjoram are popular choices.

And of course, if you can’t find riso Venere, you could make this same dish with regular white rice. See this post for recommended varietals.

Making ahead and leftovers

You can make riso Venere con gamberetti e zucchine up to a day or two ahead, and keep it in the fridge. You could serve it cold right fro the fridge, but I think it has more flavor if you let it come back to room temp or near that. If you have leftovers, it even freezes decently well, vaccum packed.

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Riso Venere con gamberetti e zucchine

Italian Black Rice with Shrimp and Zucchini

Course Antipasto, Primo

Cuisine Italian

Keyword salad

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 399.8kcal

Ingredients

• 450 g riso Venere (Italian black rice)
• 300 g baby shrimp shelled
• 450 g zucchine cut into dice
• 1 clove garlic peeled and slightly crushed, or one shallot or small spring onion, finely minced
• 1 lemon, zest of
• freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste
• a few sprigs of fresh mint torn up or minced
• olive oil
• salt

Metric – US

Instructions

Cook the rice

• In a large pot, boil the rice in well salted water until tender but still al dente, about 30 minutes.
• When the rice is al dente, drain it in a colander and rinse it with cold running water to stop it cooking.
• Lay the rice out on a large baking sheet or other flat surface. Spread the rice out as thinly as you can. Let it cool completely.

Prepare the condimento

• Meanwhile, in a skillet gently sautê the garlic or shallot or spring onion, until the garlic is just beginning to brown or the shallot or spring onion has turned soft and translucent. This should in both cases take only a minute or tow. If using garlic, discard it.
• Raise the heat and add the diced zucchini, tossing it from time to time and seasoning it lightly. Drizzle in a few drops of water to speed cooking and prevent browning.
• When the zucchini is almost tender, add the shrimp and toss again, Continue only until the shrimp turn pink, usually just a minute or so more. Remove from the heat. Taste and adjust for seasoning.
• Transfer the shrimp and zucchini, along with its cooking fat, to a bowl and set aside until needed.

Dress your rice and serve

• Once cool, transfer the rice to a large mixing bowl.
• Pour in the sautéed shrimp and zuccchini, the lemon zest, minced mint and mix.
• Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, then mix again. Taste and adjust for seasoning, including more oil and/or lemon juice if you think it needs it.
• Let the rice sit for a hour or so to let the flavors meld. Any longer than that, place in the fridge.
• Serve cold or at room temperature.

Nutrition

Calories: 399.8kcal | Carbohydrates: 62g | Protein: 13.1g | Fat: 11.4g | Saturated Fat: 2.1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6.9g | Cholesterol: 63mg | Sodium: 1465.5mg | Potassium: 256.2mg | Fiber: 6.2g | Sugar: 3.3g | Vitamin A: 240.5IU | Vitamin C: 14.9mg | Calcium: 42.1mg

The post Riso Venere con gamberetti e zucchine appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

As the name implies, lardo, a kind of cured pork fat back, is the defining ingredient of the sauce. It’s minced together with onion and garlic, then slowly rendered until it is meltingly soft and transparent. Fresh cherry tomatoes, are added, perhaps with a splash of passata, to simmer briefly, just until they melt into a chunky yet silky sauce.

After such a short cook time, the sauce still tastes of fresh tomato, but it has surprising depth and complexity, with a beguiling blend of flavors and textures. It’s savory and sweet at the same time, with a hint of heat if you add the optional pinch of hot pepper. And the mouth feel combines a slightly chunky texture from the cherry tomatoes with a velvety richness from the lardo. You would never expect such rich complexity from a dish with only a handful of ingredients and such a short cook tme.

I think it’s defintely a dish you’ll want to try at least once. And with fresh tomatoes finally beginning to appear in our markets, this is a lovely way to celebrate the arrival of summer’s bounty.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 500g (1 lb) ziti
• salt

For the soffritto:

• 1 onion, peeled and cut into small dice
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 250g (8 oz) lardo, trimmed of its skin and cut into small dice
• olive oil or lard (optional)

For the sauce:

• 500g (1 lb) cherry tomatoes, split in half
• 100-200ml (1/2 – 1 cup) tomato passata, preferably homemade
• a handful of fresh basil leaves, with larger leaves torn up
• salt
• a small pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

For topping the pasta:

• pecorino-romano cheese, freshly grated

Directions

Mix the diced lardo and onion on a cutting board, then mince them together into a fine paste with a knife or, even better, a mezzaluna.

Place the resulting mince in a saucier, sauté pan or flat bottomed wok, along with a drizzle of olive oil or a dollop of lard if using. Sauté the mince very gently until the lardo has rendered its fat and turned transparent, and the onion is soft and translucent. Take care not to brown the ingredients; if need be, add a few drops of water to stop it browning.

Add the cherry tomatoes, passata, a good pinch of salt and, if you like, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes have melted into a velvety, glossy sauce but still a little chunky. Add the fresh basil leaves towards the end of cooking.

While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. If using traditional long ziti (see Notes below), break them into lengths. Boil the ziti until just slightly underdone.

Transfer the ziti to the pan with the sauce, along with a ladleful of the pasta water. Simmer for another minute or two, until the pasta is al dente. Add more pasta water if things get too thick or dry.

Serve right away, topped with the grated cheese.

Notes on ziti lardiati

This is a quick and simple dish. You just need to take your time with the soffritto, so the lardo can render its richness into the sauce and the onion to develop its natural sweetness.

Otherwise, as always, the choice of ingredients is key:

On lardo

The name lardo is something of a false friend for Anglophones. It doesn’t mean lard (rendered pork fat) but rather unrendered pork fat back, which has been cured with salt, rosemary, garlic, and other spices, and aged for several months.

Besides its use in cooking, lardo is also served, sliced paper-thin as a kind of salume (charcuterie), often on still-warm toasted bread, which ever so slightly melts the lardo and gives it a lovely silky nouthfeel. You may know it in that form as it has become fairly trendy as of late.

Perhaps the best known variety is the prized lardo di Colonnata from the eponymous Tuscan village near Carrara. although Campania, where this dish is from, also produces its own fine lardo.

Since lardo is basically pure fat, you can add it directly to a dry pan and let it render slowly on its own. But adding a drizzle of olive oil or, better yet, a dollop of actual lard, does help things move along.

On ziti

Ziti is the pasta for this dish—it’s right in the name! It is a tubular pasta, not quite as thick as rigatoni but rather thicker than most penne. And perhaps most importantly, it is smooth, which gives it a slippery quality that pairs perfectly with this velvety sauce.

Back in the day, ziti was typically sold in long tubes, which you would break up into your preferred lengths, usually either 3 or 4 per zito. You will seeziti lardiati made with rather longer lengths than standard cut ziti from a box, which makes the dish fun—if a little messy—to eat. Here in North America, you can buy long ziti at a well stocked Italian delis or online. That said, boxed cut ziti will work just fine.

These days, despite the popularity of Italian-American dishes like Baked Ziti, sometimes even cut ziti can be a challenge to find here in North America. You should seek it out, as nothing quite replicates its mouth feel which pairs perfectly with this velvety sauce. But in a pinch, you could substitute another tubular pasta like penne or rigatoni or paccheri. Truth be told this tasty sauce goes with just about any shape.

On the tomatoes

The tomatoes, of course, bring everything together. Most recipes for ziti lardiati call for fresh cherry tomatoes, sometimes alone or sometimes supplemented as here with some (or a lot of) passata.

But there are recipes that simply call for pelati (canned tomatoes). If you go this route, just break them up a bit with your hands before adding them to the saucepan or add them whole and break them up with a fork in the pan. This produces a more interesting texture than milling or blending. In some recipes you add some tomato concentrate to the sauce, something I personally don’t care for as it produces a heavier sauce. And too tomato-y, so to speak. But if your tomatoes lack flavor, it can help.

The amount of sauce can vary, which is why I’ve given a range for the passata. You could also increase the cherry tomatoes. Be aware, however, that drowning your pasta in sauce is not the Italian way.

A word to the wise about the hot pepper

It’s optional but a nice extra layer of flavor, provided you don’t overdo it. I just add a small pinch to provide an almost imperceptible aftertaste. Too much hot pepper would throw the other flavors off balance. Like most Italian dishes, ziti lardiati isn’t meant to be super hot and spicy.

Variations

In some recipes, you skip the step where you mince the lardo together with the alliums. You simply render the lardo, then add the onion and garlic to gently sauté in the rendered fat. This saves some effort, but I find the mince really helps the lardo and onions to better infuse into the sauce for maximum depth of flavor.

Speaking of alliums, you will note the inclusion of both garlic and onion here. That gives lie to the notion that Italians never use both in the same dish. That said, some recipes do omit the garlic so feel free to do so if you prefer. The onion, on the other hand, is a must!

For a more savory but less fresh tasting sauce, add a bay leaf or two instead of the basil. Some recipes have you add white wine to the soffritto and cook it off before adding the tomatoes, which adds a touch of acidity that helps cut the richness of the sauce. For me, though, the richness is the main point of this sauce.

If you prefer a milder flavor, you can top your ziti lardiati with a mix of pecorino and parmigiano-reggiano. Or even just the latter. Personally, though, I think this robust sauce needs the more assertive pecorino.

Making ziti lardiati ahead and leftovers

You can make the sauce ahead of time, more or less as far ahead as you like. It will last several days in the fridge. The sauce even freezes fairly well. Of course, you need to boil and dress the pasta right before serving.

Any leftover ziti lardiati make a fine frittata di maccheroni avanzati.

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Ziti lardiati

Ziti pasta dressed with a lardo, onion and tomato sauce

Course Primo

Cuisine Campania

Keyword pasta, quick

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 690.2kcal

Ingredients

• 500 g ziti
• salt

For the sauce:

• 1 onion peeled and cut into small dice
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 250 g lardo trimmed of its rind and cut into small dice
• 500 g cherry tomatoes split in half
• 100 ml tomato passata preferably homemade
• a handful of fresh basil leaves with larger leaves torn up
• a small pinch of red pepper flakes optional
• salt

For topping the pasta:

• pecorino-romano cheese freshly grated

Metric – US

Instructions

• Mix the diced lardo and onion on a cutting board, then mince them together into a fine paste with a knife or, even better, a mezzaluna.
• Place the resulting mince in a saucier, sauté pan or flat bottomed wok, along with a drizzle of olive oil or a dollop of lard if using. Sauté the mince very gently until the lardo has rendered its fat and the onion is soft and translucent. Take care not to brown the ingredients.
• Add the cherry tomatoes, passata, a good pinch of salt and, if you like, a pinch of red pepper flakes. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the tomatoes have melted into a velvety, glossy sauce but still a little chunky. Add the fresh basil leaves towards the end of cooking.
• While the sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. If using traditional long ziti (see Notes below), break them into lengths. Boil the ziti until just slightly underdone.
• Transfer the ziti to the pan with the sauce, along with a ladleful of the pasta water. Simmer for another minute or two, until the pasta is al dente. Add more pasta water if things get too thick or dry.
• Serve right away, topped with the grated cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 690.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 69.1g | Protein: 14.5g | Fat: 39.3g | Saturated Fat: 14.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4.9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 17.9g | Cholesterol: 27.2mg | Sodium: 2390mg | Potassium: 504mg | Fiber: 3.9g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 517.8IU | Vitamin C: 22.4mg | Calcium: 72.7mg | Iron: 2.1mg

The post Ziti lardiati appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

Being a non-baker, my knowledge of the cookies is pretty much limited to a few of the ‘greatest hits’ like cantucci, mostaccioli and, of course, Angelina’s taralli dolci, which in our family we used to call ‘Nana’s cookies’. I had a lot to learn, so when I heard Domenica had just published a book on the subject, you know I snapped it up immediately. And ever since I’ve been practically devouring the recipes in this fascinating book, no doubt the most comprehensive treatment of the subject you’ll find in English.

With Domenica’s kind permission, I’m sharing with you one of her recipes.* It was a difficult choice, as there are quite a few I want to try out. Of course, it had to be something I hadn’t blogged about before. And something easy enough for a neophyte baker like me to pull off.

When I stumbled on serpette, I knew I’d hit pay dirt. The recipe comes from from my erstwhile hometown of Rome, or more precisely from the hilltop town of Monte Porzio Catone in the nearby Castelli Romani, an area perhaps best known for Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence, and to foodies for Ariccia’s excellent porchetta. It’s also home to some gorgeous white wines. But I digress…

Serpette remind me quite a bit of the taralli dolci Angelina used to make, though serpette are rather more delicate as they are enriched with butter rather than oil, and scented with orange and lemon zest rather than anisette. And of course, rather than rings or twists, serpette are formed into a snake-ish S shape that lends them their name. Light and crumbly, sweet but not too sweet, they are definitely my kind of cookie!

Like my Nana’s cookies, serpette are delicious on their own, but even better enjoyed inzuppate—dunked in coffee or a sweet wine, classically the local Cannellino di Frascati.

Ingredients

Makes about 16 cookies

• 100g (½ cup) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 100g (3½ ounces or 7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
• Finely grated zest of ½ orange
• 240g (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
• 120g (1 cup) pastry flour or soft 00 flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• fine salt

To finish:

• 1 large egg
• granulated sugar, as needed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 190C/375° F.

Whisk together the sugar and eggs in a large bowl until lightened and foamy. Then whisk in the melted butter, a little at a time, followed by the lemon and orange zests.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and a tiny pinch of salt. Pour this into the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until well incorporated. Knead briefly with your hands to form a cohesive dough.

Divide the dough into 16 pieces weighing about 40g (1½ ounces) each.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece into a fat finger about 16cm (6 inches) long, then bend each finger it into an S shape.

Arrange the cookies on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Brush the cookies with the egg, beaten together with a tablespoon of water. Then sprinkle them with sugar.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the serpette are set and golden in color, with a few light cracks on top.

Let your serpette cool, still on their baking sheet, for about 20 minutes, then transfer them cookies from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes on serpette

Domenica calls this an ‘unplugged’ recipe since you should mix the pasta frolla by hand. With a standing mixer, you risk overworking the dough. She says you could use a standing mixer to mix the wet ingredients if you wanted, but for these quantities there’s no real need. It took me well under a minute whisking by hand.

As with any pasta frolla, if you’re working in a warm environment the dough can become a bit hard to work with. If this happens to you, then just pop it in the fridge for a few minutes and start again.

Cooling the cookies completely after baking is key. Right out of the oven, they are so delicate they could lose their characteristic S shape or even fall apart if you try to handle them. As they cool, they firm up, taking on their characteristic light and crumbly texture, perfect for dunking.

A note on flours

If you don’t have pastry flour or soft 00 flour on hand, I would imagine that you could use all purpose flour only. I remember that Angelina made her taralli dolci that way and they were quite fine. Of course, the texture won’t be quite as delicate. Or use perhaps half the amount of cake flour, which is even softer than pastry flour, and increase the amount of all purpose accordingly.

Variations

I’ve found a few minor variations in other recipes for serpette. One is adding some limoncello to lean into the citrus flavor or, like Angelina’s cookies, some anisette. Some substitute oil for butter. And sprinke a bit of cinnamon on top the cookies along with the sugar.

A Short History of Serpette

According to tradition, serpette originated from the town of Sermoneta a bit further south near Latina. The story goes that they were first prepared in 1571 to celebrate the victory of the alliance of Catholic powers called the Holy League in the Battle of Lepanto against the Ottomans. The lord of Semoneta, Duca Onorato IV Caetani, having commanded one of the ships of the allied fleet, was feted with great pomp upon his return home. The cookies’ characteristic S shape recalls the snakes that appears in the Caetani family crest, meant to symbolize how the Caetani devoured their enemies. The victory, attributed by locals to the intervention of the Virgin Mary, is still celebrated annually in Sermoneta on the second Sunday in October.

It wasn’t until 1900 that S shaped cookies named serpette started to be made, apparently independently, in Monte Porzio Catone, where they were prepared for celebrating special occasions like baptisms and weddings. Today, serpette are practically synonymous with the town, and in particular with the Antico Panificio Egidi, a historic bakery in town that has been operating since the 1600s, run by the family matriarch Graziella and her sons.

Making serpette ahead

The serpette will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

More on Domenica’s Italian Cookies

Domenica’s new book is a real gem. As I said at the top, with over 100 recipes from every region in the country, I’m sure it’s the most comprehensive treatment of Italian Cookies in English. I’m also sure it will become an instant classic for lovers of Italian cookery and cookies more generally.

I’ll let Domenica herself tell your more about her book:

ITALIAN COOKIES, my ninth cookbook, is a grand tour of Italy through its cookies. It is a deep dive into a seemingly frivolous subject that turns out to be not frivolous at all! The book was years in the making, and my research took me to country villages, towns, and cities in all 20 regions of Italy. What I discovered as I traveled from Piedmont to Calabria and to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, is that much like Italian food and Italian wine, the cookies of Italy are regional in character, their recipes rooted in the land and the culture, and in local ingredients that tell a story. Butter in the north, olive oil and wine in the south; rich hazelnuts in Piedmontese Baci di Dama, and sweet, buttery Romano almonds in Sicilian amaretti.

There are cookies with histories dating back centuries, and cookies whose popularity attract travelers from all over. There are elegant, piped cookies, and fat, generous biscotti da inzuppo ~ delicious dunking cookies (and everything in between). I set out to discover their stories…

What struck me more than anything, as I worked on this project, is the fact that wherever I went in Italy, whether it was a tiny bakery tucked away in a village or a large, well-known producer, the most important ingredient was this: the human touch. In Italy, cookies are in large part still made by hand: hand mixed, hand shaped. It was meeting the people–the bakers and the artisans—who continue to produce these beloved cookies—that made this project so meaningful to me and worthy of a deep exploration.

The book is available in major bookstores as well as all the main online sources, including amazon.com and Apple Books.

* The recipe in this post has been ever so slightly ‘frankified’. I’ll let you guess how.

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Serpette (Little Snake Cookies)

Course Dessert

Cuisine Lazio

Keyword baked

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Cool time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour

Servings 16

Calories 160.9kcal

Ingredients

• 100 g granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 100 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
• Finely grated zest of ½ orange
• 240 g unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for the work surface
• 120 g 1 cup pastry flour or soft 00 flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• fine salt

To finish:

• 1 large egg
• granulated sugar as needed

Metric – US

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 190C/375° F.
• Whisk together the sugar and eggs in a large bowl until lightened and foamy. Then whisk in the melted butter, a little at a time, followed by the lemon and orange zests.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and a tiny pinch of salt. Pour this into the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula until well incorporated. Knead briefly with your hands to form a cohesive dough.
• Divide the dough into 16 pieces weighing about 40g (1½ ounces) each.
• On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece into a fat finger about 16cm (6 inches) long, then bend each finger it into an S shape.
• Arrange the cookies on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Brush the cookies with the egg, beaten together with a tablespoon of water. Then sprinkle them with sugar.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the serpette are set and golden in color, with a few light cracks on top.
• Let your serpette cool, still on their baking sheet, for about 20 minutes, then transfer them cookies from the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool completely.

Nutrition

Calories: 160.9kcal | Carbohydrates: 23.2g | Protein: 3.6g | Fat: 6.2g | Saturated Fat: 3.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1.6g | Cholesterol: 44.1mg | Sodium: 79.3mg | Potassium: 56.3mg | Fiber: 1.2g | Sugar: 6.3g | Vitamin A: 201.7IU | Calcium: 25.9mg | Iron: 1.1mg

The post Serpette (Little Snake Cookies) appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

If you’re not aware, a sformato is something like a savory flan. Or perhaps a soufflé without the puff. The basic recipe could hardly be simpler—you make a batter of puréed or finely minced or diced main ingredient, typically but not always a vegetable, mixed with béchamel and eggs, then bake it until set.

Practically any vegetable you fancy is fair game for sformato making, so you can serve it all year round: peas or asparagus in the spring, zucchini or green beans in the summer, pumpkin or mushrooms in the autumn or winter, and so on. For this week’s post I decided I’d make a sformato di spinaci. Spinach makes an especially fine sformato, as its flavor lends itself beautifully to pairing with cheese and béchamel. These days you can find spinach all year long, but with fresh young spinach is in the markets—but not for long—now’s the perfect time for sformato di spinaci.

Serve it simple or fancy, your choice…

Classically, a sformato is baked in a loaf or ring pan and served unmolded, then sliced and sometimes napped with a sauce. (Hence the name, which means ‘unmolded’.) Served like this, it makes an elegant antipasto fit for the fanciest dinner party. Back in the day, in fact, it was often served this way as an intermezzo between the first and second courses during extravagant multicourse banquets. These days it could also be a light vegetable-centric main course.

But for everyday cooking, it’s not uncommon to bake a sformato in baking dish or cassrole and then serve it by the spoonful directly from its cooking vessel. In this homey incarnation, a sformato can serve also as a side dish, though admittedly a rather rich one, best reserved for accompanying simply roasted or gilled meats or fish.

Ingredients

• 500g (1 lb) young spinach, trimmed of its stems
• One half recipe of béchamel sauce
• 3 eggs
• 100g (3-1/2 oz) of grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper
• butter, as needed

Directions

Prep the spinach

Wash the spinach leaves well in a large mixing bowl and pour out the water. If you find any grit at the bottom of the bowl, repeat. Otherwise, transfer the still wet spinach leaves to a large sauté pan or rondeau. Cook, covered, over moderate heat, just until they wilt. This should take no more than a couple of minutes.

Transfer the spinach to a colander and run them under cold water. Then let them drain.

When the spinach has thoroughly drained, take them by the handful and squeeze it dry. Mince them rather finely.

Prepare the béchamel

Following the directions in this recipe, prepare a half batch of béchamel sauce.

Let cool.

Mix and bake the batter

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the spinach and bechamel. Then add the cheese, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust for seasoning, then add the eggs.

Pour the batter into a well buttered baking dish. Dot the top with bits of butter.

Place the baking dish on a large roasting pan or baking sheet and add water all around.

Bake in a moderate (180C/350F) oven for 30-45 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly browned on top. Test doneness by inserting a small knife into the sformato. If the knife comes out clean, it should be done.

If not browned on top to your liking, you can run the sformato under the broiler for a minute or two.

Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Notes on sformato di spinaci

As mentioned at the top, the recipe involves a bit of work to prep the spinach and the béchamel, but other than that it’s about as straightforward as it gets. Just mix the batter and bake. Normally the trickiest part of a sformato making is the unmolding, and this homey way of serving it eliminates even that bother.

Prepping the spinach

It used to be that spinach was sold very mature. That kind of spinach, with crinkly dark green leaves and thick stems, required pulling the leaves off their stems. And lots of washing to eliminate its massive amounts of grit. Nowadays, we are lucky. Spinach is usually sold young and pre-washed. Sometimes even pre-trimmed of their stems.

So adjust your approach accordingly. Trim off any stems, unless they’re very slender. And I would still give the spinach a rinse regardless just to be on the safe side. Young spinach only needs a quick wilting as described in the recipe above. Older spinach is tougher, and should be boiled in lots of water.

And if you want to eliminate this prep work, you could use frozen, already chopped spinach. Just defrost it before adding it to the batter.

Preparing the béchamel

In Italy they sell premade, shelf-stable béchamel sauce, something I haven’t seen in North American markets except online at rather unreasonable prices. So it’s best to make your own. It can be a bit tricky to achieve a lumpfree béchamel, but if you use Wondra flour (or its equivalent) it’s very simple indeed. See our post on béchamel sauce for details.

You can dispense with the béchamel and use ricotta instead. For this recipe, you could use as little as 250g (1/2 lb) or as much as 500g (1 lb) the eqvuilvent of a small tub, depending on your taste. Most recipes, however, land on the lower end of this scale. Your sformato won’t be quite as creamy as it would be if you use béchamel, but it will be a bit lighter and plenty tasty. Spinach and ricotta get along famously and appear frequently in Italian cookery.

Variations

Recipes for sformati are all over the map when it comes to the number of eggs and how thick the bechamel should be.

For this recipe, which is meant to produce a soft and spoonable sformato for serving straight from the casserole as a side dish, I’ve gone light(ish) on the eggs and made a bechamel of standard thickness. If you really want to lean into the veg for a rather lighter dish, you can double the amount of spinach (or half the amount of bechamel).

Sformato di spinaci as an antipasto

If you want to serve your sformato di spinaci in the classic way as an antipasto or even a light main course, then add another egg or even two, and/or double the amount of flour in the béchamel. That should produce a sformato stiff enough to retain its shape when it’s unmolded.

As mentioned at the top, you bake the batter in a loaf pan or ring mold rather than a baking dish (without dotting the top with butter) for 30-45 minutes. There’s no need for the top to brown, as it will wind up on the bottom of your unmolded sformato, but the batter needs to be fully cooked. For an extra fancy presentation, you can bake sformatini (little sformatos) in individual ramekins, They only take 15-20 minutes baking. (See this post for details.)

When it’s done, unmold your sformato onto a serving platter and slice it up. Or turn your sformatini onto individual plates.

And if you really want to gild the lily, nap your sformato or sformatini with a sauce made from parmigiano-reggiano or another meltable cheese like perhaps taleggio melted with heavy cream. You can find the recipe here.

Other variations

For a richer, more substantial sformato di spinaci, you can add other melting cheeses to the batter like a cubed gruyere or Emmanthal. And for carnivores, a handful of cubed cooked ham would turn this into a very substantial antipasto or a light main course.

Finally, if you enjoy a bit of crunch, you can line the baking dish with breadcrumbs and top it with breadcrumbs as well.

Making sformato di spinaci ahead and leftovers

This recipe leands itself well to making ahead. Just reheat it gently in a low oven for about 10-15 minutes, just long enough to warm it up a bit. It is also not bad at room temperature. Do the same with leftovers.

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Sformato di spinaci

Spinach Flan

Servings 6

Calories 405.8kcal

Ingredients

• 500 g young spinach, trimmed of its stems
• One half recipe of béchamel sauce
• 3 eggs
• 100 g grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper
• butter as needed

Metric – US

Instructions

Prep the spinach

• Wash the spinach leaves well in a large mixing bowl and pour out the water. If any grit is left at the bottom of the bowl, repeat. Otherwise, transfer the still wet spinach leaves to a large sauté pan or rondeau. Cook, covered, over moderate heat, just until they wilt. This should take no more than a couple of minutes.
• Transfer the spinach to a colander and run them under cold water. Then let them drain.
• When the spinach has thoroughly drained, take them by the handful and squeeze it dry. Mince them rather finely.

Prepare the béchamel

• Following the directions in this recipe, prepare a half batch of béchamel sauce.
• Let cool.

Mix and bake the batter

• In a large mixing bowl, stir together the spinach and bechamel. Then add the cheese, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust for seasoning, then add the eggs.
• Pour the batter into a well buttered baking dish. Dot the top with bits of butter.
• Place the baking dish on a large roasting pan or baking sheet and add water all around.
• Bake in a moderate (180C/350F) oven for 30-45 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly browned on top. Test doneness by inserting a small knife into the sformato. If the knife comes out clean, it should be done.
• If not browned on top to your liking, you can run the sformato under the broiler for a minute or two.
• Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 405.8kcal | Carbohydrates: 7.6g | Protein: 12.5g | Fat: 37.3g | Saturated Fat: 22.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9.5g | Cholesterol: 191.1mg | Sodium: 411.4mg | Potassium: 605.7mg | Fiber: 1.8g | Sugar: 2.9g | Vitamin A: 9309.4IU | Vitamin C: 23.9mg | Calcium: 297.5mg | Iron: 2.8mg

The post Sformato di spinaci (Spinach Flan) appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.