Caponata di zucca keeps everything that makes caponata so irresistible: a base of onion and celery, salty capers and olives, plump raisins and pine nuts, all bound together by the tangy agrodolce of vinegar and sugar.

What it leaves out is the tomato. The result is a “white” caponata, and it’s all the better for it. The acidity of tomato fights with squash rather than complementing it; without it, the natural sweetness of the squash plays beautifully against the sharp vinegar and the briny capers and olives. In fact, I think I may like it even better than the eggplant version.

Traditionally the squash is deep-fried, just like the eggplant in the classic version. But for this iteration of caponata, I prefer to roast it in the oven instead. It’s easier, lighter, and oven roasting concentrates the squash’s flavor and gives it lovely caramelized edges.

You can serve caponata di zucca as an antipasto or as a contorno alongside roast meats or grilled fish. It’s even better made a day ahead.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 1 kg (2 lbs) winter squash, peeled and seeded, cut into cubes or wedges
• olive oil, q.b.
• salt, to taste

For the flavor base:

• 1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced, not too thinly
• 2 stalks of celery, trimmed and sliced crosswise
• A handful of raisins, soaked in warm water until soft and squeezed dry
• A small handful of pine nuts
• A handful of capers, preferably salt-packed, rinsed, soaked and squeezed dried
• 100 g (3½ oz) green olives, pitted and halved
• 1 small piece of dried chili pepper or a tiny pinch of pepper flakes (optional)
• olive oil

For the agrodolce:

• 50 ml (¼ cup) red or white wine vinegar
• 10-20 g (2-4 tsp) sugar, to taste

To finish the dish:

• a handful of fresh mint leaves

Directions

Pre-cook the squash

In a large bowl, toss the cubed squash with a drizzle of olive oil. Spread them out, well spaced, in a single layer on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Roast in a hot 200°C (400°F) oven for 20-25 minutes, until tender and just slightly browned at the edges. They should still holding their shape. Sprinkle with salt and set aside until needed.

Prepare the flavor base

In a wide skillet, gently heat a good slug of olive oil. Add the onion and celery and sauté over medium heat, stirring from time to time, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and translucent but not browned. Along the way, add a tiny pinch of salt and a drizzle or two of water to prevent browning.

Add the capers, raisins, pine nuts and olives (and the chili pepper if using) to the skillet and let everything cook together for just a minute or two.

Finish the dish

Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar and pour it into the skillet. Let it bubble until the sharp smell of the vinegar has mellowed, again for just a minute or two. Turn off the heat.

Add the roasted squash and some mint leaves to the skillet and give it a quick toss. Taste and adjust for salt and sugar.

Transfer the contents of the skillet to a serving dish. Let the caponata rest for at least an hour, or better yet overnight, so the flavors can meld.

Serve at room temperature, garnished with more fresh mint.

Notes on caponata di zucca

As you’ll have noticed, I’ve been rather loose with the measurements here, and, as usual, that’s intentional. Like so much Italian home cooking, caponata di zucca is a dish you can and indeed should make a occhio, by eye. So feel free to eyeball the quantities and adjust the seasonings to suit your own taste: a few more capers or olives if you like things briny, more raisins if you like them sweet, and above all the vinegar and sugar. Just taste as you go.

The key to a successful caponata di zucca is getting the balance of the agrodolce right. Vinegars vary in strength and squash varies in sweetness, so give the dish a taste before you let it rest and adjust if need be. I’d start with the lower amount of sugar: the squash is already sweet, and you want the vinegar to provide a lively counterpoint. You can always add a bit more sugar while the dish is still warm if it tastes too sharp.

Also, don’t skimp on the cooking time for the onion and celery. They should both be meltingly soft. It’s best to use the tender heart of the celery, but if all you have are the tougher outer celery stalks, you can blanch them in boiling water for a minute before adding them to the pan.

Choosing your squash

For making caponata di zucca, you want a squash with firm, dense, relatively dry flesh that will hold its shape after cooking. Watery varieties will collapse into mush.

In Italy, cooks reach for zucca Delica, violina, napoletana or padana tonda. Here in North America, kabocha squash, which is essentially the same as Delica, is your go-to if you can find it. Otherwise, butternut squash very much like zucca violina, is easy to find and works well. You could even use the pre-cubed butternut squash you can find in just about any supermarket, which makes this dish super-easy to prepare.

In the UK, look for butternut or Crown Prince; in Australia, butternut or Kent (Jap) pumpkin are good choices. Avoid jack-o’-lantern pumpkins, which are stringy and watery.

Choosing your other ingredients

Sicilian recipes for caponata di zucca call for local ingredients if you can find them: sweet red onions from Tropea, salt-packed capers from Pantelleria, and the tiny dried Corinth currants Palermitans call passulina. Any good red onion, capers and raisins will do just fine, however. Salt-packed capers have a better flavor than brined ones, but they do need a good soak to remove the excess salt. As for olives, I prefer Castelvetrano olives for my caponata, whether this one or the better-known eggplant version.

Variations

In the most traditional recipes for caponata di zucca, you deep-fry the squash in peanut or sunflower oil until tender and golden on all sides, then drain it well on paper towels. It’s richer, as you might expect. Some cooks simply sauté the squash in a generous amount of olive oil in a skillet, which falls somewhere in between frying and roasting. Many home cooks today use an air fryer, which is another lighter option.

While I’m firmly in the no-tomato camp, you will find recipes that add a spoonful of tomato paste or a bit of passata to the onion and celery base, giving it a pinkish hue and a somewhat rounder flavor.

The classic eggplant caponata is often finished with toasted almonds. For caponata di zucca, some Sicilian cooks substitute toasted pistachios, ideally from Bronte, scattered over the top along with the mint. The vivid green looks lovely against the orange squash.

Recipes for caponata di zucca also vary quite a bit in the balance of the agrodolce. Some are quite sharp, with only a couple of teaspoons of sugar for two kilos of squash, while others are noticeably sweeter. Apple cider vinegar sometimes replaces wine vinegar, for a softer, fruitier tang.

Mint is the traditional herb, but you’ll also find versions finished with basil or parsley. And black olives, such as Ligurian taggiasche, can stand in for the green ones. They provide a rather dramatic contrast in color against the squash.

Zucca in agrodolce

Finally, in Palermo they make a simpler cousin of caponata di zucca called zucca rossa in agrodolce, said to come from the Vucciria market. Here fried squash is simply dressed with vinegar, sugar, garlic and mint, without onion, celery or the other trimmings, although some recipes leave out the garlic and mint as well. It was once called the fegato dei poveri (“poor man’s liver”), or in Palermitan dialect, ficatu ri setti cannola, “liver of the seven spouts.”

Making caponata di zucca ahead

Like many agrodolce dishes, caponata di zucca improves with a rest, so it’s ideal to make a day ahead. It will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Just be sure to bring it back to room temperature before serving. It’s never served hot. I don’t recommend freezing your caponata di zucca, however, as the squash will turn mushy.

And here’s a little bonus: if you’re using kabocha squash, don’t throw away the squash peels. Toss them with olive oil, salt and a pinch of your favorite spices, then bake them at 200°C (400°F) until crisp. They make a delicious nibble with an aperitivo.

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Caponata di zucca

Winter Squash Caponata

Course Antipasto, Side Dish

Cuisine Sicilia

Keyword vegan

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Resting time 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 45 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 157.6kcal

Ingredients

• 1 kg winter squash, peeled and seeded, cut into cubes or wedges
• olive oil q.b.

For the flavor base:

• 1 medium red onion peeled and sliced, not too thinly
• 2 stalks of celery trimmed and sliced crosswise
• A handful of raisins soaked in warm water until soft and squeezed dry
• A pinch of pine nuts
• A handful of capers preferably salt-packed, rinsed and dried
• 100 g green olives, pitted and sliced in two
• 1 small piece of dried chili pepper or a tiny pinch of pepper flakes optional
• olive oil

For the agrodolce:

• 100 ml red or white wine vinegar
• 10-20 g sugar, to taste
• salt

To finish the dish:

• a handful of fresh mint leaves

Metric – US

Instructions

Pre-cook the squash

• In a large bowl, toss the cubed squash with a drizzle of olive oil. Spread them out, well spaced, in a single layer on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Roast in a hot 200C (400F) oven for 25-30 minutes, until tender and nicely browned at the edges but still holding their shape. Sprinkle with salt and set aside until needed.

Prepare the flavor base

• In a wide skillet, gently heat a good slug of olive oil with the chili pepper, if using. Add the onion and celery and sauté over medium heat, stirring from time to time, for about 10 minutes, until the vegetables are soft and translucent but not browned. Along the way, add a tiny pinch of salt and a drizzle or two of water to prevent browning.
• Add the capers, raisins, pine nuts and olives to the skillet and let everything cook together for just a minute or two.

Finishing the dish

• Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar and pour it into the skillet. Let it bubble until the sharp smell of the vinegar has mellowed, again for just a minute or two. Turn off the heat. Taste and adjust for salt and sugar.
• Add the roasted squash and some mint leaves to the skillet and give it a quick toss.
• Transfer the contents of the skillet to a serving dish. Let the caponata rest for at least an hour, or better yet overnight, so the flavors can meld.
• Serve at room temperature, garnished with more fresh mint.

Nutrition

Calories: 157.6kcal | Carbohydrates: 23.6g | Protein: 2.1g | Fat: 7.4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5.3g | Sodium: 1432.7mg | Potassium: 630.8mg | Fiber: 4.2g | Sugar: 6.2g | Vitamin A: 17788.5IU | Vitamin C: 36.5mg | Calcium: 95.2mg | Iron: 1.4mg

The post Caponata di zucca (Winter Squash Caponata) appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

The name is apt nevertheless. Inzuppare means to soak, which is just what you do to the sponge cake at its heart. The result is vaguely reminiscent of the bread-thickened soups called zuppe so typical of the cookery of central Italy, only sweet rather than savory and cold rather than hot. As for the inglese part, the origins of this dish are disputed, but it bears a strong resemblance to—and some say was inspired by—the English trifle. Closer to home, you could think of it as a kind of cousin to the better-known tiramisù, though zuppa inglese is much older and, some say, its ancestor.

Simple to make, but sure to impress

Zuppa inglese is actually quite simple to make, but it makes a great impression. That’s especially true when it’s served in a large glass trifle bowl that shows off its colorful layers. Classic zuppa inglese is made of pan di Spagna (sponge cake) soaked in a red liqueur called alchermes, also spelled alkermes. It alternates with layers of crema pasticcera, or pastry cream: one plain and lemon-scented, the other flavored with chocolate.

The golden and dark layers of crema against the scarlet cake make for a striking dessert. And if you want to gild the proverbial lily, add a topping of cocoa, berries or sliced almonds—or whatever strikes you fancy.

Zuppa inglese is sure to be a big hit. I love it, and I don’t even care that much for sweets. It’s sweet but not cloyingly so, and the alchermes lends it a heady, almost floral perfume, with a whisper of spice. I find the mix of flavors enchanting.

Since one recipe is enough for a crowd, it’s perfect for a dinner party where you want to wow your guests. For a less dramatic but even more elegant presentation, serve it in individual dessert bowls.

Ingredients

Makes enough for a crowd

For the crema pasticcera:

• 8 egg yolks
• 150 g (3/4 cup) sugar
• 75 g (1/2 cup) flour
• 1 liter (4 cups) milk
• Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 100 g (3-1/2 oz) dark chocolate, finely chopped or in chips

For assembly:

• 1 kg (2 lbs) sponge cake or pound cake
• About 240 ml (1 cup) alchermes or other liqueur(s) (see Notes)

Optional toppings:

• Cocoa powder
• Berries
• Sour cherries (amarene)
• Sliced almonds

Directions

Make the crema pasticcera

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. The mixture should form ‘ribbons’ as the whisk rotates. Then add the flour slowly, bit by bit, until fully incorporated.

Meanwhile, heat the milk over moderate heat until hot, almost but not quite at the boil. You will see little bubbles just beginning to form around the edge of the pot. Take the milk off the heat and drizzle it, little by little, into the mixer bowl.

Now pour the whole thing back into the pot and put it over very gentle heat. Stir continuously with a whisk or wooden spoon. After a while, it should begin to thicken. Keep stirring until quite thick, making sure the mixture doesn’t come to a boil.

Divide and flavor the crema pasticcera

While the crema is still hot, quickly transfer about half of it to a bowl and stir in the lemon zest.

Add the chopped chocolate to the other half, still in the pot but off heat. Stir until the chocolate has melted completely and the crema is a uniform color. Transfer to another bowl.

Let both creme cool completely.

Mise en place

Pour about a cup of alchermes into a small bowl.

Slice your sponge cake or pound cake into 1 cm (1/2 inch) slices.

Have your two creme at hand in separate bowls, and prepare whatever topping you have in mind.

Assemble the dish

Take a trifle bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, or individual dessert bowls if you prefer. Cover the bottom with a thin layer of one of the creme.

Make a layer of cake slices, cutting them up if needed to make a complete layer.

Now brush the cake with alchermes. No need to drown it, just enough that the cake takes on the color of the liqueur.

Spread over a layer of the other crema.

Then add another layer of cake, moisten it with alchermes, and spread over a layer of crema.

Repeat, alternating the chocolate and plain creme, until you run out of ingredients or fill your bowl. End with a layer of plain crema.

Let it rest

Place the bowl in the fridge and let it rest for a good few hours (see Making zuppa inglese ahead, below).

Serve

It is best not to serve this dish right out of the fridge. Take it out about 30-60 minutes before serving to let it return almost to room temperature. That way you can better appreciate its flavors.

Just before serving, top with one or more of the toppings if you care to.

Notes on zuppa inglese

As mentioned, zuppa inglese is a pretty simple dessert anyone can make, assuming you use store-bought sponge cake or pound cake.

The only tricky part, really, is thickening the crema pasticcera. You need to heat it slowly enough that you cook the flour, while making sure that the eggs don’t curdle. Stir constantly, scraping the bottom of the pot all over, and keep the mixture below the boil. If at any point you sense that things might be getting out of hand, remove the pot from the heat. Adding a bit of cold milk or cream will cool things off.

About alchermes

Alchermes (or alkermes) is a liqueur made by infusing neutral spirits with sugar, spices, herbs and other flavorings. Its most striking feature is its brilliant scarlet color, which it gets from a rather unusual ingredient, the tiny scale insect called kermes. In fact, its name comes from the Arabic al-qirmiz, the word for kermes. The insect lives on Mediterranean oaks and was crushed for one of the most prized red dyes of the ancient and medieval world.

After the conquest of the Americas, kermes gave way to cochineal. This related insect lives on Mexican cactus and yields an even more brilliant red. Some makers still color their alchermes with cochineal today, though many commercial brands have switched to synthetic dyes.

The history of alchermes

The liqueur itself began as medicine. Its ancestor was the confectio alkermes, a medieval remedy from the Arab world prized as a tonic for the heart. It blended kermes with rose water, cinnamon, ambergris, musk, ground pearls and even gold leaf.

In Florence, the Dominican friars of Santa Maria Novella turned it into a liqueur and sold it as an elixir of long life. Legend has it that Caterina de’ Medici took it to France, where it became known as the liqueur de Médicis. (You have to wonder how big her cortège was, given all the foods and drinks she supposedly brought to France!) The friars’ pharmacy, the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, still makes it, from a recipe first written down in 1743.

Today’s alchermes is made by steeping cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, vanilla and orange peel in alcohol. It is then sweetened with syrup and perfumed with rose water. The result is syrupy, intensely aromatic and, at 20-30% alcohol, fairly gentle on the tongue. Few people drink it on its own anymore. It lives on mostly in the pastry kitchen, especially in Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna. There it tints and perfumes desserts like zuppa inglese, zuccotto and the peach-shaped pesche di Prato.

Where to buy alchermes

Outside Italy, alchermes used to be nearly impossible to find, but it has become easier to get. Here in North America, I ordered mine online from Dolceterra. Buona Italia carries a traditional Tuscan version colored with cochineal. There is also a domestic option, Heirloom American Alchermes, made by the folks behind Bittercube bitters. It’s available at many liquor stores and online retailers. It’s considerably stronger than the Italian versions, at 40% alcohol, so you may want to go a bit lighter when brushing it on your cake. (Full disclosure: I haven’t tried it, so I can’t vouch for the flavor.)

Elsewhere, readers in Australia are in luck. Nick’s Wine Merchants stocks both Luxardo’s alkermes and the Santa Maria Novella original. Santa Maria Novella also sells it through its Australian online shop. In the UK, it’s harder to track down, it seems. Your best bets are Italian delis and online marketplaces like Amazon UK. Santa Maria Novella’s London shops are also worth a call if you live in the area.

Substitutes for alchermes

Recipes vary on the substitutes they recommend. If color does not matter to you, I rather like amaretto mixed with a bit of rum. Rum alone would also do well. La cucina italiana calls for vin santo, the classic Tuscan dessert wine. I imagine sweet Marsala, while not typical, would also be nice. Marcella Hazan recommends a rather heady mixture of rum, cognac, Drambuie and Cherry Heering.

And for the ambitious, Giuliano Bugialli gives a recipe for homemade alchermes in his classic The Fine Art of Italian Cooking.

About the chocolate and cocoa

For the chocolate crema, use a good dark chocolate rather than milk chocolate, which would make the dessert cloying. Ready made dark chocolate chips are ideal, but if you buy it in bar form, chop it finely so it melts quickly and evenly into the hot crema. For a more intensely chocolatey crema, use a bit more chocolate, or stir in a spoonful of cocoa too.

If you dust the top with cocoa, use unsweetened cocoa powder and go easy. Sift it through a fine sieve so you get a thin, even veil rather than clumps. And do it just before serving, as cocoa darkens and turns blotchy in the fridge. As for which cocoa, Dutch-process cocoa is darker in color and milder in flavor. Natural cocoa is lighter but more bitter, which makes for a nice contrast with the sweet crema and spiced alchermes. Either one works; it’s really a matter of taste.

About the cake

The classic recipe calls for pan di Spagna, a classic Italian sponge cake, light, springy and a bit dry on its own. That’s exactly what makes it so good at soaking up liqueurs and syrups without falling apart. It’s the base of choice for so many Italian layered desserts, from zuppa inglese and zuccotto to Sicilian cassata.

Despite its name, which means ‘Spanish bread’, it’s actually from Genoa. The story goes that in 1749, Giovan Battista Cabona presented the cake at a banquet at the Spanish court. He was chef to the Marquis Domenico Pallavicini, the Genoese ambassador to Madrid. The cake was first called pâte génoise, or ‘Genoese pastry’, and was later renamed in honor of its hosts. Its French counterpart, the génoise, still bears the name of its hometown.

How to make pan di Spagna at home

Pan di Spagna can be a bit tricky to find in stores outside Italy. Luckily, it’s easy enough to make at home. It calls for just eggs, sugar and flour: no butter and, traditionally, no baking powder. All its rise comes from the air beaten into the eggs.

1. Beat 6 eggs with 180 g (a scant cup) of sugar for 15 minutes, until pale, thick and tripled in volume.
2. Gently fold in 180 g (1-1/2 cups) of sifted flour, a little at a time, so the batter doesn’t deflate. For a more tender crumb, use half flour and half potato starch.
3. Pour into a buttered and floured 24 cm (9-1/2 inch) springform pan. Bake at 170°C (340°F) for about 40 minutes, until golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Don’t open the oven door for the first 30 minutes.
4. Let it cool completely. Ideally, make it the day before, as it slices more cleanly once it has rested. For this recipe, you’ll want two cakes.

Alternatives

If you can’t find sponge cake and would rather not make it, a fairly light, fluffy pound cake will do. These days you’ll often see zuppa inglese made with savoiardi, or ladyfingers, which brings it even closer to tiramisù.

Presentation

In some versions, zuppa inglese is made in a bowl that you line entirely with liqueur-laced cake. To serve, the bowl is inverted onto a plate, creating a ‘dome’ much like the Tuscan zuccotto.

Personally, I prefer the version given here, which is much easier. (No risk of accidents!) And to my mind, it’s even prettier in a glass trifle bowl that shows off the alternating layers. For an even more elegant presentation, make individual portions in dessert bowls, as pictured here, or in fluted tulip bowls.

Variations

Chocolate was most likely a later addition to zuppa inglese, and some older recipes call for plain crema pasticcera alone. This simpler version lets the scarlet of the alchermes stand out even more. To try it, leave out the chocolate and use plain crema throughout. A light dusting of cocoa between the layers is a nice touch.

If you want a gentler taste, you can dilute the alchermes with water or, for a sweeter version, simple syrup.

Ada Boni’s 1920 ‘Roman’ version is a richer affair. The sponge cake is dipped in rum and in a cocoa cream, then layered with crema pasticcera and candied fruit and topped with meringue.

In Naples, zuppa inglese takes a rather different form. Instead of alchermes, the pan di Spagna is soaked in a rum-spiked syrup. It’s layered with crema scented with lemon and vanilla and studded with dark chocolate and amarene, sour cherries in syrup. Like Ada Boni’s Roman version, it is crowned with meringue. The whole thing is shaped into a dome, covered with meringue and dried in a low oven, then decorated with candied fruit.

You’ll also come across modern versions soaked in limoncello, often paired with a lemon-scented crema and fresh berries. It’s not traditional, as far as I can tell, but it makes a lovely, summery alternative, especially if you can’t find alchermes.

The disputed origins of zuppa inglese

The origins of zuppa inglese, as mentioned, are in some dispute. But according to the two most common stories, it is a recreation of the English trifle.

One story has it that the dish originated in 19th-century Tuscany. At the time, Florence was home to a large English expatriate community. Think A Room with a View. The story goes that zuppa inglese was the result when by the Italian cook of an English family in Fiesole, outside Florence, attempted to recreate the trifle. Another story has it that a 16th-century Duke of Este visited the Elizabethan court. Back home, he had his cooks recreate the trifle he had tasted there.

Giuliano Bugialli contests both accounts. He says the name refers to the red color of alchermes, which reminded people of the red in the English flag.

Naples, for its part, has its own story. The dessert was supposedly improvised from leftover cake, rum and custard for King Ferdinand’s banquet in honor of Admiral Nelson. Hence the ‘English’.

Personally, for what it’s worth, I tend to believe the first story—or something like it—is the most likely to be true. For one thing, the trifle did not take its current form until at least the 17th century.

Zuppa inglese and tiramisù

As for its relationship to tiramisù, the family resemblance is obvious. Both are layers of soaked cake or biscuits and cream, finished with cocoa. And zuppa inglese is clearly the older of the two, by a century at least. Pellegrino Artusi was already including it in his 1891 cookbook. Tiramisù only appeared in the late 1960s, most likely at the restaurant Le Beccherie in Treviso, though Friuli disputes the claim.

So it’s tempting to see tiramisù as a modern update of zuppa inglese. Savoiardi replace the sponge cake, coffee the alchermes and mascarpone the crema pasticcera. But the evidence for a direct line is thin. The tiramisù cream seems to descend instead from sbatudìn, egg yolks beaten with sugar. Families in the Veneto gave it as a pick-me-up, hence the name tirami sù. Cousins, then, rather than parent and child.

Making zuppa inglese ahead

Zuppa inglese not only can but should be made ahead. Some recipes call for as little as an hour of resting and others as much as a whole day. To my mind, 2-3 hours is probably the minimum. That allows the flavors to meld and the crema and cake layers to adhere properly.

Like tiramisù, the dish will change in texture the longer it rests, getting softer over time. It’s a matter of taste, really, at what point it is at its best.

Post scriptum

Regular readers may remember that I first posted my recipe for zuppa inglese way back in 2012. At the time I had to make do without the genuine article, since alchermes was all but impossible to find here. Well, I finally laid my hands on a bottle, and it seemed high time to revisit this classic, with some fresh photos to boot!

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Zuppa inglese

Italian Trifle

Course Dessert

Cuisine Emilia-Romagna, Le Marche, Tuscan

Keyword sweet

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Rest 2 hours hours

Total Time 2 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 8 or more

Calories 771kcal

Ingredients

For the crema pasticcera:

• 8 egg yolks
• 150 g granulated sugar
• 75 g flour
• 1 liter whole milk
• Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 100 g dark chocolate, finely chopped or in chips

For assembly:

• 1 kg sponge cake or pound cake
• 240 ml alchermes or other liqueur(s) (see Notes)

Optional toppings:

• Cocoa powder
• Berries
• Sour cherries amarene
• Sliced almonds

Metric – US

Instructions

Make the crema pasticcera

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. The mixture should form ‘ribbons’ as the whisk rotates. Then add the flour slowly, bit by bit, until fully incorporated.
• Meanwhile, heat the milk over moderate heat until hot, almost but not quite at the boil. You will see little bubbles just beginning to form around the edge of the pot. Take the milk off the heat and drizzle it, little by little, into the mixer bowl.
• Now pour the whole thing back into the pot and put it over very gentle heat. Stir continuously with a whisk or wooden spoon. After a while, it should begin to thicken. Keep stirring until quite thick, making sure the mixture doesn’t come to a boil.

Divide and flavor the crema pasticcera

• While the crema is still hot, quickly transfer about half of it to a bowl and stir in the lemon zest.
• Add the chopped chocolate to the other half, still in the pot but off heat. Stir until the chocolate has melted completely and the crema is a uniform color. Transfer to another bowl.
• Let both creme cool completely.

Mise en place

• Pour about a cup of alchermes into a small bowl.
• Slice your sponge cake or pound cake into 1 cm (1/2 inch) slices.
• Have your two creme at hand in separate bowls, and prepare whatever topping you have in mind.

Assemble the dish

• Take a trifle bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, or individual dessert bowls if you prefer. Cover the bottom with a thin layer of one of the creme.
• Make a layer of cake slices, cutting them up if needed to make a complete layer.
• Now brush the cake with alchermes. No need to drown it, just enough that the cake takes on the color of the liqueur.
• Spread over a layer of the other crema.
• Then add another layer of cake, moisten it with alchermes, and spread over a layer of crema.
• Repeat, alternating the chocolate and plain creme, until you run out of ingredients or fill your bowl. End with a layer of plain crema.

Let it rest

• Place the bowl in the fridge and let it rest for a good few hours (see Making zuppa inglese ahead, below).

Serve

• It is best not to serve this dish right out of the fridge. Take it out about 30-60 minutes before serving to let it return almost to room temperature. That way you can better appreciate its flavors.
• Just before serving, top with one or more of the toppings if you care to.

Nutrition

Calories: 771kcal | Carbohydrates: 124.1g | Protein: 15.8g | Fat: 17.8g | Saturated Fat: 8.2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.7g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5.8g | Cholesterol: 337.7mg | Sodium: 841.6mg | Potassium: 445.5mg | Fiber: 2.2g | Sugar: 83.5g | Vitamin A: 665.8IU | Calcium: 280.3mg | Iron: 5.8mg

The post Zuppa inglese (Italian Trifle) appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

You tip in a splash of white wine, followed by tomatoes and let everything simmer until the mushrooms are meltingly tender and covered in a savory sauce. While the mushrooms are still the star, they mingle with the sweet umami of the tomatoes for a rounder, more savory dish.

Funghi in umido is a typical autumn contorno, wonderful with grilled or roast meats. I think they marry particularly well with pork, either as an accompaniment to sausages or, as I enjoyed them this week, with pork chops. Or for a truly warming one dish meal, you could also pair funghi in umido with a steaming hot pile of polenta. With a bit more tomato and perhaps some guanciale or pancetta, funghi in umido also makes an excellent dressing for pasta.

The whole recipe, from start to finish, takes about 20 minutes, give or take. And best of all, it works with almost any mushroom, from humble button mushroom to wild porcini or chiodini. All in all, I’d say it’s another standby recipe you should add to your Italian repertoire.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 500 g (1 lb) mushrooms, sliced or cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly crushed
• 1 dried chili pepper (optional)
• 400 g (14 oz) canned peeled tomatoes, cut up or crushed, or 300 ml (1¼ cups) passata
• A splash of dry white wine
• 125ml (1/2 cup) water or broth
• olive oil
• salt

To finish the dish:

• a few sprigs of fresh parsley, minced
• olive oil

Directions

Sauté the garlic and (if using) chili gently in a generous amount of olive oil. When the garlic is just beginning to brown, remove it and the chili pepper.

Raise the heat and add the mushrooms. Sprinkle them with a good pinch of salt, and sauté over a lively flame. At first they should release their juices; continue sautéing until they evaporate and you hear the mushrooms start to sizzle.

When the mushrooms are just beginning to brown, add a splash of white wine, and when it has cooked off, the tomatoes or passata, along with enough water or broth so the mushrooms are partially covered.

Simmer over a gentle flame, partially covered, for 10-15 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender and the sauce has thickened and clings to the mushrooms. If the mushrooms are done before the sauce has thickened sufficiently, raise the heat to high and let it reduce.

Taste and adjust for seasoning. Off the heat, stir in the parsley.

Serve topped with a sprinkling of parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.

Notes on funghi in umido

As mentioned at the top, this is a quick and simple recipe with little to trip you up. Just one word to the wise: Don’t skimp on the oil. The mushrooms will need it as will the sauce. If you see that the mushrooms have absorbed all the oil, as they tend to, then go ahead and add more to the pan.

I also like to salt the mushrooms as soon as they go in the pan. This not only seasons them, it also helps them exude their juices. And it’s much more effective at bringing out their woodsy flavor than seasoning at the end.

For dressing pasta

If you want to use your funghi in umido to dress pasta, add more tomato, as much as twice the amount called for above. And, if you like, sauté some pancetta or guanciale along with the garlic. And don’t discard it, of course. This recipe should be enough for 500g (1 lb) of pasta. To my mind, a ribbon pasta like fettuccine, tagliatelle or pappardelle is an ideal choice, but you could also use a short dry pasta like penne or rigatoni.

Choosing your mushrooms

As mentioned at the top, just about any variety of mushrooms works for this dish.

Of course, your first choice would doubtless be porcini, the king of Italian mushrooms. But fresh porcini can be very hard to find, and if you do, they go for exorbitant prices. Even in Italy they’re quite pricey. Here in North America, you can find frozen porcini from Alma Gourmet among other outlets. They’re not cheap either, but certainly more affordable than fresh.

In Italy funghi in umido is often made with chiodini (honey mushrooms or Armillaria mellea). If you’re lucky enough to find them where you live, keep only the caps and a short bit of the rather tough stems. And be sure to parboil them in salted water for 10-15 minutes and discard the water before proceeding, as chiodini are toxic if raw or undercooked. After parboiling, they also need a longer simmer than given in the recipe above, about 25-30 minutes.

Where I live, the Asian varietal shimeji (Hypsizygus tessellatus) called beech mushrooms in English, which look very much like chiodini, also work well in this dish. Unlike chiodini, they need no parboiling and cook very quickly so give them less time than given above.

That said, just about any variety of mushroom will work in this recipe, even plain old white button mushrooms, or the ever popular cremini or Baby Bellas here in North America.

A little trick for elevating supermarket mushrooms

Here’s a little trick that will lend some character to even ordinary mushrooms. Add a few pieces of dried porcini mushrooms—fairly easy to find and usually fairly affordable— so they lend their fragrance to the dish. You should soak them in lukewarm water for 15-20 minutes, then squeeze them dry, chop them roughly and filter the soaking liquid. The chopped pieces go into the skillet along with your fresh mushrooms. Then, once your mushrooms have sautéed to the point where their own juices have evaporated, add just a bit of the filtered soaking liquid and let it evaporate as well before adding the tomato. Then proceed from there.

Choosing your tomato

Canned tomatoes or passata are obviously de rigueur for making funghi in umido, since it’s a dish you typically serve out of tomato season. That said, you could opt for hot house cherry or grape tomatoes for a lighter touch.

Variations

In northern Italy, onion often stands in for the garlic, and butter for the oil, which gives this dish a softer, sweeter taste. Carnivores may like to add some pancetta or guanciale for added depth of flavor.

In northern and central Italy, this dish is often prepared in bianco, or without tomato. The wine, plus a bit of water or broth, provides your braising liquid.

You can also pair the mushrooms with other vegetables. Peas, for instance, marry very nicely with mushrooms. Add the frozen ones shortly before the end of simmering. Potatoes also work well and make for a more substantial dish styled funghi e patate in umido, a classic of Campanian and Calabrian cookery.

You could use a dry red wine instead of white. It’s particularly fine if you’re serving your funghi in umido with game or over polenta. You can also skip the wine altogether if you prefer.

Some fresh herbs can provide a lovely added layer of flavor. In Lazio and elsewhere in central Italy, nepitella, a local wild herb with a taste somewhere between mint and oregano, is a classic complement to mushrooms. Elsewhere sage or rosemary are both lovely choices, too. But again, any herb that strikes your fancy will work here.

Making funghi in umido ahead

This is one dish that can be made ahead without any worries. If anything, like many simmered dishes, it only gets better after a rest. Just add a little water to the pan and gently reheat when you’re ready to serve.

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Funghi in umido con pomodoro

Mushrooms simmered in tomato sauce

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Calabria, Campania

Keyword simmered

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Calories 201.8kcal

Ingredients

• 500 g mushrooms sliced or cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2-3 cloves garlic peeled and lightly crushed
• 1 dried chili pepper optional
• 400 g 14 oz canned peeled tomatoes cut up or crushed, or 300 ml (1¼ cups) passata
• dry white wine
• olive oil
• salt

To finish the dish:

• a few sprigs of fresh parsley minced
• olive oil

Metric – US

Instructions

• Sauté the garlic and (if using) chili gently in a generous amount of olive oil. When the garlic is just beginning to brown, remove it and the chili pepper.
• Raise the heat and add the mushrooms, sprinkling them with a good pinch of salt, and sauté over a lively flame. At first they should release their juices; continue sautéing until they evaporate and you hear the mushrooms start to sizzle.
• When the mushrooms are just beginning to brown around the edges, add a splash of white wine, and when it has cooked off, the tomatoes or passata, along with enough water or broth so the mushrooms are partially covered.
• Simmer over a gentle flame, partially covered, for 10-15 minutes, or until the mushrooms are tender and the sauce has thickened and clings to the mushrooms. If the mushrooms are done before the sauce has thickened sufficiently, raise the heat to high and let it reduce.
• Taste and adjust for seasoning. Off the heat, stir in the parsley.
• Serve with still hot, topped with a sprinkling of parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.

Nutrition

Calories: 201.8kcal | Carbohydrates: 8.7g | Protein: 4.8g | Fat: 18.1g | Saturated Fat: 2.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12.8g | Sodium: 1894.1mg | Potassium: 594.4mg | Fiber: 2.3g | Sugar: 4.9g | Vitamin A: 150.2IU | Vitamin C: 12.4mg | Calcium: 38.8mg | Iron: 1.7mg

The post Funghi in umido con pomodoro appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

I find freshly fried peperoni cruschi absolutely addictive. You can eat them like potato chips, or crumble them over pasta, pizza or eggs. But one of the most celebrated ways to use them is to pair them with baccalà, or salt cod, to make today’s featured dish, baccalà alla lucana.

Basilicata, ancient Lucania

Basilicata—sometimes also called by its ancient name Lucania, hence the moniker of this dish—is one of Italy’s least-known regions. Tucked inside the instep of the Italian boot between Puglia, Campania and Calabria, the region is best known for the town of Matera, with its ancient cave dwellings, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and European Capital of Culture in 2019. But beyond Matera, much of the region remains off the tourist trail, with a cuisine shaped by rural life and made with few, very good ingredients: these sun-dried peppers, cured pork, hand-shaped pasta and, of course, salt cod.

Simple but tasty way to enjoy baccalà

Italian cookery abounds with different baccalà dishes, and we’ve covered a good many here on Memorie di Angelina: lesso, mantecato, alla napoletana, in zimino and con i peperoni, to name a few. Today’s recipe, baccalà alla lucana—sometimes styled all’aviglianese, after the town of Avigliano where it is said to have originated—is one of the simplest. It’s also one of the tastiest. You gently poach the salt cod, then dress it with warm garlic-scented olive oil and a generous crumbling of crisp cruschi right at the end. A little minced parsley for color if you care for it, and you’re done.

Peperoni cruschi can be hard to find outside of Italy, but they can be ordered online, and I’ve included some good substitutes in the Notes below. And if salt cod is not easy to come by where you live, fresh cod makes an acceptable stand-in. Whichever way you go, do give this a try. I think you’ll be as taken with those crunchy peppers as I am.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 1 kilo (2 lbs) baccalà (dried salt cod), pre-soaked (see Notes)

For the peperoni cruschi:

• 12-15 peperoni cruschi, or to taste
• olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• A dried chili pepper (optional)
• salt

To finish the dish:

• A handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

Directions

Poach the cod.

Drain the pre-soaked baccalà, remove skin and bones, and cut into serving pieces.

Simmer the baccalà pieces in unsalted water for about 10 minutes, or until just tender.

Drain on paper towels, taking care not to break up the pieces, and keep warm. Taste a tiny bit and, if it needs it, season with salt.

Fry the cruschi.

Gently wipe the cruschi and trim off their stems, then shake out their seeds.

In a skillet, add a generous pour of olive oil and heat it gently over a moderate flame.

Add the cruschi, a bunch at a time, and fry them for just a few seconds on each side, until puffed and crisp.

Drain on paper towels and sprinkle lightly with salt. When cool, crumble or tear most into small pieces.

Make the dressing.

In the same skillet, sauté the garlic cloves and, if using, the chili pepper over very gentle heat for a minute or two, taking care that the garlic doesn’t brown. Discard the garlic and chili.

Assemble and serve

Arrange the cod pieces on a platter and nap them with the warm oil. Top with the crumbled or torn cruschi and place the rest on the side. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve right away.

Notes on baccalà alla lucana

The main things to look out for when making baccalà alla lucana: season carefully and take care not to burn the cruschi.

Since baccalà, even after soaking, can be quite savory, you probably won’t need to season it at all. But since (as discussed below) its saltiness can vary a lot, do give it a teeny taste and see if it needs any. Do salt the cruschi after you fry them. A bit of salt is a real game changer. I find them so addictive half of them wind up in my mouth… Just a light sprinkling will do.

It is all too easy to burn the cruschi, which turns them bitter. Use a moderate flame and let them fry just long enough to crisp up. It takes a matter of seconds, not minutes.

About baccalà (salt cod)

Baccalà is cod fish that has been preserved by being salt-cured and dried. When you buy it dry, it is quite hard to the touch and very, very salty to the taste. In other words, you can’t eat it that way. It generally needs at least 8 hours and sometimes up to 24+ hours of soaking in various changes of water. Soaking times can vary enormously depending on how salty and/or dry your baccalà is. And, of course, personal taste. Personally I like my baccalà still quite savory and firm. Best to ask your fishmonger or follow the directions on the package. When in doubt, start early in case you need extra soaking time. 

In Italy, a lot of places will sell you pre-soaked baccalà on Fridays, which is a great convenience. Here in the States, I’ve only come across pre-soaked baccalà in Angelina’s old neighborhood in New York, the Arthur Avenue section of the Bronx. You can probably find it in Little Italys in other cities.

Salt cod is generally much easier to find than peperoni cruschi, but if you can’t find it where you live, then you could use fresh cod instead. You can make a kind of homemade baccalà by salting your fresh cod and leaving it overnight in the fridge. This gives a firmer texture and a more savory taste, closer to the real thing. After that, poach or even better steam it, but for less time than soaked baccalà. Fresh fish only needs a few minutes to cook through. Or fry the fish instead—see Variations below—as frying is more forgiving and you’re less likely to break up the fish.

And if you can’t find fresh cod, then you could go with another firm fleshed fish such as haddock, pollock, hake or halibut.

About peperoni cruschi

Peperoni cruschi, literally meaning ‘crispy peppers’, are sun dried sweet red peppers, usually the local peperone di Senise, a thin-walled, mild variety with a protected IGP designation, whose low moisture makes it ideal for drying. After the harvest, which runs from the end of July until the end of September, the peppers are strung into large wreaths called serte and hung in open-walled sheds for 20-25 days, then fried in olive oil until crisp. The result is sweet, fruity and faintly smoky, with no heat. 

Outside Italy they take some hunting, but they are available online. In the US, online specialty retailers such as Olio2go, Market Hall Foods and Alma Gourmet carry them. Do check the label: some brands sell them already fried, while others sell the dried peppers, which you fry yourself. It’s the latter you want here, as there’s nothing like freshly fried peperoni cruschi. And ideally whole if you can find them, though pieces will do.

If you can’t find peperoni cruschi where you live, the closest substitutes are dried ñora or choricero peppers from Spain, fried briefly. Here in North America, easily found dried ancho chiles, which are sweet and fruity with just a little heat, will also work well. For a no-fuss if quite different alternative, toast bread crumbs in olive oil with a little smoked sweet paprika and use that in place of the crumbled pepper.

Variations

In some recipes for baccalà alla lucana, you fry the baccalà rather than poaching it. After soaking, pat the cod very dry, dredge the pieces lightly in flour, and fry in olive oil over medium heat until golden on both sides. Drain, then dress exactly as above with the garlic oil, parsley and crumbled cruschi.

You can also make baccalà alla lucana ‘in rosso‘, or with tomatoes. You simmer fried cod briefly in a light tomato sauce made with onion, garlic and a few olives, then crumble the cruschi on top at the end.

The obscure origins of baccalà alla lucana

The dish takes its alternate name, baccalà all’aviglianese, from Avigliano, a hill town in inland Basilicata, far from the coast.

The history of the dish is obscure. Local lore says that the Normans brought baccalà with them when they arrived in the 11th century, first as vassals of the Byzantine empire, then as an independent state. Melfi, in northern Basilicata not too far from Avigliano, was their capital.

This seems doubtful, however, since the first records of the consumption of baccalà in Italy date from centuries later. And it was most likely the Basques or perhaps the Portuguese, not the Normans, in the 1500s. But whatever its true origins might be, the appeal of a dish combining Basilicata’s famed dried peppers with dried fish, which back in the day was often the only kind of seafood that most inland people could afford, is obvious.

Today Avigliano celebrates the dish with a sagra, a food festival, held on the last weekend of every August. Local restaurants serve baccalà in every way imaginable, from traditional to inventive. The same preparation turns up just across the border in Campania’s Irpinia, where it goes by the name baccalà alla pertecaregna. In Basilicata, though, it is the local classic. 

Like other salt cod dishes, baccalà alla lucana is traditionally a meatless-day dish. In Basilicata it is traditionally prepared on Christmas Eve, but it is hardly confined to the holidays. Avigliano holds its sagra at the end of August, and one local restaurant dedicates its entire menu to baccalà during the month of November. So enjoy this dish whenever it strikes your fancy!

Making baccalà alla lucana ahead

This is a dish that you should finish at the last minute, as peperoni cruschi lose their crunch rather quickly after frying. You could pre-simmer the salt cod ahead, then gently reheat it when you want to serve, frying the peperoni cruschi and preparing the dressing at the last minute.

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Baccalà alla lucana con peperoni cruschi

Salt Cod with Dried Sweet Peppers, a dish from Basilicata

Course Main Course

Cuisine Basilicata

Keyword fried, pescatarian, poached

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Soaking time for the cod 1 day day

Servings 6

Calories 125.7kcal

Ingredients

• 1 kilo baccalà (dried salt cod), pre-soaked

For the peperoni cruschi:

• 12-15 peperoni cruschi or to taste
• olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• A dried chili pepper optional
• salt

To finish the dish:

• A handful of fresh parsley finely chopped

Metric – US

Instructions

Poach the cod.

• Drain the soaked baccalà, remove skin and bones, and cut into serving pieces.
• Simmer the baccalà pieces in unsalted water for about 10 minutes, or until just tender.
• Drain on paper towels, taking care not to break up the pieces, and keep warm. Taste a tiny bit and, if it needs it, season with salt.

Fry the cruschi.

• Gently wipe the cruschi and trim off their stems, then shake out their seeds.
• In a skillet, add a generous pour of olive oil and heat it gently over a moderate flame.
• Add the cruschi, a bunch at a time, and fry them for just a few seconds on each side, until puffed and crisp.
• Drain on paper towels and sprinkle lightly with salt. When cool, crumble or tear most into small pieces.

Make the dressing.

• In the same skillet, sauté the garlic cloves and, if using, the chili pepper over very gentle heat for a minute or two, taking care that the garlic doesn’t brown. Discard the garlic and chili.

Assemble and serve

• Arrange the cod pieces on a platter and nap them with the warm oil. Top with the crumbled or torn cruschi and place the rest on the side. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve right away.

Nutrition

Calories: 125.7kcal | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 1.9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10.2g | Sodium: 1174.9mg | Potassium: 6.8mg | Calcium: 2.9mg

The post Baccalà alla lucana con peperoni cruschi appeared first on Memorie di Angelina.

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 with 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

Serves 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 has 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 it 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 smoky 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 would be another local product, the PDO Apulian pecorino called canestrato pugliese. Principally produced in and around the town of Foggia, canestrato pugliese takes its 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 it’s so quickly made that 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

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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 with 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, Jeanne Caròla Francesconi has a 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 it 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 Parmesan or pecorino romano 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 Ziploc 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 pasta 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 at their home base 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, while unusual, 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 their 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 pre-grated pecorino, with its sharper flavor, is more 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 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. Crepes, of course, 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, then 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 it cool, then squeeze it dry and chop it finely before you add it to the mix. For lazy cooks, about 10 oz (280g) chopped frozen spinach works well, too.

While the trio of ricotta, mozzarella and Parmesan are the 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 Italian-American baked pasta cousins, actually lends itself rather well to making ahead. You reheat it gently in the oven at say 160C/320F for about 15-20 minutes. And if you have a steam oven, even better; setting it at 60% humidity will help keep your Baked Manicotti from drying out.

Print

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

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