Puntarelle "a la Romana"

In Italy, in the country near Rome are called Puntarelle the chicory sprouts when they are cut and treated in a particular way. This roman chicory is not the quality rather tough and bitter widespread in northern regions, but a more tender and sweet quality.  However today, it's not difficult to find it in almost every fruit and vegetable markets .

Ingredients for the salad : Garlic, 4 or 5 salted fillets of anchov, 2 tablespoons of good wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper.

The secret for this salad is the way to cut the chicory sprouts

Artichokes "a la Matticella"

This recipe is a specialty of region of Velletri and Viterbo, in northern Lazio First,

Why this strange name, matticella?

Matticella is a bundle of vine shoots, those which are cut off the plant during maintenance of the vines carried out in early spring.
These branches are pruned quite thin and long it would weaken the plant. Branches are gnarled and are generally very irregular, and they seem a bit ' crazy .
Artichokes a la matticella are cooked on a fire of bundles of matticelle .

Some argue that this recipe was already in use by the Etruscans, but they are first documented in the early 1800s or late 1700s and come from some of the writings of the Jesuits. In fact they settled in the territory of Lazio precisely on those dates.

There is also a legend of a girl, named Assuntina who, while flirting with a boy, forgot artichokes that she had collected, right near the embers of matticelle and then, to repair the damage and not be scolded by her father, had the idea to remedy stuffing them with olive oil and garlic. This idea, fortunately, was lucked and pleased to her father who decided that these artichokes were very good if eated drinking the new wine ...

The recipe is not complicated but need absolutely not only matticelle but also patience, and this is a quality not easy to find: the matticelle, in fact, should be left to consume slowly until they are brace.

I recommend it especially for those who are working in the country or in the garden and who are friends of some farmer who has a vineyard.
It is a good way to organize an outdoor barbecue ... tasting the new wine .

Ingredients: artichokes, bacon, pork, olive oil, garlic (as always optional and at your discretion ), salt, pepper, mint leaves.

Spinach Flan

When well done this Spinachs Flan is a real delight.
A delicate and refined dish.

In my home, it has been for a long time the undisputed specialty of Rita, our maid and excellent cook who worked many years for my family and in now also a good friend.

According to my concept, a Flan has a special feature: the first part of the cooking needs to be conducted in the oven in a bain marie and only at the last 20 minutes is finishes directly in the oven . However, there are some dishes that despite being called Flan do not respect this rule.

Ingredients: 1/2kg of fresh spinach
,
 2 eggs, grated Parmesan cheese to taste
. For the bechamel sauce : 25g butter, 50g flour
,
 quarter of a liter of milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Boil spinachs and squeeze them very well and then chop them finely.
To cook spinach I 'm used to wash them well and to put them in a large pot, without water sprinkled with a little salt and then to cover the pot with a lid. The cooking will be fast and spinachs will lose most of their volume.

The Christmas Dinner

You will find tips and recipes for Christmas lunch at the page Natale

All kind of important celebration lunches or dinners have many course, always of complex taste.
They will always take time first because they celebrate something important, but also because our stomachs need time to absorb and enjoy all dishes with pleasure, without being tired and doing honor to the table.
Today, more and more often these meals, especially in family, are in a shortened version
But traditionally of the list of course has always been quite long.

Ghirlanda di Natale

Cliccate l'immagine per sapere come realizzare questa ghirlanda.

The menu of a complete Christmas meal after an initial aperitif with appetizers could provide

1. Starters
2. First course
3. Main course with side dishes
4. Frozen fruits sweets or Sorbets
5. Desserts
6. Coffee and liquors

SWEET & SOUR PAMPKIN called “Söche trombe”

This recipe for pumpkin was a "must" on the Christmas Table in my family, both among starters but also as side dish in the main course.
I'm not sure that it was a popular dish in my country, or only a traditional recipe of my family .
Certainly it is a typical recipe of Italian Jewish cuisine in the part of the recipes collection of the Giuliana Ascoli book "The cuisine in the Jewish tradition".
In my house it was always prepared with the kind of pumpkin called "trumpet " for its shape of elongated neck flask, a quality of pumpkin not powdery nor too sweet which is particularly suited to be cooked this way.

Prepared in advance and put in tightly sealed jars, it will keep for a long time .

le zucche con il sale per eliminare la loro acqua.

Ingredients: ½ kg pumpkin, olive oil is for frying and for the carp, 1 cup vinegar, 2 cloves of garlic, some dried fig.

Cut pumpkin into thin slices. Fry in deep oil and put them in a jar, alternating with some dried fig.

Marinated Eel called “la Bissetta”

A traditional dish of the Milan area, often offered among starters of the Christmas celebration dinner

Image from the "Cucchiaio D'Argento"

Ingredients: 1 large eel ( but not too much large… ), some flour, olive oil for frying
For the marinade: good wine vinegar, 2 stalks of celery, 1 carrot, 4 spring onions, 3 leaves of sage, 1 garlic cloves, pepper, salt.


Even if you buy it alive, ask to your fishmonger to kill it just to avoid tragi-comic situations.
Clean and cut it into pieces long less than 10cm and dry them with paper towels.
Flour each piece and fry them in abundant oil. Set aside in a container or in a bowl.

Prepare the marinade: Cut garlic clove in half and fry it gently in a little oil and butter until browning.
Boil 2 cups of vinegar adding the vegetables finely chopped and the fried garlic and the crushed pepper corns. When the marinade is reduced to about a half, pour it on the fried eel.
Let marinate for at least 24 hours.

Fresh Appetizer of Prawns and Langoustines

It 's a fine appetizer particularly suitable for the Christmas table. If necessary, it can also be enriched with other crustaceans.

Ingredients for 6 people: 1 lettuce, 1 medium tomato, 6 grapefruits not bitter, 1 can of crab, 100gr peeled prawns, 1 cup mayonnaise, ½ cup yogurt, 18 blanched langoustines, salt and pepper

Peel, wash and drain the lettuce. Remove the seeds and cut tomatoes into small cubes.
Peel one grapefruit and remove the skin from each slice. Put aside for decoration as well as the best crab pieces, chop the rest of crab removing cartilage.

Cut the other grapefruits in small pieces and mix them in a bowl with tomato cubes, half of the prawns, the chopped crab, yoghurt and mayonnaise. Add salt and pepper to make the taste intense.

Share into individual bowls lined with lettuce leaves, garnish with grapefruit slices, prawns and langoustines. Serve well chilled

You can do without langoustines.
If you use blanched fresh crab instead of canned, this appetizer will be even better.