Fashionably late struffoli

Although Christmas and New Years has passed I realize this morning that I had gone through the holidays without even a glimpse of struffoli the classic christmas dessert popular in naples. After I botched the dough yesterday, I had to remake them this morning.

 I used about 2 cups of flour, 3 eggs, touch of butter, drizzle of rum, la scorza di mezzo limone, e un po di zucchero. This time put in a touch of baking powder because yesterdays batch didnt puff up...I let the dough sit a half an hour and then fried them in canola oil instead of olive oil.  After they are finished all you have to do is melt and stir some quality honey into them.

They came out blazing today and enjoyed them for breakfast. Here are some shots....

Mid-July... that Vitello Tonnato time!

As the heat and humidity hit a summer high in the Berkshires yesterday afternoon... the last thing I wanted to do was slave over a hot kitchen stove.  But the reward being a slightly chilled Vitello Tonnato dinner forced me into the exact situation.  I made Vitello Tonnato for the first time last year at almost the same point in July.  I strictly followed one recipe (which I normally never do) and found out that it called for way to much vinegar and I surely ruined the fucking tonnato sauce!  Over the years of cooking for myself and others, I have discovered that I am more of a mad scientist in the kitchen than anything else.  I usually cannot follow just one single recipe and after I produce a dish its hard to explain and provide any useful recipe for it.  I never measure anything and I like to get into a zone and feel out what the dish needs in the moment.  I  have tons of respect for people like Eleonora (of the blog aglio, olio e peperoncino) who can provide a highly detailed recipe at any given moment.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun this time winging it (using multiple recipes while omitting the vinegar) and it came out pleasant and better than I had hoped. Some key steps are a quality roast, good quality tuna in olive oil (not the water shit!), cooking down white wine with whole cloves to later add into the sauce and just as important adding the juice from the cooked roast into the tuna sauce to create a beautiful consistency and depth of flavor.

Vitello Tonnato or Vitel Tonnè in the piemontese dialect is a classic dish or antipasto of Piedmont, particularly of Alba and with a nice Dolcetto it becomes a heavenly pairing.  I opened a bottle of Oddero Dolcetto d'Alba 2009 which I have been drinking at a steady pace lately.

above, the ''girello'' veal roast with onion, carrot, rosemary, bay leaves and whole cloves about to go into the oven.

above, a recipe for Vitello Tonnato from the cookbook ''Regional Foods of Northern Italy'' written by Marlena de Blasi.

Ricetta: Arista di maiale al latte

Pork cooked in milk...

In Tuscany the word arista refers to the pork loin, which would be lombata di maiale in italian.  Pellegrino Artusi dates the word arista back to 1430 in Florence, during an ecumenical council held involving the greek and roman churches.  The florentines served pork cooked in rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and the greeks exclaimed ''arista!'' meaning buona, coming in some shape or form from the word aristos, greek for best.

This recipe originates from Florence, but the use of milk may have influence from the veneto, but I am not 100% sure. Here are the ingredients I used.

3 pounds pork loin (with backbone taken out)

1 liter of whole milk

4 cloves of garlic

rosemary (handful)

sage (6 leaves)

olive oil

salt

pepper

Pretty simple instructions here, you brown the pork on all sides, throw in the herbs and garlic, salt, pepper and bring the milk to a slow boil all together.  Transfer to the oven 320 F, about an hour and a half, or until cooked through.

For a wine, I would go the route of a light to medium body Italian red.  Like Mario Batali once said...  In Tuscany you dont want to try to pair a white with pork, unless you want to get shot and dragged across the street!  A chianti is perfect with this.  I had a cheap and simple Chianti next to a beautiful Coudoulet de Beaucastel Cotes du Rhone 2007.  Indeed I preferred the Cotes du Rhone by itself but the Chianti worked better with the dish.  Being lighter on the palate and not overwhelming the taste of the pork.

the making of mostarda mantovana

variations of mostarda on display in a salumeria window in downtown mantova

In an earlier post on la cucina mantovana, there was some mention on the mustard from the town of Mantua in Lombardy.  This historic city was founded around 2000 B.C, and named after the Etruscan god Mantus.  From 1328 to 1707 the city was ruled by the Gonzagas family.  Mostarda Mantovana is made from local Mantuan apples (and or fruit), sugar, and ground mustard seed (senape). It is most popularly used in the filling for Tortelli Mantovani, which is a staple of La cucina Lombarda.  It is also delicious after dinner served with local cheeses.  The mostarda graces every single restaurant, trattoria and salumeria you shall enter in Mantova.  It dates back to 1662 when the historic cookbook by Bartolomeo Stefani, ''L'arte di ben cucinare'' was published.  Nowadays there is Toretelli di Zucca which can be made without the use of the mostarda, but authentic Tortelli Mantovana is always made with the essential agrodolce mostarda mantovana.

Here is how I prepared it this week...

1Kg of tart apples
500g sugar
Mustard essence/powder (measured depending on how spicy you like your mostarda)

There are a few simple steps to this recipe, and it takes about 4 days.
Cut the apples into thin slices and cover with the sugar, let sit 24 hours.

A syrup will form, bring the syrup without the apples to a boil for 5 minutes, then pour over apples and let sit 24 hours.
Repeat the step above, let sit 24 hours again.
on the third boil, bring the syrup with the apples to a boil
add the mustard essence or powder, and now you can jar it in sterilized containers.

serve in tortelli di zucca filling, with a nice ripe soft cheese, or boiled meats
buon appetito!

vitello tonnato, and dreadful heat damaged wine!

Much excitement over the anticipation, and finally being able to cook some Vitel Tonnè (in the piemontese dialect). Much Disappointment when I opened a Vajra Dolcetto Coste & Fossati to drink with it, and it was heat damaged as shit (more on that in a sec)...

I used a recipe from the cookbook ''Regional Foods of Northern Italy'' by Marlena De Blasi.  This recipe is quite authentic... I had to substitute a few ingredients.  For instance Capers packed in salt as opposed to vinegar, are hard to come by.
The veal can be either boiled or roasted.... We opted for the roasted version... 
Next time I will know how to construct the salsetta for the vitello tonnato much better...
But overall it was a delicious experience....

here tony mashes some whole cloves, that will be cooked with the wine... and later used in the sauce

anchovies, capers, egg yolks, lemos zest, tuna packed in olive oil all going into the food processor together....

the finished product of the delicious boneless veal roast (from the leg) along with the tuna salsetta in the middle

Started the hot summer day with this gewurztraminer from Alsace... it was delicious but a bit too sweet for my liking of gewurztraminer.  I really got into the italian gewurztraminers from Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which usually produce a much dryer version. 

Opening the dolcetto was a great fucking surprise and it tasted horribly off.   I have tasted this wine before and it was delicious.  Here there were tastes of sherry, oxidation, heat, loss of elegance, and the fruit all jumbled around if showing at all. The cork also looked as if the wine was sneaking up slowly.  This brought back some memories of previous purchases.  Also it made me realize how many wine stores and successful ones at that, carry big name age worthy wines and don't have temperature controlled storage...  once the temperatures reach over 90 degrees Fahrenheit they are at exreeme risk, and can increase aging up to 70 times, along with other chemical reactions taking place...

anyway.... I bought this bottle along with a Pio Cesare 2004 Barolo at a wine shop in Trastevere, Rome.  The Pio Cesare I had to bring back and replace with a 2003 Barolo because there was wine leaking out of the top...  This is a classic sign of heat damaged wine.  In Rome when the summers can stay 90-100 plus degrees, barely any shops are sporting a temperature control. The best part about the pio 04 barolo is that when I brought the wine back, the owner of the shop (a cranky Italian woman) told me to put the bottle back on the shelf...  what a miserable thought.  All she wants is to sell to tourists who will never be back, with no concern for quality or customer satisfaction.  A shame that this is the mentality of so many Italians in the 'big cities, like Rome.  I'm sure my '03 barolo is fucked as well, I will have to pop it this week...

we ended up drinking this $10 cotes du rhone in place of the dolcetto... nearby, is a beautiful aroma de cuba to finish things off later...

a highlight was our version of panna cotta we made.  for the topping I roasted in the oven, fresh figs drizzled with balsamic vinegar di modena and a sprinkle of sugar.  

gewurztraminer by the lake... a stunning day in the berkshires, massachusetts....
 

my harsh feelings for the heat damaged wine were quickly drowned out by this delicious and powerful Grapppa di nebbiolo da barolo Riserva by Fontanafredda