Piselli alla romagna

The Italians are a peas loving people, and if you want a classic contorni, this takes peas (piselli) a step forward beyond minting and stirring in some butter. It is sweet and savory. Serve on the side of anything you like,  I could happily eat a bowl of this.

Cut your pancetta into a nice dice (cubetti)…and your medium onion…

Pancetta

Boil 300gm or however many peas you need for about three minutes.

Meanwhile render and brown your pancetta on a high, then on a medium heat, throw in your chopped onion, soften, then add the piselli. Cover and saute until cooked through and the peas take on the flavour of the pancetta (insaporire), season and serve. A squeeze of lemon is great.

Parmigiana di melanzane (Campania)

According to the Accademia Italiana della Cucina there are three official versions of Parmigiana di melanzane (Aubergine). One from Campania – which is the basic and most famous version, another from Puglia – which has crumbled sausage meat in it, and a version from Sicily which uses hard-boiled eggs. There are also some other regional varieties which include breadcrumbing the melanzane and shallow frying in olive oil, but I think this makes the dish too heavy. Let’s face it you can think like a French chef and cook the melanzane in goose fat, mount the tomato sauce with butter and make a cream bechamel. But this is Italian food, and this is the classic Neapolitan version.

Parmigiana di melanzane

Cut 5 or 6 aubergines into long slices about 7mm thick.  Salt them and let them sweat some water for 20-30 mins, wipe them down and then griddle them in pan wiped with a little olive oil.

While you are doing this chop a medium onion and fry it softly in oil. Add two tins of tomatoes and a few basil leaves. Reduce over a slow heat. A pinch of sugar is good. Blitz when it is reduced enough.

Grate a cup of parmigiano, and cut up a ball of mozzarella (Confession: I prefer to use the grated stuff as it does not have as much water in it and it almost emulsifies in the sauce rather than turning into rubber).

Once you have griddled the aubergine, you can assemble the dish. Tomato sauce in the base, then a layer of aubergines, a sprinkle of the two cheeses, and then a few leaves of basil. Build about three or four layers, finish with the rest of the cheese. Bake in a 200 degree oven until the top is browned/crisped. Serve with a salad.

Patate con salvia e timo

This potato dish is very similar in style to dauphinoise and boulangeres. There is no stock in this of any kind, just thin layers of potato, breadcrumb and herbs (and butter) combing to make a herby, buttery fondant. It is delicious, easy to make and one of those dishes which causes silence at the table. It is a side dish (contorno), but would be good enough on its own with salad.

Patate con salvia e timo

It is pointless telling you how many potatoes you need. Slice as you go using a mandoline. You only need 5 layers.

Find a square of rectangular dish, butter it, and sprinkle breadcrumbs (pan grattato).

Put on your first layer of potatoes, sprinkle some of your finely chopped herbs, dot with butter and sprinkle more breadcrumbs, some salt. Repeat for another five layers. On the top layer, finish with the rest of the butter. Use no more than 50gms of butter for this. Bake for an hour at 180 degrees. When it is done sprinkle with more fresh herbs to serve.

Fried Broccoli – Broccoli soffritti

This is a recipe from Campania – which is also a classic accompaniment to sausage, or any kind of grilled meat . It turns out nutty, savory, with an air of garlic and a slight kick of chili. Use purple sprouting broccoli – as this is the nearest in spirit to Broccoli Rabe or the legendary Friarielli. You can also use turnip tops for this or any greens at all as the cooking style is the same. There are very few ways of eating broccoli which taste as good as this. I just at a whole plateful, so I should know.

Yep, I ate all of this.

So this is very simple. You want two pans on for this. One frying pan, one pot for boiling.

First – the frying plan – a good glug of olive oil, on a medium heat. Throw in half a clove of garlic (whole) and a good pinch or two  of chili flakes. Fry until the garlic is just turning brown. Remove the garlic once it takes on a bit of colour, keeping the chili flakes in the oil.

Now the broccoli – get 10 spears or so – or as many as you want. Chuck them in some fast boiling, lightly salted water until they go dark green. This should take a minute or two. At this point casually drain off the water, but leave it slightly wet, tipping the lot into the garlic flavoured chili/olive oil in the frying pan. It should spit for a bit – but keep the heat up and it will calm down. Keep the broccoli frying for about three minutes until the water has been absorbed, you want it to get it nicely fried off. Season with some sea -salt just before you take it off the heat.

This is a great contorno (side dish). And you can serve it with Saltimboca, or again with sausages.  A classic way is on a pizza with some mozzarella and sausage (Salsiccia con friarielli is a classic combo – if you see it on a menu – order it).