It's New Year's Eve and it will be my second New Year’s celebration here in Italy. Last year I had just returned from California. We went to a local jazz club, and had a nice meal. Then at midnight we all left the restaurant to go out and see the fireworks being shot off the top of La Rocca (the medieval tower) next door. Music was playing in the Umbertide piazza and there were a lot of people gathered. It was an unusual mix for me. Old folks carrying grandchildren, eyes bright from the fireworks. There were lots of young kids, teenagers carousing with their friends, and there were couples of all ages. The band played rock music and there was dancing and drinking, and an atmosphere of fun. We walked through the throngs, meeting people we didn’t expect to be there, and then returned to the restaurant for dessert and vin santo.
The antipasti will be a salami and cheese platter, olives, sliced fresh pears, grilled prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, and a frittura of vegetables (fennel, carrots, sage leaves and artichokes). We will be using dry, local salami which is quite chewy. The sliced cheeses will be a medium aged pecorino (sheep’s milk) and Cacciota (cow’s milk) and they will be served with the sliced fresh pears. Elizabeth will grill asparagus spears, wrap them in slices of prosciutto, and brown them in butter. The ham will crisp up and then the rolls will be served hot with a few drops of syrupy, aged balsamic vinegar.
Frittura is a deep fried technique similar to Japanese tempura (OK, it's exactly like tempura). A light batter is made from flour and water (very cold frizzante or fizzy water), and the vegetables are sliced thinly and dipped into the batter before frying. We use local water which has a light carbonation for the batter. One of the problems we have had in the past was that the vegetables got a bit oily, and I realized that we were not cooking them at a high enough temperature. Now I use a thermal sensor and wait until the sunflower oil reaches 370 degrees F. We do not use olive oil to fry this dish. When the dipped vegetables are placed into the oil, the vegetables immediately begin frying and begin to puff up, soon turning a golden color. Before the next batch of vegetables is placed in the oil we return it to 370 degrees again. Temperature maintenance is key here. The fried vegetables are allowed to drain well on paper towels and then are salted lightly and served hot.
Fennel is my personal favorite for this technique. While I don’t particularly like the anise flavor of raw fennel, when fried it is sweet with a hint of the anise flavor and is really good. Fried artichokes are also terrific, though you have to trim them well, removing the choke and then cutting them into thin slices.
The tagliatelle will be the primo piatti (first course) and Elizabeth has made the meat sauce that will accompany the pasta. We will use fresh pasta instead of dried, but the dish could easily be made with the dry form and be perfectly fine. The following recipe is a standard meat sauce recipe that Amore Sapore has used a number of times and it is quite good.
Classic Meat Sauce for Pasta
1/4 cup good olive oil
2 stalks celery
1 yellow onion
4 large carrots
½ pound of ground beef
½ pound of ground pork
A handful of flat-leafed Italian parsley
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp. peperoncini (hot pepper flakes), optional
2 lbs fresh and flavorful cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon coarse salt
Handful fresh basil leaves, if available
1 quart of tomato purée (passata di pomodori--look for the Pomi brand outside Italy)
1 cup water
1 cup white wine
1 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese (to be added at the end)
Use a large heavy, deep frying pan about 12” wide and pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom.
Chop the celery and onion coarsely; mince the parsley and garlic together; grate the carrot, unpeeled, on the largest holes of a grater. Add these to the oil. Brown the vegetables and then add the meat. Brown the meat with the aromatic vegetables until it is no longer pink and has been finely divided. (To reduce the amount of fat, you can fry the ground meats separately, drain, and add to the sauce later.)
Wash the tomatoes and de-stem, leaving them whole. Add the tomatoes to the pot and sprinkle a tablespoon of coarse salt over all. Cover and place over medium heat. The steam from the tomatoes will help to cook the vegetables below. After the vegetables have cooked down a bit, add the wine, optional peperoncini and basil, stir and cover again.
After another 15 minutes, add the tomato puree, rinse out the puree bottles, adding the rinse water it to the mix, and stir. Continue to cook, covered, for another half hour, stirring regularly to assure that the sauce is not adhering to the bottom of the pot.
When the sauce is thick and ceases to be watery, remove it from the heat and set aside, covered. Reheat just before you are ready to add to the pasta. Toss it with whatever pasta you are serving or layer it with ravioli. Sprinkle liberally with Parmigiano-Reggiano or good pecorino Romano cheese. Serve hot in heated pasta bowls.
Grilled Marinated Leg of Lamb
The grilled lamb is actually pretty simple. I purchased two small legs of lamb and boned them out, flattening the pieces a bit. I put them in a bowl with olive oil, dried oregano and rosemary to marinate overnight in the refrigerator. I had a heavy steel disc made by a local blacksmith that has a handle on it, like a pot lid. It weighs about 10 to 15 pounds. When the lamb is grilling I place the weight on top and it presses the lamb down and cooks it more uniformly. I have to switch back and forth between the two grill pans but it works very well, giving me a selection of meat slices from medium to medium rare.
I had roasted the bones and then put them in a stockpot to cook in water with a chopped onion to make a lamb stock. This took most of Wednesday, but it was a great base for the Marsala reduction I used to sauce the meat. I removed the bones and onions and let the stock cool so I could remove the fat. I then cooked the stock down by about 90%. It was rich and brown and when I added a glass of Marsala it was really nice.
New Year's Eve Dinner
Elizabeth decorated the table with candles, bay leaves, oranges, lemons and other fruits, "della Robbia style", she said. The antipasti and pasta, which Paola supervised, were a hit, then we were on to the meat course.
I used the concentrated meat base to make the final sauce, deglazing the grill pans and then adding a bit of butter to smooth it out. It was delicious poured hot over the lamb.
(By the way, I used the lamb from the bones in the stock to make a hash for breakfast on New Year’s Day. Just added some cubed sautéed potatoes, onions and some of my peperone agrodolce. Elizabeth liked hers with some Greek yogurt, mine I had straight.)
Elizabeth roasted some winter vegetables (fennel, garlic, potatoes, carrots and red onions) in a bit of olive oil and seasoning. They were a great accompaniment to the lamb. The garlic cloves were just squished out of their skins and were sweet and rich.
Zucotta
The last dish was the dolce or sweet. In this case it was a Zuccota. The Zuccota is a domed cake soaked in brandy and filled with gelato and it is said to resemble the Duomo in Florence. The process to make the dessert is time-consuming and shouldn’t be rushed. It takes about 2 days to make it since it needs to chill and then freeze before serving.
OK, here is the process: starting two days before serving, purchase or make a 12” pan di spagna or sponge cake (or make it yourself). Slice the top of the cake off horizontally as this will be used as the bottom of the completed cake. Put it in a zip lock bag to keep it fresh. Now slice the rest of the cake into ½” wide slices vertically down through the cake from side to side. These slices will form the dome. Butter a bowl of the size you need, and then line it with plastic wrap. This is for easy removal of the cake after it has set up. Starting with the longest slices, take a strip of cake and lay it into the center of the bowl, it will not likely reach from side to side so you will have to piece the slices. Make a nice pattern as you do this since the upper and outer surface will be presented in the finished dessert and should look attractive. Add each additional slice next to the one before and fill the bottom of the bowl with the cake slices. Push the slices into the mold gently. Do not overlap the slices; just place then side by side in a nice pattern. You may need to cut some pieces to fit the final triangular shaped holes. Hopefully you will have cake slices rising above the rim of the bowl, and these can be trimmed to the edge of the bowl. Take a couple of shots of brandy or rum, and brush the liquor onto the inside of the cake slices to moisten them. There is a fine line between using enough brandy to moisten and too much making the cake soggy. Be judicious. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, heat about ½ cup of heavy cream in a sauce pan until it bubbles at the edge. In a bowl, chop about 4 ounces of dark semi-sweet chocolate and pour the cream over the chocolate. Let sit for 10 minutes then stir gently. This is the ganache you will use to paint onto the inner surface of the cake. Allow the ganache to cool until it starts to thicken, and then with a tablespoon, place spoonfuls of the ganache into the mold. Using the back of the spoon, paint the chocolate up the sides of the cake until the inner surface is covered in chocolate. Place in the refrigerator to cool and harden.
The last dish was the dolce or sweet. In this case it was a Zuccota. The Zuccota is a domed cake soaked in brandy and filled with gelato and it is said to resemble the Duomo in Florence. The process to make the dessert is time-consuming and shouldn’t be rushed. It takes about 2 days to make it since it needs to chill and then freeze before serving.
OK, here is the process: starting two days before serving, purchase or make a 12” pan di spagna or sponge cake (or make it yourself). Slice the top of the cake off horizontally as this will be used as the bottom of the completed cake. Put it in a zip lock bag to keep it fresh. Now slice the rest of the cake into ½” wide slices vertically down through the cake from side to side. These slices will form the dome. Butter a bowl of the size you need, and then line it with plastic wrap. This is for easy removal of the cake after it has set up. Starting with the longest slices, take a strip of cake and lay it into the center of the bowl, it will not likely reach from side to side so you will have to piece the slices. Make a nice pattern as you do this since the upper and outer surface will be presented in the finished dessert and should look attractive. Add each additional slice next to the one before and fill the bottom of the bowl with the cake slices. Push the slices into the mold gently. Do not overlap the slices; just place then side by side in a nice pattern. You may need to cut some pieces to fit the final triangular shaped holes. Hopefully you will have cake slices rising above the rim of the bowl, and these can be trimmed to the edge of the bowl. Take a couple of shots of brandy or rum, and brush the liquor onto the inside of the cake slices to moisten them. There is a fine line between using enough brandy to moisten and too much making the cake soggy. Be judicious. Cover the cake with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, heat about ½ cup of heavy cream in a sauce pan until it bubbles at the edge. In a bowl, chop about 4 ounces of dark semi-sweet chocolate and pour the cream over the chocolate. Let sit for 10 minutes then stir gently. This is the ganache you will use to paint onto the inner surface of the cake. Allow the ganache to cool until it starts to thicken, and then with a tablespoon, place spoonfuls of the ganache into the mold. Using the back of the spoon, paint the chocolate up the sides of the cake until the inner surface is covered in chocolate. Place in the refrigerator to cool and harden.
Purchase a couple of quarts of good quality ice cream or in my case, gelato. Store in the freezer until the day of service. When ready to finish the cake, allow the ice cream to soften a bit before using it. Bring the cake out of the refrigerator and spoon the softened gelato or ice cream into the mold. Put the cake top back on to the mold to close it and sprinkle some rum or brandy on the bottom. Seal it with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer until ready to serve.
To serve the cake, remove the bowl from the freezer, remove the plastic covering from the bottom, and invert the cake onto a pretty serving plate. Place a warm towel around the bowl (to melt the butter inside the mold) and gently shake and pull the inside plastic wrap to release the cake. It should unmold easily. Remove the plastic wrap over the cake and sift cocoa over the cake. Then sift a bit of powdered sugar over the cocoa and it’s done.
I garnished mine with some truffles made from the leftover ganache and the leftover cake. Present the cake uncut to the diners for the “oohs and aahs” and then remove it to the kitchen to cut and serve it. Slice it into the appropriate number of servings required and deliver it to your guests. I made this one with cherry and plain, good quality brandy, filling it with cherry gelato as one layer and then a layer of chocolate gelato to complete the base. We put a sparkler in the top of the cake and the birthday boy (man actually, his 50th) was quite happy with the party as we sang “Tanti auguri”.
So there you have a celebratory New Year’s dinner in Italy.
As I cooked and assembled things I ate a nibble of this and that, a bit of cheese from the platter, a piece of fennel frittura, a small slice of lamb, and a couple of bites of the cake. I was able to taste all of the dishes, ensuring their quality as well as meeting my requirements for my own Eight Bites.
I ended the evening snuggled into a nice warm bed looking out the open windows facing both east and west. Fireworks filled the Val di Niccone at midnight and the rockets lit the sky even though it was raining. The rain did not seem to dampen the party mood. As I watched the twinkling colors and booming exposions, I reflected on the year and realized that it was a pretty good year after all. I was doing what I love to do. So all in all, life was good.
So Happy New Year everyone, or as they say here Buon Anno. The New Year gives us each a new start and we should do what we can to make the most of each day. I will keep writing about my experiences and providing you all with culinary ideas and recipes.
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