New Year's Day

Italians are a very superstitious people. This is particularly evident on the first day of every year. Everything that happens or that you do, could be potentially reflecting on the type of year you are going to live. The first phone call you receive... The first person you see on the street... And of course, the first meal you have. The traditional dish in Italy on January 1st is a pig leg called Zampone (=big leg) or Cotechino (which is basically the same thing without the pig foot at the end of it). For how awful they may sound, they are actually delicious since what you are really eating is a cooked, juicy, soft salami. Here is a photo I found on the internet.

I usually bring one with me from Italy as they are vacuum packaged. Unfortunately, this past Fall I did not go there and therefore this is the first time in years that I have to do without. Instead I made a small pork roast cooked slowly on a stove top in milk. As you can see from the photo I just posted, the Zampone is served with mush potatoes (optional) and lentils (mandatory!). Lentils represent money. The more lentils you eat on New Year's Day, the more money you will make during the year. If I am correct, such tradition derives from the biblical account of Esau selling his birthright to his younger twin brother Jacob for a bowl of porridge (and the folklorist version is that the bowl of porridge was indeed a serving of lentils). Of course, I made plenty and ate as many as I could possible handle. Here is my recipe for lentils (great as a side dish or as a soup):

- a package of dry lentils (1lb)

- one small carrot, one small onion, two celery sticks

- 2 cloves of garlic (minced)

- 4 TBSPs extra-virgin olive oil

- 4 slices of bacon

- 2 bouillon cubes (I prefer the vegetable based flavor from the Knorr brand that you can find in the ethnic section of the grocery store)

- 1/2 TBSP of Paprika
- Pinch of black pepper

- 1 small can of tomato paste

- water

In a food processor mince finely carrot, celery and onion (soffritto). Sautee in a large saucepan or pot with olive oil and garlic. Cut bacon in small pieces and cook it with the vegetables for a couple of minutes. Rinse the lentils in cold water, drain and pour in the pot. Add black pepper, cubes, paprika and cover with water. Add tomato paste. Stir occasionally and cook covered on low heat for approximately one hour. Check from time to time stirring regularly and adding more water if necessary (it depends on how "soupy" you would like the end product to be. I don't like mine watery). The lentils are ready when they are soft. Have a prosperous 2010!!

Peperonata

Summer is almost over and thanks to the "great" weather Utah has... this is also the peak of the gardening season. Tomatoes are ripe, zucchini are abundant and people bring you over all sort of veggies that they planted for fun and now they don't know what a heck to do with them. I received bags of goodies last week and made several bags of ready to use tomato sauce, sliced zucchini, and a great "peperonata." Peperonata is a vegetarian dish (or sidedish) made with bell peppers. It is very simply to make and very tasty.

Since I had 12 peppers, I based my recipe on this amount.

Ingredients:

- 12 bell peppers, washed, cleaned (no tops or seeds), and cut in small pieces;

- 5 fresh tomatoes;

- 1 can of tomato sauce;

- 6 small/medium size potatoes;

- a small onion, minced;

- 1/2 stick of butter;

- 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil;

- 2 boillon cubes.

Place oil, butter, onion, and cubes in a large sauce pan. Cook until onion is soft. Add bell peppers and let them cook over medium heat until tender. Add diced tomatoes, diced peeled potatoes, and tomato sauce. Cook covered with a lid on low heat for about 45-60 minutes. Stirr occasionally. The peperonata is ready when all the veggies are tender and the sauce is reduced.

Eggplant Parmesan

A friend recenly asked me for this recipe as this is eggplant season in Utah and I have been eating Eggplant Parmesan almost every other day. My mother was visiting from Italy and we asked her to make three pans of it so that we would have some even after she left. This is actually her recipe. I will post some pictures when I bake the next pan.

Here it is.

I usually buy two or three medium/large size eggplants at the grocery store (Walmart has them too). In the stores you usually find the dark purple fat ones. There are many variety of eggplants. Choose the ones that are firm and not squishy (they are either old or have been dropped). Farmers Market has some great eggplants nowadays. I got myself 6 last Saturday (Borsky Farm table). They have the white and light purple kind that are sweeter and tastier. I made two large pans over the weekend!! Yummy. Prices varies. Usually between 1-2 dollars each eggplant. The ones I got at Farmers marker were $2 each, but they were all worth it!!

At home: wash them and slice off the top where the eggplant attached to the plant. Peel them using a knife or potato peeler. Slice them about ¼ inch thick per slice and place them in a large bowl. Sprinkle some salt on each slice. Let them rest for 20-30 minutes. The salt will remove some of the bitterness from the eggplants (you will notice large dark drops sweating from the slices.

Rinse under cold water thoroughly as to remove as much salt as possible. Dry the slices using a kitchen or paper towel. Fry the slices in canola or sunflower oil until tender (not golden). Do not overfry them. Place them in a container with papertowels to remove some of the grease.

Make a tomato sauce using regular tomato sauce (I love the brand found at Costco in cans), some minced garlic, basil (dry is fine), and extra virgin olive oil. You can add more spices (IE dry onion, etc.) if you want to, but I like it this way as I want to taste the tomato sauce.

In a Pyrex pan (9x13 or smaller depending on how many eggplants you are preparing): place a couple spoonfuls of the sauce on the bottom and arrange a layer of eggplant slices. Cover with few spoonfuls of tomato sauce and sprinkle some mozzarella and parmesan cheese on the top. Repeat the process until you have 4-5 layers (leave about ½ inch from the top border of the pan). Complete with the two cheeses. If you are going to save it or if you made more than one pan, cover with aluminum foil and place in a freezer. Otherwise, leave in the fridge until you are ready to bake it (cover with aluminum foil). Place in oven at 350F for 1 hour. Remove foil and let it bake another 15-20 minutes until cheese has melted. Remove from oven and let it stand for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Buon Appetito! Ugo

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As promised, here are some pictures taken a couple of weeks ago when I made some more Eggplant Parmesan. I made a particularly large pan, which I then froze for a perfect time to enjoy them in the near future. The approach I took is to simply fried the eggplant slices in canola oil "au-naturelle". Other options to get them ready would be to pass them in flower or bread crumbs prior to frying them or, for a lighter version, to grill them.

After slicing and soaking the eggplant (ca. 30') in cold water,

rinse well and pat them dry on clean kitchen towels before frying:

Frying:

Fried slices:

Marinara sauce

(tomato sauce, olive oil, dry onions, dry basil, salt, pepper, sugar):

Everything is ready:

First layer:

First layer with cheeses:

Ready to bake: