Eating Italy: A Chef's Culinary Adventure (43 page)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 ripe plums

2 ripe apricots

2 ripe peaches

For the ham:
Rinse the ham and leave it wet. Combine the brine, curing salt, ground mace, coriander, pepper, and juniper, and stir to dissolve the salt. Set the ham on a rimmed baking sheet. Using a marinade injector, inject one-quarter of the brine (3 quarts/3 L) into the ham. Try to hit all of the areas around the bone. If you can find the central vein near the bone, inject the brine in there and it should go throughout the meat. If not, find about ten different spots near the bone and inject the brine into the meat. The ham should swell a bit and brine should leak out of it. Place the injected ham in a large tub or plastic-lined bucket that will fit in your refrigerator. Cover the ham and refrigerate for 14 days. Refrigerate the remaining brine. If you’re low on refrigerator space, chill the ham, the brine, or both in an ice-filled cooler in a cool, dark spot, replenishing the ice as necessary.

Transfer the brined ham to a large, heavyweight roasting pan or stockpot and add about 1½ gallons (6 L) of the remaining brine. Add enough water so that the liquid covers the meat completely. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, and then lower the heat so that the liquid is just under a simmer and reads about 155°F (68°C) on an instant-read thermometer. Cover and braise at 155°F (68°C) until the ham reaches the same internal temperature of 155°F (68°C), 9 to 10 hours. Turn off the heat and let the ham cool overnight in the liquid. Remove from the liquid and carve out the bone by making one cut along the length of the ham, cutting down to the bone; cut around the bone to remove it, leaving as much meat as possible on the ham. Cover the ham and refrigerate until ready to use or up to 3 weeks.

For the stone fruit salad:
Pour the vinegar in a medium bowl. Whisk in the oil in a slow, steady trickle until blended and thickened, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in 1 tablespoon (4 g) of the herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Cut the plums, apricots, and peaches in half from top to bottom, twist the halves apart and remove and discard the pits. Slice the fruit into thin half-moon slices and add to the bowl, tossing to coat.

When ready to serve, use a large sharp knife to slice the ham crosswise into very thin slices, removing the skin as you go. Lay a few slices of ham on a plate and top with the stone fruit salad. Garnish with the remaining 1 tablespoon (4 g) of the herbs.

CIAREGHI

My first job in Italy was at Michelin-starred Loro in Trescore Balneario. For staff meal, we would eat
ciareghi
, which is Bergamascan dialect for an egg over easy with browned butter. At the restaurant, we added wood-grilled cotechino sausage and soft polenta to bulk up the dish.
Cotechino
is classic fresh sausage from Bergamo, ground a bit coarse with some warm and peppery spices. It’s easy to make, but if you don’t want to make it you could use another Italian black pepper or fennel sausage.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS (PLUS LEFTOVER SAUSAGES)

Cotechino:

4 pounds (1.75 kg) boneless pork shoulder

5 ounces (141 g) pork fatback

3 tablespoons (25 g) kosher salt

4 teaspoons (9.5 g) powdered dextrose, or 3 teaspoons (7.75 g) superfine sugar

¾ teaspoon (2 g) ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon (1 g) freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon (1 g) ground allspice

¼ teaspoon (0.5 g) freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon (0.5 g) ground cloves

¼ cup (60 ml) white wine

About 12 feet (3.5 m) hog casings, soaked in cold water for 1 hour, then rinsed inside and out

To Serve:

2 cups (475 ml) hot cooked Polenta (
page 281
)

Olive oil, as needed

4 teaspoons (19 g) unsalted butter

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons (2.5 g) chopped mixed herbs (parsley, rosemary, and thyme) for garnish

Rock salt for garnish

For the cotechino:
Cut the pork shoulder and fatback into 1 to 1½-inch (2.5 to 3.75-cm) cubes. Lay the cubed meat on a sheet tray and freeze until firm but not solid, about 1 hour. At the same time, freeze all parts of a meat grinder.

Fit the meat grinder with the large (¼-inch/6-mm) die, then put on plastic gloves and stick your hands in a large bowl of ice until very cold. Place the bowl of a stand mixer in the bowl of ice, and set the grinder on high speed. Scatter the kosher salt, dextrose, cinnamon, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves over the semi-frozen meat. Grind the meat through the large die twice, catching it in the cold mixing bowl. Add the white wine and mix with a stand mixer or electric mixer on low speed until the meat feels sticky, like wet bread dough, 2 to 3 minutes.

Attach a large sausage stuffer tube to the meat grinder and lubricate the tube with some water. The next step of stuffing the sausage is much easier with two people: if you can, have one person feed in the meat mixture and the other person handle the casing as it fills up. Feed some of the meat mixture into the feed tube on high speed until it just starts to poke out the end of the sausage stuffer. Turn off the machine. Use butcher’s string to tie a double knot into the end of a hog casing, then slip the open end of the casing onto the stuffer all the way to the tied end, like putting a sock on your foot. Put pressure on the end of the casing so it’s gently pressed against the stuffer. Turn the machine to high speed and feed in the meat mixture. Keep gentle pressure on the casing so the mixture packs into the middle of the casing as tightly as possible. You do not want any air bubbles in there because air can allow bacteria to breed and spoil the sausage. As the meat gets stuffed into the casing, it should pack around the end of the stuffer tube by at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) to prevent air from getting into the sausage. Constantly check the sausage for air bubbles, working them out the open end of the casing as necessary. Continue stuffing the mixture into the casing until it is full and evenly stuffed and all of the meat mixture is used, using additional casings as necessary. Remove the stuffed casing from the stuffer, grab the open end, and squeeze it down tightly against the meat to pack it firm. Twist the open end several times against the meat until the sausage is firm and sealed. Tie off the twisted end with butcher’s string and poke any air pockets with a needle to eliminate air. Pinch the sausage every 4 to 5 inches (10 to 13 cm), twisting in opposite directions and tying knots to make 4- to 5-inch (10- to 13-cm) sausage links. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 1 week. You should have twenty to twenty-five 4-inch (10-cm) sausage links. Any leftover sausage will keep frozen for 1 month.

To serve:
Make the polenta. When it is done, slice four sausages lengthwise almost in half, and open like a book. Heat a grill or skillet on high heat and brush the grates with a little oil. Grill the sausages face-down until browned and firm on that side, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip, and cook until the other side is lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan and crack all four eggs directly into the pan. Cook over medium heat until the whites are firm but the yolks are still runny, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not flip the eggs.

Spoon ½ cup (120 ml) hot cooked polenta into each bowl and top with a grilled sausage face up. Lay a sunny-side up egg on top of each sausage, Return the sauté pan to high heat and cook the butter until it turns golden brown. Spoon the browned butter over the egg and garnish with the remaining herbs and rock salt.

PIZZOCCHERI
with
CHARD, POTATO
, and
BITTO CHEESE

Claudia’s friend Laura has a mountain house in Valtellina, about an hour from the Swiss border. There’s a little river in the backyard, cattle come ambling down the mountain, and there’s a pig farm next door. It’s idyllic, to say the least. The first time Claudia took me there, we picked up some formagella, fontina, and pizzoccheri at a local cheese shop. Pizzoccheri are short pasta strips like tagliatelle but made with 80 percent buckwheat flour. Claudia, Laura, and their friend Consuela made the pasta and tossed it with both cheeses, some boiled potatoes, and a leafy green called
bieta
that’s similar to Swiss chard. They finished the dish with brown butter and sage. It was awesome, and one of the most traditional dishes from Valtellina. I like to serve it family style on a big platter, but you could serve it on individual plates if you like.

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

1 pound (450 g) Swiss chard

6 ounces (1½ sticks/170 g) unsalted butter

12 leaves fresh sage

8 ounces (227 g) Buckwheat Pasta Dough (
page 282
), rolled into 2 sheets, each about
inch (1.5 mm) thick

1 pound (450 g) gold potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch (1.25-cm) cubes

4 ounces (113 g) Bitto cheese, shredded (1½ cups)

4 ounces (113 g) fontina cheese, shredded (1½ cups)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Strip the leaves from the stems of the chard and coarsely chop the leaves. Set aside.

Put the butter and sage in a large deep sauté pan over medium heat, and cook until the sage lightly browns, the butter turns golden, and the milk solids lightly brown on the bottom of the pan, 6 to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, lay a pasta sheet on a lightly floured work surface and trim the edges square. Cut crosswise into strips a little less than 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, preferably with a fluted cutter. Repeat with the remaining pasta dough.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and blanch until barely tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the potatoes to the browned butter (reserving the pot of boiling water for the pasta), and cook over medium heat until the potatoes are tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chard and 1½ cups (375 ml) of pasta water, and cook until the chard wilts and the sauce is creamy, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the pasta to the boiling water, and cook until tender yet firm, about a minute. Drain the pasta and add to the pan, along with the Bitto and fontina, tossing until the cheese melts and looks stringy. Season generously with salt and pepper and serve on a large platter or divide among warm pasta plates.

WILD BRANZINO
with
FENNEL
and
ARTICHOKES

At Ristorante Loro, the chef Antonio Rochetti was very particular about his fish. He only ordered from Pesceria Orobica in Bergamo because it had the freshest fish. This fishmonger also ships to the United States for a pretty penny! Antonio would only order wild fish, never farm-raised. To show me the difference, he ordered both wild and farmed branzino one day. The wild fish looked plump and clear in color, and the meat tasted extra-flavorful. The farmed fish looked smaller and duller, and it tasted that way. Don’t worry; if you can’t find wild branzino, you can use another wild white fish, such as bass, snapper, or sea bream. For the artichokes, I use what restaurants term the “24-count” size, meaning twenty-four to a carton; each is about three inches in diameter. If you use bigger artichokes, reduce the total number of them here.

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

2 bulbs fennel

13 sprigs fresh thyme, divided

3 garlic cloves, sliced, divided

⅔ cup (150 ml) olive oil, divided, plus some for oiling the fish

4 tablespoons (60 ml) melted unsalted butter, divided

½ cup (120 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided