Peperoni Sott'Olio (Roasted Peppers under oil)

Peperoni Sott'olio are perhaps the most delicious thing you will ever have.
The term Sottt'olio means Sotto Olio or "Under Oil".  this was a process of preserving vegetables before refrigeration.  Putting things under oil did not allow bacteria or oxygen to spoil your stuff.
Preservation methods in the old days commonly used were:  Drying, Salting, pickling (vinegar) or Oil (fat).
Some great recipes have grown out of preservation techniques.  This is one of them.

Peperoni Sott'olio

8 Red Peppers
8 Cloves of Garlic
Extra virgin Olive oil
Sea salt

Roast red peppers in oven (bake) at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Any sweet mature pepper will do...that does not include green peppers.  They are not mature.  Roast them as they are naturally do not clean them or cut them.  They are ready to take out of the oven when you start seeing the skin begin to turn black.  Usually about a half an hour sometimes a little more.
Remove the roasted peppers from the oven and place them hot in a paper bag.  This will make the skin soft and make them easy to peal.  When cooled down, take the peppers and peel the skin away from them (this is fairly easily done just by using your nails and raising an edge).  Remove all seeds, and do not rinse them under water. Here you can use a paper towel as a brush.  This process can be tedious but it is well worth the work.
Crush all garlic (In Italy it is usually slices but I prefer crushed). Take a large jar (or deep dish if you are planning on serving them soon) and begin to layer the garlic and peppers with some oil and a pinch of sea salt for every layer.  After you are finished with all your layers cover up with at least a half inch of oil so no air hits the peppers.
These peppers should not be refrigerated.  Keep them at least two days before serving.  Serve on top of a good French or Italian bread (this means it has a crust on it!).
Buona Sera

Patate al Forno con Rosmarino (Rosemary Potatoes)

If Rosemary is not in your body of spices, get it!  The three fresh spices that are a necessity, period, are Fresh Basil, Fresh Rosemary and Fresh Sage.  Most others can be dry.  To have these you need to have these plants in your garden.  Sage can handle even the worst winters.  Rosemary may have to be taken in, in the winter.  Basil is an annual, and unfortunately rarely lives on during winter even indoors...and if it does it has rather unimpressive leaves.  With Basil I suggest taking all the leaves at the end of the growing cycle and placing them in hot water for just 30 seconds.  Then vacuum pack them or put them in a zip-lock bag and freeze them.  This will give you all the fresh Basil you will need for the winter.  Drying them is useless.  Dry Basil is just crap.
But let's move on to Potatoes.  This potato recipe is easy.

Patate al forno con Rosmarino (Rosemary Potatoes).

For six people.

(6) large potatoes

(1) cup of extra virgin Olive oil

(3) small branches of Rosemary

Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Wash the potatoes well under cold water.  Dice into inch and a half squares with the skin on.
Dry with a paper towel and place in an oven pan that can handle that quantity. Pour Olive oil on potatoes and pull leaves of rosemary off the branch and sprinkle them on the potatoes.  Add Sea Salt.  Take your hands and mix everything around well.
Every 20 minutes mix potatoes up...make sure you use a good scraping device like a metal spatula.  This will ensure that you do not tear them up.
Cook until golden brown and serve (approximately one hour).

Buona Sera

Wine: A Poor introduction

Wine is difficult.  I have tasted a wine one day, found it delicious, only to try it the following week and being disappointed.  In general it is difficult to understand.  That is it's great innate beauty.  That complicated element we try to describe to people, only to be shot down or to find out later that maybe you were wrong.
If you are buying the common wine magazines drop them like a bad habit; which they are.  I found the idea of describing a wine as having "chocolate overtones" and "vanilla" as being so out there that I am without words.  In essence "de Gustibus non est Disputandum" or you cannot argue over taste.  So ultimately all is a matter of taste and opinion.  In the end you need to like it.  But I must say that if you begin to describe something complicated as wine with "chocolate" then I suggest you read Wittgenstein, stop speaking and just begin to point at things.  Words have no meaning anymore to you.
My experience with wine is prejudiced.  I have drunk the stuff since I was a little boy.  Unfortunately most of the time watered down with mineral water.  For me most wines have to have the aroma and taste of wine.  I simply say that.  I will not go into "finish" and other terms now.  The problem is that if you do not know what wine should taste like, you have a long journey ahead.  For me wine is cultural.  To learn it in your 20's and 30's is almost impossible.  I said almost!
The first thing one should do when learning wines is to buy Italian.  Yeah, I bet you are saying what is this guy just an Italophile.  I am not.  I say that because Italian wines usually taste like wine even the crappy ones.  After a while you will be able to distinguish good from great.  There are some french wines that are excellent and perhaps even better (though I think the best in the worlds just happens to be Italian).  The problem with some french wines is they taste "Californian".  I probably blame Robert Parker, a name I only learned recently in my short life as a wine connoisseur. But the likes of Parker have affected the French wine industry.  He now dictates what will sell and what will not sell in the US, France's most important market.  Parker is the classic man who seems to know wines, but has no real culture in it.  Many french wines have lost their way due to their "marketing".
Buy Italian.  Italians do not care about that kind of marketing.  Perhaps because of ignorance, I do not know.  But I can tell you that if you buy a 10-20 dollar bottle of Italian wine you will get it after a while.  through in a california bottle every month to get to know the difference.  Yet as a mainstay do stay away from French and California until you get an idea of what wine should taste like, then explore California's fruit-forward taste or France's unique quality.  Some of you that have been raised on Kool-Aid will probably never get it, just like some beer drinkers...but try...do not give up.
In all honesty, you will find good wines anywhere.  The problem is knowing what you are looking for.  Take your time.  Keep your mouth shut.  Drink it with good food and do not make one wine "your wine"...Ever.

Buona Sera

Coniglio Alla Cacciatora (Rabbit Cacciatora...or Chicken)

Yes you read it right...Rabbit!  Today it seems that the bunny is safe from the hands of men...at least in the culinary world.  People for some reason have an issue with eating Thumper.  As much as I think Rabbits are cute, they are also delicious.  But here I will use chicken not rabbit.  The reason is not to spare Thumper, but because Rabbit is readily unavailable (a positive and a negative?).  So on to the common, but delicious Chicken.
The recipe for Cacciatora grew out of the fact that Rabbits then did not taste like rabbits today.  They were gamier.  Often this recipe was used on wild rabbits.  This recipe is also excellent for gamey birds like duck (wild duck that is), but not specifically good for tasteless birds such as Pheasant.
The use of vinegar and wine is used to cut the gamey flavor, but it also gives an un-gamey bird like chicken a delicious taste.
One thing I must insist.  There is the use of capers and anchovies.  I know the american tendency to detest both.  Do not omit these two.  The capers give a lovely aroma to the bird and the Anchovy is used as a spice.  Make it and no one will even know anchovy is in there.
For those who have gone to "Boater" Italian Restaurants, you have probably had Chicken Cacciatora with tomato sauce and melted cheese.  This is not it.  Boaters learned early on that when dealing with an uneducated palate you just dump ton of sauce and a ton of cheese and you have a winner.  That and the fact most boaters knew nothing about the true Cacciatora, and only knew that Alla Cacciatora meant  Alla "Hunter". Strangely for them that meant Cheese and Tomatoes.
Onward!

Coniglio Alla Cacciatora (or for you Chicken Cacciatora)

For 6 people

Two Pound Chichen cut into parts (Rabbit for the ones that can find it)

Sage (Fresh Chopped and a handful)

2 cloves of Garlic (in Italy the recipe is for one...believe me two here)

1 small glass of red wine Vinegar (3/4 cup) or balsamic.

!/2 a small glass of red wine Vinegar (1/2 cup) or balsamic.

1 small glass of water (One cup)

Olive Oil, Half a glass (Half a cup)

2.5 oz of Capers

3 small Anchovies Chopped finely

Potato Starch

Salt

Pepper

Wash the cut pieces of meat (remove the skin if it is chicken.  It will fall off anyway) and dry well with paper towel.
Pour the Olive oil in a large but shallow pan, heat and add the meat.
Add the sage and garlic and begin to brown the meat on medium high heat.
As soon as it is browned add salt and pepper.  A good amount of pepper (one teaspoon)  not so much salt.  The capers and anchovies have salt on them.
Add one cup of vinegar (red wine or balsamic[with 6% acidity] and one of water.
Cover (this is important) and let the meat cook for about an hour at lower heat (Must be simmering) adding water as needed. Again not too much just a 1/16 of a cup here and there there depending on how much moisture you are loosing.  There should be most of its juice at the end...but some loss.
When done, mix the capers and dissolve the Anchovies, and a teaspoon of Potato starch (corn starch will do) in a half cup of vinegar and 1/3 of a cup of water.  Add to the pan and make it boil again until the sauce becomes dense.
Serve.
This can be served next to or on top a bed of risotto.

Buon Appetito e Buona Sera.

Gnocchi alla Romana

Gnocchi is not an easy thing to do.  Current practice in Italy is to make gnocchi with Potatoes, eggs and flower.  The egg in gnocchi is much more commonly used in the north of Italy.  Fore instance Gnocchi di Patate alla Piemontese requires eggs.  If you are not aware of it Piemonte is the very far north eastern province in Italy.
Anyway, the result, if not careful, is a chewy mess or a hard gnocco.
Whichever way you make Gnocchi one rule is very important.  The potato needs to be a dry and pulpy.  The best way to determine a good potato to use is to boil a series of different potatoes and then take a fork and press down.  If the potato crumbles and looks dry, you have a winner.
If you do not want to go through all that I suggest a baking potato (Idaho variety is best).  They tend to be mealy and dry.
Onward!
The recipe for these gnocchi is WITHOUT eggs.  These are Gnocchi di Patate alla Romana.

For 6 people

4.5 lbs of potatoes

.9  lbs (or 14 oz) of Flour (this is an approximate figure)

Tomato Ragu' (2lbs of tomatoes, 1/2 a pound of ground veal [ground chuck will do], white wine, onion olive oil)

3.5 oz of Parmigiano

Salt

Boil the potatoes with the skin.  Leave the skin on.  It prevents too much water from entering the potato.  Also remember to salt the water well (almost sea-water).  Salting also creates an isotonic solution so the water will not enter the potato as much, and harden the potato.
Once cooked peel the potatoes, then crush them in a ricer or something of the sort.  Do not overwork them.  This will release the starches and make it glutenous.
When cold, add the flour.
It is difficult to say how much flour because each potato is different.  Some will require more flour.  As a general rule usually one needs about 200g for every Kg of potatoes (ca. 1/2 a lb of flour for every 2.2 lbs of potatoes).
Once well folded together (it should not be sticky to the touch.  The secret is not to over-flour this will make them hard...too little will make them fall apart and be too sticky to handle properly) roll them about the size of a finger on a well floured surface, then cut then approximately 3/4" long.  Dimple them slightly with your index finger in the middle and place them on a kitchen towel with some flour on it.
Boil some well salted water and individually place them in the water.  When they return to the surface they are cooked!  Remove them individually with a serrated spoon and place them in a colander to drain some more....then placing them in a bowl with a small amount of your sauce to keep them from sticking.  this process should be fast.  After they are done add a good amount of sauce (very hot), and add your parmigiano and a drizzle of fresh olive oil.  Serve immediately.

Buona Sera.

Penne All'Arrabiata

Today I will go with a Roman Favorite.  Penne All'Arrabiata or in other words "Angry Penne".
As well you may know by now Penne are a pasta also known as Mostaccioli.
Be sure to buy "Penne Lisce".  That is the opposite of "Penne Rigate" or ribbed penne.  Unlike Rigatoni (big ribbed ones) that are always "ribbed", Penne come in two stiles "Lisce" and "Rigate".  For the recipe you will need "Lisce" or smooth ones.
The pasta is important.  The shape does make a difference in the way the sauce adheres.  Do not stray.

Penne All'arrabiata

1 Lbs of Penne Lisce

4 Cloves of garlic

(2)Two small hot peppers (red and dry)

6  TBS of Olive oil (extra virgin).

Salt

1 can of Crushed tomatoes (Again never spices in them. Just plain)

1 Bunch of parsley


Heat oil and add crushed garlic and hot peppers,
Cook until the garlic turns golden and add tomatoes.
Cook for 25 minutes after adding tomatoes on a low flame, ad salt to taste (remember not too much salt because the pasta water is always salty)...turn off when done, and remove red peppers before adding to the pasta.

Put water into a large deep pan.  Add salt (water for pasta should taste like sea water), bring to boil then add pasta (never add pasta when water is not boiling and never put a cover on it).
When pasta is cooked,  very al dente this time, remove from water and add to the sauce just made.  reheat the sauce for a minute with the pasta in it (the romans do it this way often...but not all are married to this idea).  Once the pasta has quickly reheated and folded into the sauce, remove from fire and prepare to serve it (immediately) with large cut (not minced) parsley on top.  Do not add parmigiano on this pasta.  As a rule spicy things do not get cheese (though, very rarely, cheese like Pecorino is used).

Buona Sera

Buona Pasqua!...Happy Easter

For all who love Easter food, today I will simplify things...at least for myself.
I suggest if you have a neighborhood Italian Market buy a "Colomba" or Dove.  It is a traditional sweet to present after dinner for all to enjoy.
After Easter they usually go on sale.  It is worth every penny.
Other delights that are easily purchased will be written about here in the future.
Buona Sera e Buona Pasqua

About Italian recipes and the lack of measurements (amounts of an ingredient).

Many of you who can read Italian (and French) are perhaps befuddled by the fact that many times these Glorious Books (both French and Italian) lack certain data.  It is the lack of measurement and amount in a Recipe.  Perhaps I should make something clear.  Some recipes are traditionally inspired.  Some have no measurement because the chef kept his real recipe close to his breast (Carnacina, one of the finest Italian chefs, warns people in his cookbooks that he IS changing the recipe from the one he usually makes in his own restaurants).  Sometimes they are a matter of taste.  Some like more onions some less...some onions are stronger than others...etc.. etc..
The fact is that telling someone to use 4 cloves of garlic is actually a pointless thing...and a good chef knows that.  Some garlic is very strong and only two or three will be needed.  They assume you know that.  So sometimes they will just say Garlic!...period!  Also Culture is important.  Many who naturally produce a recipe from a book have had the meal before.  The american often has not.  He may have had the unfortunate experience of eating food from some boater from Italy who's only experience with cooking is that he's Italian.  The boater  chooses to open a restaurant and unfortunately creates a prejudice of Italian cooking to the common man.   The boater is cooking what he thinks Italian Food should be; imparting his ignorance to others.
I will make sure that I take into consideration all facts:  That ingredients such as Garlic in this country tends to be a little weaker than Garlic in Italy.  Also, that many of you have no knowledge of what it should taste like, and finally that many of you have a prejudice of what it should taste like.  Please I only humbly say that...but it has to be said.
Buona Sera.

Getting Started with Bucatini Alla Amatriciana

You will have to excuse me if you are looking for order. All you will find here is Chaos.  I do jump around.  I will often start and jump from something like Pasta, today's topic, to perhaps cheese tomorrow. And within this blog you will find constant comments, in brackets, to satisfy my own neuroses

Today's topic is Bucatini Amatriciana.  You may have has these before at a better Italian restaurant...but it was probably served as Spaghetti Amatriciana, or Rigatoni Amatriciana or Penne (Mostaccioli for you sicilians) .
Amatrice is a town in Lazio, the same region that Rome belongs to [Bucatini Amatriciana, though, are considered in the Corpus of Roman Cooking].  The town itself, though in Lazio, might as well be in the next region called Abbruzzi.  Perhaps that is the reason for some of it's ingredients.  One common change in the recipe today is the use of Salt Pork over Guanciale.  Guanciale comes from the word "Guancia" which means "Cheek" in italian.  It is the cheek of the pig which is cured to create the most deliciuos cured meat you could possibly eat.  Obviously, due to the nature of the place where the meat comes from, not much can be gleaned off a pig.  Therefore the recipie has mutated a bit because Guanciale is both very rare and very expensive.  In the United States Guanciale is litterally unavailable (as it well is rare in Italy).  Therefore the best alternative is a salt pork [not Bacon]! (simple, unsmoked, and not cured with any sugars).
Bucatini look like a large Spaghetto (singular of Spaghetti) with a hole running down the middle.  This hole makes it difficult to eat.  But do not despair, there is a reason for pasta to have the shape it has...all pasta.  The italians discovered that each pasta shape has a different surface area and it holds different amount of Sauce changing the flavor.  Pasta in Italy is called "Pasta-asciutta" or "dry pasta" so please do not commit the american heresy that everything must have a ton of sauce.  Please, pasta should not be "swimming" in Sauce.
here is the recipe:

Bucatini Alla Amatriciana

For six people (200g of pasta each)

Bucatini 1.3 lbs
1 medium onion
3.5 oz of Guanciale (salt pork will do)
1 large spoon of lard (I suggest Olive Oil here)
1 large can of crushed Tomatoes (Plain-no crap spice in it and preferably Italian)
3.5 oz of ground pecorino
salt
pepper

Cut the salt pork into very small cubes about a 1/4 inch by a 1/4 inch( a tad smaller preferebly....this will take some time).
Mince the onion, not quite so fine, and place the onions and Salt Pork  into a pan at moderate heat along with your Olive Oil.  Once lightly browned, not too much now, add the crushed tomatoes.  Add the salt and pepper [Many italians in Rome claim Ada Boni is wrong here.  They claim a small red pepper, not too hot, should be added along with the onions and salt pork].
Remember the salt pork is salty so taste first before adding the salt  and wait till the end of cooking.  Cooking time is a debatable subject..but no sauce should ever be cooked more than 45 minutes...this sauce perhaps 30 minutes at most.
Cook your bucatini, please salt the water.  Your pasta water should be salted like sea water.  It prevents the pasta from bloating.  [One tip...The term "al dente" or "to the tooth" means do not overcook the pasta.  Pasta should be a little hard.  Romans like it very hard by american standards.  A simple way of getting it right is to make sure the Pasta still has the "Anima" or "Soul".  The Soul of the pasta is found when you bite the pasta with your teeth...it is that uncooked line of pasta in the middle of what you have just bitten.  It should be a paper thin white line.  Please do this often because "overcooked pasta" will sneak up on you].
Bucatini like spaghetti should never be broken...if you do this you are wrong, a philistine and someone who needs to repent.  Bucatini should be placed in a deep pot with salted boiling water and slowly nudged in as the pasta gets softer...slowly moved around with a fork for the first 3 minutes to make sure they do not stick together.  you'll get the hang of it...just be patient.
Once the pasta is cooked [al dente], Drain it well [bucatini have a lot of water that stays in the little hole] ,add the sauce to the pasta, drizzle the pecorino and serve immediately [Ada Boni rightfully insists on that on every recipe.  With pasta, wait 5 minutes and you have ruined it].
Buon Appetito.

Welcome

Don't let my Irish name fool you. I have lived in Italy half of my life, I was raised by an Italian mother and most of my friends are Italian. I had the good fortune of coming to the United States at a time when the Italian Restaurant was riddled by over-cooked pasta, sweet sauces and a type of bruschetta called Garlic Bread. My point is this; things have gotten better, but there is still a great ignorance in Italian cooking. My bible will be "Il Talismano Della Felicita" by Ada Boni, a book only in part published in english. I will attempt to correct its shortfalls by including other Italian chef's idea's, commentary and generally clear up misconceptions about Italian food in general. I will also translate many of the recipes, that for the first time will be known to english speakers. With it I will comment on the nature of the food, its variations and the general accepted recipes in modern Italy.

Buona Sera,

Miles