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ITALIAN RECIPES

A Light Easter Menu

Tagliatelle with Mushrooms and Sausages in a Clear Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
cloves garlic, one crushed and the other minced
A bunch of parsley, minced
1 1/3 pounds mushrooms
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large sausages, casings removed and meat crumbled
1 pound tagliatelle or similar
Salt

Preparation:

If the mushrooms are fresh, brush away any dirt, washing them as little as possible, and drain them well. Thaw them if frozen. In either case, chop them fairly finely so that they will mix well with the pasta.
Heat 1/4 cup of oil with the crushed clove of garlic, and when it begins to brown remove it and discard it.

Stir the mushrooms into the hot oil and cook them over a moderate flame, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Stir in the minced garlic and most of the parsley, season to taste with salt and pepper, and continue cooking, adding a little water if need be, to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Heat the remaining oil in another pan and sauté the onions, salting them lightly and cooking them for 15 minutes or so, adding a little water if they begin to dry out and stick. Should they look like they're going to brown beyond golden, turn down the heat some.

After 15 minutes stir the crumbled sausage into the onions and continue cooking, stirring, until the sausage meat has browned. Stir the mushrooms into the sausage mixture, together with the tomatoes if you're adding them) cover, and simmer for 20 minutes more.

In the meantime bring pasta water to a boil, salt it, and cook the tagliatelle. Drain them, return them to their pot, and stir half the sauce into them, together with a little more olive oil.

Turn them out into a serving bowl, spoon the remaining sauce over them, dust them with the remaining minced parsley, and serve at once.
A good robust white will work nicely here, for example an unoaked Chardonnay from either Piemonte or Friuli Venezia Giulia

Sautéed Artichokes and Potatoes

Ingredients:

8 artichokes (they should be firm and feel solid)
The juice of a half a lemon
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil for the artichokes
2 cloves garlic
Salt to taste
3 pounds baby potatoes
1 pint olive oil for the potatoes
A bunch parsley, minced
Pepper to taste

Preparation:

If the potatoes are young and thin skinned, wash and rub them with a rough cloth. Otherwise, peel them.

Trim the tough outer leaves off the artichokes (continue until the exposed leaves are almost all white), cut the tops off (perpendicular to the length of the artichoke) and cut them into eighths, putting the slices into water acidulated with lemon juice to keep them from turning black.

When you have finished cutting them up, pat them dry and sauté them in a pan with the oil, garlic, salt, and minced parsley.
Begin over a low flame, covered, and after a little while uncover them and turn them often so they cook well on all sides, browning and almost coming apart. When they're done drain away almost all the oil.

In the meantime heat the remaining oil in a high-sided pot suitable for frying, and add the potatoes in one fell swoop with a half cup of water. Let them cook gently at first, covering the pot so that they soften, and then raise the flame and uncover them to brown them.
Once the potatoes have browned, drain them and add them to the artichokes, together with salt and pepper to taste, and simmer for about ten minutes over a very low flame.

Neapolitan Grain Pie

Ingredients:

The pie crust:
1 pound flour
1/2 pound lard (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
4 yolks
The grain:
1/2 pound well-drained soaked grain
1 1/2 cups milk
The zest of a half an orange
A walnut-sized piece of lard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
The filling:
10 ounces ricotta (purchase this fresh from a delicatessen)
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup acqua di fiori d'arancio (not orange extract - purchase this from an Italian deli)
A pinch powdered cinnamon
1/4 cup minced candied citron
1/4 cup minced candied orange peel
1/4 cup candied squash

Preparation:

Begin the day ahead by cooking the soaked grain with the milk, zest, lard, sugar and vanilla over an extremely low flame for at least four hours, or until the grains come apart and the milk has been absorbed, so that the mixture is dense and creamy.

The next morning make the pie crust: Make a mound of flour, scoop a well in the middle, and fill it with the lard, sugar and yolks. Use a fork or pastry cutter to combine the ingredients, handling the dough as little as possible (don't knead it).
Once you have obtained a uniform dough press it into a ball and cover it with a damp cloth.

Pass the ricotta through a strainer into a large bowl, stir in the 3/4 cup sugar, and continue stirring for 5-6 minutes.
Next, stir in the yolks, one at a time, and the grain. Next add the orange water; begin with half the amount and taste.

Add more if you would like it orangier, keeping in mind that the aroma will fade some in baking. Stir in the cinnamon and the candied fruit as well, then whip the whites to soft peaks and fold them in.
Roll out 2/3 of the pastry dough and line the pan. Fill it with the filling. Next, roll out the remaining dough and cut it into strips, which you will want to lay across the filling in a diagonal pattern (lift them from the pastry cloth with a long spatula to keep them from breaking).

Bake in a moderately hot oven (180 C or 370 F) for an hour or slightly more. The filling should dry almost completely and firm up, while the pie crust should brown lightly.

Serve the pie in its pan, and continue to enjoy it over the next few days for breakfast.

Buon appetito!

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