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On the hills of Emilia Romagna

Meat Sauce
(Ragu’ alla bolognese)
Ingredients:
3 oz. pancetta
l/2 lb. ground veal or pork
1 stalk celery
1 small carrot
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 small onion
1 cup broth
1/2 oz. butter
1 tbs.tomato paste
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 oz. cream
pepper
salt

Preparation:
Prepare a battuto with pancetta, celery, carrot and onion. Melt butter in a saucepan, add the battuto and the ground meats, brown well, then add the wine and half the broth. Continue to cook until the liquids are reduced, then add the remaining broth.

Reduce again, then add the peeled and seeded tomatoes, a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Cover saucepan and let cook over a medium heat for 2 hours. Add the cream, and correct salt and pepper to taste. The sauce is ready to serve over fresh or stuffed pasta.

Tortellini Bolognesi in Broth
Ingredients:
For the pasta:
4 cups flour
4 whole eggs
For the filling:
4oz. pork loin
4 oz. Prosciutto di Modena
4 oz. Mortadella Bologna
6 oz. grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 egg
nutmeg, freshly grated
4 tbsp butter
4 cups beef or capon broth

Preparation:
The filling:
Make the filling first. Dice the loin pork and brown it in a pan for a couple of minutes. Finely mince the loin with the Prosciutto and the Mortadella.
In a bowl mix the minced meats with the egg, cheese, nutmeg until they are thoroughly combined.

The pasta:
Make a well with the flour and pour in the slightly beaten eggs. Gently mix the flour into the eggs, using your fingertips, until you get a smooth dough. Knead it for about 15 minutes, then let it rest for 20 minutes in a bowl covered by a damp cotton cloth.

Rollout the dough thinly and cut into squares. Place a teaspoon of the filling in the center of each square. Fold the squares in a triangle and press the edges. Wrap the far ends around your finger and press firmly again.
Bring the broth to a boil and drop in the tortellini. The tortellini are cooked when the two pinched ends are soft to the taste.

Tortellini should always be cooked in broth, even when serving them dry with a sauce.

Savory Pie with Chard
(Scarpazzone)
Ingredients:
Dough:
9 oz. white flour
3 tbs. olive oil
1 oz. lard
salt
Stuffing:
2 lbs. chard leaves
2 eggs
2 oz. lard or pancetta
2 tbs. olive oil
1 oz. parsley
6 tbs. Parmigiano
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
pepper
salt

Preparation:
Clean, wash and drain the chard well and dry thoroughly. Knead the flour with the lard, the oil and warm water to obtain a rather stiff dough. Knead for about 10 mins, wrap in a sheet of wax paper and keep in a cool place for about one hour.

Make a battuto with lard, parsley, garlic, and onion. Chop the chard very finely. Lightly sauté the battuto with 2 tbs. oil. When the lard has melted add the chard and cook for about 5 mins. Put in a bowl and let cool.
Add the eggs and, if necessary, a pinch of salt and pepper. Lightly coat a spring form pan with high sides (12-in. in diameter) with olive oil.

Split the dough in two balls, one twice the size as the other. Roll out the bigger batch with a rolling pin and make a disk large enough to line a 12-in. baking pan (bottom and sides).
Arrange the chard in layers, sprinkling each layer with grated cheese. Roll out the remaining batch of dough, making a disk larger than the diameter of the baking pan.

Roll this disk around the rolling pin and unroll over the chard. Since the top disk is larger than the baking pan, it will have a bumpy surface.
Pinch the edges of the two disks of dough together; drizzle with a little olive oil and bake at about 400lF for 40 mins.

CHISOLINI
Ingredients:
1 lb. white flour
9 oz. milk
2 oz. butter
1 tsp. powdered yeast
vegetable or frying oil
1 tsp. salt

Preparation:
On the pastry board make a cone of flour with a cavity on top (a fontana in Italian, i.e. "like a fountain"). Add the yeast previously diluted in lukewarm water, 1 tsp. of salt, the butter (softened and cut in pieces) in the center of the fontana and start to knead with enough lukewarm milk to obtain a rather soft dough.

Knead for 15 mins. and then roll it out with a rolling pin, making a disk (or a square). Fold it in quarters, then roll out the dough again, and fold it again, repeating the process a total of five times.
Roll the dough in jellyroll fashion and slice the resulting dough in 1 1/2-in. pieces (you can also cut each slice in half) and stretch it with the rolling pin so as to obtain a piece of dough 1/4-in. thick. Then cut into shapes each side 4-in. long (size can be altered if desired).

When you have finished cutting all the dough, heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan and then start frying the pieces of dough. Brown well on both sides. They will puff up and be an even, golden color.
Drain, remove the excess fat by placing on paper towels and serve hot.
They can be served with various ingredients such as Parmigiano, prosciutto, salame, etc.

Mushroom Salad with Prosciutto di Parma
Ingredients:
8 cremini or white mushrooms
1/2 stalk celery
4 slivers Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
12 slices Prosciutto di Parma, thinly sliced
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 lemon (juice only)
2 ounces olive oil, extra virgin
4 sprigs basil

Preparation:
Place 3 slices Prosciutto di Parma on each plate. In a small mixing bowl, add the finely minced celery. Take the mushrooms and wipe them with a damp cloth to remove dirt. Slice them as thin as possible and add to the celery.

Crumble the Parmigiano Reggiano into the mushroom and celery, sprinkle with lemon juice, salt, black pepper and olive oil and mix well. Place the mushroom salad into the center of each plate and garnish with basil leaves.

Chestnut Crust
(Castagnaccio)
Ingredients:
1 lb. chestnut flour
1 tbs. grated orange zest
4 tbs. sugar
4 tbs. raisins, soaked and squeezed
1 pinch salt
2 tbs. pine nuts
3 tbs. olive oil
2 tbs. walnuts, coarsely chopped
milk, as needed

Preparation:
Sift the chestnut flour; add the sugar and a pinch of salt. Add 2 pts. cold water in a thin stream, beating constantly with a whisk so as not to form lumps. Add 3 tbs. oil, orange peel, raisins, pine nuts and walnuts.

Add warm milk little by little until you get a stiff consistency. Pour the batter into a greased pan large enough for the crust to be 1/2-in. thick. Dribble on some oil.
Pre-heat the oven to 400°F and bake for an hour. Serve warm or cold. It can also be served with whipped cream.

Buon appetito!

 

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