Archive

ITALIAN RECIPES

Panature, or Bread Crumbs

Mezze Maniche with Porcini, Bread Crumbs, and Wild Fennel

Ingredients:

14 ounces (350 g) mezze maniche
12 ounces (300 g) fresh porcini
3 salted anchovies
2 ounces (50 g) coarse bread crumbs
The leaves from a few springs of wild fennel
1/3 cup dry white wine
A clove of garlic
Olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Set pasta water to boil.
Brush the dirt off the mushrooms, trim and discard the roots, and slice the mushrooms vertically. Rinse the anchovies, bone them, and pat the filets dry.
Crush the garlic clove and sauté it in a quarter cup of oil until it browns, then fish it out and discard it. Stir in the mushrooms, lower the flame, add the wine, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.

Crumble the anchovy filets into the pot and mix well; when they have dissolved check seasoning and add a generous grind of black pepper.
While the mushrooms are cooking, heat some more oil in a skillet and cook the breadcrumbs until golden, then remove them from the oil and drain them on absorbent paper.

Combine them with the fennel.
Cook the pasta, season it with the mushroom sauce, and divvy it into your pasta bowls. Dust each with some of the breadcrumb mixture, and serve.
Serves 4.

Scabbard Fish Fillets with Bread Crumbs

Ingredients:

1 pound (450 g) scabbard fish fillets, about a half an inch (1 cm) thick
2 ounces (50 g) cherry tomatoes, quartered
A small bunch parsley, minced
1/2 pound (200 g) stale bread, crumbled finely
1 cup (50 g) freshly grated mild pecorino romano
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C).
Combine the bread crumbs with the cheese and parsley, and season the mixture with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.
Lightly oil a baking dish large enough to contain the fish in a single layer and arrange the fillets on it. Sprinkle them with the breadcrumb mixture and dot them with the tomatoes.
Bake them for about 5 minutes, and serve, with a crisp white wine.
Serves 4.

Broccoli with Bread Crumbs & Anchovies

Ingredients:

2 pounds (900 g) broccoli
2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs
4 anchovy fillets, rinsed, boned (if need be) and crumbled
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Set a pot of water to boil.
While it's heating, pick over the broccoli, removing damaged leaves and tough stalks, and then cut the florets free and cube the stalks.
When the water boils, salt it, and cook the broccoli, covered, for 10-12 minutes over a gentle flame. Remove the cooked broccoli to a warmed serving dish with a slotted spoon or a strainer, and keep it warm. You will also need to keep a few tablespoons of the hot water handy.

Heat the oil and butter in a saucepan, and when they are hot sauté the crushed clove and the crumbled anchovies. Cook over a gentle flame until the garlic begins to brown. Remove it and discard it, and sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the flavored oil.
When the breadcrumbs are lightly toasted add the broccoli (keep the serving dish warm) and simmer over a gentle flame, covered, for about 10 minutes. When the time is up, sprinkle the grated cheese over the broccoli, together with the reserved broccoli water.

Heat for a few seconds more, covered, transfer the broccoli to the serving dish, and serve at once.
Serves 4.

Imaginative String Beans

Ingredients:

2 pounds (900 g) string beans
A large onion, finely sliced
1/2 cup olive oil
A bunch of parsley, minced
1/3 cup (30 g) bread crumbs
2 sprigs of mint, minced
The juice of a lemon
Salt & pepper

Preparation:

Trim the tips of the beans and blanch them in lightly salted water. While the blanching water is heating, sauté the onion in the oil until it is pale brown, then add the bread crumbs, mint, parsley, and lemon juice, and cook the mixture over a brisk flame until the bread crumbs are a nice golden color.
Season the blanched beans with the bread crumb mixture and serve.
Serves 6.

Roasted Stuffed Tomatoe

Ingredients:

12 tomatoes, neither green nor overripe
2 cups (180 g) lightly toasted bread crumbs
6 salted anchovies (the kind sold in tins in delicatessens), rinsed and boned
A minced mixture of parsley with a little garlic
2 ounces (50 g) salted capers, rinsed
1/3 cup minced onion
Freshly minced oregano
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

Wash the tomatoes, and cut off the "hats" with their stems. Scoop out the seeds, leaving the pulp in place, and set them upside down to drain. Sauté the onion and the parsley, adding, if you like it, a little bit of minced garlic.

When the mixture begins to color add the anchovy filets and stir them about with a fork until they dissolve. Remove the pan from the fire lest the anchovy burn, and incorporate the remaining ingredients into the filling.

The tomatoes should have dripped dry by now; fill them with the mixture (don't tamp it down, because it will expand as it cooks), and, if the stuffing looks too dry, dribble a little olive oil over each. Arrange the stuffed tomatoes in a lightly oiled pan and dust them with more breadcrumbs that have been lightly browned.

While you are preparing the tomatoes, preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C). Roast them for about a half hour, or until the breadcrumbs are pleasingly browned.
Serves 6.

Buon appetito!

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