Simple recipes from Judy Witts Francini
Gluten free chicchi
Chicchi a fabulous recipe from Umbria using chickpeas and farro becomes gluten-free using Riso Venere, or Forbidden Rice. The texture and flavor of the rice was a perfect marriage with the chickpeas and the white truffles. Perfect for celebrating the honey-mooners. Any reason to celebrate deserves this dish, with or without truffles. Pretend you are Italian and in the kitchen with me, no cookbooks, no measuring cups, just friends hanging out. Here is what we made.
Preparation:
First cook Riso Venere:
(I use Italian Antica Pila Vecia,from the Ferron family)
Boil the rice in plenty of salted water until tender, 30-40 minutes.
Drain.
In a large saucepan, cover the bottom of the pot with extra virgin olive oil.
Add sliced garlic and some crushed chili peppers and heat the pan.
When the garlic begins to sizzle, add cherry tomatoes, sliced in half and raise the heat.
Sprinkle with salt to taste.
Add some basil leaves, just torn with your hands.
Drain a can of chickpeas, and rinse them off.
Add to the pan.
Add the drained Riso Venere (Forbidden rice).
Stir well to mix all the ingredients.
Add a whole jar (30 grams) or sliced truffles and the liquid in the jar.
Stir and serve!
Tuscan bean soup with pasta or Farro
I love going to get my beans and my lovely vendor is sitting there shelling the beans for me! It makes life so much easier. I also adore cooking fresh beans as they only take about 30 minutes instead of hours for dried beans. As the hot summer days are leaving us and cooler evenings and even rain are arriving. Soothing soups come to mind.
If it is still hot outside, they can be eaten warm instead of hot. To create a full meal, add a pasta or rice (or as we do here Farro, called spelt) to create a perfect protein! Soul food for Italians! Made with tiny macaroni, known as Pasta Fasool by many, or Pasta e Fagioli in Italian. There are as many variations as there are mothers!
Enjoy this one.
Ingredients:
12 ounces dried white beans, cannellini or pinto beans, called Lamon
2 quarts water
2 garlic cloves
1 sage branch
1-tablespoon salt
3-tablespoons olive oil
3 oz farro or macaroni
Preparation:
First cook beans:
Place beans and cold water in a heavy-bottomed bean pot.
Add sage, olive oil and whole peeled garlic cloves.
Cook slowly. Do not let the water boil. Add more cold water as needed.
Cooking time, anywhere from 2 to 3 hours, if you are using dry beans or 30 minutes for fresh.
Add salt in the last 10 minutes of cooking time to prevent the beans from getting tough.
Tasting is the only way to know that the beans are done.
The beans can also be cooked in the oven in a casserole.
You can serve the beans drained, drizzled with olive oil and a twist of fresh black pepper.
To make Soup:
Parboil farro or pasta in salted water.
Drain.
Purée half the beans and put the remaining whole beans in a soup pot together.
Heat, adding more water if soup seems too thick.
Add farro or pasta to soup and heat together.
In a small pot, heat 1 tbs of olive oil per person and 1 tsp of Tuscan Herbs, just to warm.
Drizzle into soup.
Tuscan Grape bread
In Italy, each region has seasonal dishes which one can make once a year. September is the wine harvest, vendemmia, and in Tuscany we make the Schiacciata con l'uva.
A simple bread dough, often enriched with a rosemary-infused olive oil, is rolled out into a top and bottom layer and filled with Concord grapes, here called Uva Fragola, making a natural jam baked right into the bread.
The best recipes ooze with syrup! At my Florence bakery near the market, Ivana Braschi makes a fresh fig schiacciata which is incredible. Now that I have found an abandoned fig tree near my house in the countryside. I will try making my own.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 rosemary branch
2 lbs red wine grapes, Concord grapes or blueberries
1 lb flour
1 cake fresh yeast
1/2 cup sugar
honey
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat rosemary branch in olive oil. Remove rosemary.
Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water.
Place flour in a large bowl and add the yeast mixture. Stir to mix. Add the rosemary-scented oil and 4 Tbs. sugar.
Knead dough until smooth.
Place in greased bowl.
Cover and let rise until doubled.
Divide dough in half. Roll out into a thin rectangle.
Place on greased cookie sheet.
Top with 1/2 of the grapes.
Sprinkle with sugar and drizzle with oil.
Cover with other half of dough, rolled out as before. Seal edges by folding bottom edge over top.
Press down on dough to crush grapes.
Cover top with remaining grapes.
Crush these too, to release juices.
Sprinkle with sugar and drizzle with honey.
Bake at 350 degrees until golden. Baste, if possible, with any juices.
Buon appetito!
