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ITALIAN RECIPES

Some Italian Easter Recipes

Orecchiette with Broccoli Rabe and Salted Alici

Ingredients:

1 pound (400 g) orecchiette, either home made or store-bought (if need be substitute farfalle, butterflies).
5 tablespoons olive oil
7 pounds broccoli rabe
3 Salted Alici (use salted sardines, or 6 anchovy filets if need be)
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

Wash and clean the broccoli rabe. Trim the florets, and the more tender leaves; discard the rest (the rest will be very bitter). Bring abundant salted water to a boil and add the broccoli rabe. After about 8 minutes add the orecchiette and cook them too.
While the pasta is cooking, wash and bone the fish. Heat the oil in a skillet and add the fish, stirring them vigorously to reduce them to a liquid sauce, then keep it warm.

Drain the pasta and vegetables well and transfer them to a bowl. Season them with the sauce and a healthy dusting of freshly grated black pepper, and serve them hot, with more grated pecorino on the side.
The wine? A full bodied white, for example a Sauvignon-based Salice Salentino Bianco.
Serves 4.

Roast Gilthead Seabream With Spring Onions

Ingredients:

A whole seabream weighing about 2 3/4 pounds (1.2 k), cleaned and scaled
A bunch of spring onions
2 limes
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
4 sprigs fresh thyme
A half a glass (about 100 ml, or 2/5 cup) dry white wine
Extravirgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 360 F (180 C)
Wash the fish and pat it dry. Make four diagonal cuts on each side, and press half a sprig of thyme into each. Set it in a greased pan large enough for it to lie flat.
Trim and discard the roots of the spring onions, and the top third of the green parts of the leaves. Chop the spring onions, and then blend them with the breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Peel one of the limes, finely dice the sections, and add them to the onion mixture.
Salt the cavity of the fish and season it with half the onion mixture. Whisk the wine into the remaining onion mixture, pour the sauce around the fish, drizzle the fish with a couple of tablespoons of oil, and roast it for about 35 minutes, or until done. Serve with the other lime, cut into wedges.
A wine? White, and I might be tempted by a Lugana here.

Freash Peas

Ingredients:

2 1/4 pounds (1 k) freshly shelled peas
A small onion, sliced
2 fairly thick slices of lean prosciutto (or pancetta), minced
Pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Boiling water

Preparation:

Once you have shelled your peas, sauté the onion in the oil in a fairly large pot until it begins to turn golden (if you're using pancetta, sauté it with the onions), then add the peas and sufficient hot water to keep them from sticking and burning (you may want to add more, but go easy; if you are using pancetta add it now).

Simmer the peas until they reach the stage of doneness you like, add the shredded prosciutto (if you are using it) and the parsley, and serve after a couple of minutes.

Sautéed Artichokes and Potatoes

Ingredients:

8 artichokes (they should be firm and feel solid -- soft or light artichokes will probably have fuzzy hearts)
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 (if they're small and thin-skinned they need not be peeled)
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.
Serves 4-6.

Pan Di Ramerino - Easter Rosemary Buns

Ingredients:

3 pounds (1.5 k) risen bread dough (see below note)
The leaves of a sprig of rosemary, chopped (about 1 tablespoon -- I wouldn't use dried rosemary)
1/2 pound (200 g) raisins, Zibibbo if possible
2 tablespoons olive oil
A pinch of salt

Preparation:

We begin with the note: Italian markets and bakers sell risen dough for people who want to make something that calls for bread dough, but don't have the time or the experience to start from scratch.
If you do, you may want to make your favorite plain bread dough.

Sauté the chopped rosemary in the olive oil, and then work it into the dough, together with the remaining ingredients. Break the dough into about 35 rolls, and in the meantime heat your oven to 400 F (200 C).
Put the pan di ramerino rolls on lightly floured cookie sheets, brush them with a drop of olive oil, and bake them until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and dry. Serve at when cool.

Buon appetito!

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