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ITALIAN RECIPES

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Pinzimonio - Italian Raw Vegetable Antipasto

Ingredients:

Vegetables
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

Prepare a big bowl of fresh tasty vegetables, cut into strips or pieces (whatever you prefer that doesn't sag, e.g. peppers, cauliflower, artichokes, celery, carrots, etc).
Set cruets of olive oil and vinegar on the table, along with salt & pepper. Give your diners small bowls in which to mix up a sauce with the olive oil and vinegar, seasoning to taste.

They then dip their veggies in their sauce and eat.
You could also have other elements handy (mustard, whatnot) for those who want to make richer dipping sauces.
A wine? White, perhaps a Trebbiano Toscano, or a Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

Neapolitan Fusilli Primavera

Ingredients:

Vegetable broth
4 1/2 pounds asparagus
6 artichokes
10 ounces (250 g) freshly shelled peas
1/4 cup (50 g) unsalted butter
1/3 cup (100 ml) olive oil
A small onion, sliced
2 ounces (50 g) pancetta, shredded
4 eggs
A sprinkling of white wine
Basil and parsley
3 tablespoons Parmigiano
1 1/3 pounds (600 g) short fusilli or twists
Salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Wash the asparagus spears well and boil them in batches, in a narrow high sided pot with their feet in the boiling water and their tips out of it. When the tips are tender remove the asparagus spears and set them aside.
Remove what is tender of the remainders of the stalks and blend it to obtain a cream, which you shlould thin with a little vegetable broth should it be too thick.

Cook the peas in a little butter, seasoning them with the onion and pancetta.
Strip away the tough outer leaves from the artichokes, and then you get to the tender inner sections (see instructions if need be) cut them into thin wedges, discarding any hair you might find in the chokes, and boil them briefly in lightly salted water and lemon juice. Drain them when they’re still firm, and sauté them in a skillet with olive oil and butter, sprinkling a little wine over them.

Add the artichoke tips and purée, and the peas with their seasonings. Check seasoning, then mince and add basil and parsley to taste. Sprinkle a little more vegetable broth over it all to keep the sauce from being too thick, and keep it warm by transferring it to a double boiler.

Beat the eggs with the Parmigiano and a pinch of salt.
Cook the pasta until it is al dente in lightly salted water, then drain it and return it to the pot. Pour in half of the vegetable sauce and the beaten eggs, turning everything over a moderate flame while the sauces thicken (a couple of minutes). Pour the fusilli out onto a heated serving dish, pour the remaining sauce over them, and serve.
Serves 6.

Eggplant Rollups With Cheese

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant of the oblong variety
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, cubed
1-2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano
Fresh basil leaves
1 1/4 cups tomato sauce
Salt
Oil for frying

Preparation:

To make the tomato sauce, coarsely chop several tomatoes; mince a clove of garlic and sauté it in 2-3 tablespoons of oil till it begins to color, stir in the tomatoes and a pinch of salt, and cook about 10 minutes, or slightly more over a low flame.
While the sauce is cooking, peel the eggplant and cut it into 1/4 inch thick strips. Salt them, and let them sit while you prepare the tomato sauce; once it is cooking cube the mozzarella and mix it with the Parmigiano.

In the meantime, heat the oil, and preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) When the tomato sauce is done remove it from the fire; rinse the salt off the eggplant, pat the strips dry, and fry them for a few minutes, until done. Remove them to an absorbent sheet of paper.
Spoon some of the tomato sauce into an oven-proof dish. Then, make the involtini by laying two strips crosswise; lay a cube of mozzarella in the middle of the X, cover it with a basil leaf, fold the strips over the top of the mozzarella, and put the involtino in the baking dish with the joined side down so it will stay closed.

Continue making involtini until all is used up, spoon the remaining tomato sauce over them, and bake for 15 minutes.
A wine? White, and I might go with a Colli Albani.
Serves 4.

Buon appetito!

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