Risotto con Pancetta, Vino Rosso, e Radicchio

from Loukie Werle's Italian Country Cooking

Have I told you how much I love this cookbook? Oh, really? Only about 100 times, you say? Well, I'm saying it again. I love this cookbook. The recipes are what I think of when I think of Italian food, the ingredient list is short and simple, the dishes are unique, and every recipe turns out great.

That being said, I actually tried this recipe a few weeks back, and failed. That's not the recipe's fault, though. I bought some black rice at Eataly while we were in New York, and even though it was called "risotto", it was clearly not the right kind. Oh my Lord. It just would not cook. I mean, I seriously cooked it for like four hours, and it was still crunchy and undone.

So maybe it's a testament to how good this recipe really is, that we still saw promise in it, and decided to give it another shot, this time with good ole fashioned Arborio. Lo and behold, a wonderful dish. What's fun about it is that it's the usual risotto recipe and flavor, but everything is, I don't know...darker and heartier. Instead of white onion, you use red. Instead of white wine, red. Radicchio, pancetta...just a lot of red, I guess. I loved it.

1.5 tbsp olive oil
1/3 lb pancetta, cut into pea-sized cubes
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups risotto rice (Arborio, for example)
2 cups dry red wine
1 large radicchio, quartered and thinly sliced into ribbons
4-5 cups chicken broth (beef would work, too), simmering
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Hot pepper, optional (we added a pinch of Naga Jolokia flakes with the pancetta, but that's just us)

Combine the oil and pancetta in a large, heavy-based pan. Saute over medium heat until browning and slightly crisp, with the fat starting to run, about 8 minutes. Add the onion and cook until soft, about another five minutes or so. Add the garlic and stir a minute more.

Add the rice and stir a few minutes to coat. Add the wine and stir until it's been absorbed, about 5-8 minutes. Add the radicchio and ladleful of the simmering stock, and stir until the stock has been absorbed. Continue adding stock in this manner until the rice is al dente, about 20 minutes. If the stock runs out before the rice is cooked, continue using simmering water.

When the rice is done, remove from heat and stir in the parmesan. Let it stand, covered, for three minutes before serving. Soooooo good.

Pasta alla Gricia

So, there are a few basic Roman dishes that are all fairly simple variations on one another. There's all'amatriciana (tomato, onion, pancetta), carbonara (romano/parmesan cheese, egg, pancetta), cacio e pepe (romano cheese and black pepper), arrabbiata (tomatoes, chili, pancetta), alla papalina (romano cheese, black pepper, prosciutto, eggs...omg, why have I not made that yet?), alfredo (parmesan and butter)...and alla gricia, which is just romano, black pepper, and pancetta.

Now, while these seem like pretty simple concepts, and they are, there is a fair amount of hullaballoo over how to make them. It's mostly a traditionalist argument around what P.G. Wodehouse might refer to as "the purity of the turf". Add onion or shallots to carbonara? To amatriciana? Sacrilege! See? It's very serious.

I'm very much about food tradition and all, but there are certain realities of my kitchen, and a certain laxity in my spirit, I suppose, that leads me off the beaten path from time to time. In this case, I made pasta alla gricia with rigatoni instead of spaghetti (spaghetti would have been better, admittedly), and I used...sigh...a Kraft parmesan-romano grated cheese blend (it's real cheese, though - no fillers!) instead of a pecorino romano, which also probably would've been better. Some argue for guianciale over pancetta; I used pancetta. Other than that, I stuck to the purist guns. As far as I know, at least.

This cooks up fast, too!

3/4 lb pasta

2 tbsp olive oil

2 thickish slices pancetta, diced

1/2 cup grated Romano cheese

1 cup reserved pasta water

Plenty of ground black pepper

Get your water boiling. In a pan, combine your olive oil and pancetta over medium, and cook until slightly browned. Set aside/remove from heat. 

Meanwhile, cook your pasta, setting aside the cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and add directly to the pan with the pancetta, tossing to coat. Add the cheese and toss to coat again. If it's dry, add pasta water. Add plenty of black pepper, tossed in, and serve with more grated cheese.

Cooking Lesson!...and Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries

Back in April, I auctioned off a La Piccina Cucina cooking lesson to support Yale SOM's summer internship fund. Greg, a good friend of ours, was the "lucky" winner! He and his fiancee Jen came over last week to cash in on their winnings. It was a blast - for me, at least! Greg did great, too.

Greg made the excellent choice of Risotto with Broccoli Rabe and Pancetta. Not only is this delicious, but it's a useful recipe - risotto is a nice, fancy-seeming dish that's actually pretty simple, and really, once you've learned how to make basic risotto, you can really improvise with all kinds of additions. AND, this particular risotto recipe basically also teaches you how to make broccoli rabe as a side.

We also made a quick salad - Arugula Salad with Goat Cheese and Strawberries. Really, the name is the recipe. I wanted to do a salad to show how to make a basic olive oil/balsamic dressing. We used a bag of arugula, about 4-5 strawberries, sliced, and a healthy sprinkling of goat cheese  crumbles. We dressed it with 4 large spoonfuls of olive oil and 2 of balsamic. (2:1 ratio!) If you want the salad to stay pretty, dress the strawberries and arugula first, then just sprinkle with goat cheese. Or, do as we did (after this photo was taken) and dress it all together and mix (it won't look pretty anymore, but the cheese and dressing will coat the salad nicely).

We ended the night with a lesson from Joef on hot fudge (no Indian Ghost Pepper this time, to his chagrin) - probably one of the more fickle recipes we know, but definitely worth the effort.

Thanks to Greg and Jen for bidding on the lesson and for letting me geek out about cooking all night! Can't wait to do it again.

Pasta Soup with Pesto

(from Loukie Werle's Italian Country Cooking)

I love re-discovering a favorite thing, and this recipe gave me two: this amazing cookbook, and pesto. It's not that I'd forgotten about those things, it's just that I haven't used the cookbook in awhile, and I don't get that much fresh basil in the winter. Pesto always reminds me of summer. Plus - combining pesto and pancetta? Brilliant! Maybe I could just add pancetta to regular pesto...

Anyway, this puts it in a soup, plus a little tomato - and that's it! Simple and delicious.

3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped pancetta
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 lb pasta (I used broken-up spaghetti rigati, but a more spoon-friendly pasta may be preferable)

For pesto:
1 1/2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

First make the pesto. Combine the basil and garlic in a food processor with 1 1/2 tbsp of the olive oil. Pulse, adding the rest of the olive oil intermittently. Spoon into a bowl with the parmesan cheese and combine.

For the soup, add the oil, pancetta, and garlic in a pot and sautee until the pancetta renders its fat. Don't burn the garlic. Stir in the tomato, let flavors combine for a minute, then add six cups of water and bring to a boil.

Stir in the pasta and a little salt, and cook the pasta. Remove from heat and stir in the pesto, then serve!

Updated Recipe: Pasta with Broccoli Rabe and Ceci

I made some changes to a formerly-posted recipe, with good results. Check it out: http://piccinacucina.blogspot.com/2010/09/pasta-with-broccoli-rabe-and-ceci.html

Risotto with Broccoli Rabe and Pancetta

Alright, I'm not gonna lie. This was really, really good. It's just the usual risotto recipe, this time with - you guessed it - broccoli rabe and pancetta. I buy two huge bunches of rabe each week these days, because Joef loves it so much, and this was a great and different way to get our bi-weekly fix. The risotto actually sweetened the rabe up a little (while preserving its characteristic bitterness), and the pancetta...well, what more can you say about that?

I also should note that Joef added habanero flakes to his - and that was really tasty, too!

1-2 tbsp olive oil, plus 3 tbsp olive oil
2 or so handfuls broccoli rabe
1 slice pancetta, diced
1 small/medium onion, chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, chopped
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
6 cups chicken broth, simmering, with a few tablespoons reserved
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Combine the 1-2 tbsp olive oil with the rabe and pancetta in a large, deep saute pan. Cook over medium-high, adding a 1/2 ladle of chicken broth, until rabe has wilted. Remove rabe and pancetta and set aside.

In the same pan, combine the olive oil and onions in a large, deep saute pan, and cook over medium heat until the onion is soft, stirring frequently. Add the garlic and stir one more minute.

Add the rice and stir until all the grains are coated. Then add the wine and stir over medium heat until the wine absorbs into the rice. Then, add a ladle of the simmering chicken broth and stir it in until the broth is absorbed into the rice. Keep doing this until the rice is al dente and until right before your last ladle of broth. (If you run out of broth before the rice is cooked, you can use a ladle or two of simmering water.) Add the reserved rabe and pancetta to the risotto, stir, then add your last ladle of broth or water and let it absorb.

Add your cheese and the reserved broth and stir it into the rice. Reduce the heat to low (or turn it off entirely), cover, and let sit for three minutes. Done!

Pasta with Broccoli Rabe and Ceci

(adapted from Loukie Werle's "Italian Country Cooking")

UPDATED 2/5/11
Alright. I just made this again, and I made it slightly differently, and it was both easier to make and more delicious. So, give this a shot:

2 thick slices pancetta, diced
Olive oil
1/2 can ceci beans, drained
Habanero flakes, to taste
1/2 bunch broccoli rabe, chopped large
2 cloves garlic, smashed flat
1 cup chicken broth
3/4 lb pasta

Drizzle olive oil in a large pan and turn heat to medium-high, then add the pancetta. Cook for a couple of minutes, turning down if necessary. Add the ceci (and habanero flakes, if you choose) and let them cook together for a few more minutes as the pancetta renders its fat. Remove the ceci and pancetta and set aside. Add the rabe and garlic into the same pan, adding a little olive oil if you need it. Add more habanero flakes, if using. Turn back up to medium-high and add the chicken broth. Cook until wilted and your pasta is ready, then add the chicken and ceci back into the rabe and cook for a minute or two, then add the cooked pasta and mix. Finish with a final drizzle of olive oil, and serve. Not half bad with grated parmesan.

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ORIGINAL POST
I can't get enough of this cookbook. This woman is brilliant. The recipes are simple, using just a few common ingredients, and the outcomes are delicious and different. This particular recipe gave me an excuse to buy pancetta again, and also the chance to cook broccoli rabe for the first time. Broccoli rabe is like the arugula of the broccoli world - bitter; probably an acquired taste (at least it was for me, growing up). It's much leafier than typical broccoli; cook it up with plenty of garlic and it's great.

I decided to add red pepper flakes to this - optional, but I think a good variation. And I didn't have dried chick peas/ceci/garbanzos, so I had to improvise a little bit there.

So:
1 cup canned ceci beans, drained
2 large cloves garlic, flattened/crushed with the flat side of a knife
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp olive oil, plus 3 tbsp
5 oz pancetta (I got 3 thin slices, more wouldn't have hurt), thinly sliced
1 large bunch broccoli rabe, tough stems removed, cut across into 1/2 inch strips
Red pepper flakes to taste
Salt and pepper
3/4 lbs short pasta

Put the ceci in a small pot with the crushed garlic, a little salt, and 2 tsps olive oil. Add water to cover. Place them over low heat on the stove. (You may be able to skip this step - I was trying to get as close as possible to her directions for dried beans.)

Combine 3 tbsp of olive oil and the pancetta in a large saute pan over medium heat until the pancetta turns crispy and golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside on a paper towel.

Add the 4 chopped garlic cloves to the pan and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes, then add the broccoli rabe. Saute until it all wilts.

Drain the ceci in a colander set over a bowl to retain the liquid. Add the ceci to the rabe, then add a cup of the reserved liquid and stir it in to the rabe and ceci. Add crushed red pepper flakes Cook another 10-15 minutes, then season with salt and pepper to taste.

In the meantime, cook your pasta in salted water, reserving a cup or so of the pasta water. Add the cooked pasta right to the rabe in the pan and toss around for about a minute, adding the pancetta. Add pasta water if it seems dry. Serve!

Linguine con lenticche e pancetta

(Linguine with Lentils and Pancetta - from "Italian Country Cooking: The Secrets of Cucina Povera", by Loukie Werle...which I LOVE!)

Month #3 of Julia's Birthday Celebrations came to a worthy end this past weekend with the visit of my parents and the delivery of presents. In addition to making me a Bananagrams addict, that also means a new cookbook - and oh, what a cookbook. It is THE cookbook: "Italian Country Cooking: The Secrets of Cucina Povera", by Loukie Werle. Expect many recipes to come from this book.

(I'm also making up for last week's dearth of cooking with an all-out cookfest this week. So, two recipes tonight (last night's dinner and tonight's), with more planned. I'd also be tempted to call it a pastafest, but how is that really different from any other week, really?)

So - this recipe. Lentils, as you can see, since the husband is still absent. I think I'd want to play with this one a little more the next time; I'd also use more pasta water, since it got a little dry. Overall - good, nice spice, and nice and different!

(The recipe below serves four - I halved it for myself and it sufficed for dinner and leftover lunch.)

1 cup lentils
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 lb pancetta, cubed or sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced and chopped into smaller pieces
4 cloves garlic
2 tsp chopped rosemary leaves
1-2 fresh hot red chiles, seeds removed and sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 pound linguine
Fresh parsley, finely chopped, for garnish

First you have to prep the lentils. Place them in a small pot and cover with about 2 inches of water. Add a little salt if you want, and cover the pan. Set it over low heat and cook until the water comes to a boil - this will take about 15-20 minutes. When it does, set the lid on an angle and cook over very low heat until the lentils are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and set lentils aside in their liquid.

Combine the oil and the pancetta in a deep frying pan and cook over medium heat until the pancetta gets crisp and golden, about 5 minutes. Then remove it with a slotted spoon and set aside on paper towels.

Add the celery to the same pan and cook until it begins to soften, another 5 minutes or so. Add the garlic, rosemary and chiles and cook about 2 more minutes. Then, drain the lentils and add them along with the wine. Cook until the wine reduces to about half.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta and reserve about a cup of the pasta water. Add the pasta to the lentils, toss briefly over the heat with the pasta water as needed (to prevent drying), and add the parsley and pancetta and serve.

Empanadillas

(from "Tapas: Seasonal Small Plates from Spain", by Joyce Goldstein)

This cookbook (an engagement gift from our friends Shauna and Maher) is one of my favorites. We had friends over for lawn games and grilling, and these are neither of those, but they were yummy. I'd make a few changes the next time - for example, I had some trouble with the dough - I used the water they recommended and it was much too dry, so I added some beer to moisten it up. I'll just include what the cookbook says in case I did it wrong - if it gets too dry, just add some more liquid till it feels right. I'd also cut the rounds bigger so I could fit more of the delicious filling in each one. (The filling, of which there was about a ton left over, is good on a french bread sandwich the next day.) Finally, I replaced the ham the recipe called for with pancetta - good choice - and added just a dash of paprika to the filling, near the end with the pepper.

And here we go:

DOUGH
2 cups flour
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp solid vegetable shortening
1/4 cup whole milk, water, or beer
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
(plus one egg, lightly beaten and set aside)

FILLING
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped (that was messy)
2 cloves garlic, minced
About 4 oz diced pancetta
2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and coarsely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper and paprika

To make the dough, put the flour in a bowl and make a well in its center, adding the oil, shortening, water (or milk or beer), baking soda, and salt to the well. Use a wooden spoon to gradually work the wet ingredients into the flour, mixing until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a bit till it comes together, then shape it into a ball, cover it, and let it sit for about 20 minutes at room temp.

While the dough is resting, you can make the filling. Heat the oil over medium in a saute pan, then add the onions and cook until they soften and turn a pale gold (stir occasionally). Add the tomatoes and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes juices have evaporated (5-8 minutes). Add the pancetta and cook until its cooked through. Remove from heat and add the eggs. Season to taste with pepper and a pinch of paprika. Let it cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 and come back to the dough. Roll out the dough until its about 1/8 of an inch thick or less, then use a glass (wide as you can - recipe says 3 inches, but I'd say larger) to cut out rounds. Once you have all of your rounds, spoon the filling into each one, using the egg to dampen the edges of the dough. Fold the dough over the filling in a half-moon shape, using the tines of a fork to press the edges together.

Put the pastries on a baking sheet and brush with egg, then bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Ooh, this was a hit. If you haven't had this before, think of it as a breakfast pasta - except not gross, like that sounds.

This is my mom's favorite dish when we visit Rome. I gotta say, she's got good taste. This was my first stab at making this meal, and I'll definitely make it again. I made it up as I went - I added shallots, for one, which is probably a no-no in Rome - but hey, it tasted good, and that's really what this is about, right? Oh, and it's fast. It's about that, too.

Timing is somewhat important with this - you want the pasta to be hot when you add the egg to it, so the pancetta and shallots should be ready by the time the pasta is done.

So, here's what you need:
1 lb spaghetti
4 eggs
A few splashes half and half
1 tbsp olive oil (roughly)
1/2 or 1 whole shallot, minced
3 oz pancetta, diced
1/2 tbsp butter (roughly)
1/4 or 1/2 cup pasta water
3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated (or romano, or a blend)
Ground black pepper, to taste
Red pepper flakes, if you're Joef

And here's how it goes together:
Start the water boiling for the pasta, add pasta when boiling. In the meantime, whisk the four eggs together in a separate bowl, and mix in a few pours of half and half. Set that aside. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and butter and heat until the butter melts, then add the shallots and the pancetta and stir. Add a little black pepper, let it cook a bit, then turn to low so that the bacon can render its fat. When the spaghetti is done and drained, add it directly to the pancetta in the pan (it can still be on low heat, if you're paranoid about the egg like me), and immediately add the egg mixture, pouring it over the pasta in the pan. Now mix that all together, watching the egg cook as it coats the pasta. When that's all mixed, mix in the cheese and the pasta water to keep it from getting too dry, again coating all the pasta. Top with ground black pepper to taste.

Linguine with Peas, Pancetta, and Parmesan

Time to get back to what I know, for goodness sake! Way too long since I had pasta. This was an experiment, and it turned out pretty tasty. Here's what it takes:

3/4 lb linguine
3-4 tbsp butter
1 pkg pancetta, diced
1/2 package frozen peas, thawed
Red pepper flakes to taste
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus to taste for serving
Black pepper to taste

(Boil the water for the pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water.)

Meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan. Before the foam subsides (or after, I suppose), add the pancetta. Stir it around in the butter for a few minutes, then add the peas. Stir that all together until the peas are tender and well-heated. Add red pepper flakes - earlier if you want the pasta hotter, later if you don't. Add pinch of pepper, and salt if you'd like (taste it first, since the pancetta and the parmesan should provide more than enough saltiness). Turn heat to way low.

Add the now-cooked pasta to the peas and pancetta, and add the reserved pasta water if it seems dry. Mix in the parmesan cheese and toss together. Remove from heat and serve.