Begin with a quarter pound of milk…

As anyone who reads through the recipes on this site will rapidly realize, they're almost all translated from Italian sources -- one of the advantages of living in Italy is that whenever I travel can I slip into a bookstore and look for locally published books that don't make it to Florence. When we get home I read through them, find some recipes, and… "pound out a feature?" you suggest.

Well, sometimes, but it's usually not that easy. Italian recipes differ considerably from what English-language cookbook writing manuals suggest is optimum. First of all, they're metric and by weight. Often completely by weight, including the liquids. So long as I keep in mind that a cup is about 250 ml = 250 g water, and that oil is a bit lighter than water, converting is usually straight forward, though I do find myself measuring out tomato sauce, olives, and whatnot occasionally. Flour and other starches are a little more difficult, since their density varies with the humidity of the air; at the end of a draught a cup of flour will weigh about 90 grams, whereas the same cup will weigh 120 after a month of rain. I usually figure 100 grams per cup of flour.

All this is in keeping with English-language cookbook form. However, many Italian food writers, including those who write for the major Italian cooking magazines, give quantities of the principle ingredients and then simply list the rest. Or they put q.b. after some ingredients, which means "enough," and you're supposed to know how much that is. They also assume you know what you are doing, and are often quite cursory -- pasta recipes in older books, for example often begin with "roll out a sheet of dough made with three eggs," assuming you will know that three eggs means 300 grams of flour and a pinch of salt, and also that you will know how to make pasta dough. To be honest, this sort of sketchiness doesn't bother me, because I have always cooked by eye and by now have a feel for Italian food. However, someone who doesn't and is used absolutely precise ingredient lists would likely feel lost, so I fill in amounts and cooking times, and flesh out instructions as I go along. It's fun, but not so quick as to qualify for "pounding out."

Lupini: What to do with them?

Moving on to other things, I recently got a letter from a person who has 1 1/2 pounds of dried lupini and wonders what to do with them. Though they're legumes, Italians treat lupini the way Americans might treat cotton candy or popcorn: As fair food, of the sort one buys ready-to-eat. To prepare them, boil them until they become soft (the skins will feel slippery/rubbery, and you can split them easily to expose the soft edible part of the bean). When they're done salt them and eat them, shucking the tough skins and discarding them (some do this by hand, and others split the beans between their teeth), and eating the tender meat inside. One important thing: Fresh out of the bag, lupini are quite bitter and poisonous too; the noxious compounds leach out during cooking, and also if the lupini are soaked in brine.

Braciole Ripiene

Also, Nancy wrote, quite a while ago, "Hi Kyle, I'm surfing the net in search of an Italian dish that I tried and have been able to find the recipe for. It was called Braciole - a beef filet pounded and stuffed with wild mushrooms, roasted red peppers, three cheeses, roasted and served with herb cream. I would love to be able to fix this dish."

I'm wriggling a bit here -- Braciola means a variety of things -- in the north it's a cutlet, with bone attached, in Tuscany it's usually boneless, and in the south, according to De Agostini's la Mia Cucina, it's a piece of meat large enough to cut a pocket into and then fill. As you might expect, there are lots of braciola recipes out there; unfortunately none of my cookbooks have anything quite like the above, which seems quite elaborate. I was putting off my reply until something turned up, but nothing has; in the meantime please accept the below:

Bracioline Ripiene -- Stuffed Veal Cutlets

• 1 pound (8) veal cutlets
• 3 ounces lean veal, minced
• 1 1/2 ounces lean prosciutto, minced
• 1 1/2 ounces veal marrow, ground to a coarse paste (optional, increase the prosciutto if you leave it out. If you do choose to include it (it will give the dish a satiny texture), ask your local butcher for it or check an oriental market;)
• 2/3 Cup grated Parmigiano
• 1 large egg
• Salt and pepper to taste
• String
• A small onion, minced
• A small carrot, minced
• A 6-inch stick of celery, minced
• A slice of pancetta, minced
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)

Pound the cutlets well with a meat pounder or the flat of a wide knife frequently dipped in water to thin them.

Mix the remaining veal, the prosciutto, the marrow, and the cheese together, adding the egg last to bind the mixture; season it with a pinch of pepper (salt shouldn't be necessary because of the prosciutto and the Parmigiano). Stretch the cutlets out and spread the mixture over them, then roll them up and tie them with string.

Mince the onion, celery, carrot, and pancetta. Melt the butter in a skillet over a medium flame and, when the onion's lightly browned, add the veal cutlets, seasoning them with salt and pepper.

When the cutlets are browned, add the tomato sauce and a little water (or the wine), cover partially, and simmer them till they're done, (15-20 minutes, though I usually go by eye).

Remove the strings before serving.

These stuffed cutlets can also be roasted in the oven. While you're preparing them, preheat the oven to 350 F. Put the cutlets on a rack, baste them with olive oil and salt, and roast them till they're done (about a half hour), turning and basting them once or twice.

The recipe will serve four to six as a second course or two to four as a main course. (It's from a cookbook I was working on before I began translating Artusi.)

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Braciole Imbottite alla Siciliana -- Sicilian-Style Stuffed Cutlets

These are best grilled over the coals, though you can roast them in the oven if need be. For 6 you will need:

• 12 veal cutlets, about 1 3/4 pounds in all
• 1 3/4 cups bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 cups grated provolone cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• A bunch of parsley, minced
• 2 tablespoons pickled capers, rinsed
• 1/2 cup pitted black olives (the mild, unspicy variety)
• Abundant freshly cracked black pepper
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt
• 8 steel skewers

Carefully trim away any membranes the cutlets may have. Place them between two sheets of waxed paper and pound them gently to thin them, taking care not to pierce them.

Combine the water, bread crumbs, grated provolone, parsley, and garlic in a bowl, and season the mixture with salt and abundant pepper.

Mince the capers and the olives. Lightly oil the cutlets, on both sides, and spead a little of the olive mixture over one side of each. Then press the cutlets, one at a time, into the bread crumb mixture, coating them well on both sides. Roll up the cutlets and skewer them, three to each pair of skewers. Grill them over the coals, or roast them in a 350 F oven until done, about a half hour. (From De Agostini's "La Mia Cucina")

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Portafogli di Vitello con Porcini -- Veal Wallets Stuffed with Porcini

For 6 people you will need:

• 12 thinly sliced veal cutlets, 1 3/4 pounds in all
• 1/2 pound fresh porcini (these are the classic European mushroom; you may want to try portabella mushrooms instead or something else that is flavorful. Champignons won't do the recipe justice.)
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 1/8 cups grated Parmigiano
• A small onion, minced
• 3 slices of white bread, moistened with broth and gently squeezed to remove excess moisture
• An egg
• A bunch of parsley, minced
• 2 cloves garlic
• Several leaves sage
• 1/2 a bullion cube, crumbled
• flour
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• Salt
• Pepper
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• Needle and thread

Carefully clean the mushrooms of any dirt that's adhering to them, rube them with a dampened cloth, and slice them finely. Sauté the minced onion in half the butter, and when it begins to turn translucent add the mushrooms. Cook for about 10 minutes over a moderate flame, seasoning the mixture with the crumbled bullion cube. When the mushrooms are cooked, mince them, and then combine them with the bread, the egg, the Parmigiano, pepper, a dash of nutmeg, and a little salt. Mix thoroughly, then add the minced parsley.

Once you have prepared the filling gently pound the slices of meat to thin them, taking care not to puncture them. Season the slices (one side only) with salt and pepper, and place a bit of the filling in the center of each. Fold the slices over the filling and sew them shut.

Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C), and while it is heating flour the wallets and brown them in an ovenproof skillet in which you have heated the remaining butter, a couple of tablespoons of oil and 2 leaves of sage. Sprinkle the sherry into the pan and cook until half is evaporated. Cover the pan and transfer it to the oven for 15 minutes. When the wallets are done transfer them to a platter, remove the strings, drizzle the drippings over them and serve. (From "Le Carni," a volume compiled by La Cucina Italiana)

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Finally, here's an intriguing recipe from an old issue of Sale e Pepe, one of Italy's better cooking magazines:

Involtini di Peperoni -- Pepper Involtini

To serve 4 you'll need about an hour, and:

• 4 bell peppers (several colors will look nicer)
• 1/2 cup pitted black olives (the sweet, unspicy variety), minced
• 3/4 pound fresh ricotta (get this from a delicatessen that has real ricotta)
• 1/4 pound bacon, sliced
• The leaves from several sprigs of marjoram
• Olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Wooden tooth picks

Quarter the peppers, discarding the seeds, and broil the resulting strips skin-side up to loosen the skins, then scrape the skins off.

Preheat the oven to 450F (220C).

Combine the ricotta, minced olives and marjoram leaves in a bowl, seasoning the mixture with salt and pepper, and adding just enough olive oil to make it creamy. Spread some of the mixture over each of the pepper strips.

Roll up the pepper strips, wrap each with a slice of bacon (half a slice will probably do), and stick them with tooth picks to hold them together. Put them in a lightly oiled pan and bake them until the bacon is crispy and done, about a half hour.

Though the editors suggest that these will work equally well as an antipasto or a side dish, I think I'd prefer them at the beginning of the meal.

A printer-friendly version of this recipe.

Thanks for visiting, and have a wonderful day!
Kyle Phillips

Back to the Cosa Bolle Index.
If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter (it's free), visit this page
Back to the General Recipe Index

Free Italian Food Newsletter!Sign Up