As temperatures drop off in the fall, Italian cooking changes: The dishes become richer and heavier, to better stick to the ribs, and cooking times become much longer, because a slowly bubbling pot works wonders, spreading warmth and cheer throughout the home. Hearty soups, rich stews, and more. In short, comfort food.
Fagioli all'Uccelletto are white beans (generally cannellini) boiled until almost done and then cooked with olive oil, garlic, sage, and tomatoes. Very nice, and when you also add several links of sausage, mild or spicy as you prefer, it becomes comfort food of the highest order. Serve it with crusty bread to mop up the drippings, and a zesty wine to balance the sausages. Chianti d'Annata, for example.
Minestra di Pane is bread soup, and if you make it a day ahead and reheat it, thus allowing the flavors to meld, you have Ribollita, literally reboiled. This is a more wintery dish than the above beans, because it contains black leaf kale that needs a frost to show at its best. The only drawback to ribollita I know of is that the pot is never big enough. The stuff vanishes.
Almost every region of Italy has a bean soup, and most have variations on their soup that call for pasta. Short pasta, along the lines of ditalini (thimbles), which absorbs the richness of the soup while contributing body, and traps heat like a magnet. It will warm you no matter how cold it is out.
There are a great many variations on Lasagna in Italy. In the south many use ricotta and tomato sauce, and while it is good, the lasagna I grew up with is made with meat sauce, lots of béchamel sauce, and a delightful dusting of grated cheese. You can make it ahead, and it is absolutely perfect for keeping the cold out.
The classic Milanese ossibuchi, with a lemony garlicky herb topping, is quite nice, but doesn't quite qualify as comfort food. These ossibuchi, which simmer for hours, and yield a superb pasta sauce as well, certainly do.
I'm a great fan of chili, and it should therefore come as no surprise that I also very much like this peppery beef stew from the Tuscan town of Impruneta. This recipe calls for coarsely ground pepper, and is delightful. However, I have also had peposo made with quite a bit more pepper -- peppercorns left whole -- and it was perhaps even better, with the delicate nuances of the spice, while much of the bitter pungency stayed within the peppercorns. Polenta is a perfect accompaniment.
If you visit Piemonte in the cooler months you will be served this at least once, and perhaps more often if your hosts forget to coordinate their menus. And you'll be glad, because it is simply wonderful. Again, it works very well with polenta.
This is another universal dish, and as such there are a great many local variations. Here are a couple of my favorites, one that is more complex, and the other that is simplicity in itself. Either will be best with freshly baked crusty bread to mop up the drippings.
There's something wonderfully exotic about pears gently simmered in spiced wine. And they're delightfully warming, too. Perfect for when the wind is blowing outside, shifting the branches with its chill breath.
Wherever you go in the Alps you will find fortified coffee. In the Val D'Aosta they add both wine and grappa to their coffee for truly warming results. For those days when the fire in the hearth looks nice and you have no intention of going out.
