Tag: Piedmontese

Piedmontese menu for Christmas: recipes – Italian Cuisine

Russian salad, agnolotti and braised meat in Barolo: here are the traditional recipes signed by the starred chef Matteo Baronetto – Del Cambio, Turin

Never as during the Christmas period the table becomes the protagonist of the home and the family. From North to South Italy rites and traditions are repeated that have been part of places and people since time immemorial: there are those who celebrate Christmas Eve, those strictly on December 25 for lunch, those who dedicate themselves to the preparation of dishes with fish, who prefers meat. In many Italian regions, first courses based on stuffed pasta as in the case of Piedmont and its iconic agnolotti are inevitable. The Michelin chef knows it well Matteo Baronetto of the Del Cambio restaurant in Turin which has just come out with the volume "Contemporary Piedmontese cuisine"(Edt, 200 pp, 25 euros) in which he tells 45 recipes of the most authentic tradition.

Baronetto seeks a synthesis that has never been tried: to codify today's Piedmontese cuisine, which respects the past but intertwines it with the present and does so together with the photographer's shots Davide Dutto. After all, Baronet knows what it means to confront history: since 2014 he has been running the restaurant founded in 1757 in Turin, the one preferred by Camillo Benso Count of Cavour, one of the historic places in the city, an address that has been able to place the classic room side by side with the one conceived by Michelangelo Pistoletto, ancient recipes and today's sensitivity. “The value of Piedmontese cuisine – he comments – lies in the memory: this is one of the Italian areas where tradition is handed down in the kitchen, where you live and eat; Piedmont is a conservative region at the table and the culture of food is very important ".

Russian salad, agnolotti and braised meat: the advice of chef Baronetto

What then are the dishes symbol of Christmas according to Baronet? Russian salad, Agnolotti and Braised with Barolo: we understand why.

"The Russian salad reminds me of when I worked at Peck's in Milan – he comments – and during the holidays it was one of the dishes that people queued for. Here, as in the case of agnolotti, it is always on the menu: it is a dish that symbolizes family, the warmth of the home and to which I am very attached ". The secret to making it perfect? “Cut the vegetables very small in order to chew less and allow the mayonnaise to be more enveloping. The vegetables are then blanched after being cut, while for the mayonnaise I suggest preparing it with whole egg and not just with red ".

As for the agnolotti it is essential that the pasta is not too thick and it would be better if the size was no more than 2.5 centimeters. “We must always remember – he adds – that it is important to roast the meat that will be used for the filling well, so that the juices remain inside. I prefer not to keep it too moist, on the contrary I braise it to prevent it from being boiled, and then to prepare the filling I recommend cutting it by hand because blending it runs the risk of obtaining a homogenized product ". Important then is the broth: "It starts with cold water so that the meat releases its scents. Then add the vegetables, the parmesan crust that gives flavor, the white brisket, the beef, the chicken, the salt and let it simmer for a couple of hours. After having foamed it, if the color of the broth is too light, you can add some jus de Paris: water and sugar in the proportion of 3 liters to 150 grams ".

And now let's move on to braised for which a long cooking is necessary: “It should be marinated in the fridge, in wine, for one night, then it is heated over the fire and browned. The next step – continues Baronet – is to dip it again in the wine and then cover it with a little broth and then cook it in the oven for about two hours adding the vegetables. When you see that the stock is starting to consume, it is a good idea to remove a few tablespoons of it so that you can use it on the sliced slices before serving ".

Matteo Baronetto's Christmas recipes

Russian salad

Ingredients for 4 people:
300 g of mayonnaise
280 g of potatoes
100 g of carrots
100 g of tuna in oil
10 g of desalted capers
70 g of shelled peas
salt

For the mayonnaise
1 medium egg (50/60 g)
600 ml of sunflower oil
8 ml of white vinegar
4 g fine salt

Method:
Prepare the mayonnaise with the help of a mixer or electric whisk, starting with the egg, vinegar and salt and pouring the oil in a thin stream while the mixer is running at medium speed. This dose has a good amount of oil so it is necessary to use an appliance, if you want to do it by hand just decrease the amount of oil.
Peel the potatoes and carrots and cut them into regular pea-sized cubes.
Cook potatoes and carrots separately in boiling salted water; blanch the peas which, if large, will need to be removed from the outer skin.
Allow the vegetables to cool, combine all the ingredients and add salt to taste.

agnolotti

Ingredients for 10 people:

For pasta
1 kg of flour 000
350 g of durum wheat semolina
6 medium eggs
13 yolks
125 ml of extra virgin olive oil
125 ml of water
15 g of salt
For the stuffing
500 g of Bra sausage
1 kg of fresh bacon
1.75 kg of tender veal
3 carrots
3 sticks of green celery
3 medium white onions
White wine
250 g of washed fresh spinach
extra virgin olive oil

Method:
For pasta
Mix the eggs, oil, salt and water with the flour and semolina arranged in a heap.
Mix perfectly, let the dough rest covered in a cool place.

For the filling
Generally these ravioli are prepared on Mondays with the cold leftovers of Sunday roasts and stews of which care is taken to preserve the cooking sauces. Here instead you will find a filling recipe made especially for the ravioli in question.
Clean the vegetables and cut them into mirepoix (diced).
Divide the meat into large, regular cubes to facilitate cooking.
Heat a large saucepan, preferably large and low, and stew celery, carrots and onions with extra virgin olive oil.
In a non-stick pan with hot extra virgin olive oil, roast the soft cheese and the pancetta, then add the vegetables in the saucepan and deglaze with the wine; let the alcohol evaporate then cover with a lid and cook over a very low heat for about two and a half hours.
Add the spinach and the sausage divided into pieces, finish cooking.
Let it all cool down and go through the meat grinder.

How to make agnolotti
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin into thin sheets.
Dose the filling in small mounds on the first sheet – with a teaspoon or a pastry bag -, taking care to maintain regular intervals, depending on the size we want to give to the agnolotti.
Lay the second sheet on top and, with your fingers, make it adhere between one mound and the other and at the edges, being careful not to trap air that would make them explode during cooking.
Cut the agnolotti into a square shape with a toothed wheel.
Cook the agnolotti in boiling salted water and serve them with your favorite sauce.

The chef's advice: tradition has it that the agnolotti are served with roast sauce, sage butter and Parmesan, meat sauce or in meat broth and, in some Monferrato towns, even with red wine. Piedmontese stuffed pasta has a thicker layout than the very thin ones typical of Emilia and Romagna, this is due to the poverty in the yolks of the pasta. The Piedmontese sheets are therefore much less resistant and elastic and this does not allow them to be thinned as much as those from Emilia or Romagna.

Braised in Barolo

Ingredients for 5 people:
1 priest's hat (or parts of the thigh with a lot of collagen and fat)
3 medium white onions
3 carrots
4 sticks of celery
2 cloves of garlic
Lard
Herbs to taste (bay leaf, rosemary, sage …)
Spices to taste (pepper, juniper, cloves …)
salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Butter
1 bottle of good Barolo
Meat background

Method:
Wash and cut the vegetables into mirepoix, melt the minced lard in a pan of the right size with the garlic and butter, then add the vegetables and leave to dry.
In a separate, very hot pan, pour the oil and brown the meat, when well colored, place it with the vegetables, remove the browning oil from the meat and pour a part of the wine into the pan so as not to waste the "caramelized" juices deposited on the bottom of the pan; pour all the wine into the pan, wait for the alcoholic part to evaporate, keeping it on a high flame, then add the aromatic bunch containing the herbs and spices.
Lower the heat and cook for about two and a half hours (depending on the size of the piece) leaving the pan "on the edge of the stove", taking care to turn it every twenty minutes, and in the last twenty minutes of cooking, continue to sprinkle it with its sauce cooking. If the liquid dries excessively, add some hot broth. It is important that the meat is cooked evenly, continuously and without sudden changes in temperature in a constant sweet simmer.
Then serve in slices, sprinkling with the filtered sauce reduced to the right consistency, tastefully arranged and polished with a flake of butter.

Mixed boiled meat, the Piedmontese recipe – Italian Cuisine

A great classic of Italian cuisine: the history, the rules, where to eat it best and the recipe of San Giors di Torino to prepare it at home. Bee sauce included

The boiled it is the Piedmontese winter dish: a ritual that, one could say, has always dressed the table. Whenever the fog thickens between the hills of Langa, Roero and Monferrato, the harvests of the great reds leave time to age and the houses are enriched with that warmth that only the colder seasons can give. They call him His Majesty the Boiled and, in fact, the preparation and presentation have to do with wealth, but not opulence.

The rules of Piedmontese mixed boiled meat

Wealth of sauces and pieces of meat, variety of flavors: this is the secret of the Piedmontese mixed boiled meat. Loved by King Vittorio Emanuele II together with tajarin, game, bagna caoda and chopped hard-boiled eggs served with parsley and oil, the great Piedmontese boiled meat follows, in the best tradition, strict rules: it is accompanied by particular contours (baby onions mashed in butter, boiled potatoes, boiled turnips, boiled cabbage leaves, courgettes and fennel sautéed in butter, boiled carrots); is composed by seven cuts of pulp (pointed bow, priest's hat, walnut, brisket, breech, tender, scaramella), seven secondary cuts (cotechino, tail, head, tongue, zampino, hen, loin) e baby baths, or traditional sauces (green sauce, tomato and anchovy sauce, sauce with mustard, grape mustard, bee sauce). At the end of the meal, according to tradition, one should be served cup of hot broth made with all the cuts used, and it is also essential that each meat is cooked separately from the others and immersed in boiling water: the pieces should be tied and fenced with a few cloves and put in salted water with onion, celery, carrot , whole garlic (which will then be removed) and rosemary.

These are the basic rules, as recalled by theAcademician of Italian Cuisine Giovanni Goria, then there are the variants because it is unthinkable that everything described can be served for a meal. The boiled meat, which in the Langa also boasts a Confraternity aimed at its enhancement established in 1984 in Castagnito and Guarene (Cn), has Carrù Fat Ox Fair the culmination of his expression. This year the historic and anticipated event will be held on December 16 and, as usual, it will not be unusual to see queues of people ready to enjoy the renowned Piedmontese boiled meat (as well as tripe soup, Morozzo capon, Borgo San Dalmazzo snails, Cervere leek, green anchovies, raw meat, cheeses and hazelnut-based desserts) from the first light of dawn. After all, Piedmontese beef is one of the finest in Italy and, precisely in Carrù, the first news relating to livestock markets dates back to 1473, even if it is with Duke Vittorio Amedeo I that the history of this event took its its start. In fact, it was he who granted a decree to the citizens to organize an annual cattle fair to be held for three days in November, after the feast of San Carlo, even if only in 1910 the municipal administration established the fair of the fat ox as it is intended. today. Only Piedmontese breed cattle for slaughter can participate in the event, weighing up to fourteen quintals, divided between oxen, steers, calves, calves, bulls, bulls, cows and heifers. Technicians, butchers, breeders and veterinarians come together to compose the juries that will determine the best garments to which will be awarded, in the Foro Boario of the market square, over one hundred prizes divided between saddlecloths, a true and coveted symbol of victory, hand-decorated bands, gold medals, trophies and diplomas: in short, oxen and steers will parade triumphantly on the catwalk like real stars.

Tips for preparing boiled meat

But how to prepare a boiled meat comme il faut? We asked Paolo Ribotto, chef of the San Giors restaurant in Turin who offers it continuously from October until June: “The first rule – he comments – is that each piece of meat is boiled separately and with certain cooking times. We use nine different cuts (head, tongue, tail, ugly and good, muscle, scaramella, hen, cotechino, salami di turgia – salami produced in Canavese and in the Lanzo valleys with meat from cows now at the end of their career, ed) ranging cooked slowly from 7 hours of tail and head to chicken or cured meat time ". Fundamental rule to prepare the broth in which to dip the meat with celery, carrot and onion. "There are seven sauces – he continues – green bangetto, rubra, cougnà, horseradish sauce, bee sauce, fruit mustard, mustard in grains to which we also add coarse salt because many customers like to taste it on meat". A characteristic of San Giors is the accompaniment: "Here – concludes Ribotto – we serve the boiled meat dipped in its broth in a red-hot clay pot and separately we offer the ravioli del plin which must be placed in the broth and, while the customer eats, they finish cooking before being tasted separately. In addition to the plins, we accompany the course with mashed potatoes and leafy vegetables sautéed in butter ".

And among the most popular boiled meats in Turin there is also the one proposed by Madama Piola, the bistro led by the starred Christian Milone. Here we serve biancostat (scaramella), shaved head, tongue, cotechino and chicken accompanied by four sauces: green and red bath, mayonnaise and mustard.

"The piece that should never be missing in the boiled meat – declares the chef who has his headquarters at the Trattoria Zappatori in Pinerolo – is the cut of the scaramella because it is a little fatter than the brisket and is less fat than the belly therefore in all the interesting characteristics of boiled meats can be found in just one cut ". And if at the Ponte Barra restaurant the boiled meat cart is an institution that can be eaten every Wednesday and every Sunday by reservation, in Carrù, on the other hand, one of the undisputed destinations is the Vascello d'Oro: here the Gran Bollito Misto is served in seven cuts (scaramella, brisket, head, tongue, tail, cotechino and hen) with extra virgin olive oil and coarse salt and accompanied by its sauces (bagnet verd, bagnet russ, spicy mustard, horseradish, cugnà and avie sauce ).

Mixed boiled meat, the recipe of chef Paolo Ribotto

Ingrediants:
400 gr of head
400 gr of tail
400 gr of hen
300 gr of tongue
300 gr of bad and good
300 gr of cotechino
300 grams of turgia salami
250 grams of muscle
250 gr of candy
celery, carrots and onions to taste

Method:
Prepare the broth by adding celery, carrots and onions to the water, then start cooking the meat over moderate heat and in different pots starting with the longest cuts: tail and head between 6 and 7 hours; language for 6 hours; muscle, bad and good and scaramella for 5 or 6 hours; hen 1 or 2 hours; cotechino and salami di turgia the necessary, but less than all other cuts of meat. You can start in the morning so that in the evening the boiled meat is ready to be portioned and eaten the following day. It is essential in cooking that the meat is always immersed in the broth and that it cooks over very low heat. The indicated doses of meat may seem excessive, but after they are cooked the weight will be considerably lower and right for four diners.

Bee sauce, the recipe of chef Paolo Ribotto

Ingrediants:
100 gr of hazelnuts
40 gr of honey
70 gr of sweet mustard

Method:
Crush the hazelnuts until they are reduced to a puree, then add the honey and mustard a little at a time and mix everything together.

The ancient Piedmontese apples: all the reasons to find them – Italian Cuisine

They are rich in vitamins and polyphenols three times more than the most famous varieties found in large retailers and have a wealth of aromas, aromas and taste that makes them unique

They have weird names, sometimes female, like Carla, or of colors, Grigia di Torriana, or, again, Gamba Fina, Buras, Runsé, Magnana, Dominici and Cavilla Bianca. They are all apples of native varieties, present in Piedmont since the end of the thirteenth century. Cultivated since the time of the Cistercian monks in abbeys, they have developed a particular resistance to diseases and are decidedly rustic varieties. Looking small, with a taste tending towards acid, in the 1950s and 1960s, when beautiful, red, huge varieties of apples, such as Fuji or Granny Smiths, appeared on the market, these tiny, imperfect specimens went out of fashion, effectively disappeared. "We have continued to cultivate them", says Federica Quattrocolo, contact person for the Slow Food Presidium products, "because they are on average three times richer in vitamins and polyphenols compared to more commercial varieties. But, above all, they have a completely different range of aromas, tastes and fragrances than those we are used to consuming from large distribution .

An inexhaustible wealth

There are about 700 varieties of apples registered in the territory that goes from Saluzzo to Turin, up to Pinerolo. There were more than a thousand when at the end of the eighteenth century the French nurserymen of Chambery brought them to sell to the botanical garden of Turin. In 2000, when the Slow Food project began together with the Malva Arnaldi School of Bibiana, a training institute for specific technical figures in the agricultural sector, eight qualities were chosen and with those the Presidium was established, which relates to realities or techniques that are considered to have historical value, which are linked in some way to products that define a territory, but which are considered at risk of extinction. Slow Food helps small producers to enter a communication network that gives visibility to the chosen product or reality. That of the ancient Piedmontese apples was one of the first Slow Food presidia in Italy.

A historical reality of the territory

The cultivation of apples for the Canavese area has always been very important. It is a foothill area, with great biodiversity, where there have always been many different varieties of fruit such as apple trees, kiwis, blueberries … In the town of Cavour for the garrison of apples a ten-day event has been held for many years, in mid-November All apples: here there is a fair part where fruit is sold, an educational part, with schools, and a gastronomic part, in which the chefs of the restaurants in the area offer menus based on apples, with the use of this fruit from dessert appetizer.

Ancient apples in the kitchen

All these ancient apples are perfect for raw consumption, with their crunchiness and their marked acidity. But they also lend themselves to cooking: the Gray, for example, is the most suitable to bake in the oven. Already at the time it was soaked in large jars filled with hot water and a syrup was made that could also be consumed in the following months. “In reality, all these apple varieties can be kept for many months. They are harvested in mid-October, apart from the Carla which is harvested at the beginning of September, and then they are left to mature in the lofts for months. In this time the taste softens, rounds, and buy all the nuances that make these apples an extraordinary product". In the kitchen they are extremely versatile, they are suitable both for making desserts and for savory dishes, such as roasts or risottos. They have a reddish, streaked or red-green hue, some are dotted, others are golden, such as Gray. They are apples that were once also used as a medicine in decoctions. Of all, the Carla variety is the one with the oldest taste, the one that refers to childhood memories.

Low yield, but great disease resistance

The ancient apples of Piedmont have been rediscovered thanks to events such as Salon of taste or the Basket of typical products of Turin. They are difficult varieties to grow mainly because the yield is not as abundant as that of the best known apples. They often have a tendency to alternate between: one year they are abundant, the next year the harvest is almost nil. This is the main reason why growers have decided to abandon them over the years, despite the fact that they are very resistant to pests and diseases. Fortunately the trend has changed, and now on the territory there are 25 farmers who have decided to replant these ancient fruits. The plants grow from 300 meters up to 600 meters above sea level and the higher they grow, the more good their fruits are. This depends on the type of soil, which drains and does not stagnate water and allows the plant to absorb all the nutrients present in the soil. Each plant grown in different valleys has its own particularity, and this means that biodiversity is, in these places, an unmissable resource.