Tag: traditional

Turnip greens and broccoli. Two traditional recipes – Italian Cuisine


In Rome they are called broccoletti, in Naples friarielli, in Puglia cime di rapa and in Tuscany rapini. Are these different ways to understand the same thing at the bottom?

broccoli, broccoli, rapini, friarielli, broccoli of turnips, turnip tops. Are they just different ways to understand the same thing at the bottom? We try to understand each other well. THE friarielli (or broccoletti di rapa) are simply the most developed part of the turnip greens, in short it depends only on what part of Italy you are. In Rome, for example, the newly developed inflorescences of the rapa top are called broccoletti (not to be confused, for the name, with broccoli, deriving from the rambling broccoli cabbage) in Naples friarielli, in Puglia turnip tops and in Tuscany rapini. Often, however, when we speak of friarielli, we only eat the leaves, when we speak of broccoletti we consume the biggest "flower" among the leaves. Discovered then the truth about the difference between broccoli and broccoli, here are a couple of traditional recipes simple, but of substance, to cook them better.

Orecchiette with turnip tops

Orecchiette with turnip tops are a typical dish of Apulian cuisine, which you absolutely must know. Here's how to proceed: clean the turnip tops, removing the outer leaves and keeping only the bud and the tenderest inner leaves. To facilitate cooking, make a deep cross cut on the hardest part of the stem. Dip the turnip greens (2 kg) in plenty of boiling salted water, for 4-5 minutes, if you use fresh orecchiette (about 6 minutes of cooking, 400 g for 4 people). Add the pasta. Cut the onion into very thin slices. Pour the oil into a saucepan, add the onions in the cold, fry until the onion is golden. Be careful not to burn them. Remove from heat and slowly add three whole anchovy fillets. When cooked orecchiette, drain. Return the orecchiette with turnip tops to the cooking pot, still hot. Add the oil. Mix well mixing all the ingredients. Let them rest, slightly warm are even better.

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Turnip greens and sausages

The first step is the same: clean the turnip tops removing the hardest leaves and stems. In a pan fry the oil, garlic and chilli, until the garlic is golden. Add the turnip greens without draining them too much. Cook the turnip greens covered over a gentle flame, turning them from time to time. Salt halfway through cooking. When the turnip greens have wilted, remove the lid and continue cooking, leaving them slightly al dente, because they will finish cooking together with the sausages. Brown the sausages separately in a pan with a little oil. Cover the sausages with a lid and cook. During cooking, use a fork to prick the fat. At this point add the sausages with turnip tops together with the cooking sauce. Mix the ingredients well and, if necessary, add salt, add a little lemon. Finish cooking together in order to flavor the turnip tops and sausages and, this time serve the dish still warm, perhaps adding some pecorino.

Traditional Bonet Recipe – Italian Cuisine – Italian Cuisine

Traditional Bonet Recipe - Italian Cuisine


  • 500 g milk
  • 170 g sugar
  • 50 g macaroons plus someone
  • 50 g bitter cocoa
  • 4 eggs

For the recipe of the traditional bonet, heat 100 g of sugar with a little water in a saucepan, until it starts to caramelize. Pour it to the bottom of a 1 liter pudding mold. Crumble the macaroons until you get almost a powder.
Mix the eggs in a bowl with the whisk and add the remaining sugar. Add the crumbled amaretti and sifted cocoa. Mix everything with the whisk, being careful not to incorporate too much air, in order to obtain a smooth and homogeneous pudding, without bubbles.
Then add the milk, flush, always stirring. Pour the mixture into the mold; put it in a bain-marie at 170 ° C for about 1 hour: the mold must be immersed in water for three quarters of its height. Drain and leave to cool for at least 2 hours. Turn the cake upside down on a serving dish and garnish it with whole or crushed amaretti.

La Cassoeula, the traditional dish – Italian Cuisine

La Cassoeula, the traditional dish


Prepared with cabbage and pork scraps, Cassoeula is one of the most famous dishes of Lombard cuisine. With very ancient origins it is particularly widespread in the winter season

Of the pig does not throw anything awayor rather, we make ourselves the Cassoeula. This typical Lombard dish of peasant origin its main ingredients are the wastes of pork processing such as: ears, tail, walking, rinds and ribs. The traditional preparation involves cooking with the cabbage. These vegetables, however, before being boiled in the pan with the pork must undergo the first winter frost, which shortens the cooking time and makes them more tender. Caloric dish is particularly suitable to face the cold in the early months of the year, the Cassoeula, in the past few centuries, was among the most common dishes among the farmers of the Po Valley. The latter made a virtue of necessity, making the most of those parts of the pig that gentlemen and nobles rejected on their tables.

The name

There is a bit 'of confusion about the origin of the name of this traditional dish. Probably derives from the kitchen utensils with which it was prepared. Some believe that Cassoeula derives from "cassoeu" ladle in Milanese dialect, for others the merit of the name would be ascribed to the casserole, or the pan in which the cabbage and pork were cooked. According to another tradition, more modern than the others, Cassoeula derives from "trowel", The typical tool of masons to spread the mortar between the bricks. This version wants the workers, once the construction of the building had reached the roof, using the trowel, in the absence of a real ladle, to mix the preparation during cooking. Another name with which the Cassoeula is known is "bottaggio". The term derives from "barrel" or more likely from the French "potage", soup.

The legend

La Cassoeula as it is prepared today born at the beginning of the twentieth century but the oldest recipes have an uncertain and rather controversial origin. There legend more widespread it binds to the Spanish domination of Milan end of the sixteenth century. According to this popular tradition, the dish would have been born thanks to a Spanish soldier that was hopelessly in love with a young Milanese. One day the girl, who was the cook of a noble family, had received the task of preparing a dinner for a great occasion but the pantry was empty. So the soldier ran to the young woman's help teaching her to do the Cassoeula with the few ingredients available. The dish was so successful that the cook decided to yield to the young officer's court.

Sant 'Antonio

Traditionally, however, the Cassouela is linked to a particular religious event: the feast of Saint Anthony the Abbot. The founder of Christian monasticism is considered the protector of domestic animals. In the iconography a pig is often shown with a bell around it. The anniversary falls January 17th, the day when the Church blesses the animals by placing them directly under the protection of the saint. The date, anciently, marked the end of the period of slaughter of pigs. For this reason, the Cassoeula was and still is still considered "the feast of the feast of Saint Anthony".

variants

The traditional recipe of Milanese Cassoeula includes plenty of savoy cabbage and pork parts such as verzini, cotenna, ribs and legs. The result can be considered satisfactory only if, at the end of cooking, the dish turns out to be greasy and tachénto, which in Milanese dialect means "sticky". Like all traditional dishes, the Cassoeula has also been handed down with slight modifications. So you can come across variants of the original recipe depending on the areas of Lombardy. In Brianzafor example, Cassoeula is drier than Milanese, it is more brothy. In the Como area do not put the feet but use the head of the pig, while in the province of Pavia only the pins are used. The most marked difference, however, is recorded in the Novara where pork can be substituted with goose meat.

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