How to Cook Eel

Cooking the Capitone or  Anguilla (the Capitone  is the female) is typical of the tradition of some Italian regions. We chose a recipe from Puglia, the  land of our father, assuming that those who are cooking the eel request the  fishmonger to prepare it.

The only tip:
If cooked with the skin: Rub the eel  with salt to remove the slimy skin.

If cooked without skin ,pass the eel  over a flame so that the skin is swollen and come off more easily. The best way to take the skin off,would be to do while it is  still alive, but the operation is not at all pleasant

1.2 kg of eel
250 gr.canned tomatoes
1 cup of vinegar

1 cup dry white wine
 2 bay leaves
 1 / 2 golden onion
 2 cloves of garlic
 1 bunch of parsley
 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
 1 peperoncino ( Italian  hot pepper)
 salt

Put the eel in water and vinegar for 1 hour. Wash it and cut it into pieces of 5 cm. Without removing the skin.
Put the oil in a pan and when hot cook the pieces  with the bay leaves.

Add half a glass of wine, let evaporate, remove the pieces of eel from the pan.
Chop onion, garlic, parsley and pepper and  cook them  in the pan
Add another half glass of wine and when it has evaporated add the tomatoes, then half of a liter of water and when it has  partly evaporated, add  the pieces of  the eel
Cook for 20 minutes. Take  them out of the sauce and let cool.
Remove  the central spine bone .

 Put the fillets in the sauce and heat before serving.

Italian Family Tomato Sauce

Tomatoe sauce is probably the most  used of our  sauces and for this reason we give a lot of attention in choosing the right tomatoes or the right  canned tomatoes to make it.

Salsa di Pomodoro

500 gr. ripe tomatoes

(or 400 gr. peeled  canned tomatoes)

50 gr. onion

50 gr. carrots

50 gr. celery

parsley

basil

2 spoonfuls oil

salt ,pepper, sugar

Cut all the vegetables in small pieces .Pour the oil in a casserole and cook the chopped vegetables for 10 minutes  on moderate heat .Add the tomatoes possibly cut in half by hand and let them cook for 30 /40 minutes. Put them through a vegetable mill and then  cook them with oil, a small  glass warm water, salt, pepper, basil, parsley and 2 pinches sugar and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

You can add:

* A little sugar will take out some of the Tomatoes' acidity..

* A little peperoncino (Italian hot Chili pepper)will give  a hot taste

* A little cream will create  a more delicate taste.

Neapolitan Timbale

The film Big Night of 1996 presents a timbale Neapolitan 

"The ear drum is a drum ... 

and inside there are good things in the world!": 

First prepare the recipe as Pelaggi, the cook chariot Night

It 'a recipe for a while' complex, which requires two days of preparation. 
It is commonly cooked as well as being complex is a rich dish, for many people

Timballo Napoletano

To prepare it for 6 / 8 people
8 dl wet sauce
500 g macaroni
50 g butter
400 g of diced mozzarella
100 g of grated parmesan cheese
500 g of meat patties

for wet sauce
1.5 kg of pork (walker)
500 g of chopped onions
900 g bacon, cut into slices
1 dl of olive oil
50 g of lard
1 / 2 dl dry and full bodied wine
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 sprigs of thyme
1 bunch of basil abundant
500 g of tomato paste
1 l of tomato puree
Salt and pepper

for meatballs
1 / 2 kg of cooked meat sauce, stewed
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 egg
Salt q.b.
flour
Oil for frying

for the pastry
500 g of flour
250 g of sugar
250 g of lard
6 egg yolks

The day before

You begin to prepare the sauce by placing the wet rosemary and thyme over the meat. Then wrap with slices of bacon and tie tightly with kitchen string. Choose a saucepan that is neither too broad nor too narrow for the volume of meat. Put on the bottom of the oil and lard, then add the onions, lying over the meat and cook over medium heat until the meat acquires a dark amber crust. 

You must do this constantly checking the cooking, adding a little wine when necessary, and stirring constantly. When the meat is very colorful and onions dried completely, remove the meat from the sauce and keep warm without teasing. Lower the temperature for cooking at low heat, add the tomato paste to the gravy and stir with a wooden spoon slowly. When the sauce starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, pour a little wine and continue stirring. This work must be done until the sauce becomes thick and creamy, it will take about two hours of continuous presence. Now put back the meat, cover with tomato sauce, salt slightly, stir, cover the pan, leaving a small gap between the edge and the cover, and simmer slowly on fire sweet sauce. Will be ready when he bought a thick syrup, about 1 hour. Remove the meat from the sauce and add basil. The walker is left to cool and removed the wire from the kitchen, chop finely and then prepare the meatballs.While the sauce is cooking, prepare the dough by kneading with your hands quickly all the ingredients to make a thick dough and let rest for at least an hour in the refrigerator covered with a cloth. Then prepare the meatballs, the size of hazelnuts, with 500 g of minced meat mixed with 1 egg earlier, the chopped parsley and a pinch of salt. Fry in hot oil and keep aside. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.

On the same day: the big day!

Cook the macaroni al dente, drain, toss with sauce moist, butter, parmesan and let cool. Grease a cake tin and pull the top ring of 30 cm in diameter and cover the bottom and edges with a third of the dough you've stretched thin, about 1 / 2 cm. It is important that the pasta po'dai a protruding edges so that you can easily close the pie with the other disk of dough. Disponeteci over half of the macaroni, distribuiteci over the meatballs, mozzarella into cubes, sprinkle with the Parmesan advanced, then cover with the remaining macaroni. Cover the pastry with tympani advanced pressing down the edges to hold onto the first. Brush surface with beaten egg her and cook for about 45 minutes in the oven to 180 degrees. Before removing

How to prepare Roasted Meat on the Stove

Searching for suggestions for an Italian Christmas meal , roasted meat cooked on the stove

Arrosto Farcito Alle Erbe  

900g best end of veal

6 slices  smoked pancetta

Sage , Rosemary,  Parsley 

1 onion

1 glass dry white wine

3 cloves of garlic

70g butter

Salt,pepper

    

Chop  sage,rosemary,parsley and garlic.

Place a slice of pancetta around the meat. Spread the slices with the very-finely chopped herbs and garlic. Brown the onion in the butter in a casserole. Bind the meat and place it in this. Brown the meat, season with salt and pepper and pour on the wine. Let the wine evaporate at a high temperature. Then cook the meat over a low flame for c. 1½ hours. As the meat is cooking, pour on a little warm water so that the sauce does not dry out. Once cooked, unbind the meat, slice it and serve.

Turkey Breast with milk

During our Italian Cooking Classes this year we’ve many times surprised our students with a turkey recipe :

Tacchino al latte

800 gr.turkey breast

30 gr. butter

3 spoons olive oil

3 spoons red wine vinegar

 1 l. milk

½ onion

1 carrot,

2 stalks of celery 

salt,pepper

Chop onion, carrot and celery.Melt the butter in a pan with some oil. Saute the vegetables. Put the turkey in the pan adding salt and pepper.

Brown it slightly on each side. Add the vinegar and let it evaporate.

Add the milk ,let it cook for 40 minutes at a moderate flame , turning the meat sometimes. 

Serve  the meat sliced , pouring the sauce on top.

Suggestion: use pork.

Italian Chicken Soup

 
1 hen or chicken

1 carrot. 

1 red onion

1 stock of celery

2 potatoes

water

Chicken soup is made by bringing to a boil and then simmering hen or chicken  in water, with various vegetables and flavorings. The classic Italian chicken soup consists of a clear broth, often served with small pasta,small ravioli or tortellini. 

Chicken soup has also a reputation  for  colds and flus, and  is considered a classic comfort food. Traditionally, chicken soup is prepared using old hens too tough and stringy to be roasted or cooked for a short time.  Old hens are to be preferred ,when available, for soups even if this will take more time to cook
Cook the hen/chicken in abundant( at least 3 liters) water with a pinch of rock salt. Bring to a boil with high flame and then let it simmer. Let it cook for at least a couple of hours if it is a hen , otherwise an hour is usually enough, skimming it  regularly.

Wash and  slice the vegetables. Cook them in  another pot with 2 liters water and a pinch of salt for 40 minutes. When the hen/chicken is cooked ,take it out from the broth and cut in pieces to be served with  pickled, mayonnese ,or with the cooked vegetable or  sauté in a pan with  oil, sage, rosemary  and wine.

Filter the broth through a  canvas to get rid of all the possible fat. Mix the broth with the vegetable broth and let it cook for half an hour.

Now your broth is ready to be  served  with any kind of small soup pastas cooked in it for 10 minutes.

Panzanella,Tuscan Salad

It’s a sunny and hot summer in Chianti, Tuscany , and after a week of cooking classes we have leftover of Tuscan bread . Perfect ! we can prepare a Panzanella This dish is a bread salad , popular in the Tuscan countryside in summer months . It includes stale bread , flavourful tomatoes , red onion, basil , extra vergin olive oil, good red wine vinegar , salt and pepper.
Sometimes it is considered a “leftover salad” and you can add other ingredients including cucumber, capers , hard boiled eggs, tuna, garlic , carrots , bell pepper
In Southern Italy they substitute basil with oregano

Panzanella

Stale bread
Ripe tomatoes sliced
Basil
Red onion
(Cucumbers)
Olive oil
Vinegar
Salt, Pepper
Leave the bread to soak in cold water for 15 minutes. When it is soft, take some in your hands a little at a time and squeeze it well. Put the bread in a salad bowl and add the tomatoes, the onion and the basil leaves. Stir everything well and put the bowl in the refrigerator. When you are ready to serve the panzanella, add some vinegar.