Hounded by the Whore – Pasta alla Puttanesca

The mystery as to the origin of this saucily named pasta dish is not going to be solved any time soon but it would seem that Naples and thereabouts (Ischia) are good contenders.  The word ‘puttana’ in Italian means prostitute or whore … and this dish’s title translates as ‘pasta cooked the whore’s way’.

I happen to have a soft spot for prostitutes because I really can’t imagine it being much fun as jobs go, even though there will always be some clever dick (ooops … the pun just slipped out!) who will remind us that prostitution is the oldest métier in history.  Though not one to be be drawn to novelty for novelty’s sake, I nevertheless think it highly fatuous that so many people tend to sit on the fence when it comes to prostitution simply because it’s been around for thousands of years. So have depression and disease … but we don’t think of these phenomena in shoulder-shrugging terms just because they have been such a close and very unwelcome companion to humanity’s heritage.  The ways of sex are truly mysterious, granted, but love-for-sale is an oxymoron and the sad truth is that … prostitutes are never loved.  Think about it.   Recieved wisdom (wisdom?) views prostitution as an accepted ‘necessity’ of society (and I believe that prostitutes even pay tax in countries such as Switzerland and Holland) but a prostitute will, and can, never command respect and admiration within that same society … not the way a nurse will, or a teacher, or  any other vocation.  Am I making this up?  To me, prostitution is a form of slavery and when one reads of the horrific backgrounds of most of the poor girls’ curriculum, the whole ‘business’ smacks of base abuse.  Here is an article that might be of interest: Hhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/26/government-pressure-review-prostitution-laws .

The pasta dish, on the other hand, is sheer and rustic delight and does not seem to draw any particularly erotic ingredient into its making: tomatoes, anchovy, capers, garlic and olives and some parsley for garnish.
I decided to add a little crunch factor …. and here you see breadcrumbs on the left and a little pan with olive oil in it on the right.  The idea is to toast the breadcrumbs in the oil and then sprinkle them over the pasta just before serving. I cut up the tomatoes and sprinkled salt over them … I sliced some garilc and turned the heat on low to cook it gently in some olive oil … Chilli … this is fresh peperoncino (chilli pepper) …  which is also a good addition. Add as much or as little of the fresh peperoncino … if you don’t have any of the fresh, you can always substitute with dried chilli flakes.  Please note how I have poured in the oil in the middle of the pan, so that what we get is like a ‘puddle’ of olive oil.  This is because if you spread out the olive oil too thinly over the surface of the pan, the garlic won’t get properly coated and the olive oil will not get ‘scented’ with the garlic taste.  You could, alternatively, pour the olive oil to one side and tilt the pan at 45° over the source of heat. I then added some anchovy fillets.  I realise that it can be very annoying to not be given precise quantities … but that is because it all depends on people’s personal taste.  I think that the ‘eye’ is a very good gauger of quantities and this is one of the main reasons for my taking the trouble to chronicle a blow-by-blow explanation of any recipe.

Add the olives when the garlic has turned golden.  Please realise that the above steps are in quick succession and it didn’t take more than about 5 minutes to get to the adding the olives stage.
And, finally, add the tomatoes and cook for a few minutes.  Now is the time to start cooking your pasta (i.e. adding it to the salted, boiling water).  While the pasta is cooking, you can start toasting the breadcrumbs.

Here is the little pan with the olive oil in it …

Add the breadcrumbs and cook them for a few minutes until they turn crisp.  Use a wooden spoon or fork to stir them a bit and be on the look-out for any hint of overcooking, otherwise known as burning! ayeee ayeee ayeee … mine had just started to burn if you look carefully on the top left of the photo … and fortunately I was able to save the rest.

When the pasta is almost but not quite ready to drain, take a ladleful of the cooking water and add it to the sauce.  Turn the heat on again …

Then drain the spaghetti and place them directly into the pan with the sauce.  Turn the heat up and toss the spaghetti with the help of two utensils until the pasta has absorbed al the sauce.  Add a little more of the cooking water if you think it looks a little ‘dry’. Sprinkle the toasted breadcrumbs over the top and garnish with a leaf or two of parsley.It is a very ‘hearty’ pasta dish and not for the faint-palated.  When you are in the midst of enjoying it and taking in the various flavours, it is the sort of dish that makes you think: why don’t we make this more often?  A welcome variation, brought to my notice by my friend Liz, one of the best cooks in real life whose food I have the pleasure to eat, is to put the tomatoes in the oven to cook over a low heat, confit style, drawing out the intensity of the tomato.

The Trick of Chicken and the Brick

The trouble with chicken is … that we no longer consider it ‘special’.  It is fairly cheap to buy, unless it has been raised properly and fed organic feed and what have you, and it is to be found in all the cuisines of the world, nothing exotic about it whatsoever.  Except for KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) which I haven’t had since the 1970s, no one would really consider it ‘exciting’ in any way.  Chicken is reliable, it’s always available, and even people on a diet or wanting to cut down on red meat will eat plenty of it.  In other words, unlike pasta, which is also eaten on a regular basis, the poor chicken rarely receives rave reviews (the one exception would of course be that extremely special chicken from France, ‘le poulet de Bresse’ which I have never seen on sale in Italy).

Last month, my friend L. organised a beautiful tea party — yes! a tea party! when is the last time you heard of anyone hosting a tea party?  It was fabulous — for her daughter who was visiting with her two very young children.  L bakes the wickedest chocolate cake you could ever imagine and so I naturally succumbed (what is a poor girl to do) and tucked into the cake and got carried away by the cheerful carrying-on of some of the little ones and the chatter of the older ones.

Time always flies on these occasions and by the time the afternoon was reaching its close, it was evening by now, and I realised to my dismay that I hadn’t even thought about what to make for supper and that I had to go and buy the food too.  ”Chicken”, my friend suggested with a knowing nod.  She knows what it’s like, having raised a family of four.  And thus chicken it was to be.

Maybe it was the after effects of that delicious cake but I really did not want to serve up any ol’ chicken for my family that evening and so I resorted to the ‘trick’ of the brick.  I’ve written about this already (http://myhomefoodthatsamore.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/the-ultimate-must-have-kitchen-utensil-a-brick/) but the photos of the end result are not good and so I thought I’d repost, in the hope of inspiring you to try this one day.  It requires such little effort and rewards you with a wonderful crunch and savoury taste.  It does a lot to make chicken more exciting!

If you do not own a brick or two, and I expect most people do not, you can always make do with a heavy-bottomed pan filled with water.

Here are the chicken thighs/legs … This is an Italian herb mix that is popularly used for roasts.  Though I am more partial to fresh herbs, I thought the Ariosto would work very well for this recipe. I laid the chicken skin down in a large frying  pan and turned the heat on high.  I sprinkled the Ariosto mixture on top. I then covered the chicken with parchment paper, and lay two bricks over the lot. After about 20 minutes I went to check and see how it was doing … And this is what I found.  By the way, the aroma was already wonderful! So I turned the chicken over and sprinkled some salt and pepper over the cooked sides.I then lay the parchment paper and the bricks as I did before.  You have to ‘press’ the bricks quite hard so that they flatten the chicken.
Twenty minutes later … and this is what it looked like.  Please note, that this time I didn’t add any olive oil whatsoever.  The chicken skin has plenty of fat of its own.The chicken had browned beautifully!  Here it is on the serving plate with some sprigs of rosemary … And this is all the fat that’s left over (I would have cooked potatoes in it if I had made potatoes that evening, but never mind!).And here is a mid-week meal … spinach with raisins and pine kernels, pan-cooked tomatoes, and mushrooms as side dishes to accompany the ‘brick chicken’.

Ooooh, I am such a brick, am I not!!!

Where did the saying ‘you’re a brick’ come from?

I said to my daughter (15) Thanks you’re a brick’ meaning she’s good, kind, cool etc and she looked at me gone out. ok I know it’s from at least 2+ decades ago but where did it come from? or was it just the people I know that used it.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

“brick of a man — A good, solid, substantial person that you can rely upon. The expression is said to have originated with King Lycurgus of Sparta, who was questioned about the absence of defensive walls around his city. ‘There are Sparta’s walls,’ he replied, pointing at his soldiers, ‘and every man is a brick.’” From the “Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins” by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

A Cautionary Tale of Seafood Gnocchi with Clams and Mussels

Gnocchi presented in either a mussel- or clam sauce topped off with rocket leaves were very popular around Rome during the early nineties.  Basically, it was the rocket leaves that were so popular, there was a tendency to strew them all over the place!, and it’s a wonder we didn’t end up eating rocket leaf ice-cream such was the culinary disposition towards these bitter salad leaves.  And I don’t think Mae West had rocket/arugula in mind when she famously said, “Too much of a good thing can be truly wonderful”.  Regardless, this gnocchi dish is actually very good and I hadn’t had it in literally years.  The only big one mistake I made was to buy gnocchi that were really not at all good, sigh.  I can’t describe what exactly was ‘wrong’ with them, they lacked ‘character’ is all I can say … so, if you want to try this recipe, do make sure your gnocchi are up to the mark, it makes all the difference.
Here are the rascals … sold to me upon a retailer’s recommendation who should have known better … Here is the bunch of rocket. I steamed the mussels and clams by placing a lid over the pan …

And this is what they looked like minutes later.

In the meantime, I began preparing the sauce:

Tomatoes and some chilli in a saucpan … Cooking up the olive oil and garlic in a small milk pan.  I’ve written about this ‘technique’ in another post, I’m sure.  Instead of sautéing the garlic in olive oil in a flat pan, it is better to cook it in an upright, smaller pan for two practical reasons: a) you will need less oil and b) all of the garlic will cook evenly and you will also (c) avoid the oil from overcooking altogether.  I am very proud of this invention of mine even though I only resort to it when dealing with recipes involving clams and mussels.As you can see, I rather overcooked the garlic (on the left) but that’s my fault and not that of the milk-pan technique.  Whatever.  I poured the garlic-scented olive oil through a sieve into the pan with the tomatoes and discarded the garlic.

I then added the mussels and clams on the half shell or free of all shell  … This is what got thrown away … This is the liquid/liquor that the clams and mussels released … and there is a bit of sand and grit on the bottom of the pan, if you look closely. I poured this delicious sea-tasting liquid through a fine sieve … I put the gnocchi on to boil … they really take no time at all to cook.  Once they bob up to the surface, give them about a minute and they’re ready. I poured some of the liquor into the sauce … I added the cooked gnocchi.  I turned the heat up so that the gnocchi could guzzle up some of the sauce. I then placed the gnocchi in a bowl and, after, putting some rocket leaves on the top, I added a ladelful of the sauce. It tasted quite nice, as I said, except that the gnocchi were ‘fake’ … I saved the situation by adding some grated pecorino cheese over each individual dish.

And here ends my cautionary tale … if you’re going to make gnocchi, then for goodness sakes make sure they are the good kind.  What could have been a truly delicious dish was reduced to being so-so, nothing to write home about, barely more than plain edible.

Ah the trials and tribulations of the home cook …. sigh ….

The Makeover with Uriah Heep Ingredients: Egg Pasta with Courgettes and Tomatoes

Uriah Heep was, as we all know, very humble and he came to mind when I was having to make lunch about a month ago using very ‘humble’ ingredients: dried egg pasta, courgettes and tomatoes.  I had a little dare with myself to see if I could jiggle about with them and produce something that would raise an appreciative and taken-by-surprise eyebrow.   To do this, I decided to sauté part of the courgettes and fry the rest so as to play about with texture.

I cut up the cherry tomatoes and lavishly sprinkled salt all over them. I gently sweated or sautéed or whatever the verb is … the garlic in olive oil (please note that the olive oil covers the whole of the bottom of the saucepan: this is the rule of thumb, so choose the size of your saucepan carefully). I put the courgettes through a cascading waterfall of a wash …. and then patted them dry. I divided up the courgettes.  Those on the left were for cooking in the pan, and those on the right were for frying. You want to use the green part of the courgettes and discard most of the white.  The white part is basically tasteless (see what I meant about ‘humble’ before?). Add the chopped courgettes to the pan … cook them for about one minute, making sure they are all coated in the lovely garlic-scented olive oil. Then add the tomatoes …. Place a lid over the saucepan and let them cook/steam for a few minutes, until the courgettes are fork tender (this won’t take long, and it all depends on what kind of courgettes you are using). This time, slice the courgettes in rounds. Pat them dry with some kitchen paper or towel … And fry the rounds in plenty of hot olive oil. Drain and set aside. Camerino is a town in the Marche … I really like their egg pasta. Cook the pasta … Grate the parmesan …. (take into account at least one heaped tablespoon per person – I was cooking for 4 people, using 500g of dried egg pasta). When the sauce is ready, taste and add a little more salt if necessary.  And then add whatever herbs you enjoy: in this case it was mint. Make sure the pasta is well coated with the sauce …. I prefer to do this directly in the pan, adding some of the cooking water if it dries out.Sprinkle a lavish amount of parmesan as a snowy cap to the pasta, place the fried courgettes on top, and finish off with a sprig of mint.
I am glad to say that I beat the Uriah Heep right out of this pasta dish … its taste was much ‘richer’ than the common ingredients might suggest.  To finish off with something both Stephane Gabart of My French Heaven (http://myfrenchheaven.com/about/) and Gareth Jones with his Blue Collar Gastronomy would thoroughly appreciate (www.garethjonesfood.com/about) – every meal, even the simplest and least expensive, can be made special.

P.S. I tried sprinkling a little bit of bottarga over my helping of this pasta and … it didn’t really ‘add’ anything – basically it was just a case of painting the lily.   Whereas, I think just a hint of breadcrumbs toasted in olive oil would have supplied the crunch factor.

A dinner with Friends from the Salento (Puglia)

A friend of mine once commented on the fact that when you got to meet new people, and decided to invite them over to dinner to get better acquainted, they would sometimes invite you back to their home for ‘a return match’.  What she meant was that it is sometimes mere politeness that impels us to invite people back to us for dinner — hence the reference to a return match.  I really dislike the whole idea.  For me, hospitality is all about myself having fun and enjoying the dinner or lunch, and return matches be damned!  I can do formal or ‘polite’ meals in a restaurant — but not in my home.

Anyway … a little while ago, my husband ran into the guy who had designed our wedding card.  Not your average, gilt-edged ‘stiffy’ of a wedding invitation card, ours was actually a caricature of myself and my future husband posing as two centaurs, and very amusing at that.  The artist in question really is an artist and a cartoon designer and is now married for the third time, with a most charming wife (don’t know about the others) and two young twins.  They came over for supper earlier this Winter and we had a lovely evening, and my husband was a big hit with the three year-old twins.  When they invited us round for supper at their place, we  were delighted to be asked … and not just for the good company, I have to add, but because wife in question is from Puglia and had promised us a typical dinner from the Salento.

The evening begins with the brightest of colours and the most joyful of energies: young children and a dog … and talk about a colourful kitchen!

Here is our hostess …  busy in the kitchen as we arrived.

I loved the collection of old 78 rpm records on an old gramophone that still works!

And I surely loved the anchovies fried in the lightest of batters …. mouth wateringly good. Crisp and crunchy and incredibly more-ish …. These are called ‘pettole’ …. they are balls of deep fried dough.  English is a very unkind language sometimes … “deep-fried dough” sounds disgusting … and these were succulent and wickedly good!

Fresh burrata …. I really have to get the recipe for this ‘salad’.  ’Salad’ my foot!  this was some concoction of mysterious, tangy, silky unctuousness posing as salad.  It was made up of grilled aubergines, and tomatoes and onions that had been baked in the oven with I don’t know what … Probably THE centre piece of the evening: the ‘pitta’.  It’s a pie … it’s a pie the way Harrods is a shop …. The inside of the pitta is made up of …. caramelised onions. A close-up of this miracle of a ‘pie’. The ‘greens’ … the greens that went with the broad bean puré (puré di fave). Home made breads  ….

The children were playing and singing and … well, just being children.  We, the grown-ups, were sipping our bubbly …. and our hostess just rolled out the dishes onto the table:

There was a main course too …. and dessert.  However, the other incredible dish of the evening was the pasta with chickpeas, called “ciceri e tria”.  I am going to have to try it one of these days …

Here is the home-made pasta … the flour is not the usual OO kind so typical of Italy’s cuisine but, instead, the semolina kind of flour (durum wheat semolina). The pan on the right contains chickpeas that have been boiling, the one on the left contains some olive oil with a clove or two of garlic being browned, and the large pan at the back is full of boiling water (for the pasta). My friend removed the garlic … and then added some of the uncooked pasta to the olive oil: to fry it! She then added the rest of the pasta that had cooked ‘normally’, as well as the chickpeas …at one point, she also added a small amount of the cooking water. She mixed it all up beautifully and ….A good twist of black pepper !  I really can’t tell you how good this was! Incredible!

Delicious.  The ‘ciceri e tria’ and ‘pitta’ and ‘pettole’ were all new to me … and the whole evening was quite wonderful, with the children being good and ‘naughty’ at various intervals and reminding us that chidren, too, are part of an Italian home meal … it was midnight and they were still up.  And I was reminded of the fact that very often my children up stayed up till midnight when we had guests for dinner.  They (my kids) survived.  Indeed, WE (the grown-ups) survived!

PS My children, of course, were delightful … and fairly easy to please, and not at all pesky or just plain ‘pests’ like some other children I have come across … especially those who were always sent to bed at sensible times when their parents wanted to have a good time.  Mmmmm.

False Economy and Wild Asparagus

I loved that episode of “Ab Fab” in which the two girls try and cut down on expenses and so decide to give up having a driver.  One day they decide to shop at the supermarket (http://www.episodeguide.us/absolutely-fabulous/poor/episode/36226/summary.html) and:  ”Supermarket shopping is a first-time experience for both women and they fill up three trolleys. By the time they reach the alcohol, Edina is exhausted and refuses to stick around and buy some. They steal a crate of champagne and go to Harvey Nichols, parking the car on the pavement outside where it is clamped. They continue to break more laws and are caught driving under the influence of alcohol by police. They end up in court and Edina faces a long list of charges. The charges of attempted murder and robbery are dropped. In total, Edina must pay £50,000 in damages and a further fine of £2,000. It appears that getting rid of her driver was a false economy…”

As I enjoy spending money when it solves problems and/or brings happiness, an expense which I like to call ‘investing’ money to distinguish it from its ugly cousin ‘wasting’ money, I am sometimes taken to task for being too ‘generous’ — which of course is just a criticism in disguise.  I have learned to take it on the chin now and just shrug my shoulders but I have to admit that it really is hard work having to deal with people who are smug about not spending money, as opposed to spending money ‘judiciously’ (which is what I think I do).   Despite the fact that no one would dream of associating me and ‘poverty consciousness’ in the same sentence, I too have had to find clever ways of making ends meet over the past few years, ever since the economy started playing hide and seek with us in 2008. I realise just how expensive feeding a family can be and count my blessings in being able to afford good food regularly.  Those few time when I do find myself having to go to supermarkets (I started boycotting them after having read Felicity Lawrence’s “Not on the Label”, the corporations that own them are quite vile even though their wares might be good), it breaks my heart to see mostly immigrant individuals begging for a euro or two outside the entrance and I nearly always buy them something or other.   This does little to assuage my sadness and guilt and anger over poverty … and makes me want to avoid supermarkets (in Italy even) more.

Anyway … back to the subject of good husbandry and thrift.  I thought I’d do a clever act of buying only a few veggies and get rid of any leftovers in the fridge not so long ago, and swelled with inner pride at the thought of the money I would be saving that day.  And so, on my way to driving home, I stopped at a veggie shop and went in to take a look …. and of course I immediately fell in love with the wild asparagus once I set eyes on it!  Wild asparagus are nothing like the other kind and need to be foraged by people with attitude (it is a very time consuming and tiring enterprise), so they do not come cheap – that much I remembered.  To be honest, I do not recall what else I bought … probably some tomatoes and potatoes and fruit.  But boy do I remember the bill: Eu 27 !  I just smiled as I paid over the money and waited for change … I thought of the above-mentioned Ab Fab episode and realised that people like me are better off NOT trying to cut down on expenses: it is an exercise that all too often turns into a False Economy !

Here is the delightful bunch of wild asparagus. Unlike the other kinds of asparagus, these wild babies have very woody stalks, and you need a knife or sharp pair of scissors to cut them off. Here are the woody bits.  However, they are not to be thrown away.  They are excellent for making stock.  I was using them, that evening, to make a pasta dish. After washing the woody bits … I put them on the boil.  I let them boil for 15 minutes. Here, instead, are the more tender parts.  To follow, are the other ingredients : I began by lightly cooking some garlic in olive oil (make sure the garlic does not brown). I chopped up the tomatoes and sprinkled salt directly over them.

I then set them to cook with the olive oil and garlic, on a low heat. After 15-20 mintues, I got rid of the asparagus which would have been inedible anyway … I grated some parmesan cheese …I added the tender parts of the asparagus to the saucepan …

But I kept the most tender parts, i.e. the tips of the asparagus, to add towards the end.

I cooked the asparagus for a few minutes, mixing well and making sure that it would get coated all over with the sauce, and then added a lid so that it would steam to completion. While the asparagus had been cooking, I was also cooking the pasta.  When the pasta was one minute away from cooking time, I drained it and put it directly into the saucepan. I then added the tender tips … and finished cooking the dish until it was just right. On the table and still steaming … A shower of grated parmesan … and enjoy! P.S.  Another extravagance …. peonies …. which I adore! Very good, really yummy.

Little Easter – Pasquetta

Easter has come and gone and we are already looking to the Summer.  As I write this post, I am not even in Italy and wonder why I should bother posting it.  I then take another look at the photos and realise that I like the simplicity of the dishes.  This meal was eaten the day after Easter which goes by the name of ‘Pasquetta’ or ‘little’ Easter.

Easter, inspired as it is by the Christian faith, enters the Italian language by way of sayings and proverbs, the most famous of which is ‘felice come una Pasqua’, to mean ‘as happy as Easter’ – just as in English one could say ‘as pleased as Punch’.  I suspect that the joy referred to by the metaphorical Easter has more to do with the end of the self-imposed rationing of food during Lent (40 days just like the 40 days Christ spent in the desert) than with the risen Christ.  The colour purple is considered unlucky for actors in Italy, and that is because during Lent (when purple was the colour to adorn the churches) they were not allowed to perform which meant, of course, that they would not be earning any money.  So, who knows, maybe it was the actors who started up the phrase ‘felice come una Pasqua’ because they would finally  be able to perform/earn again and eat a decent meal.

Another saying goes like this: it is important that you spend Christmas with your family, but you can spend Easter with anyone you like (‘Natale con i tuoi, Pasqua con chi vuoi’), which makes no sense to me whatsoever since I am sure that in the past, Easter Sunday would have been most certainly celebrated within the home with family and loved ones. The following day, instead, Easter Monday that is … has traditionally been seen as a day to go out into the countryside for a picnic.  It is a lovely tradition and we all love it but this year it was pouring with rain, and we were quite happy to stay in and watch some films.  The meal we had was not exactly a picnic (ha ha ha) but still hinted at the freshness of Spring and the bounty that his lovely planet presents us with at this time of year.

Here is the completed dish, made up of olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and previously blanched cavolacci.   Boiled potatoes, served with olive oil and mint leaves. Fresh borlotti beans, previously boiled, and now heated up in a pan with olive oil, garlic and sage. Fresh ricotta and primosale cheese bought by the Sardinian shepherd (the one with a Russian wife – I’ve spoken of them before, I am sure) … and that’s it.  Some bread and wine and voila … the Pasquetta picnic is complete.