prezza Tag

Prezza Stuffed Artichokes

Stuffed Artichokes

My hometown in Prezza is famous for its artichokes.  They are smaller and sweeter than the traditional globe ones  and can be sampled in a trillions ways at the town’s annual artichoke festival.

Here is my favourite recipe to serve them stuffed as an antipasti or alongside roast lamb for a very special dinner

Stuffed Artichokes

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Serves: 3

A stuffed artichoke recipe from the balcony of Abruzzo
Ingredients
  • 6 Artichokes
  • 2 cups of plain bread crumbs
  • 1 cup Pecorino Cheese grated
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese grated
  • 8 oz Pancetta chopped small
  • 2 Garlic Cloves finely chopped
  • 1 handful of Italian Parsley
  • 4 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Remove all the outside leaves from the artichokes until you reach the lighter leaves.
  2. Cut the top off the artichokes to remove the hardest part of the leaves. Remove the external skin of the stems and save them.
  3. Place the cleaned artichokes and the stems in a bowl with water and lemon. The lemon juice will prevent the artichokes from darkening and will reduce their bitterness.
  4. Prepare the filling: Mix together the breadcrumbs, Parmesan and Pecorino cheese. Add the parsley, garlic, salt and pepper and mix well. Add a little olive oil to bind the mixture together.
  5. Rinse the artichokes and dry them.Open the artichokes by separating the leaves with your fingers. Stuff the filling into the artichokes by pressing the mixture in and between the leaves.
  6. Place a cup of white wine, then a cup of water, then 2 tblsp. of olive oil and a clove of garlic in a large saucepan. Place the artichokes and stems in the pan, filled side up, cover the pan and simmer for 45 mins. or until artichokes are tender. They will be tender when ready.
  7. Serve with a sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil.

 

Mimina the Butcher’s Wife Porchetta

There are few things as irresistible as the aromatic succulence and crackling of porchetta; temptation is never harder than when walking past a porchetta van during a morning market…and succumbing never so sweet…!

Slow Roasted Decadence

Each Friday my cousin Mimina and her husband who own the town’s butcher shop freshly grind their home-grown peperoncini (chili), rosemary and garlic together ready for the town’s weekend porchetta.  They tightly tie the string around the stuffed scored meat to keep the flavours where they should be before cooking it slowly overnight in their gigantic oven. Early in the morning, they pick up the soft potato bread that is traditionally served with porchetta in Prezza, before carrying both into their butcher’s shop, ready to tempt townsfolk to the world’s finest pulled pork.

Outside of a grand family occasion, there aren’t many in Prezza who regularly make their own make their own porchetta.  Although the Abruzzesi are famous for their social and generous eating, they are also keenly frugal too.  They recognise there is little point in keeping an oven lit overnight when porky perfection can be purchased from the local butcher that uses Abruzzo’s acclaimed pork.

Social Eating without Leftovers

Historically Abruzzo’s mountainside communities would invest and work together in raising a pig on the collective scraps from their table; as families became richer there would be a pig raised per each extended family.  This was a true ‘tail to nose’ venture with almost nothing thrown away as the meat was divided into creating the very best sausages, salami and prosciutto that would be air-cured or kept sotto olio (under oil) to sustain entire families throughout the winter.  Abruzzo’s pork remains a highly-prized product; in the province of Chieti there is a whole museum devoted to the pig and the culinary riches it has provided the region, and we in Prezza are forever grateful to Mimina’s family and their legendary Abruzzo porchetta recipe.

Mimina the Butcher's Wife Porchetta

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Cook time: 

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Serves: 6

There are few things as irresistible than the aromatic succulence and crackling of porchetta; temptation is never harder... and succumbing is never so sweet...!
Ingredients
  • 2.25 kg boneless Pork Shoulder with the Rind
  • 44 g Salt
  • 6 g Black Peppercorns
  • 4 g Peperoncini (Chili)
  • 4 g Fresh Rosemary
  • 1 tbsp. Bay Leaves
  • 10 cloves Sulmona Garlic or 16 cloves standard garlic
Instructions
  1. Ask your butcher to butterfly your joint of meat so that you have a flat piece of meat.
  2. Wash the meat (not the skin) and dry carefully with paper towels and sprinkle freshly ground salt onto its skin.
  3. Whizz the remaining salt and stuffing ingredients together in an electric spice grinder or in a pestle and mortar.
  4. Stand the meat skin side down on a table and spread your paste evenly across your piece of meat.
  5. Roll it up and tie tightly with string.
  6. Roast in the oven at 180 C (350 F) about 2 hours and a half til crisp
  7. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

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Nonna's Baccala

Nonna’s Chunky Prezza Baccalà

This rustic baccalà (salt cod) dish has remained one of my favourite dishes since I first ate it as a child in Prezza Abruzzo.  Like all chefs I love ingredients which are natural soulmates which potato and baccalà (salt cod) certainly are, whilst the recipe’s other pair, olives and tomatoes add a subtle agro-dolce tang to this 1-pan dish.

In Abruzzo baccalà still, retains its crown as being the most popular  fish eaten across each of the 4 provinces, which is unusual in Italian cooking as it is not a ‘local’ ingredient.  Like most of Italy,  its popularity was established through its salty durability that allowed those living in the mountains a taste of the sea.  Don’t be surprised by some restaurants in Abruzzo who once a week will create a whole menu around their beloved baccalà.   If you join us for an Italian cooking holiday  you can experience how it is served on Abruzzo’s UNESCO protected coastline, when we eat ‘local’ and enjoy a 10-course fish extravaganza aboard a trabocco.

 

Nonna’s Chunky Prezza Baccalà

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Serves: 4

Ingredients
  • 10 oz Baccala fillets (280 g)
  • 1½ White Onions cut into chunks
  • 2 medium Yellow Potatoes cubed
  • 10 Black or Kalamata Olives sliced
  • 10 Cherry Tomatoes cut in half
  • 1 tsp. chopped fresh Oregano
  • 3 tsp. chopped fresh Parsley
  • 1 pinch of fresh Rosemary
  • 2 chopped Garlic Cloves
  • 4 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • ¾ cup White Wine (180 ml )
  • ¾ cup Water (180 ml)
Instructions
  1. Rinse and soak the baccalà fillet in cold water for between 24-48 hours before you are due to cook it, changing the water 3 times.
  2. Rinse the baccalà and dry it on paper towels.
  3. Mix together the onion, parsley, rosemary and garlic and saute in the olive oil in a large frying pan or skillet.
  4. Cut the fish into small pieces and saute in the herbs and onion. Continue cooking and add the white wine.
  5. Add cherry tomatoes, sliced olives and oregano and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
  6. Add the potato pieces and water, cover and continue cooking until potatoes are almost tender.
  7. Add salt and pepper to taste and finish cooking uncovered to reduce liquid for about 4 minutes.
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