Tag: foody

Recipes of Calabria

8.1.2019

A PLENTY OF RECIPES

Calabria is a terrain somehow ideal as location for breeding. This unique territory allows to pigs, lambs and goats to roam around. Therefore, the sun and hardy soil make for an ideal environment to grow an abundance of animals and also vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, zucchini, mushrooms, sweet fruits and olive. Calabrian olive oil is used also to preserve all afore mentioned products.

Cured pork products give raise to a wide selection of salami, from soppresata Calabrese to capicolla. They accompany Pasta, which is eaten daily in  Calabria; the homemade version is generally made only with semolina flour and water.

Therefore, a typical recipe is, combining such ingredients, “Pasta al forno”, a traditional Calabrian dish of baked pasta dressed in homemade sauce. The latter is made with ground meat and with fresh mozzarella, salami, hard-boiled eggs and ham. The dish is widely prepared as Sunday dish. Further, inside this recipe, it normal to meet, mixed or topped, the the very famous “peperoncino”. Whether fresh, dried, whole or crushed, rarely there is a meal made without some form of this spice. Famous throughout the country and varying in heat intensity, Calabria’s chili peppers are practically a must of this cuisine.

A second recipe, using main local ingredients, is ‘Nduja, one of Calabria’s most famous and beloved foods! This soft, spreadable spicy sausage is a blend of local chili peppers, meat and salami. It is unique in Spilsby, a town in the province of Vibo Valentia, where it is made with the pork fat and lots of chili.

A third recipe is “Lagane e cicciari”. This pasta dish is made with wide noodles, chickpeas, garlic and oil.

We can mention also “Pasta ccu ri sarde”, a dish of Fresh sardines with breadcrumbs, raisins and pine nuts.

Another one is “Pasta e patate ara tijeddra”, a dish from the town of Cosenza where ingredients – pasta, potatoes, tomato sauce, cheese and breadcrumbs – are taken raw and cooked together on the stove, then put briefly in the oven to obtain a crispy crust.

“Maccheroni col ferretto” (also known as “Scilatelle”) is made from semolina durum wheat and water, using a special ‘ferretto’ a long piece of metal, to make a hole in the maccheroncini.  They are served with very rich sauces, such as beef, pork or goat ragu, or with ‘nduja.

“Licurdia” is a soup of different vegetables such as escarole, Swiss chard, asparagus or carrots. Another fundamental ingredient is the red onion of Tropea, the star of this dish, giving it flavor and sweetness. The vegetables are cooked with lard and water for a few minutes; once they have melted and turned into a cream, they are placed in a dish over slices of toasted bread, with red peppers and pecorino cheese to top it off.

From vegetables, Calabrians obtain “Ciambotta”, a dish of eggplants, tomatoes, onion and herbs, a little bit varying from city to city.

Among the more delicious Calabrian sweets, there is “Pignolata”, similar to “Struffoli” of Campany. It is a “mountain” of fried honey balls-shaped kind of sweet. Originally coming from a Sicilian recipe, Pignolata is very popular in the region, especially in the city of Reggio Calabria, during holidays like Carnevale and Christmas.

OTHER RECIPES OF CALABRIA

“Ricotta Affumicata Crotonese” is a product of upper Crotonese and town of Mammola. The recipe provides that “ricotta” is the whey that remains from the processing of milk. Once formed the ricotta is smoked for a few days, exposing it  to wood smoke, fragrant plants and chestnuts. Also “Giuncata” is a very special recipe, a cream of cheese produced in Sila and the Plain of Sybaris. The name comes from the practice of collecting the curd in cane containers, which give the cheese its unusual surface texture. It is a smooth texture, delicate, with a slightly acidic taste.

In the field of breads, we can cite “Pane di Cerchiara”, the most popular breads, coming from the town of Cerchiara, in the area of Pollino. It is cooked in furnaces and sold in every bakeries of Calabria.  “Pane di Mangone” is also quite famous, it is cooked in Mangone, a small village in the province of Cosenza, and due to its special baking method, it stays soft for days. “Sguta”, instead, is a bread neriched of raw egg, cooked in the oven and eaten either sweet or savoury. “Pitta bread” is a traditional Calabrian flatbread with a crunchy crust and a soft inside, stuffed with peppers, tomatoes and herbs, or with sausage and peppers, or with broccoli and caciocavallo cheese…the options are many, and pitta sure is a favorite during feast days and also a classic Calabria street food. Finally, “Pane del Pescatore” is a bread enriched with eggs and dried fruits, reflecting the Greek and Arabic flatbread influences.

Among the sweets, it is hard not to mention the traditional licorice of Rossano Calabro, known since 1700, or “Mostaccioli”, any sweets of Arabic origin made with honey and sweet wine. “Mostaccioli”, produced originally in Soriano Calabro, are now widespread throughout Calabria, similar to hard and dry cookies and sometimes enriched with warm must. We have to cite also “Torrone di Bagnara”, a sweet nougat, and “Gelato alla crema reggina”, a creamy pastry preparation usually consumed as gelato,  typical of the province of Reggio Calabria and with a pinkish color.

New Life of ‘Nduja in the Kitchen

18.11.2018

A SLOW EVOLUTION 

From its beginning, a poor street salami, to the symbol of Calabrian gastronomy,  ‘nduja has become an almost international product, known not only in Spilinga, in the province of Vibo Valentia, but all over Italy and Europe, crossing regional borders in the last twenty years.

It is a food with a long history, so much so that the first traces lead to the nineteenth century. Very poor origin, even the etymology could date back to that period, with possible derivation from “andouille”; the hypothesis is based on the presence of the Napoleonic army in Calabria. That “andouille” was a French sausage based on tripe (and not only) pork.

Nowadays, ‘nduja is a sausage based on pork entrails which, once seasoned, is cut into slices, boiled, cut into small pieces and used to flavor soups (wild fennel, cabbage, beans).

Today the ‘nduja is produced throughout all the region of Calabria, is a spreadable salami demonized by dieticians for its fat content, unsuitable for palates not prone to spicy, loved by everyone else. Indeed, one of its basic ingredient is chilli pepper, which in Calabria is cultivated, especially, on the plateau of Monte Poro, where Spilinga stands.

 

THE RECIPE

The “recipe” of the ‘ndujais simple. Its realization is however complex: the play of balance between lean and fat meat, between sweet and spicy pepper and between meat, hot pepper and salt is made complicated by the degree of spiciness, which varies significantly even among fruits born from the same plant. The artisan can not follow precise doses and therefore to help him, more than the balance, are the experience and the taste.

It is its advantage the uselessness of adding preservatives of any kind: it is just the bactericidal function of the pepper to guarantee food safety.

At the contrary, certain excesses are an eventual defect of ‘nduja. Indeed, a very unbalanced portion  of salami or the amount of capsaicin (the substance that determines the degree of spiciness) can be often capable to cover the taste of meat and to anesthetize the palate throughout the meal.

It is not, as you might think, a choice made to reduce costs: the chilli, in fact, is much more expensive than meat. Therefore, the secret of a good ‘nduja lies in the correct balance between its components.

However, this is a necessary but not sufficient condition to obtain a perfect salami: in fact, another important role is played by duration of meat processing, which is used to prevent fat rancidity (a rather common defect in low-level products).

Then comes the time of packaging inside the “orba” (the small intestine of the pig, used for the larger size sausages, which are considered the best). Alternatively, is used the “crespone”, a thinner casing, suitable for small-cut nduja.

The bagging phase is completely manual.

The aging lasts from 45 to 90 days and is mainly used to dry the dough which, thanks to the high percentage of fat, is always soft. Some artisans add a further organoleptic note through a slight smoking that contributes to the roundness of taste.

The ‘nduja is not produced only in Spilinga, even if it is right here that a good number of quality craftsmen is concentrated there. In Acri, at the foot of the Sila, is indeed present a certain amount of companies; theirs is a small-scale activity and for this reason it can afford a very short supply chain: Calabrian black pigs reared at home and fed with cereals produced on the farm, sweet and spicy pepper grown in the land owned, small machines (al maximum 60 kg of dough at a time, to prevent it from heating up during preparation). The production phase is rapid: no more than a week passes from the time of slaughter to maturing.

 

THE NEW LIFE OF ‘NDUJA IN THE KITCHEN

The success of the ‘nduja also passes for its rediscovery by the chefs. ‘Nduja, bread and red wine are a typical combination which enriches plates of pasta with sauce of tomatoes and onions, taken at the market, adding also the perfume of mint and bay leaf.

‘Nduja shall be melt over a low flame, mixing it with the pasta in the sauce and at the end sprinkling it with smoked ricotta or semi-seasoned pecorino, being also recommends to never cook the salami but only to heat it, in such a way to facilitate its break-up.

These dishes are the reinterpretation of a traditional Sunday dish, the macaroni with underwire with pork sauce and ‘nduja.

In the home cooking, moreover, ‘nduja has many other uses: in bean soup, spread on bruschetta, mixed with sheep’s ricotta, in the salad of ripe tomatoes enriched by two other products symbol of Calabrian gardens like oregano and onion Tropea.

 

IN THE STREET FOOD

The decided taste of ‘nduja is also a protagonist in the street food world: calzoni, panzerotti, potato croquettes, arancini, supplì, pizzas.

In the street it is a truly extraordinary dish, tasting ‘nduja in combination with a glass of “Pecorello”, an indigenous white vine, or with another local wine, Abbruzzino, accompanying it with an excellent bread kneaded with ‘nduja and, in the autumn, with an emulsion of porcini mushrooms.