Artichoke Omelet the Florentine Way

How about a nice "tortino" Florentine-style made with some tender spring artichokes?

There are lots of recipes for this on Internet but, as far as I can see, most of them are WRONG!

In principle, with this recipe you should obtain a fluffy omelet that rises in the oven like a soufflé and is filled with crisp, flavorful pieces of artichoke.

I've had this only a couple of times in Florence, in one of those old-fashioned trattoria where you just know that you're eating traditional food of the best kind, and it's taken me several tries before I could perfect the recipe.

I could refer you of course to Artusi, the author of the definitive treatise on Tuscan cuisine, but I'll share with you the little secrets that I have discovered that ensure your tortino will come out just right. 

It's very easy to do but it requires some care. AND good ingredients. Of course, that's a general rule: if you want to prepare good food you just can't skimp on the quality of the ingredients. For example, for frying, I ALWAYS use olive oil. Not necessarily the best most expensive quality, but it's got to be real olive oil: it has a great advantage over all other types of oil on the market. Because of the way it withstands heat, it fries a lot better. AND it's the least bad for your health. AND the best tasting.

Now, back to the artichoke tortino. Turn your oven on (especially if it takes time to heat up like mine does): set it at 180° or mark 6 or whatever heat you normally use to roast a chicken. In other words, hot but not too hot.

Then start with the artichokes. You need 2 small ones per person (or a big one/person - but better small). I use the small variety you find in Italy, the ones with leaves tinged with a lovely violet color.

Actually you can use any type of artichoke, provided you prepare them correctly: you have to peel the stem (to get rid of the thick, string-like fibers) and take out all the external leaves that are tough. Then cut off the artichoke tips, leaving only about half the leaves on, or even less. 

Be vicious about it! 

Once you overcome the impression that you're throwing everything away, it is in fact very satisfying to get rid of all those dark green leaves! What you should have left in your hand is just a tiny, tender, yellow-leaf artichoke, maybe half or less of what it looked like before you started hacking at it.

Then cut it in 4 or even 6 pieces lengthwise. And scrape the inside to get rid of that hair which is in the center and is obviously inedible. 

At that point, quickly throw the pieces in cold water to which you've added the juice of 1/2 lemon: the purpose of this is to prevent the artichokes of turning black on you.

Next, lay all the pieces on kitchen paper and pat them dry. Then throw them in a bowl and flour them.

Heat olive oil in a deep pan (at least a couple of inches) and when it's close to smoking (but NOT smoking!) throw your floured artichoke pieces in. 

You should shake off the extra flour and throw them in ONE by ONE. Let them fry until they're a nice golden color and crisp. Take them out with a perforated spoon and set them to dry on paper.

Now prepare the omelet in the usual way, beating together  two eggs per person (but never make a tortino with less than 3 eggs: it won't work!). Salt and pepper to taste, a little grated parmigiano (optional) and throw in the fried artichokes.

Oil (or butter) an oven-going pyrex dish, pour the egg-artichoke mixture in it, sprinkle with a little grated Parmigiano cheese and put the whole thing in your (now hot) oven.

It takes about 20 minutes to bake (or more depending on the size of your tortino). Watch it rise and turn golden. Check  with a toothpick to see whether it's done, but then it's a matter of taste: some people like it real done, others prefer it moist. In any case, don't be disappointed when it starts to come down after you've taken it out of the oven. That's normal: after all, it isn't a French soufflé! It's just an oven-baked omelet...

Ma che buono!

Have a nice glass of red wine ready and warm crusty bread and let me know how you like it!

It's a guaranteed comfort food...

A Mystery Swiss Cheese: Schabziger and What To Do With It

I recently received from a Swiss friend who stayed with me in our house in Umbria a lovely gift: two little forms of green Schabziger, a mystery Swiss cheese made in the Glarner mountains, following a 550-year old recipe.  

And it's not made anywhere else. Today, there is only one manufacturing plant for this cheese, in the canton of Glarus, run by Geska A.G. since 2000.

It comes in very small forms, each only 100g, and here it is, looking smart in its classic green and white box, I remember it from the time I was a kid (and I won't tell you how long ago that was!):

It is a dry, skim cow milk cheese flavored with a special herb called blue fenugreek that is (surprisingly) also widely used in Georgian cuisine. The plant blooms in June and looks very pretty:

Schabziger reportedly was first made by monks in the 8th century. The exact specification on how to make this cheese was laid down during a cantonal assembly in 1463. As noted by Wikipedia, the cheese from that moment, bore a stamp of origin, making it one of the earliest protected brands in the world.

This so-called "green Swiss cheese" is in fact little known outside of Switzerland. The only two countries where it sells are Germany and the Netherlands though it is commercialized in the United States under the brand name of Sap Sago. Nobody knows why, possibly a corruption of the way the name sounds in German or a reference to "sap" as in tree sap, the vital lymph. Apparently it was brought to America in the 19th century and sold in New York pharmacies, thus presumably seen as having a medicinal value - which indeed it has, since it is very low in fats. But that may also be a reason why its use remained limited, since it was associated with medical use rather than seen as a normal food.

It is normally grated, mixed with butter and spread on bread. But I thought there should be other ways to use it. I googled some recipes and the best site I came across is this one run by Geska, click here to see the website and here to download their best pdf brochure. 

But I thought I'd experiment, using Italian products like mascarpone. One obvious use for Schabziger is to sprinkle it over Fettucine all'Alfredo, replacing the grated Parmesan. But I thought I'd try it over boiled potatoes. So here is the dish I concocted last Sunday, really simple to do: 

Ingredients for 4 persons

• 1 form Schabziger, grated 
• 5 medium-sized potatoes, boiled and peeled 
• 150 g Mascarpone (or any other available cream cheese) 
• butter 
• 1 clove garlic, peeled 
• grated nutmeg 
• breadcrumbs (as needed to cover the dish)  
• pepper and (optional) very little salt (remember the Schabziger cheese is salty even though the Mascarpone isn't)

Method:

1. Rub a pyrex dish (that goes in the oven) with a garlic clove, then butter it. 

2. Slice the boiled potatoes (thick slices) and lay in the dish

3. Mix the mascarpone with enough milk to make it a little creamier and add the grated Schabziger and a pinch of nutmeg

4. Cover with breadcrumbs and dot with butter

5. In a warm oven for ten minutes, then turn on the grill until a golden crust is formed. 

Here it is, enjoy!

Tastes great, it accompanies beautifully any roast meat and is even good by itself with a nice glass of red wine!


 

Clear Broth with Clams and Zucchini

This is really very simple to do. The quality of the result will as always depend on the quality of the ingredients... alas, that is an unbending rule of good cooking!

Ingredients for 4 persons:

- one pound clams (vongole in Italy) - the best are the wild ones, straight from the sea but those from fish farming are okay too.
- 2 cloves garlic
- one whole zucchini or two if small, better if from a bio-garden but again, the other kind is ok.
- a couple of fresh tomatoes, as red and tasty as possible, peeled
- a tender celery heart
- vegetable broth: here you can cheat and use the Knorr powdered product, it is wholly acceptable. Or be brave and do your own broth, boiling together all the basic vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, parsley, leeks etc)

Method:

1. As always, you wash the clams well and put them in a pot with a tight-fitting lid, adding a couple of peeled garlic gloves sliced lengthwise so that the flavor spreads out easily (do not salt of course). Set over a high fire, close the lid and wait for the clams to burst open (you can hear them click against the pot's metal). It takes about 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile you dice the zucchini in very small bits and slice the celery heart and cut the peeled tomatoes in half or in quarters (depending on size). You can also use unpeeled tomatoes if you prefer but then you will need to pull off the skin once they have cooked in the broth.

3. Clean the clams out of their shells and reserve - throw away the shells and the garlic pieces but keep the broth, making sure there's no sand in it (it there is, strain and use only the sand-free broth)

4. Top off the clam broth with vegetable broth (made from Knorr powder or from scratch using the usual vegetables, see above) in a proportion of two (vegetable broth) to one (clam broth).

5. Bring to a boil and throw in your diced vegetables, they will cook in a matter of two or three minutes. Take off the fire and pour in the clams. Sprinkle some chopped parsley (optional) and you're done!

And excellent, light starter.

Gnocchi with Cheese Sauce, Green Asparagus and Fried Speck Slivers

This is the finished dish after it's gone through the oven until it's golden, yummy!

Ingredients

• potato gnocchi : avge 150g/serving (buy ready-made), 500 g minimum for 4 persons

•  Swiss cheese: 200 g (half a cup) grated

•  Parmigiano cheese: 2 or 3 tablespoons, grated

• green asparagus: at least one dozen asparagus boiled in salted water: reserve one cup of the cooking liquid

• 100 g of Speck ham

• One cup milk  (skim milk if your prefer)

Method

1. Make the cheese sauce using one cup of the asparagus cooking liquid and one cup of milk. This cheese sauce does not need to be done with butter (better for your health, fewer calories!)

• Start with a big tablespoon of flour in one cup of cold milk + one cup of the asparagus cooking liquid - 
• bring to a boil (keep whipping so it won't attach to the pan and comes out smooth) - 
• boil 5 minutes to do away with the flour taste - 
• then add 200 g of grated Swiss cheese, salt and pepper, grated nutmeg to taste. 

2. Prepare the ingredients that go into the cheese sauce:

• cut the asparagus in small pieces, discarding any bit that is fibrous or hard
• fry the ham in a pan (use teflon, don't add any oil) until crisp then break it up in small pieces 
• Mix the above ingredients in the cheese sauce

3. Prepare a pyrex dish (or anything that goes in the oven) for your gnocchi: butter it and spread a little of the cheese sauce on the bottom

4. Cook the gnocchi in boiling water, lightly salted. As soon as they float up to the surface, take them out of the water with a slotted spoon and deposit in the pyrex dish.

5. Cover with cheese sauce and sprinkle grated parmigiano over the whole dish

6. Stick in a warm oven for 5 minutes then turn on the grill for a couple of minutes to brown.

That's it!

New Year Hodge Pot, the Recipe You Need on January 1st!

You know how you feel on January 1st, the day after? Nay, the week after having eaten far, far too much every day since Christmas Eve and you've got all those left-overs in the fridge? Yes, that's right - awful! No way you're going to cook today. So here's one easy solution:

Recipe: Everything left over in your fridge, vegetable-wise, cut-up in bite-size pieces. If you haven't got enough veggies, integrate with a ready-made minestrone from your supermarket, either frozen or semi-fresh (one cup will do).  

Leave out the rat (remember Three Men in a Boat? The dog's contribution to the men's Irish stew had been a rat he'd fished in the Thames...) 
 
Add one cup of broth to taste (made from cubes or Knorr powder or whatever), ground pepper, a spoonful of fresh chopped parsley (optional). 

Be sure to add two or three tablespoonfuls of fresh tomato purée - what the Italians call "passata di pomodoro". Lacking that, cut up a few cherry tomatoes in your soup, they'll add a necessary zing to it.

Serve with grated Parmigiano cheese and a piece of warmed up bread. And red wine of course.

Et voilà, the perfect New Year Day Hodge podge, I mean Hodge Pot!

Related articles: here are serious recipes for the brave souls that don't feel any January First slowdown...

• Holiday Hangover Soup(putneyfarm.com)

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• eat your way into good fortune ... Hoppin' John(stresscake.wordpress.com)

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• Winter Minestrone(unihomemaker.com)

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