Extra Virgin (24 page)
Authors: Gabriele Corcos
2 small red onions, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 cup Sangiovese red wine
2½ cups chopped Roma or plum tomatoes
½ cup black olives, pitted
4 fresh bay leaves
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until hot. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken to the skillet and sear for 4 minutes per side, until golden brown. Transfer to a plate.
Add the anchovies and garlic to the hot skillet, using a wooden spoon to break up the anchovies. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, until the garlic is fragrant and the anchovies are melted. Add the onions, carrots, and celery and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender and just beginning to turn golden. Stir in the wine and cook for 2 minutes, until the scent of alcohol disappears. Add the tomatoes, olives, and bay leaves and stir well to mix the ingredients.
Return the chicken to the skillet and cover with the tomatoes, flipping the pieces to coat them with the sauce. Partially cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 45 to 50 minutes, until the meat looks ready to detach from the bones.
Discard the bay leaves and serve with a sprinkling of the parsley.
FRITTATA ROAST ROLL
ROTOLO CON LA FRITTATA
SERVES 4–6
D:
This is one of your grandmother’s specialties, right, Gabriele?
G:
I can see myself now, being happily sent on my bicycle to her house to pick it up. Other times, we’d see her walking up the path and I couldn’t help it, I’d have to go run out and meet her.
D:
I know why. It’s not only delicious, but beautiful. When you slice it after it’s done, you get this beautiful spiral of color: wine-darkened beef, yellow frittata, and green of the spinach.
G:
It’s not a complicated recipe, but it requires time to do everything: pounding the beef, making the frittatas, rolling, stringing, and cooking. But the end result is well worth the effort!
3 large beef cutlets (flank steak)
Kosher salt
1 bunch spinach
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 sprig fresh rosemary
½ cup red wine
Place the beef cutlets between 2 sheets of plastic wrap, or in a plastic bag, and pound them for 30 seconds, making sure not to punch holes in the cutlets.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the spinach to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute. Drain and rinse the spinach under cold water, then squeeze it dry, finely chop, and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, Parmesan, ½ teaspoon salt, and the pepper. Whisk until evenly mixed. Add the cooked spinach and whisk.
In an 8-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter until melted. Pour in one-third of the egg batter, cover the pan, and cook over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the edges of the frittata brown slightly and the top is firm and not runny. Transfer the frittata to a plate to cool. Repeat this step until you have 3 small frittatas.
Place a beef cutlet on a cutting board and top with a frittata. Roll the 2 together and
secure with twine, making sure not to tighten too much, otherwise the twine will break through the beef, or push the frittata out of the roll. Repeat with the remaining beef and frittatas.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, garlic, and rosemary over medium-high heat and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the rosemary crisps and the garlic starts browning. Add the rolls, searing the meat evenly all over by rolling them in the pan for 4 to 5 minutes.
Add the wine and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the scent of alcohol disappears. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, partially covered, for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meat looks lightly caramelized on the outside, the rolls are firm, and no juices leak from the rolls when a finger is pressed into them.
Transfer the rolls to a cutting board to rest for up to 5 minutes. Thinly slice and serve with a drizzle of the pan juices.
SEARED GROUPER OVER FREGOLA WITH FAVA BEANS AND HEIRLOOM TOMATOES
G:
Italy is in the middle of the Mediterranean, which makes it a fish lover’s paradise. Each region and coastal area has its own celebrated seafood. There’s the mainland, the big islands like Sicily and Sardinia, and all the little island paradises that I loved exploring when I was young. Some ports are so tiny that we could approach a fisherman’s small boat and buy fish directly from him before he hit shore!
Fishing was the earliest way I connected to food on a deeper level. I experienced a personal joy in catching something and eating it. Starting with the rubber raft we had when I was six years old, and with the boats my father bought that got bigger and bigger as I got older, summers on the water were an integral part of my life. He taught me everything: how to spear, snorkel, lurk, be patient, kill, scale, gut, and rinse. My mom was the grill cook on the boat or on the beach.
We caught branzino, grouper, bass, and red snapper, but fishing for sole was my favorite. I’d float facedown in crystal clear water, waiting for the flickering of dust that indicates the sand-colored sole is moving slowly along the bottom. I’d spear it when I was sure it wasn’t looking—the sole has both eyes on the same side, so it might be looking straight up at you. It tasted extra delicious to me because I’d caught it.
Being a part of that cycle of life is what makes seafood such a special dish to me. Tuscans show great respect for the sea’s bounty, which is what Deborah and I want to convey with these recipes, whether the fish is being pan-cooked, grilled, fried, simmered in a stew, or served raw. Throughout Italy there is such pride in preparing as simply as possible the gifts of one’s local region, and that goes as much for what the fishermen bring to market as what the hunter has bagged or the farmer has harvested.
FISH TACOS
TACOS DI PESCE
SERVES 6–8
D:
When it comes to family favorites in our household, this one’s right up there.
G:
After living in Los Angeles for a decade, where tacos are so ingrained in the culture, we wanted to come up with a dish that celebrates our time there, and my deepening connection to the country that adopted me.
D:
It’s a truly interactive dinner when you get kids involved. They get their corn tortilla with a piece of fish, and they can add whatever they want. We like ours with avocado, lettuce, a splash of lemon, and our homemade
Pico de Gallo
. Then we combine a little Mediterranean with our Mexican entree by adding white anchovies to radishes for a tasty extra topping.
G:
Italians often use sparkling water in the batter when frying fish, because the carbonation yields a lighter texture. But I’ve found that beer makes for a fluffier batter, and a crispier fry.
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup medium-grind semolina flour
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (12-ounce) bottle lager beer
1 quart canola oil, for frying
2 pounds tilapia, cod, or sole, cut into 12 ½-inch-thick, finger-size strips
12 medium-sized corn tortillas
2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce, for serving
1 avocado, sliced, for serving
Lemon wedges, for serving
Pico de Gallo (recipe follows)
Radishes with White Anchovies (recipe follows)
In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, semolina flour, sea salt, and black pepper. Slowly whisk in the beer and set the batter aside.