Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (24 page)

Skin and gut the cuttlefish to remove the useless parts such as the cuttlebone, the mouth, the eyes and the digestive tube. Set aside the small ink sacs. After having washed them thoroughly, cut the cuttlefish into tiny squares and chop the tentacles into little pieces.

Mince two medium-sized onions until very fine, or better yet just one onion and two garlic cloves, and heat in a saucepan with a generous amount of the finest olive oil. When the mixture begins to brown, toss in the cuttlefish and wait until they start turning yellow. Then add about 600 grams (about 1-1/3 pounds) of Swiss chard, which you have chopped in advance while discarding the larger ribs. Stir thoroughly and let simmer for about half an hour. Then pour in 600 grams (about 1-1/3 pounds) of rice (equal to the weight of the raw cuttlefish) and the ink sacs. When the rice has soaked up this sauce, add hot water to finish cooking. Rice, as a general rule, should not be cooked too long, and when it is said to be “dry,” it should make a nice mound in the bowl in which you serve it. Always accompany with grated Parmesan cheese. But if you have a delicate stomach, refrain from adding more Parmesan cheese when the rice has been prepared with ingredients that are not easily digested (as in this dish).

Here is another way to prepare this dish; you can choose the one you like better. No chard, no ink, and when the cuttlefish, as I have described above, start to turn yellow, add the rice and cook thoroughly in hot water and tomato sauce (recipe 6) or tomato paste, adding some butter for more flavor and a better appearance. When almost done, combine with the Parmesan cheese.

If you wish to improve the dish still more, when it is two-thirds done, add peas as described in recipe 73 for risotto with tench.

Rice! Behold the fattening food that the Turks feed to their women, so that they will develop, as a celebrated and well-known professor would say, sumptuous adipose cushions.

500 grams (about 1 pound) of rice

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of butter

Parmesan cheese, as needed

1 medium-sized onion

Rice, as I have indicated earlier, should not be washed; it is enough to clean it and rub it in a kitchen towel.

Mince the onion very finely with a mezzaluna and put it on the fire with half the butter. When it has turned golden brown, add the rice, stirring constantly with a large spoon until it has absorbed all the butter. Then start adding hot water ladleful at a time. Make sure the rice does not boil too fast, otherwise it will remain hard in the center while becoming too soft on the outside. Salt and cook until dry, then add the rest of the butter. Before removing from the fire, stir in a suitable amount of peas prepared as in recipe 427, and flavor with a good handful of Parmesan cheese.

This recipe serves five people.

For this risotto I avail myself of porcini (
Boletus edulis
) mushrooms, which in some places are called “morecci.”

The fresh mushrooms, before they are cleaned and trimmed, should be equal to half the weight of the rice.

Finely chop a little onion, parsley, celery, and carrot, and put on the fire with three tablespoons of olive oil. This is the amount of oil needed for 300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of rice, which serves three people. When the mixture begins to brown, cover it with tomato
sauce (recipe 6) and water, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil, adding one clove of garlic. Allow to simmer for a while, then discard the garlic clove and pass the mixture through a sieve. Chop the mushrooms into pieces a little smaller than corn kernels, add them to the sauce and put everything back on the fire to cook. Once done, set the sauce with the mushroom to one side. Lightly saute the raw rice in a little of butter, then cook adding hot water one ladleful at a time. When the rice is half done, stir in the mushroom sauce, and before serving add Parmesan cheese to taste.

This risotto is quite delightful even if you substitute the fresh mushrooms with a handful of dry ones.

500 grams (about 1 pounds) of rice

100 grams (about 3-1/2 ounces) of butter

Parmesan cheese, as needed

Pour the rice into melted butter. When the butter has been fully absorbed, start adding hot water, a little at a time. When the rice is half done, flavor it with the tomato sauce described in recipe 125. Before removing from the fire, toss in a good handful of grated Parmesan cheese. You may, if you like, substitute bacon for olive oil in the tomato sauce to flavor the risotto. Alternatively, you may use the tomato sauce described in recipe 6.

500 grams (about 1 pounds) of rice

80 grams (about 2-3/4 ounces) of butter

saffron, as much as will turn the risotto a bright yellow

1/2 of a medium-sized onion

For cooking instructions, follow recipe 75, keeping in mind that this risotto will be more substantial and flavorful if cooked in broth.

If you happen to have a bronze mortar and pestle, you can buy unrefined saffron, grind it finely yourself and then dissolve the powder in a drop of hot broth before adding it to the rice, which you will send to the table with Parmesan cheese on the side. Saffron is a stimulant; it whets the appetite and promotes digestion.

These amounts serve five people.

This risotto is more complicated and heavier to digest than the preceding one, but it is more flavorful.

These amounts serve five people:

500 grams (about 1 pound) of rice

80 grams (about 2-2/3 ounces) of butter

40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of beef marrow

1/2 of an onion

2 deciliters (about 4/5 of a cup) of good white wine

saffron as needed

Parmesan cheese as needed

Mince the onion and put it on the fire with the marrow and half the butter. When sufficiently browned, pour in the rice and, after a few minutes, add the wine, then cook with the broth. Before removing from the fire, season with the rest of the butter and the Parmesan cheese. Send to the table with more Parmesan cheese on the side.

Now you can choose! Here is yet another way to prepare Milanese-style risotto, but without the pretense of taking over from the chefs of Milan, who are very learned and creative when it comes to this dish.

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of rice

50 gram (about 1-2/3 ounces) of butter

1/4 of a medium-sized onion

2 deciliters (about 4/5 of a cup) of Marsala wine

saffron as needed

Brown the onion, finely chopped, with half the butter. Add the rice, and after a few minutes the Marsala. Add broth and simmer until cooked. Then add the rest of the butter and the saffron dissolved in a bit of the broth. Lastly, toss in a handful of Parmesan.

Serves three people.

A famous chef once said that to make the flesh of frogs tender you must soak them in hot water as soon as you have skinned them (but mind you, only for half a minute, otherwise they will cook), and then run them in cold water. If they are large, twelve frogs will be enough, I should think, to accompany 300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of rice. Set aside the legs. I also think it is better not to use the eggs in this recipe. Prepare a battuto with a quarter of a large onion, one garlic clove, some carrot, celery and parsley. Sauté in olive oil, adding salt and pepper. “When sufficiently browned, add the frogs. Stir now and then, and after they have turned a nice golden color, toss in some coarsely chopped tomatoes, which will gradually dissolve. Now add as much hot water as needed. Let simmer slowly until the frogs are well done. Then pass everything through a sieve, squeezing well. Cook the legs you have set aside in a small portion of this sauce. When the legs are done, bone them and add the flesh to the rest of the sauce.

Put the rice on the fire with some butter, stir, and when the butter has been completely absorbed, add the warm frog sauce a ladleful at a time until the rice is cooked to perfection. Before removing the rice from the fire, add a handful of Parmesan cheese, then send to the table.

It is said that a lady prawn once chided her daughter, saying, “Good Lord, how crookedly you move! Can’t you walk straight?” “And you, mama, how do you walk?” replied the daughter, “How can I walk straight when everyone I see walks sideways?” And the daughter was right.
²¹

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of crayfish will be enough for 700 grams (about 1-1/2 pounds) of rice and will serve eight people.

Finely chop half an onion, three garlic cloves, a carrot, a generous amount of celery and parsley, and sauté in olive oil. I find the garlic necessary in this recipe to balance the sweetness of the prawns. When the soffritto has browned, add the prawns and season with salt and pepper. Turn them often and when they are all red, baste them with tomato sauce (recipe 6) or tomato paste. Then add enough hot water to cook the rice. Allow to boil for a short while, as prawns cook quickly, then remove from the fire, and take the prawns out of the pot. Selecting the largest ones, shell 1/4 of the prawns and set them aside. Pound the rest in a mortar and pass through a sieve. Mix the paste thus obtained with the broth in which they have been cooked.

Heat some butter in a saucepan and add the cleaned unwashed rice, stirring constantly. When the rice has taken on the luster of butter, pour in the broth a little at a time. When the rice is more than half done, add the large whole prawns, already shelled. Flavor with a handful of Parmesan cheese before serving.

If you have kept some meat broth in reserve, you should use it when preparing these meatless risottos. This will make the dish more substantial and flavorful.

When you boil a fine fish, or even a large gray mullet in the way described in recipe 459, you can strain the broth and use it to make a risotto or a soup. Make a battuto with a quarter of an onion, one or two garlic cloves, parsley, some carrot and parsley. Put on the fire in olive oil, adding salt and pepper. When browned, cover in tomato sauce (recipe 6) or tomato paste diluted with a ladleful of broth. Allow to boil for a little while, and then add the rice to the sauce. Cook the rice, adding more of the broth a little at a time. When the rice is half done, add some butter, and, when the rice is completely done, toss in a small handful of Parmesan cheese. If you are making soup you may add a pinch of dried mushrooms, and then the Parmesan cheese is served on the side.

I say French style because I found this recipe in a cookbook of that nation, but as often happens with printed recipes, which rarely coincide with what must be done in practice, I had to change the proportions of the ingredients as follows:

300 grams (about 10-1/2 ounces) of Neapolitan-style long macaroni

70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) of butter

70 grams (about 2-1/3 ounces) of Gruyere cheese

40 grams (about 1-1/3 ounces) of Parmesan cheese

a small pot of broth

Cook the macaroni until two-thirds done in moderately salted water. Put the broth on the fire, bring it to a boil and then add the grated Gruyère cheese and the butter, stirring well with a wooden spoon to help them dissolve. When this is done,
immediately
pour the broth over the drained, partly cooked macaroni. I say immediately, because otherwise the Gruyère sinks to the bottom and sticks together. Keep the macaroni on the fire until completely cooked, making sure that
they do not absorb all the sauce. When you remove them from the stove, season the macaroni with the Parmesan cheese. Serve with more Parmesan on the side for those who like strong tastes and prefer their pasta sharp.