Chapter 4 of 9 · 3999 words · ~20 min read

Part 4

Now prepare a small hash with a little onion, a piece of celery a piece of carrot and a small quantity of corned beef and put it in the fire in a saucepan with a small piece of butter, at the same time that you put the cutlets. Season with salt and pepper and when they begin to brown pour some tomato sauce and complete the cooking with water. Before serving, remove the thread with which the cutlets have been tied.

MEAT OMELETTE

(Polpettone)

Take one pound of veal, without bones, clean it well taking away all skins and tendons and then chop it together with a slice of ham. Season moderately with salt pepper and spices, add one whole egg then with moistened hands make a ball of the chopped meat and sprinkle with flour.

Make a hash with two or three slices of onion (not more) parsley, celery, and carrot, put it on the fire with a piece of butter and when it is browned throw in the =Polpettone=. Brown well on all sides and then pour in the saucepan half a tumbler of water in which half a tablespoonful of flour has been previously diluted. Cover and make it simmer on a very low fire, seeing that it doesn't burn. When you serve with the gravy squeeze the juice of half a lemon over it.

If desired a hard boiled egg can be put shelled in the center of the meat ball, so that it gives it a better appearance when sliced.

LAMB WITH PEAS

(Agnello ai piselli)

Take a piece of lamb from the hind side, lard it with two cloves of garlic cut in little strips and with some sprigs of rosemary. Chop fine a piece of lard and a slice of corned beef. Put the lamb on the fire with this hash and a little oil and let it brown after seasoning with salt and pepper. When it is browned add a piece of butter, some tomato sauce, or tomato paste dissolved in water or soup stock and complete the cooking. Take away the lamb, put the peas in the gravy, and when they have simmered a little and are cooked put back the lamb and serve.

SHOULDER OF LAMB

(Spalla d'agnello)

Cut the meat of a shoulder of lamb in small pieces, or squares. Chop two small onions, brown them with a piece of butter and when they are browned put the meat and season with salt and pepper. Wait until the meat begins to brown and then add another piece of butter dipped in flour. Mix the whole and complete the cooking with soup stock or water with bouillon cubes poured in little by little.

BREAST OF VEAL STEWED

(Stufatino di petto di vitella)

Break a piece of breast of veal leaving all its bones.

Make a hash with garlic, parsley, celery and carrot; add oil, pepper and salt and put on the fire with the meat. Turn it over often, and when it begins to brown, sprinkle over a pinch of flour and a little tomato sauce or tomato paste diluted in water. Complete the cooking with broth or water. Finally add a piece of butter and pieces of celery cut in big pieces which must have been before half cooked in water and browned in butter. Care must be taken to keep the saucepan always covered, in this as in other stews.

VEAL WITH GRAVY

(Vitella in guazzetto)

First take about one pound of veal and tie it well. Then cover the bottom of the saucepan with some thin slices of corned beef and a piece of butter. Over this place half a lemon cut in four thin slices from which the skin and the seeds must be removed. Over all this put the veal which must be well browned on all sides, but care must be taken not to burn it on account of the small quantity of liquid. Afterward, remove the superfluous fat and pour over a cup of hot milk, that has boiled. Cover the saucepan and complete the cooking. Before serving rub the gravy through a sieve.

TRIPE WITH GRAVY

Boil some tripe in water and when it is boiled, cut it in strips, one quarter of an inch wide and wipe it well with a cloth. Then put it in a saucepan with butter, and when this is melted, add some brown stock or good tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper, cook thoroughly and add a pinch of grated cheese before taking from the saucepan.

VEAL LIVER IN GRAVY

(Fegato di vitella al sugo)

Chop fine a scallion or an onion, make it brown in oil and butter, and when it has taken a dark red color, throw in the liver cut in thin slices. When half cooked season with salt, pepper and a pinch of chopped parsley. Make it simmer on a low fire so that the gravy remains, and serve in its gravy, squeezing over some lemon juice when sent to the table.

In this and in similar cases, when using scallions or onions, some advise putting these in a cloth after being chopped and dip them in cold water squeezing them dry after.

MUTTON CUTLETS AND FILET OF VEAL

(Braciuole di castrato e filetto di vitella)

Put in saucepan a slice of ham, some butter, a little bunch composed of carrot, celery and stems of parsley and over this some whole cutlets of mutton seasoned with salt and pepper. Make them brown on both sides, add another piece of butter, if necessary, and add to the cutlets some chicken giblets, sweetbreads and fresh or dry mushrooms (the latter softened in water), all cut in pieces. When all this begins to brown, pour some soup stock and let it simmer on a low fire. Sprinkle a little flour and finally pour a wineglass (or half a tumbler) of white wine leaving it boil a little more. When ready to serve remove the ham and the greens, rub the gravy through a sieve and remove the superfluous fat.

TENDERLOIN WITH MARSALA

(Filetto al marsala)

Roll a piece of the tenderloin, tie it and, if it is about two pounds, put it on the fire with a middle-sized onion cut in thin slices, some thin slices of ham and a piece of butter, seasoning but moderately with salt and pepper. When it is browned from all sides and the onion is consumed, sprinkle a pinch of flour, let this take color and then pour some soup stock or water. Make it simmer on a low fire, then rub the gravy through a sieve, skim off the fat and with this and half a small tumbler of Marsala or Sherry wine put it back on the fire to simmer again. Serve with the gravy neither too liquid nor too thick.

The filet can also be larded with bacon and cooked in butter and Marsala only.

MEAT GENOVESE

(Carne alla Genovese)

Take thick slices of good lean veal, weighing about a pound, beat it and flatten it well. Beat three or four eggs, season them with salt and pepper, a pinch of grated cheese and some chopped parsley. Fry the eggs in butter in the form of an omelet about the size of the meat over which it will be laid, cutting it where it overlaps and putting the pieces where it lacks so as to cover the meat entirely. After that roll tight the meat together with the omelet and tie it with thread. Then sprinkle some flour over it and put it in a saucepan with a piece of butter, seasoning with salt and pepper. When it is well browned on all sides, pour some soup stock to complete the cooking and serve it in its gravy which will be thick enough on account of the flour.

RICE PUDDING WITH GIBLETS

(Sfornato di riso con rigoglie)

Make a good brown stock (see No. 13) and use the same for the rice as well as for the giblets. To these add some thin slices of ham and brown them first in butter, seasoned moderately with salt and pepper, completing the cooking with brown stock. A taste of mushrooms will be found useful.

Brown the rice equally in butter, then complete the cooking with hot water. Drain and put the brown stock, adding grated cheese and two beaten eggs, when the rice has cooled a little.

Take a smooth mold, round or oval, grease it evenly with butter, cover the bottom with buttered paper and place in it the rice to harden it in the oven. When taken from the mold pour over the gravy from the giblets, slightly thickened with a pinch of flour and serve with the giblets around, seeing that there is plenty of gravy for them.

PUDDING GENOESE

(Budino alla genovese)

Chop together a slice of veal, some chicken breast and two slices of ham and then grind or better pound them, with a small piece of butter, a tablespoonful of grated cheese and a crumb of bread soaked with milk. Rub through a sieve and add three tablespoonfuls of =Balsamella= (see No. 54) which you will make thick enough for this dish, three eggs and just a taste of nutmeg, mixing everything well.

Take a smooth mold, grease it evenly with butter and put on the bottom a sheet of paper, cut according to the shape of the bottom and equally greased with butter. Pour over the above ingredients and cook in a vessel immersed in boiling water (double boiler).

When taken from the mold, remove the paper and in its place put a gravy formed with chopped chicken giblets cooked in brown stock. Serve hot.

LIVER LOAF

(Pane di fegato)

Cut about one pound of veal liver in thin slices and four chicken livers in two parts and put all this in a saucepan with rosemary and a piece of butter. When this is melted put in another piece and season with salt and pepper. After four or five minutes at a live fire, remove the liver (dry) and grind it together with the rosemary. In the gravy that remains in the saucepan put a big crumb of bread, cut into small pieces and make a paste that will also be ground with the liver. Then rub everything through a sieve, add one whole egg and two yolks and a pinch of grated cheese, diluting with brown stock or water. Finally put in a smooth mold with a sheet of paper in the bottom, all evenly greased with butter and cook in a double boiler. Remove from the mold when cool and serve cold, with gelatine.

VEAL WITH TUNNY

(Vitello tonnato)

Take two pounds of meat without bones, remove the fat and tendons, then lard it with two anchovies. These must be washed and boned and cut lengthwise, after opening them, making in all eight pieces. Tie the piece of meat not very tight and boil it for an hour and a half in enough water to cover it completely. Previously put into the water one quarter of an onion larded with clover, one leaf of laurel, celery, carrot and parsley. Salt the water generously and don't put the veal in until it is boiling. When the veal is cooked, untie, dry it and keep it for two or three days in the following sauce in quantity sufficient to cover it.

Grind 1/4 pound tunny fish preserved in olive oil and two anchovies, crush them well with the blade of a knife and rub through a sieve adding good olive oil in abundance little by little, and squeeze in one whole lemon, so that the sauce should remain liquid. Finally mix in some capers soaked in vinegar.

Serve the veal cold, in thin slices, with the sauce.

The stock of the veal can be rubbed through a sieve and used for risotto.

STUFFED ITALIAN SQUASH

(Zucchini ripieni)

For a description of the =Zucchini= see No. 32.

To make the stuffed zucchini first cut them lengthwise in two halves and remove the interior pulp, leaving space enough for the filling.

Take some lean veal (quantity in proportion to the squashes) cut it into pieces and place it on the fire in a saucepan with a hash of onion, parsley, celery, carrot, a little corned beef cut in little pieces, a little oil, salt and pepper. Stir it often with a spoon and when the meat is brown pour in a cup of water and then another after a while. Then rub the gravy through a sieve and put it aside.

Chop the cooked meat fine and grind it in the grinder and make a hash of it and one egg, a little grated cheese, a crumb of bread boiled in milk or in soup stock and just a taste of nutmeg. Put this hash inside each half squash and put them to brown in butter, completing the cooking with the gravy set aside.

STRING BEANS AND SQUASHES SAUTÉ

(Fagiolini e zucchini sauté)

Brown in butter some string beans, that have been previously half cooked in water and some raw squashes cut in cubes. Put the squashes in only when the butter is beginning to brown. Season moderately with salt and butter and add some brown stock or good tomato sauce.

STRING BEANS WITH EGG SAUCE

(Fagiuolini in salsa d'uovo)

Take less than a pound of string beans, cutting off the two points and removing all the strings, and then cook them partially in water moderately salted. Take them from the kettle, drain, and brown with butter, salt and pepper. Beat one yolk with a teaspoonful of flour and the juice of half a small lemon, dilute with half a cup of cold broth from which the fat has been removed and put this liquid on the fire in a small saucepan stirring continually. When the liquid has become, through the cooking, like a cream, pour it on the string beans that you will keep on the fire a little longer, with the sauce. The string beans so prepared can be served with boiled beef.

STRING BEANS IN MOLD

(Sformato di fagiolini)

Take one pound of string beans, seeing that they are quite tender. Cut off the ends and remove the strings. Throw them into boiling water with a pinch of salt and when they are half cooked take them away and put them in cold water. If you have brown stock complete the cooking with this and with butter, otherwise brown a piece of onion, some parsley, a piece of celery and olive oil. When the onion is browned put in the string beans and complete the cooking with a little water if necessary.

Prepare a =Balsamella= sauce (No. 54) with a small piece of butter, half a teaspoonful of flour and half a cup of milk. With this, a tablespoonful of grated cheese and four beaten eggs bind the string beans when they are cold, mix and put in a mold, evenly greased with butter and the bottom covered with paper. Cook in a double boiler and serve hot.

CAULIFLOWER IN MOLD

(Sformato di cavolfiore)

Take a good sized cauliflower, remove the stalk and outside leaves, half cook it in water and then cut it into small pieces. Salt them and put them to brown with a little piece of butter and then complete the cooking with a cup of milk. Then rub them through a sieve. Prepare a =Balsamella= (No. 54) and add it to the cauliflower with 3 beaten eggs and a tablespoonful of grated cheese.

Cook in a greased mold and serve hot.

ARTICHOKES IN MOLD

(Sformato di carciofi)

Remove the outside leaves of the artichokes, the harder part of all leaves, and clean the stalks without removing them.

Cut each artichoke into four parts and put them to boil in salt water for only five minutes. If left longer on the fire they become too soaked in water and lose their taste. Remove from the water, drain them, grind or pound and rub them through a sieve. Season the pulp so obtained with two or three beaten eggs, two or three tablespoonfuls of =Balsamella= (No. 54) grated cheese, salt and a taste of nutmeg, but taste the seasoning several times to see that it is correctly dosed.

Place in a mold with brown stock or meat gravy (in that case use a mold with a hole) and cook in double boiler.

FRIED MUSHROOMS

(Funghi fritti)

Choose middle-sized mushrooms, which are also of the right ripeness: when they are too big they are too soft and if small they are too hard.

Scrape the stems, wash them carefully but do not keep in water, for then they would lose their pleasant odor. Then cut them in rather large slices and dip them in flour before putting in the frying pan. Olive oil is best for frying mushrooms and the seasoning is composed exclusively of salt and pepper to be applied when they are frying. They can also be dipped in beaten eggs after being sprinkled with flour, but this is superfluous.

STEWED MUSHROOMS

(Funghi in umido)

For a stew the mushrooms ought to be below middle-size. Clean, wash and cut as for the preceding. Put a saucepan on the fire with olive oil, one or two cloves of oil and some mint leaves. When the oil begins to splutter, put the mushrooms in without dipping in flour, season with salt and pepper and when they are half cooked pour in some tomato sauce. Be sparing however, with the seasoning, in order that the mushrooms do not absorb it too much and so lose some of their own delicate flavor.

DRIED MUSHROOMS

(Funghi secchi)

Mushrooms are an excellent condiment of various dishes and for this reason it is well to have some always at hand. Since, however, it is not always possible to have them fresh, the following recipe to prepare dried mushrooms will be found useful.

First of all wait until there is a sunny day. Choose young mushrooms middle sized or big, but not too soft. Scrape the stem, clean them well in order to remove the earth and, without washing cut them in big pieces. This because when dried they diminish considerably in size. Keep these pieces exposed in the sun for two or three days, then thread them on a string (practising a hole in them) and keep in a well ventilated room or in the sun until they become quite dry. Then put them away well closed in a paper bag, but don't fail to look at them from time to time to see if it is necessary to expose them some more to sun and ventilation.

To use them soften in warm water, but keep them in as little as possible, so that they do not lose their delicate flavor. The best time to dry the mushrooms is June or July.

100

FRIED EGG-PLANTS

(Melanzane fritte)

Egg-plant or, as they are also called, mad-apples are an excellent vegetable which may be used as dressing or as a dish by itself. Small or middle-sized egg-plants are to be preferred, as the big ones have sometimes a slightly bitter taste.

Remove the skin, cut into cubes, salt and leave them in a plate for a few hours. Then wipe them to remove the juice that they have thrown out, dip in flour and fry in oil.

101

STEWED EGG-PLANTS

(Melanzane in umido)

Remove the skin, cut them into cubes and place on the fire with a piece of butter. When this is all absorbed, complete the cooking with tomato sauce (No. 12).

102

EGG-PLANTS IN THE OVEN

(Melanzane al forno)

Skin five or six egg-plants, cut them in round slices and salt them so that they throw out the water that they contain. After a few hours dip in flour and frying oil.

Take a fireproof vase or baking tin and place the slices in layers, with grated cheese between each layer, abundantly seasoned with tomato sauce (No. 12).

Beat one egg with a pinch of salt, a tablespoonful of tomato sauce, a teaspoonful of grated cheese and two of crumbs of bread, and cover the upper layer with this sauce. Put the vase in the oven and when the egg is coagulated, serve hot.

103

DRESSING OF CELERY

(Sedano per contorno)

The following are three ways to prepare celery to be served as seasoning or seasoning for meat dishes. For the first two make the pieces about four inches long, and two inches for the third. The stalk must be skinned, cut crosswise and left attached to the rib of the celery. Boil it in water moderately salted not over five minutes and remove dry.

1. Put the celery to brown in butter, then complete the cooking with brown stock (No. 13) and sprinkle with grated cheese when serving.

2. Put in saucepan a piece of butter and a hash made with ham and a middle sized onion, chopped fine. Add two cloves and make it boil. When the onion is browned add soup stock or hot water with bouillon cubes and complete the cooking. Then rub everything through a sieve and put the gravy in a plate with the celery, seasoning with pepper only, as the salt is already in the ham and serve with the gravy.

3. Dip the celery in flour and in the paste for frying (No. 58) and fry in fat or oil. Or else dip in flour and then in beaten egg, wrap in bread crumbs and fry.

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ARTICHOKES WITH SAUCE

(Carciofi in salsa)

Remove the hard leaves of the artichokes, cut the points and skin the stalk. Divide each artichoke into four parts or six if they are big, and put them on the fire with butter in proportion, seasoning with salt and pepper. Shake the saucepan to turn them and when they have absorbed a good part of the melted butter, pour in some broth to complete the cooking. Remove them dry, and in the gravy that remains put a pinch of chopped parsley, one or two teaspoonfuls of cheese grated fine, lemon juice, more salt and pepper if needed, and, mixing the whole, make it simmer for a while. Then remove the sauce from the fire and add one or two yolks of egg, according to the quantity and put back on the fire with more broth to make the sauce loose. Put the artichokes in the sauce this second time to heat them and serve especially as a side-dish for boiled meat.

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STUFFED ARTICHOKES

(Carciofi ripieni)

Cut the stalk at the base, remove the small outside leaves and wash the artichokes. Then cut the top and open the internal leaves so that you can cut the bottom with a small knife and remove the hairy part if it is there. Keep aside the small interior leaves to put them with the stuffing. This, if to be used, for example, for six artichokes, must be composed of the above small leaves, 1/8 lb. of ham more lean than fat, one fourth of a small onion, just a taste of garlic, some leaves of celery or parsley, a pinch of dry mushrooms, softened in water, a crumb of bread and a pinch of pepper, but no salt.

First chop the ham, then grind everything together and with the hash fill the artichokes, and put them to cook standing on their stalks in a saucepan with some oil, salt and pepper. Some prefer to give the artichokes a half cooking in water before stuffing it, but it is hardly advisable, because in this way they lose part of their special flavor.

106

ARTICHOKES STUFFED WITH MEAT

(Carciofi ripieni di carne)