News August 2009
SUMMER
It is the period reserved for amateurs of farniente. The volcanic stone is scorching, long siestas and reading. The colours are ardent - almost strident, the sunsets cinematographic and the sky- transparent. There is little wind and in the distance the coasts of Tunisia.
Each summer there is talk of putting in place a regular line with a hovercraft. One day Pantelleria and Kelibia will finally be linked without any ambiguity, to the speed of the Century.
The earth is dry and the prickly pears are Calder like mobiles. Under the carob tree, one can read peacefully: it is the place of the truce for insects. In the houses, the walls are thick: six hands insulate us from the heat!
At five am, the melodious dialect can be heard by the caper gleaners. At midnight, when the sea is calm, the big cuttlefish are caught, and on the other side of the island the first figs are picked. A walk to the port necessitates the very serious law of the enormous gelato con brioche with bread that is so sponge like!
Mid August, the zibibbo grape harvesting will start. L. shows me the nimble size of the vine: the air has circulated around and the light has penetrated to produce the second fruit, la sganguna. Only the first fruit should be used to make the passito, the sweet wine. La sgunguna is more refined and possesses the secret of the zibibbo aroma. It appears that the AOC wine born from the first fruit leaves the mouth, drunk, as soon as the second glass.
Mini Clam fritters
One can easily find these little pots of « vongole » (baby clams) at italian delicatessens. One little pot, drained and mixed with atter makes an excellent antipasto for two to three people.
1 pot (130 g) of vongole, (baby clams), drained
1 egg
1 garlic clove cut in two
1 Tablespoon parsely minced
1 Tablespoon flour
Salt and pepper freshly ground
1 Tablespoon sparkling water, beer or white wine
Oil for frying
1/2 lemon
1) Mix all the ingredients for the batter using a whisk. Add the vongole and let the mixture rest for half an hour.
2) Enlevez l’ail. Heat the oil in a large casserole. When hot, drop by droppelettes - little spoonfuls of the mixture. Let brown on both sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on paper towels. Salt and pepper and serve with lemon quarters.
IMPROV
Mix beer and flour to make a thick batter, add the vongole and season to taste. Cook in the same manner as above.
NEWS June/July
Miss Lunch headed out to the southern Italian coast and was on a sailboat, cooking and writing a cookbook.
NEWS MAY
A documentary entitled “Tous en Cuisine!” featured Miss Lunch and her guests, shown on France 5 it was made by Elise Casta-Verchère and is an Actual Prod production.
News April
Penne with marinated tuna and pine nuts
I decided to like fresh tuna. This isn’t very easy to do especially when your partner needs convincing! On the other hand when you see such beautiful tuna from Piero’s stand all this fall by the way-side. This is one of the best recipe’s I know and could change anyone’s mind. You can serve it as an antipasto with big white fava beans and some radishes. For best flavour prepare the tuna at least 2-3 hours in advance.
Serves 4
For the marinated tuna:
:
400 g piece of fresh tuna
Sea salt
1 TB lemon zest
2 Bay leaves
1 tsp ground hot pepper (bird’s eye is good)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
3/4 C (175 ml) olive oil
For the pasta:
1/4 C (30 g) pine nuts
2 TB capers cured in salt, rinsed and drained in hot water twenty minutes
1 TB confit of lemon, rinsed and finely chopped
400 g penne
1) Cut the tuna into 2.5cm cubes. Add the salt (3/4 tsp per 500g tuna), cover and keep in the fridge.
2) Dry off the tuna with a paper towel and put the pieces in a frying pan so that they touch each other. Distribute the lemon zest, the bay leaves, hot pepper, pepper, garlic and fennel seeds. Add the olive oil just to cover. Everything must be snug together in the pan. Put the pan on very low heat, you must not let the mixture boil! Cook without covering and without moving any of the pieces for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
3) Heat the pine nuts in a large frying pan over low heat. Using a holed spatula, remove the fish pieces, crushing them ever so slightly and transfer them to the pine nuts pan. With a fork crush some pieces in order to have a variety of different textures, add the zest and fennel from the pan. Add the capers, about 6 TB (used in the first cooking) and the confit of lemon. Keep on very low heat.
4) Cook the pasta in lots of salted water. Drain and add to the fish sauce, mix well and serve, adding a little extra oil if necessary.
Here is the menu that was made at Art Mandat, Barjols, on the 26th
April for twenty! To reserve your places for the lunch on the 23 Mai back in Barjols: www.art.mandat.com
Château Lafoux 2007, rosé
White Gaspacho
des Moines Olive Oil from Barroux
Abbaye de Sainte-Madeleine (Carpentras)
*
Château Lafoux, cuvée Auguste, 2008, white
Fresh Pea Purée and its pink curl
Olivier Roux Olive Oil, Moulin du Haut Jasson (Var)
Château Lafoux, cuvée Auguste 2005, red
*
Scamorza raviolis, safran cream from Abou d’Abi
Château Lafoux, cuvée Auguste 2007, red
*
Duck roasts with two berries, liver duo toasts, olive compote,
Jean-Benoît Hugues Olive Oil, Castellas (Vallée des Baux),
Pierre-Guy Desrousseaux Olive Oil, Moulin de Pietourouze (Manosque)
*
Valronesque mousse cake and its bitter orange sauce, kirsh sabayon and its two pepper tuile (Gérard Vives, Marseille)
*
A glass of effervescence for connaisseurs
Many kind thanks to the sponsors:
NEWS MARCH
Passito Zabaione and Ladyfingers
For the ladyfingers:
2 eggs, separated
1/4 Cup castor sugar
1/2 Cup flour
Confectioner’s sugar for dusting
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F/ 205°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Butter lightly and dust with flour. Fit a pastry bag with a 1.25cm attachment.
2. Whisk egg yolks and sugar for the ladyfingers until foamy, almost white.
3. Whisk in another bowl the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
4. With a spatula fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the yolk mixture. Sift half the flour into the yolk mixture, then fold in another portion of egg whites until everything has been combined.
5. Pipe three inch pieces onto the baking sheet, dust with confectioners sugar and let rest 5 minutes.
6. Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove with a spatula and cool on racks.
For the zabaione :
4 egg yolks
1/2 Cup sugar
1/3 Cup Passito di Pantelleria
1. Prepare the bain marie. In a bowl whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale in colour. Add the Passito.
2. Place the mixture in the bain marie and whisk until four times its volume. Serve over ladyfingers.
SPRING
In Spring, the eruptive flora suddenly covers the volcanic soil making it look exuberant. It’s the signal for caper harvesting, the first mud bath in the volcano lake Lo Specchio di Venere and the first jump in the sea…
Wild flowers paint the landscape: poppies, snapdragons, wild sea fennel, pig faces and ragwort.
At Rosa’s the Rite of Spring greets those who come in procession to pick up her fresh ricotta with her blue fluorescent Ipomea. Rosa has just bought a little pig whom I christen Sparky, he has small little piercing eyes and everyone finds him mean and disagreeable (a real contrast with his predecessors).
Finally the agave has bloomed! We’ve been waiting fifteen years for this; it’s fruit grows very high in the sky like a giant asparagus, it’ll die after this and another agave will grow next to it.
This evening, a hibiscus flower will slide on top of a fruit tarte as a decoration. Little M decided to dine with us. She chose her menu : fried zucchini and Rosa’s ricotta dusted with cinnamon and sugar for dessert.
Many days in a row there’s rain and water bounces off the domes of the houses. The cistern is nice and full, weeds will grow in between the vines and will tourment G. without end with daily labouring tasks. His wife who always complains about being tired will be even more so.
Mario Lligria has just been bottled - it’s the best white wine on the island! To really be able to delight in its taste it must be served ice cold. “this isn’t the case in all those tourist restaurants” retorts his brother; Mario worked his land with a mare these past few days. The bottarga has arrived and it is time to tuck in!
Rosa got her cow put down. E. went over to choose his favorite cuts. L. says one never eats meat from an old cow; however the steak did taste quite delicious….
NEWS FEBRUARY
The French Agence France Presse, and Australia’s national newspaper The Australian, have two news articles by Rosa Jackson on Lunch in the Loft, click on the links to read them.
Seaweed and Vegetable Soup, Cashew Cream
Here is a soup recipe that is far from being conventional. It certainly did warm body and soul the days of these strong winds: Tramontana, Grecale, Levante, Scirocco, Mezzogiorno, Libeccio, Ponente and Maestrale. So characteristic of the pantescan climate the winds condition the "modus vivendi" of the islander.
The cashew cream brings on an elegant contrast in colour to the soup and is also light and delicious. Pour it on the soup in a heart shape for your Valentine. You can't however skimp on any of the ingredients, they are all necessary. I always try to slide in a little celery in disguise for my beloved who doesn't like it. Celery is known for its many virtues!
6-8 servings
2 big onions (170 g) finely chopped
4 tasty large carrots (190 g) finely chopped
2 celery branches (170 g) finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 TB olive oil
6 TB Dulse seaweed (7 g)
1 TB Nori seaweed (2 g)
1 ts fennel seeds
2 Bay leaves
1/4 C parsley, chopped
1 ts paprika
1/4 C flour (26 g)
3 1/2 C Homemade Vegetable stock(1,8 l)
3/4 C homemade Tomato Sauce
1 TB dry Sherry (15 ml)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 C cashew cream (see recipe)
1) In a pot large enough to hold all the soup ingredients sauté the onions, carrots, celery and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat. Allow to slightly brown, about 15 minutes.
2) Add the dulse, nori, fennel seeds, thyme, Bay leaves, parsley and paprika. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper and mix well.
3) Slowly add the vegetable stock, two thirds of the tomato sauce and the sherry. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat. Simmer for 25 minutes.
4) Reserve 1/4C cashew cream for the decoration and add the remaining 1/4 Cup to the soup. Let simmer another five min
5) Remove the Bay leaves and purée the soup.
Serve hot and pour on each bowl a little of the cashew cream in a thin drizzle in the shape of a heart. Add a touch of the remaining tomato sauce in the middle of each heart.
Cashew Cream
1/2 C cashew nuts
1/2 C water
Mix the nuts in a blender until you obtain a fine powder. Scrape down the cashew powder on the sides of the blender and add the water. Mix again well. Will keep in the refrigerator but will thicken, so add more water if necessary.
News January 2009
Homemade Salt Cod
Succulent and tender, you will never be able to buy that dry as leather version again! Of course it gives a special perfume to the fridge, but isn't a special little perfume worth it when the results are so good?
500 g cod filets, skin removed (not more than 3cm thick)
1 1/2 TB coarse salt
1) Rinse the cod under cold water, press it between two sheets of paper towel to remove excess water. Note the tender quality of the fish as this will serve as a reference when the cod marinates in the salt.
2) Salt the fish on both sides, leaving a little more salt in the centre of the fillets where the flesh is thicker.
3) Put the cod on a grill (like the one used for baking or on a perforated metal sheet) and place a plate on top. Cover with transparent film without letting it touch the fish.
4) Refrigerate for seven days (once I forgot it in the fridge eleven days and it was excellent!) The special flavour only develops after 72 hours. In order to minimize the odours in the fridge rinse the plate it is on everyday. The fish will stop dripping after 24 hours. After 5 days take the fillets out of the fridge and rinse the grill or perforated metal sheet. Re-salt the fish a little more.
5) When it comes time to de-salt the fish rinse it under cold water and let it sit in a litre of water for 24 hours. Touch the fish, it should be just as tender as when it was raw, but heavier. Once the fish as de-salted, dry it with paper towel and refrigerate (for up to six hours) until it is ready to be cooked.
Salt cod with saffron, fennel, tomatoes and slices of grilled polenta
Cooked the day before in a bain-marie and then sliced into strips and grilled, this is for me the best way to eat polenta. Now that you know how to make your own salt cod, here is a recipe!
For 4 people
For the polenta:
1 Cup (173 g) polenta (not instant!)
3 Cups (750 ml) boiling water
1) Heat a large casserole with water to the one-third level. Place a bowl on top that'll function as a bain-marie, pour in the polenta.
2) Whisk in the boiling water to the polenta. Cover the bowl with aluminium.
3) Allow the polenta to cook on medium low heat for one hour and a half. Stir from time to time and add a little more water if dry.
4) Rinse a rectangular tin mould (preferably non-stick) with water and pour in the polenta. Allow to cool. Cover with film and keep in the refrigerator until ready to grill. The polenta will keep five days in the refrigerator.
For the salt cod:
315 g salt cod (this equals 375g fresh cod) that has been desalted
2 medium sized fennel bulbs with their fronds
1/2 Cup (120 ml) olive oil and two or three TB (45ml) more for the polenta grilling
1 pinch saffron
2 Cups chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
1 leek cut into thin slivers include some of the green part
1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
4 medium tomatoes cut into quarters
1 Cup (57 g) pita bread*, toasted and cut into little pieces
1/4 Cup (60 ml) white wine
Salt and pepper freshly ground
3/4 Cup (180 ml) lightly salted water
1) Cut the salt cod into 3cm thick pieces.
2) Cut each fennel bulb into eighths. Bring a large casserole filled with water to the boil, large enough to hold the fennel. Once boiling add the fennel, lower the heat and cook 5-8 minutes, the fennel should be cooked al dente. Drain and allow the fennel to cool in a colander covered with ice cubes.
3) In a large frying pan heat the saffron on low. Add the olive oil and stir for 2 minutes to develop the flavours. Add the onions and a pinch of salt. Allow to cook with the lid on, until translucent, about 15 minutes, stir occasionally.
4) Now cook the polenta : unmould it and cut it using a serrated knife into slices of about 1cm thick. In a large frying pan, heat the oil and grill the polenta on both sides until they are nice and brown. As soon as they are cooked allow to drain on paper towels and keep in a warm oven.
5) Add the tomatoes to the pan with the onions and allow to cook with the lid on another 5 minutes.
6) Add the leeks and garlic and continue to cook a few minutes without the lid on. Take off heat.
7) Mix in the fennel and fennel fronds into the onions. Distribute the pita equally in the pan. Place the pieces of salt cod on the vegetables and add the fennel seeds and fronds on top. Add the white wine and a little salted water. Return the pan to a low heat, salt again if necessary . Allow to cook slowly for 2 minutes moving the cod pieces around gently from time to time to incorporate all the flavours. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 1 minute 1 minute. Serve with the grilled slices of polenta.
WINTER
Now is the time to get to the natural saunas hidden at the back of mountain grottos. On the way there we are guided by little bursts of hot air as we pass broom, juniper and heather. I stop at the small, stunted strawberry tree that is full of little orange-red sweet and sour fruit.
The comfortable arches of the dammuso in our alcove bedroom protect and cradle us during nights of big winds. The sea is furious and so the boats with fresh supplies from Sicily are not able to come, there is no grocery shopping to be done in town as there is practically nothing more to buy! Luckily our pantry is full of my jars: black and green olives, mulberry jelly, eggplant in oil...
It is the period of hard labor for the wine growers: the grape vines are pruned, the earth is overturned to form the little hill of oil that'll protect the vine from the wind and keep in the rain.
Life is difficult here during winter, we count the days leading up to the carnival: it'll be the end of isolation and families will once again be able to meet each other in the famous circoli.
Carnival starts after the Epiphany and lasts seven days. For the nocturnal festivities a caposala, is "named" every evening, this is a kind of "little king" who is in charge of animating the evening and of watching over its development. The women prepare mountains of chiachiere, a kind of fried sweet that accompanies a glass or two of passito. We'll dance all night, every night until after midnight when we'll make some pasta and pannini that we'll all eat together. There is always one reason or another to eat together...
We are getting a bit behind with work but in the end its ok. Apparently F's construction is not advancing, during these times of celebration some of the masons don't get up until after 3 in the afternoon, alas there is nothing to say or do about this as the Pantescan will do what he wants when he wants, he is king of his island.
By a little secret contact we managed to find some piggy cheeks. E. will marinate them in wine, rosemary and bay leaves for two days.
News December 2008
Sicilian Style Beef Tongue
This recipe is always well appreciated by young and old. The sweet and sour sauce coats every thinly sliced piece of tongue and melts in the mouth. I think that the one who makes this dish should definitely be strongly congratulated and embraced, ovationned and treated with the utmost respect because its preparation, cooking and the cutting take an enormous amount of time and it isn't the most pleasant thing to do either!
For 6 people
1 beef tongue (about 1,2 to 1,8 kg)
1/2 Cup (125 ml) olive oil
1 minced onion
1 carrot, peeled and cut into .5cm rounds
1 celery branch with its leaves, coarsely chopped
1 slice smoked salt pork (1,5 cm thick) cut into cubes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 to 4 parsley sprigs, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 Cups (375ml) red wine
1 Cup (250ml) homemade Beef Stock
For the Sweet and Sour Sauce:
3 TB (36 g) sugar
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 Bay leaf
1/3 Cup (80 ml) red wine vinegar
1/2- 1 birds tongue chili
10 g dark chocolate (60 -70%), grated
The zest of half an orange
2 TB (16 g) pine nuts
2 navel oranges cut into thin slices
Salt and freshly ground pepper
In a large casserole, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, carrot, celery, smoked salt pork, garlic and parsley and sauté for 10 minutes. Remove and keep to the side. In the same casserole add the whole beef tongue and brown on each side, about 15 minutes total cooking time.
Return the vegetables to the tongue and add the wine, cook over medium high heat until the wine has evaporated, about 15 minutes.
Add the beef stock and lower the heat. Cover lowering the heat and let simmer for about two hours. Check the cooking every half hour and turn over the tongue. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely. When the tongue is cold, take it out and put it on a board. Strain the cooking liquid and keep aside. Make a 2mm cut along the centre of the tongue and remove the skin all around. Cut the tongue into 3mm thin rectangular slices, put aside and prepare the sauce.
In a small casserole, heat the sugar, garlic, bay leaf and chili. Agitate the pan constantly over the heat for 10 minutes. Once the sugar has become a nice brown colour add the vinegar and continue to agitate the pan. The sugar will harden but eventually will melt (takes about 3 minutes).
Add the chocolate and mix well. Then add the cooking liquid and reduce by a quarter. Add the orange zest, pine nuts and season with salt and pepper.
Re-heat the beef tongue with the sweet and sour sauce before serving; Serve with slices of orange.
News November
Gianni's Rabbit
Here is Gianni's other favorite recipe that his chef M. makes for him.
For 4
The marinade:
1 rabbit, cut into pieces
4 branches of Rosemary
10 Sage leaves
5 carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
Freshly ground pepper
2 Bay leaves
75cl white wine
The next day:
Flour to sprinkle on the pieces
1 TB butter and 1 TB olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 Cup white wine
10 sage leaves
1 Cup Chicken bouillon
1. The day before, mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl large enough to hold the rabbit, cover and let sit overnight.
2. The next day, remove the rabbit pieces and roll them in a bit of flour. In a large pan with a lid, heat the butter and olive oil over medium high heat. Brown the rabbit pieces being careful not to crowd the pieces in the pan. When browned on each side put them on a paper towel. Salt and pepper them.
3. Deglaze the pan with the white wine stirring to scrape up the browned bottom pieces. Add the rabbit, the chicken bouillon, the Sage leaves and the carrots from the marinade and the remaining leftover marinade liquid. Cover and cook on low heat during 40 minutes. Stir occasionally and add a little water if necessary. Test for seasonings and doneness and serve.
News October
Gianni
In the past, Gianni, the owner of the superb restaurant "La Nicchia" would
situate himself behind the till that overlooked the dining room. With an air
of nobility he lorded over the room and the business. Today his products,
zibibo grape jelly, capers, salsa verde and other intriguing concoctions,
are in jars and are being served at some of the most renown restaurants in
the world.
Gianni now spends a great deal of his traveling in order to promote his
delicious product line and the stage like till has since been removed.
Here is the recipe for his favorite dish, still on his menu to this day.
Spaghetti n°5 with Gambas and Zibibbo grape jelly
Serves two
8 gambas, (prawns) shelled with heads on
1 TB olive oil
2 ts Brandy
1 bird's eye chile, crushed
1 TB Zibibbo grape jelly from la Nicchia www.lanicchia.it
250g spaghetti, n°5
salt and freshly ground pepper
1) In a large pot, bring 2 litres of water to boil then add salt and cook
the pasta.
2) Meanwhile, in a large pan heat the oil over medium heat and add the
crushed chile, raise the heat to high and add the gambas, cook about 2
minutes on either side.
3) Add the Brandy and cook until it has evaporated.
4) Remove the gambas and keep them aside in a warm place. Add the jelly, swirl and scrape up bits in the pan.
5) Once the pasta is cooked add to the pan and mix in with the sauce.
Divide into portions with four gambas each and serve immediately.
News September
Rosa
I go to Rosa's to order her famous ricotta fresca and tummo salato. I first cross her field of capers and nectarines passing by her son's dammuso, still in construction, where I get a glance at Johnny, the pig. Finally I arrive in her garden full of potted flowers, plants and cacti of all kinds, her harvest of zucca « pumpkin » is in a pile, her house, like her first name, is rose.
From the screen door I hail her name and right away the monochord sound of a mature woman's voice hollers back: avanti !
Inside it always feels like nighttime, I make my way to her vast and also dark kitchen where the counters are fussed up with basins of sea water (this is what ricotta is made from in Pantelleria), ricotta baskets of all sizes and tummo at various drying stages. Rosa always has chairs that are lined up against the wall for her visitors, "siediti", she orders me to sit down as usual. You can't go to Rosa's without « chiachiarare », in other words chit chatting about everything and nothing. She is in the midst of sweeping up some woodcock feathers - her son shot the birds earlier that morning - when finished she goes back to the table and starts mashing cooked pumpkin with cooked potatoes.
" Tutto il lavoro per MANGIARE!! Tutto il lavoro per MANGIARE !! Per la pancha poi per il bagno, sempre cosi, e la verita, e tu ridi !!", (all this work for EATING !! All this work for EATING !! For the stomach and then the bathroom, always like this, it's true, and you laugh!) she says to me, her dark eyes look tired from all the ricotta preparation she has been doing since dawn.
Rosa has ten ginger and white wild cats, "take them!" she always tells me. She gives them fish bones this morning, later they'll get some pasta for lunch, they are all waiting for « il secondo » the second course, their paws tucked under themselves, like in prayer.
Rosa makes the fritelle di zucca e patate (pumpkin, potato, eggs, ricotta, salt, pepper, cinnamon, garlic, parsley and flour) for lunch, followed by pasta and tomato sauce with a dollop of her fresh ricotta on top. Her fritelle, oval in shape, are delicious even eaten cold, slightly sweet by the pumpkin, they are harmoniously seasoned with spices. To make the fritelle light and fluffy the secret is in the batter: if the batter leaves the spoon hitting the pan in a round blob then you've added too much flour, you want to aim for an oval shape the size of the spoon.
The following is her recipe:
Rosa's Pumpkin Fritelle
Makes 24 fritelle
4OO g pumpkin, cut into big chunks and steamed, Rosa's pumpkin is much sweeter than ours so a good replacement is a butternut squash
100g potato, cut into chunks and steamed
100 g ricotta
1 teaspoon flat leafed parsley, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 clove garlic, minced
2 1/2 tablespoons flour
half an egg, beaten
A pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg
Oil for frying
Mix together the pumpkin and potato with the ricotta with the help of a fork into a "mashed" consistency.
Add the other ingredients adjusting the amounts to make a homogenous but light mixture.
Heat up about 3mm of the oil in a big frying pan. When hot, drop in oval shaped portions using a large spoon, brown on both sides, remove from pan and lay on paper towel to remove excess oil.
Serve either hot or allow to cool.
Enjoy!
FALL
The field is ready to crackle under a fire. The zibibbo grape dries in the sun, they will produce passito, the sweet wine. Before this though, we will delight ourselves with many handfuls of raisins: the uva passa.
Some adventurous clouds cling onto the Montagna Grande in the temperate evergreen, if one is to hurry, one will find some boletus at the foot of zappini or dede pines, or under the balluti, the green oaks of the island.
In the softwood forest, the ravulionzi, the most succulent of the lactarius mushrooms, are ready to be picked. Grilled on myrtle branches collected in the scrub they give off a wonderful perfume that goes straight to the head, this little treasure is shared between neighbors.
After the last harvest in November we prune the vines and lay on the manure. In the morning we see in the distance regatta pushed by one of the eight winds; the modus vivendi of the island.
Patron Saint of the island and of the fishermen, Saint Fortunato gives his blessing to a large boat. The nuns, the priests and the band begin the procession as do the boats at the entrance of the port, crowns of flowers are thrown into the sea. San Fortunato has been revered as equal to God since his miracles accomplished during the earthquake of 1831 and the tsunami of 1891!
We collect the fruit of the grenadine tree to extract its syrup which will accompany a certain dessert. The cadmium yellow date palm is in effervescence and so I cut a few branches to decorate the table.
Off we go, a group of six of us, to harvest the olives. The fields hum with our chatter. G. still hasn't chosen a date to bring the olives to the cooperative where they will be turned into oil.
I prepare the green olives; we'll be able to sample them in four days. The black olives dry in the sun, they then take on their name: passuluna, that of the wrinkled moon... and also the name for someone nasty, so watch out!
With grace, G. and his faithful Rex climb on the little stoned volcanic rock walls where he cuts a little baby fern that grows between two rocks and shows me the lower white part of the plant - to be eaten, finely chopped over a green salad, he says.
Old News- September 2008-2009
“Pantelleria, la Perla Nera, Recipes and Stories of an Artist-Cook” is packed with adventures, a book with Pantescan flavours- in total there are 130 recipes. The manuscript is long and finished and while waiting for a publisher, I would like to share with you parts of it each month.
September 2009
Mini Tartlets with onion confit, Pecorino and rabbit livers
I often find myself having to coax the customers at my chicken man’s stand in the covered market to hang on to the livers that are sold when you buy a whole rabbit. Rabbit livers are the best kind of livers I know of and this recipe uses a good bunch!
makes 12 tartlets
for the confit:
6 shallots, thinly sliced
2TB extra virgin olive oil
A few sprigs fresh Thyme
2 Cups red wine, like a Côte du Rhône
1 Cup red wine vinegar
1/4 Cup sugar
salt, freshly ground black pepper
1) In a heavy bottomed pan heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and add the shallots, let sweat with the lid on until nice and soft, about 10 minutes. Add the Thyme.
2) Add about a quarter of the vinegar and a quarter of the wine and 2 teaspoons sugar at a time and allow to cook until almost evaporated. Repeat until all the wine and vinegar and sugar has been used up. Adjust seasoning and set aside. The mixture should be thick and jam-like.
for the tartlets:
12 slices pain de mie bread, crusts cut off
about 1/4 lb. unsalted butter
200g rabbit livers, nerves removed and each piece cut into two sliver shapes
2TB olive oil
2 TB cognac
12 thin Pecorino shards
a few arugula leaves
Fleur de Sel and freshly ground black pepper
extra material: a rolling pin, a cupcake or small muffin tin, a round cookie cutter large enough to cover the width of the bread slices
Pre-heat the oven to 150°C
Roll out each slice of bread until nice and thin. Cut out round shapes and butter each side thoroughly. Fit each round into the cupcake or muffin tin, pushing in and down. Continue until the tin is full and put in the oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.
Once all the tartlets have been made proceed with the rabbit livers.
Heat a medium-sized frying pan with the oil, when hot add the livers and sauté until they’ve changed colour, about 2 minutes. Remove the livers onto a plate and de-glaze the pan with the cognac, season to taste.
To serve: place in each tartlet a teaspoon of confit, two thin rabbit livers standing up, a shard of Pecorino. and an arugula leaf. Season to taste and serve.
