Cucina Amalfi E-Book

Ursula Ferrigno

• Herausgeber: Ryland Peters & Small
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 158

Beschreibung

Discover a sparkling region in Southern Italy which offers the most tantalizing food, through 75 authentic recipes, cooked with care and attention using the best ingredients.Italian food reflects culture. In Italy cooking is the product of geography, history, and religion. 'Italian cooking' is really a patchwork of local and regional cuisines, all fiercely claiming to be the best in the country. Ursula Ferrigno's own family come from the south of Italy, and just south of Naples is the Amalfi Coast. It is widely considered to be one of Italy's most magical locations: breath-taking (literally) winding cliff-top roads, pastel-coloured houses tumbling down towards the sea, flower-framed terraces and trees heavy with the world's most coveted lemons at every turn. Discover the delicious food the region has to offer. Vegetable dishes take centre stage and both meat and fish are eaten and often combined. In this seductive book you'll find 75 recipes to enjoy, from simple antipasti and ministre (soups) to pane (bread) and pizza, risotto, pollame and carne (fish and meat), and the all-important contorni (vegetable), alongside essays on the food culture and traditions of the area and beautiful scenic photography.

Leseprobe

CUCINA di

Amalfi

CUCINA di

Amalfi

SUN-DRENCHED RECIPES FROM ITALY’S MOST MAGICAL COASTLINE

Ursula Ferrigno

with photography by

NASSIMA ROTHACKER

Illustrations by Colin Elgie

Dedication

To Nicola, my sister, for being so invested in this project for me and for helping with writing recipes, with historiography and for supporting me through this fabulous journey.

Senior Designer Toni Kay

Senior Editor Abi Waters

Head of Production Patricia Harrington

Creative Director Leslie Harrington

Editorial Director Julia Charles

Illustrator Colin Elgie

Food Stylists Eleanor Mulligan and Troy Willis

Prop Stylist Lauren Miller

Indexer Vanessa Bird

First published in 2023 by

Ryland Peters & Small

20–21 Jockey’s Fields, London

WC1R 4BW

and

341 E 11th St

New York, NY 10029

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Text © Ursula Ferrigno 2023

Design and commissioned photography © Ryland Peters & Small 2023 (see page 191 for full details)

Printed in China.

The author’s moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-78879-508-1

E-ISBN: 978-1-78879-533-3

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

US Library of Congress cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

NOTES

• All spoon measurements are level unless otherwise specified.

• All eggs are medium (UK) or large (US), unless specified as large, in which case US extra-large should be used. Uncooked or partially cooked eggs should not be served to the very old, frail, young children, pregnant women or those with compromised immune systems.

• When a recipe calls for cling film/plastic wrap, you can substitute for beeswax wraps, silicone stretch lids or compostable baking paper for greater sustainability.

• When a recipe calls for the grated zest of citrus fruit, buy unwaxed fruit and wash well before using.

• Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperatures. If using a fan-assisted oven, adjust temperatures according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

• To sterilize preserving jars, wash them in hot, soapy water and rinse in boiling water. Place in a large saucepan and cover with hot water. With the saucepan lid on, bring the water to the boil and continue boiling for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the jars in the hot water until just before they are to be filled. Invert the jars onto a clean dish towel to dry. Sterilize the lids for 5 minutes, by boiling or according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Jars should be filled and sealed while they are still hot.

CONTENTS

Introduction

APPETIZERS Antipasti

BREAD & PIZZA Pane e Pizza

PASTA Pasta

MAIN PLATES Piatti Principali

VEGETABLES & PRESERVES Contorni e Conserve

DESSERTS Dolci

Index

Acknowledgements

INTRODUCTION

La Costiera Amalfitana, the Amalfi Coast, is also known as la divina costiera, ‘the divine coast’. And to me this is no surprise, because the whole area is magical, with its vertiginous terraces, historic churches and villas, pastel-painted villages clinging to the cliffs, all suspended between a clear blue sky and the sapphire waters of the Mediterranean. The Amalfi Coast is also where I was born and where I lived until I was 12 years old. Our home is the village of Minori, one of the 13 villages officially included in the costiera. Even after we moved to the UK, we would return to Italy every summer to be with my grandparents. To me it was, and still is, a paradise – if a little busier now than it was during my childhood!

CAMPANIA & THE AMALFI COAST

The Amalfi Coast is in Campania, one of the southernmost regions of Italy. It is known as Campania Felix – ‘happy countryside’ – and I think most of us are indeed happy, living in such a beautiful place, not far from Naples, the lively capital. The villages that dot the Amalfi Coast are, from the west: Positano, Praiano, Furore, Conca dei Marini, Amalfi, Atrani, Ravello, Minori, Maiori, Cetara and Vietri sul Mare; Tramonti and Scala are inland, in the mountains. Often the nearby Salerno, Sorrento, Capri and Naples are associated with the Amalfi Coast, and certainly in a culinary sense they are important.

The major link between most of these small municipalities is a narrow, rollercoaster of a highway, the 43 km (27 mile) Strada Statale 163 (SS163), which twists and turns its way along the clifftops, often single lane and with many sharp turns. The SS163 is perhaps the least amenable of the Amalfi Coast attractions. In high season the road is clogged with tourists driving from one village to another, slowing down to admire the wonderful views, resulting in horrendous traffic jams. (In 2022 the authorities instituted a traffic-calming idea that everyone hopes will help.)

The entire Amalfi Coast has been listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its unique landscape and natural beauty. Italy holds the greatest number of these heritage sites – 58 in total (to rival China’s 56) – and Campania has 10 of them. The award is also based on the area’s important cultural heritage. For instance, Amalfi was one of the four major maritime republics of the peninsula (along with Venice, Genoa and Pisa). The town was a major seafaring and trading hub, travelling as far afield as Constantinople (now Istanbul), and instituted the Tavole Amalfitane (the ‘Amalfan tables’) in the 12th century, which were then a milestone in maritime law. There are many Greek and Roman sites of interest – particularly the Villa Romana in Minori. And of course the Amalfi Coast is not far from the stupendous Roman sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum to the west (both destroyed by Vesuvius in 79AD) and the Greek Paestum to the east, south of Salerno.

In Homer’s Odyssey, the sirens sing to lure passing sailors to their doom. According to local legend, their island lies just off the Amalfi Coast. Most authorities place the sirens in the Strait of Messina, between Italy and Sicily, but a hotel in Positano is named after the sirens, so the legend must be true!

The Amalfi Coast seems to have acted as a siren song for many people, not just sailors, over the centuries. It was a popular place to visit on the Grand Tours of the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 1850s, Cosima Wagner, wife of the great German composer, described the long journey by mule to the town of Ravello, perched high above the sea. They visited the gardens of Villa Rufolo, and Richard Wagner, after 20 years of composer’s block, was inspired to finish his opera Parsifal. Years later the town instituted a music festival in his honour, which still exists, running from June to mid-September every year.

Writers such as D.H. Lawrence, Ibsen, Steinbeck and Tolstoy visited and lauded the costiera. Film directors, such as Rossellini (born in Maiori), Zefferelli and Fellini used the costiera as a backdrop in films. While filming L’Amore, Rossellini shot scenes along the sentiero dei limoni (‘pathway of the lemons’), the old trail connecting Maiori and Minori. This still exists, redolent of the past: men and women would haul lemons from the hilltop terraces down to the beaches of both villages, from which they would be shipped to the UK and America. Parts of more recent films were also shot on the Amalfi Coast, including The Talented Mr Ripley and Wonderwoman.

Crowds flock to the Amalfi Coast even now, and its villages are the playground for holidaymakers from all over the world, enjoying the peace (apart from the traffic!), the secluded beaches, the ancient stairways and narrow dark lanes, the sophisticated boutiques and the many outstanding (often very expensive) food shops and restaurants.

MINORI & LEMONS

I truly believe that I became involved in the food world because of my family, and because my family lived on the Amalfi Coast. There, 100 years ago, if you were not a fisherman you were a farmer, and growing fruit and vegetables is what my family specialized in. My nonno, or grandfather, Gaetano Ferrigno, was the youngest of seven children, all girls before him! He inherited the family business early and came to the UK many times selling his produce.

When my father – also Gaetano – was old enough, my nonno gave him £500 and told him to go off and make money for himself. Lemons were his first love: he would sail to London, armed with a multitude of crates. Family lore has it that Fleet Street and its disillusioned pressmen were granted new life by the intense flavour of Amalfi lemons in their gin and tonics! The business expanded and he started exporting Italian potatoes, broccoli, lettuces from Sicily, chickpeas, strawberries from Paestum – he was the first person to bring radicchio to the UK. We still grow lemons – thick skinned for limoncello, the Italian liqueur, and thin skinned for juicing.

As a result of the family business and being surrounded by people who were passionate about growing and eating, during those first 12 years of my life I absorbed an enormous amount of knowledge. I grew up knowing, for instance, all about growing pears, plums, apricots, oranges and lemons. I knew how to graft lemons to get a thinner skin, or more juice, or to produce a lemon that was sweet, rather than sour, so that you could eat it like an orange! I watched my grandmother making pasta, soups, rolling meatballs, preserving tomatoes and aubergines, creating magical dishes out of a few simple ingredients, most of them specialities of the area – San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, anchovies, fish straight from the sea, with local olive oil. For my sisters and me, our favourite lunch was the homemade pizza on Sundays.

My grandmother cooked well, so she said, because she loved us well, and I treasure and cling to that thought. I also inherited my nonno’s love of lemons, and still to this day, the very smell of lemons evokes the most wonderful memories, reminding me of heat and happiness, which is possibly the very essence of the Amalfi Coast and of Italy.

Ursula Ferrigno

Appetizers

ANTIPASTI

delightful antipasti

It is popularly thought that the word ‘antipasto’ means the course that is eaten before the pasta dish. But in reality it means ‘before the meal’, coming from the Latin ante pastum. The purpose of the antipasto is to stimulate the appetite, but certainly not to satisfy it: antipasti must be simple, not rich or complicated, in order to allow for the appreciation of the course (or courses) to follow. Therefore tasty, light and small morsels are the order of the day.

Along the Amalfi Coast, antipasti are usually based on seafood – you could choose from anchovies, sardines, baby octopus, clams, mussels, squid or cuttlefish, sea urchins, tuna, prawns or whitebait. Simply visiting the local seafood market, where the fish are so fresh they almost leap out at you, will give you an idea of what the nearby restaurants will offer. The smaller fish might be deep-fried in a light batter, as with small pieces of vegetable. There might also be some salame or prosciutto, cooked vegetables, grains or pulses, crostini, cheese dishes and salads. Antipasti are perhaps more part of a restaurant menu than a fixture of a meal at home nowadays, although they often appear at family celebrations, such as weddings or christenings. I love making and serving them, with their endless possibilities and their variety of tastes, textures and colours. They don’t have to just be served as a course before your main meal of the day either – four or five together could be served by themselves as a delicious lunch, rather like the Spanish tapas.

I have given you three mozzarella recipes in this chapter, as mozzarella cheese is one of the food stars of Campania and the Amalfi Coast. I think the best cheeses are made here, despite rivals now appearing all over the world (from China to Scotland!). The local cheese, mainly produced near Salerno, is so respected that it bears the Mozzarella di Bufala Campana trademark and was given DOC status (Designation of Controlled Origin) in 1993; it also gained a Protected Geographical Status from the EU in 2008. It is made from the milk of water buffalo that roam many areas of southern Italy, principally Campania, Lazio and Puglia. Anyway, they produce milk that is low in fat, which is made into balls of cheese with a soft and gentle flavour. The cheese takes its name from the verb mozzare, meaning ‘to cut’; this refers to the way in which the cheesemakers ‘cut’ the stretchy curd by hand to make it into the familiar balls.

Buffalo mozzarella should come bathing in its own packet or tub of liquid – and should be eaten promptly, when it will ooze a little of its internal milk. It is best when newly made, so I urge you to visit the Amalfi Coast (before the summer preferably, when the tourists will be in super-abundance!) in order to truly appreciate it. To be honest, it can be a little bland, so needs a little help from other flavourings. I love it because of its coolness, which is welcome in the searing heat of the south. It is best, to my mind, in a salad from the nearby island of Capri, the caprese, with fabulous olive oil, sliced San Marzano tomatoes, fresh basil, salt and pepper. And another popular Amalfi Coast use of mozzarella is in carrozza, translated as ‘in a carriage’, which are slices of mozzarella sandwiched between slices of bread and fried (see page 26). The melting stringiness of the cheese also means that it is the ideal topping for pizza, another speciality of this part of Italy.

The other culinary stars of the Amalfi Coast are anchovies, or acciughe, here known as alici. The small coastal town of Cetara is the centre of the anchovy trade and has been for centuries. The town’s fishing fleet is one of the best equipped on the Amalfi Coast. The fish are caught between March and July and are served fresh in a variety of ways. In Cetara, they even have a Notte delle Lampara at the end of July, when the fishermen and paying guests go out in the old traditional way, in small boats, with a large lamp at the bow, which attracts the fish. Most of the alici catch, however, is used to make colatura di alici, an intensely fishy sauce, which is the modern-day equivalent of the famous Roman sauce. The fish are put in barrels, weighted down, and the ‘sauce’, the essence of anchovies, is squeezed out. There is a Festa della Colatura di Alici in early December to celebrate the new bottling. I think of colatura as the vanilla extract of the fish world, and although it is still a bit of an underground ingredient in the UK, I think it is on its way – it brings a dish alive, adding an extra dimension to pasta sauces, salads and grains.

PEPPER & MOZZARELLA SKEWERS

SPIEDINI DI AMALFI

This is such a simple antipasti to make, but make sure you adhere to the details. Glorious to serve at gatherings as the flavourful skewers are fun to share with guests.

2 large red (bell) peppers

50 g/3½ tablespoons unsalted butter

6 anchovies

1 sourdough baguette, stick or good-quality country-style bread (can be a day old)

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 mozzarella balls, drained well

2 handfuls of fresh basil

fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to garnish

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

6 metal skewers

Serves 6

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C/425°F/gas 7.

Place the red peppers on a baking sheet and roast in the preheated oven for 35–40 minutes (depending on the size of your peppers) until deflated and slightly charred. Leave to cool, then peel off the skin. Cut the flesh into 18 pieces in total.

Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C fan/180°C/350°F/gas 4.

Place the butter in a small pan with the anchovies and heat gently until the butter has melted.

Cut the bread into 18 even slices, ideally with the crusts removed and brush with the olive oil. Cut the mozzarella into 18 slices about 1 cm/½ in. thick.

Thread 6 skewers, allowing 3 pieces of each ingredient per skewer. Start with bread, then pepper, cheese and basil leaves and repeat, making sure that the ingredients are tightly pressed together. Place the skewers on an oiled baking sheet, season well and brush with the melted anchovy butter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, turning halfway to check that they are evenly browning. Garnish with parsley to serve.

MOZZARELLA IN A LEMON LEAF

MOZZARELLA IN FOGLIA DI LIMONE

I’m always very keen to use the leaves of the fragrant Amalfi lemon trees whenever possible. Maybe you are lucky enough to have a tree in your garden or could visit a local greengrocer to see if they have a beautiful box of Amalfi lemons that you could take a few lemon leaves from to try this dish. Lemon leaves also work well as a base when cooking fresh fish – the volatile oils in the leaves are just below the surface, and all the aromas and flavour are captured perfectly as they seep through the fish.

1 ball of fresh buffalo mozzarella, cut into bite-sized pieces

fresh lemon leaves, blanched to make them flexible

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

lemon zest, to garnish (optional)

good-quality extra virgin olive oil and bread, to serve

Serves 4

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan/220°C/425°F/gas 7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Depending on the size of the leaves, wrap a piece of fresh buffalo mozzarella in one or more leaves, seasoning the cheese well before enclosing it within the leaf.

Place on the lined baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 10–12 minutes. Remove from the oven, undo the leaf to reveal the mozzarella and top with lemon zest if desired. Enjoy with fabulous oil and bread.

VARIATION:Fig leaves can also be used filled with goats’ cheese in a similar manner.

MINI PARMESAN PANCAKES

TORTINE DI PARMIGIANO

My father grew Italian new potatoes and I grew up with him coming home and turning a handful of potatoes out of his pockets, which were quickly cooked for him to see if he approved of the flavour. This dish has many variations and can be served like a sandwich with creamy fresh spinach or cheese in the middle, or with roasted peppers or meats on the side for antipasti.

2 large old potatoes

75 g/1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg

25 g/3 tablespoons plain/all-purpose flour

a little milk, for mixing

4 tablespoons olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to garnish

Serves 4

Peel, then grate the potatoes into a bowl. Add the cheese, egg, flour, salt and pepper and enough milk to form a thick batter that is of a dropping consistency. Leave to stand for 15 minutes.