Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa. Matthew Fort
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do so many politicians come from the south, and do so little for it?’ I asked.
Umberto shrugged his shoulders again.
‘Do you expect things to change?’ I asked him.
‘No,’ he said.
‘Why not?’
‘Because they are difficult to change here,’ he said.
There might have been a moment when things could have been different, he went on, when Garibaldi liberated Calabria from the Bourbons. All his life Garibaldi had been dedicated to republican principles. But then he sacrificed his principles in the interests of Italian unity, and ceded his conquests to King Victor Emmanuel II, as he had always made it clear he would. It wasn’t Garibaldi’s exploits in the process of unification that southerners deplored but the betrayal of the republican ideal. The wrong man got the top job post-unification, and, as a consequence, southern Italy merely exchanged the tyranny of local latifundia for that of northern Italy, which perpetuates itself to this day through its banks and financial institutions. That was why some referred to Garibaldi as ‘il traditore del sud’, betrayer of the south.
That was why there were no Garibaldi heritage trails.
I said goodbye to the Gaetanos at La Carolee with much emotion on both sides. They wouldn’t let me pay, in spite of having fed me like a king and talked to me like an Italian for two days. I wondered what they made of me, a short, portly, balding Englishman, who badgered them remorselessly for details on food, history, people and politics and then vanished. They had drawn me into the life of their family for a few days, and now I had to move on. I had the sense of a half-developed friendship which I wished to continue, but could not. It troubled me. The truth was that, in spite of weather and lugubrious anticipation, I had fallen in love with Calabria, with the exuberance of its cooking, the generosity of its people and the magnificence of its inland landscape.
‘Ai, mangia. Va bene.
Buon appetito.’
LE BRACIOLE DI CARNE E MELANZANE
Meat and aubergine fritters
Beef and pork? Once this would have been a dish for high days and holy days, although the addition of breadcrumbs and cheese is a thrifty way of stretching the expensive ingredients. The recipe comes from the Gaetano family, as do those that follow. It is interesting just how hearty this food is. It is mouth-watering, stomach-filling stuff.
6 MEDIUM-SIZED AUBERGINES
BREADCRUMBS
175G MINCED BEEF
175G MINCED PORK
4 EGGS
A HANDFUL OF GRATED PECORINO
2 BASIL LEAVES
1 CLOVE GARLIC, CRUSHED
SALT, TO TASTE
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, FOR FRYING
Serves 4
Peel the aubergines. Cut lengthwise into strips about 2cm thick and toss into boiling water. When cooked, drain and dry thoroughly.
Chop the aubergines finely and mix with an equivalent amount of breadcrumbs. Add the minced meats, eggs, pecorino, basil leaves, garlic and salt. Shape into short sausages about 5–7cm long and 3–4cm thick. Fry 6–7 fritters at a time in extra virgin olive oil.
INVOLTINI DI MELANZANE
Aubergine rolls
Serves 4
Coat the aubergine slices in flour and fry in extra virgin olive oil.
Cook the tagliatelle in salted boiling water. When half-cooked, transfer to a frying pan with 250ml of the tomato sauce, the garlic, basil and pecorino. Mix well and leave to cool.
Spoon the cooked pasta mixture on to the fried aubergine slices and roll up tightly (securing with cocktail sticks if necessary). Cut off the tagliatelle sticking out at either end and use to stuff the next aubergine slice.
Place the rolls in an ovenproof dish, spoon over more of the tomato sauce, sprinkle with the Parmesan and bake for 30 minutes at 180°C/Gas 4.
8 SLICES OF AUBERGINE
PLAIN FLOUR
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
500G HOME-MADE TAGLIATELLE
500ML FRESH TOMATO SAUCE
1 CLOVE GARLIC, CRUSHED
2 BASIL LEAVES
3 TABLESPOONS GRATED PECORINO
4 TABLESPOONS GRATED PARMESAN
CROCCHETTE DI PATATE
Potato croquettes
Serves 4
Wash and boil the potatoes. When cooked, drain, peel and mash well. Leave to cool. Mix with the eggs, Parmesan, pecorino, parsley and salt. Shape into cylinders 6–7cm long and about 2cm in diameter.
Fry 6–7 croquettes at a time in extra virgin olive oil.
1KG POTATOES
5 EGGS, BEATEN
A HANDFUL OF GRATED PARMESAN, TO TASTE
1 TBSP GRATED PECORINO
PARSLEY, CHOPPED
SALT, TO TASTE
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, FOR FRYING
LO SPEZZATINO DI CAPRETTO
Stewed kid (or lamb) offal
Why is it that the British have lost their taste for offal? I suppose it may be because, unlike most cuts of meat that bear no relation to the living animal from which they came, offal is the essence of animal. A brain looks like a brain, a heart like a heart, a testicle like a testicle. There’s no sliding round the fact that these organs had functions, intimate functions at that. In confronting a brain, a heart or a testicle, we confront our own mortality, and doing so should make us appreciate our living state all the more. It would be charitable to think that the modern tendency in some countries to reject the gift of offal is some evidence of civilised refinement. In truth, it is a throwback to the sixteenth century when offal was thought to provoke ‘euyl humours’.
1.5KG KID OR LAMB (INCLUDING THE LIVER, LUNGS, KIDNEYS, HEART AND SPLEEN)
90ML WINE VINEGAR
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL
1 CLOVE GARLIC, CHOPPED
1 BAY LEAF
3 TOMATOES, SKINNED AND DESEEDED
TOMATO PASTE
OREGANO, TO TASTE
FRESH CHILLIES, TO TASTE
CHILLI POWDER, TO TASTE
SALT, TO TASTE
Serves 8
Blanch the offal in water and wine vinegar for about 4 minutes. Drain, leave to cool and chop finely.
Chop the kid or lamb into pieces. Grease a flame-proof casserole with oil and sauté the kid or lamb meat in it with the garlic and bay leaf. After a few minutes, add the offal, tomatoes, a little tomato paste, a pinch of oregano, the fresh chillies and chilli powder and salt to taste. Braise for about 20 minutes. Serve with plenty of freshly baked farmhouse bread.
LA PITTA PIENA
Stuffed focaccia alla nicocastro
When I first saw it, it lay in its baking tray, the colour of ripe wheat on top. Signora Gaetano briskly sliced it the length of its middle, and then in sections across. She lifted out a slice and passed it to me. The inside was pale and spongy, with a fat seam of soppressata, pecorino and hard-boiled egg running through the middle. My teeth sank through. I relished the airy texture of the bread. The rich, spicy, weighty filling boomed through