The Dolce Vita Diaries. Cathy Rogers
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Every little corner of Italy has a pasta that it calls its own, and if you’re lucky it comes along with a bit of history or a nice story. The best I’ve heard so far is Le Marche’s very own strozzapreti. Not only does it have a clever little twist in it that means sauces (like the ubiquitous wild boar ragĒ) stick to it in gooey lumps, but best of all, its name means ‘priest choker’.
This, Sandro our estate agent explained, goes back to the time when the church was a big landowner in Le Marche. The farmers’ wives would make this pasta to grease the palms, or rather fill the bellies, of the local clergymen. But the farmers would go wild with jealousy (eating your wife’s pasta is tantamount to bedding her, Sandro told us) and so wish for the pasta to choke the gluttonous priests to death. Anyway, we’ve had fun making our own strozzapreti at home. It’s just a shame we have no priest friends to invite round for dinner.
Make the pasta according to the instructions for lemon ravioli (page 12). Lay the thin dough on a floury board and cut into long strips about 3cm wide.Take two wooden barbecue skewers and roll a length of dough around first one skewer then the next. You should end up with an ‘S’ shape, with a skewer in each hole of the ‘S’. Give it a further little twist to make sure that the priest really gets it, and place on a well-floured tray.
Once you’ve made enough for 4 people, throw the pasta shapes into salted, boiling water. When they are cooked they will rise to the surface. Scoop them out and mix them into whatever sauce you have come up with. Our favourite so far has been an asparagus, fresh pea, mint and cream sauce.
Macaroni with rabbit and olive ragĒ
Ingredients for 8 people
Parmesan—50g grated, 400g to make a wafer to serve each dish on Olive oil—for frying
Carrot—1
Onion—1/2
Celery—1 stick
Leek—1
Vine tomatoes—300g
Minced pork and veal—150g
Rabbit—half a boned one (get your butcher to bone it)
Rosemary—1 sprig
Salt and pepper
White wine—half a litre
Vegetable or meat stock—if needed
Courgette—1
Garlic—1 clove
Black olives—350g of pitted ones
Macaroni—1kg of the smallest macaroni you can find
Butter—a knob
Hotel Ristorante Giardino
After a long day house-hunting, we had been chuffed to find a restaurant with nothing less than a vegetarian tasting menu. It had got even better when we found out that owner and chef Massimo Biagiali prided himself in using only ingredients which grew within throwing distance of his hotel. And then it really got better when Massimo insisted that we drink a different glass of wine with each course. There were a lot of courses. At the end of the evening, rather tired and emotional, we made Massimo promise to give us recipes for our favourite dishes.
We’ve discovered that in Le Marche rabbit is a standard dish in your everyday trattoria. Usually it’s grilled, alla brace, over an open flame. In this dish the boned rabbit is cooked in tomatoes, allowing its aromatic flavour to come through in every tender bite.
Method overleaf
First of all get the parmesan wafers out of the way. Preheat the oven to 200°C / gas mark 6. Thinly slice the cheese and then arrange it into rough circles with a diameter of about 20cm on a Teflon baking sheet (we also use a non-stick cooking liner called ‘Bake-O-Glide’). Make sure that the pieces are overlapping. You may have to make a few batches but they don’t take long. Whack it in the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese has fused, then remove and put each circle on top of an upside-down tumbler so it takes the shape of a basket. When it’s rehardened set aside for later. Make a basket per person.
Now for the sauce. First put some olive oil in a deep, heavy-bottomed pan over a low heat and brown the finely chopped carrot, onion, celery and leek. Then add the roughly chopped tomatoes to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes. You can then add the minced meats. While this is cooking cut the boned rabbit into 0.7-0.8cm cubes and then add them to the pan. Also add the chopped rosemary leaves and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a further 10 minutes before you add the white wine and stock, if you need it, to cover. Slowly cook it down.
Cut the skin off the courgette and slice it in batons, julienne style, then sauté them with olive oil and the peeled garlic clove. Once they have a bit of colour, remove and chuck away your garlic clove and add the courgettes to the ragĒ. Also add the black olives. Let this cook while you prepare the macaroni according to the instructions on the packet (Massimo assured us that they make their pasta fresh each day, of course).When it is cooked drain and turn it into a frying pan with the grated parmesan and a knob of butter.
Put a big serving spoonful of the macaroni in each parmesan wafer, then a spoonful of the ragĒ and serve immediately. Eat with a fruity and mature glass of ’99 Il Cupo from Le Marche’s Ester Hauser.
Aubergine involtini with sapa sauce
Involtini di melanzane con salsa di zabaione di sapa
Ingredients for 4
For the aubergine rolls:
Aubergines—2 fairly large ones
Salt—2 tablespoons
Olive oil—4 teaspoons
For the filling:
Ricotta—150g
Pecorino—400g cut into small cubes
Salt and pepper
For the sauce:
Egg yolks—2
Salt and pepper
Sapa—100ml
Vegetable stock—50ml
Balsamic vinegar—10ml
This recipe uses sapa, which is a popular condiment in Le Marche, but not well known outside of Italy. It’s like a sweet, rich, almost toffee-flavoured balsamic vinegar. According to our friend Massimo, sapa was used by the Romans before sugar was introduced to Italy. It’s also known as saba and we’ve found it on the shelves of a couple of delis. If you’re not so lucky, use a good balsamic instead. This particular recipe may seem a bit precious, but it’s not difficult and is an amazing combination of flavours.
Cut the aubergines lengthways into thin slices of 0.5 to 0.8cm. Cover them with plenty of salt and a bit of water and leave for at least 15 minutes. Rinse them and then pat dry. Lightly brush each side with olive oil and brown them a bit in a non-stick frying pan for about 5 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, combine the ricotta and the pecorino. Add a little salt and pepper. Then take one aubergine