AUNTIE PASTA: Right on Rice

SARONNO, Italy - Since moving to Italy my fondness for rice has increased considerably. Growing up in America on Uncle Ben's, my rice recipes were, well to be truthful, bland. They consisted of either a white rice ring for some kind of meat and gravy dish, usually left-over from the day before, or plain boiled rice with butter when the potatoes I planned to cook turned out to be past their prime. Once in a while I would add a chopped  pepper, a diced onion, some cooked ground beef and a can of tomatoes to a pan of plain boiled rice to create that bit of American exotica known as Spanish Rice. But that was all B.I., Before Italy.

Rice Plants

I clearly remember the day I had my first real risotto experience. It was a snappy fall day and I had taken the train from Genova, where I lived, to Torino to spend the day shopping and browsing in the many bookstores that city offers. Wandering through the small streets near Via dei Mercanti in the city's historical center, I stopped at a small trattoria for lunch. Most of the dishes on the menu were written in local dialect, and knowing the Turinese fondness for sweetbreads and other animal innards I'd rather not ingest, I chose the only thing I recognized - risotto.

And what a risotto it turned out to be! Thick and creamy, fragrant with the rich aroma of Parmesan cheese and porcini mushrooms - I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience and had floated off to culinary heaven. 

 A Fistful of Rice

The next day I headed straight for the grocery store to buy rice. I wanted to try my hand at duplicating that ethereal rice recipe. What I found overwhelmed me. There were more types of rice than I had ever realized existed.  I must have spent 20 minutes or more reading all the labels before I finally settled on one of the many that said "ideal for risotto".  But if I tell you that my first attempt at risotto making was a success I'd be lying.  It wasn't bad, but it lacked that creamy consistency of the risotto I had in Torino.  

As it turned out a year or so later I moved to Milan.  Much to my surprise, the Lombards turned out to be fanatical rice eaters. Evidently rice has been the primary food crop Lombardy for more than 500 years. Locals tell me it all started in the mid 1400’s after the Duke of Milan, Francesco Sforza, hired Leonardo DaVinci. He asked him to design a system to irrigate the flat outlying area south of the city, near Vigevano, so it could be cultivated. Today, Italy is Europe’s number one rice producer and more than half of all the rice produced comes from the Vigevano rice fields and the rice fields near Vercelli, all still irrigated by canal system designed by Leonardo DaVinci. 

 Rice is Nice

Talking to the Italian mamas in the grocery store, I learned that just like pastas, the rice you use depends on what you are making.  If you want to make risotto, they said, use a superfino like Arborio. It has a small grain which is particularly resistant when cooked and as a result the cooked rice is not sticky. It is probably the best selling rice in Italy.  

Another type they recommended for risotto was Vialone Nano, a cross between Vialone and Nano, or dwarf rice, so named because it grows on such low plants. It’s cooking characteristics are similar to Arborio. But in their collective opinion, the King of risotto rice is Carnaroli. It is the absolutely the best they say because it remains firm in the center but takes on a perfect, creamy consistency, and who am I to argue with an Italian mama?  

AUNTIE PASTA: The Pilot's Rice

SARONNO, Italy – Today’s recipe, Riso alla Pilota, is a traditional dish from Manuta, a lovely town not too far from Verona. Mantua is a rice growing area and this dish was named after the workers who husked the rice – the pilots - who turned the “pile”,  a large stone mortar that was used to separate  the rice from the husk.  

 Center of Mantua

Unlike traditional risotto dishes, riso alla pilota is first cooked in a covered pot and then allowed to rest off the heat. The result is a creamy risotto with nice firm grains, but not in the least bit dry. The cooking method is a little unusual, but interesting and worth a try.

Ingredients

80 grams of butter

100 grams of freshly grated Grana Padano (or Parmegiano)

350 grams of rice Semifino Vialone Nano (or Aborio)

Salt

300 grams of Italian sausage (not hot and spicy)

Place 600 ml of water in a heavy bottom pot and bring it to a boil.

As soon as the water starts to boil, salt it lightly and pour the rice in the center of the pot, (1) so that it falls in the form of a pyramid with about an inch of rice sticking out of the water  t (2) (if the tip does not emerge, remove some of the water with a spoon, or if more than 2 cm are sticking out, add additional water).

When the water returns to a boil, cook the rice for 10-12 minutes without a lid over a medium high flame, shaking the pot occasionally to stir the rice and flatten it. After 10 -12 minutes the rice should have absorbed all the water, remove the pot from the stove and cover the rice with a clean tea towel (the tea towel should touch the rice) (3)

 

Cover the pot  (4) and let it rest for 10 minutes more, during which time the rice should be completely cooked. 

In the meantime, melt the butter in a pan (5), break up the sausage meat with a fork and add it in the pan (6) and let it cook over a medium flame until it is browned. Stir it occasionally with a wooden spoon, so it doesn’t stick to the pan.

 

After the rice has rested for 10 minutes, break it up with a fork (7) and add the browned sausage (8), add half of the freshly grated Grana (9) and mix. Sprinkle with the remaining Grana and serve immediately.

Tip: The best rice to use for this recipe is semifino Vialone Nano, which grows in the Mantua area. The medium size grains hold their shape during the long cooking process.  The pork sausage should be made from the pork shoulder and seasoned with garlic and pepper. If you can’t find garlic seasoned sausage you can add a finely chopped garlic clove to the sausage meat with it is cooking.You could also add a little onion to the sausage, unless you are like my Aunt Florence who positively does not like onions in any way, shape or form but I love her anyway. 

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AUNTIE PASTA: Black is Back

SARONNO, Italy - Spaghetti with squid ink sauce is a culinary extravaganza that you will find in the most humble of trattorias and the most chic – and expensive - restaurants from Venice to Palermo.  

 Pasta with Squid Ink Sauce

There is a drawback however. You have to have a lot of confidence to eat this dish in public. The intensely black ink turns your teeth a ghoulish black color that really puts a damper on table conversation. And if that is not embarrassing enough, the delicious flavor is so addictive it keeps you slurping away at the spaghetti until you have devoured every strand. 

I’m not talking here about the black colored spaghetti that you often see in gourmet food shops. That’s sissy stuff. I’m talking about the real deal, spaghetti dressed with a sauce made from the ink extracted from squid caught in the Mediterranean Sea.  

If you order this dish in a restaurant, you can tell immediately which one it is. If it is colored spaghetti, the spaghetti itself will be jet black, otherwise it’s the sauce that’s black.

Pasta colored with Squid Ink

In Andrea Camilleri’s popular crime novels, Sicilian police Inspector Salvo Montalbano will stop in his tracks for a good meal, especially if it is that exquisiteness, spaghetti in squid ink prepared by his boss’ wife. In fact, he will do just about anything to appease the cranky Superintendent in order not to jeopardize an invitation to their table.

The dish affects a lot of people that way. My love affair with spaghetti al nero di sepia goes back a long way, at least more than twenty years. It was one of my first food discoveries when I moved to Italy and started to shop at the open air fish markets in Santa Margherita Ligure and Rapallo. 

Sorry Squid, You would Never Win a Fish Beauty Contest

 You will find packages of black squid ink, also called cuttlefish ink, in the refrigerated section of Italian specialty shops, or ask your fish monger. In Italy it is sold in packages of 4 individual packets of 4 grams each.  

Here are two recipes from the back of the package of squid ink that I bought: one for spaghetti and the other for risotto. Italian recipes tend to be quite general and assume you have a basic knowledge of how things culinary work, I've added a little additional info in parentheses to clarify some points, but since I am so bad at converting metric measurements to US measurements, found a web site you might find useful: http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/cooking-conversions/gram-conversions-general.aspx

Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia

(serves 4)

Finely chop an onion and two cloves of garlic and fry them in a little (extra-virgin) olive oil. (until they become soft and translucent). Add 300 grams of squid, either rings or cut into pieces. Cook the squid with the onion and garlic for a minute or two, then add a glass of white wine and 8 grams of squid ink (two packets) and continue to cook until the squid is tender (about 15 minutes). 

In the meantime, cook your spaghetti al dente. When it is cooked, drain it and add it to the sauce and squid. Let it all cook together for a couple of minutes. Serve very hot.

Risotto al Nero di Seppia

(Serves 4)

Finely chop an onion and two cloves of garlic and fry them in a little (extra-virgin) olive oil. (until they become soft and translucent). Add 300 grams of squid, either rings or cut into pieces. Cook the squid with the onion and garlic for a minute or two, then add a glass of white wine and 8 grams of squid ink (two packets).   

After about 5 minutes add 5 handfuls of rice (Aborio or Canaroli are both good for risotto), and cook on a low flame for about 15 minutes. Add fish broth (as needed) and a pinch of hot red pepper or black pepper. Serve very hot. 

You can also make these dishes adding fresh, rough chopped tomatoes to the onions and garlic, and at the end put in a handful of chopped parsley. Whatever way you chose what you will create is an deliciously intense culinary potion worthy of a medieval sorceress (or sorcerer).

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