Recipes

Riso in Padella
Ingredients:
One (1)pound each cleaned:
fresh mussels, fresh clams, large shrimp, hot Italian sausage, chicken thighs
Also:
4 cups shrimp or shellfish stock (preferably homemade)
2 Cups long grain white rice
1/2 Tablespoon saffron
salt and pepper to taste
1 Cup olive oil
1 medium onion, medium diced
1 green pepper, sliced thin white pith removed
1 teaspoon red pepper flake
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Cup tomato paste
8-10 oz dry white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Cup young peas
2 lemons cut into wedges

First, cook the rice with the saffron, shrimp stock and a pinch of salt. Do not overcook, the rice should be light and fluffy. Set aside.

In another, large pan, preferably one that can hold all ingredients, pour in olive oil.
When the oil is hot add the onion, peppers, and red pepper flake. Brown slowly.
Add chicken thighs and sausage.
When all is brown, add tomato paste, garlic & white wine
When most of the wine has evaporated, add cooked rice, salt and pepper to taste.
Lastly, add the shrimp, clams and mussels.
(if your clams are large add them earlier, with the thighs) Wet with additional stock if needed.

When the mussels and clams have opened, sprinkle the top with the peas & serve with wedges of lemon.

At Nani's, we serve this beautiful dish in the large, black skillet in which it is cooked. Ooo's and ahh's can be heard from our customers as the server passes through the dining room. An occasional mmmm-mm is detected from a closed-eyed, inhaling gourmand!

This dish is well accompanied with a light salad. And, if you'd like to have a glass of wine, we'd choose a nice, full-bodied chardonnay or merlot.

Pasta al Melone
Pasta with Cantaloupe
This pasta dish from Giuliano Hazan's The Classic Pasta Cookbook has been offered several summers at Nani's. Although we sometimes have to talk our customers into trying it, they are usually very hard to talk into ordering anything else once they've tasted it. One customer recently wrote us an email afterward and said, "Did we have pasta with melon or was it just a wonderful dream?"

Ingredients:
4T butter
1 med cantaloupe, rind & seeds removed then cut into dice
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
1T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tomato paste
1 C heavy cream
1 C freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

1. While preparing the condiment, cook spaghetti or penne according to box instructions.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over med-high heat. When the butter foam subsides, stir in the cantaloupe, stirring occasionally until it's released liquid evaporates.
3. Season generously with salt and pepper
4. Add the lemon juice and tomato
5. Add the cream, cook and stir until it has reduced by half.
6. Remove from the heat.
7. Toss the cooked pasta with the condiment and then sprinkle with the cheese.

 

Basic sausage making ...It is easy.
Always use freshly ground spices (most spices in our homes are years old, throw them out and grind fresh in your coffee grinder or buy new), including black pepper.

Never use lean ground meat in sausage making.
There should always be 20% fat in the meat.
In these recipes I do not go into casing.
You will need to get special equipment to put your sausages into casings.
Sausage must have salt in it, so do not try to cut back on the salt, as the sausage will not turn out properly.

It is utmost importance to use the very best quality ingredients that you can find for these recipes. It is the basic tenant of good Italian cooking.

There is no substitute for Prosciutto di Parma ham, or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

I encourage you to visit your local markets and to buy Italian-produced pasta, oils, cheese olives, etc, as well as those grown locally. There are numerous web-sites that now offer these products for sale to the public at a fair price. Most Italian cookbooks list these sources as well in their pages.

Cook with passion and abandon. Be generous with spices, salt and oil. Trust your instincts.

Mangia bene!!

Salsicce di Basilicata
5 lbs ground pork
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
1 lb chopped pancetta
inch pieces ginger, peeled and pulverized
3/4 Cup dry red wine
1/4 Cup grappa
scant teaspoon red flake
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground white pepper

Mix the pancetta, ginger and garlic in cusinart until well-combined Add all ingredients to ground pork, mix well (fry and taste a little for seasoning before continuing).

Salsicce di Trentino Alto Adige
5 lbs ground pork
1.5 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon caraway seed
2 Tablespoon fresh ground black pepper
cup chopped garlic
cup dry white wine
teaspoon nutmeg
teaspoon paprika

Mix all ingredients until well-combined
Fry and taste a little for seasoning before continuing
Use in sauces, or form into patties

Salsicce d'Umbria
5 lbs ground pork
1 lb black seedless (organic) grapes that have been soaked in cup cognac or Grappa
2 Tablespoon fresh-ground fennel seed
Cup salt
4 Tablespoons fresh-ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon ground allspice
Cup red wine vinegar
1 cup red wine
1 Tablespoon chopped garlic

Add all ingredients to ground pork, mix well (fry and taste a little for seasoning before continuing)
Use in sauces or form into patties