SPLIT PEA SOUP

Split pea is one of our favorite soups.  Who can resist the smoky flavor of the ham bone?   The flavor of salty pancetta adds a wonderful punch.

For the soup:

1 pound dried green split peas
Ham bone
Pancetta, diced, 1/4 cup
1 small onion, chopped
Leeks, chopped 1/2 cup
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
6 cups water

Rinse the dried split peas and place with cold water in a pot to soak overnight.

In a skillet heat pancetta and olive oil.  Add onion, carrots, celery and cook for 10 minutes or until soft.  Add to the peas.

Add ham bone and seasonings.  Cover and bring slowly to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer gently for 2 hours.

Remove the ham bone.  Strain and press the vegetables through sieve and add to liquid.

Remove any meat from ham bone and add to the hot soup.  Stir the soup to incorporate the peas and broth, taste, and adjust with salt and pepper as needed.

Add 1/2 cup of milk if desired.

ESCAROLE and BEANS - "kick it up a notch" with pancetta

Last night, I made another “poor” dish, Escarole and Beans, a tasty dish that is consumed from the beginning of autumn to spring. It 's a dish that is easy, fast, healthy and very cheap.  In this economic "winter”, it does not hurt to be cheap.

Cooked dry beans, escarole, home-made pancetta

Ingredients

1 lb. dry beans (I like Great Northern Beans)

2 heads of escarole

2 cloves garlic (chopped)

1/2 cup olive oil

4 slices hot pancetta (Italian bacon)

1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook beans just like chick peas (See Ceci a la Pignata)

In a large pot, add washed escarole and cook it in its own water by covering pot in a low to medium heat.

In a large pan add oil, saute' chopped garlic until golden, add pancetta and saute' for few minutes until crisp, add hot pepper flakes, salt and pepper and cooked escarole.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Add cooked beans.  Mix well, simmer for few more minutes, and serve.

This dish can be bland.  It's the pancetta that adds the "BAM" "BAM".

Escarole and Beans with Pancetta

Images: ©2010 - La Casa e Il Giardino -picasaweb

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

This dish is one of the most celebrated in Italian cuisine and a favorite at our home.  Named for the tiny town of Amatrice, located 100 miles east of Lazio from Abruzzo this dish can be made with guanciale or pancetta and both with or without tomatoes.    I use our homemade pancetta and no tomatoes.

Bucatini all'amatriciana
All photos - Copyright - ©2012 - La Casa e Il Giardino

 Ingredients

¾ pound pancetta, cut into small pieces

3 garlic cloves

1 red onion, halved and sliced ½-inch thick

1 ½ teaspoons hot red pepper flakes

1 cup of water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 pound bucatini

1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves only

Pecorino Romano, for grating 

1. Place the pancetta pieces in a sauté pan and cook over medium-low heat until most of the fat has been rendered from the meat, turning occasionally.  Add the garlic, onion and red pepper flakes.  Cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, or until the onions, garlic and pancetta are light golden brown. Season with salt and pepper, add the water, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Cook the bucatini in the boiling water until al dente. Drain the pasta.  Pour the  simmering sauce over the pasta.  Add the parsley leaves and mix well.  Top with freshly grated Pecorino cheese and serve immediately.

PASTA ALLA CHITARRA

       I read that the ancient knowledge of making pasta by hand is almost lost. It’s alive and well in my kitchen. The skill was passed along to me by my mother. I also inherited a chitarra to make PASTA ALLA CHITARRA.

Pasta Dough

  1 1/2 cups of unbleached flour
  1 tsp salt
  1 tsp olive oil
  2 eggs

Prepare the dough by placing the flour on a cutting board and make a well.

Add 1 tsp olive oil and  whole eggs into the well. Keep stirring this way until you have formed a sticky dough ball. Dump the dough ball onto a floured surface and knead, incorporating more flour into the dough as needed, until the dough is smooth, elastic, even in color and no longer sticky.

To knead the dough, push down on the ball with the heel of your hand, then give the dough a quarter turn, fold it over onto itself and push away from you again with the heel of your hand. Keep turning and pushing until you achieve the desired consistency.  Once you have finished kneading, cover with a dish and let rest at room temperature for 60 minutes or more.  Once the dough has rested, divide into balls. At this point, you may flatten each ball using a rolling pin

or a pasta machine.  Whichever method is used, the dough should turn into long, silken sheets.  Place the dough sheets on a floured board.  Place each sheet over the chitarra and with a rolling pin press against the chitarra's strings.
(See video) http://youtu.be/SKbvWt4HhzA

SAUCE (SUGO)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
7 oz. Pancetta cut into short julienne strips
2 lb. ripe tomatoes finally chopped
¼ cup small fresh basil leaves
Freshly ground pepper
3 oz. Grated pecorino cheese

Heat the oil in saucepan over moderate heat, add the onion and pancetta and brown for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt and simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Just before removing sauce from heat, add the chopped basil leaves and a good pinch of black pepper. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, drain. Serve topped with the sauce and sprinkled with pecorino cheese.  Serves 6.

In Abruzzo, the pasta alla chitarra is generally prepared with meat sauces: beef, lamb and pork. Less traditional are sauces of wild boar and game.

Pasta alla chitarra con sugo di pomodori freschi

 I prefer a simple tomato sauce (sugo semplice).