A  SAINT VALENTINE’S DAY DINNER

Saint Valentine, the Saint associated with marriage and love, has a very special place in the hearts of the people of Roquemaure, and small town in the Vaucluse region of Provence, France. In 1868 the town welcomed the Saint’s relics into their town in an effort to cure their terribly blight infested vineyards. Every year since the arrival of the holy relics, the town holds a huge festival, starting on the Saint’s feast day of February 14 and lasting three days. Couples promenade through the town square in 19th century attire, and there is much period dancing and live music, all dedicated to the theme of love. Kids play traditional 19th century games, and basket makers set up their stalls to demonstrate their craft. Barrel organs are on every street corner, and horse drawn carriages carry residents and tourists,dressed head to toe in the fashions of St. Valentine’s Day, through the town. This area now produces some of Provence’s best red wine and much of it is consumed during this cold weather, outdoor festival.

The St. Valentine’s festival also coincides with the black truffle season in the Vaucluse, where truffle hunters spend hours in the chilly Provence woods with their truffle hunting pigs or dogs, searching for these expensive prized tubers. Truffles have always been a culinary symbol of romance and an offering of love.

Black truffles are prepared simply so their beautiful perfume is not masked by competing flavors. In the Vaucluse shaving truffles over boiled potatoes drizzled with olive oil is a standard treatment, so is shaving them onto creamy scrambled eggs. But my favorite is a dish of egg pasta, tossed simply with butter and fine Provencal olive oil and topped with thin shavings of the Vaucluse truffle. If you really want to woo your lover, Provence style, try this simple but extravagant recipe.

Tagliatelle with Black Truffles, Vaucluse Style

(Serves two)

½ pound fresh tagliatelle pasta

Salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, from Provence, if possible

A few sprigs flat leaf parsley, leaves lightly chopped

1 ½ to 2 ounces fresh black truffle

Freshly ground black pepper

Put up a pot of pasta cooking water and bring it to a boil. Season it with a generous amount of salt.

Warm a pasta serving bowl and have it close at hand.

Drop the tagliatelle into the water and cook until just tender. The fresher the pasta the shorter the cooking time. Just made egg pasta can take as little as a minute. Store bought, fresh pasta tends to be slightly firmer and might take about 3 minutes. When tender, drain the pasta, leaving a little water clinging to it, and pour it into the serving bowl. Add the butter and olive oil, the parsley, a few big grindings of black pepper, and a pinch of salt, and toss until the pasta is well coated. With a vegetable scraper or a truffle shaver, shave the black truffle over the top. Serve right away.

By Erica De Mane, chef and cookbook writer

www.ericademane.com

More about Saint Valentine.

The Feast of Sant’ Antonio Abate

 Sant’Antonio Abate (Saint Anthony the Abbot, born 251 in Egypt) is the protector of domestic animals, so in Italy on his feast day, January 17, all kinds of pets and farm animals go to be blessed in church. Donkeys, geese, cats, monkeys, goats, parrots, all arrive at the door of the church carried or escorted by their owners and often decorated in ribbons, bells, and bows.

 As the protector of animals, Sant’Antonio Abate is usually depicted accompanied by a large domestic pig. This part of his iconography is said to stem from his success in healing inflammatory skin diseases. The traditional treatment for these ailments were pork fat. However, his feast day in Italy also serves as the bittersweet slaughter day for the family pig, one that has been fattened all year just for the occasion. It’s a huge ritual throughout rural Italy, and the pig provides food for an entire family for the whole year.

 January 17 is always celebrated with pork dishes. In Piemonte they prepare sausages with red wine and lentils, or a pork loin piccata. No part of the pig is wasted. The lungs, brains, and liver are made into a fritto misto. Fennel-flavored sausages are made in Tuscany, and in the South, in Puglia and Calabria, they always serve their famous coppa, a cured pork loin seasoned with either hot peppers or sweet spices. Pork ragú, served with pasta or polenta, is often another highlight of the huge pork-focused feast, as is sanguinaccio, a sweet blood pudding. Sanguinaccio sounds peculiar, but it’s quite delicious. It can be flavored, depending on the region, with cinnamon, chocolate, nutmeg, Marsala, raisins, pine nuts, pistachios, or red wine.

 Here’s a pork braciole recipe inspired by the cooking of the Abruzzi region. Try it if you’d like to celebrate your own feast of Saint Anthony.

Pork Braciole with Provolone, Parsley, and Capers

(Serves 4)

    1 garlic clove

    A large bunch of flat-leaf parsley, stemmed (about a cup of packed leaves), plus a small handful of whole leaves reserved for garnish

    A large handful of salt-packed capers, soaked for about 20 minutes in several changes of water and rinsed

    3/4 cup grated provolone cheese (try to find a imported Southern Italian cheese, not a domestic brand, which can be salty and lacking in finesse)

    Salt

    A few pinches of ground cayenne pepper

    Extra-virgin olive oil

    About 3 pounds of pork, cut for braciole (into thinly sliced rectangular pieces. The shoulder cut is best.

    3 medium shallots, cut into small dice

    2 cloves, ground to a powder in a mortar and pestle

    A bay leaf

    A wineglass of dry white wine

    A 35-ounce can of plum tomatoes, well chopped, with the juice

    Kitchen string for tieing the braciole

 Place the garlic, parsley, and capers in the bowl of a food processor and pulse briefly until roughly chopped (you don’t want a paste). Transfer the mixture into a small bowl and add the grated provolone, a pinch of salt (not much, since the cheese and capers will be slightly salty), the cayenne pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Mix everything together.

 Lay the pork slices out on a work surface. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of filling onto each slice and spread it out to about 1/4 inch from the end all around. Roll up the braciole lengthwise and tie each in about 3 or 4 places with string. They’ll look like they’re a lot of meat, but they’ll shrink down considerably during cooking.

 Choose a casserole fitted with a lid and big enough to hold all the braciole and the sauce. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in it over medium heat. Season the braciole with salt and a pinch of cayenne and place them in the casserole. Take your time to brown them well all over (the browning will add great flavor to the sauce). Scatter on the shallots and season the meat with the ground cloves. Sauté a few minutes longer, just until the shallots have softened and given off flavor.

 Add the white wine and let it boil for a couple of minutes, scraping up any cooked-on juices from the bottom of the casserole. Add the tomatoes and a pinch more salt. The braciole should be almost completely covered by the liquid (just poking out a little); if they’re not, add a bit of warm water. Cover the casserole, lower the heat, and simmer, turning the braciole occasionally, until they are very tender, about 2 hours. You’ll need to skim the surface once or twice during cooking. Uncover the casserole for the last half hour of cooking so the sauce can reduce.

 When you’re ready to serve the braciole, lift them from the casserole onto a cutting surface. The sauce should be reduced to a medium thickness (it is not meant to be a dense tomato sauce). If it seems a little too liquid, boil it over high heat for a few minutes. You also may need to give the surface a quick skim. Taste for seasoning, adding another little pinch of cayenne pepper if you like and a little salt if needed. Remove the string from the braciole, and cut them into approximately 1/4-inch slices on a slight angle. Place them on a warmed serving plate and spoon a little of the sauce over the top (you can pour the remaining sauce into a small serving bowl and bring it to the table). Garnish the plate with the whole parsley leaves.

 It’s customary to serve pasta dressed with the braciole sauce as a first course and then serve the meat second. You can certainly do this if you like, but I prefer to forgo the pasta and instead offer a dish of roasted potatoes or rice, bringing the extra sauce to the table so guests can use it to pour on the rice or to sop it up with bread.

 ‘Dining With the Saints’ is a monthly column written by Writer and Chef Erica DeMane. EricaDeMane.com

Images: Top, a poster for one of the thousands of local festivals celebrating Saint Anthony the Abbott from Italy.  Bottom: Italian Holy Card

All Souls Day

 November 2nd is All Souls Day, or Day of the Dead as it’s commonly called in Mexico, where it’s one of the most important religious events of the year. Mexicans travel miles to take food and flowers to the graves of their departed relatives. As morbid as this sounds, it’s usually a day of great celebration, as families reunite, catch up on gossip, and eat and drink together. Altars are set up in private homes, elaborately decorated with candles, photos of their dead relatives, skulls, crosses, huge bouquets of flowers, fresh fruit of all kinds, and Pan de Muertos, breads flavored with orange flower water and shaped into skulls and bones. Tomales, chicken mole, chunks of Mexican chocolate, even cans of soda, beer, and cigarettes are left at the altar in honor of the departed.

To celebrate your own All Souls Day, Mexican style, you might like to try this elegant chicken dish made with almonds, raisins, and hot and sweet spices. It’s a lot simpler than many of the Mexican mole sauces often cooked with chicken, but it’s hauntingly delicious with a great depth of flavor. I’ve adapted the recipe from one in The Art of Mexican Cooking, by Diana Kennedy.

Braised Chicken with Almonds, Raisins, and Jalapenos

(Serves four)

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 large chicken (about 3 ½ pounds), cut into serving pieces

Salt

1 medium onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

A few large thyme sprigs, leaves chopped, plus extra leaves for garnish

A few large marjoram sprigs, leaves chopped, plus extra leaves for garnish

1 fresh bay leaf

3 cloves, ground to a powder

3 allspice, ground to a powder

½ cup white wine

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 cup chicken broth

½ cup raisins

½ cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted

8 small new potatoes, peeled and cut in half

2 or 3 canned jalapeno chilies, sliced

Choose a large casserole, fitted with a lid. Pour in the olive oil and get it nice and hot over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and brown them on both sides. Season with salt and add the onion, garlic, carrots, thyme, marjoram, cloves, and allspice. Sauté a minute or so longer, just to blend these flavors and soften the vegetables. Add the white wine and the vinegar and let it bubble for about a minute or so to burn off the alcohol. Add the chicken broth and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat to low, cover the casserole, and simmer for about 30 minutes. Now add the raisins, almonds, potatoes, and the sliced jalapenos. Continue simmering, covered, until the chicken and the vegetables are very tender, about 30 minutes longer. Garnish with the extra marjoram and thyme leaves. Serve hot.

by Erica De Mane

w.ericademane.com

The Feast of the Assumption

August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, a national holiday celebrated throughout Italy. This is a joyous occasion that celebrates the taking of the Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven. It also marks the start of the summer vacation season for all Italians. Weary, irritated families start leaving big cities in droves, making their way, often in horrendous traffic jams, to every shore and mountain resort of Italy. It’s also a time when baskets are packed with traditional Italian picnic food. Anything that can be sliced, assembled, and served at room temperature, either bought or homemade, is loaded up for the journey. Frittatas cooked with summer vegetables, rice and bean salads, cheeses, fruit, bread, cured meats such as prosciutto and mortadella, and savory and sweet tortas using summer produce are all great things to bring along or prepare at a summer house. Here’s an easy torta using ripe August tomatoes and a light, easy to work with olive oil crust. Let this torta cool for at least an hour before slicing.

Tomato Tart with Pecorino and Rosemary

 (Serves four as a lunch or light dinner, or eight as an appetizer)

For the crust:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves well chopped

Salt

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup water

A 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom, preferably one with smooth not fluted sides (you can also use a tart ring, if you like)

For the filling:

 Approximately 2 doz. cherry tomatoes cut in half

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 large garlic clove, peeled and smashed with the side of a knife

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves well chopped

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

½ cup grated young pecorino Toscano

¼ cup heavy cream

1 large egg

 In a large bowl, mix the flour with the rosemary and a little salt.  In a small bowl, stir the egg, olive oil, and water together and pour it over the flour. Stir to blend everything, and then dump the dough out onto a work surface and knead it very briefly, just until it holds together in a more or less smooth ball.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest, unrefrigerated, for about an hour.

 Place the tomatoes in a bowl. Add the mustard, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and sugar. Season with salt and black pepper, and toss well. Let the tomatoes sit at room temperature, tossing them around a few times, while the dough is resting.

 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Coat your tart pan with a little olive oil. Roll out the dough and drape it into the tart pan, cutting off the overhang. Sprinkle half the cheese into the tart shell. Line the tart with the tomatoes, in slightly overlapping circles. Save the juice left from the tomato marinade. Sprinkle the tomatoes with a little extra salt and black pepper.

 Whisk together the remaining cheese, cream, egg, and about a tablespoon of the tomato marinade liquid. Season with a little salt and black pepper and pour this evenly over the tomatoes. Bake until browned and set, about 35 to 40 minutes.

“Dining With the Saints” is a monthly column written by the chef and foodwriter Eric DeMane. Her website is: EricaDeMane.com

Festa dei Noantri

 July 16th, the feast day of La Madonna del Carmine, is celebrated throughout Italy, but in the Trastevere district of Rome the day has a special significance. Since around 1920, the festival there has been called Festa dei Noantri or La Madonna de Noantri, our own Madonna, because, legend has it that in 1535 a group of Roman fishermen pulled a wooden case from the Tiber that contained a statue of the Madonna. This revered Madonna became the protector of all Trasteverini. Today that same statue resides in the Church of St. Agatha. Every summer on the Saturday before July 16th, La Madonna dei Noantri is carried, in an elaborate procession, from her home in St. Agatha’s through the streets of the Trastevere to the church of St. Crisogono, several blocks away, where she spends the eight days while the festival is in full swing. At the conclusion of the festival, the Madonna is placed on a boat for a short ride on the Tiber to Ponte S. Angelo. Crowds line up on bridges to watch and cheer as she takes her symbolic sail. The procession then continues on land, taking the Madonna through the streets once more, back to her home at St. Agatha.

 During the eight days of this jubilant festival, restaurants and shops set up food stands on the streets of the Trastevere. Wine from the Castelli Romani area, just south of Rome, is drunk in large quantities. Stalls selling thick slices of porchetta, a slow cooked pork loin seasoned with garlic and rosemary, are everywhere. You can buy skewers of grilled lamb or chicken, or plates of bucatini carbonara or spaghetti tossed with spicy tomato sauce and pecorino Romano. Sweet Ricotta cakes are also a tradition. Everyone strolls around the piazza under strings of lights, drinking, dancing, and singing. And since it’s high summer many places offer bruschetta, toasted Roman bread, topped with summer vegetables of all types. Here are two you might want to try for your own celebration.

(Both recipes serve eight)

Bruschetta with Broccoli Rabe, Summer Garlic, and Pecorino Romano

2 bunches of broccoli rabe, well stemmed

Salt

Extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves of fresh summer garlic, thinly sliced

1 small fresh red chili, minced (seeded if you like less heat)

A generous pinch of ground fennel seed

A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

8 good sized sliced of crusty Italian bread

A chunk of pecorino Romano

Set up a big pot of water and bring it to a boil. Add a generous amount of salt. Add the broccoli rabe and blanch it for 3 minutes. Drain it into a colander and run cold water over it to stop the cooking and to bring up its green color. Squeeze as much water as possible from the broccoli rabe. Now give it a rough chop.

 In a large skillet, heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and the fresh chili and sauté a minute just to release their flavors. Add the broccoli rabe, seasoning it with salt and the ground fennel seed. Sauté until it’s well coated with flavor and tender, about 3 minutes. Add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

 Grill or broil the bread slices on both sides. Brush them on one side with olive oil. Spoon some of the broccoli rabe onto each slice and then shave a few big slices of pecorino Romano over each brushcetta. Serve hot.

Bruschetta with Grape Tomatoes, Mint, and Capers

Extra virgin olive oil

2 scallions, thinly sliced, using some of the tender green

2 summer garlic cloves, thinly sliced

3 anchovy fillets, minced

2 pints grape tomatoes

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

A splash of dry white wine

A palmful of capers, rinsed and dried

About 10 large sprigs of mint, leaves lightly chopped

8 good sized slices of crusty Italian bread

In a large skillet, heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the scallions, garlic, anchovies, and the tomatoes. Season with salt and black pepper and sauté until the tomatoes start to burst and give off some juice, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add a splash of white wine and let it boil for a few seconds. Add the capers. Turn off the heat and add the mint.

 Broil or grill the bread slices on both sides. Spoon some of the tomato mixture with some of its skillet juices onto each bruschetta. Give each one a drizzle of fresh olive oil. Serve hot.

 Erica De Mane is a cookbook writer and chef specializing in Italian cooking. She has an Italian food blog at http://www.ericademane.com

The Feast of John the Baptist, June 24th

Lumache di Vigna di San Giovanni

 Snails Braised in Tomatoes, Anchovies, Herbs, and Chilies

In many parts of Italy snails are gathered—usually from the vineyards—and eaten on St. John’s Day,  probably because snails’ horns make them resemble the devil, and eating them will ward away the witches, devils, and vampires that are believed to congregate on the night of the Summer solstice. This recipe is how they’re prepared in Rome.

 I find imported French snails in 7-ounce cans in my market. They are medium-size and perfect for this dish. If you can find only the really large ones, the kind served in ramekins with butter and garlic, cut them in half. Canned snails are already cooked, so they need only a short simmering over low heat to warm through and soak up all the flavorings from the sauce.

 A white from the Castelli Romani region outside of Rome is the classic wine to serve with this dish. The region encompasses Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope has his summer residence.

 Extra-virgin olive oil

2 summer garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 fresh red peperoncino, seeded and thinly sliced

3 anchovy fillets, minced

A generous pinch of sugar

A pinch of salt

2 7-ounce cans of snails, drained. See note

A splash of brandy

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 35-ounce can of Italian plum tomatoes, well chopped, with juice

1 large sprig rosemary, the leaves well chopped

4 thyme sprigs, the leaves chopped

A handful of flat-leaf parsley, the leaves lightly chopped

In a skillet large enough to hold all the snails, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, peperoncino, and anchovies. Sauté until the garlic is very lightly colored and everything is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the snails, and season them with the sugar and a little salt (not too much, since the anchovies are salty). Sauté a minute to coat the snails with all the flavors. Add the brandy, and let it boil away. Pour on the white wine, and let it bubble for about a minute. Add the tomatoes with all their juice, the rosemary, and thyme, and turn the heat to low. Let everything cook, uncovered, at a gentle simmer for 20 minutes. By this time the sauce will be very lightly thickened and the snails will be tender. Serve hot in soup bowls, with plenty of good Italian bread to soak up all the sauce.

Fregola di Bosca

 Wild Strawberries with Honey and Mascarpone

The Virgin Mary is said to accompany children who pick strawberries on St. John’s Day, so I had to include a recipe for the little wild variety in this menu. I’ve dressed them with honey, a nod to St. John’s diet, which is said to have consisted of honey and locusts. (I thought the honey part sounded more appealing.)

 If you can gather your own wild strawberries, that will be ideal, but it may be impractical. In June and July I find small, sweet strawberries called Tri Star at my city farmers’ market. They’re cultivated from a wild variety and taste much like the little fregole di bosca (wood strawberries) found in Italy in early summer, but any fragrant summer strawberry will be delicious for this. If you can only find large ones, cut them in half.

 2 pints summer strawberries, hulled

1/4 cup wildflower honey (acacia honey is nice with this)

3/4 cup mascarpone, at room temperature

Basil sprigs for garnish

 Spoon the strawberries into four bowls.

 Pour the honey into a small saucepan, and warm it very gently over a low heat. Spoon the mascarpone into a small bowl, and drizzle in the honey, whisking until it’s well blended. Spoon a large dollop on each serving of strawberries, and garnish with a basil sprig.

‘Dining With the Saints’ is written by chef Erica Demane visit her website at EricaDemane.com