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Ferragosto: 3 recipes for a few extra kilos!
13 August 2020  By Roma Eat 

Ferragosto is approaching. Like every single Italian holiday, it’s a great “excuse” to spend the day with friends and relatives and …eat!

Well, it’s not a respectable special day if you don’t get up from the table with a few extra kilos 😉 

The Ferragosto is an all-Italian holiday coming from Ancient Rome. The “feriae Augusti”, as they were originally called, were instituted by Augustus around 18 B.C.  It was a holiday for all citizens, after the hard work in the fields for the annual harvest. What can we say… Augustus knew how to make the citizens love him. 

The tradition of Ferragosto is still present nowadays and it is typical to organize a trip outside the city, surrounded by nature.

What are the typical recipes of Ferragosto? Here 3 traditional dishes from some Italian regions (yes, each region has its own speciality!)

Stewed chicken with peppers (Rome)

We are “biased”, so let’s start with the traditional dish of our city, Rome! It is tradition to prepare for this day chicken with peppers, a classic of the Roman cuisine. 

The sweetish taste of the pepper is mixed with the meat one. The sauce that is formed on the bottom of the pan invites the diners to the so-called “scarpetta”, that is to use the bread to pull everything up and make a “pre-cleaning” of the pan itself. If you are as good as the locals, there is no need to put the pan in the dishwasher! 😉

The traditional cuisine is able to use and enhance even the less valuable parts: this second course is often accompanied by “fettuccine” (strictly made by “mamma” or “nonna”) with sweetbread ragout. 

Roast pigeon (Tuscany)

A popular “motto” says: ” Per Ferragosto, piccione ed anatra arrosto” (“for mid-August, pigeons and roast ducks”). 

If you are curious to taste the pigeon, now very unusual on our tables, you have to go to Tuscany to celebrate your Ferragosto. Here the pigeon is stuffed, like is done in the US with turkey on Thanksgiving. The stuffing is created with finocchiona, a typical sausage of this area, flavoured with fennel.

According to some, this recipe was made for the first time by Carolingians! We simply say that: the pigeon baked with potatoes and sausages is really a dish for kings.

Margheritine di Stresa (Piedmont)

Do you know the story of the pizza Margherita created as a dedication to Margherita di Savoia? The queen Margherita must have been a great gourmet if even these crumbly biscuits were named after her. 

In Stresa, on the Maggiore Lake, the pastry chef Pietro Antonio Bolongaro created this recipe in 1857. The Savoy royalty, Margherita above all, liked them so much that they wanted these biscuits every year as dessert for their “Ferragosto” lunches.

The secret of the fragrance of the pastry is due to the use in the dough of the boiled yolk, sieved and reduced into flour. 

We must thank Queen Margherita if today we can enjoy these sweets, perhaps with a good coffee, perhaps on the shores of Lake Maggiore. Perhaps.

 

And you? Do you have a party like this for “Ferragosto”? Or have you ever celebrated this special summer day during one of your trips to Italy? 

Let us know in the comments!

Until the next digital trip!

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Cod Fillets Fried
9 April 2018  By Roma Eat 

The fried cod fillet is a very tasty appetizer. Also suitable for younger children, because it is a dish without spines. The cod fish is a very nutritious and is cooked in many parts of Italy and the world, and this is why there are many recipes .

Ingredients:

500 g cod fillets

Seed Oil

salt

pepper

100 g flour 00

50 g of corn flour

Lemon wedges

instant yeast

water

 

Preparation:

The salted cod, before being cooked, should be soaked in running water for two days so that the salt dissolves. By buying the dried cod soaked you can avoid this lengthy preparation.

Cut the fish into sticks of the size of about two fingers.

Prepare the batter by putting into a bowl the flour 00 and the corn, mix well and add enough water until it forms a thick batter that can be shaped. Then add salt, pepper and a pinch of instant yeast, make rest the dought for about 5 minutes

Put the cod fillets in the batter and place on a pan with hot oil. When they are golden and have taken on a perfect crisp, dry them by the oil on kitchen paper and serve them hot with some lemon wedges.

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Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe
5 February 2018  By Roma Eat 

This is a fast and simple recipe for people who like strong tastes and love to cook quickly with few ingredients. Trust us you will have a great success !

It’s a simple dish but for this reason it’s very important to pay attention to the directions, otherwise the risk is to have spaghetti with cheese instead of a great roman traditional recipe.

The secret is to obtain a cream with pecorino, pepper and a little bit of  the cooking water (remember to keep a cup of it before you drain the pasta)

It’s better to use spaghetti or tonnarelli and a good quality of roman pecorino.

 

Ingredients for four people; Total time 10/15’

14 oz spaghetti or tonnarelli

7 oz of pecorino (the roman one!)

Salt

Pepper

 

Directions

Boil the spaghetti in a large pan with salted water and be sure to drain the pasta “al dente” just a couple of minutes before the end written on the box.

Put the pasta in a bowl with the pecorino and with 2 or 3 tablespoons of cooking water.

Mix to obtain a soft cream and add  generously black pepper.

Serve quickly in hot dishes and….Buon Appetito!

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Artichokes “alla giudia”
7 November 2017  By Roma Eat 

“Giudìa” in roman dialect means ” in the Jewish way” because this dish is typical of the Jewish tradition and even typical of the restaurants that are located in the Jewish Ghetto in the heart of Rome.

Artichokes cooked in this way become like a big rose and are very crispy.

 

Ingredients for 4 people:

8 artichokes

Extra virgin olive oil

Lemon juice

salt

pepper

1 clove of garlic

parsley

oregano

 

Directions:

Wash the artichokes and remove the outer leaves that are hard, cut the stems leaving only 3-4 cm and clean them too.

Cut, all around the artichoke, the leaves using the “spelucchio” forming  a spiral on top of the artichoke.

Moisten with lemon and dip them in cold water (in which you have added lemon juice) for about 30 minutes. Rinse the artichokes, open gently the leaves with your hands and add salt.

Pour plenty of oil in a pan, the artichokes should almost float in the oil, add a clove of garlic.

Cover and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat. Pull out the artichokes and grabbing them by the stem crushed his head against a plan to open up all the leaves of the artichokes and leave in this position.

Warm up plenty of oil in a pan and when it is boiling, place the artichokes upside down to brown them. Do not forget to brown the sides and also the stem!

Drain the artichokes upside down on paper towels and serve hot with chopped parsley and Origani.

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Bucatini all’amatriciana
1 November 2016  By Roma Eat 

This is one of the most typical Roman pasta dishes. It originated in Amatrice, a little town in Sabina near Rieti, where the shepherds, during the pasture, used to bring with them slice of pecorino (a kind of cheese), dried pasta, pepper and bacon, simply ingredients to manage a quick meal.

Adding tomatoes, olive oil and a small glass of red wine, you will have a perfect “amatriciana”.

The preferred pasta to use is bucatini or spaghetti, always dried pasta; a must is to use only fresh tomatoes or tinned tomatoes, never use tomato puree.

 

Ingredients for four people; Total time 20’
14 oz bucatini or spaghetti
5,3 oz of bacon
10 oz fresh tomatoes or tinned tomatoes
2 oz of pecorino (the roman one!)
Chilled pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt

 

Directions

Cut the bacon into strips and put it into a large frying pan with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and chilled pepper for a couple of minutes, till the bacon it’s crispy and then put it away.

In the oil of the bacon, away from the fire, add the tomatoes; if fresh tomatoes first boil, peel and crush them and let it cook for ten minutes. Then take the chilled pepper away and put the bacon again in the sauce.

Let rest while you boil the pasta in salted water.

Drain the pasta “al dente”, just a minute before the end written on the box, and mix it in the pan with the sauce adding pecorino cheese helping you with a tablespoon of cooking water.

Serve very hot with a generous help of pecorino.

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Spaghetti alla Carbonara
13 November 2015  By Roma Eat 

The legend says that in Naples, at the end of 1944 an American soldier, hungry and not satisfied of the poor
and simply spaghetti dish, put inside lots of ingredients, all the stuff he had in his military backpack: egg
powder, bacon and milk cream. So the first “carbonara” was born, which has been harmonized and

nowadays is one of the most famous Roman spaghetti dish!

The preferred pasta to use is spaghetti or fusilli,one fresh egg each and good quality of bacon.

Ingredients for four people; Total time 16’

14 oz spaghetti or fusilli
7 oz of bacon
3 tablespoons of Parmigiano
3 tablespoons of pecorino (the roman one!)
4 eggs
1 Garlic clove
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Directions

Cut the bacon in small pieces and along with the garlic put it into a large frying pan with one tablespoon of
extra virgin olive oil, until the bacon is crispy. Then take the garlic out and let the bacon rest.
In a bowl mix 2 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs with the cheese (parmigiano and pecorino) adding salt and
pepper, until you’ll obtain a homogeneous cream.
While you prepare the cream, boil the pasta in salt ed water.
Be sure to drain the pasta “al dente” which must be quickly mixed with the cream and the crispy, hot
bacon.
Serve very hot with a generous help of pecorino and parmigiano cheese.
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