La Cucina Italiana - De Italiaanse Keuken - The Italian Kitchen

The town of Castellucio is a short drive and is famous for lentils and the view of the Piano Grande (a giant alpine valley with beautiful wildflowers in the late spring). In and around Norcia you can find this famous dish, Pasta alla Norcia. I tried it with several types of sausage and decided to make my own. This was the best outcome of all the attempts. [...]

Ingredients

For the sausage:

• 2 lbs pork butt – sliced into cubes
• 1/4 lb prosciutto – one large piece
• 1/4 oz dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 Tbsp fennel seed
• 1 Tbsp kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 Tbsp coriander
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp anise seed
• 1 Tbsp sugar

For the dish (serves 2 main courses, 4 as a first course):

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion – small dice
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 the prepared sausage mixture, use the remaining for another purpose (or double the other amounts to serve 4 main courses)
• 1 cup Italian dry white wine such as a Trebbiano or Verdicchio
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg or to taste (use a microplane grater)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 lb good quality rigatoni mezze or orecchiette
• 1 tsp Summer Black Truffle paste (if available)
• Grated Pecorino cheese

Directions

Another classic Italian comfort food - stewed lentils with sausages. Lentils are very Italian and found in many dishes across the boot, but they are eaten most during the holidays. On New Year's Eve it is best to eat a few spoonfuls of stewed lentils with your cotechino to ensure fortune in the coming year! But the best lentils in Italy are from the tiny mountain top village of Castelluccio di Norcia on the Marche-Umbria border. [...]

Stewed Lentils with Sausages - lenticchie in umido con salsicce
Ingredients - Serves 4

6 Tablspoons/80 ml Olive oil1 carrot small, diced1 onion small, diced 1 celery stalk, diced 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole2-3 leaves of sage250 grams/a little over a cup of lentils left to soak in cold water for a few hours4 sausages200 ml or 1 cup of passed tomatoes (pomodoro passato) or pureed tomatoes2-4 cups of stock (vegetable or chicken)salt & pepperDirections

[...] Thinking about Easter the first recipe that came to my mind is the Pizza di Formaggio. The name pizza could be misleading as it not a pizza as such. I would consider as savoury and cheesy soft bread. I hope it makes sense but there is not an exact translation.
This is a dish typical of central Italy, where I am from. It is very common both in the Umbria and Marche regions. My grandmother always used to prepare at least a week before Easter Sunday a batch of 5 or 6 of Pizze di Formaggio. Half of them were for the family consumption during the long festive Easter weekend, the other half was for the neighbours and the part of the family that could not spend the Easter day eating with us.
So what a best teacher if not the experienced grandmother to find out al the secrets about the perfect Pizza di Formaggio. I phoned her up and tried to get the recipe. Not easy task, though. She always cook by heart or adapting the recipes every time.. So between her instructions and my personal research on the internet below is the result of my very own Pizza di Formaggio for a perfect Easter brunch.
INGREDIENTS (for 2 cakes):

120g of sourdough starter (or if you don’t have it 50g gram of fresh yeast or 10 g of dried yeast)1 cup of water (I also used some milk)600g of very strong flour4 or 5 eggs1 tbs of sugar10g of Salt10 g of Pepper50ml of Extra Virgin Olive Oil150g of Pecorino Cheese (possibly aged)150g of Parmesan

Some recipes also use other kind of cheeses such as Emmental or Smoked Provolone.
HOW TO
Beat the eggs and add the grated cheeses, some pepper, salt and the Extra virgin Olive Oil. Leave to rest for 15/20 minutes. In the main time put the sourdough starter and the water together in the bowl of the mixer give it a stir and gradually add the flour and the eggs mixed with cheeses. Mix all together for quite long time adding more water or flour if needed. I left the mixer on for 20 minutes with the hook. After 20 minutes the dough should be quite elastic and sticky. Leave the dough to rest for an hour more or less in warm environment. I used the oven with the light on. After one hour fold the dough a couple of time to give it a bit of strength. I divided the dough into two and put every one of them into the baking tins (with very high edges). Leave the cake to rise for 10 hours. I left them to raise overnight. Once well-leavened cook at 180 for 50-55 minutes. Once cooked leave to cool down at least an hour or two before trying them.

Classically, it was filled with sausage meat or wild herbs, but here we have a more modern incarnation featuring cheese and prosciutto. These are often eaten as a meal in themselves, but we prefer to share them as a delicious starter.

Ingredients

• Flour – 500g/18oz
• Instant dry yeast – 1 packet (9g/0.3oz)
• Salt – 1 level tsp
• Warm water – 350ml/12 fl oz
• Extra virgin olive oil – 1 tbsp
• Prosciutto  – several slices
• Stracchino cheese – 50g/2oz
• Arugula/rocket – bunch

[...] It is thought that the word strangozzi is derived from the Italian word for shoelaces, stringhe, yet this pasta has come to mean priest stranglers. Centuries ago, in Umbria, the clergy was not looked upon kindly by the villagers. Legend says that they chased down the worst of the clergy and those that were caught were strangled with their shoelaces. These long pasta ribbons are thought to resemble those shoelaces. Death by shoelace immortalized in pasta.
In reality, strangozzi are about the size of what we would call linguine, the only difference being in their thickness. Our linguine are cut from thin pasta sheets; strangozzi is cut from sheets twice as thick. The result is a hearty pasta that is perfect for heavier or meat-based sauces.
Before beginning the recipe, the octopus must be cleaned and readied.[...]

Strangozzi Pasta with Octopus Recipe

Ingredients

octopus (See Notes)3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)1 small onion, diced2 cloves garlic, minced or grated1/3 cup chopped parsley1 large can, 28 oz (800 g), whole tomatoes - hand-torn1/2 tsp dried marjoram (2 tsp fresh)3 to 4 oz dry white wine1 lb (450 g) cooked Strangozzi pasta -- or whatever pasta you prefer -- cooked al dentereserved pasta water

Directions