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Cooking with Giuseppe – Minestra Maritata
December 31st, 2011
The last of our Christmas in Naples recipes brings us to the Neapolitan Chicken Soup for the Soul, Minestra Maritata or A’ Menesta Maretata. Made for Easter, Christmas and New Years, tradition said it was originally served on Santo Stefano (December 26th) to “clean out the pipes” if you will from the overindulgence of the holidays.
As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Minestra Maritata is not a Wedding Soup. Rather it takes its name from the marriage of meat and vegetables. A highly successful union that creates an explosion of flavor in your mouth. This is fairly old news, though not nearly as old as the soup I’m sure.
In fact, Minestra Maritata predates the introduction of the tomato to Campania near the end of the 18th century and pasta, which found its way onto the Neapolitan table at the end of the 17th century. Quickly becoming the staple of the Neapolitan diet, it gave rise to the moniker mangia maccheroni, maccaroni eaters. But before that, the Neapolitan diet was rich in vegetables and legumes and the Napoletani were known as mangia foglie, leaf eaters.
And a leafy soup this is. In this case, the leaves from broccoli stems, broccoli di foglie which is something quite unique to Campania. Purists like Giuseppe’s mother use broccoli di foglie and only broccoli di foglie (kale and broccoli rabe make good substitutes). In other recipes you might find greens such as escarole, chicory or cabbage along with onions, carrots and celery.
Add to that a hardy dose of meat and chunks of fresh Italian cheeses. Which ingredients you use is entirely up to you, le dosi degli ingredienti sono assolutamente libere.
Ingredients
3 bunches of broccoli di foglie or other greens
500 grams beef
500 grams pork
250 grams diced prosciutto crudo
100 grams Romano
100 grams Parmigiano
Baking soda
Method
Remove the leaves from the stems
Put the leaves into a sink of cold water and clean them well
Generously sprinkle baking soda into the water and let the leaves soak
Bring a large stock pot 3/4 full of salted water to a boil over high heat
Add the meat and prosciutto and turn the heat down to medium, cooking the meat at a slow rolling boil
Fill another large pot 1/2 full and add a pinch of salt
Bring to a boil over high heat
While the water is coming to a boil drain the greens in a colander and squeeze out the excess water with your hands
Add the greens to the boiling water and cook down until they are tender, about 1/2 an hour
Drain the greens and add them to the broth
Cut chunks of the Romano and Parmigiano into the broth
Add salt and stir through
Cook over medium heat at a slow rolling boil about 2 hours
Buon Appetito!
More about Christmas in Naples
A native Neapolitan, Giuseppe Topo is a hairstylist and one of the owners of Noi, Naples only English-speaking salon. A passionate cook, when he’s not styling hair Giuseppe can be found in the kitchen cooking up one of his favorite Neapolitan dishes.
Find all of his great recipes at Cooking with Giuseppe!
Cooking with Giuseppe – Spaghetti alle Vongole
December 23rd, 2011
During our two-day shop and cook fest preparing the dishes for the Neapolitan Christmas Eve dinner, Cena della Vigilia di Natale, the last dish we made was the first one that is served, the primo piatto, Spaghetti alle Vongole. It was also the dish that Giuseppe, his brother Massimo and I decided to sit down together and eat.
Though I occasionally make Spaghetti alle Vongole at home and I shared my recipe for it last year at Christmas, I prefer to eat it out. It’s not that it’s terribly difficult to make, it’s just that mine always seems to fall a bit short. At least that was the case until I tasted Giuseppe’s. Now mine really falls short. Whether it’s that I have no Neapolitan cooking blood running through my veins or Giuseppe snuck in some secret ingredient or process in when I wasn’t looking. Or maybe it was just that he got Massimo to cut up the tomatoes, but his Spaghetti alle Vongole rocks. In fact, it is probably the best I’ve ever tasted.
So here is Giuseppe’s recipe for Spaghetti alle Vongole. Similar to the recipe I posted last year except he used more tomatoes. And now that I think about it, he cooked the clams in the sauce where as I was taught to do them separately and then add them later. Seems to me that might have made the difference, but of course he still might have snuck something in when I wasn’t looking.
Ingredients
500 grams clams, live clams are the best
600 grams cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
Oil
2 Peperoncino
Salt
Parsley to garnish
Method
Put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta
Halve the tomatoes
Peel 2 cloves of garlic
Heat a generous amount of oil in a frying pan over medium heat
Add the garlic
Add the tomatoes and salt and cook until the tomatoes ares soft, about 7 minutes
Add the clams and turn the heat to high
While the clams are cooking, cook the pasta al dente
Add a bit of the pasta water into the sauce and cook until all the clams open
Remove the garlic
Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce and stir through
Garnish with fresh parsley
Watching the clams open as they are cooking!
Buon Appetito!
More about Christmas in Naples
A native Neapolitan, Giuseppe Topo is a hairstylist and one of the owners of Noi, Naples only English-speaking salon. A passionate cook, when he’s not styling hair Giuseppe can be found in the kitchen cooking up one of his favorite Neapolitan dishes.
Find all of his great recipes at Cooking with Giuseppe!
Cooking with Giuseppe – Insalata di Rinforzo
December 22nd, 2011
This quick and easy salad, Insalata di Rinforzo is said to “reinforce” the very light, lean, meatless Cena della Vigilia di Natale, Christmas Eve dinner. A cold salad made of boiled cauliflower, it is adorned with red and green peppers and green and black olives like ornaments on a snow-covered Christmas tree.
Our cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving, Insalata di Rinforzo is a must have on the Neapolitan Christmas Eve dinner table and its preparation is a snap. Served cold it can last from Christmas to New Years and can be thrown on the table at a minutes notice. Another reason it may be called Insalata di Rinforzo, just reinforce it with ingredients that have been eaten away and serve.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper Picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
Sottoaceto, under vinegar or pickled, the salad takes its flavor from olives and pickled papaccelle peppers. A variety of red and green peppers that are local to the Campania region, papaccelle are small, round, hot peppers pickled in vinegar. A nice salty flavor is added with acciughe sotto sale, salted anchovies.
Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower
2 – 3 red and green papaccelle peppers – jarred pickled peppers can be used as a substitute
200 grams mixed green and black olives
Salted Anchovies
Oil
Vinegar
Salt
Method
Cut the green leaves and the stem from the cauliflower
Boil in salted water until tender, 15 – 20 minutes
Drain the cauliflower and when it is cool enough to handle, break it up into bite size flowerets
Remove the seeds and slice the peppers
Add sliced peppers and olives to taste and toss
Condition with oil, vinegar and salt to taste and toss well
Top with anchovies
Buon Appetito!
More about Christmas in Naples
A native Neapolitan, Giuseppe Topo is a hairstylist and one of the owners of Noi, Naples only English-speaking salon. A passionate cook, when he’s not styling hair Giuseppe can be found in the kitchen cooking up one of his favorite Neapolitan dishes.
Find all of his great recipes at Cooking with Giuseppe!
Cooking with Giuseppe – Baccalà Fritto
December 21st, 2011
The star of the Neapolitan Christmas Eve dinner, Cena della Vigilia di Natale may be Capitone Fritto, but Baccalà is not only a favorite on Christmas Eve, but year round.
Bake it, fry it, steam it, or serve it alla Napoletana, with a sauce of tomatoes, olives and capers. Whichever method you choose, Baccalà makes for one delicious dish.
Salted codfish from the seas of northern Europe, how Baccalà became a classic Christmas Eve dish, chissà perchè. But like most Neapolitan food, we do know that it was a dish of necessity. Before Baccalà was over fished, it was very inexpensive. So inexpensive in fact that it was considered the fish of the poor. Today, it has experienced a rebirth of sorts and now finds its way onto the menus of even the finest restaurants.
Along with orata and spigola, sea bass, Baccalà is the favored white fish on Christmas Eve. But unlike the other dishes on the Christmas Eve menu, you won’t be buying Baccalà live or fresh for that matter. Conserved under salt, it has to be soaked in water for a few days to remove the salt, changing the water frequently. Fortunately, Baccalà is so common here that you can purchase it già ammollato, already soaked or desalted. Where? At Naples biggest and best fish market, Porta Nolana of course.
Just a word of warning though. Even Baccalà that has already been soaked has a fairly unpleasant odor. Don’t be alarmed and rest assured it will taste and smell delicious once it is cooked.
Ingredients
500 grams salted codfish
Flour
Oil for frying
Salt and Pepper
Method
Heat enough oil to cover the cod in a large frying pan
Remove the tail and fins from the cod
Cut into serving size pieces
Dredge in flour and shake off the excess
Cook the cod in hot oil until lightly brown on all sides about 10 minutes
Drain the cod on paper towels
Salt and Pepper to taste
Serve immediately
A quick peak at Giuseppe and Massimo frying up the Baccalà
Buon Appetito!
More about Christmas in Naples
A native Neapolitan, Giuseppe Topo is a hairstylist and one of the owners of Noi, Naples only English-speaking salon. A passionate cook, when he’s not styling hair Giuseppe can be found in the kitchen cooking up one of his favorite Neapolitan dishes.
Find all of his great recipes at Cooking with Giuseppe!
Cooking with Giuseppe – Capitone Fritto
December 12th, 2011
The Neapolitan Christmas Eve dinner, Cena della Vigilia di Natale is serious business. It calls for a lot of love, a bit of patience and nerves of steel. And in this case, the hands of not one, but two Topo brothers. Giuseppe and his big bro Massimo.
An hours long celebration it features fresh seafood, fruits and vegetables and of course Neapolitan sweets. The star of the Neapolitan Christmas table, il capitone, eel, a tradition that dates to at least the 17th century. Why is capitone tradition? Chissà perchè, who knows why. Ask a Neapolitan why they eat capitone on Christmas Eve, and believe me I’ve asked a few, the answer is always the same. Perchè? Perchè. Because it’s tradition.
I doubt it has anything to do with the Roman equestrian Publius Vedio Pollio (died c. 15 BC), although that would make for a great story. A one time friend of the Roman Emperor Augustus, Pollio raised eels at his villa in Posillipo. I’d like to paint you a rosy story of a beautiful villa overlooking the bay on Posillipo Hill. Elaborate gatherings with wine of the gods, fish from the sea.
I suppose that was all there but the legend it seems is more grim. A cruel man even by Roman standards, it seems Pollio punished his slaves by throwing them to the eels. That is what they, or at least Pollio believed made them the best eels in the region.
Perhaps the tradition stems from the eel’s resemblance to the serpent, the symbol of the devil. Eating capitone it was believed would ward off evil and ensure good fortune in the New Year. Considering the superstitious nature of the Napoletani, this seems a more likely explanation, but chissà perchè.
Eel is simply a traditional plate of the Christmas season. And not just eating them or cooking them, but buying and shall we say, prepping them. The best eels as you can imagine are capitoni veraci, live eels. In fact, tradition says they should be live. And the best place to get them is Naples biggest and best fish market, Porta Nolana. It’s a little early in the season yet, but in the days leading up to Christmas, Porta Nolana will be open until the wee hours of the morning, its characteristic tubs overflowing with the Christmas capitoni. Just keep your eyes out for the ones that escape and slither away down the alley.
Luckily ours didn’t. Of course I’m thinking, okay – what now? You are not seriously bringing these creatures back to my apartment? While I’m sure there are a lot of people who still kill and clean the eels themselves, the problem is easily solved. Mi offri un caffè. For the price of a caffè (about 80 centesimi), expert hands (and a really big knife) will make short work of this wriggly delicacy. If you are really interested in how it’s done or would like to try it yourself, check this video out. But I must warn you, don’t click this link if you are squeamish.
With the hard part out-of-the-way, preparing the capitoni is quite quick and easy. Of course there is more than one way to skin an eel. It can be stewed, steamed, al forno (in the oven), or fried as Giuseppe makes it. While I’ve yet to acquire the taste for it in any form, chissà, anything is possible.
Ingredients
600 grams eel
Flour
Oil for frying
Salt and pepper
Method
Rinse the eel well
Cut into serving sizes and if you want, remove the part with the eyes
Coat in flour
Heat oil in large frying pan with enough oil to cover at least half of the eel
Shake off the excess flour and put the eel into the oil
Cook the eel until it is golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes
Drain on paper towels
Salt and pepper to taste
Buon Appetito!
More about Christmas in Naples
A native Neapolitan, Giuseppe Topo is a hairstylist and one of the owners of Noi, Naples only English-speaking salon. A passionate cook, when he’s not styling hair Giuseppe can be found in the kitchen cooking up one of his favorite Neapolitan dishes.
Find all of his great recipes at Cooking with Giuseppe!
