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| Recipes
Cooking Italian for the High Holy Days
(September 11) - Holidays are family times, all over the world over. Whatever may be happening outside, somehow the warmth of generations engulfs the holiday table, and brings home to all of us an awareness of tradition.
Our traditions- at least for us - seem so special, not merely because we've been celebrating them for so many years, but also by the way different Jewish communities around the world have found different ways to express the same customs in awith their own local flavor.
I've always loved Edna Servi Machlin's English-language book on Italian Jewish cuisine, mostly because it is so Italian. Now, thanks to Susanna Zevi, a dear friend in Milan, I've discovered a truly authentic, genuine book of genuine Jewish family flavors, this one published in Italian. Giuliana Ascoli Vitali-Norsa grew up in Ancona, a port city on the Adriatic Coast that, like so many other Italian seaport cities, welcomed Jews from Spain in the 15th century. Her book is called La Cucina nelle Tradizione Ebraice ("The Kitchen in the Hebrew Tradition").
The sweetness of the New Year is expressed in Italian Sephardi tradition in a dish called Kara: thin slices (Vitali-Norsa cubes them) of pumpkin covered with honey and cinnamon and cooked together until the pumpkin has absorbed all the flavors. It seems a nice addition to our traditional apples and honey.
Some of her other Rosh Hashana specialties include Stroncatelli, Triglie alla Mosaica and Polpette di Tacchino alla Giudia.
STRONCATELLI (Thin noodles in broth) (Serves 6)
This is an old Ancona recipe for beginning the New Year feast. The thin hand-rolled noodles, called stroncatelli, are cooked gently in a rich broth.
1 rib white celery
Chop the celery and put it into a pan with some oil (I like olive oil), salt and pepper. When the celery takes on color, add the tomato paste diluted in water and cook until well reduced.
Make a fairly stiff dough from the eggs and flour and knead it firmly until well amalgamated. Cut it into small bundles, and with oiled palms, roll it into the thinnest spaghettini you can. Lay out to dry.
Boil up the broth and throw in the stroncatelli. After about half an hour, when they are not yet cooked, add the tomato/celery sauce and continue to cook slowly over a low heat for another half hour. Vitali-Norsa says the stroncatelli should cook for about an hour.
TRIGLIE ALLA MOSAICA (Red Mullet in Tomato Sauce) (Serves 4)
Red mullet has always been the Sephardi answer to gefilte fish. This recipe is the classic Jewish dish that has become a Livorno classic.
1 kg. red mullet
In a large, deep frying pan, put the olive oil, parsley and garlic cloves.
Saute until the garlic becomes golden and add the tomatoes. Cook until the sauce has thickened, and add the mullet in a single layer. Add salt and pepper to taste, and allow to cook for another 10 minutes, continuing to cover the fish with the sauce from the pan, and shaking the pan gently every now and then to make sure the fish does not stick.
Remove the fish carefully to a serving dish with a large spatula to ensure that the fish does not break apart, cover with the sauce and serve.
POLPETTE DI TACCHINO ALLA GIUDIA (Turkey Meatballs in the Jewish Style) (Serves 6)
600 gr. ground turkey or goose breast
Combine the ground turkey breast with the eggs and the soaked bread crumbs. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Mix well into a paste and form rather large oval balls. Coat with flour.
Chop the celery and saute in a few Tbsp. oil. Add a bit of water to the pan and continue to cook until the celery is soft.
Add the meatballs and continue to cook over a low flame, adding broth as needed, for about half an hour until theypolpette are cooked through.
An alternative version is to coat the meatballs in fine bread crumbs and fry them until crisp, and then finish them off by boiling for 20 min. in broth to which some lemon juice has been added. | |||
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