Read Ebook: Simple Italian Cookery by Isola Antonia

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 318 lines and 16474 words, and 7 pages

VERMICELLI WITH OLIVE-OIL AND ANCHOVIES

Take one-half pound of vermicelli, boil in salted water and drain. While boiling put into a saucepan three anchovies, cut up fine, with four tablespoons of olive-oil. Fry the anchovies in the oil, then put the vermicelli into the saucepan, mix well for a few moments on the fire, then serve.

VERMICELLI WITH OLIVE-OIL, OLIVES, CAPERS, AND ANCHOVIES

Take one-half pound of vermicelli and cover it well with salted water. Cook for about ten minutes. While it is boiling put into a saucepan four tablespoons of olive-oil, three anchovies cut up fine with six olives and one-half tablespoon of capers. When these are fried add the vermicelli , mix well, and put the saucepan at the back of the stove. Turn the vermicelli over with a fork every few minutes until it is thoroughly cooked.

VERMICELLI WITH FISH

Boil one-half pound of vermicelli in salted water, drain, and mix with two tablespoons of olive-oil and a little chopped-up parsley. Then set to one side to get cool.

Take five smelts, split them, take out the bones, and fry them slightly in one teaspoon of olive-oil.

Butter a pan and sprinkle it with bread crumbs. Then put into it one-half of the cold vermicelli. Pour over this some thick tomato sauce . Then put in the smelts cut in two, some anchovy, a few capers, and three or four ripe olives chopped up with one mushroom. Then add the rest of the tomato sauce, then the other half of the vermicelli, and on top a layer of bread crumbs. Season all well with salt and pepper. Put the pan into a moderate oven, and cook about an hour and a quarter, adding a little olive-oil when necessary, so that it will not dry up too much.

Any fish may be used instead of the smelts, cutting it into thin strips.

SPAGHETTI WITH TUNNY-FISH

While one-half pound of spaghetti is boiling in salted water prepare the following: Take two ounces of tunny-fish and cut them into small pieces. Put them into a saucepan and fry them in their own oil. This oil is generally sufficient, but should it not be, add another tablespoon of olive-oil. When the tunny have been fried add a teaspoonful of chopped parsley and four tomatoes, peeled and the seeds removed, and a pinch of pepper. Let the tomatoes cook thoroughly. When they are cooked put the spaghetti into the saucepan and move them about with a fork and spoon until they are thoroughly mixed with the sauce and the tunny. Then serve.

TIMBALE OF VERMICELLI WITH TOMATOES

Take ten medium-sized fresh tomatoes and cut them in two crosswise. Put a layer of these into a baking-dish with the liquid side touching the bottom of the dish. Now put another layer with the liquid side up, sprinkle on salt and pepper. Break the raw vermicelli the length of the baking-dish and put a layer of it on top of the tomatoes. Now add another layer of the tomatoes, with the skin side touching the vermicelli, a second layer with the liquid side up, salt and pepper, and another layer of the raw vermicelli, and so on, the top layer being of tomatoes with their liquid side touching the vermicelli. Heat three or four tablespoons of good lard , and when the lard boils pour it over the tomatoes and vermicelli; then put the dish into the oven and cook until the vermicelli is thoroughly done. After cooling a little while, turn it out into a platter.

MACARONI "ALLA SAN GIOVANNELLO"

While three-quarters of a pound of macaroni are boiling in salted water prepare the following: Chop up fine two ounces of ham fat with a little parsley. Peel six medium-sized tomatoes, cut them open, remove the seeds, and any hard or unripe parts, and put them on one side. Take a frying-pan and put into it one scant tablespoon of butter and the chopped ham fat. When the grease is colored put in the sliced tomatoes with salt and pepper. When the tomatoes are cooked and begin to sputter put the macaroni into the pan with them, mix well, add grated Parmesan cheese, and serve.

RIBBON MACARONI

Put the flour on a bread-board. Make a hole in the middle of it, and break the eggs into it. Add the water and the salt, and mix all together with a fork until the flour is all absorbed and you have a paste which you can roll out. Then take a rolling-pin and roll it out very thin, about the thickness of a ten-cent piece. Leave it spread out like this until it has dried a little. Then double it over a number of times, always lengthwise, and cut it across in strips about one-half inch wide. Boil two quarts of salted water, and put the ribbons into it, and cook for ten minutes, then drain. Serve with the meat and sauce as in receipt for Macaroni with Meat and Sauce, or with the tomato sauce and cheese only, as desired.

RAVIOLI WITH MEAT

Prepare the paste as in the preceding receipt.

Take whatever meat is desired--chicken, turkey, or veal--this must always be cooked. Chop the meat very fine, add one tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese, one egg, a dash of nutmeg, a dash of grated lemon-peel, one tablespoon of butter, cold. Mix these ingredients in a bowl. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and put it into the extended paste, about two inches from the edge. Take another spoonful and put it about two inches away from the first spoonful. Continue to do this until you have a row of teaspoonfuls across the paste. Then fold over the edge of the paste so as to cover the spoonfuls of mixture, and cut across the paste at the bottom of them. Then cut into squares with the meat in the middle of each square; press down the paste a little at the edges so the meat cannot fall out. Continue to do this until all the meat and the paste are used up.

Put the little squares of paste and meat into the boiling salted water a few at a time, and boil for ten minutes. Serve with tomato sauce, or butter and grated Parmesan cheese.

RAVIOLI WITH BRAINS

Take one lamb's brains and parboil in slightly salted water for five minutes. Put into a bowl with a small quantity of curds, one egg, salt and pepper, dash of nutmeg, and a little grated Parmesan cheese, and mix all together. Then put by teaspoonfuls on the paste as in preceding receipt. Cook for ten minutes in boiling salted water, and serve with tomato sauce.

RAVIOLI OF CURDS AND SPINACH

Cook the spinach, drain, and chop up fine, add the curds, one egg, salt and pepper, dash of nutmeg, and a little grated cheese. Add to the paste, and boil as before.

SWEET RAVIOLI

These ravioli can be used also as a dessert by preparing them as follows:

Take 1/2 pound of flour 1 tablespoon of butter 2 tablespoons of lard

Work this into a paste and roll out thin.

Take one-half pound of curds, add one egg, and the yolk of a second egg, two tablespoons of granulated sugar, a few drops of extract of vanilla. Mix well together and add to the paste as before. Then fry in lard until a golden brown. Serve with powdered sugar.

TIMBALE OF MACARONI

Take a small piece of ham fat, one-half of onion, piece of celery, parsley, small piece of carrot. Chop up fine together. Put into a saucepan, and when the vegetables are fried add two or three mushrooms which have been chopped fine; after five minutes add two tablespoons of tomato paste, thinned with five tablespoons of hot water . When the sauce is cooked take out the mushrooms and put them on one side.

Take one-half pound of macaroni. Boil in salted water for fifteen minutes, drain, and add the sauce described above. Add two tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated, and one tablespoon of butter.

Butter well a mold, then cover with a thin layer of bread crumbs the bottom and sides. Pour into the mold one-half the macaroni, then place on it a layer of mushrooms which you have taken out of the sauce. Now add the other half of the macaroni, and then another thin layer of bread crumbs. Put the mold into the oven without turning it over, and bake in a slow oven until well browned. Then turn out and serve.

To this timbale, if desired for variety, cold meat of any kind cut up fine may be added to the sauce; and one egg, hard boiled, and cut into four pieces. Add the egg, and the pieces of meat which you have removed from the sauce, to the timbale at the same time that you add the mushrooms.

RICE TIMBALE

This timbale is made in the same way as the preceding one, only substituting rice for macaroni. One-half cup of rice.

TIMBALE OF RIBBON MACARONI

This is prepared as the two preceding ones, using Ribbon Macaroni instead of rice or ordinary macaroni.

RICE, ETC.

RICE WITH PEAS

Chop the onion up fine and put it into the saucepan with one-half the butter . Cook until the onion is brown, then pour on the rice and fry until the rice is dry. Then add hot water, a ladleful at a time, taking care not to let the rice boil too hard, as it will then become hard in the middle and floury around the edges. When the rice is cooked, put the saucepan at the back of the stove, and add the rest of the butter. Before taking off the stove add a little grated Parmesan cheese and the peas, which have been prepared as follows:

Take a small piece of ham fat, one-half small onion, and some parsley. Chop together fine, add three tablespoons of olive-oil, salt and pepper, and put into a saucepan on the fire. When the onion is colored add one can of green peas . When the peas have absorbed all the olive-oil add a sufficient quantity of broth to cover them and cook until peas are soft. Then mix the peas with the rice, add one tablespoon of Parmesan cheese, and serve.

RICE "ALLA ROMANA"

A small piece of ham fat 1 stalk of celery Parsley 1 onion 2 mushrooms canned, or 1 fresh mushroom 1/3 pound of lean beef

Chop these ingredients together and put them into a large saucepan with a small piece of butter. Cook until the meat is well browned. Then add one tablespoon of red or white wine. Cook for a few minutes, then add one tablespoon of tomato paste dissolved in a little hot water, or two and one-half tablespoons of the other tomato sauce. Cook well, adding from time to time a little water--one-half cup in all. Wash the rice , add it to the other ingredients in the saucepan, and cook for about twenty minutes, until the rice is soft, adding more water from time to time. Then add two tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, mix well, and serve, with more cheese if desired.

RISOTTO "ALLA NOSTRALE"

Take a small piece of onion, slice into small bits, and put into a saucepan with two tablespoons of butter. Cook until onion is browned.

Wash well one-half cup of rice. Put it into the saucepan with the onion, add salt and pepper, and fry until the rice is dry. Then take one and one-half tablespoons of tomato paste, thinned with hot water , and add to the rice. Little by little add hot water until the rice is cooked through . Then add grated cheese, Parmesan or Gruyere, one and one-half tablespoons of butter, and mix well over the fire, then serve.

This rice can be served alone or with fried sausages, or with cold chicken, or any left-over meat prepared in the following manner:

Take one and one-half tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. Cut the cold meat into slices, and add them to the butter. Fry well, then take one and one-half tablespoons of tomato paste, thinned in water . Add to the meat a little at a time. Simmer for one-half hour, then put into the middle of hot platter, surrounded by rice, and pour this sauce over all. Add a handful of grated Parmesan cheese to the rice.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet