Feeling Grateful? Make Soup

Thrifty cooks make soup. And Italian cooks are notoriously thrifty. Not that they would ever compromise on quality. Still--they can make a lot out of a little--gnocchi from potatoes and water, Panzanella from stale bread.

Capri Flavors Chef Titna never wastes in her kitchen. If she's dredging in flour, she uses all the flour, all the bread crumbs, every speck of chopped parsley. Nothing is thrown away.

A lot of this thriftiness dates from WWII and the terrible shortages in Italy. (You can read more about Costanzo's war time experiences in this weeks upcoming Capri Flavors e-newsletter).

Hunger was everywhere in Southern Italy during the war. And even all these years later, Titina and husband Costanzo always feel a special gratefulness when they sit down to a nice meal.

This week they are feeling even more grateful because Titina is cooking at home. She is still very limited after her hip-replacement surgery but feeling well enough to do the thing she loves most--make wonderful food.

Here's one of those wonderful dishes--Titina's recipe for Pasta and Bean soup. It's super easy, very nutritious and a great way to make just 4oz of meat go a long, long way.

Pasta e Fagioli
Pasta with Beans
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 oz chopped Negroni pancetta
1 medium carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large glove garlic, minced
1 can “Annalisa” pomodorini di collina (cherry tomatoes) 400 grams
1 can “D’Amico” fagioli cannellini (white beans) 400 grams
2 cups plain water
1 cup ditali pasta
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
salt and chili pepper

Serves 4; Preparation Time:10 minutes: Cooking Time: 25 minutes; Level of Difficulty: Simple

Set a 3-quart (3 liter) soup kettle over medium heat and add the extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is hot but not smoking add the chopped pancetta and let it cook for 3 minutes. Add the diced carrots and celery as well as the minced garlic. Add the tomatoes. Cook for 15 minutes until the vegetables are softened. Add the beans and the water, bring the soup to a gentle simmer and add the pasta, cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Season with salt and chili pepper to taste. At this point the pasta is “al dente,” sprinkle with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Serve immediately.

Titina's Sardinian Menu plus a Bonus Recipe

Sardinia is dramatic, ancient and beautiful. The second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, this meeting of rugged mountains and blue water is one of the oldest inhabited lands in Europe.

It is famous for its wines. The island is also known for a hearty shepherd's flat bread, fresh, light seafood, lamb and sheep-milk cheeses.

Fregola is another Sardinian specialty. Called the couscous of Sardinia, this tiny semolina pasta was hardly known and hard to find in American until Giadia DeLaurentiis featured fregola on her popular Food Network show. Capri Flavors sold out almost over night. (They have since restocked)

A Fregola recipe from the Capri Flavors e-newsletter follows (sign up at http://www.capriflavors.com). Chef Titina's Sardinian menu along with her full Winter Class Schedule are also listed below.

Her Sardinian primi or first course features another unusual pasta--this time with sausage. Mussels follow and if you've ever wanted to know how to cook artichokes, this is your chance. A sweet ravioli rounds out the meal.

SARDEGNA Menu
Malloreddus Con Dalsiccia (Malloreddus with Sausage)
Cozze Gratinate (Mussels au Gratin)
Carciofi alla Sarda (Sardinian Artichokes)
Sabadas’ (Ravioli with Honey)

PIEMONTE Menu
Pasta e Cannellini (Cannellini Beans with Pasta)
Roast-Beef con le Castagne (Roast Beef with Chestnuts)
Fava alla Piemontese (Piemontese Fava Beans)
Nodi D’Amore (Love Knots)

CAPRI Menu
Limoncello (Lemon Liquor)
Suffle di Formaggio (Cheese Souffle)
Aragosta alla Crema (Lobster in Cream Sauce)
Radicchio al Parmigiano (Radicchio with Parmesan)
Torta di Capri al Limoncello (Capri Cake with Limoncello)

SICILIA Menu
Anellini con Melenzane (Anellini with Eggplant)
Pollo al Curry (Chicken Curry)
Piselli al Prosciutto (Peas with Prosciutto)
San Giuseppe Zeppole (Saint Joseph Cream Puffs)

Capri Dates--Monday: 1/4, 2/15, 3/1-- Friday: 1/8, 2/5, 3/5
Sicilia Dates--Monday: 1/18, 2/15, 3/15-- Friday: 1/22, 2/19, 3/19
Sardegna Dates-- Monday: 1/25, 2/22, 3/22--Friday: 1/29, 2/26, 3/26
Piemonte Dates--Monday: 1/11, 2//8, 3/8--Friday: 1/15, 2/12, 3/12

Fregola with Shrimp and Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 pound Fregola pasta from Capri Flavors
2 Knorr Chicken bouillon cubes
½ onion diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
A pinch of red pepper flakes
1 can (28 oz) Titina’s Tomatoes from Capri Flavors
½ cup dry sherry
¼ cup chopped parsley
2 pounds of shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt, pepper and olive oil

Heat olive oil over medium heat and cook onion until soft. Add red pepper flakes, garlic and sherry. Cook until blended and fragrant. Add tomatoes, breaking up with your spoon. Return to a boil. Add half the parsley and reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper

Fill a large pot with water and add the bouillon cubes. Boil until cubes have dissolved, then slowly add the Fergola and cook until tender, about 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile add the shrimp to the tomato sauce and simmer until just pink and firm. Remove from heat. (They will continue to cook in the hot sauce)

Drain cooked pasta, toss with more olive oil and the remaining parsley. Pour shrimp and tomato sauce over. Stir and serve.

Keep It Simple--

It's not just great advice for this crazy-busy season, it's one of THE main principals of authentic Italian cooking--keep it simple. In Chef Titina's kitchen, this means selecting the best ingredients (she shops the Capri Flavors store shelves before each class) then letting those flavors shine.



Her recipe for Chicken Cacciatore is a great example of a simple dish with shinning flavors. If you're thinking the Americanized peppers, onions and heavy tomato sauce, think again. Rosemary and a light touch of canned cherry tomatoes make Titina's version something special. Capers and olives also add lots of flavor straight from the jar.



So open a bottle of wine, invite a few friends into the kitchen, cook a little pasta and make a great one dish meal. Like the recipe says, Level of Difficulty:Simple--



This is a recipe you'll cook again and again.




Chicken Cacciatore (Pollo alla Cacciatora)


Ingredients:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-3 to 3 ½ pound chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and each breast cut in half crosswise)
1 medium onion, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced, or 3 large cloves garlic, smashed
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
½ cup dry white wine
¾ teaspoon salt
big pinch hot red pepper flakes
1 can 400 grams “Annalisa” cherry tomatoes
¼ cup black olives
¼ cup capers


Serves 4; Preparation: 10 minutes; Cooking Time: 55 minutes; Level of difficulty: Simple


In a 10 to 12 inch sauté pan with cover, heat the oil over medium-high heat, and when it is hot, brown the chicken on the skin side first, then the underside. Do not crowd the pan. Brown the chicken in batches if necessary, setting aside the browned chicken on a plate until the rest is done. When the last few pieces of chicken are almost browned and still in the pan, add the onion (or garlic) and rosemary and sauté until the onion is tender.
Arrange all the browned chicken in the pan, skin side up, and add the white wine. Season with salt and hot red pepper flakes, then let the wine cook until it has almost entirely evaporated, just a couple of minutes. While it is reducing, turn the chicken in the liquid once or twice, but leave it skin side up at the end. Add the tomatoes, olives and capers. Cover the pan, lower the heat, and let cook at a gentle simmer, without turning, for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is done.
Remove the chicken to a serving platter, increase the heat to high, and let the sauce reduce for about 2 minutes. In the end, the sauce will be a creamy pink.
Pour the sauce over the chicken or use it to dress pasta (reserving some for the chicken) and serve immediately.

Where Titina Gets Her Garlic

Garlic is a critical ingredient in so many of Chef Titina's best recipes. She never cuts corners by using old or sprouted garlic. And her favorite garlic comes from local growers.

Home grown garlic may not be as pretty or large as its globe trotting supermarket cousin, but the flavor is so much brighter. Check out farmers' markets this month and if you see it, by all means give it try. Buy lots of fresh garlic to use in your kitchen and an extra bulb to plant. Garlic is an easy crop that even a beginner can grow successfully. All you need is a sunny spot, several cloves of garlic and about 5 minutes. After that, nature should do the rest.

Garlic is best planted in Fall so start thinking about it. Then follow these four steps.

• Work up the soil.


• Insert your garlic cloves, cover and water. (You may want to mark the spot so you don't forget)
  
• Green stalks will sprout, grow, and next summer they will flower, then begin to die back.


• When the stalks have died away, carefully dig up the garlic bulbs, brush off the dirt and use or store.
  
  A simple project, yet so gratifying, home grown garlic is just one of the ways Capri Flavors Chef Titina makes her food taste so good. Try in fresh garlic in pesto, bruschetta or with any fresh vegetables this time of year.

Titina's Classic Family Recipe

Quick--before the summer is over--grab some fresh tomatoes and make a Caprese Salad. Capri Flavors Chef Titina has been making this Italian classic all her life. And why not. It was invented in her mother's restaurant kitchen on the island of Capri.
So simple, and yet so innovative in it's time, this delicious paring of sliced tomatoes, mozzarella and fresh basil is a cooking class favorite. You can dress it up or down, adapt it to pasta, pizza, bread or mushroom caps like the photo above. And it's a no-brainer. If you own a knife. a cutting board and can gather a few choice ingredients, you have the perfect summer time starter or light meal.
Here is Chef Titina's original recipe. Enjoy it quick...before summer is gone.

4 ripe tomatoes sliced
1 lb fresh mozzarella sliced
A small handful of chopped fresh basil
Salt, pepper and olive oil

Slice and layer tomatoes and mozzarella alternately. Top with basil, salt and pepper , then dress liberally with extra virgin olive oil. (To adapt to pasta or pizza, chop the ingredients and toss)