The world of cuisine and recipes
(by Cecilia Fanfani Volpe)

I’ve got a discreet collection of books and magazines concerning the culinary art, plus a real passion for the world of cookery.
As a young girl, I began following cookery courses in Italy and France, under chefs of international fame, and among others, I had the great honour of being admitted, several years ago now, amongst the stoves, of a great ‘high-priest’ who, so kindly, wrote this dedication on giving me a book of his: “ a gastronomic involvement on first sight, in friendship Angelo Paracucchi”.

Apart from the ‘great chefs’ and the ‘holy bibles’ I’m still learning from friends and the women of Romagna who hand down the secrets of some real masterpieces.
Here in the soil of Romagna, there are ancient flavours which are well worth rediscovering and re-evaluating.

This page in our site is to be filled by you, by all those people like you who appreciate the pleasure of having a meal together – with the rhythms it deserves – with your suggestions, recipes, food and wines to try, but also with the books on the history of gastronomy and nutritional science you think are worth mentioning.

Write to us at info@tenutavolpe.it Thank you.

On my part, let me suggest you visit:
www.bibliothecaculinaria.it and request their catalogue,
but also
www.gamberorosso.it
www.cucinait.com
www.viaggiesapori.it
www.cucinaromagnola.com

As you can see for cookery lovers or amateur cooks like me full of curiosity, the panorama is enormously stimulating, and after surfing for hours amongst virtual aromas, flavours and gastronomic sensations head for the kitchen and….

AMEDEO’S SPAGHETTI SAUCE

This sauce is especially made for spaghetti and is normally prepared in the months of
July and August, or even throughout the year, but only if you live in hot places such as
Africa or the Tropics, where tomatoes are as good as Italian ones. I usually prepare it in
the summer on the sailboat, and it’s always very successful.
Ingredients: 1) a good appetite in good company; 2) 600 grams of spaghetti; 3) ripe firm tomatoes cut in chunks, how many? it depends on the number of servings, let’s say at least eight big tomatoes for six people; 4) three garlic cloves cut in slices; 5) two sliced onions, preferably the red sweet onions from Tropea (a place in Calabria renowned for its wonderful onions); in order not to cry while slicing the onions I strongly recommend wearing a scuba-diving mask; 6) a handful of fresh, scented basil (we always keep a vase of basil on the stern of the sailboat and we water it with sea-water!); 7) a small cup (coffee-cup) of extra-virgin olive oil; 8) hot red ground pepper at your discretion (I use a lot of it); 9) enough salt; 10) a glass jar where you will mix all the ingredients together (except the spaghetti). Close the jar tightly and expose it to the sun for the whole day. In the evening, when it’s dinner time, boil the water, add some salt, cook the spaghetti al dente, strain them and place them on a serving dish, previously warmed in the oven. Pour the jar’s contents on the steaming-hot spaghetti and…enjoy! Just one recommendation: don’t warm up the sauce as the summer sun gives it just the right temperature. Let me know how it goes…

SWEET AND SOUR FISH BY SLIM

For Slim fish is above all passion, and having dinner at his small and well-cared-for restaurant, La Guinguette in Cesenatico, is a real pleasure. The recipe I am about to give you is one of our favourite dishes ever since we moved to the Romagna region.
Ingredients for six servings: 6 small crabs, 6 small soles, 6 small codfishes without bones and heads (or other fresh fish of the day), 5 lemons, 250 cl of extra-virgin olive oil and 250 cl of seed oil mixed together, a pinch of fresh red hot pepper, salt.
Wash the crabs well and keep them in cold water so that they don’t turn black, then, to remove the upper shell, start lifting it firmly from the belly. Cut the soles’ side bones and heads using a pair of scissors, clean away the entrails, then skin them starting from the tail; carefully clean the codfishes as well. Squeeze the lemons on a pan, add the oil mixture and start mixing until you reach a homogeneous yellow and somewhat turbid texture. Dip the soles, codfishes and crabs belly up and all on one layer. Add a little bit of salt, a few thin slices of red hot pepper, and place the pan covered with a lid on a high flame. Lower the flame after five minutes, and switch off after three more minutes. Serve immediately.

SAPA SCALLION

Ingredients for 6 servings: 36 scallions; 3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil;1 twig of fresh rosemary; 1 tablespoon of sugar; 3 tablespoons of sapa; salt and pepper, one teacup of hot water.
Slightly warm up the oil together with the rosemary in a pan, add the skinned and washed scallions, brown for five minutes, cover them with the sugar and brown for three minutes, add salt and pepper. Then add the sapa (cooked grapes must, for more details please see page “the flavours to savour and take home with you” on our web site), mix well, simmer for a few minutes and then add the water. Cover with a lid, stew on low flame for about twenty minutes until the scallions are tender and well done. This is the perfect recipe to accompany baked lamb or a good grilled filet mignon.

MARGOT CRUMBLE

A German friend of ours sent us this recipe, we tried it and found it excellent… here are the ingredients; 75 grams of butter, 75 grams of sugar, 75 grams of flour, 50 grams of potato starch; 300 grams of raspberries or blackberries.
Place the berries in a buttered baking-pan. Mix all the ingredients together until you obtain big crumbs which you will arrange evenly on the berries. Warm the oven to 180° and bake for 30 minutes. Serve lukewarm with whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream.

SAGE TIT-BITS

You’ll need some fresh leaves of sage and after washing properly, dry them on a towel. Mash and mix some fresh ricotta (made from cow’s milk) with some finely-chopped anchovies (in oil), two or three, according to taste. With a coffee spoon put a little bit of this mixture on a leaf then close with an other leaf of the same size, on top (like a sandwich), prepare all the leaves.
Beat two eggs and coat the leaves lightly first with flour, then with the eggs and finally with the breadcrumbs.
Lay the leaves out on a tray and place them in the freezer, once frozen, put them in a freezer bag. When necessary, fry them, still frozen, in hot oil, for a couple of minutes, turning once.
Drain off the oil on paper towels and serve piping hot as hors d’oeuvres. They are absolutely delicious, my friends are so mad about them I have had to plant more sage bushes in my garden!

PEPPER PARCELS

Bake four peppers, two red and two yellow, in the oven at 180° till the skin is brown, about 20 minutes. Peel and scrape out the seeds and cut into strips of about four centimetres long.
Combine a handful of capers, one of pine nuts, two of breadcrumbs soaked in milk, one of chopped basil and one of chopped parsley, one of grated parmesan cheese and some black pepper in a processor to mince and mix them, then cover the stripes with a little bit of the mixture and roll them up. Tie the rolls up with a blade of chives, blanched in boiling water, so that they look like tiny parcels and arrange them alternately red, yellow, red etc. in a heatproof serving dish greased with two tbsp. of olive oil. Bake in the oven at 150° for about 20 minutes. They can be prepared the day before as they are delicious cold, too.

MUMA’S UNBLANCHED PASTA

Have you ever tried a baked pasta (cooked in the oven) without blanching the pasta first in boiling water? Muma gave me this recipe and I can assure you, you’ll lick your whiskers!
In a deep pyrex container, mix the following ingredients: 500 grams of short pasta (maccaroni or mezze penne rigate), the contents of 3 tins of 500 gr. each of chopped peeled tomatoes, 300 gr. of smoked provola cheese chopped in tiny pieces, some origan, a handful of fresh basil, torn by hand, pepper and some oil.
Cover the pyrex bowl with aluminium foil, pre-heat the oven, bake at 180° for about twenty minutes. Check pasta and mix, put back in oven, bake uncovered for another ten minutes.

ANNA’S SPRING RIGATONI

Clear about 20 asparagus very carefully and cook them in salted boiling water. Only the green tips and the water will be used in the recipe. Then prepare a béchamel – type sauce with 25 grams of butter, 20 gr. of flour and, instead of milk, use ¼ litre of the water in which you have cooked the asparagus. Fry 150 gr. chopped bacon in a frying pan until golden, then add 300 gr. of fresh peas and cook, slowly adding asparagus water if needed.
Add the asparagus tips, ½ kilo of already cooked rigatoni and the sauce. Mix well and place the mixture into a buttered pyrex dish, and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Put under grill for 10 minutes.

ANNAROSA’S RICE CAKE

This recipe was found hand written in an old book belonging to Annarosa’s grandmother. I have tried it and I can assure you it’s wonderful and will be a great success, so I’m happy to give you the recipe.
Boil a litre of milk, 200 gr. rice, 100 gr. castor sugar, for about 20 minutes, until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. Then add 100 gr. of sultanas to the rice, together with an egg, some vanilla essence, a pinch of salt and the grated zest of a lemon. Spread the mixture (make sure it is not too high, maximum 2 cm.) on a greased baking tray and bake for 20 minutes in the oven at 180°. Remove from heat and leave cool, cut into small squares and sprinkle generously with castor sugar.

AGNESE's CHOCOLATE CAKE

I received via Internet this recipe I would like to share with all my web-site visitors as I believe it is a delicacy easy to make. Thank you Agnese... until the next recipe!
Melt 100 gr. butter and 200 gr. bitter chocolate in bain-marie. Remove from heat, add 2 tablespoons flour, 100 gr. castor sugar, 3 egg yolks; mix well and then add 3 whipped egg whites stirring slowly and gently. If you wish add some chopped walnuts. Bake at 180° for about 20/25 minutes.