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sicilian
pasta sauce
Ingredients:
A handful of basil-leaves or dried basil flakes
Finely chopped garlic clove
Pinch of salt
Teaspoon of Sugar
400g peeled plum tomatoes
Extra-virgin Olive Oil
Directions:
Gently brown the garlic in a tiny drop of oil in a large deep
frying-pan.
(If using dried basil, brown this with the garlic simultaneously.)
Sieve the tomatoes into the pan and stir in the salt, sugar and
basil (if you are using fresh basil). Bring momentarily to the
boil, then reduce heat to the lowest setting. Leave to simmer
until the sauce reduces to a dense cream. It should not be runny.
Do not cover the pan, or the reduction process will be hindered.
The lowest heat will give you the longest simmering time before
the required consistency is reached, and therefore the best result.
Ideally it should simmer for two or three hours, but if youre
in a hurry you can do it in as little as half an hour as a minimum,
at a slightly higher heat.
Finally, stir in a generous swig of oil and cook for another
minute.
To serve, pour onto boiled, drained pasta and dress with grated
parmesan, pecorino or ricotta-salata cheese (which is not ricotta
cheese.)
For a meat sauce, start by
browning some lean minced beef in olive oil, together with finely
chopped onions. Do everything else as before, but add all the
olive oil at the beginning (before the first boil) instead of
at the end. With both sauces you may wish to experiment with
adding chillies or chilli paste in very moderate amounts, and
perhaps a little mango chutney instead of the sugar, (though
this latter ingredient is departing from authenticity.) If you
overdo the chilli, try adding dark brown sugar to help cool
it down again. Italian sauces should not taste burning hot spicy,
although he chilli does help to elevate the bite
of the garlic when used carefully.
pasta
alla norma
This is something to adorn a pasta dish made with the Sicilian
sauce.
Slice two aubergines finely, salt generously, and press them
overnight. (for a simple press, sandwich the aubergines
between two wooden breadboards or cutting-boards, and weight
down the top board with bricks, twenty of your mums old
vinyl LPs or the Encyclopædia Britannica.) You can get
away with pressing them for only an hour or two.
Remove from press and rinse thoroughly. Fry in oil until shrunken
and almost (but not quite) turning crispy. Serve on top of your
pasta-in-sauce dish.
a
cold Italian snack
The basic Italian antipasto (starter) also makes a great meal
when you don't feel like cooking, but want to pig-out italian-style
anyway:
Simply load a plate with slices of salami and fresh tomato, lumps
of mozzarella cheese, artichoke heads (freely and cheaply available
in tins at the supermarket), a fresh crusty loaf, and pat of
good quality butter. Pour extra-virgin olive-oil generously over
the lot, and enjoy! Oh, and don't forget the olives...
Pesto
and Carbonara
Eat
Rome Easy Cookery Introduction
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