Real Food, the Italian Way

I decided to take advantage of the bountiful fresh local produce in Florence and prepared a meal during my recent trip to Italy. I learned the joy of cooking simply and trusting the ingredients. I haven't tasted produce that tasted so flavorful in a long time, so why mess with a good thing? I restrained myself by not throwing the kitchen sink into every dish and let each element sing. I made a simple caprese salad as the appetizer, a speck and leeks pasta as the first course, and finally, a hearty chicken and cannelloni beans stew as the secondo. Alas, no dessert for us that night, just a big bottle of prosecco.

Recipe
Caprese Salad:
1 pound fresh mozzarella
2 large ripe tomatoes
10 large basil leaves
good EVOO
salt and pepper to taste


Pasta:
1 pound pasta (Gimelli is a good choice)
1/4 pound speck
1 large stalk of leek
1 small tomato
1/2 cup grated pecorino or parmesan 
a little oil to coat the bottom of the pan
salt and pepper to taste


Chicken stew:
2 large chicken thighs
1 pound dried cannelloni beans (soaked overnight)
1 medium onion
2 large red bell peppers
1/4 pound speck
2 large ripe tomatoes
1 stalk of sage leaves
3 cups dry wine wine
oil for browning the chicken
salt and pepper to taste



First the appetizer, the caprese salad. It's one of my favorite things to order -- simple, fresh and tasty. It's very important to get good tomatoes for this dish. There are plenty of farmers markets that sell quality heirloom tomatoes on the cheap and it's worth the splurge. Slice the tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices and the same for the mozzarella. Place the tomato slices on a plate, top each slice with a basil leave and then the mozzarella. To finish, drizzle some good olive on top and a few grinds of fresh black pepper. Voila, we have the first course!

Easy and colorful starter

Now for the pasta. Julienne (fancy French term for cutting things into long, thin strips) the speck. Speck is a salted and smoked ham. It has an intense flavor, less fat than bacon, and holds its shape and bright color even when cooked. If you can't find speck, use pancetta or bacon. Put a pan on medium high heat, coat the bottom with a little oil and saute the ham until browned and all the fat has been rendered out. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meat and set aside.

Just a little oil to coat the pan

The meat should have slight crisp

Here's a little lesson on leeks. Their flavor is similar to onions, but milder, and slightly garlicky. Only use the white stem of the veggie. They can be a bit hard to clean. The trick is to cut off the stem and the dark green leaves; slice the stalk vertically and fan out the layers to check for dirt (there's generally some trapped in there). Run the stem under running water and the grit should come right out. Thinly slice the leek horizontally and toss into the pan with the speck drippings and cook on medium low heat. Be patient and cook it slowly to caramelize the leek. It should take around 7-10 minutes, when the leek almost "melts" away.

Leek has a mild, complex flavor

While the leek caramelizes, in a large pot, boil water. Dice the tomato and set aside. When the water boils, throw a little salt and olive oil in the water and add the pasta. Cook the pasta they're 75% cooked through, around 8-10 minutes, depending on the pasta. Strain the pasta and reserve around 2 cups of the pasta water. Turn the heat up to medium, add the cooked speck, pasta, diced tomatoes to the leeks and toss to combine. Add the reserved pasta water, half ladle at a time, to the pasta. Add more pasta water when the water in the pan has been absorbed. Pasta water has starch content so it's better than plain water and serves to thicken the sauce. Cook for around 5 minutes until the pasta reaches the doneness that you prefer. Finish by adding the grated cheese and toss to combine.

Almost ready!

Nothing better than a big bowl of pasta

Finally, the main dish -- chicken with cannelloni beans. It's best to soak the beans overnight, but if you didn't have time, soaking them for 4-5 hours should be sufficient. That would just increase the cooking time since it takes the beans longer to soften and release their starch. Make sure to put enough water with the beans because they absorb a lot of water while rehydrating. 


Season the chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Coat the bottom of a large pot with a little oil and brown the chicken pieces over medium high heat on both sides. While the chicken browns, dice the speck into 1/4 inch cubes. When all the chicken pieces are done, remove the chicken from the pot and set aside. Turn the heat down to medium and add the speck into the pot to brown, around 5 minutes. While the ham cooks, dice the onion and red peppers and cut the tomatoes into large chunks. Throw the diced onion and peppers into the pot with the speck and cook for around 5 minutes until softened.

Chicken pieces

Saute the onion, peppers and speck

Add the wine to the pot and turn the heat to high. Cook off the alcohol, around 2 minutes, and combine the beans, browned chicken and tomatoes into the pot. Pour enough soaking liquid from the beans into the mixture until everything's submerged. Tear off the leaves from the sage plant, around 8-10 leaves. Thinly slice and add to the pot. When the pot comes to a boil, turn the heat down to simmer and cook until the beans are soft for around 90 minutes to 2 hours. Check every half hour or so to make sure there's enough water in the pot and stir a bit to make sure it doesn't burn. Season with salt and pepper. Always add salt to a stew at the end because water will evaporate during cooking and will be salty if you added salt too early.

Stew time

All done

Reflections

Using good, seasonal ingredients truly add so much to a dish. I don't need to throw 10 things into the pot every time to inject flavor into the food. Each item tastes distinct and can stand on their own. I will continue to try and get my groceries from farmers markets. Hopefully, I can refine to cooking techniques by simplifying and coaxing more out of reach ingredient.