Venetian Recipes

• BACCALA' MANTECATO (Creamed Cod)
• RISOTTO DE GO (Goby Risotto)
• BIGOLI IN SALSA (Wholemeal pasta in anchovy sauce)
• RISI E BISI (Rice and Peas)
• PASTA E FAGIOLI (Beans and pasta soup)
• SARDINE IN "SAOR" (Marinated sardines)
• SEPPIE COL NERO (Cuttlefish in their ink)
• FEGATO ALLA VENEZIANA (Venetian style liver)
• ZALETI or ZALETTI (Venetian Cornmeal Diamonds)
  

Recipe: BACCALA' MANTECATO (Creamed Cod)

Dried cod, or more properly "stockfish", came from North in exchange for spices and has always been a major part of Venetian cuisine. It can be prepared in many ways besides the following, which is perhaps the most popular. In a large container, cover dried cod with water; and leave to soak for 48 hours, changing the water periodically. Boil for 2-3 minutes in salted water. Divide into very smalì pieces, including the skin and the bit of intestinal membrane found inside.

Put these pieces into a churn (or Cuisinart with appropriate attachment) and beat together with a quarter of their weight in olive oil or, if preferred, vegetable oil - to be added very slowly, a littie bit at a time.

Churn until eveything is reduced to a sort of delicate cream, add salt and pepper to taste and flavour with a very little finely chopped garlic. The amount of oil can be increased if necessary. Some people add a bit of the cooking broth and/or a bit of hot milk to make creamier.
* BIGOLI IN SALSA (Wholemeal pasta in anchovy sauce)ave over a very low fire until the onions are completely soft like tender golden fillets. Cook the pasta until it is "al dente" and season with the sauce, adding a pinch of freshly milled pepper.

There are many variations of this dish whose traditional recipe is the one here: you can add garlic, or use tuna fish instead of the sardines.

Recipe: RISOTTO DE GO (Goby Risotto)

The best time to enjoy this very tasty dish is late autumn through winter when fishermen go out during low tide to the "barene" (shallows), easily flnd the holes the gobies dig in the mud, and capture tens of kilos in a matter of minutes. Capture and not just fish because their technique is to sbove their arms through the two entrances to the tunnels the gobies have dug in the mud, and grab whole families with their bare hands. The goby is not a particularly prized fish: when it is very young it is used under the name of "maciarella"for catching the more prized fish, the sea bass, but when fully grown it provides us with the "risotto of kings".

The recipe is simple even though somewhat laborious: take five or six large, gutted and scaled gobies and boil them with onion, celery, garlic and green peppercorns for about an hour and a half. Remove the flavouring vegetables, finely strain the court-bouillon (we recommend using cheese cloth, squeezing it to filter the fish stock). Lightly fry the rice in olive oil with garlic and two slices of fresh ginger then add the goby stock a little at a time.

When it is almost cooked, add a spoonful of brandy and, before serving, sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Recipe: BIGOLI IN SALSA (Wholemeal pasta in anchovy sauce)

"Bigoli in salsa" is the traditional dish for days of fasting: Christmas Eve, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

Slice two large onions and clean 70g. of salted sardines or anchovies, washing them carefully and leaving them to soak for a while. Lightly fry the onions and the sardines, cut to pieces, in 100 ml. of olive oil, first over high flame without a lid and then, when the onions turn golden, add two spoonfuls of water to halt the cooking, cover and leave over a very low fire until the onions are completely soft like tender golden fillets. Cook the pasta until it is "al dente" and season with the sauce, adding a pinch of freshly milled pepper.

There are many variations of this dish whose traditional recipe is the one here: you can add garlic, or use tuna fish instead of the sardines.

Recipe: RISI E BISI (Rice and Peas)

This is the most famous Venetian soup. The Doge used to eat it - observing a strict ccrimonial - on the feast-day of St. Mark, Venice's patron saint.

Freshly shelled peas (precise amounts below)
An onion
Several slices pancetta
Vegetable broth
Short grained rice, along the lines of Arborio or Vialone Nano
Parsley
Greshly grated Parmigiano (parmesan cheese)

Lightly fry the onion in oil and butter with finely minced lean pancetta or diced prosciutto. When the onion turns golden, add a generous quantity of peas and some broth, and let cook for about 10 minutes. Then add a handful of rice per person, mix very well, and completely cover with good broth.

Let cook over moderate flame for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more broth if necessary. Toward the end of cooking time, add salt and pepper to taste, a hit of butter and generous spoonful of fresh parmesan cheese. This "soup" should actually have a quite dense consistency: should be "all'onda", in other words moist and creamy, rather than firm.

Fresh, just-shelled peas are recommended.

Recipe: PASTA E FAGIOLI (Beans and pasta soup)

Ingredients for 5 servings:
500 gr. of dried kidney beans
200 gr. of pigskin
100 gr. of lard or bacon
2 medium potatoes
1 onion
2 celery sticks
3 leaves of laurel
200 gr. of tagliatelle (without eggs)
pepper
salt
extravirgin olive oil

Preparation:
Combine the beans with the water (changing it at least 1 time), cover and let soak for 12 hours.
Dip the skin in boiling water, peel out the outer layer and discard, cut the inner layer into slices.
Cut the vegetables into pieces and put them in a pot with the lard and the other ingredients and cover with abundant cold water.
Cook at least for 3 hours over low heat.
Puree half of the beans, bring the pot to a boil again and add tagliatelle.
Serve with some drops of extravirgin olive oil, if you like.

Recipe: SARDINE IN "SAOR" (Marinated sardines)

The "saor", a small gastronomical masterpiece; in origin, a manner to conserve seafood for a long time.

600 gr. fresh sardines
600 gr. of white onion
2.5 dl. of red vinegar
100 gr. of pine-nuts (optional, but delicious with!)
100 gr. of sultanas (optional, but delicious with!)
frying oil
white flour
salt and pepper

Remove the head, the innards and scale the sardines; wash them and leave to drain.

Clean and slice the onions. The onions must be cut very finely and end up as sweet soft golden strips.

Put the sultanas to soak.

Fry the onions on a low flame until lightly done, salt them. Just before removing from the fire, add the vinegar. Leave to cool and add the sultanas and pine-nuts (optional).

Dip the sardines in the flour and fry them. Leave them to dry on absorbent paper and salt them. When they are cool, lay them in a bowl alternating one layer of sardines and one layer of onions with their cooking sauce.

For best results, leave in a cool piace for at least two days before serving.

Recipe: SEPPIE COL NERO (Cuttlefish in their ink)

During the summer the lamp-lights of the fishermen catching cuttlefish are easily visible along the shores. There are many ways to cook this very popular fish, this is certainly the most traditional recipe.

Ingredients for 5 servings:
1000 gr. of medium cuttlefish
1/2 glass of extravirgin olive
1 clove of garlic
parsley
1 glass of dry white wine
½ lemon juice
salt
pepper

Preparation:
Clean the cuttlefish eliminating eyes, skin, spout, bone and offal, conserving the small sacks containing the black liquid and cut them into slices.
Fry the garlic in the oil, take it out and add the slices of cuttlefishes, frying them for some minutes.
Add the wine, wait for it to evaporate, over low heat, cover and let to cook.
Break the sacks containing the black liquid into one cup, dissolve it in a little warm water, filter it and add it to the cuttlefish.
Boil for half an hour, adding salt and pepper at the end.
When cooked add minced parsley and the lemon juice and stir.
Serve with hot soft polenta, and sprinkle with parsley.

Recipe: FEGATO ALLA VENEZIANA (Venetian style liver)

This dish is as famous throughout the world as it is easy to prepare. Venetians correct the rather bitter aftertaste of the liver by adding a sweetening ingredient: the onions. A very old custom, if it is true that the Romans prepared it ficatum, that is with figs, from which comes the very name of 'fegato".

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 large onion
500 gr calf liver
salt and pepper

Cut the liver into thin, not very long strips. Finely slice two large onions, cover and cook slowly in oil and butter until golden. Remove from heat and leave to cool slightly. Add the liver and replace on the fire. After two or three minutes, stir and leave to cook for another couple of minutes (or until the liver is tender and fully cooked). Add salt to taste.
Serve the liver with slices of grilled polenta.

Recipe: ZALETI or ZALETTI (Venetian Cornmeal Diamonds)

125 grs. of yellow maize meal
125 grs. of wheat flour
100 grs. of butter
75 grs. of sugar
two eggs
50 grs. of sultana raisins moisted for a couple of hours in a shot of grappa (one may try other aromatic spirits, indeed).
The grated peel of one lemon
a pinch of vanilla
milk as necessary
a pinch of salt

Mix aside the maize an the wheat. Whip eggs and sugar, put the salt, the raisins dried on a canvas, and all of the other ingredients.Knead it well and keep on working the dough for five minutes. If needed add sips of milk.

Shape the dough in little loafs and set them on the paper greased with butter; put in the oven at 180° for about 15 minutes. Out of the oven, let them warm down and sprinkle with abundant icing sugar.