We managed to take a taste of the grapes as well…

Wow…they were very sweet…they have to be to turn all that sugar into alcahol!

Whilst waiting for the cream filling to cool before filling the pastry case of the pasticciotto tort, we take time out for a little energetic dancing!!

Here’s Paola demonstrating the local folk dance “La Pizzica” and the guests joining in!!

A lovely letter from Jean and Richard who came down for a 5 day Watts Cooking break in October 2007. Jean and Richard are from Charlbury in Oxfordshire, UK.

And Bob and Donna sent me some great photos. Bob and Donna included a week’s Watts Cooking Wine & Cooking in their tour of Italy with another 2 couples, all from the USA…Alaska.

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Without Renato…I don’t know where we’d be…we missed him dreadfully when we let him pop back home to see his family in the Philippines…but I’m glad he’s back!

Those of you who’ve spent time with us down here know Maria’s battle cry…”RENATO!!!!”

You will also know that he doesn’t just do the washing up either…
he knows where everything is…unlike Maria!

Welcome back Renato!!

But there is absolutely no doubt who is boss when we’re cooking!

And we all have such a good time in the kitchen together….

and once every so often Franco (Maria’s husband) drops in to check that we’re not ruining his dinner!

This is the parmegiana version made with courgettes

Ingredients
4 aubergines or 8 medium Courgettes
2 eggs
100g of plain flour
75g parmesan cheese
1 ltr fresh tomato sauce
Lots of fresh basil leaves
150g mozzarella
Olive oil
Sea salt

Optional
2 Hard boiled eggs
2 thin slices Mortadella Ham
30 Mini meat balls

Quantity: 4 persons

Dish: Use a metal lasagna dish/meat tin…for this amount of ingredients I use a 33cmx20cm and 5½cm deep.

Preparation

1. Wash the aubergines/courgettes and slice them lengthways ½cm thick.
   For the aubergine version, put the aubergines on a board and sprinkle them with sea salt and leave them to rest for an hour to lose their bitterness and a bit of moisture.
2. In the meantime make the fresh tomato sauce (alternatively, I have used a mixture of 680g bottle Passata and 350g Tomato & Basil Sauce, the Loyd Grossman one works very well!!).
3. Rinse the aubergine slices well of the sea salt and dry them off, cover the aubergines or courgettes with flour and then dip them in the beaten egg making sure they’re well covered and fry them in olive oil.
4. Lay them out carefully on kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil.
5. In a large shallow dish layer the aubergines/courgettes with a layer of tomato sauce, a sprinkle of parmesan, basil leaves and slices of mozzarella (you can also add mini meat balls, Mortadella, small pieces of hard boiled eggs).
6. Before making the last layer with tomato sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan, just with the palms of your hands push down firmly on the whole thing so as to compact all the ingredients nice and tightly.
7. Put in a pre-heated oven at 180°C to cook for approx. an hour.
8. Leave to rest out of the oven for approx 20 mins before serving otherwise it will just be a floppy mess.
9. Great served with a green side salad.

A little bit about La Parmegiana Classica

Contrary to popular belief, la Parmigiana, does not originate from Parma nor does the name come from using Parmigiano (Parmesan cheese). The name is from “parmiciàna” which is the name given to a type of window with four shutters which are “layered” one on top of the other, like the aubergines are layered in this dish. Also, even just 50 years ago, parmesan cheese was considered a luxury cheese and la Parmigiana has always been a very popular dish for the poor and was prepared with local cheeses such as strong caciacavallo.

It is believed that this dish has its roots in Greece and was brought to Italy with the introduction of the aubergine to Salento, Calabria and Sicily, a theory which is substantiated by the existence of the Greek Mussaka, a dish very similar to Parmiggiana.

The traditional version is made with aubergines but the courgette version has become very popular as well.

Ingredients

For the filling
150g sweet red radicchio chopped
1 knob of butter
100g shaving smoked scamorza cheese
Grated parmesan
Salt & pepper

For the Pasta
100 g flour
1 egg
1 spoon oil

For the Sauce
Butter
Sage

Preparation

The pasta:
Make the pasta by working/kneading the ingredients into a soft, elastic dough – put aside to rest.

The Filling:
Cook the sweet radicchio in a knob of butter until soft, depending upon how much water comes out of the radicchio, you can add a bit of water. Add some white wine and boil it down a bit. Liquidize and leave to cool.
When cooled, add the shavings of smoked scamorza cheese, parmesan and salt and pepper.

Yes this is the filling…looks a bit squiggy…that’s exactly how it should look…
this is obviously enough for about 500 ravioli!!

Putting it all together:
Work the pasta again then roll it out into thin pieces. Cut the appropriate shapes.
Put the filling in the centre of each cutting and then close into the tortelloni or ravioli shapes.

Cooking:
Put the tortelloni into a very large pot of salted boiling water.

The Sauce:
Melt some butter in a small frying pan and add the sage leaves.

To Serve:
Pour the butter and sage mixture over the ravioli and serve with grated parmesan and decorate with a couple of sage leaves.

Here we have the ladies from Speen nr Princes Risboro’, Bucks, UK looking very pleased with themselves…not surprising…their ravioli/tortelloni were excellent!!

A Little about the Tortelloni
This dish isn’t strictly from Salento, but is one of Maria’s specialties so why not?!! Tortelloni are the larger version of the more common tortellini, originating from the area between Bologna and Modena. Legends says that an innkeeper was inspired by the Venus’ naval, who having got rather drunk with Zeus following a victorious battle on the outskirts of Bologna, ended sharing a room with him and the inn keep could only see her navel through the keyhole when he went to peek on them.

With four generations of tradition and innovation, the Coricciati family has been producing oil from the indigenous olives of Cellina and Ogliarola Leccesesince the early 1900s.

The Spiers family (Oxon, England) and Beverly (Belfast, N.Ireland) with Alessandro
at his Trullo in the heart of the Salento countryside.

As Alessandro is a well-respected member of the village, he has the keys to the ancient underground frantoio owned by the local council

And here’s ML from Speen (Bucks, UK) feeling at one with Alessandro’s trees,
just look at the trunk on this one!!