Authors: Gabriele Corcos
Extra Virgin (22 page)
GRILLED TUSCAN CHICKEN
POLLO AL MATTONE
SERVES 6–8
D:
When you flatten a well-marinated chicken on a grill with a brick, you’re accomplishing two key things: the brick absorbing heat and giving it back to the chicken, especially if you’re grilling outdoors; and letting the direct fire brand your chicken with a wonderful sear, which makes the skin so fantastically crispy that it becomes like a chicken chip!
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
3 lemons, 2 juiced and 1 sliced, for serving
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (3½-pound) whole chickens
1 cup arugula
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the rosemary, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
Using kitchen shears, cut the backbone out of the chicken. (If you make chicken stock, you can save the backbone in the freezer.) Lay out the chickens, skin-side up on a flat surface and firmly press down on them with the heels of your hands to flatten. Add the chickens to the bagged marinade and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
Preheat a grill to medium-high heat, or prepare a charcoal grill until the coals are bright red.
Remove the chickens from the marinade and place skin-side down on the grill rack.
Place a foil-covered brick on top of each chicken. Grill for 20 minutes, then remove the bricks and flip the chicken. Replace the bricks and grill for 15 to 20 minutes longer, until the chicken is cooked through, with an internal temperature of 165ºF. (Check either the center of the breast or the thigh right above the drumstick.) Remove from the grill and let rest for 5 minutes.
Carve the chicken and serve immediately on a bed of the arugula and lemon slices.
SUPER TUSCAN BURGER
SERVES 4
G:
When I was fifteen years old, the very first burger joint opened in Florence, and I remember how that became the Saturday afternoon high school hangout. My friends and I would sit down and pretend we were in Happy Days, with our milkshakes and burgers.
D:
As in, Fonzie Happy Days? Is that why you were starstruck when I introduced you to my friend Henry Winkler?
G:
Well … yes.
D:
That is so cute!
G:
The thing I never understood about American burgers, however, is that there’s never any attention to the patty. It’s all about the lettuce, the tomato, the sauce.…
D:
You mean ketchup, Gabriele. There’s no ketchup in Italy. Your country doesn’t like ketchup.
G:
Too much ketchup makes every burger taste the same. It’s all thickness and layers and cheese, but what about the patty? That’s the most important part! A great burger has to be about the meat. When I came to America, I wanted to do something special with the patty, so I treated it like a meatloaf, with onion and egg yolk and parsley. That’s one of the first ways I figured out how to adapt the kind of food Americans like to my Tuscan heritage.
D:
And I was a happy guinea pig. You know, I wasn’t much of a meat eater until I got pregnant and started craving meat. This burger did the trick.
1 pound ground beef
¼ red onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon freshly grated Pecorino cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 slices provolone cheese
4 burger buns, split
1 avocado, sliced
4 lettuce leaves
1 tomato, sliced
Preheat a grill to medium-high heat, or prepare a charcoal grill until the coals are bright red.
In a large bowl, combine the meat, onion, parsley, egg yolk, and Pecorino and stir well until all the ingredients are evenly mixed.
Divide the meat mixture into 4 equal pieces and shape them into patties. Season the patties on both sides with salt and pepper. Grill the patties for 3 to 4 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Place the provolone slices on top of the burgers for the final minute of grilling.
Transfer the meat to a large platter and let rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, use the grill to lightly toast the buns.
Serve the burgers dressed with the avocado, lettuce, and tomato.
SAUSAGE AND BEANS
SALSICCIE E FAGIOLI
SERVES 6
G:
Tuscans like their pork sausage to be made with pig, salt, pepper, and fennel. In America I’ve seen lots of different flavored sausages, but it’s hard to beat the real thing: a savory ode to the rich flavor of pork. Paired with a garlic-based red sauce and cannellini beans, they’re a mouthwatering favorite with family and friends. Tuscany on a plate!
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 pork sausages
5 garlic cloves, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1 (28-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes (pelati)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 fresh bay leaves
2 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add the sausages and cook for 8 minutes, or until browned on all sides. Remove from the pan and let the sausages rest on a platter. (As an alternative, the sausages can be broiled in the oven for the same amount of time.)
Add the garlic to the pan and sauté for 1 minute, or until golden brown. Add the red pepper flakes and stir for 1 minute. Break up the tomatoes by hand and add to the pan. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, stir with a wooden spoon, reduce the heat to medium-low, and partially cover the pan with a lid. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until the tomatoes have broken down and thickened to a saucelike consistency.
Add the browned sausages—along with any juices from the plate—and the bay leaves, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Add the beans, stir well, and simmer for another 10 minutes to heat through and blend the flavors.
Transfer to plates and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.
ROAST PIG
PORCHETTA
SERVES 10–12
G:
You know what my definition of torture is? Having a secret taste for pork and being in the car with my kosher Jewish father while he drives by a porchetta stand, selling hunks of absolutely delicious, rosemary-sage-and-garlic-infused roasted pig, usually in panini. Porchetta sandwiches are to soccer matches in Italy what tailgate party hamburgers and concession hot dogs are to football games in America. Porchetta is a true religion in Italy, but it’s also a symbol of liberation to me, two times over—first, when I got my own motorbike and could go straight to the stadium porchetta truck, and second, when I mastered a recipe for it. Pork butt (aka shoulder) will make for a delicious porchetta-style roast, with plenty left over for sandwiches the next day. Just make sure you get it with the fat. You want that flavor!
Oven-Roasted Potatoes
are a perfect accompaniment.
3 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh sage leaves
2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh rosemary
2 heads garlic, halved horizontally, plus 5 garlic cloves
½ tablespoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing and drizzling
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
1 (6½-pound) boneless pork butt (pork shoulder)
2 baby potatoes, halved
1 cup dry white wine
Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
In a food processor, combine the sage, rosemary, the 5 garlic cloves, fennel seeds, olive oil, and salt and pepper and blend until a paste forms. (You can also mash these ingredients together with a mortar and pestle.)
Using a sharp knife, butterfly the pork butt, so it opens up like a book. (You can also have your butcher do this for you.) Rub the inside cut of the meat with the paste. Using kitchen twine, tie the butterflied pork back together to make a compact shape (
see here
).
Place the halved garlic heads and potatoes, cut-sides down, on the bottom of a roasting pan to create a bed for the pork butt so it doesn’t sit directly on the surface of the pan. Place the pork fat-side up on the bed of garlic and potatoes, drizzle lightly with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Place the pan in the oven and bake for 5 hours, or until the skin is browned and the meat is extremely tender; pour the wine over the pork after the first 30 minutes of roasting and baste the meat with the collected pan juices every 40 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let rest for 20 minutes. Remove the twine before cutting the pork into ½-inch-thick slices.
IMPORTANTE!
After slow-roasting the pork, the garlic should be soft. Spread it on bread for an appetizer. The potatoes make for a nice cook’s treat—snack on them while you’re waiting for the pork to rest.
