7 Ways to save money and make great food using leftovers – Italian-style
In a previous Examiner.com article, I challenged readers to come up with some low cost, healthy and delicious recipes using leftovers and inexpensive ingredients – just like the Italians do. As you may know, Italians throw nothing away and utilize every part of the animals they consume (think of head cheese or pickled pigs feet)! This is true now more than ever. We all want to save money and not waste anything. It’s better for the earth too.
Following are reader suggestions and some recipes. Buon Appetito!
Save money wisely: The antique Italian art of cooking with leftovers
I challenge you to come up with some low cost, healthy and delicious recipes using leftovers and inexpensive ingredients – just like the Italians do. As you may know, Italians throw nothing away and utilize every part of the animals they consume (think of head cheese or pickled pigs feet)! This is true now more than ever.
Some of my favorite meals as a child resulted from my father or mother using kitchen leftovers. Most people know about the delicious Tuscan soups (like ribollita or pancotto) made utilizing breads – usually stale breads. Have you heard of polpette (meatballs made from leftovers – sometimes coated and fried) or fresh pasta ravioli with stuffing made from leftover fish or meat? Have you heard of soups or pasta sauces made with fish bones and fish heads or those flavored with parmesan crust?
The Italian quest for authentic, fresh and traditional ingredients
Being from a Tuscan family, it never amazes me how far Italians will go to maintain traditions or procure the right ingredients for family recipes.
There is a long history of food appreciation and gourmet cooking on both sides of my family. When I was a child growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1950s, the only espresso coffee house was Caffe Trieste on Grant Avenue in North Beach (where I experienced my first heavenly cappuccino). We did not see espresso shops on every corner (like Starbucks) or trendy
Italian restaurants that featured the regional foods of Italy. In an effort to maintain traditions and have authentic ingredients, my parents roasted their own coffee beans in a small, round tin roaster with a handle turned by hand over an alcohol-fueled can. The dark-roasted coffee beans were ground in an old, hand-cranked coffee grinder (I was responsible for this task). When we went on vacation, the first thing to be packed was an old (manual) espresso coffee maker and a small electric burner.
In the pre-Alice Waters California, Italian-American families grew their own produce in their back yards (or on window sills and terraces if they lived in apartments).
Recipes from Authentic Italian Women, Mamma Leoni-3
Pasta with Smoked Salmon (Printable Version)
Ingredients:
- 3 oz. smoked salmon, cut into large pieces (1 inch squared)
- 1 T olive oil
- 2 scallions, thinly sliced
- 1 T butter
- 1 T Tomato sauce
- A few drops of Tabasco Sauce
- 4T fresh whipping cream
Boil plenty of water for your favorite pasta. Bow tie pasta is fun with this recipe. Bring the water to a boil, add salt as needed. Follow the package cooking directions for the pasta. You can actually make the sauce as you are cooking the pasta.
Recipes from Authentic Italian Women, Mamma Leoni-1
Here are some recipes from my own mother, a wonderful gourmet cook:
Spaghetti Sauce with Sun Dried Tomatoes (enough for ½ lb. pasta)
(Printable Version)
1½ T Extra Virgin Olive Oil- 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 5 or 6 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
- Fresh Oregano
- Fresh Basil
- Salt, pepper
- Grated Parmesan cheese
Gnocchi di Patate (Potato Gnocchi), Serenella
There are many types of gnocchi in Italy (cornmeal gnocchi, ricotta gnocchi, gnocchi alla Romana, etc.). Probably the best-known gnocchi are the gnocchi di patate (potato gnocchi).
Gnocchi are an economical dish to make and a great and creative experience to share with children. Although a little difficult the first time you “try your hand” at this, gnocchi become fun when you get the hang of it.
The original and most classic version of potato gnocchi (according to the great food experts Carnacina and Veronelli – as well as my grandmother) is made with very good potatoes and flour only. Over the years and for the sake of ease in restaurants, eggs have been added to the recipe. I find the addition of egg makes the gnocchi less fluffy but it is certainly an option to make the process easier.
This is one recipe where you will need a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients to take into account the relative humidity of your cooking environment. So, get out your equipment and have a go at it!
Frittelle di Cavolfiore (Cauliflower Croquettes)
Recipe by Margherita (Printable Version)
This recipe comes to us courtesy of Margherita, a very lovely lady from Lucca (Tuscany), Italy.
For 5 people
Ingredients:
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1 cauliflower
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5 T all purpose flour
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2 Eggs
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1 cup sparkling (mineral) water
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Salt
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Pepper
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1 T Grated Parmigiano cheese
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Vegetable oil for frying
Cornish Hens Skewers over Polenta
From Serenella (Printable version)
This is a delicious way to prepare Cornish Hens. I do not have any quantities measured out for this recipe as I usually eyeball it and vary it according to the vegetables I’m using. Here’s my best shot at a formal recipe:
Ingredients:
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4 Cornish hens cut in quarters
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Pancetta thickly sliced (about 4 ¼’ thick slices, cut into quarters)
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Sage leaves as necessary
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Slices of day-old bread (thick crusted Italian bread is best)
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Vegetables. This depends on what you like to use to alternate on the skewers with the hens. I use any of the following: tomatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms (cut in quarters or large pieces)
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salt
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pepper
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olive oil
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long metal skewers
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rectangular roasting pan
Fagioli all’Uccelletto
Fagioli all’Uccelletto (with or without Italian sausages) Printable version
Serves 4
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hours, 30 minutes
Tuscans are known as Fagiolari or Mangia-fagioli (bean eaters) in Italy. You can be sure that meals in Tuscany often include beans in a variety of preparations.
The Tuscan dish Fagioli all’Uccelletto is quick, easy and delicious. The name all’uccelletto refers to the fact that this preparation uses ingredients (mostly sage and garlic) classically used in cooking small game birds.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound (500 g) dried cannellini, navy or great northern (white beans), soaked overnight in abundant water*
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 7-8 leaves of fresh sage
- 1-2 peeled fresh plum tomatoes or a small can of tomatoes
- Boiling water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 8 Mild Italian link sausages (optional; see below)
*If you’re in a hurry, you can substitute 2 cans of cannellini beans. They won’t be quite the same as the soaked beans but very good just the same.
Recipes from Authentic Italian Women: Arista aka: Tuscan Pork Roast from Serenella
Arista refers to the pork saddle. In Tuscany it is usually cooked on the spit but it can also be delicious roasted in the oven.
The story, as told by the author Pellegrino Artusi in the historic Italian cookbook “L’Arte di Mangiar Bene” goes back to the year 1430 in Florence. At that time, the leaders of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches were having a church council meeting. When the Tuscans served this roast to the Greek bishops, they all exclaimed “Aristos, aristos, aristos!” (the best) in Greek. From that day forward, the Tuscans have called this roast Arista.
