Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [205]
3. Cooking the lentils: Wait until the sausage has boiled for 1½ hours, then in a saucepan bring 1 quart of water to a simmer.
4. Put the chopped onion and oil in a heavy-bottomed or enameled cast-iron pot, and turn the heat on to medium high. Cook and stir the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold, then add the chopped celery, stir to coat it well, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes.
5. Add the lentils to the onion and celery, and stir thoroughly to coat well. Add enough of the water simmering in the saucepan to cover the lentils, adjust heat to cook at the gentlest of simmers, cover the pot tightly, and cook until the lentils are tender, about 30 to 40 minutes. Add water from time to time as may be needed to keep the lentils fully covered. For more flavor, use some of the water in which the cotechino is cooking.
6. When the lentils begin to become tender, but are not yet done, stop adding liquid, because they must absorb all the liquid before you can serve them. If there is still liquid in the pot when they reach tenderness, uncover, turn the heat up to high, and boil it away, stirring the lentils as you do so. Do not worry if some of the lentils burst their skins and look mashed. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Combining the cotechino and lentils: Transfer the sausage to a cutting board and cut into slices ½ inch thick. Spoon the lentils onto a heated platter, spreading them out, arrange the sliced cotechino on top, and serve at once.
Pizza Rustica—Pork and Cheese Pie, Abruzzi Style
THERE ARE a great many dishes in Italy called pizza that do not coincide with any familiar image of pizza. This one is a meat and cheese pie from Abruzzi and is enclosed in pasta frolla, Italian sweet egg pastry. Combining sweet pastry with a salted filling is a practice that goes back centuries, and however startling it may sound, it is an appealing and lively coupling of flavors. I have adjusted the traditional pastry formula to one whose taste I am more comfortable with, using far less sugar. I have also eliminated the hard-boiled eggs that usually find their way into these fillings because I find the pork and cheese satiating enough, and, hallowed usage notwithstanding, there is no cinnamon, a spice I have an aversion to.
For 6 servings
FOR THE PASTA FROLLA, SWEET EGG PASTRY
2 cups all purpose flour
2 egg yolks
Salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons ice water
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Combine all the ingredients and knead them together, preferably on a cold surface such as marble. When they are amalgamated into a smooth, compact dough, wrap it in wax paper and put it in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to 4 or 5, before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.
Food processor note: All the mixing and kneading can be done with the steel blade, spinning it on and off until balls of dough form on it. When taking the dough out of the processor bowl, shape it into a single compact ball before wrapping and refrigerating it.
MAKING THE FILLING AND COMPLETING THE PIE
2 egg yolks
¾ pound fresh ricotta
¼ pound prosciutto OR country ham OR boiled unsmoked ham, chopped rather coarse
¼ pound mortadella, chopped coarse
¼ pound mozzarella, preferably buffalo-milk mozzarella, cut up in small pieces
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
A 1-quart ceramic soufflé dish
Butter for smearing the dish
The cold sweet egg pastry made as directed above
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Put the egg yolks in a bowl and beat