Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [262]
¼ yellow sweet bell pepper
Salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon choice quality red wine vinegar
2 cups firm, good bread, trimmed of its crust, toasted under the broiler, and cut into ½-inch squares (keep the crumbs)
3 fresh, ripe, firm, round tomatoes
1 cup cucumber, peeled and diced into ¼-inch cubes
½ medium onion, preferably of a sweet variety, such as Bermuda red, Vidalia, or Maui, sliced and soaked as described
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Mash the garlic, anchovies, and capers to a pulp, using the back of a spoon against the side of a bowl, or a mortar and pestle, or the food processor.
2. Scrape away any part of the pulpy core of the sweet pepper together with the seeds, and dice the pepper into ¼-inch pieces. Put the pepper and the garlic and anchovy mixture in a serving bowl, add salt, olive oil, and vinegar, and toss thoroughly.
3. Put the bread squares together with any crumbs from the trimming in a small bowl. Puree 1 of the tomatoes through a food mill over the bread. Toss and let it steep, together with a little salt, for 15 minutes or more.
4. Skin the other 2 tomatoes, using a swiveling-blade peeler, and cut them into ½-inch pieces, picking out some of the seeds if there are too many of them. Add the soaked bread squares and the cut-up tomato to the serving bowl, together with the diced cucumber, the soaked and drained onion slices, and several grindings of black pepper. Toss thoroughly, taste and correct for seasoning, and serve.
Cannellini Bean Salad
ALL THE INGREDIENTS of this salad, except for the beans, are to be chopped so fine that they become creamy, blending with each other and clinging to the beans with the consistency of a sauce. It can be done by hand, but if a food processor is available it should be the instrument of choice.
The components of the salad develop better flavor if it is tossed while the beans are still quite warm. If you can arrange it, try to time the cooking of the beans so that they will become ready when you are about to make the salad.
For 6 servings
2 tablespoons chopped onion
3 fresh sage leaves
2 to 3 flat anchovy fillets (preferably the ones prepared at home as described)
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
The yolks of 2 hard-boiled eggs
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Salt
1 cup dried cannellini white beans, soaked and cooked as directed, and drained (see note)
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
Note If cooking the beans long in advance, keep them in their liquid and warm them up gently before using them.
1. Put all the ingredients, except for the beans and the black pepper, in a food processor and chop to a creamy consistency.
2. Toss the drained beans, preferably when they are still warm, with the processed ingredients. Add black pepper, toss again, and taste and correct for salt and other seasoning. Allow to steep at room temperature for 1 hour, then toss again just before serving. Do not refrigerate.
Radicchio and Warm Bean Salad
THE IDEAL COMPONENTS of this salad are long Treviso radicchio (see Radicchio), and fresh cranberry beans (described here), but there are satisfactory substitutes for either or both. Instead of Treviso radicchio you can use the more common round one, or even Belgian endive, which is part of the same family. Instead of fresh beans you can use the dried, and if you can’t find either fresh or dried cranberry beans, you can turn to dried cannellini beans.
For 4 to 6 servings
Cranberry beans, 2 pounds fresh, OR 1 cup dried, soaked and cooked as described
1 pound radicchio, either the long-leaf Treviso variety or the round head OR Belgian endive
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Choice quality red wine vinegar
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. If using fresh beans: Shell them, put them in a pot with enough cold, unsalted water to cover by about 2 inches, bring the water to a gentle simmer, cover the pot, and cook at a slow, steady pace until tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Time their preparation so they will still be warm when