Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [37]
1½ slices good-quality white bread, trimmed of the crust
1½ cups milk
2 whole eggs
1½ cups freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
3 tablespoons fine, dry, unflavored bread crumbs
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
Cheesecloth
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
FOR THE GARNISH
1 lemon, sliced thin
1 small carrot, sliced into very thin rounds
1. Pull the spinach leaves from their stems and soak them in a basin in several changes of cold water until they are totally free of soil.
2. Cook the spinach in a covered pan with just the moisture clinging to the leaves and 2 teaspoons of salt to keep it green. When very tender, after 10 minutes of cooking or more, depending on how fresh and young the spinach is, drain it and let it cool.
3. When cool, take a fistful of spinach at a time, and squeeze it firmly until no more liquid runs out. When all the spinach has been squeezed dry, chop it very fine, and put it in a mixing bowl.
4. Chop the tuna and add it to the bowl, together with the anchovies.
5. Put the bread in a deep dish and pour the milk over it. Let it soak.
6. Break the eggs into the bowl with the spinach and tuna. Add the Parmesan, bread crumbs, salt, and liberal grindings of pepper.
7. Squeeze the soggy bread in your hand, letting all the milk run back into the dish. Add the bread to the bowl. Mix thoroughly into a homogeneous mixture.
8. Follow the directions in step 3 of the preceding recipe to shape the tuna roll and wrap it in cheesecloth.
9. Put the roll in an oval pot or a fish poacher in which it will fit rather snugly. Add enough water to cover the roll, cover the pot, and turn on the heat to medium. When the water comes to a boil, adjust heat so that it maintains a steady, gentle simmer, and cook for 35 minutes.
10. Remove the roll from the pot, taking care not to split it and lifting it up from both ends at the same time with spatulas. Let the roll cool slightly, then unwind and remove the cheesecloth. Let the roll cool completely to room temperature but do not refrigerate because it would adversely affect the flavor of the spinach.
11. Cut into slices less than ½ inch thick, and arrange the slices on a platter so they overlap slightly, like roof shingles. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Over each green slice place a thin slice of lemon with the skin on and on each lemon slice a tiny carrot disk.
Warm Appetizers
Bruschetta—Roman Garlic Bread
DIRECTLY from the Latin verb and into the modern vernacular of Rome comes the verb bruscare, which means to toast (as in a slice of bread), or roast (as with coffee beans); hence bruschetta, whose most important component, aside from the grilled bread itself, is olive oil.
On those brisk days that bridge the passage from fall to winter, and signal the release of the year’s freshly pressed olive oil, toasting bread over a smoky fire and soaking it with spicy, laser-green newly minted oil is a practice probably as old as Rome itself. From Rome bruschetta spread through the rest of central Italy—Umbria, Tuscany, Abruzzi—and acquired other ingredients: invariably now, garlic and, here and there, tomatoes. Two versions of bruschetta follow.
Basic Bruschetta
For 6 to 12 servings
6 garlic cloves
12 slices good, thick-crusted bread, ½ to ¾ inch thick, 3 to 4 inches wide
Extra virgin olive oil, fruity and young
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
1. Preheat a broiler or, even better, light a charcoal fire.
2. Mash the garlic cloves with a heavy knife handle, crushing them just enough to split them and to loosen the peel, which you will remove and discard.
3. Grill the bread to a golden brown on both sides.
4. As the bread comes off the grill, while it is still hot, rub one side of each slice with the mashed garlic.
5. Put the bread on a platter, garlicky side facing up, and pour a thin stream of olive oil over each slice, enough to soak it lightly.
6. Sprinkle with salt and a few grindings of pepper. Serve while still warm.
The Tomato Version
All the ingredients given in the