Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [40]
3. Add the garlic and sauté very briefly. It must not take on any color.
4. Place the bagna caôda pot over the pan with simmering water. Add the chopped anchovies and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon while using the back of it to mash the anchovies, until they dissolve into a paste. Add salt, stir, and bring to the table over a warming apparatus. Serve with raw vegetables, as described below.
THE VEGETABLES FOR BAGNA CAÔDA
Cardoons They look like a large white celery, but taste more like artichoke, and are nearly synonymous with bagna caôda. Unfortunately, the cardoons sold in Italian markets in North America are much tougher and more bitter than their Piedmontese counterparts. You might try using just the heart, and discarding all the tough outer stalks. Wash the cardoon thoroughly and cut it into four sections, like a celery heart. Rub the cut parts with lemon juice to keep them from discoloring.
Artichokes You don’t need to trim artichokes for bagna caôda as you do for other preparations. Rinse the artichoke in cold water and serve it whole or, if very large, cut it in half. If you cut it, rub the cut parts with lemon juice. To eat, one pulls off a leaf at a time, dips it, holding it by its tip, and bites off just the tender bottom.
Broccoli Not a Piedmontese vegetable, but very nice all the same. Cut off the florets and set them aside for any other recipe calling for broccoli. Serve just the stalks, after paring away the tough, outer skin.
Spinach Use only young, crisp spinach. Wash thoroughly in many changes of cold water until all traces of soil are gone. Serve with the stems because they provide a handy hold for dipping.
Sweet Red and Yellow Bell Peppers Wash in cold water and cut lengthwise into quarter sections. Remove the seeds and pulpy inner core.
Celery Cut in half, lengthwise or, if very thick, in quarters. Discard bruised or blemished outer stalks. Wash well in cold water.
Carrots Peel the carrots and cut them lengthwise into strips ½ inch thick.
Radishes Cut off the whiskery root tip, wash in cold water, and serve with the stems and leaves on.
Jerusalem Artichokes Soak them for a few minutes in cold water. Peel them using a potato peeler, but it isn’t necessary to pare away every bit of the peel as it is edible.
Asparagus Certainly not a winter vegetable, although often available in some markets. It may be unorthodox, but it is also very good. Use the freshest asparagus possible, with the tightest buds. Pare away the tough, green skin from the base of the spear to the base of the bud. Remove any tiny leaves sprouting below the base of the bud. Wash in cold water.
Zucchini Not a winter vegetable either, but if it’s there and it’s good, why pass it up? Do choose only the freshest, glossiest, small young zucchini. Soak in a large bowl filled with cold water for at least 20 minutes. Rinse thoroughly under cold running water, rubbing briskly with your hands or a rough cloth to remove any grit still embedded in the skin. Trim away both ends. Cut lengthwise into pieces 1 inch thick.
OTHER VEGETABLES
In Piedmont, they also use turnips, and scallions. Radicchio and endive could be other suitable choices. The range is really only limited by what vegetables are edible raw, and which ones you like the best. Since they must be eaten raw, they should be as fresh and unblemished as you can obtain, and the broader the variety the more fun you will have with bagna caôda.
Ostriche alla Tarantina—Baked Oysters with Oil and Parsley
THE CITY of Taranto on the Ionian sea, whose waters bathe the instep of the Italian boot, has been celebrated since antiquity for its oyster beds. Oysters from France and Portugal now reach Italian tables, but for centuries most of the oysters consumed in Italy came from Taranto, and so did most of the recipes with oysters, such as the one below.
For 6 servings
Rock salt OR clean pebbles
36 live oysters, washed, scrubbed, shucked, and each placed on a half shell
1½ tablespoons