Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [60]
2 tablespoons fresh ricotta
½ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, plus additional cheese for each serving
1 teaspoon fresh marjoram OR ¾ teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 egg yolk
3 heads Boston lettuce
4 cups Basic Homemade Meat Broth
For each serving: 1 slice of bread toasted dark or browned in butter
1. Cut the veal and the chicken into 1-inch pieces.
2. Put all the butter in a large sauté pan and turn on the heat to medium. When the butter foam begins to subside, put in the veal with a pinch or two of salt and one or two grindings of pepper. Cook and turn the veal to brown it evenly on all sides, then transfer it to a plate, using a slotted spoon or spatula.
3. Put the chicken pieces in the pan, with a little salt and pepper, and cook briefly, just until the meat loses its raw shine. Transfer it to the plate with the veal.
4. Put the chopped onion into the pan and cook it at medium heat, stirring it, until it becomes colored a pale gold. Add the celery and carrot, stir from time to time, and cook the vegetables until they are tender. Pour the vegetables along with all the juices in the pan into a bowl.
5. Chop the cooked veal and chicken pieces very fine, using a knife or the food processor. Add the minced meat to the bowl.
6. Put the ricotta, the ½ cup grated Parmesan, the marjoram, parsley, and egg yolk into the bowl and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are smoothly amalgamated. Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
7. Discard any of the bruised or blemished outer leaves of the lettuce. Pull off all the others one by one, taking care not to rip them, and gently rinse them in cold water. Save the very small leaves at the heart to use on another occasion in a salad.
8. Bring 1 gallon of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt, and put in 3 or 4 lettuce leaves. Retrieve them after 5 or 6 seconds, using a colander scoop or skimmer.
9. Spread the leaves flat on a work surface. Cut away any part of the central rib that is not tender. On each leaf, place about 1 tablespoon of the mixture from the bowl, giving it a narrow sausage shape. Roll up the leaf, wrapping it completely around the stuffing. Gently squeeze each rolled up leaf in your hand to tighten the wrapping, and set it aside.
10. Repeat the above operation with the remaining leaves, doing them 3 or 4 at a time. No additional salt is needed when blanching them. When the leaves get smaller, slightly overlap 2 leaves to make a single wrapper.
11. When all the leaves have been stuffed, place them side by side in a soup pot or large saucepan. Pack them tightly, leaving no space between them, and make as many layers as is necessary. Choose a dinner plate or flat pot lid just small enough to fit inside the pan and rest it on the top layer of stuffed lettuce rolls to keep them in place while cooking.
12. Pour in enough broth to cover the plate or lid by about 1 inch. Cover the pot, bring the broth to a steady, very gentle simmer, and cook for 30 minutes from the time the broth starts to simmer.
13. At the same time, pour the remaining broth—there should be no less than 1½ cups left—into a small saucepan, cover, and turn on the heat to low.
14. When the stuffed lettuce rolls are done, transfer them to individual plates or bowls, placing them over a single slice of toasted or browned bread. Handle gently to keep the rolls from unwrapping. Pour over them any of the broth remaining in the larger pot and all the hot broth from the small saucepan. Sprinkle some grated Parmesan over each plate and serve at once.
Clam Soup
THE FLAVOR of most Italian dishes is usually within reach of those who understand and practice the simplicity and directness of Italian methods. When it comes to seafood, however, one must sometimes take a more roundabout route to approach comparable results. The clams of my native Romagna, once so plentiful and cheap that in our dialect they were called povrazz—poveracce in Italian—meaning they were food for the poor, come out of the sea with so much natural, peppery flavor that next to nothing