Granny Giulia’s recipes

Ravioli (Cut sheet of pastry, stuffed with herbs, cheese, meat etc.)
Trenette al pesto (Pasta with pesto made with basil, cheese, oil, pine-nuts etc.)
Torta di riso (A cake of salad rice, cheese, eggs and pastry)
Torta di patate(A cake of potatoes, cheese, eggs, herbs, marrows and pastry)
Stoccafisso con le patate (Stockfish and potatoes)
Acciughe in umido con le patate (Stewed anchovies with potatoes)

I Ravioli (6 portions) .

Ravioli are made with sheets of pastry that have later to be converted into small, and thereafter closed, square pieces (ravioli), each of them stuffed with meat and vegetables.

Let’s start from the sheet of pastry: 1 kilo of flour, 2 eggs, white wine, water and salt are the ingredients that Granny Giulia uses for making the sheet. Mix flour with eggs and white wine (the latter is used in order to reduce the number of the eggs and make lighter the sheet), then add a pinch of salt and amalgamate all the stuff with some water (if needed).

The stuffing: 2 hectograms of ground veal meat, 2 hectograms of sausages, borage (easily found on the Ligurian Riviera), otherwise sweet herbs, 2 eggs, marjoram, Parmisan cheese, extra oil from Volastra, mortadella, salt. Boil the vegetables, then fry sausages, meat and mortadella in the oil, amalgamate all adding the 2 eggs and cheese until it comes to a mixture. Once working on the sheet of pastry, remember that each raviolo has to become a square of 4 cm each side; put in the middle of each square a bit of stuffing and, once finished, put on this sheet another sheet of pastry, press carefully the pastry around the central stuffing and cut all the pieces (ravioli) with the proper instrument, called "rotella a stella".

Meat ragout for the sauce: 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic, pursley, rosmary, marjoram, 2 hectograms of minced meat, 750 gr of tomato sauce, oil and salt. Fry the herbs and vegetables previously cut into very small pieces in the olive oil, add the tomato sauce and cook mildly. Make three balls with the minced meat and flour them and thereafter add them to the boiling sauce. They will be squashed only at the very end of this cooking not to have them fried. Cook the ravioli in much salted water for 3-4 minutes (you can control them when they come into the boiling water surface), then season them with ragout and cheese.

 

Trenette al pesto (4 portions).

Flour trenette are produced by many "pasta" factories and are easy to be found on the market. Therefore, we will only give you suggestions about the sauce making.

Oesto: Ligurian basil: 4 small bunches (as they are sold on the market), 8 cloves of garlic, pine-nuts (pinoli), extra oil from Volastra, Parmisan cheese, Sardinian "Pecorino" cheese (sheep’s milk cheese), salt. Water basil and garlic, thereafter pound them together with the pine-nuts in a mortar, add slowly and later on oil, cheese and salt, until it comes out an amalgamated pulp with much oil. Boil the trenette together with 3 middle-sized potatoes cut into big slices, strain them underdone and flavour with pesto, Parmisan cheese (extra) garnishing the dish with some basil leaves.

 

Torta di riso (6 portions).

Half a kilo of rice, 1 hectogram of Parmisan cheeese, 1 hectogram of Pecorino cheese, extra oil, flour, water and salt. Boil the rice underdone, spread it on a trencher and leave it until it becomes cold. Thereafter add to it: eggs, cheese, salt, oil and amalgamate the stuff. Make a light sheet of pastry, just with flour and water, spread it into a baking-pan (30 cm in diameter), pour into it the stuff and put into an oven for 60 minutes at 180 degrees. The cake, 4 cm high, can be eaten during a whole week, alone or with vegetables.

 

Torta di patate (per sei persone).

Half a kilo of flour, 4 eggs, 2 hectograms of Parmisan cheese, 1 hectogram of Sardinian Pecorino cheese, extra oil, 6 potatoes, beetroots or similar vegetables, small marrows with their yellow flowers, onions. Boil the potatoes, smash and cool them. Cut all the vegetables into small pieces, cover them with salt and for 1 hour let them soften. Then water them carefully, taking off their previous liquid, mix them with the smashed potatoes and with the ingredients and amalgamate all the stuff. Make a light sheet of pastry (as for the Torta di riso), bake the cake for 60 minutes at 180 degrees.

 

Stoccafisso con le patate (6 portions).

IIngredients: a middle-sized stockfish, 1 kilo of potatoes, 2 cloves of garlic, a few bay-leaves, extra oil from Volastra, salt. Water the dried code-fish until it softens (3-4 days). Boil it with the 2 cloves of garlic and the bay-leaves, apart boil the potatoes and then add them to the already cooked stockfish and add oil on the whole.

 

Acciughe in umido con patate (4 portions).

Half a kilo of anchovies, 4-5 middle sized potatoes, 2 ripe tomatoes, salt, pepper, extra oil from Volastra. Clean and cut the tomatoes and put these slices into a pan with much oil and layer potatoes (uncooked), cut into slices less than 1 cm high. Lay down with care, on them, the anchovies (without their heads and bowels) and thereafter follow this trend, tomatoes, potatoes, anchovies, repeated, until the ingredients finish. Add oil, salt and pepper, cover with water and tomatoes cut into small slices. Cook gently for 30-40 minutes. You can eat this food either hot or cold.