Recipes

THE TYPICAL ISCHITAN  RECIPES

Spaghetti with true clams

A classic Neapolitan dish that Ischitans prepare very well.

Ingredients: For 4 people:

350gr. Of vermicelli spaghetti, oil, 4small tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, 400gr. Of true clams, fresh parsley, a pinch of fresh red pepper.

Preparation:

In a pan with oil, brown the garlic and the red pepper. Add the clams, the cut tomatoes, and the parsley. Cover with a lid for a few minutes until all the clams have opened and turn off the stove. Cook the spaghetti ‘al dente’ and drain them before placing them in the pan with the clams. Whisk them while heated. Place them in dishes with a sprinkle of parsley and serve.

Halved paccheri with traces of tuna, capers and black olives

Ingredients: halved paccheri, little tomatoes, capers, black olives, tuna, garlic, olive oil, basil

Preparation:

In a pan place the oil and a clove of garlic until golden. Add the boneless tuna and cut it into small cubes. Add the peeled tomatoes and cut them into small pieces. Add salt, pepper and cover for serveral minutes. Cook the halved paccheri ‘al dente’. Drain them and put them in the pan with the sauce prepared in advance and drain. Put everything in a dish and add fresh, diced basil.

Rabbit alla Cacciatora

Ingredients: rabbit (1.4 kg, approx.), extra virgin olive oil and peanut oil, 4- 5 cloves of garlic, 10 fresh or peeled tomatoes, / L of white wine, basil, papien (wild thyme), parsley, majoram, strong red pepper.

Preparation:

Remove the skin and the interior of the rabbit and put the intestine and liver to the side. Wash the intestine well and leave it for one hour in water with pieces of lemon. Next, wrap it in the aromas so as to form roulades. Wash the liver and keep it to the side so that it drains to the last drop. Take the two hind legs and with a little knife cut them at the fleshy part. Stuff them with the aromas. In a separate pan, brown the pieces of rabbit until they are golden and put them in a pot in which there is the garlic and the red pepper with the extra virgin olive oil. Gradually add the wine, tomato pieces, the intestine roulades, the aromas and the salt and let this cook for 15 minutes. Add the liver and let it cook for another 20 minutes until a dense sauce is obtained.

Filet of ricciola fish

A combination of vegetables and fish that is a classic Ischitan dish.

Ingredients: Eggplants, zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes, basil, an onion, garlic, ricciola fish and olive oil.

Preparation:

Cut the vegetables and the half-cooked potatoes into little cubes. Slightly brown them in a pan with olive oil, then add the tomatoes, the onion, and the garlic and cover for 4-5 minutes. Next, take off the lid and add the fish with a little bit of water and basil. Cover everything again for another 5 minutes according the size of the fish. Once the fish is cooked, put it at the center of the dish and guarnish it with the greens and a tuft of basil.

Ischitan prepared snails from the parracina (a type of dry wall)

And old traditionaldish of the island’s farmers.

Ingredients: for 4 people, 48 snails—2 spoonfuls of extra-virgin olive oil—1 carrot—3 garlic cloves—1 oinion—1 stalk of celery—200g of tomatoes—some white wine—some broth. Spices: 2 laurel leaves—1 spoonful of calamit—sage—lemon and orange peel—hot pepper and salt (as needed).

Preparation:

Prepare a mirepoix with garlic, the carrot, the onion, the stalk of celery and let it turn golden in the oil. Add the snails and season them in this mixture for about 1 minute. Add some white wine and the spices. Add the tomatoes and let everything cook for 30 minutes. As the mixture dries up add some broth (if possible) or water. Arrange 4-5 ‘freselle’ (toasted, ring-shaped bread) on a plate and pour the snails over them.

A soup of unions “Mnesta ‘Mmaretata”

A traditional dish, typical of the island’s farmers. It is prepared from the Christmas season to the Easter season.

Ingredients: Broth: fi chicken, 200 g of ham, 200 g of spicy sausage, 700 g of lean beef, celery, carrots, onions, parsley stalks. Vegetables: a small savoy cabbage, 300g of prickly-lettuce, 300 g of borage, 200 g of chicory, 300g of broccoli (the Cristmas type), 200g chard. 100 g of sheep milk cheese 100 g of diced sheep milk cheese, Salt as ( needed).

Preparation:

Respectively prepare the three different broths: the pork broth (ham and spicy sausage with aromas), the chicken broth (the chicken with aromas) and the beef broth (the lean beef and aromas). Stew the vegetables separately. Do not let them cook for too long. Drain them and cool them off in ice water so that their bright colors do not fade. Drain and squeeze them again. Strain the broths. Add the pork broth and the beff broth to the chicken broth. Unite (marinate) the cut-up vegetables and meats to the broth mixture. Bring the soup to a boil for 15 minutes and let it rest. At this point add the small pieces of grain and sheep milk cheese (pecorino). Serve this hot and make sure that in each plate there is portion of all of the vegetables and meats.

Limoncello

Ingredients: fi L of finealcohol, fi L of water, 250 grams of sugar, 3 slightly green lemons (if possible they should be freshly picked).

Preparation:

Wash the lemons, dry them and cut the peel in thin pieces. Infuse the peel in a bottle (containing the alcohol) with a wide opening. After 3 days, filter the aromatized alcoholwith gauze and place it to the side. Mix the sugar in the water and bring it to a boil. Once it has cooled down, mix the syrup with the alcohol. Leave the limoncello to refine for a month.

CHRISTMAS RECIPES

Roccoco

This is a typical Neapolitan desset. It is traditionally made during the Christmas season, although in recent years it has become popular even during other periods in the year. Since it is made of hard dough it can be tasted if dipped in vermouth, champagne or white wine.

Ingredients: 1kg of flour, 800 grams of sugar, 5 grams of ammonia, 3 envelopes of vanilla, 8 gramsof cinnamon, 7 grams of cloves, 1 small glass of Strega, 300 grams of almonds, 300 grams of toasted filberts, the quantity of dry fruit can vary according to one’s tastes. The peel of 1 kg of tangerines.

Preparation:

Mix the flour, sugar, cloves, cinnamon and ammonia on the baking board. Roll out the dough and at the centerplace the almonds, filberts, diced tangerine peel, Stega and vanilla. Mix everything and gradually add warm water. Work the dough until it is moist and homogeneous. Place flour on the baking table. From the dough form little cords of 2 cm. in diameter and 8 cm. in length. Join the ends to form a circle shape, typical of the roccoco’. Place the roccoco’ on a buttered baking-pan-make sure that there is some distance between them otherwise they will touch during the leavening. Beat an egg yolk and use this to brush the roccoco’ so that they will have a golden colour. Place the roccoco’ in the oven at 120 degrees. When the roccoco’ are of a golden colour, take them out of the oven and let them cool.

Struffoli

Ingredients: 4 eggs (2 whole eggs, 2 egg yolks), 500 g of flour, 2 spoonfuls of sugar 2 spoonfuls of oil, a grated lemon peel, a bit of Strega, a pinch of salt, 1 L of oil, 250 g. of honey, white or colored candy decorations.

Preparation:

Make a fountain shape with the flour and add all the ingredients until the flour has absorbed everything. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and roll out one piece at a time with your hands in order to form a homogeneous serpent shape (it is recommended that they be fi cm. in diameter). With a knife or a plastic spatula, cut the dough into small pieces of fi cm and sprinkle them lightly with flour. Heat the oil at medium-high and fry the struffoli until they are golden. When all the pieces have been fried, place 250 grams of honey and 1 spoonful of sugar in a baking-pan and put them in a plate while they are still warm. Decorate them with the white or colored confetti.

Mustacciuoli

A typical Neapolitan desset. It is traditionally prepared dduring the Cristmas season.

Ingredients: 1kg of flour, 800 g of sugar, 5 g of ammonia, 3 envelopes of vanilla, 8 g of cinnamon, 7 g of cloves, 1 shot of Strega liquor, 100 g of bitter

 Cacao, melted chocolate (to brush onto the cookies).

Preparation:

Mix the flour, sugar, cloves and ammonia on the baking board. Roll out the dough and at the center put the cacao, Strega liquor and vanilla. Mix everything together and gradually add some warm water. Work the dough until it is moist and homogeneous. Take a small potion of this dough and roll it out that it is fi cm. high. Divide it into strips that are 8 cm. wide and make rhombus shapes with the help of cookie cutters of this shape. Bake at 160° C for approximately 20 minutes in a baking-pan with grease-proof paper. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. With a small kitchen brush spread the chocolate on the bottom side of the rhombus. Let the chocolate solidify. Take the rhombus shapes and immerse the other side in the liquid chocolate. Now place the formed “mostaccioli” on a lattice so that the excess chocolate can fall off. The mostaccioli are ready when the chocolate has completely solidified.

Susamielli

Ingredients: 250 g of flour, 100 g of sugar, 150 g of blanched almonds, 250 g of honey, cinnamon, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg.

Preparation:

Mix all the ingredients except for the honey. Boil the honey on the side and immediately mix it into the dough mixture with a wooden ladle. As soon as everything has slightly cooled off, work the dough with your hands as quickly as possible. As soon as everything has been mixed well, make little sticks of about 2 cm. in diameter and 12 cm. long. With the little sticks make capital “S” shapes and place them on a large, pre-greased tin sheet. Spread water from the tip of your finger along the surface of each S-shape. Bake in a warm oven and remove the Susamielli as soon as they have risen and have turned a light brown color. Let them cool off before serving.

Escarole’s Pizza

Ingredients: for 4 people, approx.. fi kg of bread dough, 140 g Gaeta olives, 5 pickled sardines, 4 tufts of pickly-lettuce, a handful of raisins, pickled capers, pine nuts, oil and salt.

Preparation:

Strip the lettuce, wash it and immerse it in an abundance of boiling salt water. Let it cook for approximately 15 minutes. Drain it, let it cool off and squeeze it between your hands. Let the raisins moisten for 15 minutes in warm water. Wash and bone the sardines. Pit the olives by cutting them into small pieces. Abundantly grease a tin and rool out the dough. In a pan heat 4 spoonfuls of oil, add the sardines, the olives and a teaspoonful  of capers. While strirring everything with a fork, let everything brown for about 10 minutes. Remove this from the heat and add a spoonful of pine-nuts as well as the squeezed raisins. Sprinkle the dough with two teaspoonfuls of oil. On top of this add the prickly-lettucce and the prepared sauce. Cook in the oven at the preaheated temperatue of 250° for about 20 minutes. Make sure that the pan is placed at the lowest level in the oven.

The reinvigorating salad

Ingredients: 1 medium-sized cauliflower 2 pickled peppers, 200 g of any of the following: pickled onions, cucumbers, beans, carrots and celery, 5-6 salty anchovies 50 g of Gaeta oil, 50 g of green olives 1 dL and fi of olive oil, 2 spoonfuls of white vinegar, Salt.

Preparation:

Boil the cauliflower in salt water. Let it cool and put it in a salad bowl after having cut it into small pieces. Add the sliced peppers, the pickled vegetables, the olives, the salty, sliced anchovies, the oil and the vinegar. Mix everything well and add salt if necessary. This salad should be prepared 24 hours before serving.

TRADITIONAL EASTER RECIPES

Focaccia with mushroom lard and pepper

This is a typical Neapolitan focaccia, traditionally prepared for the country get-aeays during the Easter season. The abundance of cheese and cold cuts amongst the other ingredirnts and the presence of the eggs (which harden while everything is cooked) makes this an excellent, unique dish for travel.

Ingredients: 1,250 kg of flour, 50 g of yeast, 25 g of salt and pepper, 200 g of lard, 150 g of salame, 150 g of mortadella, 150 g of tunny belly in olive oil, 150 g of hot provolone, 150 g of cracklings, a bit of warm water for mixing the dough, 3 eggs.

Preparation:

Place the flour in a mountain shape on the baking board and make a hole at the center. Place the yeast, pepper, salt and some of the lard in the hole. Mix everything with the warm water and work the dough until everything is absorbed by the flour. Gradually add the various cold cuts (cut into cubes) andthe cracklings. After mixing everything, make a ring-shape out of the dough. Let it rise for 2 hours. Cook everything in the oven for about 2 hours on a low heat setting.

Babà

Ingredients: fi kg. of sugar, 1 kg. of flour, 60 g. of yeast, 10 – 12 whole eggs, 2 envelopes of vanilla, 1 grated lemon peel, fi shot of Stega liquor, a pinch of salt.

Preparation:

In an appropriate tureen place the sifted flour and the sugar. At the center place the eggs, they yeast dissolved in a bit of warm water, the vanilla, the greated lemon peel, the liquor and the pinch of salt. Work the dough for quite some time until it is homogeneous and soft. Grease a tin (make sure the tin is of an appropriate size for the dessert which will rise to about 20 cm.) and place the dough inside. Cover it and make it rise until the height has been doubled (this leavening could last for several hours). Once the leavening has been completed, place the dough in a warm oven. Check to see if the baking has been completed by using a long toothpick. The characteristic external color of this desset is very dark, therefore the dessert will turn an almost chocolate color if baked for enough time.

Pastiera

Ingredients: 300 g of white flour, 150 g of butter, 350g of sugar, 7 eggs, 500 g of fresh ricotta cheese, 220 g of soaked, hard grain 40 g of candied orange peel, 40 g of water of orange flowers, a pinch of cinnamon powder, fi L of milk, an envelope of icing sugar, fi lemon, an evelope of salt.

Preparation:

Drain the grain and weigh 250 g of itt. Let it boil for 15 minutes covered in water, then rinse it and place it back again in the pot and cover it with boiling milk. Add the lemon peel in one piece, the cinnamon, the salt and a spoonful of sugar. Cook for 2 hours over low heat until all the milk has been absorbed. Take out the peel and leave the grain to cool on a dish. In the meantime, prepare the short pastry: work the flour with the butter pieces, add the sugar and the egg yolks. Make a dough ball. In a small bowl add the fresh ricotta cheese, the sugar, the cinnamon, the water of the orange flowers, the candied fruit peel and the grated lemon peel. Mix everything well and then add 6 egg yolks, one at a time, until all is well amalgamated. Add the grain to 4 firmly whipped egg whites. Butter a pan that is of 32 cm. in diameter and is lined at the edges with the pastry. Pour the filling. With the remaining dough make strips and place them on the filing so as to formo a web. Fold the strips over the edge of the circumference of the pan with your fingers. Cook in the preheated oven at 180 degrees for 1 hour and fi. Let it cool, then sprinkle it with the icing sugar.

Migliaccio

Ingredients: 1 kg of capellini pasta, 8 eggs, 1 pinch of pepper, 1 grated lemon peel (of a fresh lemon), a princh of cinnamon, 0.5 kg of sugar.

Preparation:

Cook the capellini,drain them well and then add all the other ingredients, mixing everything well. In a nonstick pan cook it until fried or place in the oven at 180 degrees for fi hour.

FOOD AND DRINK

• Ischia, nature on the table

The pleasure of a drink before a spectacular sunset, a romantic dinner accompanied by the notes of the waves on the beach…Ischia offers you a fun evening on the Riva Destra (the right bank at Ischia Porto), a quiet dinner by the sea and an enogastronomic tour rich in the tastes of the surrounding sea and countryside while on the sea patios of the characteristic villages of Forio and Sant’ Angelo. In fact, for an unforgettable night under a star-lit sky with good company one can cook chicken, potatoes and eggs wrapped in aluminum foil under the ground of the Fumarole at 100°. Of course, everything is self-made: you buy the chicken and the seasonings, have a kilogram of salt at hand, aluminum foil, wrap everything up and cook it at 100° under the sands of the Fumarole; an hour later everything is ready!  During the warmer periods, while waiting for everything to be cooked, it is obligatory to bathe under the moonlight and then lie on the warm sand to observe the stars and taste an excellent wine of the island. The summer is truly beautiful, let yourself be caressed by its torpor and be embraced by a land that loves you. Already in the 1500 s and probably even much time before, as recaptured by the physician Giulio Iasolino in his book entitled “De’ rimedi Naturali che sono nell’isola di Pithecusa hoggi detta Ischia” in the part dedicated to the description of the land he writes: The island of Ischia…it contains promontories, headlands, valleys, plains, fountains, rivers, mountains, beautiful gardens and a great abundance of sweet and delicate fruits, a variety of perfect wines (as of excellent quality are Sorbigno, Greco, Latino, Coda Cavallo and the like). One also sees on the island an abundance of cedars, oranges and lemons. There are gold mines, as is apparent not only according to what was written by Strabone…and Giovanni Eliseo.. it is said that the island of Ischia is abundant and fertile in producing a variety of fruits, grain wine, sulphur and gold… Ischia’s gold is today produced in smaller quantities in comparison with past productions. It is difficult to find in supermarkets; instead, it is found and tasted in characteristic restaurants where it is valued by the hands of the best chefs who refer to old traditions in order to reproduce the old dishes with modern techniques. Besided the beauty and fascination given off by the island, it is suggested that those with refined palates and those who are lovers of fine cuisine spend an evening under the banner of taste and tradition. You now are familiar with the characteristic dish of the island, il coniglio alla cacciatora, also known as the coniglio all’ ischitana, but perhaps you do not know that a noble initiative is now in progress, an initiative taken on by several restaurant-owners and livestock  breeders of the island, to recapture old rabbit breeding techniques, the so-called coniglio da fossa (pit-raised rabbits). A more or less acid tomato, a more or less sweet onion, a wisely selected oil, pasta of hard, country grain, and an organized wine cellar are all requirements for preparing your palates for the oldest art in the world—culinary art. Ischia offers an enogastronomic tour that should be consumed wisely, as it balances the tastes of the land with the freshness of the sea.