If you could fly over the countryside of Puglia like a bird you would
be amazed at the fertility and richness of this area. It is literally
an immense farm producing immense quantities of grain, tomatoes,
grapes, artichokes, lettuce, fennel, peppers, onions, and olive oil.
Add to this a sea full of fish, grazing fields full of cattle and
sheep, and as a result you have an extremely simple cuisine. It's not
necessary to complicate things: just combining the superb ingredients
the dishes create themselves.
In this land the farmers live in small white stucco houses, decorated
with branches of tomoatoes hung out to dry and then drowned in oil
flavored with oregano. Many of them still carry their bread to the
communal oven to bake. A typical snack of this region is the "calzone"
(big sock) which is made from a lump of dough spread with onions, black
olives, capers, tomatoes, pecorino cheese, anchovies and parsley,
closed and pinched around the edges, and baked in the oven.
Puglia is proud of its homemade pasta, often formed of unusual shapes
like the "orecchiette" (little ears). For Sunday dinners a favorite is
"Maccheroni al forno" or baked maccheroni, made with little meat balls,
sliced hardboiled eggs, pieces of artichoke, salame, and cheese, often
surrounded with piecrust and baked in the oven. As for meat, beef is
used either for meat sauce or meatballs, possibly because in poorer
times the only beef to be slaughtered were old and produced tough
steaks.
The dominant meat in puglia is lamb, served on a spit, roasted,
stewed, or even fried.
Due to the popularity of lamb and the enormous flocks, cheese made from
sheeps milk is very popular including fresh ricotta, pecorino, and
"burrata di Andria," which must be consumed within 24 hours to be
properly appreciated.
Since three quarters of the area of Puglia is surrounded by the sea its
products are abundant and popular. Sea turtle, oysters, mussels,
cuttlefish, and octopus are cooked in simple ways, sometimes even eaten
raw in the markets.
Home-grown yellow and white melons, sweet watermelons, and grapes often
finish a meal in Puglia.
EGGPLANT
PARMESAN
Serves 6:
Despite its name, this southern Italian dish has nothing to do with
Parma except possibly the use of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese between the
layers of eggplant. Parmigiana di melanzane, often mistakenly called
melanzane alla parmigiana, was one of the great dishes that immigrants
from Puglia and other parts of the Italian South brought with them to
the United States. It has become a staple of old-fashioned
Italian-American restaurants where, as with most immigrant foods, it
got decked out with an abundance and richness that is absent from the
appealing simplicity of the original.
This may seem like a complicated preparation, but much of it can be
made ahead of time and, indeed, since the dish is more often eaten at
room temperature than it is hot from the oven, the whole thing can be,
and often is, prepared in the morning to serve at dinner that evening.
Originally, it went in the oven after the bread had come out. It is
often made with zucchini instead of eggplant, and, in wintertime, with
artichokes, sliced and fried. This is the simplest, most everyday
version of the dish.
1 medium eggplant, weighing at least
1 pound
Sea salt
1/2 pound mozzarella
1 large egg
1/2 to 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
Extra virgin olive oil
2 cups Basic Tomato Sauce
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 teaspoon crumbled dried basil
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Handful of fresh basil leaves
PEEL:
the eggplant and slice crosswise in slices about 1/2 inch thick.
Stack the slices in a colander, sprinkling layers generously with salt,
set a weight on top (a can of tomatoes on a plate will do very well),
and leave to stand for 1 hour; then rinse the slices well in running
water and dry them with paper towels.
MEANWHILE, grate the mozzarella on the large holes of a cheese grater
and set aside. Beat the egg with a fork in a soup plate with 2
tablespoons of water. Place the flour in another soup plate.
ADD olive oil to a frying pan to a depth of 1/2 inch and heat on a
medium burner to frying temperature (360 degrees F., when a little cube
of bread quickly turns golden and crisp). Lightly dip each dried slice
of eggplant in flour and then in beaten egg, and fry the slices,
turning them once, until they are golden brown on both sides. Drain the
fried eggplant slices on a cake rack covered with paper towels.
HEAT the oven to 425 degrees F.
PUT a couple of spoonfuls of warm tomato sauce in the bottom of a
2-quart ceramic or earthenware oven dish and layer the eggplant slices
in the dish, scattering over each layer an abundance of grated
ParmigianoReggiano, more tomato sauce, a handful of grated mozzarella,
and a sprinkle of dried basil and black pepper. On the topmost layer of
eggplant, spread an abundance of tomato sauce and a scattering of
grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for
45 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh basil. The eggplant can be eaten hot,
but is best at room temperature.
MEATBALLS
FOR EGGPLANT PARMESAN
For special occasions, Pugliese cooks may garnish the tomato sauce with
tiny meatballs, and add slices of hard-boiled egg and mortadella
sausage to the layers. To me, the egg and sausage seem to be too much,
but the meatballs add a litile substance to what is a very simple dish.
Here's how to make them:
1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 pound finely ground lean veal or pork, or veal and pork mixed
together
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
Yolk of 1 large egg
1/4 cup finely minced flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons finely minced basil, if desired
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
THOROUGHLY combine the bread crumbs with all the other ingredients
except the olive oil. Dampen your hands with a little water and form
the mixture into small meatballs about the size of marbles. Heat the
olive oil in a saute' pan over medium heat and quickly brown the
meatballs all over. Distribute the meatballs over each layer of
eggplant slices in the dish. |
