Salsa Genovese
(Sauce typical of
Genoa) Give this recipe a try even though it looks a little complicated. It really
isn't once you've done it a couple of times and unless you entertain all your
friends at once, you'll have no problem attempting Genovese more than once.
Ingredients – for
6 persons
Onions 5
½ pounds
Veal (lean) 6 slices (about 2.5
pounds)
Romano cheese (grated) 2 ½ - 3
ounces
Smoked pancetta (specialty shop) or smoked bacon 4 ounces
Very fatty ham 2
ounces
Lard 2
ounces
Olive oil (extra virgin) 1 cup
Dry white wine 6
ounces
Garlic 3 cloves
Fresh Parmesan skins *
2
Fresh parsley a
handful
Salt and pepper to
taste
NOTE: Whenever you
buy fresh parmesan (parmiggiano) save the skins (rinds). Native Italians use
them in many dishes and they add the taste of parmiggiano cheese like grated
just can’t do. To clean the rind, simply scrape it with the edge of a sharp
knife blade until it lightens in color to its natural shade. They can be stored
in the fridge in a zip lock bag. They’ll usually be about 3 inches by 3 inches
and an eighth inch thick depending, of course, on how much cheese you’ve grated
off them. If they don’t completely dissolve in your recipe, take a bite. It’s a
little chewy but really good.
How to
do it:
Preparation of ingredients-
The veal slices are going to be rolled and tied (use standard kitchen string).
Finely dice the pancetta, half a clove of garlic and the parsley.
Mix together very well the pancetta, half clove of garlic, parsley, parmesan,
and pepper in a small bowl.
Divide these ingredients evenly into 6 portions, placing a portion in the center
of each veal slice.
Roll each veal slice tightly and tie them well with the kitchen string. Don’t
over do it.
Slice the ham and the lard very very thinly and mix together well. They should
almost be a cream when mixed together.
Remove the outermost layers of the onions and slice them very thinly. If you
peel them under running water you can avoid some of the tears.
The cooking
process-
In a tall pot, over a medium low flame, combine the olive oil and the ham and
lard. Let them cook until the grease is rendered by the heat.
When this is accomplished, but before the ham starts to fry, add the veal rolls
and the unused garlic to the pot.
Brown the veal slices slowly, turning often, for 15 to 20 minutes adding a
little bit of white wine every now and again.
When all of the wine has evaporated, remove the garlic, add the onions and stir
again.
Reduce the flame to lowest and cover the pot.
The cooking time will be 3 to 4 hours, depending on the freshness and quality of
the onions.
Check the doneness of the meat rolls often.
Stir them around every now and again.
A good heavy copper pot will guarantee the homogeneous cooking of the onions. If
one is not available (yes, I know how expensive they are – I don’t have one
either), you may need to add an ounce or two of water evey now and again to
avoid burning the onions. In any case, the meat rolls will be completely
cooked through and very tender before the sauce is done so you will need to
remove them a little before the completion of the sauce.
When you do remove the meat rolls, add salt to taste (not too much), the two
crusts of parmesan (a little grated if you have nothing else – this won’t
destroy your dish) and recover the pot.
The sauce is done when the onions are completely dissolved and separated from
the grease and its color is brown and shiny.
This sauce weds perfectly with pasta mista (mixed) or any pasta cracked and
broken by hand.
