MINESTRA MARITATA (“MARRIED” SOUP)

A classic Christmas Day recipe from Naples. Maritata is often mistranslated to mean wedding, and the resulting assumption – that this is a traditional soup at weddings – is simply wrong. The “married”-ness refers to the incredible harmony between pork and bitter greens – a marriage made in the muck of smallholdings rather than the heavens, but special and sacred nonetheless.

SERVES 6-8
pork belly or shoulder meat 800g, skin on or off, as you like
small salami 1, 300-350g
Italian sausages 4, 400g
bay leaves 2
celery 1 stick
onion ½
whole cloves garlic 2
water 4 litres
cicoria (very bitter, dark green chicory) or green dandelion leaves 500g, coarsely shredded
savoy cabbage 500g, shredded
escarole 500g, coarsely shredded
cime di rapa (turnip tops) or purple sprouting broccoli 500g, coarsely shredded
caciocavallo or pecorino romano cheese 150g, grated

Put the pork, salami and Italian sausages in a pan with the bay leaves, celery, onion and garlic. Cover with the water, season with a little salt and pepper and bring to the boil. As soon as the pot is bubbling, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the meats are tender all the way through – around 2½ hours.

Meanwhile in another pot of boiling, salted water, boil all the greens for 5 minutes (to remove at least some of the bitterness), then drain them and refresh under cold running water.

When the meats are done, lift them from their stock and set them aside. Strain the stock, skim off the fat and return it to the pan. Add the blanched greens, set over the heat again and bring to the boil. Cook for about 10 minutes more, until the vegetables are tender.

While they are cooking, carve the meats into 5mm slices. Arrange these in wide soup bowls and ladle the vegetable soup over the top. Serve sprinkled with the cheese.

ASTICE IN AGRODOLCE

This is a fusion of a couple of dishes. Christmas Eve is a “lean” day in Catholic Italy, and the formal, celebratory meal in the south consists of many courses of fish. These could be baked or fried eel (capitone), baked or fried salt cod – and, if you’re lucky, a lobster. The course after, be you in Sicily or Naples, will almost certainly be of caponata (sweet-and-sour vegetables). The recipe below is two-in-one, lobster cooked in caponata, but it does have a precedent. Red mullet are often very successfully cooked in the same way.

SERVES 6-8
vegetable oil for deep frying
aubergines 2 medium, diced 1cm
onion 1 medium, diced 1cm
celery 2 sticks, diced 1 cm
cloves garlic 2, sliced
extra virgin olive oil 80ml
fresh tomatoes 350g, seeds and all, diced 1cm
capers 40g
pine nuts 40g
red wine vinegar 40ml
sugar 40g
raisins 40g
orange juice of ½
live lobsters 4 large, 600-800g each
flat-leaf parsley 2 tbsp, chopped
prawn or lobster stock 1 litre (made from the shells fried in olive oil, tomato, vegetables, bay, white wine, water, basil and perhaps a touch of saffron)

Heat the vegetable oil to 190C in a wide pan and fry the aubergines for a couple of minutes until browned, then drain them well.

Put the onion, celery, garlic and olive oil in a wide pan, season with a pinch of salt and fry gently over a medium heat for 10 minutes or until soft.

Turn off the heat and add the aubergines, tomatoes, capers, pine nuts, vinegar, sugar, raisins and orange juice. Transfer to a medium baking tray and pop into a moderate oven (170C/gas mark 3). Bake for an hour or just less, until the juices have evaporated, but the vegetables are still moist, then set aside.

While the caponata is in the oven, put your largest pan on to boil, filled with water and a pinch of salt. While it’s heating, numb the lobsters in the freezer for between 10-15 minutes. When the water’s boiling, add the lobsters. Boil them for just 3 minutes (this is to kill and parcook them just a little), then drain them and chill in cold water.

Split the lobsters lengthways with a large knife, and use the back of the blade to crack the claws to help your guests. Do not scoop out the greeny brown gunk from the head end – it is as delicious as it is ugly. Lay the lobsters cut-side up in a very wide baking tray. Turn the oven up to hot, 200C/gas mark 6.

As your friends and family are finishing their minestra maritata, sneak off to the kitchen for a moment. Stir together the caponata, parsley and prawn stock. Pour it over the lobsters and bake the lot for 10-15 minutes, until the lobsters are just cooked through.

This dish is especially delicious with green or white cauliflower, boiled until tender and dressed with oil, parsley and perhaps a little anchovy.

STRUFFOLI

Struffoli are tiny fritters, bathed in honey syrup and scattered with candied fruits and diavolilli – hundreds and thousands. They personify the kitsch, the childishness and the sweetness of the south.

MAKES DOZENS (they are very small)
For the fritters:
plain flour 400g
salt a pinch
sugar 4 tbsp
baking powder ½ tsp
eggs 4 large or 5 medium
booze (grappa, limoncello, brandy, etc) 2 tbsp
extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp
orange grated zest of 1
lemon grated zest of 1
vegetable oil for deep frying

For the syrup:
honey 300g
sugar 150g
water 50ml
diced candied citron or mixed peel 70g
diced candied orange peel or mixed peel 70g
toasted flaked almonds 100g
orange grated zest of 1

To garnish:
hundreds and thousands 100g
candied fruits – cherries (halved), orange peels (in slivers), etc a few more
anything else you fancy that is sickeningly sweet and improbably coloured

Start with the fritters. First make the dough – bring together all the ingredients, knead until just fully incorporated, and leave to rest for half an hour.

Divide it into four parts, and roll each one into a 1-1.5cm wide sausage. Cut this into 1cm lengths, and roll these into balls, as even and spherical as you can manage.

Fry these (you’ll need to do so in four batches, so fry one batch while you roll and shape the next) in hot oil – 180C – for a good 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until a deep golden brown.

As the last batch is frying, prepare the syrup. In a wide pan (a deep frying pan or wok is ideal), combine the honey, sugar and water. Cook over a high heat until it foams and the bubbles then die down, and add the struffoli (fritters), candied fruits, almonds and orange zest. Stir over the heat until thoroughly coated, and the syrup is thick enough to stick to the fritters and not fall to the bottom of the pan.

Turn off the heat, and pile the sticky mass high on a cool plate.

Decorate the struffoli with the hundreds and thousands, extra candied fruits, and anything else that’s sickeningly sweet and brightly coloured that takes your fancy.

Allow the struffoli to cool completely before serving. They keep well, so you can make them well before your meal – even the morning before your dinner.