Emilia - Romagna:
Articles

D.

Let's start with a suggestion for a light, vegetarian main course.

R.

• Egg, artichoke and ginger salad
• Mushroom tortilla
• Bread omelet
• Avocado omelet
• Poached eggs with olive spread
• Eggs in coriander sauce
• Eggs with hop sprouts

D.

White meat-based main courses.

R.

• Baked lamb with potatoes and tomatoes

• 	Pork Chops

  Pork chops
• Lamb loin with fresh thyme
• Rabbit in red wine sauce
• Chicken croquettes
• Chicken breasts in balsamic vinegar and oregano sauce
• Chicken curry with apples
• Garlic chicken
• Orange chicken
• Chicken Florentine style
• Chicken with pumpkin
• Roast chicken-stuffed suckling pig
• Turkey roll
• Chestnut-stuffed turkey.

D.

Red meat-based main courses.

R.

	Goulash Friuli Style

• Cotechino (pork sausage) in galera (literally, 'in prison')
• Cotechino (pork sausage) in sfoglia (thin layers)
• Goulash Friuli style
• Meat roulade
• Parmesan cheese roulade
• Pork Terni style
• Liver spread with truffles
• Sauteed veal
• Escalope in truffle sauce
• Pork stew Portuguese style
• Grilled giblets kebabs
• Cutlet in lemon and butter sauce

D.

How can meat be cooked?

R.

	Grilled Meat

Meat can be cooked in various ways:

• Sauteed
• Baked in oven
• Fried
• Grilled
• Boiled
• Steamed
• Raw (with lemon)
• Marinated (seasoned in advance).

D.

What kind of meat is best suited for main courses?

R.

• Lamb
• Rabbit
• Horse
• Pork
• Beef
• Poultry
• Frogs and snails
• Fur and feather game
• Veal
• Shellfish and mussels
• Seafood

D.

Do you have some advise about how to prepare wild game?

R.

The first, very important thing to do with game is to bleed-dry the animal.

Then, with larger game, one must start with the marinade, submerging the meat into an acidic solution such as lemon juice or either white or red wine. This procedure rids the meat of the strong, wild scent.

Aging is very important to soften the meat. To achieve this, the meat is left inside a refrigerator for some time.

D.

Can you suggest some recipes to our readers?

R.

	Orange Duck

• Duck with apples
• Roast duck
• Orange duck
• Broiled venison
• Venison in sweet-and-sour sauce
• Wild boar with capers
• Wild boar cooked in wine
• Wild boar chasseur.

D.

Moving on to seafood, could you give us some advise about what to look for when buying fish?

R.

Make sure that the meat is compact and does not retain 'dimples' after being touched. Check that there is no gluey substance on the skin. Additionally, the eye should not look 'dead', and fish should have a vague sea scent and firm stomach.

D.

Can we trust frozen seafood?

R.

We need to drop the prejudice about both frozen and farmed fish. When the fish farm operates in accord with the requirement for a healthy feed, the fish has the same characteristics of wild seafood.

We can affirm the same about frozen seafood when the correct rules are followed to the letter. In this case however, the flavor will be slightly different than the freshly caught seafood.

D.

For how long can seafood be considered fresh?

R.

Two to three days at the most.

The mussels need to be washed thoroughly under running water soon after being collected and may be kept three to four days at most.

D.

Do you have some advice about how to cook seafood?

R.

Boiled seafood
This method is very simple.

• In a pan submerge the seafood in cold water, season with carrots, onion, bay leaves, parsley, salt, few drops of vinegar and boil slowly on low heat.
• The fish is cooked when the eye turns white.
• Seafood cooked this way is delicious simply seasoned with either olive oil and lemon or with mayonnaise, and served with potatoes and boiled vegetables.

Cooking time: about 20 minutes for each kilogram (about 2.2 pounds) of seafood.
The varieties best suited for this cooking method are trout, hake, salmon, cod, sea bass, sole, shellfish and calamari.

	Grilled Fish
	Broiled Seafood

Grilled Fish

• Oil the fish.
• When the grill is very hot lay fish down and let the skin became attached to the meat, then lower the heat and complete cooking on both sides.

Cooking time: about 15 minutes for each 500 grams (about 1.1 pounds) of seafood.
The varieties best suited for this cooking method are eels, mackerels, sardines, anchovies, calamari, prawns, sea bream and salmon steaks.

Broiled Seafood

• Marinate the seafood in olive oil with aromatic herbs for at least two hours.
• Pre-heat oven at 200° C. (392° F.).
• Coat the fish with a thin layer of bread crumbs so that it will create a golden crust while cooking.
• Put fish in oven and salt when half cooked. If the fish is big, turn it over at the same time.

Cooking time: for whole fish weighing up to 500 grams (about 1.1 pounds) 30 minutes. For fish weighing about 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds), about 45 minutes.
The varieties best suited for this cooking method are anchovies, grouper, sea bream, swordfish, salmon, sardines, sole and sea bass.

Seafood Stew

• Put the seafood in a frying pan on low heat with olive oil and garlic.
• When the garlic is golden discard it and add peeled tomatoes, a taste of white wine and seafood broth.
• When cooked, sprinkle with minced parsley.

Cooking time: 3 minutes for crab meat, 5 minutes for small fish, 10 minutes for larger fish and 30 minutes for cuttlefish and calamari.
The varieties best suited for this cooking method are seafood steaks, blue fish (such as mullet), shellfish, cuttlefish and calamari.

D.

Can you name some seafood recipes for our readers?

R.

• 	Sea-bass

  Eels with bay leaves
• Sea-bass with wild strawberries
• Sea-bass cooked in salt
• Sea-bass cooked in wine
• Cacciucco (spiced fish soup) Livorno style
• Tourbot and salmon carpaccio with vegetables
• Stuffed mussels
• Filet  of sole in champagne wine
• Sea bream with aromatic crust
• Capitone (large eel) salad

D.

can you list some typical Emilian main courses?

R.

	Roast Rabbit
	Rosemary-Seasoned Beef Filet

• Roast Rabbit
  The rabbit is seasoned with with ground rosemary, garlic and salt, then cooked for two hours in olive oil, white wine and water adding salt and pepper to taste.
• Cutlet Petroniana style
  It is the classic cutlet Milanese style covered with cheese and truffle before being sauteed in salted water in a covered pan until the cheese melts.
• Balsamic Vinegar Escalope
  Veal cooked with balsamic vinegar and baby onions.
• Rosemary-Seasoned Beef Filet
  Argentinean Angus beef filet sauteed with olive oil and rosemary. In the center the meat should maintain a lively red color.
• Oven Cooked Prosciutto
  The fresh pork thigh is roasted in the oven then cut into thin slices. It is served with the gravy generated while cooking, potatoes and mixed green salad.