Recipe below: Fettuccine with a Spring Soffritto, Peas, and Speck
When I create a recipe, as thrilled as I sometimes get with the outcome I never come up with something completely new. (Is there anything new under the Mediterranean sun?) What I do is work the flavor memories of my mind. I move them around to vary the patterns. I take into consideration flavor combinations that become more than the sum of their parts, such as the blending of rosemary and fennel seed, the traditional aroma of a well cooked porchetta, or the mingling or vanilla and orange flower water, the underpinning of pastiera di grano, the Southern Italian Easter pie that I love more than any other dessert.
These combinations lie at the heart of my cooking, Southern Italian and Mediterranean tastes that no matter how I bend them are a little familiar to anyone who cooks or eats in that area of the world or who, like me, works with ancestral flavors on foreign soil.
I’ve been contemplating what improvisational cooking really means to me, and I’ve found myself jotting down a short a list of recurring flavor combos that I use as kicking off points. The traditional Southern Mediterranean pairing of garlic and olive oil can serve as both beginning and end, as in spaghetti aglio e olio, or as just a starting point, if, say, I decide to layer together fresh oregano, tangerine zest, and white wine, and pour the result over a whole sea bass as a marinade, before hefting the fish onto a grill. The creativity is deciding what to add and what to take away.
Here are a bunch of flavor combinations that I imagine pop into the heads of many Italian cooks when they set out to create a meal. If you have other recurring themes rattling around in your head, feel free to send them along.
Orange flour water and vanilla: the unmistakable aroma of pastiera di grano, the Campanian Easter pie. You can layer in fresh orange zest or candied orange for extra oomph. I often do.
Lemon and vanilla: the underlying taste of panettone. There’s even exists Fiori di Sicilia, a ready-made liquid mix of this classic flavor combination that many panettone cooks rely on. Drizzle in some anisette for a haunting trio, perfect for ciambella, the Italian bundt cake.
Rosemary and fennel: the traditional flavoring for porchetta and also excellent, I’ve found, on strong fish like sardines or mackerel. Fennel pollen is beautiful to use in place of the seeds.
Raisins and pine nuts: the classic Spanish-Arab pairing used in Sicilian meatballs and many Sicilian dishes of the agro dolce category, such as caponata. I love this combo in a savory vegetable torta, where the addition of pecorino and fresh marjoram round out the flavor.
Garlic and olive oil: aglio e olio, the backbone of Southern Italian cooking, and, on its own, one of the best condimenti for spaghetti. Add hot chili and anchovies and a sprinkling of breadcrumbs to create my favorite midnight pasta.
Olive oil, garlic, green olives, and capers: add fresh mint, parsley, and oregano and you’ve created a salsa verde, perfect over grilled shrimp or spooned onto mozzarella. Add tomatoes and you’ve got the starting point for a puttanesca sauce. You can flesh it out with anchovies, fresh oregano, parsley, and even some good canned tuna.
Soffritto of onion, celery, and carrot: a base for ragù and simmered sauces and stews. What would osso bucco be without it? I sauté onion, celery, fennel, and fresh chili in olive oil as a starting point for pasta e fagiole. And for a gentle tomato sauce, I like to begin by sweating shallot and carrot in butter and then maybe adding a splash of sweet vermouth before I throw in the tomatoes.
Ricotta and nutmeg: if you add sugar you’ve got the filling for a pasticciotto; if instead you include chopped parsley, you can stuff manicotta. Ricotta and cinnamon make the best filling for Sicilian style cannoli, and also for my grandfather’s big Christmas ravioli.
Fennel and saffron: the underpinning for pasta con le sarde. You’ll then go on to add raisins and pine nuts to make the dish complete.
Parmigiano and butter: just a magical blending of flavors. Add a few leaves of fresh sage for an almost instant sauce for spinach ravioli.
Anchovies and butter: I’d eat this on anything. Add parsley and thyme to make a great compound butter for steak.
Pancetta or guanciale and onion: add tomato and hot chili for bucatini all’ amatriciana. Add garlic, white wine, rosemary, and maybe a handful of mushrooms for pollo alla cacciatora.
Recipe: Fettuccine with a Spring Soffritto, Peas, and Speck
Here I start with a soffritto of young leeks, carrots, celery leaves, and spring garlic, and then go on with the spring theme by adding fresh peas. I thought about adding mint, which goes so well with peas, but somehow the speck seemed to cancel that idea out.
(Serves 2 as a light main course)
For the soffritto you’ll want 2 young leeks, well chopped, 1 chopped carrot, a handful of celery leaves, and 1 chopped stalk of spring garlic (before it starts to form cloves). Pull out a big sauté pan, and drizzle in some good olive oil and a pat of butter. Add all your soffritto vegetables, and sauté them over medium heat until everything is soft and fragrant, about 4 minutes. Season them with a little salt, pepper, and a few scrapings of nutmeg.
Now add a cup or so of freshly shucked peas, giving them a little stir in the soffrito. Add a big splash of dry vermouth, and let it bubble off. Add a cup of light chicken broth, partially cover the pan, and simmer until the peas are tender, about 3 or 4 minutes. Turn off the heat, and stir in ¼ cup of crème fraîche.
Cook ¾ pound of fettuccine until it’s just tender, drain it, and add it to the pan. Then add 4 or 5 thin slices of speck cut into julienne. Toss everything well over low heat, adding more chicken broth or crème fraîche if you need to adjust the texture (it should be a bit creamy). Add a few more twists of fresh black pepper and several generous gratings of grana Padano or parmigiano cheese. Toss again, taste for seasoning, and plate it.