PEPOSO - BEEF, PEPPERY STEW - PEPOSO
Thanks to about.com for this recipe and story:

Peposo is a specialty of Impruneta, a town near Florence that's famous for its terracottas. The stew is a fiery exception to the rule that Tuscan cooking is bland, and is also one of the few dishes to have provoked a general strike. According to legend, Brunelleschi tried some while he was scouting tilemakers for the roof of the Duomo. He loved it, and asked the cook to come to Florence, with a boy agile enough to climb the scaffolding to deliver bowls of stew to the workers building the cathedral (this way they wouldn't loose time climbing down, going elsewhere to buy food, and climbing back up). Brunelleschi's workers went on strike to get their lunch hour back. Had he merely asked the cook to set up a catering stand, the idea would have been a smashing success.
Serves four.

Ingredients:
* 1 tablespoon of black pepper, coarsely ground
* 1 pound stew beef, diced
* 1 pound of pork or fatty beef, diced
* 1 onion, minced
* A rib of celery, minced
* 1/2 a red pepper, minced
* 1 carrot, minced
* 1 pound peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
* 11/2 cups dry red wine (such as Chianti)
* 2 crushed cloves of garlic
* 2 tablespoons of flour
* 2 tablespoons of olive oil
* Salt to taste
* Boiling water or broth
* 4 slices of Italian bread

Preparation:
Mince the onion, the carrot, and the celery; sautZÿ the mixture in the oil in a pot over a medium flame. Add one of the cloves of garlic, some salt, and half the ground pepper. Flour the meat, and when the onion's translucent, add the meat to the pot. Let the meat brown, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes, then add the tomatoes and the red pepper.

Let the mixture cook for ten minutes, then add the wine and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the peposo for at least two hours, adding boiling water or broth as necessary to keep it from drying out completely and burning.

When the peposo's almost done (the sauce should be thick), toast the slices of bread and rub them with the other clove of garlic, then put them in a deep serving dish. A few minutes before removing the peposo from the fire, stir in the remaining ground pepper. Carefully pour the peposo over the bread and serve.

ARROSTO MORTO di POLLO ALLA BOLOGNESE - BOLOGNESE CHICKEN POT ROAST
Thanks to Kyle Phillips at about.com, who translated the famous Artusi book and provided this recipe:
"Artusi gives a number of recipes for making an arrosto morto in his Scienza in Cucina e L‰Arte di Mangia Bene... This Bolognese chicken arrosto morto is somewhat different from the other arrosti he lists."

Ingredients:
one whole chicken
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. butter
1 slice prosciutto
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
rosemary leaves
4 tomatoes, seeded and diced
alternately, tomato sauce diluted in water
4 diced potatoes

Preparation:
SautZÿ a whole chicken in oil and butter with a minced slice of prosciutto, two crushed cloves of garlic, and a few leaves of rosemary. Once it has browned on all sides, add several seeded, diced tomatoes, or some tomato sauce diluted in water. Cover the pot and simmer the chicken till it's done.

Remove it and simmer three or four diced potatoes in the sauce until they're done, then return the chicken to the pot to heat it through and serve it with the potatoes.

Note: I think I'd cut up the chicken, rather than leaving it whole.

POLLO ALLA GRIGLIA - GRILLED CHICKEN
Serves 4

Ingredients:
* A chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds, 1.5-1.8 k)
* 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
* 3-4 leaves of fresh sage
* 2 cloves garlic
* A 10-inch sprig of rosemary
* Freshly ground pepper to taste
* A quarter cup of olive oil

Preparation:
Split the chicken up the breastbone, squash it flat, and fold the wings up behind its back.

Strip the leaves from 6 inches of the sprig of rosemary and mince them with the sage, salt and garlic. Once the mixture is reduced to a paste, add a little bit of ground pepper to it, stir half the oil into it, and rub it into the chicken. Let the chicken marinate for an hour or so. In the mean time, build a hot fire in your barbecue.

Place the chicken on a rack about 8 inches above the coals and grill it, turning it often and basting it with the remaining olive oil. Once the bird has shed the grease under its skin the coals will stop flaming up. (Lift the bird out of the way of the flames if need be to avoid getting charred.) Lower it to about 6 inches above the coals. It may take an hour or slightly more to cook, and will be done when the meat begins to pull up along the drumsticks and the juices run clear if you insert a skewer into the hip joint.

CHICKEN TONNATO
Ingredients:
2 Chicken breasts, skinned, boned and filleted
1 chicken bouillon cube, crumbled
1 can (7 oz) chunk light tuna in oil, drained
1/2 cup olive oil
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 lemon, thinly sliced
6 canned flat anchovies
1 Tbsp. capers
Salt

Preparation:
Put chicken pieces in a covered sautZÿ pan with water, crumble a chicken bouillon cube over the top, cover and cook for ten minutes. Let the chicken cool in the broth.

Combine the tuna, lemon juice and anchovies in a food processor. Turn it on and add the olive oil through the spout until it is smooth and the sauce reaches the proper consistency. Stir in the capers, or save them to sprinkle on the top after serving.

Assemble the chicken with the lemon slices on a platter. Serve the sauce separately. This dish can be made well in advance and kept wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or in sealed containers and refrigerated until ready to serve.

FISH, BAKED WITH POTATOES AND OLIVES
I use persico, which is perch, but any firm-fleshed fish will work well.
Serves 3-4

Ingredients:
1 heavy bake and serve dish, enough to fit the fish in one layer
1 1/2 lbs. potatoes (5 or 6), peeled and sliced thinly
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil plus extra to drizzle on top
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3-4 anchovy fillets
1/2 cup pitted green olives, cut in half
1cup tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped
3 - 4 firm-fleshed fish fillets, enough to cover the dish in one layer

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees

Wash the potatoes in cold water, then pat them dry with towels. Put the potatoes into 1/4 cup of olive oil in a pan, half the garlic, half the parsley, salt and pepper. Toss the potatoes to coat them well, then spread them evenly over the bottom of the dish.

Put the potatoes in the 450 degree oven and roast them for 15 minutes in the upper third of the oven, until they are halfway done.

Take out the dish, but do not turn off the oven. Remove the slices of garlic. Transfer the potatoes to a temporary dish. Mix the remaining olive oil, garlic and anchovies in the dish, swirling the anchovies around until they become more of a paste. Add the tomatoes and parsley and olives and mix well.

Put the fish fillets on top of the tomato mixture skin side down. Spread the potatoes over the fish and tomatoes and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Drizzle a little extra olive oil on top of the potatoes, and return the dish to the oven.

After about ten minutes, take the dish out of the oven again, and baste the olive oil mixture that has dropped to the bottom of the pan over the tomatoes, loosening those potatoes that have turned brown and stick to the side of the dish.

Return the dish to the oven for another 8 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish fillets.

Remove the dish from the oven and allow it to settle for five minutes. Serve directly from the baking dish, and pour some of the juices over the each portion of the fish and potatoes.

LAMB, SPRING IN EGG SAUCE
Known as Abbacchio Brodettato, this is a specialty in early spring, or if you are Roman, you can also serve this at Christmas time. it is extraordinary. Use only the tenderest young lamb.

Ingredients:
lamb, from 2.2 to 3 pounds (1 to 1.5k), chopped in fairly large pieces
1/3 cup olive oil
2 oz. diced prosciutto (optional)
1/2 of one medium sized onion, thinly sliced
salt and pepper
1/2 Tbsp. flour
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 egg yolks, beaten
The juice of one lemon
1/4 cup minced parsley, with several leaves fresh marjoram
boiling water

Preparation:
Heat the oil in a pot with the prosciutto and onion, and as soon as the mixture is hot, add the lamb. Cook over a moderate flame, being careful not to let the onion overbrown. Season with salt and pepper, and dust the meat with the flour as it browns.

Sprinkle the meat with the wine, and once it has evaporated, add enough boiling water to almost cover the meat. Cover and continue simmering, checking every now and again to make sure the water hasn't completely evaporated. You don‰t want the sauce too liquid, but rather thick and flavorful.

A few minutes before the meat is done (it should be fork tender), beat the yolks with the minced herbs and the lemon juice. Reduce the heat to a bare minimum and pour the yolk mixture over the meat. Turn everything, gently until the yolks thicken; the low heat is necessary because you want the sauce to be velvety, not to contain shreds of cooked egg.

Serve at once.

Note: The cooking time depends on the quality of the meat. Plan for at least an hour, and perhaps two.

SAUSAGES WITH GRAPES
This is from Artusi's The Art of Eating Well, the bible of Italian cooking, passed down from generation to generation for more than one hundred years. It is very simple.

Ingredients:
Sausages
Grapes

Preparation:
Take sausages, fork them here and there to let their juices explode when they cook, then sautZÿ them in a pan. When they are almost cooked, add grapes. Continue to cook until the grapes are wilted, about five minutes more. The gravy is especially divine.

VITELLO TONNATO
Ingredients:
2 1/4 pounds boned veal, cut from the rump.
3/4 pound tuna packed in oil
3 eggs
6 salted anchovies (the canned variety, sold by delicatessens)
A handful of pickled capers
1/2 cup (approx.) olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
A bottle of dry white wine
The juice of a lemon
A rib of celery, thinly sliced crosswise
A few leaves of sage
2 bay leaves
3 cloves (optional)
Salt
A few more perfect capers, some lemon slices, and sprigs of parsley for garnishing

Preparation:
Put the meat in a bowl with the bay leaves, cloves, sage and celery, and pour the wine over it. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours, turning the meat occasionally.

The next day place the meat in a Dutch oven. Strain the wine and add it to the meat, then add enough water to cover. Lightly salt the pot and simmer the meat for an hour.

In the meantime, wash, scale and bone the anchovies. When the hour is up add them to the pot and continue boiling for another half hour. The liquid should be reduced by half.

Hard boil the eggs, run them under cold water, peel them, and extract the yolks (you can discard or fill the whites as you prefer). Rinse, squeeze dry, and mince the capers.

When the meat is fork-tender remove it from the pot and strain the broth into a bowl.

Transfer the fish filets to a clean strainer and press them through it, together with the tuna and the yolks, into another bowl. Stir in the minced capers, the vinegar, the lemon juice and the olive oil, and then dilute the sauce to your taste with some of the reserved broth.

When the veal has cooled slice it finely and lay the slices out on one or more platters. The veal should all be on one layer. Spread the sauce over the veal, garnish the platters with the lemon slices, capers and parsley. Cover them with plastic wrap and chill them in the refrigerator before serving.

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