Gennaro’s Hidden Italy
Regional Recipes to Treasure for Generations
In Hidden Italy, Gennaro takes us on a culinary journey of discovery across Italy’s diverse landscape of plains, mountains, rivers and lakes and to the shores of the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas, to find wonderful recipes that have been lost in time or simply gone out of fashion, many of which can be traced to a particular town or village.
With a deep respect for the past, Gennaro recreates heritage dishes, blending his modern touch with timeless techniques. Uncover dishes that were once the heart of family gatherings, from humble pasta variations to mouthwatering sauces that capture the essence of Italy.
Each recipe carries a piece of history and tradition, inviting us to embrace the warmth and authenticity of Italian culture. Gennaro’s anecdotes make this cookbook a true homage to his home country of Italy, keeping its heritage alive one delicious bite at a time.
“For me, Italy is an emotion – the wonderful historic cities, quaint villages lost in time, landscapes, traditions, the people and of course the food. When I visit, I like to go off the beaten track, explore the lesser-known towns and villages, seek out the family-run trattorie, the ones without written menus.”
Gennaro
SPAGHETTI ALL’ASSASSINA
Assassin’s spaghetti
This unusual way of making spaghetti with tomato dates from the late 1960s, when a chef at a local restaurant in the Puglian city of Bari prepared a dish to satisfy a couple of diners at the end of the night.
You can argue that the idea came from the cucina povera way of cooking, when leftover pasta was often reheated in a frying pan until a caramelized crust was formed. However, it breaks all the traditions by cooking raw pasta in a very little watery sauce and gradually adding water until it has absorbed, like you would with a risotto. And the result is quite amazing as the flavours of the sauce become absorbed into the pasta.
Ingredients
serves 4
300 ml/10 fl oz tomato passata
3 tbsp tomato puree
sea salt
2 litres/3 ½ pints water
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves – 2 minced, 2 left whole and lightly crushed
1 red chilli, finely chopped, plus extra slices to garnish
400 g/14 oz spaghetti
Method
- In a large saucepan, place the tomato passata and tomato purée with a little salt and top up with 2 litres/3½ pints water.
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for 10 minutes.
- In a large, deep-sided frying pan, place the olive oil over a medium heat and sweat all the garlic and the chilli for a minute to allow it to infuse the oil, then remove the whole cloves and discard them.
- Place a couple of ladles of the tomato water in the frying pan, followed by the raw spaghetti. Using tongs or a wooden spoon, press down on the pasta as it cooks so that it caramelizes and forms a crust underneath.
- After a couple of minutes, turn over to cook the other side in the same way. Add two more ladles of the tomato water and cook the spaghetti over a medium-high heat until the liquid has been absorbed. Add more liquid and keep cooking in this way until the spaghetti is cooked ‘al dente’.
- Towards the end of the cooking time, cook over a high heat for a couple of minutes to absorb any remaining liquid. Remove the pan from the heat, divide the spaghetti between 4 plates and serve immediately.
Dan Jones
