Chiara C. Rizzarda's Blog, page 40

In campo come nella vita: American Fooball e talenti trasferibili

This is going to be one of those rare posts in Italian: all my English-speaking friends should either chime out or hit that sweet “translate” button on your browser.
It’s also going to be a post on American Football. Or not. Proceed at your own risk.

Come avrà intuito chi mi segue anche su altri social media, in questi giorni sono a Nashville, Tennessee, con la squadra di Football per la American Football Coaches Association Annual Convention. L’anno scorso i nostri manager hanno parlato all’international session, mentre quest’anno siamo semplicemente in visita.
Questo non è il classico post di riepilogo di quello che abbiamo visto alla conferenza. Mi dispiace. Mi concentrerò su una singola conferenza all’interno di una singola sessione, perché trovo che abbia portato contenuti e suggestioni altamente rilevanti per una grande pluralità di situazioni. Oltre ad avermi ispirato a tornare a calcare le scene delle convention internazionali, perché effettivamente è qualcosa che mi manca molto.

La sessione

Per futuro riferimento, la sessione di cui sto parlando si è tenuta lunedì 8 gennaio all’interno della High School General Session, tenuta da Jeremiah Brown (The Lead Company ACC), ed era intitolata “Empowering Student Athletes Leveraging NIL for Career Readiness & Professionalism”.

NIL?

Prima di entrare nel merito di cosa trattasse la conferenza e perché/come potrebbe essere rilevante per noi, una nota su cosa sia la NIL: si tratta di una controversa legge, conquistata a fatica dagli atleti stessi, che consente ai ragazzi di sfruttare e monetizzare la propria immagine come giocatori professionisti (o potenzialmente tali) al posto di essere carne da macello per le loro scuole di appartenenza. Si tratta di un importante passo per l’autonomia dei ragazzi e lo speaker ha dovuto far ripetere più volte al pubblico che “non è una legge malvagia”. La maggior parte dei manager negli Stati Uniti sembra terrorizzata dall’autonomia dei loro atleti. Jeremiah ha provato a proporre un paradigma diverso.

Come?

In questo modo.

Cambiando il paradigma

Il primo paradigma che Jeremiah propone di cambiare è relativo all’approccio che i coach mantengono nei confronti dei loro giocatori, limitando e ribaltando atteggiamenti vessatori di giudizio.

“Se i tuoi giocatori scendono in campo per dimostrare che ti sbagliavi, non stai creando un luogo in cui si sentono sicuri, considerati e valorizzati.”

E le nuove generazioni non sono più disposte ad accettare certi approcci: se ne andranno.

“Se i tuoi giocatori non si sentono sicuri, considerati e valorizzati, non renderanno sul campo perché staranno giocando sotto l’influenza della paura.”

Un allenatore deve adattarsi a quello che di fatto è un cambio di paradigma gestionale in tutti gli ambiti della società: l’orientamento al risultato (o, come si dice in altri ambiti, al prodotto) deve lasciare spazio ad un orientamento al processo.

Quale processo?

Quello di aricchire i giocatori dal punto di vista personale, di trasformarli non in atleti vincenti ma in persone migliori, sul campo come nella vita. E se lo slogan vi è familiare è perché da sempre i Rams propongo lo stesso approccio. Era incidentalmente il tema del calendario 2022.

In particolare Jeremiah si concentra su un concetto chiave, he chiama quello delle “transferable skills”, dei talenti trasferibili. Gestione del tempo, gestione dell’ansia, rispetto dei ruoli, pensiero strategico… questi sono tutti talenti che vengono appresi sul campo, alcuni dei quali sono straordinariamente esclusivi del football americano in modi che non possono essere nemmeno immaginati da chi non conosce lo sport.
Il fatto di apprendere questi talenti sul campo, però, non significa che i giocatori siano automaticamente in grado di applicarli (di trasferirli, per l’appunto) in altri ambiti della loro vita. Ed è qui che un coach può intervenire, migliorare il livello del proprio impatto nella vita dei giocatori, e fare ancora di più la differenza.
Come fare quindi? Ecco la proposta di Jeremiah.

1) identificare questi talenti trasferibili. Gestione del tempo, comunicazione efficace, networking sono solo alcune delle possibili capacità che il fooball aiuta a sviluppare e che possono essere trasferite nella vita come nel lavoro. Identificarle può essere oggetto di brainstorming e di laboratori con i giocatori stessi.
2) identificare una giornata a settimana duante la offseason in cui viene data priorità alla carriera personle dei giocatori e al loro sviluppo come professionisti.
3) impostare obiettivi personali tramite sessioni individuali con i giocatori, durante le quali discutere i loro obiettivi personali e professionali per creare gruppi di mutuo supporto tra giocatori e con gli allenatori o gl assitenti che possono fornire specifica guida in specifici ambiti.
4) istituire quelli che Jeremiah chiama “life skill mondays”, giornate con cadenza settimanale in cui vengono tenuti workshop che si concentrano sulle skill maggiormente individuate durante le sessioni individuali: leadership, resilienza, intelligenza emotiva sono alcuni degli esempi portati d Jeremiah.
5) effettuare check-in periodici con gli atleti durante i quali veriicare non solo il loro progresso sportivo ma anche quello personale e professionale.
6) impostare e condividere obiettivi che vadano oltre lo sport. Lo sviluppo personale e professionale, così come quello sportivo, passa attraverso la definizione di obiettivi realistici, circoscritti nel tempo, raggiungibili e misurabili. Il successo che conta davvero è quello a tutto tondo come individui, non semplicemente sul campo, ed è un concetto in cui i Rams hanno sempre creduto.
7) fornire accesso a risorse di qualità. È ovvio che, nonostante i coach siano importanti nel comunicare questi talenti sul campo, il loro trasferimento sul lavoro richiede un passaggio di livello. È quindi importante che ai giocatori vengano messi a disposizione i contributi di professionisti negli ambiti individuati, sotto qualunque forma possibile: risorse asincrone, sessioni di lecture, giornate di workshop.

E noi?

La base filosofica è certamente la medesima. Torno però da Nashville con un’ispirazione a spingere il contributo oltre, più in alto, più a fondo. Perché i Rams continuino ad essere e siano sempre di più uno spazio in cui vengono formate persone che possono essere se stesse, che possono trovare il loro posto nel mondo, e che possono aiutare gli altri a fare altrettanto.

#ChthonicThursday: Down the Rabbit Hole of Fairy Folk

Since Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the expression “down the rabbit hole” has become a figure of speech. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the “rabbit hole” itself is…

…used to refer to a bizarre, confusing, or nonsensical situation or environment, typically one from which it is difficult to extricate oneself.

Though John Tenniel doesn’t provide us with an illustration of that moment in his original work for the novel’s first edition, it’s one of the most iconic scenes of the tale and we are bound to believe it meant a lot to Carroll too since the first version of the manuscript was called Alice’s Adventures under Ground. And I don’t think I have to stress the meaning of descending: Alice’s facing a proper catabasis.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

It’s one of the moments Disney’s version captures best, from Alice’s point of view, with Dinah the cat waving goodbye from above.

Goodbye!

Goodbye, Dinah! Goodbye!

It’s worth noting how the final version in the cartoon is quite the opposite of the first concept sketches: we don’t see Alice, for a while. At that moment, we are Alice. A concept sketch for the cartoon.Today, we take a look at a similar theme in a Welsh legend. If you want to take a look at the many illustrations of that scene, I suggest you browse an old post of mine. For the legend, drop by on Patreon.

#ChthonicThursday: the Tylwyth Teg

Tylwyth Teg (Middle Welsh for Fair Family) is the collective noun for mythological creatures known as the aes sídhe in Irish folklore. In other words: fairies. We are we featuring faerie folk in a regular contribution on creatures from the underground? Well, because the Tylwyth Teg do live underground.

The picture in the header comes from the book ‘Y Tylwyth Teg’ (1935).
The illustrator is anonymous.

Read more on my Patreon.

#AdventCalendar Day 24: a Renaissance Menu

We’re stepping out of Advent and straight into the Twelve Days of Christmas, so today I thought I’d do something different and special: instead of a recipe from the Middle-Ages, I’ll give you a whole menu from Reinassance and, specifically, the menu Cristoforo da Messisbugo devised for the marriage of Ercole d’Este with the Princess of France. And you had to be careful with that menu ’cause Ercole was the son of Lucrezia Borgia, and Isabella d’Este was going to be present at the wedding. Two ladies you didn’t want to mess with.

The set up

Alongside salt and pepper on each table, you’re going to need something else to complement this special lunch:

milk bread;sugared milk;rosewater for cleaning your hands.

The milk bread and a glass of milk every now and then will take off the edge of some of the most savoury dishes.

The salads

You’ll want to lay these out before the guests arrive, so that everybody will be able to serve themselves without waiting for the main course. Think of these as hors d’oeuvre.

capers, truffles and raisin (remember what we said about raisins);indive, red radicchio and slices from the fruit of the cedar tree;anchovies, large radishes carved in small figurines according to your taste, small whole radishes.Hors d’oeuvre

Next to the salads, you’ll also want to lay out some richer starters, such as:

puff pastry cakes with sour cream;fried ham and beef tongue sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon;soused (fried, salted and marinated) seabream with laurel leaves.The courses

Remember that we’re talking about one of the most important events of its time. When I say the wedding had eight courses, I fear I’ll have to specify that every course is its own dinner. I’ll give you a list of all the dishes, and then I will pick some of them to expand upon. Otherwise we’ll still be here by New Year’s Eve. Eating.

Detail from a portrait of Isabella d’Este.Selected Courses:Onion soup

More than a soup, you might want to think about this as a sort of pie or parmesan, meaning an oven-cooked layered dish with cheese, bread and vegetables.

Ingredients (serves 4 people):around 1 kg of sliced onions;4 tablespoons of butter;3 tablespoons of olive oil;3 tablespoons of flour;one splash of brandy;around 2 litres of beef stock;salt and pepper;sourdough croutons, oven dried;60 grams of grated Gruyere;60 grams of grated Parmesan;1 lightly beaten egg;250 grams of puff pastry dough.Recipe:

Stir-fry the onions in a mixture of butter and oil for approximately 30 minutes until they’re golden brown. Incorporate the flour, stirring well, splash with the brandy and keep stirring while you add the stock. Simmer for at least 1 hour.

Add salt and pepper if necessary, then place the sourdough croutons into four ovenproof bowls and cover them with puff pastry, sprinkle Gruyere cheese over the croutons and brush their surface with the egg wash. Finish by sprinkling Parmesan on the pastry. Transfer the bowls to the oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Fried sweetbreadsIngredients (serves 4 people):400 grams sweetbreads;salt;120 grams of bacon;lard;flour;1 minced shallot;450 grams of cabbage;pepper;vinegar.Recipe:

Fill a pot with enough water and add one tablespoon salt, bring the water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, add the sweetbreads and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove to an ice bath until they’re chilled completely. If you don’t do that, they’ll be disgusting. Don’t tell you I didn’t warn you.
Remove as much of the wrapping membrane as you can, place the sweetbreads on a towel-lined plate, compress them with another plate and put them into the fridge overnight.

The next morning, take your coffee and then cut the sweetbreads into four equal portions.
Take a pan that you’ll be able to place into the oven, place it on a lively fire and crips the bacon, while you preheat the oven to 180 °C, season the sweetbreads with salt and dredge them in flour.

When the bacon is done, remove it and keep the grease, adding more lard if that wasn’t enough, reduce the temperature and add the sweetbreads. Saute for 3 minutes on each side until they are browned, place the pan in your preheated oven for 7 minutes and then turn them, cook for another 7 minutes while you nurse your scalded fingers (or at least that’s what I’ll be doing).

Meanwhile, prepare the cabbage: saute it the lard and minced shallot, add the cabbage and cook until it’s soft, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add the bacon to the greens and mix them, then divide them into four plates. Drizzle them with vinegar and top with a sweetbread. Serve immediately. The hotter the better. I mean it. The sweetbread is like butter and if it turns cold… well, you won’t like it.

Detail from a portrait of Lucrezia Borgia.What’s Royal Sauce?

Since this is coming around a lot, I’ll give you the recipe for this “Royal sauce” you’re supposed to use with your roasted partridge. You’re supposed to know how to roast your partridge without my help, by now.

Ingredients (serves 4 people):50 grams of vinegar;30 grams of sugar;a pinch of cinnamon;4 cloves;4 grains of black pepper;grated nutmeg;grated lemon zest;green cedar zest.Recipe:

Bring the vinegar and sugar to a boil and then simmer it for around 10 minutes, ground the spices and zests in a mortar, mix them and add them to the mixture, boiling everything for 5 more minutes. Filter the sauce and then add some broth from whatever it is that you’re going to use the sauce on.

Note: the sauce is supposed to be used on dishes that are either served cold or lukewarm.

Black Broth

I couldn’t resist this one.

Black broth was an alleged traditional Spartan dish that came to symbolise their frugality and had an awful reputation. It was a pork stew, made dark by the addition of black pudding and wine. And when we say black pudding, we mean a pudding made with blood. Which is delicious, by the way.

Plutarch, in the Life of Lycurgus, tells us of a king of Pontus who, having heard of this famous broth and being intrigued by it, had a Spartan cook come to prepare it. The cook told him that one had to bathe in the Eurota (the Peloponnesian river near Sparta) before he could enjoy it, meaning that one must adopt Spartan customs in order to appreciate it.

What’s Albufera Sauce?

Also known as German sauce, it’s a sauce made with roux, chicken stock, cream and butter. Sorry, did you expect something called “German sauce” to be lean and healthy?

Ingredients:15 cl of cognac;15 cl of Madeira;100 grams of foie gras (oh yeah, we mean business);20 grams of cream;25 cl of chicken stock;50 grams of butter;Salt and pepper.Recipe:

Heat the cognac and Maidera until it reduces and be sure not to breathe in the vapours or you’ll be drunk before you even start. Add the broth and bring everything to a boil before you add the foie gras chopped in cubes, the butter, the pepper and, as a last garnish, the cream.

Oh, by the way: Renée of France, the bride of this banquet, was accused of heresy by her own husband and sent back to France. Merry Christmas!

Complete Menu1st CourseCapon wrap fried and sprinkled with sugar;quails;roasted capon meatballs and roasted capon livers;roasted pheasant with oranges;onion soup with pinecone nuts pastries;soused trout tails with sliced lemon and fried barbels;eels in marzipan;red snapper in its own fumet.2nd Coursemeat roll with stir-fried white sausages;fried sweetbreads sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon;capons in sweet bread and macis (which is the “flower” of nutmeg and it’s not to be messed with);pigeon potpie;chopped soused flounder;fried shrimp with vinegar;trout caviar pies;marzipan pastries.3rd Courseroasted partridges with royal sauce;stuffed rabbit, turtledoves and capons;pigeon stuffed with chopped cedars;roasted fish fillet sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon;fried minnows in sweet sauce and candied pinecone nuts;trout soup;roasted hagfish with its sauce (whatever that is);chestnut pies.4th Coursestuffed, roasted goat;capons in bread crust;stuffed pigeons;roast with French sauce;salt-crusted baked pike with saffron sauce;wine-soaked trouts with bread;fried flounder with mustard chutney;fried sardines with oranges and sugar;marzipan pastries stuffed with rice, fried, sprinkled with sugar and calling an ambulance for your liver.5th Coursechopped pigeons;partridge in lard and broth;roasted beef sirloin with German sauce;roasted suckling pig;grilled barbels with sauce;fried sparrows with oranges;fried garfish;wheat pies with oranges and candied fruit;veal pie.6th Courseroasted veal sirloin with sour cherries;boiled peacocks (I’m told they really have an awful flavour, so please don’t do that);soup of venison with black broth and candied almonds;marzipan pastries stuffed with hardboiled eggs, cheese and sugar;peacock sauce (see point number two);soused fish;grilled seabream with parsley and spiced, butter-fried chives.7th Coursepear and beef pies;pheasant, partridge and capon meat in jelly;pike white jelly;fennel salad with vinegar;Spanish olives;fresh eggs, pears and apples;parmisan cheese;steamed thistles with pears and salt.8th Courseoysters with oranges and pears;milk and honey;whipped egg white.

 

#AdventCalendar Day 23: Shrimp Pie

Ingredients:1 kg of shrimps (it’s better if they’re from sweet water, but sea shrimps will do as well);300 grams of white flour;90 grams of lard;1 egg;pinecone nuts;almonds;black pepper;cloves;fresh ginger;saffron;marjoram;salt.Recipe:

Prepare the dough as we did yesterday for the crust of the fish.

Crush the almonds and pine nuts in the mortar, leaving some aside to garnish the dish. Grind black pepper, cloves and saffron. Finely, chop the ginger root and pound it in the mortar with the other spices. Chop the marjoram.
Clean the prawns and remove their shells, then cook them in boiling water for about 20 seconds. Fry about one-third of the prawns in lard for one minute, while the others have to be finely chop or, even better, pounded in the mortar until you have a sort of cream.
Mix the ground almond and pine nut, the spices, the marjoram and the shrimp cream until you get a homogeneous filling, adding a small amount of water if it seems too dry. It means you probably overcooked the shrimps but it doesn’t matter. The last thing you’ll want to add is the saffron, and mix it all together until its colour is homogenous.

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin and grease a pan with lard. Carefully lay the pastry sheet and fill with the shrimp paste, cutting off the excess crust. Finish the dish with the sautéed prawns, almonds (better if in slices) and whole pine nuts.

Bake the pastry in the oven for about 30 minutes at 180°C. Allow it to cool a little before serving it, unless you want to kill your guests.

Additional references:

The Historical Italian Cooking website features this recipe, though they have something against butter, and they literally tell us not to read but to watch the video or else we won’t understand.
In Reinassance sources, apparently, other ingredients might have been used to prepare the dough: Cristoforo di Messisbugo, cook of the House of Este in Ferrara and active during the 16th century, mentions rosewater, saffron and sugar. Recipes for lean days exclude lard for sure, but they often avoid butter and eggs as well. Other versions call for almond butter instead of regular butter, whatever that is.
Bartolomeo Scappi, one of the most famous cooks in the Reinassance, in his Opera dell’arte del cucinare recommends wholemeal flour especially if you don’t intend to eat it. He also recommends using cold water, to prevent the dough from rising, especially if you’re working in summer: in winter, he cherishes the integrity of your hands and recommends water at room temperature.

#AdventCalendar Day 22: Seabass in Crust of Bread

Ingredients (serves 4 people):a small seabass for each person (around 300 grams each);olive oil;white pepper;4 small oranges (remember what we said about bitter oranges when we baked Anne Boleyn’s favourite pie);3 spoonfuls of rosewater.For the pastry:300 grams of flour;100 grams of butter;two pinches of salt;water.Recipe:

Pour the flour on a wooden plank in the shape of a volcano, as usual, cut the butter in small pieces making sure you don’t warm it with your hands and add it to the flour with a pinch of salt and then slowly incorporate enough water to create a smooth and even dough. Let it rest in the fridge for about two hours.

Meanwhile, clean the fish by removing the innards and the scales, wipe them dry with a cloth and place them in a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. Squeeze two of the oranges and water the fish with their juice, then cook them ten minutes on a lively fire until their skin has a golden shade.

On a work surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin to a thickness of 2-3 millimetres and cut 4 pieces wide enough to wrap each fish. Make sure their tail peeks out of the pastry and leave an opening around the mouth. The more this wrapping looks like a fish, the better. Place the wrapped fish back in the pan with olive oil and the squeezed juice of the other two oranges. Bake them in the oven at a temperature of 180 °C for around half an hour until the dough is golden. When the cooking is done, sprinkle everything with the rosewater.

A similar recipe, without the dough, features orange and cinnamon: you can find it here.

#AdventCalendar Day 21: Apple Soup

Ingredients (serves 4 people):5 quinces;a glass of almond milk (you know the drill);a litre of beef stock;30 grams of butter;a pinch of sugar;a pinch of ginger;powdered cinnamon.Recipe:

Peel the quinces and mince them in cubes after removing the core. Place the pieces in a pan and cover with the almond milk, the butter, the sugar and the ginger. Cook it on a low fire until the liquid has shrunk, then mush it to a pulp and place it in a pan with the broth. Cook for 20 minutes more on a slightly more live fire. When you place it in the serving bowls, sprinkle each portion with cinnamon.

Quinces?

Quinces are not apples and I strongly suggest not to swap them in this recipe, unless you want to make a dessert.

As a symbol sacred to Aphrodite, a quince possibly played a role in a lost poem by Callimachus that has been preserved in a prose epitome. In this tale, Acontius, upon spotting his beloved in the temple courtyard of Aphrodite, plucks a quince from the sacred orchard. He then inscribes a message on its skin and discreetly rolls it at the feet of the illiterate nurse accompanying the girl. Intrigued by the gesture, the nurse hands the quince to the girl, who, upon reading the inscription aloud, unwittingly utters a solemn vow to marry Acontius, swearing by Aphrodite herself. Such vows spoken within the goddess’s sacred precinct are considered unbreakable. We do not know how the story ends, but Acontius is a real asshole.

Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History, refers to “numerous varieties” of quince and provides descriptions of four of them.

In the Akkadian language, the fruit was identified as “supurgillu,” referred to collectively as “quinces”. This term was adopted into Aramaic as “sparglin”. During the Mishnaic Hebrew era in Judea, it was known as “prishin”, a borrowing term from Jewish Palestinian Aramaic meaning “the miraculous [fruit].” Quince thrived in the warmth of the Mesopotamian plain, an environment where apples did not flourish, and some in ancient times even dubbed this fruit “golden apples.” Modern scholars speculate they might be the famed fruit in the Hesperides garden.

#AdventCalendar Day 20: Barley Gruel

Ingredients (serves 4 people):400 grams of barley flour;a glass of almond milk (you know the drill);50 grams of butter;half a litre of chicken stock;a pinch of white pepper;salt.Recipe:

Melt the butter in a pan, warm the almond milk on the side and then pour the barley flour with the butter, while diluting it little by little with the warm milk. Beware not to allow lumps. The fire needs to be super-low, and you need to be super-careful.

Little by little, add the chicken broth too, while continuing to stir. Eventually, when you’re out of everything, continue stirring until the mixture starts boiling, add the salt and the pepper, and pour it into a large pan. Make sure it isn’t thicker than one centimetre. Finish cooking it in a very hot oven, the hotter the better: ten minutes should suffice.

Barley

Barley is a major cereal grown in temperate climates, and one of the main characters in the history of civilization. It was one of the first domesticated grains, though early traces of its consumption date back to 23,000 BC. Barley beer was probably one of the first alcoholic drinks developed during the Neolithic, so you can imagine it’s a plant very dear to my heart.

In Ancient Egypt, barley was connected with Orisis and his cycle of death and resurrection, as I have briefly highlighted here: it was believed to sprout from the body of the god himself, who granted food to his worshippers through his own sacrifice and his very body. If you’re seeing similarities with the Christian mystery of Eucarestia, where the bread is recurrently believed to turn into the body of Christ, it’s because there is.
A similarity was seen between the murder of Osiris and the scything down of the grain and its trampling: since his murderer Seth was represented as a hippo, later legends often render this parallel explicit. The seed sprouting begins the next agricultural cycle, and it was celebrated as a resurrection for the same god. Annual festivals saw the manufacturing of corn mummies, miniature figures of Osiris filled with mud and seeds: these figurines were planted in sacred areas and watered till they sprouted.
This renewal was possible thanks to two forces: the wisdom and determination of Isis, goddess of magic, and the life-giving waters of the Nile. The latter was embodied by the ancient deity Hapy, called the Lord of Fishes, the one “who greens the Two Banks,” and “the maker of barley and wheat” since his waters were credited with reviving Osiris.

In Ancient Greece, barley was sacred to Demeter and, as Homer reminds us, it was customary to offer the goddess a drink made of barley and mint (for the relationship between her and this plant, please refer to yesterday’s post): the drink was known as kykeon, in Eleusi where the goddess’ mysteries resided, and scholars debate whether this barley was fermented or not. I prefer to think it was.

Also, if you want to know more about Demeter, her mysteries and Minthe too, I recommend you read Ioanna Papadopoulou‘s Winter Harvest: I reviewed it here.

Barley is also a dominant element in Indian scriptures such as the Rigveda.

#Advent Calendar Day 19: Eggs in Mulled Wine

Ingredients (serves 6 people):9 hard-boiled eggs;20 grams of raisins;100 grams of grated pecorino cheese;50 grams of fresh pecorino cheese (you might want to use a younger one than the grated);a pinch of ground parsley;a pinch of fresh marjoram;a pinch of ground mint leaves;a pinch of ground ginger;a pinch of salt.For the wine:three glasses of sweet red wine (I’m recommended a Primitivo di Manduria passito)a cinnamon stick;3 cloves;a spoonful of honey.Recipe:

Remove the shell from the eggs and chop them in two, remove the yolks and place them in a pan. Chop the raisins and add them to the yolks with the pecorino cheese, small cubes of the fresh pecorino, the parsley, the marjoram, the mint and the ginger. Mix everything together, fill the spot left empty by the yolks and place the eggs in a pan.

On the side, boil the wine for ten minutes and mull it with cinnamon, cloves and honey. Filter the wine and pour it on the eggs before cooking them in the oven at 200°C for around twenty minutes.

 

#Advent Calendar Day 18: Capon Pie

Ingredients (serves 6 people):400 grams of boiled capon;100 grams of fresh pork underbelly;50 grams of sour cherries or 6 dry prunes;3 eggs;half a glass of red wine (something like a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo will do);a handful of ground parsley;a pinch of marjoram;a handful of ground mint leaves;a pinch of ground ginger;olive oil;black pepper;a pinch of salt.For the pastry:400 grams of flour;150 grams of butter;2 eggs;water;a pinch of salt.Recipe:For the pastry:

Build a small volcano with the flour, break the eggs in the crater and work everything together with the salt. Pour water on it little by little until the dough is elastic and not too soft. It’s going to be sticky, so you need to dust your hands with more flour. Also, remember that the water needs to be cold and so do your hands, or else the eggs in the mixture start misbehaving and the dough — as we say in Italy — goes crazy.
Chop the butter into pieces and incorporate it in the mixture as well, work it into the dough until you no longer see the pieces but this requires for the mixture to warm a bit, so you’ll want to be quick about it. As soon as you’re satisfied, drop the dough in cellophane or in a cold cloth, and throw it into the fridge. Three hours is the optimum, but half an hour usually suffices.

For the pie:

Chop the boiled capon in small pieces and put it into a pan with a streak of olive oil, add the ground pork belly, the ground prunes or sour cherries, and cook for a few minutes on a lively fire. Douse with the red wine, sprinkle the ground aromatic herbs (parsley, marjoram and mint), and cover everything with a generous dose of ground ginger. Add a pinch of salt, ground some black pepper and cook on a low fire until all the liquid has gone.

Lay the pastry on a buttered pan, pour the filling and cover with another layer of pastry. Cook for 50 minutes in the oven at 180°C.

Mint, the plant of the underworld

In Greek mythology, Minthe was an underworld naiad, a nymph of water, connected with the infernal river Cocytus, so I guess this could also work for #MermaidMonday. Hades, king of the Underworld, was very fond of her and she eventually became his mistress, but this didn’t escape Persephone or, according to other accounts, her mother Demeter: the nymph was eventually turned into mint, the aromatic plant we know today.
I dedicated to her one of my #ChthonicThursdays.

Illustration of Minthe and Hades by Solomon Shiv Landerman: you can buy a print here.