I hadn't made ciambotta, a mixture of cooked vegetables which is related to both ratatouille and caponata, since I've been here, so at lunchtime I decided to put that right. There are many versions of ciambotta, most containing potatoes, and the recipe I used to use in the UK added celery and green olives, which I think are unnecessary. Anyway, today I used a recipe from one of the newer tomes on Mediterranean cookery which I have acquired here, and it turned out very well: peppers, potatoes, aubergine and peeled, seeded tomatoes all cooked separately in olive oil, then mixed back together at the end, after a clove of garlic and a red chilli pepper have been tossed around in the very little remaining oil in the same pan. This is a typical southern dish and it can be served warm or at room temperature, as a contorno [accompaniment] or as an antipasto. But I should tell you that Italian cooks would peel the potatoes, a concession I will not make!
20 comments:
That looks fabulous! You are such a tease Welshcakes. Can you pls give recipe? Are you a chef by profession?
Hi, Ubermouth. Love that competition over on your blog! I worry about copyright re recipes, you see but as I never follow one to the word I wonder why, really! Ok, here's what I did today:
Heat about 4 tblesp olive oil in a wide pan [I use a wok] and put in a couple of peppers of different colours [or 3 - one of each colour], not chopped finely, just cut into more or less rectangular shapes. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon c. 10 mins. Lift out the peppers with a slotted spoon and put in a large dish. Now add about 700 gr potatoes, cut into wedges to the pan. [You can peel if you want - I don't.] Toss around until golden and nearly tender. Lift out and add to the peppers in dish. Now add 1 or 2 aubergines, cut into large cubes, to the oil . [You may need more oil here as aubergines really soak it up.] Toss around till golden and tender. Lift out the aubergines and add to the other vegs in dish. If there is much oil left in the pan, take moat of it out, though there probably won't be. Now add about 1lb tomatoes - more if you like - which you have skinned, deseeded and chopped, to the pan, plus a whole red chiili papper and a whole garlic clove. Toss around for c. 10 mins. Then put all the vegs back in the pan, season to taste with coarse seasalt and only a little black pepper and mix well . When they are all warm, chuck it all back into the serving dish. Voilà.
Ps: No, I'm a teacher lady, for my sins! Self-taught cook.
Hey I've seen your comments all over the place this evening... I was just looking back through who had commented on me and found someone I thought I didn't know and you were there ... sorry is this totally irrelevant ... the food looks utterly delISH!!
Hope all's fine with you
take care
Gleds
Oh I definitely like the look of this and id it tastes anything like caponata I'll love it. Very pretty Welshcakes.
regards
jmb
Copyright, poppyright. Do the recipes, WC but not just before dinner.
Sounds delicious! I love veggie dishes like that.
You don't cook the potatoes first?
Q is gone up country showing a friend from New York, Morocco. Could you FedEx just one serving over here? sigh It looks wonderful!
Hi, Gleds. I try to get around, you know! Glad you like the dish. Ciao, jmb. Yes, it is a bit like caponata. Liz, no, I don't parboil the potatoes forst. You can also use whole, small new potatoes, which would cook more quickly, obviously. OK, James! Detto fatto, Lady M.
What's the reason for cooking them separately and then combining them at the end? Why can't you cook them altogether, starting with the ones that need the most and adding the others as and when? I must say it looks very good.
I don't know the answer to that, WW. Perhaps so that the potatoes retain a bit of crunchiness and the aubergines last because they soak up so much oil. When I made Ciambotta in Britain, I used to follow Valentina Harris' recipe in "Southern Italian Cooking" and everything was cooked togather. That recipe gave a good result but not as good as this one!
Italian cooking is meant to be best in the world. The French stole all their ideas from the Italians
(so I hear)
Absolutely right , Gleds [though I am biased!] The Roman soldiers on the march first used spices to preserve food, and later the French refined their techniques. Ironic, then, that Italians are so reluctant to use spices [other than connamon] today but that's another essay!
question and a comment...
...if i may.
--what potato did you use? i can imagine that reds, finns, or yukon golds would work well, but my guess is that a russet might be a bit "crumbly".
--if i might guess again: as you suggest, cooking the items apart from each other allows you to cook each to an al dente state and then reheat them together,,,allowing each to be "just perfectly" done.
additionally, less material in the pan allows for a better "sauted" vegetable; as opposed to the more mushy texture of "steaming", which would be the result of an overcrowded pan.
another advantage to a less crowded pan is temperature recovery: the pan reheats more quickly after a smaller amount of food is added, again creating a better saute.
Yum! That looks delicious! I just took out some meatloaf to defrost...I reckon those vegies would go will with it!
I'm just catching up on blogs, Welsh...somehow or other I froze my keyboard yesterday and I couldn't type a thing. I had to get my computer guy to come over at a cost of $33.00 to restore the system. Not sure how I achieved the freezing of the keyboard, other than I did hit two (unknown to me) keys simultaneously...and that, I think is what caused the problem!
Hello, FC. We don't get the huge choice of potatoes that there is in Britain. We get "Old" and "new" but both are large. I've only seen small new potatoes once, So the potatoes I used were akin to baking potatoes in Britain. That's a very logical explanation you give for the cooking method: I am sure you are right. As I say, the recipe was successful! Are you a cook?
speaking of potatoes...recalling this story today at the grocery store made me buy the bag of assorted baby potatoes (ruby crescent fingerling, russian banana fingerling, french fingerling, and purple peruvian fingerlings), which are roasting with oil, sea salt and garlic as we speak.
i did cook for a number of years, which has made The Girlfriend eternally happy.
Ciao, FC What a lovely assortment - I am jealous! I knew you had to have been a cook.
I know what ciambotta is, but what is the translation in english. Someone told me it means "Big Mix"
is this correct? Thanks
Is that It: The most likely iriginal meaning of the word and its corruptions - cianfotta, ciambrotta - is "trampled" , referring to the cooking down of the vegetables.
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