Simple Italian Cookery | Page 4

be, add another tablespoon of

olive-oil. When the tunny have been fried add a teaspoonful of chopped
parsley and four tomatoes, peeled and the seeds removed, and a pinch
of pepper. Let the tomatoes cook thoroughly. When they are cooked put
the spaghetti into the saucepan and move them about with a fork and
spoon until they are thoroughly mixed with the sauce and the tunny.
Then serve.
TIMBALE OF VERMICELLI WITH TOMATOES (_Neapolitan
Receipt_)
Take ten medium-sized fresh tomatoes and cut them in two crosswise.
Put a layer of these into a baking-dish with the liquid side touching the
bottom of the dish. Now put another layer with the liquid side up,
sprinkle on salt and pepper. Break the raw vermicelli the length of the
baking-dish and put a layer of it on top of the tomatoes. Now add
another layer of the tomatoes, with the skin side touching the vermicelli,
a second layer with the liquid side up, salt and pepper, and another
layer of the raw vermicelli, and so on, the top layer being of tomatoes
with their liquid side touching the vermicelli. Heat three or four
tablespoons of good lard (or butter), and when the lard boils pour it
over the tomatoes and vermicelli; then put the dish into the oven and
cook until the vermicelli is thoroughly done. After cooling a little while,
turn it out into a platter.
MACARONI "ALLA SAN GIOVANNELLO"
While three-quarters of a pound of macaroni are boiling in salted water
prepare the following: Chop up fine two ounces of ham fat with a little
parsley. Peel six medium-sized tomatoes, cut them open, remove the
seeds, and any hard or unripe parts, and put them on one side. Take a
frying-pan and put into it one scant tablespoon of butter and the
chopped ham fat. When the grease is colored put in the sliced tomatoes
with salt and pepper. When the tomatoes are cooked and begin to
sputter put the macaroni into the pan with them, mix well, add grated
Parmesan cheese, and serve.
RIBBON MACARONI (_Pasta fatta in Casa. Fettuccini_)

2 1/2 cups of flour 2 eggs 3 tablespoons of cold water 1/2 teaspoon of
salt
Put the flour on a bread-board. Make a hole in the middle of it, and
break the eggs into it. Add the water and the salt, and mix all together
with a fork until the flour is all absorbed and you have a paste which
you can roll out. Then take a rolling-pin and roll it out very thin, about
the thickness of a ten-cent piece. Leave it spread out like this until it
has dried a little. Then double it over a number of times, always
lengthwise, and cut it across in strips about one-half inch wide. Boil
two quarts of salted water, and put the ribbons into it, and cook for ten
minutes, then drain. Serve with the meat and sauce as in receipt for
Macaroni with Meat and Sauce, or with the tomato sauce and cheese
only, as desired.
RAVIOLI WITH MEAT
Prepare the paste as in the preceding receipt.
Take whatever meat is desired--chicken, turkey, or veal--this must
always be cooked. (Left-over meat may be utilized this way.) Chop the
meat very fine, add one tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese, one egg,
a dash of nutmeg, a dash of grated lemon-peel, one tablespoon of butter,
cold. Mix these ingredients in a bowl. Take a teaspoon of the mixture
and put it into the extended paste, about two inches from the edge.
Take another spoonful and put it about two inches away from the first
spoonful. Continue to do this until you have a row of teaspoonfuls
across the paste. Then fold over the edge of the paste so as to cover the
spoonfuls of mixture, and cut across the paste at the bottom of them.
Then cut into squares with the meat in the middle of each square; press
down the paste a little at the edges so the meat cannot fall out. Continue
to do this until all the meat and the paste are used up.
Put the little squares of paste and meat into the boiling salted water a
few at a time, and boil for ten minutes. Serve with tomato sauce, or
butter and grated Parmesan cheese.
RAVIOLI WITH BRAINS

Take one lamb's brains and parboil in slightly salted water for five
minutes. Put into a bowl with a small quantity of curds, one egg, salt
and pepper, dash of nutmeg, and a little grated Parmesan cheese, and
mix all together. Then put by teaspoonfuls on the paste as in preceding
receipt. Cook for ten minutes in boiling salted water, and serve with
tomato sauce.
RAVIOLI OF CURDS AND SPINACH
1 small bunch of spinach 1/2 pound of curds
Cook