I found this recipe of mine in a folder. I used to write about food for a website and I created this dish to enter a competition (never heard anything out of it...). So here it is. This is a typical dish from Piedmont that I have adapted so it can be replicated if, like me, you live in the UK.
'Bagnet verd' e bollito (Piedmontese green sauce
and boiled beef)
Serves 4.
Ingredients for bagnet (green sauce)
1 small bread roll
3 tbsp wine vinegar (I used balsamic as
it’s sweeter; if using other vinegar, add 1tsp of sugar)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
half a chili pepper, finely chopped,
seeds discarded
50g parsley
one anchovy fillet (I used one from a
jar of anchovy fillets in oil)
a glug of olive oil
Unlike the salsa verde that has been widely adopted in the UK, the original Piedmontese recipe has an extra ingredient, chili. Although chefs keep adding other herbs, such as basil and mint à la Jamie Oliver, this sauce is based on parsley. And it certainly doesn't have capers or pickles. There is also a red version, where you add chopped tomatoes and half a chopped pepper. The red version is runnier in texture and is often served cold as a pasta sauce in summer.
Method
- Crumble
the soft, white inside of your bread roll (called mollica in Italian) in a
bowl, add vinegar and marinate briefly. Discard the crust or keep it to
mop up the sauce off your plate later on!
- In a
blender or mouli, add the garlic, chili pepper, parsley, anchovy and
mollica (squeeze excess vinegar before you add it). Add olive oil. Blitz
or puree it. Bagnet is not a runny sauce, but if your mix looks too dry,
add more oil and combine.
- Store
sauce in the fridge in a jar, box or covered bowl.
Ingredients for bollito (boiled beef)
750-800g beef brisket
2 celery stalks with leaves on, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
10g fresh parsley, whole
big sprig of rosemary, whole
big pinch of salt
To make the bollito
If you are having bollito in a restaurant you might find bollito misto, which is mixed boiled meat. This might include beef brisket, tongue, veal, chicken or capon and even pig trotter. I made a simple bollito as my mum makes, using a cheap but tasty cut, beef brisket.
Method:
- Place
the brisket in a tall saucepan. Fill with cold water till it’s covered.
Add the celery, onion, carrot, garlic, parsley, rosemary and salt.
- Bring
to the boil then cover and simmer for around two hours. I had a 750g piece
and it took 2 hours and 15 mins on a low heat. If you are unsure, fish it
out, cut a tiny sliver and taste it. If it’s not cooked, place back in the
pan.
- Take
the brisket out but don’t discard the water. This is good broth that can
be reduced to make soups. I reduced it boiling it quickly and added
potatoes and other veg, then liquidised the lot with a hand blender,
getting an extra meal out of this recipe. You can pop the cooled and
covered pan in the fridge and do it later or the day after.
- Back
to the brisket! You can eat this hot or cold. Slice the brisket and serve
with bagnet. I like to have a fresh salad to accompany this dish, but you
can have boiled veg if you prefer.
Growing up in Italy and living my life in the UK
I was born in Piedmont, a region in the North West of Italy, renown for full-bodied
red wines, such as Barbera and Barolo, and white truffles – and infamous for
Asti spumante (which can be as good as champagne if you ignore cheap bottles). My
village, Castagnole Lanze, is located between Alba and Asti. Visit
http://www.lanze.it/ and click on English flag to read about the village and
its Adopt a Vineyard Row initiative.
I grew up in a restaurant, which is still open under our family name but rented by another family - none of us children wanted to take it over. Running a bar and restaurant is really hard work and we found this out from an early age as we helped our grandmother as waiters and dish washers when they had big functions. I learnt to bake cakes quite soon but didn't do much cooking when I was younger as my mum and other relations were very good cooks.
Ironically I learnt to cook in London when I came over to practise English. I was renting a small flat in Bloomsbury with a friend and I did experiment with food using a double pan I had taken from my mum and packed in my case. I even took one of her wooden spoons! Fresh Italian ingredients were not as common or inexpensive as they are today, but we did enjoy a few good meals.
After I graduated, I moved to London and that's when I embraced international cuisine, learning to use a wok and appreciating curries. I worked for women’s magazines for several years as a subeditor and now live in Cambridge, working from home as a freelance writer and volunteering for local charities. The change of my career was due to having my daughter and not wanting to go back to commute to work inhouse as it would have meant not seeing my daughter much and giving up the charity work.
I have written a few food recipes for a parenting website and other sites, but I’m an amateur cook with no formal training. I tend to experiment, changing recipes and adapting them to what I have in the fridge or my equipment (at present our oven is temperamental so I’m using the slow cooker more). I cook Italian, Chinese, Indian, English, Japanese and even American food. I recently tried making a Vietnamese cake. My partner, who is English, does a lot of cooking and sometimes steals my family recipes.
The recipe I have chosen is a Piedmontese dish. I have followed the original recipe and asked my brother and mum for advice as it has been interpreted by chefs in ways that veer off our tradition. When we had a mouthful of this dish, my partner and I felt like we were back in Italy - the aroma and flavours are so strong and fragrant they remind me of my mum’s and grandma’s kitchen. Sadly my grandma is not with us anymore, she used to cook for the restaurant, so I couldn’t ask her input.
This bio was written in 2010. A lot has happened since then and it was lovely to find this file in my computer with this great recipe.
Copyright Simone Castello
