Risotto alla Bergamasca

Cook this warming Bergamo speciality at home

My version of risotto alla bergamasca, made
from ingredients you can buy at home

After an autumn walk amid the falling leaves along the Via delle Mura surrounding the Città Alta, what could be more welcome than a piping hot risotto in one of the restaurants in the upper town serving Bergamo specialities.

Over the years, I have enjoyed many different, delicious risotto dishes while on holiday in Bergamo. Rice, cooked and stirred with broth until it reaches a creamy consistency, is a classic of northern Italian cooking.

They can be incredibly simple dishes, but are delicious, even if they just contain onion, short grain rice, wine, chicken or vegetable stock, and parmigiano cheese. Add beef marrow to the mix and dissolve saffron in the stock and you have the famous risotto alla milanese, which dates back to the beginning of the 19th century.

I once discovered a recipe for a risotto made with onion, carrots, peas and zucchini that claimed to be risotto alla bergamasca and I featured it on this website in 2011.

But coincidentally, in 2010, the year before my post, Bergamo chef, restaurateur and hotelier Pino Capozzi had given to his beloved city something that Milan had been enjoying for 200 years - a risotto that they could call truly their own.

Most of the major supermarket chains stock
Taleggio among their continental cheeses

In his recipe for risotto alla bergamasca, the star ingredients were local sausage - la salsiccia - or, in dialect, la loanghina - and Taleggio cheese. The wine poured on to the toasted grains of rice was, of course, my own personal favourite, Valcalepio Bianco.

Just as they had polenta alla bergamasca and casoncelli alla bergamasca, the proud city now had risotto alla bergamasca.

The recipe aimed to showcase the products that Bergamo is justifiably proud of: loanghina, the local sausage, Taleggio cheese, and Valcalepio Bianco wine. It was flavoured by the herb that you always see scattered on casoncelli - sometimes called casonsei - fresh sage.

The challenge for a fan of cucina bergamasca living in England, such as myself, was how to replicate the authentic flavours when trying out the recipe at home.

Taleggio cheese is sold by several of the major supermarket chains - mine came from Asda - and through research I discovered that Cumberland sausage was made to a recipe similar to that of loanghina. I also found that Pinot Grigio used some of the same grape varieties as Valcalepio Bianco. (Of course, I know Pinot Grigio doesn’t taste nearly as good, but sadly Valcalepio Bianco isn’t widely available in the UK!)

Valcalepio Bianco is the
local white wine in Bergamo

Here then, is my anglicised version of Risotto alla Bergamasca for two people:

Ingredients:

150 grams of risotto rice - Arborio or Carnaroli

40 grams of butter

100 grams of fresh Cumberland pork sausage, removed from its skin and formed into small balls

60 grams of Taleggio cheese cubed

a litre of vegetable or chicken broth

half a glass of white wine

a shallot

sage leaves

black pepper.

Method:

Fry the shallot in half of the butter in a large saucepan with a couple of sage leaves. When the shallot has softened and started to turn gold, remove the sage and add the sausage and fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the rice and toast it in the butter for a few minutes before pouring in the glass of white wine.

When the wine has evaporated, continue to cook the rice, while adding ladles of the hot broth.  When the rice has reached the perfect consistency, remove the pan from the heat and add the rest of the butter, a pinch of ground black pepper and the cubes of Taleggio. Serve on hot plates.

Buon appetito dall'Inghilterra!

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Casoncelli alla bergamasca recipe

Casoncelli alla bergamasca, as served by Il Sole
restaurant in Bergamo's Città Alta 

Casoncelli, or casonsei as they are called in dialect, are part of Bergamo’s proud culinary tradition and visitors who have sampled them while in the city have spread the word about how tasty they are.

The pasta shape is made by folding a sheet of pasta over the filling and pressing it together at the edges in the manner of ravioli. The finished shape looks a bit like a wrapped sweet.

You can make casoncelli at home, reminding yourself of your enjoyable stay in Bergamo, by following this simple recipe.

Pasta ingredients:

Flour, 400gr

Wheat bran, 200 gr

Two eggs

Water

Filling ingredients:

Breadcrumbs, 125 gr

One egg

Grana Padano cheese, 125 gr

Sausage meat, 150 gr

Cooked beef, 100 gr

Amaretti 5 gr

Raisins 10 gr

One peeled and chopped pear

Nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper

Lemon peel

Parsley

Garlic

Preparation:

Mix flour, eggs and a pinch of salt on a pastry board with enough water to make a smooth dough. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan and brown sausage meat, pear and beef.  Add chopped parsley and minced garlic.

Tip the meat into a bowl and add the cheese, breadcrumbs, crushed amaretti, eggs, raisins and a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix together well.

Roll out the pasta and cut into two lengths. Place a spoonful of filling every few centimetres along the first length of pasta. Fold the length of pasta over to cover the filling and cut out half moon shaped discs along the length. Repeat with the second length. Press each disc gently in the middle with your finger.

Cook your casoncelli in boiling salted water, drain and then serve them sprinkled with grated cheese. Top with melted butter, chopped fresh sage and diced cooked bacon.

Pour yourself a glass of chilled Valcalepio Bianco to accompany the dish. Buon Appetito e Salute!

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Chestnuts are healthy as well as tasty

Chestnuts are in season
in Bergamo

It is the chestnut season now in Bergamo and the city and surrounding countryside will have a plentiful supply to be used in a variety of delicious recipes over the next few weeks.

While I was visiting Bergamo last week there was one day of rain and wind which blew a lot of chestnuts down from the trees. The sun returned the next day and dried up all the rain leaving the chestnuts to be picked up by keen connoisseurs of the fruit.

The chestnuts growing wild in the countryside round Bergamo will be harvested in November and many will be roasted on bonfires before being used to make tasty soups, tarts and cakes.

According to the October issue of il Paniere magazine, chestnuts are rich in vitamin B and C and minerals. You will see two varieties, a small sweet one known as la garavina and larger ones, which are referred to as i marroni di selva.

You can eat them raw, cooked, roasted, in cream, in cakes, as marrons glacé (with icing sugar), in foccacia and in chocolate.

If you want to be able to keep them for a while, leave them in water for three days before drying them in the sun.

While I was enjoying an authentic, Neapolitan meal in Trattoria Caprese in Via Daniele Piccinini in the Cittá Bassa last week, the waiter came round and placed a handful of roasted chestnuts on each table, a complimentary side dish reminding us that outside it was actually autumn in Lombardy.

Here is a quick and easy recipe you can make in your own home:

Roast your chestnuts on a baking tray in a hot oven.

Quickly peel them while they are still hot.

Toss them in a dry frying pan over a high heat without using any butter or oil.

Remove the pan from the heat and sprinkle the chestnuts with Grappa and sugar.

Mix and then flambé them. The heated spirit will light with a match.

Eat the chestnuts as soon as the flames disappear.

For a kilo of hot, roasted chestnuts you will need about 70 mls of Grappa and three tablespoons of caster sugar.

Buon Appetito!


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Risotto alla bergamasca

Classic Bergamo risotto

A tasty and warming risotto with vegetables is a northern Italian classic dish.

Try this delicious version from Bergamo , which is simple and quick to prepare.

For four people you will need:

Arborio rice, 400 gr

Butter

Extra virgin olive oil

Peeled carrots, 2

Onion, finely chopped

Peas, 170 gr, fresh or defrosted from frozen

Zucchini, 2

Parsley

Dry white wine, 125ml

Vegetable or chicken stock, 500 ml

Salt and pepper

Grated parmesan, or a similar type of hard cheese

To make:

Wash and chop the carrots and zucchini. In a saucepan, saute the onion in oil with the carrots, zucchini and peas for a few minutes until soft but not brown. Add the rice and toast it slightly before adding the wine. Let it bubble and then reduce the heat and add the stock, a little at a time, stirring until it is absorbed. This will take about 15 minutes. Season to taste. The risotto is ready when the rice is no longer hard, but be careful not to overcook it, or it will become too soft. When you think it is ready, turn off the heat and add the butter, cheese and parsley. Serve, piping hot, on to previously warmed plates.

Buon Appetito!


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Chestnuts Bergamo style

Castagne Bergamasche

Chestnuts are plentiful at Christmas

If you have some chestnuts left over after making the Christmas vegetable dishes and stuffings, why not try out a simple way of cooking them from Bergamo.

There are lots of chestnut trees in the countryside round Bergamo, many growing wild. After the nuts are harvested they are often roasted on bonfires before being used to make delicious soups, tarts and cakes.

But this is a quick and easy dish you can make in your own home.

Roast your chestnuts on a baking tray in a hot oven, first using a sharp knife to make a cross in the flat side.

Quickly peel them while they are still hot.

Toss them in a dry frying pan over a high heat without using any butter or oil.

Remove the pan from the heat and sprinkle the chestnuts with Grappa and sugar.

Mix and then flambé them. The heated spirit will light with a match.

Eat the chestnuts as soon as the flames disappear.

For a kilo of hot, roasted chestnuts you will need about 70 mls of Grappa and three tablespoons of caster sugar.

Buon Appetito!

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Bergamo’s casoncelli go international

Casoncelli 'Spaghetti House' style

A variation of Bergamo’s local dish, casoncelli alla bergamasca, is currently being enjoyed in London by diners at Spaghetti House restaurants.

Spaghetti Houses are including casoncelli under ‘la pasta artigianale e risotti’ section of their menu.

The casoncelli are described as half moon pasta filled with parmesan, pear, amaretti, beef and pork, tossed with cavolo nero -- a dark-leafed Tuscan cabbage -- and sausage.

It is a tasty version of Bergamo’s traditional dish, providing customers with hearty, warming food in London this autumn.

Spaghetti House restaurants have been serving traditional Italian food since 1955, when the first restaurant was opened in Goodge Street .

Although there are now 11 restaurants throughout London, Spaghetti House is still a privately owned, family run company.

For futher information about Spaghetti House restaurants visit www.spaghettihouse.co.uk

(Picture shows the Spaghetti House in St Martin’s Lane in west London, which is next door to the English National Opera.)


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Casoncelli alla bergamasca

Delicious casoncelli alla bergamasca

Sampling melt-in-the-mouth Casoncelli alla bergamasca, topped with chopped bacon and sage, butter and grated cheese, is an unforgettable part of a stay in Bergamo.

Casoncelli, also sometimes referred to on menus as casonsei, are a type of ravioli, filled with sausage meat, which has been mixed with several other vital ingredients, including finely chopped pears, sultanas and amaretti.

They are believed to have originated in the countryside outside Bergamo, where they were created as a way of using up left over meat, and have found their way on to the tables of the better off Bergamo families and the menus of traditional restaurants. They are now an important part of Bergamo’s proud gastronomic tradition.

You can order them as a primo piatto, but if you don’t want to eat a whole plateful when you try them for the first time, order them as part of the Tris della Casa at Il Sole Restaurant, which is just off the Piazza Vecchia in the Città Alta (upper town), on the corner of Via Colleoni and Via Rivola.

Il Sole's Tris della Casa

Il Sole’s Tris della Casa is available only if two people in a party order it. They will both be served with a dish divided into three compartments that are filled with casonsei, risotto ai funghi and gnocchi al pomodoro.

You can also buy ready-made casoncelli, or casonsei, from one of the shops selling fresh pasta in Bergamo and prepare them yourselves.

Simply add the casoncelli to boiling water, allow them to simmer for five minutes and serve them sprinkled with grated Grana Padano cheese, melted butter and chopped, cooked bacon and sage.

Wash your casoncelli down with a glass of chilled Valcalepio Bianco.

Buon Appetito and Salute!

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Just dessert for composer Donizetti

Torta Donizetti

While in Bergamo you will see many tempting cakes and desserts in cafes and bars and in the windows of pasticcerie (cake shops).

Torta Donizetti

A local speciality you may notice is Torta Donizetti, a ring shaped cake dedicated to the great musician, who was born and died in Bergamo.

One story is that it was whipped up in a hurry by Rossini’s cook when the two composers were dining together and that Rossini dedicated it to his guest afterwards.

It is now part of Bergamo’s gastronomic tradition, and if you enjoy sampling it while visiting the city, you will find it is simple to make at home.

Here is my version of the original recipe, which I adapted slightly to use ingredients easily available in the UK . It makes a large cake, enough to serve approximately six to eight people.

Unsalted butter, 320 gr

White sugar, 135 gr

Egg yolks, 8

Egg whites, 4

Flour, 50 gr

Cornflour, 120 gr

Dried apricots, cut into small cubes, 100 gr

Fresh pineapple, cut into small cubes, 100 gr

Teaspoon of Maraschino (or any fruit liqueur)

Teaspoon of vanilla essence

Method – Whip together butter, 20 gr of sugar and egg yolks. Beat egg whites with rest of sugar till stiff, then add to the mixture. Gradually add flour and cornflour. Then stir in the cubes of apricot and pineapple, the liqueur and the vanilla essence. Maraschino, a clear cherry-based liqueur, is used in the classic recipe but if this is not available another fruit liqueur may be substituted.

Butter a 24 cm ring shaped baking tin and pour in mixture.

Bake in oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes.

Afterwards leave it to cool before brushing the top with icing sugar.

Buon appetito!

Risotto alla Milanese

You will see Milan’s famous variation on traditional risotto on many of the restaurant menus in Bergamo offered as a first course.
The special ingredient is zafferano (saffron) which is added when the rice is almost cooked and makes the dish yellow in colour.
For four people you will need:

1 onion (finely chopped)
50 gr butter
125 ml dry white wine
275 gr Arborio rice
One litre of chicken stock
4 strands of saffron
50 gr parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Melt half of the butter in a saucepan and fry the chopped onion in it on a low heat until it becomes golden. Add the rice and stir until it is well coated with the butter. Pour in the wine and turn up the heat slightly.
When the wine has evaporated, start adding the stock to the rice a little at a time, gently stirring it in. While it is cooking, pound the saffron strands into a powder in a small dish or cup and pour a little of the stock over. After the rice has been cooking for about ten minutes add the saffron mixed with the stock and stir in before seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.
The risotto is ready to serve when the rice is ‘al dente’, no longer hard in the middle but not overcooked and too soft. Stir an in the rest of the butter and the grated parmesan and then spoon the mixture into warmed dishes.
You could serve each portion topped with a cooked asparagus spear and some shards of parmesan cheese, as in the picture.
Risotto alla Milanese is a simple, but elegant, dish.
Typically Milanese in fact.
Buon Appetito!

Make your own Polenta Taragna

Try this recipe for polenta taragna, a Bergamo speciality, taken from the Accademia Italiana della Cucina (Academy of Italian Cookery).
Polenta is a light, fluffy alternative to potato and the addition of the butter and  cheese gives this variety a rich, creamy consistency and a wonderful flavour.

For four people:

300 gr buckwheat flour

80 gr corn meal

1.5 litres water

salt

80 gr butter

225 gr Taleggio cheese

Mix the buckwheat flour with the corn meal. Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan, add a pinch of salt and pour in the buckwheat flour and corn meal.  Cook for at least one hour, stirring all the time.
Cut the butter into pieces and the cheese into strips and add to the saucepan. Mix and cook for a further ten minutes. Turn the polenta out into a serving dish or on to a wooden board from which everyone can serve themselves.
Some recipes suggest adding a glass of milk with the butter and cheese and a few sage leaves.
The picture shows the version made by the restaurant Il Sole, a good place to eat just off the Città Alta's famous Piazza Vecchia.
Buon appetito!

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