Giro d'Italia '20 - Stage 11: Porto Sant'elpidio to Rimini
The riders screamed through the Marche region (if you imagine a map of Italy in your mind, Marche is basically the meaty calf of Italy's infamous boot shape...do you think she prefers Prada or Gucci?), known for their stuffed fried olives, and ended the day up in Emilia-Romagna in the town of Rimini. Rimini, as I’ve discovered, is home to many little street-food stands and most-known for the infamous piadina sandwich which I recreated today in wrap form. If I were to be precise in my interpretation, these wraps would have been more of a semi-moon, like a quesadilla. But, as the old cook’s proverb goes: “you feed the eyes first”, and since we live in the age of Instagram, I went for a good photo of a complete dish. It was easier for the girls to eat, so there’s something to be said of that as well.
But, this conjures something irksome I’ve found in my years of reading food magazines and cookbooks: sometimes the picture of the dish has extra ingredients, or missing ingredients, or substituted ingredients from what is listed on the recipe. Over time, I’ve learned to really study the photo. Because, let’s be honest, if you see something incredible, you automatically set this standard of perfection of which you’re trying to achieve; like another old saying: “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” So, be sure to study your source material, research multiple recipes and see if there are things that stand out. But, don’t force yourself to be a literalist, unless you’re into that thing. Maybe there’s something you don’t like to eat. As long as you’ve tried it once, you can then decide if you really like it or not...sorry dad-mode came out there for a second. But, just like on these tasty olives. I found their description but had no idea what to stuff them with at first. But, I had some leftovers from my stuffed mushrooms and used that, which turned out fantastic.
These tiny olives are hard to stuff but worth the effort. I just hope you can find a child’s toy, like I did, to help you stuff them! I presume you could employ a rounded toothpick or corn cob holders as well. For the filling of the piada, I went simple with prosciutto, arugula and cheese. It’s hard to find squacquerone (skwa-kweh-RO-nay) which is a delicious gooey cheese, think of mozzarella, but in nacho cheese form. If you want it, you can find it at Alma in Brooklyn (of course) or order it online like I did. You can sub in pieces of fresh mozzarella or, probably even better, burrata. Time got away from me for a bit and my initial balsamic reduction went past syrup and almost hit a tar consistency. If this happens to you, don’t panic, simply add in some more balsamic and it breaks itself back down. This was a great street food celebration, so I encourage you to try this dish and have a fun date night without even having to leave your home. Throw on some tunes, pour yourself some italian wine or a Peroni, and live it up!
Piadini
If you don’t feel like making your own flatbread, use flour tortillas, but you may want to try and roll them a little flatter. Rimini is known for their super-thin piadina.
4 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
⅓ cup of lard
1 ½ cups cold water
Prosciutto
Arugula
Squacquerone or mozzarella
Red onion, thinly sliced
Balsamic vinegar
In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir the flour, baking powder and salt to mix. Add in the lard and rub into the flour until no large pieces remain. Make a well in the middle pour in the water. Stir to incorporate, then using the hook attachment, set to low speed and mix until the dough forms a ball on the hook, about 7 minutes. Spray a bowl with non-stick spray and place the dough ball inside and cover. Set aside for 30-45 minutes.
After the dough rests, cut into 6 equal pieces and roll out extremely thin into large rounded shapes. Place a cast iron or non stick skillet over medium- high heat and cook about 90 seconds on each side, poking holes with a fork into the rolled dough when in the pan. Set aside to cool slightly.
When the wraps are finished, add ½ cup of balsamic vinegar to a pot over medium-high heat and boil to reduce to a syrup. Meanwhile, spread squacquerone on the wrap. If you don’t have squacquerone, just start layering a few slices of prosciutto, red onion and arugula and top with cheese and balsamic vinegar. Fold in half, or wrap up like a burrito to serve.
Fried Stuffed Olives
The beauty of this dish is that you can use anything to stuff, the olives, ANY-thing. Have leftover stuffing from stuffed squid or stuffed mushrooms? Mash it in. Have leftover nuts? Mash them in. Only have olives? Chop some up and mash them in! You get it now? No matter what you decide for the stuffing, just be sure to chop everything up superfine to help in the stuffing process. Also, this is one of the rare occasions premade seasoned breadcrumbs, aka “sawdust”, come in handy.
Green olives
Stuffing of your choice
Flour
Eggs
Breadcrumbs
Preheat 3-4” of oil to 370 degrees in a small sauce pan. Stuff your olives with your desired stuffing. Prepare 3 bowls of ½ cup of flour, 2 eggs (lightly beaten) and 1 cup of breadcrumbs. Dredge the stuffed olives in flour, shaking off excess. Then dip them in the egg, letting excess drip off back into the bowl. Finally, roll around in the breadcrumbs and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. Set aside until you’re ready to fry the olives. Olives only take about 2-3 minutes to fry. Monitor the darkness of the breadcrumbs, removing from the oil when deeply golden. Drain on a paper-towel lined plate and serve immediately.
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Copyright 2020, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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