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A Taste Of Roma!

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- CBS2 had a taste of Roma Sunday morning.

Beatrice Tosti, owner of Il Posto Accanto in the East Village, cooked up some delicious food that was inspired by her home city of Rome.

Her recipes are below.

Click on the video player for more.

AMATRICANA

serves 4

21 ounces of your choice of dry pasta like thick spaghetti, bucatini, rigatoni, paccheri

12 ounces pancetta or guanciale cut in to even strips (do your best)

1.5 lb  diced can tomatoes

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1 spicy peperoncino or spicy red crushed pepper (this can be avoided but we love spicy)

6 ounces grated pecorino romano cheese but you can use as much as you want

1 tablespoon coarse sea salt for the water where you will cook the pasta

splash of dry white wine plus a glass for the cook

Place large pot with water over high heat. Add salt only after it comes to a roaring boil. Put a lid if you want water to boil faster. The lid comes in handy to cover the pot after the pasta is added, so the water will rapidly come back to a boil.

Place large sauté pan over medium heat with extra virgin olive oil add the peperoncino and the cut pancetta/guanciale and cook stirring frequently until golden and crispy. At this point if you want add a splash of white wine, the original recipe doesn't call for it but hey, I use it. Add the diced tomatoes over high heat, wait for the sauce to bubble and lower to medium. Cook for 10 minutes or when you see the tomato sauce changing from red to a hue of rich orange.

By now your water must be boiling and possibly the pasta is cooking, please please please drain the pasta when it is super al dente and save some of the pasta water and add to your sauce. The pasta will keep on cooking while in the pan and you can use the pasta water if your sauce seems to thick or dry add half of the grated pecorino and mix well until completely blended with the sauce and the pasta. Sprinkle the rest of the grated pecorino after you place your delicious pasta on a serving platter or after you plate it.

FRITTATA DI VERDURE

In Italy we eat frittata for lunch, dinner, picnics and in sandwiches. We put so many different things in it. From spaghetti to herbs, from vegetables to cheese and prosciutto. Frittata is the ultimate refrigerator cleaner. Here is a seasonal recipe that you can alter by using any vegetable you like (spinach, dandelion, broccoli rabe, zucchini, carrots, potatoes, onions, scallions, sky is the limit)

1 bunch of ramps cleaned and the green leaves separated from the bulb

4 small loose artichokes cleaned, sliced and kept in lemon water so they do not turn black

1 cup of frozen green peas

7 leaves of tuscan kale washed, central rib removed and coarsely chopped

1 medium yellow potato peeled cut in quarters and then sliced thick ⅛ of an inch or bait thicker

1 medium spanish onion or sweet onion peeled and sliced

10 large eggs cracked in a bowl and whisked with 10 pinches of sea salt

sea salt and black pepper to taste

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Place vegetables, onions and bulbs of the ramp in non stick large sauté pan with extra virgin olive oil and a teaspoon of salt over medium heat. Stirr so everything cooks happily. You can place a lid at the beginning, but we want the veggies to caramelize a bit, the oil should be generous, feel free to add if it looks dry. Add ground black pepper and taste for seasoning. Adjust as per your taste. My husband has high blood pressure so I am always shy with the salt. Remember when seasoning it is always easier to add than to remove. If you like spicy add spicy red crushed pepper to your veggies.

When the vegetables are fragrant and cooked, add the whisked eggs making sure they soak the vegetables. You can use a fork to move things around.

Now you have several options.

You can cook over medium heat with laid on and you will not have to turn your frittata.

If your pan is oven proof you can place it in the oven preheated at 400 degrees for 10 minutes or until the center of the frittata is set.

After 5 or 7 minutes place a plate over your pan, using towels turn the frittata over and slide the uncooked part back on the pan and finish cooking over medium heat.

You can add prosciutto and cheese to the cooked vegetables before you mix with whisked eggs if you like.

CARCIOFI IN TEGAME

artichokes in the pan

Artichokes are the ultimate sign of spring in Roma. We would drive to Maremma (southern tuscany) to celebrate Easter and the road will be crowded with farmers selling their gorgeous purple artichokes arranged in the prettiest bunches and strawberries. Sure sign summer was on the way.

Please do not be intimidated by artichokes, the preparation is time consuming but the result will be a chorus of approving moaning by your guests.

10 firm small artichokes

1 lemon

4 sprigs of parsley washed

10 sprigs of time leaves removed from the stems

10 peeled cloves of garlic

½ cup of extra virgin olive oil

1 glass of white wine

1 tablespoon of sea salt (artichokes LOVE salt)

black pepper or spicy red crushed pepper to taste

plastic gloves

Clean the artichokes

Choose artichokes that are blemish free and super firm. I like small ones

Turn on your favorite TV show, or music or podcast. Pour a glass of wine. putt 2 qt of water in a large bowl. squeeze the lemon in the water and add the parsley as is. I like to wear gloves so my hands do not get stained. Grab an artichoke and start removing the outer leaves until you get to the light yellow part or the heart of the artichokes. With a super sharp knife remove the outer part of the stem and trim it (I looove stems, you can just cut them off if you want). Cut at least one inch of the top pointy part of the artichoke. It can be more, when you look at the cut part of the "flower" all the leaves should have their top cut. Place the artichoke in the lemon parsley water and repeat until they are all clean.

Pour the oil in a pot where the artichokes will be snug standing on the "flower". Add the garlic cut in thick slices and a pitch of salt, cook on low heat, I want the garlic to be fragrant and caramelized. When your garlic is nice and golden add chili flakes, if you like, artichokes, salt, black pepper and thyme. bring to a slow boil over medium heat and add the vino, it shouldn't  go above the beginning of the stem, the artichokes should be just half covered. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and cover with a lid. When your stem is soft, the artichoke is ready, no more than 10/15 minutes for small ones.

I love to serve this delicious dish with burrata cheese, prosciutto and grilled peasant bread generously drizzled with the cooking oil of the artichokes.

TORTA DI MELE ALL'OLIO DI OLIVA

soft whole wheat apple tart with olive oil

This is a simple soft apple tart made with extra virgin olive oil. It is not too sweet and it will look like a fruit focaccia. You can use pears or mixed berries or peaches instead of apples. My inspiration for this recipe comes from the women that baked bread for my great grand mother and my grand mother. When the temperature of the brick oven would start decreasing they would make a fast easy dough that would usually include wine and extra virgin olive oil to create the tastiest sweets. I mixed the two flours to recreate the rustic texture of house stone ground flour.

1.5 cup of stone ground whole wheat flour

½ cup of unbleached flour

1 cup of raw sugar (plus a bit for topping)

3 pinches of salt

1 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil plus a little more for drizzling

4 medium eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

the grated zest of 2 large lemon

4 large granny smith apples peeled and cubed or sliced or any apple that is a bit tart. I have been known to use whatever apples were in the fruit drawer of the refrigerator.

Place eggs and sugar in a bowl and mix by hand until combined, less than 1 minute. Add the olive oil vanilla extract and lemon zest and mix. Now incorporate sea salt and the flours. You will have a thick batter. Add cubed or sliced apples, it will look as the batter is not enough but do not despair. Now add baking soda and make sure all the ingredients are mixed. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes. Place in a baking dish, you can either line it with parchment paper or with oil and corn or oil and breadcrumbs for extra texture or just oil will do. Mine is 13"x9.5" baking pan or a 12" Italian "ruoto", round pan with 1.5 inches sides that is used to cook the Neapolitan Easter cake "Pastiera". Top with sugar and drizzle with oil. Cook for around 40 minutes in a 400 degrees preheated oven or until a toothpick comes out clean after you poke it all the way in the tart.

The result is a wonderfully moist cake that keeps very well, it might be an acquired taste, please do not give up on it.

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