A lavish fish soup from Cagliari in Sardinia. It should contain 12 different types of fish, octopus, eel, perhaps John Dory, garlic, tomatoes and chilli peppers. The broth is poured over croûtons with the fish often served separately.
A dish from Lombardy of lots of parts of a pig, including trotters, perhaps goose, lugànega sausage, ham and ribs, stewed with Savoy cabbage. It is traditionally eaten during winter, served with polenta and is often eaten on the feast of Saint Anthony (San Antonio) on 17th January each year. May also consist of lots of different fish.
Semi-circular pastries from Emilia-Romagna stuffed with sautéed greens such as spinach, perhaps with raisins and then deep-fried. Essentially, they are fried consum.
Chestnut. To peel chestnuts the hard outer skins need to be slit and then the chestnuts roasted or grilled until these skins crack. They can then be peeled off and the chestnuts boiled for ten minutes, after which it should be relatively easy to rub off the inner, papery brown skin. Chestnut flour is used to make cakes and chestnuts are used in busecchina, monte bianco and to stuff poultry, baked in milk, or wine and then roasted.
A thicky, heavy cake from Tuscany and Liguria made with chestnut flour, pine nuts, sultanas, fennel and candied fruits or rosemary.
Water chestnut. The corm of a type of a water grass or sedge. Water chestnuts are used in Thai and Chinese cookery to add crunch and are also used to make desserts and drinks elsewhere in South East Asia. They are available fresh or tinned and can be used raw or cooked. They retain their shape well during cooking.
