the best italian minestre

by 

alessandro del pita

1. A Condiment for Seasoning Minestre.

2. Minestra alla Casalinga.

3. Minestra of Rice and Turnips.

4. Minestra alla Capucina.

5. Minestra of Semolina.

6. Minestrone alla Milanese.
7. Minestra of Rice and Cabbage.

8. Minestra of Rice and Celery.

9. Anguilla alla Milanese (Eels).

10. Filletti di Pesce alla Villeroy (Fillets of Fish).

11. Astachi all’Italiana (Lobster).
12. Baccala alla Giardiniera (Cod).

13. Triglie alla Marinara (Mullet).

14. Mullet alla Tolosa.
15. Mullet alla Triestina.

16. Whiting alla Genovese.

17. Merluzzo in Bianco (Cod).
18. Merluzzo in Salamoia (Cod).

19. Baccala in Istufato (Haddock).

20. Naselli con Piselli (Whiting).
21. Ostriche alla Livornese (Oysters).

22. Ostriche alla Napolitana (Oysters).
23. Ostriche alla Neneziana (Oysters).

24. Pesci diversi alla Casalinga (Fish).
25. Pesce alla Genovese (Sole or Turbot).

26. Sogliole in Zimino (Sole).

27. Sogliole al tegame (Sole).
28. Sogliole alla Livornese (Sole).

29. Sogliole alla Veneziana (Sole).
30. Sogliole alla parmigiana (Sole).

31. Salmone alla Genovese (Salmon).
32. Salmone alla Perigo (Salmon).

33. Salmone alla giardiniera (Salmon).
34. Salmone alla Farnese (Salmon).

35. Salmone alla Santa Fiorentina (Salmon).
36. Salmone alla Francesca (Salmon).

37. Fillets of Salmon in Papiliotte

Italian Minestre

Minestra is a thick broth, very much like hotch-potch, only
thicker. In Italy it is often served at the beginning of dinner
instead of soup; it also makes an excellent lunch dish. Two or
three tablespoonsful of No. 35 will be found a great improvement to
any of these minestre.

No. 1. A Condiment for Seasoning Minestre, &c.
Ingredients: Onions, celery, carrots, butter, salt, stock,
tomatoes, mushrooms.
Cut up an onion, a stick of celery, and a carrot; fry them in
butter and salt; add a few bits of cooked ham and veal cut up, two
mushrooms, and the pulp of a tomato. Cook for a quarter of an
hour, and add a little stock occasionally to keep it moist. Pass
through a sieve, and use for seasoning minestre, macaroni, rice,
It should be added when the dish is nearly cooked.

No. 2. Minestra alla Casalinga
Ingredients: Rice, butter, stock, vegetables.
All sorts of vegetables will serve for this dish. Blanch them in
boiling salted water, then drain and fry them in butter. Add
plenty of good stock, and put them on a slow fire. Boil four
ounces of rice in stock, and when it is well done add the stock
with the vegetables. Season with two or three spoonsful of No. 35,
and serve with grated cheese handed separately.

No. 3. Minestra of Rice and Turnips
Ingredients: Rice, turnips, butter, gravy, tomatoes.
Cut three or four young turnips into slices and put them on a dish,
strew a little salt over them, cover them with another dish, and
let them stand for about two hours until the water has run out of
them. Then drain the slices, put them in a frying-pan and fry them
slightly in butter. Add some good gravy and mashed-up tomatoes,
and after having cooked this for a few minutes pour it into good
boiling stock. Add three ounces of well-washed rice, and boil for
half-an-hour.
Minestra loses its flavour if it is boiled too long. In Lombardy,
however, rice, macaroni, &c., are rarely boiled enough for English
tastes.

No. 4. Minestra alla Capucina
Ingredients: Rice, anchovies, butter, stock, and onions.
Scale an anchovy, pound it, and fry it in butter together with a
small onion cut across, and four ounces of boiled rice. Add a
little salt, and when the rice is a golden brown, take out the
onion and gradually add some good stock until the dish is of the
consistency of rice pudding.

No. 5. Minestra of Semolina
Ingredients: Stock, semolina, Parmesan.
Put as much stock as you require into a saucepan, and when it
begins to boil add semolina very gradually, and stir to keep it
from getting lumpy Cook it until the semolina is soft, and serve
with grated Parmesan handed separately. To one quart of soup use
three ounces of semolina.

No. 6. Minestrone alla Milanese
Ingredients: Rice or macaroni, ham, bacon, stock, all sorts of
vegetables.
Minestrone is a favourite dish in Lombardy when vegetables are
plentiful. Boil all sorts of vegetables in stock, and add bits of
bacon, ham, onions braized in butter, chopped parsley, a clove of
garlic with two cuts, and rice or macaroni. Put in those
vegetables first which require most cooking, and do not make the
broth too thin. Leave the garlic in for a quarter of an hour only.

No. 7. Minestra of Rice and Cabbage
Ingredients: Rice, cabbage, stock, ham, tomato sauce.
Cut off the stalk and all the hard outside leaves of a cabbage,
wash it and cut it up, but not too small, then drain and cook it in
good stock and add two ounces of boiled rice. This minestre is
improved by adding a little chopped ham and a few spoonsful of
tomato sauce.

No. 8. Minestra of Rice and Celery
Ingredients: Celery, rice, stock.
Cut up a head of celery and remove all the green parts, then boil
it in good stock and add two ounces of rice, and boil till it is
well cooked.

No. 9. Anguilla alla Milanese (Eels).
Ingredients: Eels, butter, flour, stock, bay leaves, salt, pepper,
Chablis, a macedoine of vegetables.
Cut up a big eel and fry it in two ounces of butter, and when it is
a good colour add a tablespoonful of flour, about half a pint of
stock, a glass of Chablis, a bay leaf, pepper, and salt, and boil
till it is well cooked. In the meantime boil separately all sorts
of vegetables, such as carrots, cauliflower, celery, beans,
tomatoes, &c. Take out the pieces of eel, but keep them hot,
whilst you pass the liquor which forms the sauce through a sieve
and add the vegetables to this. Let them boil a little longer and
arrange them in a dish; place the pieces of eel on them and cover
with the sauce. It is most important that the eels should be
served very hot.
Any sort of fish will do as well for this dish.

No. 10. Filletti di Pesce alla Villeroy (Fillets of Fish)
Ingredients: Fish, flour, butter, Villeroy.
Any sort of fish will do, turbot, sole, trout, &c. Cut it into
fillets, flour them over and cook them in butter in a covered
stewpan; then make a Villeroy, dip the fillets into it and
fry them in clarified butter.

No. 11. Astachi all’Italiana (Lobster)
Ingredients: Lobsters, Velute sauce, Marsala, butter, forcemeat of
fish, olives, anchovy butter, button mushrooms, truffles, lemon,
crayfish, Italian sauce.
Two boiled lobsters are necessary. Cut all the flesh of one of the
lobsters into fillets and put them into a saucepan with half a cup
of Velute sauce and half a glass of Marsala, and boil for a
few minutes. Put a crouton of fried bread on an oval dish and
cover it with a forcemeat of fish, and on this place the whole
lobster, cover it with buttered paper, and put it in a moderate
oven just long enough to cook the forcemeat. Then make some
quenelles of anchovy butter, olives, and button mushrooms, mix them
with Italian sauce, and garnish the dish with them, and
round the crouton arrange the fillets of lobster with a garnish of
slices of truffle. Add a dessert-spoonful of crayfish butter and a
good squeeze of lemon juice to the sauce, and serve.

No. 12. Baccala alla Giardiniera (Cod)
Ingredients: Cod or hake, carrots, turnips, butter, herbs.
Boil a piece of cod or hake and break it up into flakes, then cut
up two carrots and a turnip; boil them gently, and when they are
half boiled drain and put them into a stewpan with an ounce of
butter, half a teacup of boiling water, salt, and herbs. When they
are well cooked add the fish and serve. Fillets of lemon soles may
also be cooked this way.

No. 13. Triglie alla Marinara (Mullet)
Ingredients: Mullet, salt, pepper, onions, parsley, oil, water.
Cut a mullet into pieces and put it into a stewpan (with the lid
on), with salt, pepper, a cut-up onion, some chopped parsley, half
a wineglass of the finest olive oil and half a pint of water, and
in this cook the fish gently. Arrange the fillets on a dish, pour
a little of the broth over them, and add the onion and parsley.
Instead of mullet you can use cod, hake, whiting, lemon sole, &c.

No. 14. Mullet alla Tolosa
Ingredients: Mullet, butter, salt, onions, parsley, almonds,
anchovies, button mushrooms, tomatoes.
Cut off the fins and gills of a mullet, put it in a fireproof dish
with two ounces of butter and salt. Cut up a small bit of onion, a
sprig of parsley, a few blanched almonds, one anchovy, and a few
button mushrooms, previously softened in hot water, and put them
over the fish and bake for twenty minutes Then add two
tablespoonsful of tomato sauce or puree, and when cooked serve. If
you like, use sole instead of mullet.

No. 15. Mullet alla Triestina
Ingredients: Mullet (or sole or turbot), butter, salt half a
lemon, Chablis.
Put the fish in a fireproof dish with one and a half ounces of
butter, salt, a squeeze of lemon juice, and half a glass of
Chablis. Put it on a very, slow fire and turn the fish when
necessary. When it is cooked serve in the dish.

No. 16. Whiting alla Genovese
Ingredients: Whiting, butter, pepper, salt, bay leaf claret,
parsley, onions, garlic capers, vinegar, Espagnole sauce,
mushrooms, anchovies.
Put one or two whiting into a stewpan with two ounces of butter,
salt, pepper, two bay leaves, and a glass of claret or Burgundy;
cook on a hot fire and turn the fish when necessary. Have ready
beforehand a remoulade sauce made in the following manner: Put in
a saucepan 1 1/2 ounces of butter, half a teaspoonful of chopped
parsley, half an onion, a clove of garlic (with one cut), four
capers, one anchovy, all chopped up except the garlic. Then add
three tablespoonsful of vinegar and reduce the sauce. Add two
glasses of Espagnole sauce and a little good stock; boil it
all up (take out the garlic and bay leaves) and pass through a
sieve, then pour it over the whiting. Boil it all again for a few
minutes, and before serving garnish with a few button mushrooms
cooked separately. The remoulade sauce will be much better if made
some hours beforehand.

No. 17. Merluzzo in Bianco (Cod)
Ingredients: Cod or whiting, salt, onions, parsley, cloves,
turnips, marjoram, chervil, milk.
Boil gently in a big cupful of salted water two onions, one turnip,
a pinch of chopped parsley, chervil, and marjoram and four cloves.
After half an hour pass this through a sieve (but first take out
the cloves), and add an equal quantity of milk and a little cream,
and in this cook the fish and serve with the sauce over it.

No. 18. Merluzzo in Salamoia (Cod)
Ingredients: Cod, hake, whiting or red mullet, onions, parsley,
mint, marjoram, turnips, mushrooms, chervil, cloves, salt, milk,
cream, eggs.
Put a salt-spoonful of salt, two onions, a little parsley,
marjoram, mint, chervil, a turnip, a mushroom, and the heads of two
cloves into a stewpan and simmer in a cupful of milk for half an
hour, then let all the ingredients settle at the bottom, and pass
the broth through a hair sieve, and add to it an equal quantity of
milk or cream, and in it cook your fish on a slow fire. When the
fish is quite cooked, pour off the sauce, but leave a little on the
fish to keep it warm; reduce the rest in a bain-marie; stir all
the time, so that the milk may not curdle. Thicken the sauce with
the yolk of an egg, and when about to serve pour it over the fish.

No. 19. Baccala in Istufato (Haddock)
Ingredients: Haddock or lemon sole, carrots, anchovies, lemon,
pepper, butter, onions, flour, white wine, stock.
Stuff a haddock (or filleted lemon sole) with some slices of carrot
which have been masked with a paste made of pounded anchovies, very
little chopped lemon peel, salt and pepper. Then fry an onion with
two cuts across it in butter. Take out the onion as soon as it has
become a golden colour, flour the fish and put it in the butter,
and when it has been well fried on both sides pour a glass of
Marsala over it, and when it is all absorbed add a cup of fowl or
veal stock and let it simmer for half an hour, then skim and reduce
the sauce, pour it over the fish and serve.

No. 20. Naselli con Piselli (Whiting)
Ingredients: Whiting, onions, parsley, peas, tomatoes, butter,
Parmesan, Bechamel sauce.
Cut a big whiting into two or three pieces and fry them slightly in
butter, add a small bit of onion, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley
and fry for a few minutes more. Then add some peas which have been
cooked in salted water, three tablespoonsful of Bechamel sauce,
and three of tomato puree, and cook all together on a moderate
fire.

No. 21. Ostriche alla Livornese (Oysters)
Ingredients: Oysters, parsley, shallot, anchovies, fennel pepper,
bread crumbs, cream, lemon.
Detach the oysters from their shells and put then into china shells
with their own liquor. Have ready a dessert-spoonful of parsley,
shallot, anchovy and very little fennel, add a tablespoonful of
bread crumbs and a little pepper, and mix the whole with a little
cream. Put some of this mixture on each oyster, and then bake them
in a moderate fire for a quarter of an hour. At the last minute
add a squeeze of lemon juice to each oyster and serve on a folded
napkin.

No. 22. Ostriche alla Napolitana (Oysters)
Ingredients: Oysters, parsley, celery, thyme, pepper, garlic, oil,
lemon.
Prepare the oysters as above, but rub each shell with a little
garlic. Put on each oyster a mixture made of chopped parsley, a
little thyme, pepper, and bread crumbs. Then pour a few drops of
oil on each shell, put them on the gridiron on an open fire, grill
for a few minutes, and add a little lemon juice before serving.

No. 23. Ostriche alla Veneziana (Oysters)
Ingredients: Oysters, butter, shallots, truffles, lemon juice,
forcemeat of fish.
Take several oysters out of their shells and cook them in butter, a
little chopped shallot, and their own liquor, add a little lemon
juice and then put in each of the deeper shells a layer of
forcemeat made of fish and chopped truffles, then an oyster or two,
and over this again another layer of the forcemeat, cover up with
the top shell and put them in a fish kettle and steam them. Then
remove the top shell and arrange the shells with the oysters on a
napkin and serve.

No. 24. Pesci diversi alla Casalinga (Fish)
Ingredients: Any sort of fish, celery, parsley, carrots, garlic,
onion, anchovies, almonds, capers, mushrooms, butter, salt, pepper,
flour, tomatoes.
Chop up a stick of celery, a sprig of parsley, a carrot, an onion.
Pound up an anchovy in brine (well cleaned, boned, and scaled),
four shredded almonds, three capers and two mushrooms. Put all
this into a saucepan with one ounce of butter, salt and pepper, and
fry for a few minutes, then add a few spoonsful of hot water and a
tablespoonful of flour and boil gently for ten minutes, put in the
fish and cook it until it is done. If you like, you may add a
little tomato sauce.

No. 25. Pesce alla Genovese (Sole or Turbot)
Ingredients: Fish (sole, mullet, or turbot), butter, salt, onion,
garlic, carrots, celery, parsley, nutmeg, pepper, spice, mushrooms,
tomatoes, flour, anchovies.
Fry an onion slightly in one and a half ounces of butter, add a
small cut-up carrot, half a stick of celery, a sprig of parsley,
and a salt anchovy (scaled), which will dissolve in the butter.
Into this put the fish cut up in pieces, a pinch of spice and
pepper, and let it simmer for a few minutes, then add two cut-up
mushrooms, a tomato mashed up, and a little flour. Mix all
together, and cook for twenty minutes.

No. 26. Sogliole in Zimino (Sole)
Ingredients: Sole, onion, beetroot, butter, celery, tomato sauce
or white wine.
Cut up a small onion and fry it slightly in one ounce of butter,
then add some slices of beetroot (well-washed and drained), and a
little celery cut up; to this add fillets of sole or haddock, salt
and pepper. Boil on a moderate on the fish kettle. When the
beetroot is nearly cooked add two tablespoonsful of tomato puree
and boil till all is well cooked. Instead of the tomato you may
use half a glass of Chablis.

No. 27. Sogliole al tegame (Sole)
Ingredients: Sole (or mullet), butter, anchovies, parsley, garlic,
capers, eggs.
Put an ounce of butter and an anchovy in a saucepan together with a
sole or mullet. Fry lightly for a few minutes, then strew a little
pepper and chopped parsley over it, put in a clove of garlic with
one cut, and cook for half an hour, but turn the fish over when one
side is sufficiently done. A few minutes before taking it off the
fire add three capers and stir in the yolk of an egg at the last
minute. Do not leave the garlic in more than five minutes.

No. 28. Sogliole alla Livornese (Sole)
Ingredients: Sole, butter, garlic, pepper, salt, tomatoes, fennel.
Fillet a sole and put it in a saute-pan with one and a half ounces
of butter and a clove of garlic with one cut in it, then sprinkle
over it a little chopped fennel, salt and pepper, and let it cook
for a few minutes. Turn over the fillets w hen they are
sufficiently cooked on one side, take out the garlic and cover the
fish with a puree of tomatoes at the last.

No. 29. Sogliole alla Veneziana (Sole)
Ingredients: Sole, anchovies, butter, bacon, onion, stock,
Chablis, salt, nutmeg, parsley, Spanish olives, one bay leaf.
Fillet a sole and interlard each piece with a bit of anchovy. Tie
up the fillets and put them in a saute-pan with two ounces of
butter, a slice of bacon or ham, and a few small slices of onion.
Cover half over with good stock and a glass of Chablis, and add
salt, a pinch of nutmeg, a bunch of parsley, and a bay leaf. Cover
with buttered paper, and cook on a slow fire for about an hour.
Drain the fish, pass the liquor through a sieve, reduce it to the
consistency of a thick sauce, and pour it over the fish. Garnish
each fillet with a Spanish olive stuffed with anchovy.

No. 30. Sogliole alla Parmigiana (Sole).*
Ingredients: Sole, Parmesan, butter, cream, cayenne.
Fillet a sole and wipe each piece with a clean cloth, then place
them in a fireproof dish, and put a small piece of butter on each
fillet. Then make a good white sauce, and mix it with two
tablespoonsful of grated Parmesan and half a gill of cream. Cover
the fish well with the sauce, and bake in a moderate oven for
twenty minutes.
*Lemon soles may be used in any of the above-named dishes.

No. 31. Salmone alla Genovese (Salmon)
Ingredients: Salmon, Genoese sauce, butter, lemon.
Boil a bit of salmon, drain it, take off the skin, and mask it with
a Genoese sauce, to which add a spoonful of the water in which the
salmon has been boiled, and at the last add a pat of fresh butter
and a squeeze of lemon juice.

No. 32. Salmone alla Perigo (Salmon)
Ingredients: Salmon, forcemeat of fish, truffles, butter, Madeira,
croutons of bread, crayfish tails, anchovy butter.
Cut a bit of salmon into well shaped fillets, and marinate them in
lemon juice and a bunch of herbs for two hours, wipe them, put a
layer of forcemeat of fish over each, and decorate them with slices
of truffle. When put them into a well-buttered saute-pan with half
a cup of stock and a glass of Madeira or Marsala, cover with
buttered paper, and put them into a moderate oven for twenty
minutes. Arrange the fillets in a circle on croutons of bread,
garnish the centre with crayfish tails and with truffles cut into
dice, a quarter of a pint of Velute sauce, and half a
teaspoonful of anchovy butter. Glaze the fillets and serve.

No. 33. Salmone alla giardiniera (Salmon)
Ingredients: Salmon, forcemeat of fish, vegetables, butter,
Bechamel, and Espagnole sauce.
Prepare the fillets as above, and put on each a layer of
white forcemeat of fish. Cook a macedoine of vegetables
separately, and garnish each fillet with some of it, then cook them
in a covered stewpan Put a crouton of bread in an entree dish and
garnish it with cooked peas, mixed with Bechamel sauce,
stock, and butter. Around this place the fillets of fish, leaving
the centre with the peas uncovered. Pour some rich Espagnole sauce
round the fillets and serve.

No. 34. Salmone alla Farnese (Salmon)
Ingredients: Salmon, oil, lemon juice, thyme, salt, pepper,
nutmeg, mayonnaise sauce, lobster butter, gelatine, Velute sauce,
olives, anchovy butter, white truffles, mushrooms in oil, crayfish.
Boil a piece of salmon, and when cold cut it into fillets and
marinate them for two hours in oil, lemon juice, salt, thyme
pepper, and nutmeg. Then make a good mayonnaise and add to it some
lobster butter mixed with a little dissolved gelatine and Velute
sauce. Wipe the fillets and arrange them in a circle on a
dish, and pour the mayonnaise over them. Then decorate the border
of the dish with aspic jelly, and in the centre put some stoned
Spanish olives stuffed with anchovy butter, truffles, mushrooms in
oil, and crayfish tails.

No. 35. Salmone alla Santa Fiorentina (Salmon)
Ingredients: Salmon, eggs, mayonnaise, parsley, flour.
Marinate a piece of boiled salmon for an hour; take out the bone
and cut the fish into fillets, wipe them, roll them in flour and
dip them in eggs beaten up or in mayonnaise sauce, and fry them a
good colour. Arrange in a circle on the dish, garnish with fried
parsley, and serve with Dutch or mayonnaise sauce. Any fillets of
fish may be cooked in this manner.

No. 36. Salmone alla Francesca (Salmon)
Ingredients: Salmon, butter, onions, parsley, salt, pepper,
nutmeg, stock, Chablis, Espagnole sauce mushrooms, anchovy
butter, lemon.
Put a firm piece of salmon in a stewpan with one and a half ounces
of butter, an onion cut up, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley
(blanched), salt, pepper, very little nutmeg, a cup of stock, and a
glass of Chablis. Cook for half an hour over a hot fire, turn the
salmon occasionally, and if it gets dry, add a cup of Espagnole
sauce. Let it boil until sufficiently cooked, and then put it on a
dish. Into the sauce put four mushrooms cooked in white sauce,
half a teaspoonful of anchovy butter and a little lemon juice.
Pour the sauce over the salmon and serve.

No. 37. Fillets of Salmon in Papiliotte
Ingredients: Salmon, oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg,
herbs.
Cut a piece of salmon into fillets, marinate them in oil, lemon
juice, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and herbs for two hours. Wipe and put
them into paper souffle cases with a little oil, butter, and herbs.
Cook them on a gridiron, and serve with a sauce piquante made in
the following manner: Half a pint of rich Espagnole sauce
and a dessert-spoonful of ‘New Century sauce’, warmed up in a bain-
marie.