Passport & Plate - Spezzatino

vagrancyisajob — Sun, 22 Feb 2015 17:19:58 GMT

Ingredients
olive oil
soffritto (carrot, celery, onion)
lamb or beef
flour
tomatoe sauce
salt
chilli
beef stock
red wine
water
peas and beans

How to prepare this recipe
1) fry the soffritto with some olive oil.
2) flour the meat after chopping into cubes and add to the pan.
3) pour in wine till the meats all covered
4) add 3 tablespoons of sauce with 2 cups of water salt half a cup of beef stock and a small amount of chilli
5) leave to simmer for 2 hours on low heat
6) add beans and peas in the last 10 mins

The story behind this recipe
Ok... I'd recently arrived in Italy, travelling by myself, I'd decided to do as much of my travelling by meeting locals and couchsurfing. exchanging accommodation for food, wine and laughs. I'd got hold of a young uni student in Torino who once arriving never wanted me to leave, between the 3 guys that flatted together there were Italians, Iranians and Colombians all coming and going constantly.

From inviting me to play football (which we won), to teaching me how to play dominoes and encouraging me to go skiing in Bardonecchia at 3 in the morning after eating and drinking with this meal. I had even recorded (in my recipe book) the wine that was bought in bulk and paired with this meal

The guy that cooked the Spezzatino went by the name Jac Baron and is someone I still keep in touch with here and there, at the time I was wandering what on earth I'd got myself into but these guys helped my relax into my new nomadic lifestlye and showed me around one of Italy's beautiful ancient cities.

I look forward to either going back there or having anyone of them out here in New Zealand to show around and show them some of the New Zealand classic recipes.

One night in Torino

Passport & Plate - Spezzatino