The "santina". Roasted bread,
turnip leaves, herring and new oil.(La "santina". Pane arrostito, foglie
di rapa, aringa e olio che cola dalla pressa del frantoio)
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- A)
- a bunch of very fresh and green turnip leaves, without their hard
ribs
- abundant new olive oil, because it is aromatic, aggressive and burning
of thousands and thousands of wild flavours; 8 slices of Tuscany stale
bread
- one salted herring
- salt and pepper
- B)
- a mixture composed of: 300 grs of boiled beans (the so called "cannellini")
- a big spoon of their cooking broth
- 3-4 garlic cloves and the leaves of 2-3 locks of sage, which have
been previously used to flavour the beans during their cooking
- 7-8 spoons of olive oil
- a pinch of salt and abundant pepper
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Take
a pot and pour one litre and a half of water, a bit salted, and let it boil,
then put the turnip leaves, cut in big pieces, and cook over a medium heat,
for about 18-20 minutes or, alternatively, until they are tender but not
undone. As soon as they are cooked, switch off the heat and leave the turnips
in their hot water. On a grill, over a brisky heat, cook the herring, 5
minutes for each side, then take it out from the heat, remove its bones,
put the fillets and the "latti" (or the eggs) in a dish seasoned
with oil and pepper (the fillets of herring to be warm). Clean very well
the grill from the remainig parts of the herring, then put it once again
over a brisky heat and roast the slices of bread; if you want to have these
slices very crunchy you have to roast them 2-3 minutes each side, turning
them two times. During this time mix all the ingredients indicated at point
B), pour this mixture in a small saucepan and put it over a very low heat,
in order to keep it warm. As soon as the slices of bread are roasted, take
them out from the grill, dip them very quickly, but entirely, into the very
hot turnip water and position them on the plates. Cover them with the beans
mixture and over this mixture put abundant turnip leaves. Finally, over
each slice of bread, position some pieces of roasted herring and abundant
olive oil together with abundant grinded pepper. This recipe should be eaten
very hot like a first or a second course, adjusting, of course, the amounts. |
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