Typical Local Recipes of Campania region Cava de’ tirreni ITALY

Neapolitan pizza Pizza is the most popular creation of all Neapolitan cuisine, and certainly the best known. An early type of pizza was present in the Roman age; it was a sort of wheat bun. But the pizza, as we know it today, (with the tomato sauce) is about two hundred years old. It soon became very popular among the people as well as barons or princes: it was largely present in the Bourbon court. King Ferdinand I experienced cooking pizza in Capodimonte's porcelain ovens. After Italian unification, the new kings were also attracted by this southern food. The pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito created in 1889, in honor to queen Margherita of Savoy, a patriotic pizza, where the colors of the Italian flag were represented by the mozzarella (white), tomato (red) and basil (green). This pizza is called, since then the pizza Margherita. Pizza has a great taste, is cheap and is nutritious, so it had very quickly a great success.

Ingredients Pizza Dough: 1 1/2 cups warm water (105°F-115°F) 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast (check the expiration date on the package) 3 1/2 cups bread flour (can use all-purpose but bread flour will give you a crisper crust) 2 Tbsp olive oil 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon sugar

Pizza Ingredients 1 (14 ounce) can Italian peeled tomatoes 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 large cloves garlic, finely sliced 2 tablespoons dried oregano 1/2 cup grated parmigiano or roman cheese 1/ 1/2 cups sliced mozzarella cheese

Making the Pizza Dough 1 In the large bowl of a heavy duty electric mixer (such as a Kitchen Aid), add the warm water. Sprinkle on the yeast and let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. Stir to dissolve completely if needed at the end of 5 minutes. 2 Attach a mixing paddle to the mixer. Mix in the olive oil, flour, salt and sugar on low speed for about a minute. Remove the mixing paddle and replace with a dough hook. Knead using the mixer and dough hook, on low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. If you don't have a mixer, you can mix and knead by hand. 3 Place ball of dough in a bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn the dough around in the bowl so that it gets coated with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit in a warm place (75-85°F) until it doubles in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. If you don't have a warm spot in the house you can heat the oven to 150 degrees, and then turn off the oven. Place the bowl of dough in this warmed oven to rise. At this point, if you want to make ahead, you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Preparing the Pizza 1 Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. 2 Remove the plastic cover from the dough and punch the dough down so it deflates a bit. Divide the dough in half. Form two round balls of dough. Place each in its own bowl, cover with plastic and let sit for 10 minutes. 3 Prepare your desired toppings. Note that you are not going to want to load up each pizza with a lot of toppings as the crust will end up not crisp that way. About a third a cup each of tomato sauce and cheese would be sufficient for one pizza. One to two mushrooms thinly sliced will cover a pizza.

Preparing the Pizza Working one ball of dough at a time, take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface. Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Turn and stretch the dough until it will not stretch further. Let the dough relax 5 minutes and then continue to stretch it until it reaches the desired diameter - 10 to 12 inches. Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker. You can pinch the very edges if you want to form a lip. 5 Brush the top of the dough with olive oil (to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings). Use your finger tips to press down and make dents along the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Let rest another 5 minutes. Repeat with the second ball of dough.

Preparing the Pizza 6 Lightly sprinkle your pizza peel (or flat baking sheet) with corn meal. Transfer one prepared flattened dough to the pizza peel. If the dough has lost its shape in the transfer, lightly shape it to the desired dimensions. 7 Spoon on the tomato sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and place your desired toppings on the pizza. 8 Sprinkle some cornmeal on the baking stone in the oven (watch your hands, the oven is hot!). Gently shake the peel to see if the dough will easily slide, if not, gently lift up the edges of the pizza and add a bit more cornmeal. Slide the pizza off of the peel and on to the baking stone in the oven. Bake pizza one at a time until the crust is browned and the cheese is golden, about minutes. If you want, toward the end of the cooking time you can sprinkle on a little more cheese.

Napolitan Ragù Neapolitan ragù (ragù napoletano or ragù alla napoletana in Italian) is one of the two most famous varieties of meat sauces called ragù. (The other one is the renowned Bolognese sauce popular worldwide.) It is a speciality of Naples, as its name indicates. Like its equivalent in Bologna, the Neapolitan type is also made from three main parts: a soffritto, meat, and tomato sauce. In the Neapolitan recipe the content may well be enriched with adding raisins, pine nuts, and involtini with different fillings.

Ingredients 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 5 pieces pork ribs Salt and freshly ground black pepper 5 chicken thighs 5 (5-inch) pieces sweet Italian sausage 5 pieces pork braciole, recipe follows 5 meatballs, recipe follows 1 cup red wine 6 cups tomato sauce

Preparation In a heavy-bottomed oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat until just smoking. Season each piece of meat with salt and pepper. Brown all sides of each rib, remove, and set aside on a plate. Repeat browning process with chicken thighs, sausages, braciole, and meatballs. When the meat is browned, remove and deglaze with red wine. Add tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Return ribs, thighs, sausage, braciole, and meatballs to the pot, return to boil, and lower to high simmer. Cover with the lid and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove meats to a serving platter and keep warm. Serve sauce with paccheri pasta as a separate course.

SPLEEN COOKED WITH MINT AND VINEGAR INGREDIENTS 1 kg spleen of calf 1or 2 glasses of oil A bunch of parsley Abundant leaves of mint 3 chilly peppers 3 cloves of garlic salt

PREPARATION Wash, peel and cut the spleen into two parts on one side. Stuff it with the parsley, mint, chilly peppers and garlic. Stitch the spleen and cook it in a large and high pan with oil and a chilly pepper. When it has become brown, add some water and some black wine vinegar and salt. Continue a low cooking for about two hours. Add further mint. Serve cold.

SALT PASTIERA OF MACCHERONI INGREDIENTS 1 Kg of maccheroni : Bucatini and long mezzanelle 4/5 beaten eggs a pinch of salt abundant grated parmesan cheese a pinch of pepper thin slices of soppressata ( grinding salt pork with lard)

PREPARATION Boil water and to cook pasta, mix the ingredients and pour them on the dry pasta. Amalgamate the mixture in a bowl, pour it in a frying pan with three or four spoons of oil and cook on both sides.

EGGPLANTS WITH PARMESAN CHEESE INGREDIENTS eggplants from Campania region 1.5 kg (long, black and pungent) Peeled tomatoes San Marzano DOP Mozzarella cheese (From Lattari Mounts) or provola (from Agerola) grated Parmesan cheese flour 00 type 2 or 3 eggs garlic oil to fry salt pepper fresh basil

PREPARATION Wash eggplants, peel and cut them in slices about cm thick. To remove their bitter taste they should be prepared with some salt on both sides. Cover the salted eggplants with something to press them (a weight) to remove the water. Let them rest for 2 or 3 hours then wash the slices under running water and let them dry for a while. In the meanwhile beat the eggs in a plate with parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Dust the slices with flour then pass them in the beaten eggs prepared before and fry them. Prepare a tomato sauce with oil, garlic, salt and fresh basil and cook it slowly. Take a baking pan and make some layers with fried eggplants slices, tomato sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. 3 or 4 layers should be enough. Be sure the last one to be completely full of tomato sauce and of abundant Parmesan cheese. Put the baking pan in the oven at 180°C (350°F) for about minutes.

Typical local sweets

ZEPPOLE (DOUGHNUTS) WITH POTATOES INGREDIENTS 1 kg flour g. potatoes 5 eggs 100 g. butter 150 g sugar 1 small cube yeast 3 packets of vanillina 20 g Salt liqueur Strega peeled lemon cinnamon

Place the flour on a table, add boiled and squeezed potatoes, the eggs, sugar, vanillina, peeled lemon, salt, melted butter, yeast loosen in a small quantity of water and finally the liqueur. PREPARATION It is a typical Campanian recipe principally prepared at Carnival time.

After mixing all the ingredients and worked them, let the dough lie for an hour. Form ring shaped cakes and let them lie for a further hour until they have become bigger.. After that, fry them in abundant oil. Pass them in sugar and cinnamon.

INGREDIENTS ½ kg of maccheroni: mezzanelle and bucatini, 6 beaten eggs 1 glass of milk, 100 gr of sugar, A pinch of cinnamon, 1 grated lemon peel. SWEET PASTIERA OF MACCHERONI

PREPARATION Boil water and cook pasta. Beat the eggs, sugar, grated parmesan cheese, cinnamon, the grated lemon peel and milk. Mix all the ingredients with the cooked pasta. Put them in a high frying pan with 3 or 4 spoons of oil. After cooking the soufflé of pasta on a side, turn it on the other side. Cover it with sugar if you like and serve it hot or cold.

AUBERGINES WITH PLAIN CHOCOLATE INGREDIENTS Macaroons -200g Cinnamon – just a dust Aubergines – five Pine kernels – 50g Ricotta – ½ kg Eggs – 1 Vanillina – a little racket Sugar – 300g

PREPARATION First of all, wash the aubergines and cut them to two parts then boil them in sweet water. After boiling and cooking your aubergines, strain and get them cold. After that, empty out them conserving the pulp for the stuffed. At this point, mix the pulp,the crumbled macaroons, the ricotta the pine kernels, the egg, the pochet of vanillina and the innamon. Amalgamate all ingredients and stuff the empty aubergines. Put them into the oven at 280° for 20 minutes. While waiting, cook the plain chocolate in a bain – marie. After cooking the aubergines,cover them with the melt chocolate. Put them in the fridge for at least half an hour. Serve them cold

GRAIN PIZZA INGREDIENTS FOR THE PASTRY 500 g of flour 200 g of butter 3 whole eggs 2 spoons full of sugar 1 pinch of salt

INGREDIENTS FOR THE MIXTURE 500 g of grain 200 ml of milk 50 g of butter 500 g of ricotta (sieved 12 hour before) 300 g of sugar 6 whole eggs 3 yolks 2 packets of vanilla a pinch of cinnamon a few drops of orange blossom

PREPARATION Cook the grain with the milk, butter and a peeled lemon at a low temperature till at the complete evaporation of the milk. Remove from the cooker and cool. In a separate bowl mix the sieved ricotta and sugar, then add the whole eggs,the yolks, the vanilla, the pinch of cinnamon and the drops of orange blossom. Roll the dough and divide it into two parts. Stretch a part of the pastry in a baking pin previously floured and buttered, pour the mixture on the pastry and decorate the pizza with the other part of the pastry cut in little and narrow stripes,bake at 180° for 3 / 4 hours then lower the temperature at 140° for half an hour.Switch off, cool the pizza in the semi-open oven.