Ponza Viaggi - Ponza's Recipes

In the traditional Ponza kitchen, the dishes based on legumes should be remembered. Indeed, they once represented one of the staple foods of the island.

Fortunately, while on the island this habit is being lost, to keep it alive and perhaps to urge a possible resurrection are the more and more numerous tourists who, having lived the "wheel" of progress to the full, know how to appreciate, perhaps, more than us, old and good habits. Among the dishes based on legumes, the following should be mentioned: cicerchie soup, lentil soup and "u cuniglie senza arrecchie"; the latter are nothing more than boiled broad beans, pulled with a little tomato. The dish should preferably be accompanied with onions and red wine. This dish was once eaten out of devotion on the day of the dead. But on that occasion the beans were boiled and served without seasoning.

Cianfotta

Ingredients (for 4 people): Potatoes 500g, Eggplants 250g, Peppers 250g, Zucchini 250g, Onion 1, Cherry Tomatoes, Extra Virgin Oil, Vinegar, Salt.

Clean the vegetables, cut them into cubes (about 2 cm), fry them individually by type in abundant oil, and let them drain for about an hour. Cut the onion into thin slices and brown it in a pan with a drizzle of oil, add the cherry tomatoes and salt, sprinkle with a few drops of vinegar and cover by boiling it slowly for 10 minutes. Finally add the vegetables making them flavor in the sauce, with a few basil leaves, and serve a little warm.

Calamari ripieni (Stuffed squid)

Ingredients (for 4 people): Calamari 4, Breadcrumbs, Eggs 3, Raisins 50g, Pine nuts 50g, Parmigiano Reggiano, peeled tomatoes 1kg, parsley, extra virgin olive oil, garlic 3 cloves, salt.

Clean the squid, cut the two longer tentacles, the part after the eyes, which is inside the squid, and chop them into small pieces. Collect everything in a bowl with the previously wet and crumbled breadcrumbs, eggs, pine nuts and raisins, parmesan, and a clove of garlic and chopped parsley. Mix everything and put it in a pan with boiling oil for a few seconds, so that the eggs congeal. Use a pastry bag or a simple spoon to fill the squid with the filling, and close them with the rest of the head stopped by toothpicks. Finally, prepare the tomato sauce with a base of garlic and oil, pour in the tomatoes and chopped parsley, as soon as it boils, immerse the squid in it and finish cooking after about twenty minutes. Serve them sliced on a bed of tomato sauce and garnished with a few parsley leaves.

Zuppa di lenticchie (Lentil soup)

Ingredients for 4 people: Lentils 300g, Potatoes 200g, Cherry tomatoes 100g, 2 garlic cloves, extra virgin olive oil, basil and parsley, salt.

Collect the lentils, wash them and put them in a pan with cold water. Peel the potatoes, cut them into cubes and add them to the lentils, everything is boiled. Put 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and the sliced garlic in a pan, add the previously washed and quartered tomatoes before it turns brown, simmer for a few minutes and remove from the heat. Almost when the lentils are cooked, add the tomato and garlic base, add the salt, and if the lentils are those of Ponza, they will be cooked before the potatoes are dissolved. When cooked, add a coarse chopped parsley and basil, a few drizzles of extra virgin olive oil. and serve in an earthenware pan accompanied with garlic-scented bruschetta.

Spaghetti con le vongole (Spaghetti with clams)

Ingredients for 4 people: Clams 1 kg, Spaghetti 480g, 2 garlic cloves, Extra virgin olive oil, Parsley, Chilli at the discretion of your palate.

In this recipe it is recommended to use only true clams, which will be purged in sea water to eliminate any sand deposits. In a pan, make a sauce of garlic and oil, and as soon as the garlic browns, add the previously poured clams, cover with a lid and add the chopped parsley, let it cook until all the clams have opened. Separately, in a pot with boiling salted water, dip the spaghetti which, as soon as they are cooked and poured, will be seasoned with the clam soup, coarsely chopped parsley and a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Finally, arrange the spaghetti on a serving dish and place the clams on top.

Spaghetti con il fellone (it. granseola, en. spider crab)

Ingredients for 4 people: 1 Female Fellone, Cherry tomatoes 400g, Spaghetti 480g, 2 garlic cloves, Extra virgin olive oil, Parsley, Chilli at the discretion of your palate.

Immerse the fellone in boiling water placing it with the claws up, after about 20 minutes lift it from the water and with a painstaking operation remove and store in a bowl all the pulp and broth found in the shell. Apart from frying oil and garlic in a pan, which as soon as it becomes golden, add the claws previously detached from the shell and a sprinkling of parsley. After about a minute, add the tomatoes previously split in half and all the pulp and broth obtained from the shell. Cover and let it boil for a few minutes. Separately, in a pot with boiling salted water, dip the spaghetti which, as soon as they are cooked and poured, will be seasoned with the coarsely chopped parsley sauce and a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Finally, arrange the spaghetti in a serving dish and sprinkle the top with the sauce, surround it with the claws and place the fellone's shell on top.

Alici marinate (Marinated anchovies)

Ingredients for 4 people: Anchovies 600g, vinegar, 1 clove garlic, 1 lemon, parsley, chilli.

Clean the anchovies, removing their heads and bones, trying not to divide the fillets, rinse them and leave them to soak in water and vinegar (30 water 70 vinegar) for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl, prepare a cold sauce with the sliced garlic, parsley and chopped chilli pepper, add the lemon juice and 50 ml of extra virgin olive oil, salt and emulsify everything by shaking vigorously with a fork. When the anchovies are ready, they will be drained and rinsed gently, and placed in a bowl with the back facing down, and the previously prepared sauce will be added in layers. Leave to marinate for a few hours and serve at room temperature, garnished with lemon slices.

Tonno sott'olio (Tuna in oil)

Ingredients: Tuna (Alalonga) 1kg, Salt 80g, Extra virgin olive oil.

It is preferable to use the tuna called Alalonga because it has a lighter flesh than the common tuna. It must be cleaned and cut into large pieces, immersed in boiling salted water and cooked for at least 3 hours. Drain it, bone it carefully and let it dry on tea towels for 5-6 hours. Arrange it in glass jars and cover it with oil, then hermetically close the jars and boil them for an abundant hour.

Zeppole

Non-island readers may think of those characteristic sweets that are commonly made for the feast of the father and the beginning of spring.

Ponza's "zeppola" is a cake made with flour, brewer's yeast or "criscito" (which is nothing but the "mother of bread"), a little salt, milk, anise or other liqueur. All mixed and fried in abundant oil. When the pancake is still hot it is sprinkled with sugar and eaten immediately. Tradition reminds us that this characteristic island dessert was prepared on various occasions, when the shoots of the vines were tied, or the first tooth of a child sprouted or to celebrate the casting of the attic of a new home.

Casatiello

It is one of the favorite sweets of the Ponza people. It differs from the typical and rustic Neapolitan casatiello, prepared with salami, hard-boiled eggs, cracklings, cheeses, pepper etc. etc.

The island casatiello is a dessert that is enjoyed both between meals, perhaps accompanied with a sweet drink, and at breakfast, or accompanied by pecorino cheese and fresh broad beans. The basic ingredients are: flour, sugar, yeast, lard, natural flavors. The women of Ponza prepare this Easter cake as expected in a ritual. Once kneaded, the casatiello must be left to rise like bread and this varies according to the heat of the environment in which the leavening takes place. In many homes, hot water pots are used which, placed near the sweets, serve to increase the temperature by those degrees necessary to favor their leavening. Pena "nu casatiello ammazzaruto" (badly leavened cake that remains compact as a stone when cooked). Cooking must be done at moderate heat for about twenty minutes. Casatiello is traditionally linked to Easter in island customs. On the Monday after Easter almost all the Ponza people are out in the hills with their casatiello for the traditional picnic. For several years in Ponza, on Easter Monday, the Casatiello festival has been organized which, judging by the increasingly numerous presences, is also highly appreciated for the genuine products of wine, broad beans, which are offered. Typical Ponza products grown without any fertilizer, which guarantees a superior quality of taste and genuineness.

Linguine all'aragosta (Lobster linguine)

Ingredients for 4 people: 2 lobsters of 600g each, cherry tomatoes 600g, Linguine 480g, 2 garlic cloves, extra virgin olive oil, parsley, chilli at the discretion of your palate.

Cut the lobsters in two perpendicularly, in a pan make a base of garlic and oil, and as soon as the garlic browns, place the lobsters with the pulp facing the bottom, and let it brown over a high heat. After about thirty seconds Turn the lobsters over, sprinkle with coarsely chopped parsley, and sprinkle with white wine. As soon as the wine has evaporated, add the tomatoes previously split in half, cover the pan with a lid and leave to cook slowly for 10 minutes, and soak the pulp of the lobsters in the shells with the broth that is formed by cooking the tomatoes. Separately, in a pot with boiling salted water, dip the linguine which, as soon as it is cooked and poured, will be seasoned with the sauce and a few tablespoons of virgin olive oil. Finally arrange the linguine in a serving dish and sprinkle the top with the sauce, and arrange the lobsters on top.

Gastronomy

Ponza's Recipes