Zia Angelina’s Giardiniera
Aunt Angelina makes things in a traditional way, from scratch. She even makes the dried
herbs and ‘season-alls’ she uses for cooking by harvesting each herb, chopping it, mixing with
chopped garlic and salt and drying very slowly on her wood-burning stuffa (like an Aga). She
makes ravioli stuffing from her livestock and vegetables, then she mixes the pasta dough and
makes up the ravioli by hand. It’s amazing that something that takes so long to make is polished
off so quickly – but with a respect and pleasure that you wouldn’t get with shop-bought pasta.
Her Giardiniera (of the garden) is a classic example of her dedication to doing things
properly. She uses all her own vegetables if possible, and even the vinegar is her own as they
also make wine and so have the madre (mother), a naturally occurring gelatinous substance
used to ‘turn’ wine into vinegar, which can be used time and time again.
You make this wonderful side (which goes with any meats, charcuterie, eggs or just on
its own with rustic bread and some wine) in five stages. It is important to cook the vegetable
groups together as indicated below. This is the traditional way and it works.
Ingredients:
- 3 kg tomatoes, cooked and processed using a passata machine or sieve, or about 2 litres ready-made
passata
- 750 g carrots, 1 large head of celery
Chop the carrots and celery and fry together on a low heat for 30 minutes.
- 750 g French bean, 750 g pickling onions
Cook together, frying gently on a low heat for 30 minutes.
- 750 g courgettes, 750 g peppers
Chop and fry together on a low heat for 30 minutes.
- a palmful of salt, 250 ml sunflower oil, 500 ml vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 chilli
Boil these ingredients together for 20 minutes.
Combine the ingredients and divide between jars. Seal following the instructions opposite.
*taken from the book ‘From Seed to plate’ by Paolo Arrigo, published by Simon and Schuster