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Gennaro Contaldo ~ The Chef
Gennaro Contaldo was a native of the Amalfi coast in Southern Italy.
Growing up in this beautiful and unspoilt part of the world, his was a boyhood of fishing,
game hunting and picking wild herbs & mushrooms;
quickly he developed a deep knowledge of nature and the outdoors. His passion for food coupled with
an ability to create dishes from natural, simple ingredients has followed him throughout his career as a chef.
His menu at Passione is full of natural, wild food, such as rocket, sorrel, fungi - many of these ingredients
are collected by himself time permitting.
Recipe for Gennaro's
"SOFFRITO NAPOLETANO"
This is an old, traditional Neapolitan dish which is probably about 400 years old. It was a poor man's dish, using just animals' offal - it was during the nobile people's banquets that the poor would congregate outside the kitchens waiting for the innards to be discarded, whilst the rich would consume the outer parts of the animal. They took the innards home and came up with this tasty recipe. Many would say that the poor man's dish named Soffritto actually tasted better than the rich man's meal.
Ingredients:
6/8 x servings
500 gr pig's liver
300 gr pig's lung
300 gr pig's heart
2 x pig's kidneys
½ pig's spleen
4 tablepoons olive oil
200 gr pork lard
1 x large glass red wine
6 x tablespoons tomato pure'
1 x red pepper, roasted and finely chopped
4 x red chillies, finely chopped
5 x bay leaves
1 x rosemary branch
1 x small bunch of sage
1 x litre vegetable stock
6 x large bread rolls, emptied and oven-baked on a low setting until crispy
or thick slices of rustic bread, oven-baked on a low setting until crispy
Method
Wash the offal in cold water and dry with a kitchen cloth. Then slice into small chunks.
Heat the olive oil and lard in a saucepan, add the offal, stirring,until well sealed on all sides. Add the wine, allow to evaporate, then stir in the chilli, roasted pepper, bay leaves, rosemary, sage and tomato pure' and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the stock and simmer for approx. 1 hour - check from time to time to ensure the meat doesn't stick, if necessary add more stock. At the end of cooking time, you should end up with a creamy consistency. Discard the rosemary and sage, remove the bay leaves, but set aside.
Place the crispy bread rolls on individual plates, fill with the Soffritto, decorate with the bay leaves and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve immediately. Alternatively serve with the slices of bread.
© Gennaro Contaldo
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