Peposo
When you travel down the Tirrenian coast from the north and you get close to Carrara where Michelangelo found the beautiful marble that he used to free the David from, you think that it is strange that on such a warm and sunny summer day the mountains still are covered with snow. Now You have to understand that the first time I ever saw those mountains I was nine years old and did not know anything about Carrara and its famous marble caves. My father smiled at me and solved the enigma for me, that was not snow in the mountains but the beautiful marble of Carrara. Many years later and after nonna Zita had introduced me to the wonderful world of cooking I heard a story about the men who worked in those caves. They needed strength to do such heavy work and so they needed calories to burn on their very long day. Of course a lot of them lived in Colonnata, a small village immersed in those mountains and they got their calories from the good lard.
Lardo di Colonnata that is known all over the world for its originality and good taste. The others who could not bring the lardo from home would bring pieces of beef, not the tender cuts, because they would have been too expensive, but the tougher parts of the calf. They would cut into small chunks, put it in the terracotta pots, covered it with red wine from the Ligurian Vineyard, some olive oil, black pepper, rosemary, garlic, salt and the home made tomato paste made by their wives at the end of the summer by cooking the tomatoes and then putting the paste on woodden boards out in the sun to dry.
Very early in the morning they would put the pot on the fire to simmer for 3 to 4 hours, it was usually let alone to simmer or if there was a small apprentice his first lesson was to be left in charge of the peposo to stir it once in a while, sitting by the fire and hammering away at the left over marble used for gravel. He would add a little water if the men were delayed by a huge piece of marble that would not come away from the mountain. Sometimes they ate this dish with polenta or boiled beans, or just plain bread and washed it down with the same red wine that it was cooked in. This dish is not for every plate, the taste is very intense, hot and sweet. Please enjoy Il Peposo on a cold winter evening in front of the TV watching the life of Michelangelo.
For 4 persons you will need:
- 1 pound of beef shank cut in small cubes,
- some garlic ( 4-5 cloves )
- Rosemary 3-4 fresh branches
- 1-2 small branch fresh sage
- 5-6 bay leaves
- 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil (better if from Tuscany or Liguria)
- 1 small fistful of hole black pepper
red wine (you do not have to use a very expensive wine, when I make this dish I use my own or the red wine from the Montecarlo hills near my home in Lucca).
Just put everthing in the pot and let it simmer for hours!
Artichokes are a wonderful side dish today!
