Good morning!

Happy Sunday everyone. You’re just in time for gravy!

How very fucking convenient. Because we’ve got gravy, in abundance. 

Today we will be paying compliments and homage to fellow member of the kommentariat and dear friend of the blog, our main man in Italy. 2Pack.

This unbelievably generous human being once more delivered some extreme generosity to your humble narrator in the form of gifts sent directly from Italy.

Remember last year?

When our dear friend showered these gifts upon me?

Just an incredible offering of delicious cheeses, preserves and other savory goodness. Those cheese selections were straight up delicious. Every one of them.

Well, in a effort to one-up himself, I opened the door one morning to find these items awaiting.

I mean, holy shit! That’s amazing! This year’s haul featured 2 different types of pecorino cheeses. One from Sardinia and the other a pepper crusted pecorino. There was also another humongous wedge of parmigiano reggiano which will indeed be fully utilized and sampled plus some crostini and several types of preserves. There was also a selection of wine jellies which were absolutely sensational. Especially when served with the crostini. Incredible stuff.

Folks? That was some of the best cheese I have ever eaten anywhere in my entire life. For a pecorino, it did bring the sheep milk funk, as it rightly should but it was also sweet, fresh, I mean you could taste the grass that the sheep grazed on. Dear God! Just fantastic stuff right there.

Now, let’s get a close up on the item right there in the middle

An authentic Italian clay cooking pot.

I’ll let 2Pack himself explain:

“Here is some background on the terra cotta industry that used to be vital in the area I now live in. Since the 1890’s local rivers have provided clay very conducive to construction blocks, roof tiles are pottery. Furnaces were key industry until the 1960’s. The main one is the Trevisan fornace pictured in the first photo as it looked in 1939.

The facade of the building in the lower right, and the entire long building and furnace smoke stack in the center left remain today preserved by the town. Picture 2 shows the long building and original furnace as the city hall now, pretty cool.

Picture 3 is the Ferrarin – Trevisan fornace which sat a mile away from the main fornace in Novoledo where I live. It is neat because it shows what my neighborhood looked like until the late ’60’s. My house sits around the center left of this photo. The only remaining original houses are the ones at the center right.

The final photo is of a sole remaining business in Villaverla that still deals in the original articles made on site. Your pot comes from there.

I’m going to make a slow cooked peperonata in my brand new Italian Clay pot!

I also received a “flame diffuser” along with the pot. The name basically describes the use.

 

Recipe inspiration for today from Marcellina in Cucina.com

Peperonata!

“1 pound red bell peppers

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 onion

3-4 garlic cloves

1 cup tomato puree

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

½ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt divided

⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper”

Here we go.

I reheated the peperonata just to get the chill off of it. And seasoned with salt and pepper. These are your taste buds you’re working with here. The sweet notes from the sugar and the tang from the vinegar are pretty fucking front and center so adjust to taste.

While researching this menu I read that the peperonata worked really well with pasta and with grilled meats. So?

The side dish, or “Primi,” for today was simply some rigatoni, coated with a little peperonata and sprinkled with some pecorino.

Let’s get to our main course or “Secondi.”

When deciding which type and method of grilled meat I wanted to have with this meal I fell right back on old faithful.

Let’s grill some pork chops.

Damn right I’m using Bessie for maximum grillage here. Season simply with some salt and pepper. Use a bit of a heavy hand with the salt and pepper here.

These are some thick-ass motherfucking chops today so we’ll do the “sear, sear, finish in oven” approach.

Flip them bad boys over.

See how thick these bastards are? That means we have to sear them on 4 sides instead of 2 sides. Do that.

Let these go for about 12 minutes in a 350 degree oven to finish cooking.

Finally, we plate. Be sure to get a good amount of the peperonata on that pork chop.

This stuff was fucking MADE for that grilled meat. Mother of God!

Think of peperonata as a cross between a marinara and a salsa but holy fucking shit when served on that chop? THAT! THAT right fucking there is why this dish exists. This will be served in my house on many occasions until I am no longer cooking. It’s fantastic.

Plus now I have a perfect accompaniment to an outdoor grilling session with friends and family. Bring some of this along with you and both blow some damn minds and awaken life experiences. Let them try a little unexpected Italian in their lives.

You will be thanked profusely.

This is the real deal and a proper fucking keeper of a recipe folks.

You will want this recipe handy. When you see red peppers ripe, abundant and in season you will know EXACTLY what to do with them.

Be sure to try it out and give a proper thank you to our Italian DFO family in Italy.

Thank you so much 2Pack for your friendship and generosity.

You’re the best.

We made it to springtime folks. Hopefully your weather is nice and you can enjoy the rest of your day.

Until next week.

PEACE!