I always enjoy Burn’s Night and will prepare haggis, neeps and tatties on the 25th.
In Italy, we have an equivalent to haggis, cotechino, a speciality of Modena in Emiglia Romana, the pork production centre of Italy; home of Proscuitto di Parma, Salami and Porchetta.
Cotechino is made from minced lean meat of specially reared Italian acorn fed pigs seasoned with a blend of wine, garlic, salt and spices, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves. It is sold in local butcher shops but can also be purchased preserved and packaged in foil. Just like haggis, it needs to be simmered for 30 minutes in boiling water and is ready to eat.
Traditionally served with spiced Castelluccio lentils, soft polenta or mashed potatoes and whole fruits preserved in syrup and mustard, Mostarda di Frutta.
If you don’t fancy the cotechino, do try these spicy lentils which can be made with or without the spicy Italian sausage. Dare I say it, they might even be tasty with haggis.
Ingredients:
250 g Castelluccio lentils or small brown lentils
2 -3 tablespoons V&C Fior Fiore extra virgin olive oil, or any good oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced
piece dried pepperoncino
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
200g spicy Italian pork sausage (V&C Fonteluna) or chorizo
200g tinned Italian plum tomatoes, chopped
Sprig fresh rosemary and a fresh bay leaf
1 handful finely chopped flat leaf parsley
Sea salt
Method:
Rinse the lentils in cold water discarding any that float to the surface.
Place in a saucepan, cover with cold water, about 750ml, and simmer until tender, about 20-25 minutes depending on how old they are.
Drain off, but retain, any excess liquid.
Warm the oil in a large frying pan.
Add the garlic, chopped onion and dried chilli and sauté gently to infuse the oil.
Skin the spicy sausage and slice into thin slivers.
Add to the oil and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, rosemary, fresh bay leaf and the drained lentils.
Cook for 20 minutes or so adding some of the drained liquid or water if necessary.
Season and finally add the finely chopped parsley.
If you are cooking the cotechino warm as directed. Remove from the silver package and discard the juices that lie inside. Easiest to do this directly in a sieve in the sink. Slice the cotechino and serve with the lentils and a pieces of Mostarda di Frutta.
Mary Contini OBE is a writer and Director of Valvona & Crolla, Edinburgh, UK’s original Italian delicatessen and Caffè Bar. Keep in touch.
www.valvonacrolla.com
Twitter @mary.contini @valvonacrolla
Instagram @valvonacrolla
Facebook @valvona.crolla
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here