ANNIE SMITHERS
As antipodeans, cooler weather often sees us gazing northward to the food traditions of Europe. When I think of European winter food traditions, it is cotechino con lenticchie that always takes my fancy.
Maybe it’s because I love to believe in the symbolism of it all. After all, it seems far less avaricious to believe that the more lentils I eat the richer I will become in the coming year, than to buy a QuickPick in TattsLotto and dream of the millions coming my way.
Italians enjoy this dish on New Year’s Eve. Well, not exactly: for the maximum pecuniary effect, the ideal time is in the half-hour after the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day. The tradition dates from biblical times and Esau and his dish of lentils, which morphed into giving away a purse of lentils, each of which was to turn into a coin, which in turn morphed into cotechino with lentils. The lentils represent coins and the pork sausage represents not only the fat of the land, but, forward thinking, the pigs that always “root” forwards. I really do love a bit of rich food symbolism.
Cotechino is not hard to make, if you have a mincer and a sausage filler and a good butcher. This sausage requires a much larger casing than you would use for your humble snag, but is an easy one to master if you’re a beginner. Having said that, there are still plenty of good Italian butchers around who sell a damn fine cotechino.
For the lentils, I love the texture of the flinty little puy lentil for this dish. And for added unctuousness and texture, instead of the traditional boiled sausage just sliced onto the lentils, I like them pan-fried a little. Happy new year – even if we’re just exiting an Australian
• winter.