The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Keeping old world alive
Ristorante Luce in Hamden shares its recipe for soffritto
FOUND: Heather Carrano of East Haven wrote: “I’m a big fan of your column and look forward to it every Wednesday in the New Haven Register. My extended family and I are enthusiastic foodies, and I often find area Italian restaurants have almost identical menu listings, so I get really excited when I find something unique and old-school heritage cooking. I’m looking for Luce’s recipe for the appetizer listed on their menu as soffritto (veal hearts in pomodoro sauce). I’ve tried searching for similar recipes on the internet, but nothing comes close.
“My husband remembers his aunt making the dish, but she passed away and didn’t leave her recipe with her children. Please ask them if you can publish the recipe in your column. So many old-world recipes are being lost, and I’ve never seen this dish at any other restaurant.”
Heather, get out your saucepan, since Ralph Iannaccone and his son, Paul, chefs and owners of Ristorante Luce (2987 Whitney Ave., Hamden, 203407-8000, ristoranteluce. net) were delighted to share the recipe for this old-world dish.
Soffritto is described on the menu as a Neopolitan favorite. The dish has been on the menu from the restaurant’s beginning, 25 years ago. Some of you might remember the former name, Raffaello’s. In Italian, “luce” means light and was chosen to celebrate the “light of life.” Ralph told me many guests come to the restaurant often just for this dish.
Other popular dishes include seafood polenta and pane cotto, a Luce favorite prepared with escarole and beans sautéed with ciabatta bread and broiled to golden brown. You won’t be disappointed with the wine list, featuring 1,000-plus selections spanning five decades and the world. Several Wine Spectator awards adorn the walls, honoring their wine program.
Always curious to learn more about a dish, I looked up soffritto in the Oxford Companion to Food, what I consider to be an encyclopedia of food. It says: “Soffritto, the Italian and Spanish forms of a word which means much the same in both languages, always indicating a preliminary aromatic preparation which is basic to a very wide range of savory dishes. For Italians it is a mixture of chopped onion, garlic, parsley and probably tomato and other ingredients too, lightly cooked in olive oil. In Spain, cooks are likely to use paprika, and garlic is not always present.”
I found it interesting that the term is also used in Sephardic Jewish cookery. It says, “it can often mean a whole dish incorporating meat or chicken braised with oil and a little water, and colored and flavored with saffron.”
No matter what the culture, when it comes to cooking, there are so many variations on a theme.
SOFFRITTO
¼ cup olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
3 bay leaves
4 cups chicken broth
1 cup tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
Crushed red pepper to taste
1 pound cooked and cubed veal hearts (to cook, slow boil for 25 minutes, cool and cut into ¼-inch cubes)
Place olive oil, onions and bay leaves in a large saucepan. Sauté over medium heat until onions are cooked until translucent. Add chicken broth and tomato paste, mix well and let simmer until sauce thickens. Add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste. Add cooked veal hearts and simmer for 10 minutes. If sauce gets too thick, add more chicken broth. Makes 4 servings as an appetizer or 2 as an entrée.
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