Trippa alla Romana

SERVES 6 // PREP TIME 30 MINS // COOK 2 HRS

“Last year the Swillhouse crew went on a wild trip to Paris, where I noticed a bit of Indian influence in the food at some of the more contemporary restaurants, which I thought was cool and unique. Especially to me living in Sydney,” says Pepperell. “Turns out that butter chicken and trippa alla Romana have a lot of similarities.” At Alberto’s they deep-fry some of the diced tripe to add crunch and texture.

1 kg honeycomb tripe

(see note) 1 carrot, finely diced 1 onion, finely diced 1 celery stalk, finely diced 100 ml vegetable oil

Seeds from 2 cardamom pods

½ cinnamon quill, broken into pieces 100 gm guanciale (see note), skin removed, cut into

1cm dice 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced on a mandoline

½ tsp garam masala

50 gm (2½ tbsp) tomato paste 75 ml white wine

200 gm canned crushed tomatoes 300 ml pouring cream 50 gm butter 10 gm piece ginger 1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (see note) 20 mint leaves, thinly sliced 25 gm (⅓ cup) finely grated Pecorino Romano

1 Place tripe in a large saucepan and cover with cold water

(about 4 litres). Bring to a boil, then drain. Wash tripe under cold running water and return to saucepan with fresh water. Place a small plate on top of tripe to keep it submerged, and bring to a simmer over mediumlow heat until tripe is fork-tender (1½ to 1¾ hours), drain.

2 Meanwhile, combine carrot, onion, celery and 80ml oil in a small saucepan. Simmer gently over very low heat, stirring often, until onion is deeply caramelised (1-1½ hours).

Strain, reserving vegetables.

3 Dry-roast cardamom seeds and cinnamon in a large saucepan over medium heat until fragrant (2 minutes; see cook’s notes p152). Grind to a fine powder with a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, and sift with a fine sieve into a bowl.

4 Add guanciale and remaining oil to the same saucepan, place over low heat and stir until fat has rendered (8-10 minutes).

Add garlic, stir until light golden (2-3 minutes), then add ground spices and garam masala. Stir until roasted (1 minute), then add tomato paste, and stir until caramelised (2 minutes). Add white wine, bring to a boil and boil until nearly evaporated

(3-4 minutes). Add the soffrito, crushed tomatoes, cream, butter, ginger and fenugreek, reduce heat to low and simmer until flavours have developed (25-30 minutes). Remove ginger and season to taste.

5 Cut tripe into thick strips.

Add to sauce and simmer until flavours have combined (5 minutes). Remove from heat and stir through mint. Ladle onto plates and serve topped with pecorino.

Note Honeycomb tripe is available from butchers. It may need to be ordered ahead. Guanciale is available from select Italian delicatessens; if unavailable, substitute with pancetta. Dried fenugreek leaves (methi) are available from Indian grocers.

Wine suggestion 2016 Podere Pradarolo Vej Bianco Antico. Super-floral and intense stonefruit character; very good with the spices in this dish.