Ciambotta

Ciambotta with grated Parmesan and crusty brown bread.

Ciambotta, pronounced 'chom-bought' in my world, is essentially a summer vegetable stew. The dish is popular throughout southern Italy and not only do the ingredients vary by region, so does the name. In Calabria it's ciambrotta, and in Basilicata it's as I spell it here, and in Campania it is cianfotta. But no matter how you say it, it's delicious and for me, a wonderful comfort food.

When my mother made this when I was a kid, she always put sausage in it which kind of flies in the face of vegetable stew. In all honesty, I had no idea it was a vegetable stew until I researched it recently.

I routinely do Google searches to learn about the recipes that have come down from my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my mom because none of them ever gave me any kind of provenance about the origins or any other factoids about the dishes they prepared. Actually, they didn't even give me the damned recipes, I kind of build most of them from how I remember things tasting and smelling.

As I recall it, Mom's ciambotta had sausage, potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini along with garlic and aromatics like basil and oregano. My recipe adds some carrots, celery, peppers, and some onion. I add the ingredients in a specific order to ensure that the hard-ish vegetables cook to tender, the potatoes have enough liquid to cook through, and that the zucchini doesn't get too mushy. It's an art.... Deviate from the schedule at your own risk.

The recipe here includes what I had on hand the day I made it, but you can include mushrooms, cubed eggplant, yellow squash, or even cut spinach. You can certainly go back to the vegetable stew tradition and omit the sausage for a vegetarian option. I have also skipped the potato and added some kind of pasta like tortellini, cavatelli, or mini ravioli. Stay tuned for a cavatelli recipe in the coming months, too!

THE RECIPE:

1/4 C each of diced onion and garlic

1/4 C olive oil

1 lb Italian sausage (loose or links cut into bite-sized medallions)

1C each of coarsely chopped carrots and celery

2C sweet onion cut into large but bite-sized chunks

3C chopped potatoes (uniform size 1/2" dice)

2C Sweet peppers cut into chunks

2C Fresh or canned diced tomatoes

2C marinara sauce or V-8

1C Red wine

3C Zucchini

3T Herbs de Provence

Salt / pepper to taste

Combine olive oil, sausage ans diced onion and garlic in a large stock pot and saute until the sausage is cooked through. While the sausage is cooking, cut up the other vegetables but keep them sorted.

Once the sausage is cooked through add the carrots, celery and large cut onion, bring it to a gentle simmer and cover to cook for 10 minutes or so while you chop the tomatoes and sweet peppers. After the carrots etc. have simmered for 10 minutes, add the peppers followed by the tomatoes.

Stir to combine the peppers and tomatoes and add the marinara sauce or V-8 and red wine. Add a pinch or two of salt, cover and let simmer on very low while you cut up the potatoes. -- bite-size uniform pieces so they all cook evenly. I used red potatoes for this recipe, but any kind will do. I also leave the skin on -- always. Once the potatoes are cut, there should be a good amount of liquid in the pot, so go ahead and add the potatoes and cover to allow the potatoes to cook in the simmering liquid. If you feel that there isn't enough liquid, you can add some vegetable broth, but keep in mind that you'll be adding the zucchini soon an that will also provide liquid..

Cut up the zucchini after you stir the potatoes into the pot. After 5 or 10 minutes add the zucchini to the pot and stir to mix everything together. Add the herbs de Provence, cover and let simmer until the potatoes are cooked through and a rich broth has developed. Taste it and add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with lots of grated Parmesan and some crusty bread.