Cooking with Fulvio

Secrets for a delicious, economic Saltimbocca

When Fulvio’s little book of local recipes “Olio e Ricordi in Cucina” was being compiled back in 2009 we did not include one of my favorite meat dishes since butter was an ingredient and the book was dedicated to dishes using extra virgin olive oil .

The inspiration for this book came during voyages on small luxury cruise ships where I was Enrichment and Destination speaker. An amazing gig for people who are writers, researchers, public speakers, experts on a variety of subjects. If you want to know more check out the first section of my Bibliography and Books pages on my website - http://www.elegantetruria.com/bibliography/ .

The website has won several prizes in Italy over the years when very little information about the area - known as Etruria or Northern Lazio- between Rome and Tuscany could be found. It is an educational website, often updated during the past 25 years. You can find photos of many of our travels also on MaryVetralla, my Instagram page.

Often Fulvio was the only Italian speaker aboard -with the exception of some officers, a fascinating piano player and chef Fabio. Fulvio had a bit of culture shock when he saw the breakfast and lunch buffets where guests from around the world piled their plates high with an enormous variety of different foods. So he decided to use his time to listing dishes he was missing and this evolved into a bilingual book,

a collection of stories, recipes, and a few poems in praise of olive oil. A selection of dishes which can be easily prepared outside Italy is included in English for the international reader.

recipe index - a few copies of the book are still available - send me a message if you are interested in a copy

Saltimbocca, literally “jump in the mouth”, is a tasty meat dish that Fulvio has changed a bit - substituting vitello/veal (a relatively expensive cut of meat in Italy) with slices of lean arista/ pork loin.

Ingredients

Here are the steps to follow to make a perfect and inexpensive saltimbocca.

In most supermarkets you can pick up packets of thinly sliced arista or pork loin that are half the price of vitella/veal. The other ingredients are slices of prosciutto crudo, a bit of flour, some white wine, butter and olive oil in equal parts, a few leaves of sage /salvia, and toothpicks to keep it all together. Here is another secret: the sage leaf goes inbetween the two slices of meat, sharing its flavor with the arista and the prosciutto.

Dredge the arista slices in flour, put the sage on top and then the slice of prosciutto, closing with the toothpick. When the butter and oil are hot place the “packet” - arista side down- in the pan for a few minutes. Since it is very thin the meat cooks quickly. Just time enough for you to have another glass of wine.

Turn the packet over to warm the prosciutto side for only a minute or so since the prosciutto does not have to cook

Add a slosh of white wine and you will see a creamy sauce being formed.

Serve immediately and enjoy - -don’t forget to remove the toothpicks!