Oats With Tomato Sauce

Oats With Tomato Sauce

Oats with tomato sauce is a typical recipe of cuisine from Salento Italy and nearby Basilicata Italy. It is simply delicious and nutritious

A traditional peasant dish, we are not accustomed to considering oats as everyday dishes. Once upon a time, however, this was not the case – and oats with tomato sauce became a typical dish of the Salento culinary tradition, widely demonstrating this fact. Oats with tomato sauce is actually one of the recipes from history and tradition that historically used whatever ingredients were available to people at the time.

Oats with Tomato Sauce – called ‘cranu stumpatu cu lu sucu’ in Salento dialect – is a traditional recipe from Puglia, but it also comes from the neighboring Basilicata and uses one of the few foods accessible to poor farmers: oats accompanied by a simple tomato sauce seasoned with basil and grated pecorino cheese.

The Recipe: Oats with Tomato Sauce
Ingredients:

2 cups whole oats, 

4 cups tomato sauce, 

2 white onions, 

½ cup of grated pecorino cheese, 

Basil, 

Extra-virgin olive oil, 

Salt, 

Red pepper flakes

Directions:
First soak the whole oats in cold water for about 12 hours – this essential step allows the oats to absorb water and softens them for cooking. The next day, the oats will be ready. Cook them for about an hour in a pot with salted water over medium heat, stirring frequently. While the oats cook, make a quick sauce with tomato sauce and basil. Add some lightly fried onion. The trick to preparing oats with the tastiest sauce is to making another onion sauté where you stir-fry the cooked oats for about 10 minutes before seasoning it with the sauce, making it completely absorb the water. After transferring the oats to a dish, pour the sauce over them and sprinkle with pecorino cheese before serving.

Pork and Fennel Sausage Rolls

Pork And Sausage Rolls

How About Bratwurst Rolls?

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 fat garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, plus more for finishing
3 thyme sprigs, leaves separated chopped
1 small red, yellow or white onion, diced
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced carrots
1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 pound lean ground pork (or chicken, turkey, or plant-based meat)
¼ cup bread crumbs
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (14- to 16-ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed but still cold
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees and line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in 1 teaspoon fennel seeds and chopped thyme, and cook for another minute or until fragrant.

Add onion and celery and cook until onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add carrots and a large pinch of salt and cook until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool.

Once vegetables have cooled, add ground pork, bread crumbs, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Using your hands, mix thoroughly until well combined.

Roll the chilled puff pastry dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Cut pastry into four equal rectangles. In the center of each pastry, dollop a quarter of the pork mixture, then form it into a long sausage running lengthwise on the pastry strip. Lightly brush one long edge of the pastry with egg wash. Starting with the side without the egg wash, firmly fold the pastry over the meat filling to form long rolls, pinching to seal. Place on prepared baking sheet, seam-sides down.

Lightly brush the top of each roll with egg wash and sprinkle with fennel seeds. Bake until sausage rolls are golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.