The premise for this rustic pie is so intuitively sound, so solid, I wish I had thought of it myself. What could be more comforting than sandwiching spicy Italian sausage and rapini between soft, smooth layers of mashed potatoes and baking the whole mass together until steaming hot? When I found this recipe it immediately resonated with me, a whole meal in a pan, replete with meat, veggies and potatoes!

Rapini is sometimes referred to as brocolli rabe and it has a more assertive peppery bite than brocolli. You may, however, substitute brocolli if you wish. Having made this a number of times and savouring each encounter with it, I cannot stop my imagination from inventing some new fillings to layer between the mashed potatoes: sauteed mushrooms and spinach, roasted tomatoes, a meaty beef ragout, thick stewed beans, leftover chicken, anything with a fair bit of solidity that will hold together when cut. Pile on the filling generously as the potatoes can dominate otherwise. Try the recipe as written first. Then, let your imagination carry you forward. Gattos are rustic, homestyle potato casseroles found in Southern Italian kitchens.

Gatto - Italian Sausage, Rapini and Potato Pie

4 pounds all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks; 1 cup Parmigiano cheese; 3/4 cup milk; 2 eggs, beaten; 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil; 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped; 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes; 2 bunches rapini, stems removed; 2+1/2 tsp. kosher salt; 1 pound hot Italian sausage, casings removed; 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pea-sized pieces; 12 ounces asiago cheese, shredded; freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Put the potatoes in a large pot with enough cold water to cover them by a few inches. Salt the water well, bring to a boil over high heat and cook the potatoes until tender. Drain well.

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher, stirring in the butter, the Parmigiano cheese, milk and eggs.

In a large skillet, combine olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes over low heat. When the garlic is fragrant but has not changed colour, add the rapini and season it with about 1/2 tsp. salt. Toss the rapini in the oil and cook over higher heat until tender. Cool and chop coarsely. Set aside.

In another skillet saute the crumbled sausage, continually breaking it up with the side of a wooden spoon until it has lost all its rawness. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Oil a 9x13 inch baking pan and spoon about half of the potatoes into the pan, pressing and smoothing this layer with your hands until it is even. Arrange an even layer of sausage over the potatoes and then an even layer of rapini. Sprinkle shredded Asiago cheese evenly over the rapini. Season with black pepper and then spoon the remaining potatoes over the top, again using your hands to smooth them into an even layer. Use the tines of a fork to draw decorate lines on the layer of potatoes.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until the top is golden. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting into squares and serving. This dish reheats very well but should not be frozen.

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Photo courtesy of the New York Times

Insaporire - a verb derived from the Italian noun sapore, taste. Insaporire is the act of making food tasty, an act we would all be wise to partake in.

Some people have a magic touch with food that involves insaporire. One such person is Marcella Hazan who writes evocatively about ways in which to invoke the best flavour in cooking by using some special tricks and techniqes. In her much loved cookbook Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Marcella describes the building block process of creating flavour in a chapter called "Where Flavor Starts": "Flavor, in Italian dishes, builds up from the bottom. It is not a cover, it is a base." She outlines the three architectural principles that define Italian cooking: Battuto, Soffritto and Insaporire. Battuto is the mixture of cut up aromatics that form the flavour base of many pasta sauces and soups, parsley, onion, carrot or celery finely chopped and sauteed in olive oil, butter or lard. Once the battuto is sautteed until golden and aromatic, it turns into a soffrito. Care is needed here, as sometimes elements are added in sequentially, as first sauteeing the onion until it is translucent and only then adding the garlic, which would burn if allowed to cook entirely with the onion.

According to Marcella, the step that follows soffritto is called insaporire, "bestowing taste". It usually applies to vegetables, as they are often the critical ingredient in the formation of many dishes, pastas, soups, risottos. The technique of insaporire requires that you add vegetables or other principal ingredients (like meat) to the soffrito base and, over very lively heat, briskly saute them until they have become completely coated with the flavour elements of the base, particularly the chopped onion. Failure to execute this crucial step is culinary suicide: "One can often trace the unsatisfying taste, the lameness of dishes purporting to be Italian in style, to the reluctance of some cooks to execute this step thoroughly".

In short, take your time in the kitchen. Not everything you cook will come together in minutes. Some things need nothing but good old time, especially those onions! So much of our culture has been built on saving time, handling tasks as rapidly as possible, but this is not always the recipe for success in the kitchen.

"An Italian vegetable soup is an excellent illustration of the principle of insaporire, the extraction and building up of flavor. Note how the rapini is sautéed at length with onion that has already been cooked to a golden color. Only then is the red pepper added, after the rapini has been given an opportunity to release and concentrate its flavor." - Marcella Hazan

Marcella's Italian Vegetable Soup from Saveur magazine

1 1/2–2 lbs. potatoes; 1 bunch of rapini, about 1 pound; Fine sea salt to taste; 1 large meaty red bell pepper or 2 smaller ones; 1 tbsp. vegetable oil; 3 tbsp. butter; 2/3 cup chopped onion; freshly ground black pepper; 2–4 cups meat broth, or a beef bouillon cube dissolved in 4 cups of water, or 1 can beef broth diluted with 3 parts water.

If you are baking the potatoes, turn on the oven to 450°. Wash the potatoes in cold running water, pierce them here and there, and put them into the preheated oven. They are done when the tines of a fork enter them easily, about 50 minutes to 1 hour, depending on their size. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh, mash it through a potato ricer, and set it aside until you are ready to add it to the soup. If you are boiling the potatoes, bring a pot of water to a boil. Wash the potatoes in cold running water, drop them into the pot, and cook at a steady, moderate boil. They are done when they can be easily pierced with a fork, about 30 minutes or more, depending on the size and youth of the potatoes. Drain and, as soon as you are able to handle them, pull off the peels and mash the flesh through a potato ricer. Set aside until you are ready to add them to the soup.

Cut off the tops of the rapini and put them away for another use. Peel off the tough dark green rind that surrounds the stems. Wash the rapini in cold water. Bring a pan of salted water to a boil, add the stems, and cook them until tender. Drain and cut into pieces about 2" long.

Cut the red pepper lengthwise along its creases, remove the stem, seeds, and pithy core, then skin with a swivel-blade vegetable peeler. Then cut it into narrow strips about 2" long.

Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion into a saucepan, turn on the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion becomes pale gold. Put in the rapini, turn once or twice to coat well, and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the pepper strips and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Add the potatoes to the pan. Stir well, adding salt and several grindings of black pepper. Pour enough meat broth into the pan to ahieve the consistency you desire. I like it as loose as thin cream. Cook at a steady, slow simmer for 30-40 minutes. Taste and correct for salt.

Insaporire happens when you allow the flavour residing naturally in vegetables to emerge through careful attention to cooking them slowly and at the right temperature. You do need some brisk heat to coax vegetables to release their liquid and carmelize their sugars. Absence of this heat leaves vegetables flat or "boiled". Once your vegetables take on a deep caramel colour and have become insaporito, you can continue cooking your soup, sauce or risotto at medium or even low heat, depending on your recipe. You cannot make up for lack of insaporire later on by throwing in more spices or salt. It is precisely the slow release of flavour that will reward you later with a dish whose deep flavours intermingle and dance.

More wisdom from the master. . . . . .

I have tried a few versions of roasted fennel and generally find the sweet, tender result quite appealing. But I also find some of the chunks from the outer layers of the bulb stay tough and stringy, the oven not quite rendering them into the gentleness I am seeking. Until I met this fennel dish, meltingly soft, spiked with parmesan cheese and strewn with a crisp, salty topping of roasted prosciutto. If "crisp" and "salty" are emotional hotspots for you, your soul will sing with this rustic Italian dish from matriarch-chef Lidia Bastianich.

The first order of business is the one responsible for the moist tenderness I speak of. You boil your fennel chunks in salted water just until they can be easily pierced with the tip of a knife. After a good draining in a collander, you line the morsels in an oiled baking dish and sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese, along with salt and pepper, over them. Over this goes slices of San Danielle prosciutto, following the lines of the vegetables. Roast for about 25 minutes and you will be rewarded with a hot, savoury casserole filled with sweet flavour and crisp bacon-like notes. Prosciutto undergoes a fabulous transformation in the oven, darkening, shrinking, and thus giving off a more concentrated hit of its essence.

What makes this dish work so well? The fennel is hot, sweet, juicy and tender. The prosciutto is dry, salty, crisp and meaty. Together they sing a happy song, the blissful conjoining of disparate elements creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is one of those kitchen mysteries, where flavours play off each other in a particularly harmonious manner.

Roasted Fennel and Prosciutto - adapted from www.lidiasitaly.com

2½ pounds fennel, trimmed and cut in wedges; 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil; 3 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced;
½ teaspoon salt; freshly ground pepper; 1 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated.

Bring about 4 litres of water to the boil in a large pot. Drop in the fennel wedges and cook them at a gentle boil for 10 to 15 minutes, just until you can pierce them easily with a sharp knife tip. Lift out the wedges and drain well.

Cut the prosciutto slices crosswise into strips, about 1/4-inch wide.

Set a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees. Coat the bottom of a 9 by 13 inch baking dish with a splash of olive oil. Lay the fennel wedges in one layer, filling the dish. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the top. Lay the prosciutto in strips over the fennel, following the direction of the fennel. Finally, sprinkle over the grated cheese, covering the whole dish evenly. Bake the dish for 25 minutes or until the top is crusty and golden and the edges of the prosciutto and fennel are also colored and crisp.

Learn from Lidia!

How easy is this? Buy some homemade roasted vegetable ravioli, boil some water and open a can of tomatoes. Voila, you have dinner! I speak the truth. If you live in Calgary, The Italian Store is THE place you must go to, for there is where your dinner awaits you. With a freezer full of many types of homemade stuffed pastas, you can select the shape and filling that speaks to you: Veal tortellini, cheese ravioli, roasted vegetable ravioli, to name a few. I am currently working my way through a 5-pound bag of roasted vegetable ravioli and am loving every moment of it. The usual treatment is a quick boil, drain and then toss with some great canned tomatoes, preferably San Marzanos, also available at The Italian Store. Buy some hard, aged pecorino romano cheese at the same store and sprinkle a generous grating over your cooked, drained, sauced ravioli.

The shelves of The Italian Store are lined with imported Italian pastas in almost every imaginable configuration, including ones you will not see elsewhere. You may recognize brands such as Barilla and De Cecco as well as La Molisana. Prices are great, so I stock up on everything that looks interesting. Sometimes I splurge on an artisinal brand of beautifully shaped noodles, as even at $3.89 a bag, plus a can of San Marzano tomatoes at under $4.00 each, I am still feeding 4 people for less than $8.00! How else can you do that and know you are giving them the best products on earth? This is not a rhetorical question. I would really like to know if you have an answer.

Taralli, fresh pizza dough, lonza, hot pickled peppers, pear nectar, biscotti, Sicilian olives, Rega canned tomatoes, dried Greek figs, prosciutto salami, Savello cheese, fragrant basil, mascarpone, cannoli shells, lupini beans . . . . . . . the makings of a feast await you at The Italian Store. For me, a visit is like a pilgrimage to a holy sight, the temple of Italian food. Take time for a sandwich and a bowl of hot homemade soup at the lunch counter. And then go home with a carload of goodies to share with friends and family.

Celebrate your inner Italian:

Agrodolce. Let that word roll off your tongue a few times. It is an Italian word meaning sour/sweet and is pronounced agro-doltchay. Many foods can be agrodolce but it was figs that stole my heart recently in New York City at Mario Batali's wildly fun Otto restaurant. Figs agrodolce are one of a few stellar side dishes on offer at Otto, soft, succulent and oozing with a honey and balsamic vinegar infusion. Plumped up by a soft simmer in a sour/sweet bath, the net effect is fruit that is both jammy and savoury, a winning, memorable play on flavours that is immediately addictive.

Of course I came home and started my own agrodolce experiments. Figs and rosemary are something I dream about, so that became the starting point for my little figgy stew, along with honey and balsamic vinegar and a splash of water. Salt and pepper enhance the building of flavours. In a pot cover some good dried figs with a mixture roughly in equal parts - honey, balsamic vinegar and water - add in chopped fresh rosemary, a bay leaf and salt and pepper to taste - and simmer, covered, until your figs are very soft but not mushy and your agrodolce sauce is thick and syrupy. If your figs are cooked but your sauce feels too loose, you may need to boil off some of the extraneous liquid at this point. Just continue simmering the figs with the lid off the pot until the desired syrup-stage is achieved. Cool these babies down a bit and serve up with roasted meats or a platter of cheeses. Cooking time will vary depending on how dry the figs are. A guesstimate is roughly one hour to render dried figs into fat softness.

I need to confess that my recipe is an approximation of the delectible dish I ate in New York. If you want agrodolce advise from the man himself, Mario Batali, here is a recipe of his for onions agrodolce, from which you can extrapolate a figgy treatment if you choose to.

Sweet and Sour Onions---Cipolline Agrodolce from http://www.cookingchanneltv.com

4 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; 2 pounds small white cipolline onions; 1/3 cup sugar; 1 cup white wine vinegar; 1 cup water; Salt and pepper to taste

In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine all ingredients, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook 40 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally so that the onions don't stick to the bottom of the pan. The onions should be easily penetrated with a paring knife but should not be falling apart.

Remove the lid and continue to cook until the liquid has evaporated and the onions are glossy and dark brown, taking care not to burn. Remove from heat and serve.

Fruit and vegetables have a way of speaking to me, inspiring me to play around with them and use them in unusual ways, from sweet to savoury, with agrodolce being an intriguing melding of disparate themes. It's OK to play with your food! Have more fun playing with flavours with these books: