Cotechino sausage with lentils
Living in Rome has a lot of perks, the most obvious being that I can sample the cuisine to my heart’s content. Whether that be making it in my kitchen or, more usually, testing the countless pizzerias and finding an excuse to try a different gelateria every day. The recipe I have chosen is traditional for New Year’s Eve in Italy and, though this has already passed us by, it is too good to simply ignore for another year (and anyway, who says you cannot cook it now and claim it is merely ‘practice’). It is said that, if eaten, this dish brings the individual abundance and fortune for the coming months…
I am lucky enough to live a short walk from Il Mercato Esquilino, one of Rome’s biggest markets. So, whilst trying to avoid the distraction of endless stalls of fresh produce, I come here to buy the ingredients for this dish (I never knew there were so many lentil varieties!) One particular ingredient, cotechino, is a fresh sausage made from pork, fatback and pork rind. It is sourced in Modena, though hugely popular throughout Italy. If you cannot locate it, a high quality fresh pork sausage flavoured with nutmeg, cloves and pepper will suffice.
cucina
by Briony Venn
Photography: Maggie Hoffman - Flickr