Italian Spring Vegetables
/Just before we officially enter summer, the markets and restaurants are featuring a lot of spring vegetables. The Mediterranean climate in Italy provides markets throughout the country with spring vegetables during almost every month of the year. However, certain vegetables are celebrated as spring vegetables in Italy: artichokes, asparagus and zucchini or squash blossoms - all popular vegetables at M’tucci’s.
Artichokes are a member of the thistle family and were most certainly developed into an edible food in Italy, rather than being imported from another region. Vegetable vendors in large markets throughout the country perform springtime artichoke-cleaning demonstrations, showing how to use a sharp, slim paring knife to trim the leaves, rub the exposed parts with lemon, and drop the finished choke into a barrel of acidulated water.
If you aren’t located near a large Italian market, probably the best source of paring techniques are Marcella Hazan’s excellent book Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking (Alfred A. Knopf, 1993). There are illustrations in that book showing how to pare and core an artichoke for steaming, or stuffing and baking.
Italy is the largest producer and consumer of artichokes, growing hundreds of different varieties. Probably the most notable variety (nearly impossible to find in the U.S.), is the Roman Violet artichoke. In the spring, the artichokes are trimmed and bathed in olive oil and roasted in the dry wood pruned from grapevines. Other popular preparations include carciofi a spicchi (sliced and braised in olive oil, garlic and parsley) and vignarola (green onions, artichokes, fava beans, peas and beet greens).
M’tucci’s imports trimmed artichoke hearts from Italy and uses them in appetizers at M’tucci’s Italian and as a grilled side dish with weekend specials at all of our restaurants.
Purple, White & Green Asparagus arrive in Spring markets throughout Italy. They likely originated in Mesopotamia, but grow wild in the Mediterranean countries. Italian folklore claimed that when asparagus was dried and worn in a pouch or brewed as a tea it was an effective birth control method. While asparagus is cultivated in Italy and much of the world, the wild variety is known to be the most flavorful and the most nutritious. If you drive through Southern Colorado in early summer, look along fence rows where there is an irrigation ditch and you just might harvest some wild asparagus.
Italians often boil asparagus in pasta water, eating it dressed with olive oil or butter. It works very well in eggs dishes like a fritatta (a flat, Italian omelet) or carbonara. At M’tucci’s we like to grill it and serve it with steaks or use the spears in risotto.
Zucchini is available year-round in Italy, but the best zucchini is found in the spring and summer. The prized blossoms from squash or zucchini are most common during those seasons. Plants produce both male and female flowers, with the female flowers producing the actual squash. Male flowers are usually picked in the evening when they are closed and then soaked to regain their crispness. The vegetable is used in soups, stews and salads. The flowers are usually fried or used in soups, risotto or frittatas.
At M’tucci’s Chef/Partner Cory Gray likes to pickle the vegetable. At the moment, he has been able to get fresh flowers, which he stuffs with herbed ricotta cheese, dips them in beer batter and fries them. They are served with caper oil and pickled zucchini. Scroll down to see a video demonstrating the pickling process.
Pasta Della Forma - only at M’tucci’s Italian
Only on Friday, Saturday & Sunday
A popular restaurant pasta preparation in Italy and in California is now in Albuquerque - only at M’tucci’s Italian. Pasta Della Forma (from formaggio which is Italian for cheese) is finished table side in a cheese wheel. We use Fresh House Spaghettini and Piave Vecchio, a cheese from the Veneto region near the Dolomite mountains. You have a choice of two toppings:
Mushroom Duxelle: Baby Portobello Mushrooms, Thyme, Garlic, White Wine
Roasted Red Bell Pepper/Sun-Dried Tomato Relish
Pasta Della Forma: Minimum of two people, Prepared Table side $38 Chef’s Condiments Add $3
I recommend a healthy grinding of fresh pepper. A short video shows how it’s done.
M’tucci’s Italian
24 oz Hand Cut Rib Eye: Crispy Salt Water Potatoes, Grilled Broccolini, Balsamic Reduction $36
Pan-Seared Ruby Trout - Sweet Potato Puree, Broccolini, Sweet Pea and Duck Prosciutto Succotash $29
Crab & Cream Cheese Ravioli: Sautéed Sweet Potato, Caramelized Onions, Roasted Red Peppers, Shrimp and M’tucci’s Pancetta $23
Pasta Della Forma: House Made Spaghettini & Piave Vecchio Cheese, Minimum of two orders, Prepared Table side - $38, Chef’s Condiments Add $3
Appetizers
Beer Battered Herbed Ricotta Stuffed Squash Blossoms: Capers, Oil Pickled Zucchini $10
Clam Toasts & Pancetta with Fennel, Sun-Dried Tomato, White Wine Butter Broth $12
Weekend Cocktail
Berry Creek: Knob Creek Rye, Lemon Juice, Muddled Strawberry, Simple Syrup, Ginger Beer Float
Sunday Only
Half Rack of Smoked Baby Back Ribs, Salt Water Potatoes, House Made Cole Slaw and House BBQ Sauce for $18
M’tucci’s Moderno
12 oz. Black Angus NY Strip: Crispy Saltwater Potatoes, Grilled Asparagus, Salsa Verde $27
Pan-Seared Mahi Mahi: Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sautéed Arugula, Roasted Artichokes, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce, Prosciutto Powder $25
Frutti di Mare: Pink Shrimp, Baby Scallops, Baby Clams, Mussels, Spicy Marinara and M’tucci’s House Made Fettucine $19
Weekend Cocktail
Banana Hammock: Lt. Bacardi Rum, Giffard Banane du Bresil, Strawberry Shrub, Pineapple & Lime Juice, Blue Curaçao Float
M’tucci’s Twenty-Five
7 oz. Petite Filet: Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Grilled Broccolini, Smoked Blackberry Bone Marrow Butter $23
Pan-Seared Alaskan Halibut: Seared Artichokes, Grilled Escarole, Garlic Whipped Potatoes, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce $23
Blackened Salmon: M’tucci’s Prosciutto Cotto, Roasted Corn, Red Peppers, Citrus Dressed Kale & Escarole, Garnished with Lemon Zest and Olive Oil $19
Weekend Cocktails
Sicilian Sunrise: China China Amaro, Apfel, Peach Vodka, Lemon and Simple Syrup
Sicilian Sunset: China China Amaro, Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Orange Bitters, Honey Simple Syrup
Gelato: Raspberry
Sorbetto: House Limoncello/Cherry
Tell ABQ - Taste of Summer
A new radio program that features local restaurants and is hosted by Jade and Ashley featured M’tucci’s Twenty-Five Chef/Partner Shawn Cronin as a guest last Tuesday, June 1 at 12:30. To listen to the live hour-long interview and to hear the hosts review of a recent visit to M’tucci’s Twenty-Five go to the App store for Apple or Android and download the Tell ABQ app. It was an interesting 30-minute conversation ranging from Shrubs to Italian style of eating, knife skills and Amaro. You can follow Ashley on Instagram ashleybuff≥ington_
Jade is on Instagram @shorter_in_person
You can follow Tell ABQ @tell_abq
Thanks for reading. See you next Friday. Ciao!
