♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - This week on Milk Street we go to Venice and we begin with a classic recipe-- risi e bisi-- which is rice with peas.

It's actually a cross between a risotto and a soup.

Then we turn to a Venetian classic, it's polenta with shrimp, but this version also has tomatoes and herbs in it.

And, finally, we finish with a classic cookie.

It's a zaletti, which is made with cornmeal, currants, and orange zest.

So please stay tuned as we get a lesson on the cooking of Venice.

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- If you visit Venice more than one time, you'll find a very different city when you go back.

The first time you have the branzino, and the seafood, and the pastas.

You come back and you find little trattorias.

People have no menus there, they sing opera just spontaneously.

Maybe after church on a Sunday you have a wonderful platter of softshell crabs.

Or the last time we went we drove north of the city, 45 minutes, to a little town called Piombino Dese.

And there we met Michela Tasca.

She owns a farm that's been in the family for generations.

Now originally, it was a broom factory, and then they tried dairy.

This was after the Second World War.

Then they raised game birds and now they rent out rooms.

And she specializes in something called cucina povera.

Now that means poor people's food, but it really means the best food in the world-- simple ingredients, great cooking.

Now, two recipes we learned from her: risi e bisi, which is rice and peas.

She makes a stock with vegetables and then purees some of those vegetables into the stock.

It's sort of an unusual technique.

And then polenta, of course, which is nothing more than cornmeal, water, and salt.

But she makes it with shrimp and she also adds tomatoes to it.

So, let's get busy and make our first cucina povera recipe, which is risi e bisi.

♪ ♪ - Risi e bisi, or rice and peas, is the classic Venetian dish typically eaten on Saint Mark's Day, April 25th.

Of course in Italy, rice is never just rice, and that is true of this dish as well.

This is a risotto-style rice cooked in the manner of risotto so it has a rich creaminess from the starchiness of the grains coming out while it's stirred, and as the broth is added slowly.

But it's not as thick as a typical risotto.

Risi e bisi is usually a little bit thinner, almost soup-like, not quite.

It requires a spoon to eat it.

So it's somewhere between a soup and a classic rich risotto.

So we'll start by making a vegetable broth.

It's a very quick broth.

It takes only 15 minutes to simmer.

We start with a quart of low-sodium chicken broth.

We add a couple of cups of water to that.

And then we add our vegetables.

We have a sliced carrot, a stalk of celery, also sliced, and some thinly sliced white onion.

♪ ♪ Now for a little bit of extra flavor, we're gonna use whole fennel seeds in the broth.

They'll be removed later but they add so much flavor.

♪ ♪ We'll turn this on medium high and let it cook until it comes to a full boil, then turn it down and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

Okay, it's been about 15 minutes.

The main thing you want is for the vegetables to get soft and to infuse that broth with flavor.

Now we're going to scoop out the vegetables and put them in a blender.

You can see the vegetables have a lot of shape.

They're holding their shape, they have softened, they're not completely falling apart.

But they've given up a lot of their flavor to the broth, including those fennel seeds that are in there.

That slightly licorice-y fennel flavor adds so much to the sweetness of the peas.

It's really a nice combination.

All right, so we'll put this on the blender.

Now we're using two cups peas in this dish and one cup of those we're gonna let thaw and use them later.

Then we're gonna take the frozen cup of peas and add them to the hot vegetables in the blender.

By keeping them frozen it helps them to stay really bright green for this mixture.

We also have two cups of parsley leaves.

And, as you know, parsley is an incredibly vibrant green color.

And we will add one cup of the hot broth from the pot to the blender.

♪ ♪ Now, any time you're blending hot liquids, you want to be really careful because they can actually rise up and cause the lid to come right off.

So you want to use a towel, hold the lid down firmly, and then turn on the blender.

(blender whirring) (whirring stops) You want a nice, smooth, bright green mixture.

We'll just set this aside right in the blender jar.

We're gonna use that a little bit later.

And now we will get started on the rice.

♪ ♪ So while the broth sits, and the vegetable puree holds its place, we are going to start building the base of the rice.

We're going to start with a couple of tablespoons of butter.

And we have some diced pancetta.

Pancetta adds a really beautiful, salty, meaty, savory base to this.

And we have a finely chopped onion.

We'll heat that over medium to let the butter melt, and to let the onion and the pancetta start cooking slowly, and eventually they'll get a nice, light golden brown and a little bit of crispiness on the pancetta.

And then we'll be ready to proceed.

The pancetta is simmering away here.

It's got a little bit of golden crusty brownness on it.

The onions have gotten sweetened and deeper brown.

And the butter, of course, is getting nutty.

So now we are going to add our rice to the pot and left that absorb some of that pancetta fat.

The type of rice we're using is a regular arborio rice, and that is completely fine.

The type of rice they used in Venice when we first had this was vialone nano.

And if you can find that rice, use it, by all means, it's a delicious, delicious risotto-style rice.

Okay, and now we are ready to start adding the broth.

We're keeping it warm on the burner here and we're gonna add it one cup at a time.

So just get a nice big ladle.

This does not have to be exact.

There we go.

And stir.

Now this is a very traditional risotto-style method.

We're going to stir continuously the whole time the broth is in here.

The broth will reduce down and get richer in flavor.

And the rice is going to start cooking, and softening, and plumping up.

And you want to stir until almost all the broth is completely absorbed.

Okay, we're ready to add another ladle.

♪ ♪ And we'll continue to stir.

With each ladleful you add just cook it until the broth is almost completely absorbed before you add the next ladleful.

You'll probably need to repeat this about four or five times.

It really depends on your rice.

The point is you want the rice to reach the stage of al dente.

So when you bite into it, it's soft, but it still has some firmness at right in the center.

♪ ♪ So our rice had reached the point of al dente, and then we take it off the heat, and let it sit for five minutes uncovered.

Now the only way to really know if the rice is at al dente is to taste it.

Chew on it a little bit.

You want a nice soft resistance.

So, five minutes later, we are ready to add that beautiful green puree that we made earlier.

The rice is thick yet still very creamy.

This is still warm sitting in the blender jar waiting for us.

And we're gonna stir this right in.

This is going to contribute even more liquid, more flavor to this rice as well.

It's going to give it that sort of in between soupy risotto texture.

It's going to add the amazingly vibrant color.

And now we have that one cup of peas we let come to a thaw and we're going to add that in now too.

Okay.

The color is brilliant.

And this is the exact texture we want.

Something that you want to eat with a spoon but not quite as liquidy as a soup.

Now, good risottos have a little bit of butter at the end.

We're gonna add that now.

Two tablespoons and we'll stir that until it melts fully.

And now the last finishing touch is a little bit of parmesan cheese, which we'll stir in right now.

♪ ♪ We like to get block parmesan and grate it ourselves.

It makes a beautifully light, fluffy texture.

It melts really well in risottos.

And you know you're getting a good quality cheese as well when you buy it in the block form.

So the last thing we want to do is taste it a little bit.

Season for salt and pepper.

Mm.

We like to wait until the very end to season because parmesan is a little salty and the pancetta is a little salty too.

So you really don't know how salty the final dish is gonna be until it's finished cooking and you can taste it.

A little bit of freshly cracked black pepper and we are ready to serve.

♪ ♪ And then at the table offer a chunk of parmesan to add more to taste.

Have you ever put out parmesan and no one took any?

No, I don't think that ever happens.

And that is our Venetian risi e bisi, or rice and peas.

But I like saying risi e bisi so much more.

Just a beautiful bowl of rice and peas.

♪ ♪ - Polenta e schie is a traditional dish of Venice, Italy, which is polenta topped with tiny local shrimp known as schie.

Now typically this dish is a very minimalist sauce-free marriage of corn and crustacean.

But Michela Tasca, the owner of a bed and breakfast just north of Venice, taught us a different version where the schie are cooked in a very, very delicate tomato sauce accented with flavors of garlic and fresh herbs.

Another thing that we learned on our travels is a completely different way to cook polenta.

We learned this from Maria Teresa Marino, whose family has run a grain mill for centuries, and they make their polenta with no cheese, no butter, and not a lot of stirring.

It all starts with preheating the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit with a rack set in the lower middle position.

From there, we could take our cooking to the stovetop.

And what we'll bring together in this large saucepan will be one cup of stone-ground coarse cornmeal.

Now it's important that you're working with stone-ground coarse cornmeal, as opposed to, say, a fine-grind cornmeal or even a steel-ground cornmeal.

The fine grind results in a gluey polenta and the steel ground doesn't really have a lot of flavor.

We'll mix this one cup of stone-ground coarse cornmeal along with one teaspoon of Kosher salt.

And finally, five-and-a-half cups of cold water.

This hasn't been boiled, it's not hot at all.

♪ ♪ All we gotta do is give it a little whisk just to make sure there's no clumps.

And then we'll bring this mixture up to a simmer over medium heat.

All the while, you do want to be whisking just to make sure that none of that cornmeal settles to the bottom and sticks.

So now that my polenta mixture is simmering, we could go ahead and throw this into the oven.

Again, it's cooking at 375, but completely uncovered for 45 minutes.

After the 45-minute mark, we'll take this out, give it a little whisk and then throw it back in the oven still uncovered for about 15 to 30 minutes, or until the polenta is nice, thick, and creamy.

♪ ♪ Now that this has cooked down for another 30 minutes in the oven, we're just going to give it a little whisk.

So now, all we gotta do... is pop a lid on it.

This is the only time we're putting a lid on it and it's going to help keep this warm while we cook the shrimp.

But the number one mistake in any kitchen is when you take a pot out of the oven and you forget that it's still hot.

So my favorite tip: take your oven glove, slip it over the handle.

That way there's no question and there's no chance you're going to burn yourself.

So from here, we can finally look at our shrimp.

The first thing we want to do is give it a quick dressing in olive oil and garlic.

So in this medium bowl, I have two cloves of garlic that have been grated down on a rasp-style grater.

And to that, I'll add one tablespoon of olive oil.

And then we'll go ahead and add in our shrimp and give it a toss to coat.

And we'll also be adding in half a teaspoon of salt.

Now this isn't going to marinate for very long.

So here I have a large skillet that's set over medium-high heat and we'll heat three tablespoons of olive oil until it's shimmering.

Another good visual indicator is if you see little wisps of smoke coming up from the sides of the pan.

With my oil shimmering, we're going to add half of our shrimp at this point.

And we're only adding in half so that way we don't overcrowd the pan.

Once they're in the pan, spread them out into a nice even layer, and allow them to cook undisturbed for about one to two minutes.

So that way we could get that nice seared crust on one side.

(shrimp sizzling) ♪ ♪ Now it doesn't take long for this shrimp to cook on this one side.

But again, what we're looking for is that nice golden crust on one side.

We're going to transfer all of these over to a plate.

♪ ♪ And we'll continue cooking the remaining shrimp in that residual oil.

With all of my shrimp seared off on one side, we can go ahead and build the sauce, starting with two crushed and peeled garlic cloves.

And we'll cook those down until they're aromatic.

♪ ♪ We can now throw in one-and-a- half pounds of ripe tomatoes.

If you can't find ripe tomatoes, look for cocktail tomatoes, because those are reliably delicious all year round.

To our tomatoes we'll add in half a teaspoon of red chili flakes.

Along with half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper.

Give it a stir and allow the tomatoes to cook down until they start to release all their juices and this becomes a sauce.

♪ ♪ So now that my tomatoes have started to break down, I'm getting something that looks like a sauce now.

We'll go ahead and add all of the shrimp that have been seared, and along with any juices that have accumulated in the plate back to the pan.

And we'll give that a stir and we want to cook this through until all the shrimp are fully opaque and fully cooked.

And that really only takes two minutes.

Any further than that and you'll end up with really, really tough shrimp and we don't want that.

♪ ♪ Our shrimp are fully cooked so we can now remove it from heat.

Just before we get to eating, I like to mix in a little bit of fresh basil.

And that's going to bring a lot of freshness back to the game.

Don't forget you want to remove those garlic pieces.

♪ ♪ Now with the garlic out of the pan, we could go ahead and give this all a stir, just to get that basil flavor throughout the dish.

So we'll take our polenta, give it a stir.

And it's at this point if your polenta needs any additional water, go ahead and add it in a teaspoon at a time until it reaches the right consistency.

We're not looking for gluey, we're not looking for gloppy, we want thick, creamy, and rich.

I like to make a little well in the middle so that way the shrimp and the sauce have something to sink into.

♪ ♪ I can't wait to eat this.

This here is our polenta with shrimp and tomatoes straight out of Venice, Italy.

The shrimp is tender, the polenta's creamy, the sauce is beautiful.

What more can you ask for?

♪ ♪ - You know, I love Italian cooking for a lot of reasons, but one of them is they use their local ingredients still today, which is great.

But they use them over and over again in different ways.

Like cornmeal for polenta.

Today we're doing a cookie from Venice called zaletti, which refers to the color yellow in the local dialect.

So they're cornmeal cookies with currants or raisins in them.

And they also used, in addition to the cornmeal for the cookie, a little grappa, which I love, you could soak the currants or the raisins in it.

So you have grappa, you have cornmeal, and you have a cookie.

Something sweet instead of something savory.

Seems to make sense to me.

- Well, it makes sense to me, too.

So soaking dried fruit is always a good idea.

Not only does it plump up the fruit and make it really nice and moist, but you can add a lot of flavor there.

So you mentioned grappa.

Grappa is an Italian digestif.

Kind of tastes like brandy or cognac.

It was a little... aggressive.

- Strong.

- So we went with an orange liqueur.

So we're using three tablespoons of orange liqueur and a half a cup of currants.

Just bring it to a simmer, take it off the heat, cover it, and allow the fruit to plump up.

And you can see it's almost fully soaked into these.

- I think I should just make sure it's good.

- I'm sure they're going to be a delicious liquor-soaked currant, right?

- Mm.

Very good.

- Did you know that a dried currant is not really a currant?

- Is this a trick question?

- Maybe you do, you know everything, so you probably already knew.

- What is it?

- But it's a grape.

A dried currant is just a tiny grape.

It's called the Corinth grape.

It came from Greece originally.

Some mistranslation of the Greek words identified it as a currant, but it's actually a grape.

- Thank you for that.

- So, now we can start making our dough.

This is a half a cup of sugar.

And 12 tablespoons of softened salted butter.

And I'm just gonna cream this together until it's light and fluffy.

♪ ♪ (mixer whirring) (mixer stops whirring) And we're gonna add some orange zest in here.

And I'm gonna zest right into the bowl.

You want to make sure you're capturing all of the oil from the zest.

- Which would otherwise end up on the cutting board.

- Which is not a great place for it because if you want that flavor, it's got to be in there.

So there's the orange zest.

I'm just going to mix this together, again, about 30 seconds.

♪ ♪ Okay.

And this is a half a cup of finely ground cornmeal.

You can't substitute coarse ground or polenta, unfortunately.

It will make the cookie really crumbly.

When they make this in Italy with the coarse-ground cornmeal, they soak it first.

We want to skip that step so we went with finely ground.

And then I have an egg yolk.

Teaspoon of vanilla extract.

And a quarter teaspoon of table salt.

Give this another quick mix.

♪ ♪ Okay, so now we can add the flour.

This is a cup and a half of all-purpose flour.

I love this cookie because it comes together so quickly and easily.

♪ ♪ Okay, last but not least, I just need those currants.

And everything goes in-- the currants, any extra liquid that's in there.

Another 30 seconds or so just until this comes together.

♪ ♪ So I always like to give it one last stir.

If there's any flour at the bottom, which sometimes happens, especially if your mixer has like a really big bubble on the bottom it kind of collects ingredients.

We don't want it to collect ingredients, we want the ingredients in the cookie.

This is a one-tablespoon cookie scoop.

I love a cookie scoop.

Makes quick work of making cookies.

But if you don't have one, you can use a tablespoon measure, it's fine.

So these cookies are not going to spread, really.

So we're going to flatten them before we bake them.

And we're simply going to use our hand to do that.

So just kind of the palm of your hand trying to make sure that they're even so they bake evenly.

- So these are small, very thin, little cookies.

- Yeah, they're crispy.

I would describe them like a shortbread, almost, texture.

So crispy, not crunchy necessarily.

You're probably asking why we chose to use our hands for this rather than... like I've seen it done... - I would use the bottom of a glass.

- Right, and I tried that, and it fully stuck on the bottom.

You would have to keep spraying it so frequently and it doesn't... as you see, it doesn't stick to your hand, so it's no problem.

- Okay.

- So we're gonna continue doing this on the other tray.

Both trays bake at the same time.

They're going to go into a preheated 350-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes till they're golden brown around the edges.

You want to make sure to swap the trays, and spin the trays halfway through, so they all bake evenly.

- Okay.

♪ ♪ - So I let the cookies cool on the sheet for five minutes and then I transferred them to the cooling rack to cool completely.

Now we can dig in.

- I did notice that none are missing.

So you didn't have one before I got here.

- I didn't.

I was kind of restraining myself but I managed to do it.

I thought we're gonna fight over the same cookie.

- Mm!

As you said, it's a little like shortbread.

It's not crunchy, it's... it's kind of crispy.

But the cornmeal gives it this nice texture and the flavor is great.

They're packed with flavor.

- The flavor is really, really good.

They're-they're like sort of the perfect little cookie to have after a meal because they're kind of light and you can have them with a cup of coffee or a glass of grappa.

- So you said I could get my grappa back.

- Yes, and you can still have it, Chris, don't worry.

- These are delicious.

So that's zaletti, a Venetian cornmeal and currant cookie.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season of Milk Street at MilkStreetTV.com.

These are excellent.

- I know.

- I think I'll just have another one.

- They're small.

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- Funding for this series was provided by the following.

- That meal.

You sautéed, you seared, and you served, cooking with All-Clad, bonded cookware designed, engineered, and assembled in the U.S.A. for over 50 years.

All-Clad-- for all your kitchen adventures.

- Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to be the first to welcome you to Tel Aviv... - Welcome to Oaxaca's airport.

- Welcome to Beirut.

♪ ♪ (man speaking Hebrew) - (speaking world language) - Bonjour, je m'appelle Chris.

- We call it supa kanja.

It's the word for gumbo.

♪ ♪ - Christopher, you have to make the authentic, original cotoletta alla Bolognese for me.

♪ ♪ - So this is the Eduardo García blender.

- This is the no electricity.

♪ ♪ - Next is dessert.

- That is really good.

♪ ♪ I notice when you cook sometimes, you add a little bit of something, and then you just put the whole bowl in.

- I like to be generous with my food.

Generosity is important in cooking.

- That's true.

♪ ♪ - Can start building bridges, and food is definitely a perfect common ground.

♪ ♪ - This is a generational thing.

It's, it's something that you inherit.

♪ ♪ - Yeah, that was great.

(woman speaking Mandarin) - What was this for?

What did she say?

- You get one more chance.

- Salute.

- How is it?

He's speechless.

- I'm speechless.

That's so good.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪