Frijenno Magnanno - What is sartù?
I had purchased all the ingredients to make the sartù on page 111 of Frijenno Magnanno when it happened, my usual change-of-season cold struck. I've been down for 3 days. Cold pills just make me feel worse anymore so I just have to sleep it off. In lieu of actually cooking this week, I give you a preview of sartù as defined by Arthur Schwartz in his great book Naples at the Table : Cooking in Campania:
...Neapolitans are absolutely boastful about sartù, a molded case of rice filled with delicacies: porcini, chicken livers, and marble-sized meatballs to name just a few. The speculation is that the word "sartù" comes from the French surtout, which literally means "above all." Sartu' is conspicuously of noble birth, definitely a dish from the Bourbon court of the late eighteenth century."
Hopefully Maria won't catch a cold this week and will dish up something tasty next Wednesday.