Via Carota: A Celebration of Seasonal Cooking from the Beloved Greenwich Village Restaurant:An Italian Cookbook

MASTER THE NEGRONI

Everyone should learn to master a spritz and a negroni. A few essential bottles like Campari, Aperol, Cocchi Americano Bianco, gin, red vermouth, and prosecco, and a mixing glass with a bartender’s long-handled spoon, are all you need. (Use Cynar instead of Campari if you are in an earthy mood.) Jody prefers vermouth, specifically Vergano Bianco, with soda and a double lemon twist, but I am a negroni fan. I have made many variations on this classic; at I Sodi, we have had a lengthy and unique negroni list for more than ten years. Stir the negroni in a mixing glass with ice. Then pour your chilled drink into a glass with ice. Squeeze an orange peel over the negroni before dropping it in. Enjoy. Rita

Negroni Classico
This is by far the most popular drink at our bar.

Makes 2
3 ounces/90 ml Beefeater gin
3 ounces Antica Formula vermouth
3 ounces/90 ml Campari
2 orange wedges

Stir the gin, vermouth, and Campari with ice in a tumbler or mixing glass. Strain into chilled rocks glasses filled with large ice cubes. Drop an orange wedge into each glass.

Olive all’Ascolana
Fried Sausage-Stuffed Green Olives

We transform the traditional sausage-stuffed olives by also adding a layer of sausage on the outside, almost like a tiny Scotch egg. This makes them a substantial snack, or spuntino. It’s great to have some ready in the freezer for an aperitivo (if frozen, defrost them in the refrigerator before frying).

Makes about 48
8 sweet Italian sausages (1 ½ pounds/680 grams)
4 large eggs
½ cup (1.5 ounce/50 grams) finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano+ more for serving
½ cup (1.5 ounce/50 grams) finely grated pecorino Romano
1 cup/240 ml whole milk
3 cups (300 grams) plain breadcrumbs (or torn white bread)
1 pound/454 grams pitted, large green olives in brine, such as ascolana
all-purpose flour, as needed
safflower oil for frying, about 3 cups/720 ml
extra-virgin olive oil for frying, about 3 cups/720 ml

Slice the sausages open lengthwise and remove the meat from the casings. Crumble it into a large bowl. Lightly beat 1 egg and add to the sausage, then stir in the parmigiano and pecorino. In a separate bowl, pour the milk into 1 cup/100 grams of breadcrumbs and let sit until the breadcrumbs have absorbed all the milk. Squeeze out any excess milk and add the soft breadcrumbs to the sausage. Mix thoroughly with your hands.
 
Drain the pitted olives from their brine, rinse thoroughly, and pat them dry. For each olive, take a small pinch of filling and stuff it inside the cavity. Use a spoonful of the mixture to coat the olive, pressing the olive in the palm of your hand to completely encase it in sausage. When all the olives are filled and coated, you can refrigerate them up to 1 day before breading and frying them.
 
Set up three bowls for breading: Pour flour into one bowl, the remaining 3 eggs, lightly beaten, into another, and the remaining breadcrumbs into a third bowl. Working in batches of about 8 olives, roll each olive lightly in the flour, then eggs, and then in breadcrumbs, pressing so they adhere. At this point the olives can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for 1 month—bring to room temperature before frying.
 
For frying: Combine both oils in a deep, heavy pot until 3 to 4 inches/7.5 to 10 cm deep and set over high heat. Test the oil to see if it’s ready; if you drop a breadcrumb into the pot it should sizzle and float the moment it hits the oil. A candy/deep-fry thermometer clipped on the side of the pot should read 350oF/175oC. While the oil is heating up, line a sheet pan with a few layers of paper towel and set it next to the stove.
 
Fry the breaded olives in batches, turning until golden brown all over, 3 to 4 minutes. Lift them out of the oil and drain briefly on the paper towels. Dust with parmigiano just before serving.