Casoeula

Lombardy

Cooking time: 3 hours Difficulty: Ingredients, amounts for 4/6 people: broth/stock: butter: carrots: 2 savoy cabbage: 2 lbs 4 oz onion: 1 pork spare ribs: 1 lb 5 oz pork rind: 5 oz pepper: pig's trotter: 1 'salamin de verz' salami: 4 salt: tomato sauce: 1 tbsp long, thin pork sausage (also lucanica): 11 oz celery: 3 stalks white wine:

Preparation: Break trotter lengthwise, scrape well and flame it together with the pork rinds in order to eliminate any remaining hairs. Wash thoroughly. Slice the pork rinds into strips. Put them in boiling water and cook for about an hour as to render them of all fat. In a large casserole dish, sautè the chopped onion, and as soon as it begins to brown, add the spare ribs, the 'luganega' sausage and the 'salamin de verz'. Allow flavours to mingle then add wine and cook over a moderate flame until evaporated. At this point remove all meat and add to the reduced liquid the sliced celery and sliced carrots. Add the tomato sauce diluted in a little stock, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste. Cook over low flame. Clean the cabbage, washing the leaves and then cutting into large pieces. Place in a pan in order to dry out, leaving only the water remaining on the leaves after washing. Pay attention that they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. When they are ready, add to the other vegetables and mix. Lay the meat on top and continue simmering for around an hour. It is important to skim off the excess fat as it floats to the surface. At the end of cooking, the mixture should be fairly thick and a little viscous. Serve very hot accompanied with polenta .