ATL Valsesia Vercelli

WHOLEGRAIN RICE SALAD WITH ASPARAGUS TIPS
Cook about 40 g of wholegrain rice for each person. When it has cooled and dried, arrange on the serving plate and add the previously boiled, drained and chopped asparagus tips. Dress with oil, salt, pepper and lemon and decorate with slices of hard-boiled egg.
If preferred, it is also possible to mixed pieces of boiled chicken and thin slices of rennet with the rice.
Recommended rice varieties: Carnaroli, Vialone, Nano
FRICIÔLIN
These croquettes were once classed as a dish for the poor, made with the leftovers from a Sunday risotto.
Use white rice (200 g of uncooked rice), leftover or prepared specially, and leave to cool. Toss a little mince (poorer people usually used scraps of boiled meat leftover from Sunday) in a mixture of finely chopped onion, garlic and celery with a drizzle of oil.
Add these ingredients to the risotto; add a whole egg, one or two spoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, mix thoroughly and season.
Use the mixture to make lots of little flat fritters, coat them with beaten egg then white breadcrumbs and fry in boiling oil. Ideal for serving both hot and cold.
SALUGGINI BEAN AND ONION SALAD
Serves four: 150 g of dried Saluggia beans; 1 glove of garlic; 1 sprig of Rosemary; 1 large purple onion; oil; wine vinegar; tomato passata; salt and pepper to taste.
Preparation:
Soak the dried Saluggia beans for at least six hours, then cook them in plenty of boiling water, adding a pinch of sale, a clove of garlic and a sprig of Rosemary. Drain well. Finely slice the onion and leave the slices under running cold water for about 30minuts; then drain them and add them to the beans. Dress with a sauce made of three parts oil, one part wine vinegar, a few drops of tomato passata, salt and pepper.

PANISSA VERCELLESE
Recommended rice varieties: Baldo or Carnaroli
Ingredients: 300 g of rice; extra virgin olive oil; ½ onion – chopped; ½-1 greased salami; 150 g of bacon fat; 150 g of bacon; 100 g of Saluggia beans; 1 litre of meat stock; 2 knobs of butter; 1 spoon of Parmesan cheese (optional); red wine (Barbera); salt and pepper to taste.
Preparation:
Soak the dried beans in warm water for at least six hours. Boil them slowly in plenty of water for about two hours, together with the greased salami, bacon fat and a good piece of fresh bacon. Gently fry the onion chopped earlier in a little oil, add the rice (usually two fistfuls for each person), mix thoroughly, toasting the rice for a couple of minutes, add a glass of red wine (this can be replaced with white wine if preferred) and allow to evaporate. Gradually pour the water used to soak the beans over the rice. Add the salami crumbled using a fork and then add the beans. Chop the bacon fat and bacon into cubes and add to the rice when fully cooked. The rice should be fully cooked but still firm after about 15 minutes. Take off the heat and add (to taste) grated Parmesan cheese and serve after a few minutes.
RISOTTO WITH MACCAGNO CHEESE AND BRAMATERRA
Recommended rice varieties: Baldo, Carnaroli, Arborio, New Maratelli, S. Andrea
Serves four: 300 g of rice; 300 g of Maccagno; 1 onion; 1 litre of vegetable stock; ½ a glass of Bramaterra wine; 60 g of butter, oil; salt and paper to taste.
Preparation:
Gently fry the chopped onion with butter or oil, then add the rice, toast it and then pour in the Bramaterra wine. Allow the wine to evaporate and then cook the rice adding the vegetable stock. When almost cooked add the cubed Maccagna cheese and the Bramaterra sauce.
Preparation of Bramaterra sauce:
gently fry a mixture of finely chopped celery, carrot and onion in a little oil. Wet with ¼ of a litre of Bramaterra wine, allow it to evaporate, add a ladle of stock and allow it to thicken. When thickened, sieve the sauce and bind with a knob of butter.
RISOTTO WITH FROGS
Recommended rice varieties: Carnaroli, Baldo, Arborio, New Maratelli, S. Andrea.
Serves four: 300 g of rice; 1 Kg of skinned frogs ready to be cooked; 40 g of butter; 2 onions; celery; garlic (optional).
Preparation:
Take 1 Kg of skinned, cleaned frogs; rinse them thoroughly in running water. Remove all the bones from the frogs. Place them in a pan with water, 1 onion, celery and garlic and use them to make a reduced, slightly salty stock. Toss the very delicate frog meat in bubbling butter, previously used to fry an onion until golden. Add the rice to the meat, toasting it and mixing thoroughly. Cook the rice, adding the light stock made with the bones after sieving it finely. When the rice is cooked remove from the heat and add a little grated Parmesan cheese, then leave it to melt for a few minutes before serving.
RISOTTO ALLA SILVANA MANGANO (OR PUMPKIN AND GORGONZOLA RISOTTO)
Recommended rice varieties: Baldo, Carnaroli
Serves four: 300 g of Baldo rice, 120 g of butter, 3 spoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 small chopped onion, 500 g of yellow pumpkin, 1 l of boiling vegetable stock, 40 g of grated Parmesan cheese, freshly ground black pepper, 180 g of mild gorgonzola,½ a glass of white wine
Preparation:
Clean the pumpkin, eliminating any skin and cut the flesh into 1.5 cm cubes. Skin the onion, wash and dry it and cut into fine slices. Heat the spoonful of olive oil and 60 g of butter in a pan and add the onion. Cook over a medium heat for about three minutes, mixing with a wooden spoon. Add three spoonfuls of water and allow to evaporate until the base is dry. Add the pumpkin and mix; season with salt, cover and cook for 20 minutes, mixing frequently. The cubes of pumpkin must become very soft. Prepare the stock by boiling 1 litre of water with vegetable stock cubes and keep it hot. Take the pumpkin out of the pan, heating it thoroughly and toss the rice into the remaining oil. Toast it for a few minutes, mixing constantly. Add the pumpkin to the rice and wet with white wine, allowing it to evaporate. Add the boiling stock a little at a time, mixing frequently and never allowing the rice to dry out.
Cook for about 15 minutes and then add the Gorgonzola. Remove the pan from the heat, add the remaining butter and the Parmesan cheese. Serve all'onda .
RICE AND CABBAGE SOUP
Recommended rice varieties: Arborio, Balilla
Serves four: about 200 g of rice; 1 onion; minced bacon fat; 1 white cabbage; 5 or 6 pork ribs; grated Parmesan cheese.
Preparation
Gently fry the sliced onion in a pan with 1 or 2 spoonfuls of minced bacon fat; then add a small white cabbage which has been washed and cut into strips. Add the water needed to make a very thin soup (about 1.5 litres of water). Then add the pork ribs, leaving everything to boil for a few minutes. Salt and add a fistful of rice for each person.
After boiling for about 15 minutes, the rice will be ready. Sprinkles with a spoonful of Parmesan and leave for stand for a minute before serving.

MAIN COURSES

RABBIT THIGHS WITH CARNAROLI AND COURGETTE FLOWERS
Serves four: 4 rabbit thighs; 2 rabbit livers; 100 g of bacon; beef stock; 50 g of butter and olive oil; 1 clove of garlic; a pinch of Rosemary, 2 cloves and 1 bay leaf; ½ a glass of red wine and of dry Marsala; flour, salt and pepper to taste; 300 g of Carnaroli rice; 1 scallion; 50 g of butter; 10 courgette flowers; ½ a glass of white wine; 1 litre of stock; 100 g of fresh ricotta.
Preparation of the thighs:
Coat the rabbit thighs in flour and fry gently in a little oil, salt and pepper. Chop the liver, bacon, garlic and Rosemary and gently fry them in a separate pan. Add the rabbit thighs, the bay leave and cloves, sprinkling with wine and Marsala, and allow to evaporate. Add the beef stock and cook for about an hour. When cooked, thicken the gravy and arrange the thighs on hot plates.
Preparation of the rice:
Gently fry the chopped scallion in a little oil, adding the courgette flowers. Add the rice, toast it and wet with white wine; cook in the hot stock. When cooked add the ricotta and Parmesan cheese, arranging on the plates with the rabbit thighs.
RUGASH (OLD VALSESIAN RECIPE):
Serves four: 200 g of maize flour; 1 litre of water; 1 onion; butter; stock (or slightly salted hot water); 100 g of soft Valsesian Toma cheese; chopped herbs to suit preference (sage, thyme, chives, meadow herbs or thoroughly washed nettles…); 1 or 2 spoonfuls of tomato passata; grated Parmesan cheese.
Preparation:
Prepare a soft polenta (i.e.: 200 g of maize flower for each litre of water). Braise a finely sliced onion in a little butter and stock. Chop the Toma into cubes and prepare the chopped herbs. Just before the polenta is ready, add the cheese and a piece of butter, mixing all the time. Then add the onion, the tomato passata diluted with a little water and the chopped herbs. Mix thoroughly and serve in bowls with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
POLENTA CONCIA:
Serves four: 200 g of maize flour for each litre of water (“soft” polenta); 1 nice piece of butter; 150 g of soft Toma cheese;
Preparation:
Prepare a soft polenta. A few minutes before the polenta is ready, add the butter and the cubed cheese. Keep stirring until the butter melts and the cheese is thoroughly amalgamated and starts to melt. The polenta must remain soft, to be served piping hot, ladled into soup bowls and covered with melted butter.
This dish is also excellent with other cheeses, such as Fontina, Taleggio, Bitto, Scimudin or Gorgonzola.
MIACCE:
A special utensil is needed to make these: it consists in two disks held together by a hinge on one side, with long handles on the other side to manoeuvre it.
Preparation of the batter: mix together 1 litre of milk, ½ a litre of water and 1 kg of white flour, four eggs, a few spoonfuls of oil and a pinch of salt to make a creamy batter.
Preparation of the miacce: pour a ladle of batter onto one of the hot open disks; close the two together slowly and turn upside down several times over the flame, so as to obtain a crispy disk (lard can be used to grease the inside of the disks).
Filling: fill miacce with whatever you like (salami, ham, cheese, butter, honey, jam, Nutella…) folding them in half and reheating them using the same utensil used to make the disks of miacce.
BUTTERED TROUT
Serves four: 4 trout; 40 g of butter; 4 teaspoons of flour; 1 sprig of sage; oil; salt.
Preparation:
Take 4 very fresh trout, better if rainbow trout, clean and wash them and coat them in flour, taking care to shake off the excess flour. Put butter and sage in a pan and melt the butter. Add the trout, cooking them over a high heat for about 3 or 4 minutes. Turn them over, salt the browned side, cover the pan and leave then to cook over a medium heat for a few minutes.
They are excellent served with any boiled or raw vegetables.

EMPRESS RICE WITH FRUITS OF THE FOREST
Recommended rice variety: Baldo
Serves four: 50 g of rice; 300 g of milk; 300 g of cream; 2 eggs; 100 g of sugar; 50 g of candied fruit; 8 g of gelatine; 200 g of fruits of the forest; 1 g of vanillin
Preparation:
Cook the rice in the milk and then drain it, spread it on a tray with the candied fruit and leave it to cool. Boil the milk leftover from cooking, add the sugar and beaten egg yolks and cook slowly.
Incorporate the gelatine, softened earlier, and leave to cool.
Add the whipped cream, rice and candied fruit.
Pour the mixture into individual moulds and leave in the fridge for three hours
Make the fruits of the forest sauce mixing the fruit with the sugar.
Turn the rice out onto the serving plate and serve with the fruit sauce.
RICE BISCUITS WITH HONEY
Recommended rice variety: Baldo
Serves four: 300 g of rice; 200 g of flour; 200 g of honey; 100 g of sugar; 1 sachet of yeast; 1 egg.
Preparation:
Boil the rice in slightly salted water, drain it and leave to cool in a bowl. Add the egg and the sugar and mix thoroughly, gradually adding the flour until a smooth mixture is obtained.
Make into rolls and slice, frying the biscuits in plenty of oil. When cooked, covered with honey and serve.
BUNET
Serves four:1/4 of a litre of fresh milk; 2 fresh eggs; 1 spoonful of cocoa powder; 3 spoonfuls of sugar, 25 g of macaroons; 1 spoonful of rum.
Preparation:
Beat the whole eggs, adding 2 spoons of sugar, cocoa, the crumbled macaroons and milk, and mix together delicately.
Heat 1 spoon of sugar in a saucepan until it turns golden brown, the add a little water and mix, stirring over a high heat until the caramel turns dark and glassy. Pour the hot caramel onto the bottom and sides of an ovenproof pudding mould, trying to distribute it evenly. Pour the bunet mixture into the mould and bake using the Bain Marie method in the oven at 180°C, for 30 minutes.
Cool, turn out and serve