SAVORY PIE WITH CARASAU BREAD

While me and Sara were singing, gossiping, dancing, and talking with Kiki and Kipu (the two dogs omnipresent in the kitchen of The Eat Culture), while we were drinking one, two, three coffees, as we were discussing on the Two Chief World Systems, planning to take over the world and, not least, at the same time, this sensational recipe were cooking, an epiphany caught us suddenly. Unexpected as much as craved, it flashed us on the road to the oven, leaving us entranced. Have you ever eaten a specific food, tried a combination of unusual ingredients, enjoyed a meal from your childhood, and thought everything was great but something was missing?

I came up with the conclusion that the act of eating is something so sacred, an experience so full, something so emotional that it can’t be able to leave something out of consideration of his total being. It needs a perfect set to be enjoyed, a background to complement the flavor that the tongue conveys to the brain. All this frenzied raving to tell you that from today I will match (only for you) not the wine (I would but I can’t do it… Don’t worried about it, work in progress) but rather a special song to the recipe of any dish that I will propose you. Trust that will make a real difference. Like all the best discoveries that have changed the world, even this one comes from a balanced mix of randomness, a sweet kiss of the three Fates, and peculiar and delicate astral conjunctions.

While I was tasting a bite of this savory pie, Sara put on a disc (oh yes we have the turntable instead of the I-pad) and… whoa. Music was matching perfectly the flavor of the food, amplifying the taste in one Edenic ear-mouth harmony. Once you try it, you can’t go back ever again. I leave you with a question: do you think it would be useful for me to share these thoughts with a good psychologist?

Matching soundtrack: Edith Piaf – La vie en rose

Level of difficulty: Oh, this is elementary, my dear Watson!

INGREDIENTS (serves 4, or many if you serve as a starter)

• 5 slices of Carasau bread (it’s a typical bread from Sardinia – since I highly doubt that you can find it outside Italy, as an alternative you can use “roasted” pita bread or look for what English call ‘carta di musica’.)
• 250 gr. of soft cheese
• 250 gr. of Philadelphia cheese or cream cheese
• 100 gr. of Speck (it’s another typical food from Northern Italy- it’s a smoked ham that has been seasoned, cured and air dried)
• 2 leeks
• An half red onion
• Olive oil, salt, black pepper, rosemary to taste

PROCESS

We start from the leek: we cut it into slices and put it to simmer with a little salt and pepper in a nonstick skillet with two rounds of extra virgin olive oil. When it is cooked, turn off the heat and put it on the side.

Gently take the bread Carasau being careful not to break it (or alternatively use the previously roasted pita bread or “carta di musica”) and sprinkle with in Philadelphia. Done the first layer, it must “bear” the weight of the filling of all other “plans” -to continue with parallel real estate, this will be our foundation. Therefore, after a layer of cheese, put on another layer of bread. Now we can start with the actual composition of the dish. Spread the Philadelphia and add few spoons of soft cheese (tip: keep it out of the fridge a few hours before using it, so it will be softened and easy to work over the bread to avoid the breakdown).

Over the layer of cheese put the stewed leeks.

Lastly, add the speck (or use bacon as an alternative).  Therefore put over the bread, and so on … up to complete the cake (we used five “layers” of Carasau).

Finally, sprinkle the top layer with salt, pepper, rosemary and a drizzle of oil.

Bake at 180 degrees for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on the top layer and the melting of cheese … and then hear that Goodness!

Have a lovely weekend!

Recipe: Kristel Cescotto.
Food styling: Kristel Cescotto e Sara Cartelli.
Photography: Sara Cartelli.
©  The Eat Culture.