I love winter food.  While the cold this year is just too much, it’s warm in the kitchen with all the burners fired up at once and bread rising and the oven sending out aromas of cheese wafers and toasted pecans. This is a dinner we made this week for four friends.  Six around the table, with a centerpiece basket of purple, yellow and pink primroses to remind us that spring may come.

Arista (accent on the Ar) is king of the pork roasts in Italy.  The top photo shows Ed’s favorite, pork loin–browned, stuffed, crusted and ready for the oven. With a sharp knife, he makes a big pocket in a five-pound center cut loin, then brines it for three hours. Brining makes a big difference. Simply put the pork in a bowl with one third cup each of sugar and salt, then let it sit in the fridge.  He then concocts a mixture of olive oil, red wine, splash of vinegar, parmigiano, bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, fennel seeds and a quarter cup or so of odori (equal parts of sautéed carrot, celery and onion). The quantities are improvised but with these ingredients you can’t go wrong. Sometimes he uses a little cognac instead of the red wine. Sometimes he adds a tablespoon of mustard.

He rinses and dries the meat, stuffs the pocket to fill, then drizzles the top with olive oil and packs on more stuffing.  Roast at 325 degrees and check at 50 minutes. Internal temp should be around 145 degrees—slightly pink.

Dinner started with an antipasto platter, followed by saffron risotto for the primo.  With the pork, we served rapini, broccoli rabe with lemon juice, and the red potatoes shown in the photo.  These I steamed until barely done, placed them on parchment and smashed them with the bottom of a glass. I anointed each with olive oil, seasoned them and added rosemary. They then travel to a hot (400 degrees) oven until they become a bit crispy, about ten minutes.

This dessert–photo doesn’t do it justice–causes silence to fall at the table. Then someone inevitably says, “What is this?” Or invokes the deity: Oh, mio dio! Can anything be this close to heaven? Maybe it’s best not to mention to guests that it has enough butter in it to make Paula Deen blush. This recipe I found in Rogers Gray Country Italian Cookbook, where they call for pears. I’ve adapted it to  summer plums—marvelous–but this time I used apples. Whatever fruit you use should be firm.

Pastry:

½ pound (2 sticks) very cold butter cut into pieces

2 ½  cups sifted flour

1/8  teaspoon  salt

1 ¼ cups powdered sugar

3 large yolks, beaten

Filling:

2  cups almonds pulverized to fine powder in food processor

3 whole eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups fine sugar

¾ pound (3 sticks) butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees for pastry, then reduce to 350 degrees.

First prepare the pastry.  Mix the butter, flour, and salt until crumbly; beat in powdered sugar then the yolks.  When well combined and adhering together, roll into a ball and chill for about an hour.  Slice into pieces and press dough into a large glass pie plate or a twelve-to-fourteen inch spring-form tart pan.  Chill about ten minutes then prick all over and bake the pastry in a hot oven until slightly toasty, about ten minutes.

For the filling, cream butter and sugar until fluffy, add vanilla, mix with ground almonds, then add eggs one at a time, beating well.

Arrange quartered apples, 4 or 5, depending on the size, in the pie pan, pour filling over them and bake until set, about 30 minutes. Serve slices with a dollop of mascarpone whipped with a little cream and sugar.