Parmgiano-Reggiano Recipes

These recipes originally appeared in our EPICUREAN magazine.
Parmigiano made the leap from mere cheese to symbol of the Good Life in 1353, when Boccaccio wrote in the Decameron of a beautiful mountain of grated Parmigiano in the land of Bengodi. By the 1500s it began turning up regularly as an ingredient in recipes and Italian gastronomic tracts.

INSALATA DICEMBRINA
4 stalks celery
3 oz. Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 small head of radicchio
1 small head of curly endive
3 pears
12 walnuts
lemon
olive oil
salt and pepper
Clean and dry the radicchio and the endive. Tear the leaves into small pieces. Add thinly sliced celery and the sliced pears, the walnuts and the Parmigiano-Reggiano cut into very thin pieces. Mix the juice of one lemon, some olive oil and a pinch of salt until it forms an emulsion. Add the dressing to the salad and toss.

FENNEL PARMIGIANA
2 large fennel bulbs
11 oz. mozzarella
250 grams pureed tomatoes
1⁄2 pound Parmigiano-Reggiano
3.5 oz. basil
olive oil
salt and pepper
Clean the fennel and cut each bulb in half, lengthways, and put in salted boiling water for 20 minutes. Dry the fennel. Dice the onion and cook it in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the tomato puree, cook for 10 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Cut the fennel into pieces around 1/2 centimeter thick and arrange in an ovenproof baking dish which has been greased with olive oil
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Arrange mozzarella slices in the dish, then add a layer of tomato sauce, then a generous sprinkling of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Continue to layer the ingredients until all are used. Then distribute some shredded basil leaves on top and drizzle with oil. Bake in the oven at 190¾ C (375¾ F) for 25 minutes.