Was the night of 1499, the last day of Carnival before Lent. The inhabitants of Motta di Livenza, a small town in the province of Treviso, a town "eldest daughter of the Serenissima Republic" located on the Postojna, the ancient artery of theRoman Empire, they used to abandon themselves as usual in other parts of Italy to large feasts of food before entering the period of abstinence that preceded Easter.
In fact, he thought of taking advantage of theTurkish army sure of taking the population intent on rich libations by surprise, he had studied to assault the town, thus opening a strategic gap that would then easily lead him to conquer the other villages of eastern Veneto and finally of hated Venice.
But the inhabitants of Motta Livenza opposed one heroic resistance, they fought all night and all of the next day and drove back the invaders. Venice was safe!
Since then Ash Wednesday in Motta Livenza has become the mercore grotto (which in dialect means sad Wednesday, in memory of the dead of the battle) and is celebrated by all families and in restaurants with a “Renga” dish based on herring and polenta. The custom of the dish then spread to a bit throughout the Veneto area.
Why herring which certainly does not belong to the Venetian gastronomic culture? And here another chapter of history opens. Established that the'salted herring was a nutritious, inexpensive meal and lasting for i marinai but above all for the less well-off populations a confluence of interest was established between the fishermen of Northern Europe who caught the herrings and who immediately had to work the fish and conserve it and the populations of the south who had salt pans.
For which from Venice che was the principal Mediterranean outlet of this exchange market they left barrels of salt for the North and in return barrels of salted herring arrived. In the taverns of parona, in the province of Verona, the innkeepers specialized in cooking herring because i burkieri (the conductors of the burche, river boats that sailed for the transport of people along the Brenta between Padua and Venice and pushed for the transport of goods on the Adige up to Verona, were forced to stop several times for the completion of customs operations. It was I used to get room and board in exchange for a few cases of salted herring.
But it wasn't all rosy. In the poorest countryside, even herring was a mirage for those unfortunate peasants, whose meal was usually based on beans and polenta, as a popular saying goes: “Fasioi e la polenta xè la carne de la gente poareta” (the beans and polenta are the meat of poor people). But despite the poverty, the peasants managed to have the illusion of a tastier meal: thethe custom was to hang a herring from a string attached to a beam in the ceiling which ended up in the center of the table and with this rub the plates of polenta in turn to give them flavour.
Fortunately, today things have changed and Motta Livenza even dedicates a festival to the Renga during Lent.
Salvatore Catrini chef and patron of the Altamarea bistro to Concordia Sagittaria (VE), a center rich in history at the junction of the ancient Via Annia and Via Postumia, 20 minutes from Motta Livenza, he was born in Sicily but his homeland is Veneto where his parents moved when he was still very young. And he has settled in so well that as a chef he has built a cooking philosophy for which flavors are able to tell a territory better than many guides and many words. His invitation is to enter the beating heart of Eastern Veneto and let yourself be seduced by its culinary tradition centered on the gifts of the Adriatic. All this translates into an innovative cuisine that enhances traditional flavours, in attention to the aesthetics and composition of the dish to also nourish the mind and in wines selected to complete and enrich the tastes. In his Bistrot Altamarea “respect for raw materials – he says – it is the essential foundation for realizing the truest Italian cuisine: “authentic aromas and flavours, skilfully assembled, with the creation of unexpected balances with the aim of serving a healthy and good cuisine, as “natural” as possible.
And he has so identified with the philosophy of the local cuisine that as a Sicilian, last year, he managed to win the first prize of the Renga festival with a reinterpretation of the Renga in a Mediterranean key with the dish that today it offers to the readers of Foodfirstonline.
Salvatore Catrini
The RENGA RECIPE
Ingredients for 4 pax
2 Silver Herrings
500g of potatoes
1 shallot
1 bunch of chicory
1 bag of cuttlefish ink
50gr of butter
Oil salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Peel the potatoes, cut them into chunks; brown them with butter and shallots, adding water and bringing to the boil.
Once cooked, blend with a hand blender by adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and adjusting the taste with salt and pepper
Cook the Renga for three minutes in boiling water and cut into fillets.
Clean the chicory, keep a few raw leaves for decoration and cut the chicory from the heart.
Blanch the chicory cut in half lengthwise in a non-stick pan, adding a pinch of salt and pepper.
Reduce the cuttlefish ink with a ladle of stock in a saucepan.
Introduction
Arrange the dish by placing a ladleful of creamed potatoes on the bottom on which to lay the Renga fillet cut in three and the chicory, sprinkle with three drops of cuttlefish ink and the chicory leaves
ALTAMAREA BISTRO
VIA ROMA 43,
CONCORDIA
0421 273820
