S. S. C. Napoli ~ Spalletti Bolognaise

Introduction: On a lovely day in September 2022 I mat a delightful young lady for the first time who was visiting with her parents. Ariella was chuckling away at her favourite club recipes on this blog, notably Paul Schones. While we were discussing the subtleties of British humour with particular reference to Sir Alex Burgerson it emerged that Ariella also supports an Italian kickball team. So we are embarking upon an international adventure in puns “so bad they’re good.”

Thanks Ariella⚽

😁

Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (S. S. C. Napoli) are a professional kickball team based in Napoli (Naples to us Brits.) They play in the top flight of Italian kickball and have won the “Series A” twice. The first relevant Neapolitan club was founded as Naples Foot-Ball & Cricket Club in 1905 by English sailor William Poths and his associate Hector M. Bayon. Neapolitans such as Conforti, Catterina and Amedeo Salsi were also involved, the latter of whom was the club’s first president.

Stadio San Paolo – panoramio where Napoli have played since 1959

This particular recipe is named after Luciano Spalletti; (born 7 March 1959) who is currently the head coach of S. S. C. Napoli.

Preparation time: 15 mins

Cooking time: 2 hours 20 mins

Home kit: large saucepan with a heavy bottom, wooden spoon,

Away kit: forks, spoons, serving bowls and bibs to stop the sauce dribbling down your best shirt while you’re slurping up the spaghetti.

Luciano Spalletti

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 300 g (10 oz) of top quality mince or ground steak
• 150 g (5 oz) of sliced pancetta (you can replace pancetta with minced pork)
• 1 small carrot
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 small onion
• 300 g (1 1/4 cup) of tomato passata or crushed plum tomatoes
• 100 ml (1/2 cup) of dry white wine
• 300 ml (1 1/2cup) of beef stock
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 100 ml (1/2 cup) of whole milk
• fine salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Method:

First half

Chop the carrot, celery and onion into teeny tiny pieces and set aside. Then cut the pancetta into teeny tiny pieces. I like to leave the fat in, but you can cut it out if you want to ruin the flavour.

Fry off the pancetta over a medium heat for about 5 mins. Pour in the olive oil and then add the chopped vegetables, sweat them over the medium heat for a further 5 mins. Turn up the heat a little and add the ground steak and cook for another 5 mins. Now add the white wine and let it evaporate, this will take about another 5 mins.

Second half

Once the wine has evaporated add the passata. Bring to the boil, turn the heat right down, cover and simmer over a low heat for 2 hours. Stirring occasionally.

Do keep an eye on the sauce as it can become thick and stick to the pan, keep it loose by adding the beef stock as needed.

After an hour and a half add the milk to reduce the acidity of the sauce (Bolognese tradition also adds cream at this point but I think it makes it too fatty). Add salt and pepper to taste.

During this last half an hour prepare the pasta of your choice. Brits will choose spaghetti (otherwise the pun doesn’t work!), Italian’s, especially Bolognese Italians, would choose probably tagliatelle.

Full time result

Dress your pasta with the sauce in the pan you cooked the pasta in (you don’t have to use all the sauce, you can freeze the rest) and serve in bowls. Make sure you’ve put on your bib before eating or you’ll ruin your shirt/blouse/tank-top/t-shirt.

Chelsea F.C. ~ Ruud Pullet with Gianfranco Gorgonzola

Introduction: OK, there are a lot of ingredients but this is an easy, swift recipe which can be attempted post match if you’ve sunk less than six pints.

Ruud Gullit ~ was born Ruud Dil in Amsterdam. Gullit’s brilliance prompted George Best to comment in 1990, “Ruud Gullit is a great player by any standards. He has all the skills. He’s not afraid to do things with the ball. And he looks as if he’s enjoying every second of it.

Gianfranco Zola, OBE ~ joined Chelsea in 1996, he was voted the Football Writers’ Player of the Year in the 1996–97 season. In 2003 he was voted Chelsea’s greatest player ever. He was capped 35 times for Italy from his debut in 1991, appearing at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and Euro 96.

Preparation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 20 mins

Home kit: Large saucepan, large frying pan, large plate and a colander.

Away kit: 4-6 serving plates, knives and forks

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 3 skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into ½ inch slices
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 200g button mushrooms, quartered
• 300ml whipping cream
• 150g crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (actually, any blue cheese will do but it’s not as funny)
• Some grated Parmesan cheese
• Some fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
• 200g dried pasta

Method:

First half

Boil a lot of water in the large saucepan and lob in the pasta. After 10 mins pour into a colander and set aside. This will not quite cook the pasta but it will become al dente once it is combined with the Ruud Pullet and sauce later. I like to use Conchiglie but any will do.

While the pasta is cooking, season the chicken breasts to taste with the salt and pepper, not too much salt as there is plenty in the Gianfranco. Fry the chicken in the olive oil over a medium heat until it takes on a golden brown colour, remove and set aside. I would do this in a couple of batches, too much meat in the pan and it streams rather than fries.

Second half

Now put the mushrooms in the same frying pan and cook for 5 minutes until they are soft and release a lot of their liquid. Return the chicken to the pan and add the cream, bring to almost a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Add half the Gianfranco and all the parmesan and a little more pepper and cook a little longer to melt the cheeses.

Full time results

Now combine the Ruud Pullet with the pasta and crumble the remaining gorgonzola and parsley over the top for decoration. Serve with Greenaway salad.