Fasren Cucina · La Tavola Calabrese

Calabrian Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

From the Tyrrhenian coast to the Sila mountains, Calabria has always cooked with what the land gives: olive oil pressed in autumn, lard rendered in winter, butter from the high pastures. No seed oils. No shortcuts. Just the old way, written down carefully.

Browse the Recipes Our Three Rules
A heavy pan cooking over live flame in a rustic kitchen

Live fire and a heavy pan, the oldest tools in Calabria

Come Si Fa

Three Rules of the Fasren Kitchen

Olio e Strutto

Olive Oil and Lard

Calabria is olive country, and its grandmothers kept a crock of strutto by the stove. Every recipe here starts with olive oil, lard, butter or ghee, fats with a history, chosen for flavor.

Fuoco Lento

The Slow Flame

Onions melted for an hour, pork braised until it gives up, bread proofed without hurry. Low heat and patience do the work that no ingredient can. We write timings honestly and never rush a step.

Mai Olio di Semi

Never Seed Oil

You will not find canola, soybean, sunflower or corn oil in any recipe on this site. If a modern version of a dish leans on refined vegetable oil, we go back to how it was made before.

Le Ricette

Six Dishes from the Toe of Italy

A braise, a fish from the strait, potatoes from the mountains, an onion soup, a ring loaf and a fig cake. Each one tested in a home kitchen with pantry fats only.

Pork shoulder braised until dark and tender in a heavy pot Meat

'Nduja Braised Pork Shoulder

Pork shoulder browned in olive oil, then braised low with 'nduja, red wine and tomatoes until it falls apart. The spreadable sausage dissolves into a smoky, chili-red sauce.

  • 3 hrs
  • Serves 6
  • Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 3 lb boneless pork shoulder, cut in large chunks
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 oz 'nduja, casing removed
  • 1 large red onion, sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 cup dry red wine
  • 1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Sea salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Pat the pork dry and season generously with salt and pepper.
  2. Warm the olive oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat and brown the pork in batches until deeply colored on all sides. Set aside.
  3. Lower the heat, add the onion and cook until soft, about 8 minutes, then stir in the garlic and the 'nduja, mashing it into the fat.
  4. Pour in the wine, scrape the bottom of the pot, and let it reduce by half.
  5. Return the pork with the tomatoes, rosemary and bay. Crush the tomatoes with a spoon and bring to a bare simmer.
  6. Cover and braise on the lowest heat for about 2.5 hours, until the meat shreds with a fork.
  7. Uncover, simmer 10 minutes to thicken the sauce, taste for salt and serve over polenta or bread.
Swordfish steak plated with lemon and herbs Fish

Swordfish alla Bagnara

The classic of Bagnara Calabra: swordfish steaks poached briefly in olive oil, lemon, capers and oregano. Ten minutes of cooking, a whole coastline of flavor.

  • 30 min
  • Serves 4
  • Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 swordfish steaks, about 1 inch thick
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 3 tbsp capers, rinsed
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1 small fresh chili, sliced (optional)
  • A handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • Sea salt

Method

  1. Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and a pinch of salt into a loose emulsion, the salmoriglio.
  2. Warm a wide skillet over medium heat and soften the garlic and chili in a spoonful of the emulsion, about 1 minute.
  3. Add the wine and capers and let it bubble for a minute.
  4. Lay in the swordfish steaks and spoon some salmoriglio over them.
  5. Cook gently 4 minutes per side, basting often, until the fish is just opaque at the center.
  6. Rest 2 minutes off the heat, shower with parsley and the remaining sauce, and serve warm.
Golden pan fried potatoes with onions Vegetable

Patate 'Mpacchiuse

The famous sticky potatoes of the Sila mountains, fried slowly in olive oil and a spoon of lard with red onions until the edges catch and cling together. The crust is the point.

  • 45 min
  • Serves 4
  • Easy

Ingredients

  • 2 lb yellow potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp lard (or more olive oil)
  • 2 red onions, sliced into half moons
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced (optional)
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp chili flakes
  • Sea salt
  • Black pepper
  • Grated pecorino, to finish (optional)

Method

  1. Warm the olive oil and lard in a wide cast iron or heavy skillet over medium heat.
  2. Add the potatoes in an even layer, season with salt, and leave them alone for 10 minutes so a crust begins to form.
  3. Add the onions and pepper on top, cover, and cook 10 minutes more so everything steams and softens.
  4. Uncover and turn the potatoes in large sections, keeping the crusty bits intact. Do not stir constantly; sticking is the goal.
  5. Cook another 15 minutes, turning only twice, until deeply golden and tender inside.
  6. Season with oregano, chili flakes and black pepper, and finish with pecorino if you like. Serve straight from the pan.
A rustic bowl of onion soup with bread Soup

Licurdia, Tropea Onion Soup

Calabria's answer to onion soup, built on the sweet red onions of Tropea melted in butter and olive oil, ladled over toasted bread with pecorino and a whisper of chili.

  • 1 hr
  • Serves 4
  • Easy

Ingredients

  • 2 lb red onions (Tropea if you can find them), sliced
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 medium potato, diced small
  • 5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 tsp chili flakes
  • 4 thick slices of stale country bread
  • 1/2 cup grated pecorino
  • Sea salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a soup pot over low heat.
  2. Add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook slowly, stirring now and then, for 25 minutes, until completely soft and sweet without browning hard.
  3. Stir in the potato, bay leaf and chili flakes, then pour in the broth.
  4. Simmer gently for 20 minutes, until the potato has nearly dissolved and thickened the soup.
  5. Meanwhile toast the bread slices until dry and golden, and set one in each bowl.
  6. Season the soup with salt and pepper, ladle it over the bread, and bury each bowl under grated pecorino before serving.
A crusty rustic loaf of homemade bread Bread

Pitta Calabrese

The ring shaped bread of Catanzaro: a soft, open crumb inside a thin chewy crust, traditionally enriched with a little lard. Made for splitting and stuffing while still warm.

  • 3 hrs
  • 1 ring loaf
  • Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 4 cups bread flour
  • 1/4 cup fine semolina, plus more for dusting
  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 2 tsp active dry yeast
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp soft lard (or butter)
  • Extra virgin olive oil, for the bowl

Method

  1. Stir the yeast and honey into the warm water and let it foam for 10 minutes.
  2. Mix the flour, semolina and salt, add the yeast water and the lard, and knead 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
  3. Rest the dough in an oiled bowl, covered, until doubled, about 1.5 hours.
  4. Punch down, shape into a fat rope, and join the ends into a ring on a semolina dusted sheet. Let it rise 45 minutes more.
  5. Heat the oven to 450 F with a pan on the bottom shelf. Slide in the pitta and pour a cup of hot water into the pan for steam.
  6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until deep gold and hollow sounding underneath. Cool briefly, then tear or split while warm.
A rustic honey cake on a serving plate Dessert

Fig and Walnut Honey Cake

A dense, buttery cake in the spirit of Calabria's dried fig sweets: Dottato figs, toasted walnuts, orange zest and warm spices, bound with honey instead of heavy frosting.

  • 1 hr 15 min
  • Serves 10
  • Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dried figs, chopped
  • 1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
  • 3/4 cup butter, soft, plus more for the pan
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 1 tsp cinnamon, pinch of ground cloves, pinch of salt

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 350 F and butter a 9 inch springform pan.
  2. Soak the chopped figs in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain and pat dry.
  3. Beat the butter, sugar and honey until pale and creamy, then add the eggs one at a time.
  4. Fold in the flour, baking powder, salt, spices and orange zest until just combined.
  5. Stir in the figs and walnuts, scrape into the pan and smooth the top.
  6. Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
  7. Brush the warm cake with a spoonful of honey and serve in thin wedges.

La Nostra Cucina

Our Kitchen

Fasren Cucina is a small editorial kitchen dedicated to the cooking of Calabria, the sun scorched region at the toe of the Italian boot. We collect the dishes of its coastline and its mountains, test them in an ordinary home kitchen, and write them down the way they were cooked before refined seed oils existed.

Everything here is fried, braised and baked with olive oil, lard, butter or ghee. We are not a diet site and we make no health promises. We simply believe traditional fats belong in traditional food, and that a recipe should tell you the truth about time, heat and patience.

Buon appetito, e fuoco lento.