The Cotechino

What is this Cotechino? You may find it frequently in Christmas hampers but never know what you are going to do with it?! Well, this sausage is made from pork meat, fat and pork rind. It is a preserved meat and very popular in Italy especially for the New Year’s specialty dishes. Here is a different recipe which may look familiar since it is similar to the stuffed cabbage but with this famous in Italy, or unpopular in Malta, Cotechino…

Cotechino loaf

Serves 8 (as a starter)

• 6 leaves of savoy cabbage
• 200g cooked cotechino (as per packet instructions)
• 200g minced beef
• parsley
• 3 tblsp breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• salt & pepper

[caption id=”attachment_213" align=”alignright” width=”300" caption=”Savoy cabbage meat loaf”]

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Boil the leaves of the savoy cabbage in some salted water for 15 minutes. When ready place them on a kitchen towel and pat them dry. In the meantime put some olive oil in a pan, add the minced beef, and the cooked cotechino, chopped. Remove from heat when meat is browned and add parsley, breadcrumbs, egg, rind of lemon, salt & pepper. Cut a rectangular piece of oven-proof paper and spread it with some butter so it does not stick. Place the cabbage leaves on this rectangular paper and put the edges slightly on top of each other so that you form a base where to put the meat mixture. Pour the meat mixture in the middle and with the help of the oven paper roll the leaves to form a sausage with the meat in the middle. Tighten the roll with some kitchen string and place in boiling water for 15 minutes. When cooked leave to cool, remove the string & oven paper and cut into slices. Serve with some fresh tomato & basil sauce.