Emiko Davies’ Carrot Mostarda, Mustard, and Prosciutto Cicchetti
This is a sneak peek recipe from Cinnamon & Salt, Emiko Davies’ newest cookbook focused on Venetian cicchetti. Book published by Hardie Grant Books. Recipe & photography by Emiko Davies.
This curious carrot mostarda was one of the first recipes from Mariù Salvatori de Zuliani’s cookbook that I wanted to cook. She describes this as an old recipe to make in the month of September, using many lemons and much, much more sugar and a low, slow, 4-hour cooking time. She pairs this with boiled meat, as mostarda often is. I think it is lovely with prosciutto arrosto or prosciutto cotto, which is cooked ham as opposed to cured as prosciutto crudo is. Use a top-quality, freshly sliced, off-the-bone ham.
You could also see this as a sort of in saor recipe if you perhaps leave out the sugar, but add raisins and pine nuts to it for sweetness – in fact, this is another Venetian Jewish recipe recounted in the Slow Food Ricette di Osteria del Veneto, a dish for celebrating the New Year for the symbolic happy golden colour and shape of the carrot slices.
This will make enough mostarda for twelve cicchetti. But if you have any leftovers, try it out next to a roast or on sandwiches – also see Variations, below, for more ideas.
Mostarda di Carote con Senape e Prosciutto Arrosto
Makes ~1 cup of mostarda and 12 cicchetti
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook time: 1.5 Hours
Ingredients
For the carrot mostarda:
400 grams carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
zest and juice of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
100 grams sugar
For the cicchetti:
1 thick slice fresh or toasted baguette, for crostini
¼ teaspoon hot English mustard, or to taste
2 tablespoons mascarpone, or cream cheese
1 tablespoon carrot mostarda (see above)
1 thin slice roast ham
Method
To make the carrot mostarda:
Combine the carrots, lemon zest and juice, and vinegar in a small saucepan with 500 ml (2 cups) water and bring to a boil. Add the sugar and, once it has dissolved, turn the heat to a low simmer, cover, and let cook slowly for 1–1½ hours. The carrots should be soft and the liquid should be reduced and syrupy. Once made, the mostarda keeps well, like homemade jam, in an airtight jar in the fridge.
To assemble the cicchetti:
To assemble the cicchetti, on each slice of bread spread the mustard, followed by the mascarpone, then the carrot mostarda and top with a slice of roast ham.
Variations
You could substitute the roast ham with roast beef or, for a vegetarian version, try the carrot mostarda with gorgonzola or another strong blue cheese (skipping the mustard and mascarpone). I had something similar at the popular bàcaro Vino Vero – a warm crostino topped with mostarda and a slice of gooey washed-rind cheese.
Preorder your copy of Cinnamon & Salt here. Released in the U.S. May 2022.
Emiko Davies is an award-winning Australian-Japanese food writer, photographer and cookbook author based in Italy. She has written four cookbooks, Florentine: The True Cuisine of Florence (March 2016 and a new edition in November 2020), Acquacotta (March 2017), Tortellini at Midnight (March 2019) and Torta della Nonna (March 2021), published by Hardie Grant. Her fifth book on recipes and the history of Venetian cuisine, Cinnamon & Salt, will be out in May 2022.
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